Just yesterday my little girl (age 6) came home very upset, she didn’t come directly to me, instead she ran to her brother to tell him the teacher had told her something wasn’t real and instead fiction. Thankfully the subject at hand was a unicorn, yes the teacher informed all the little kindergarteners that there was no such thing as unicorns.
My son quietly informed me and I couldn’t help but want to call that teacher and ask a few other questions before she debunked every myth I’d told my child. Think hard I know many of you have a few, …read more

Some parents look forward to parent-teacher conference time to meet their children’s teachers and discuss challenges and achievements.  Others dread this occasion and decide they don’t want to bother or it’s a waste of time.
I always found meeting our daughter’s teachers, and sometimes our grandchildren’s when the parents couldn’t attend, informative and interesting.  Sometimes my husband and I agreed and other times we didn’t.  But it was a time to try to understand what was going on.
5 ways to benefit from a parent-teacher conference or meeting:

Go with a positive attitude that you’ll come to an understanding.  Don’t start out with …read more

One-room schools existed throughout America in its early days and still are in operation in a few rural areas.  I attended one of these during my first four years of schooling and have fond memories of teachers and friends.  I thought it fun to discuss these schools in conjunction with “back-to-school” theme week.
This type of education runs deep in my family, since my sister, brothers and I attended a one-room school, as did my parents and grandparents.  My mom and her mother were teachers in one-room schools, along with many of Mother’s cousins.  My paternal great grandmother also was a …read more

One of my readers stopped by to comment on my post, The Charm of Imaginary Games, and reminded me of the delight of big boxes.
One of my kids’ favorite toys is a big box that they can decorate as a plane or castle or car or whatever they are feeling like that day. They have way more fun with that than with the fancier more finished toys
I want to thank Mike for calling my attention to big boxes.  My grandchildren, as well as my daughter before them, have been fascinated with big boxes and all that can be done with them. …read more

Parents, if you’re into Earth Day emphasis and would like some projects for your youngsters, check out those at edHelper.com.  These would be great for parents in general, home schooling parents and teachers in schools.
The Caring for Earth and Earth Day Theme Unit offers a wide variety of resources and projects for a variety of ages and grades.  These involve reading suggestions, puzzles, research of related topics, worksheets, and much more.

Did you ever notice, that although we are being spoken to or at all the freak day long, many times it’s the words which are unspoken which are the intended messages?
Entertainers, politicians, teachers, spouses, children…heck even dogs are saying things to use that we can’t hear. We all do it…out of politeness, fear, dishonesty or just plain lack of verbal skills — we disguise what we really want to say.
And don’t even get me started on how confusing it is when someone repeats something to you but had sworn to the other person they wouldn’t — so they tell it …read more