Education

We had it all figured out. My husband and I strategically chose the location of our first home based on the elementary school down the road. By strategic fortune, it also contained a daycare.  All the houses in my neighborhood seemed to sport plastic signs with the school’s crest adorned on it in neatly groomed flower beds. I fantasized about my future children holding up little chalkboard signs with their school year, teacher’s name, and dream occupation. The day after I gleefully clutched a positive pregnancy test, I handed in my registration form. The director took the paper with a smile and inquired after our community involvement. I proudly rattled away the committees I chaired, my weekends of service, and gratuitous...

That afternoon’s homework didn’t seem different from any other. My 3rd-grader responded that he had already done his homework in class, just as he had done almost every day. Most days he never unzipped his book sack. On a few occasions, he would remember at bedtime some form I needed to sign or some math pages he needed to complete. This was not the work ethic my husband and I were accustomed to from him. He was sloughing off the diligence he had built over the years. He simply wasn’t being challenged. It was no one’s fault, really, but some factors contributed. My husband and I are both teachers and combat summer slide, having our kids spend a few minutes...

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Basis Charter Schools. 7 Steps to Establishing a Growth Mindset We come into this world with very little knowledge about the world we live in, but we are born with an innate desire and unlimited capacity for learning. We form ideas, discover interests, and develop skills in response to our environment. Every day we process new data. As we grow and build relationships, peers and mentors encourage, even compel, us to move forward, to progress, to increase our potential. Every day is filled with opportunity to learn, and there truly is no limit. Once children start school, they become increasingly aware of their own performance—and how they measure up. Naturally, they begin judging their own abilities as they...

This post is sponsored by Behavioral Intervention Group. BIG Help for Little Learners: Early Intervention for Pre-K and Kindergarten The Pre-K and Kindergarten years are an important time in a child’s development. During these years, personalities are being formed and learning is constantly increasing. Through educational experiences, play and social interactions, each child is becoming more and more themselves. In these early years, kids acquire crucial social, cognitive, and physical skills that will allow them to explore and make sense of their worlds. In addition to letters, numbers, shapes, and colors, they’re learning how to communicate effectively, get along in groups, set and achieve goals, manage their impulses, make choices, and so much more. For many little ones, this process unfolds as a natural...

It's back to school time around here. Endless supply lists, new school shoes for everyone, the hunt for the perfect backpacks, haircuts, etc. It is 2 weeks of running in circles and forgetting things. It's such a joyful time. My children will be going into third and MIDDLE SCHOOL. (I feel lightheaded now. Hold me.) There is one thing that I don't mind buying because it makes mornings so much easier: school uniforms. I haven't always liked them, though. I am a child of the 80's/90's. Uniforms were for private school kids. Us public school kids were free to express ourselves in whatever outfit we could talk our mothers into spending money on. Although, looking back, we mainly just embarrassed...