My journal of big words and pretty pictures
One morning each week I volunteer at a local elementary school. Before classes, students read announcements over the intercom, and one selected kid gets to lead everyone in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Wherever we - the volunteers - are in the building or outside on campus, we stop what we're doing, face the general … Continue reading 100 Word Challenge: Promise
Throughout her academic career, my daughter worked exceedingly hard to earn high grades. A consummate overachiever, she maintained an A-average from elementary school through her recent master’s degree. Her education was serious business. When she was in middle school, probably around seventh grade, the scale for earning an A was a numerical score of 95-100. … Continue reading It all counts
“You still at it,” she asked, finding him surrounded by crumpled index cards and dozens of broken No. 2 pencils. “I’ve got to ace my GRE if I hope to get into Harvard!” “If you don’t have it by now, you never will.” “I know, but I can’t shut off my brain!” She closed the … Continue reading Study buddy
I’ve been reading so many stories about first days of school with a mixture of nostalgia, melancholy and amusement. There are tales of weeping, tantrums, and separation anxiety. The kids are having a few melt downs too. When I dropped my daughter off her very first day of kindergarten, so young, so tiny, so vulnerable, … Continue reading School daze
“...engages in inappropriate behavior. Disrupting lessons and distracting other students...” The rest of her tirade began to sound like the teacher in the Snoopy cartoons... wha, wha, whawha... I’m so tired of attending IEP sessions only to hear a litany of offenses and no constructive plan to actually help him. Just once, tell me something … Continue reading Fine motor skills
Thin spiral notebook 