Late yesterday afternoon, I saw my first monarch caterpillar of the year. Really?! Wow, it is late. Five years ago, I saw my first larva on June 19th. We did move three hours north, but we moved to a cabin that we built in 2005 and have visited multiple times a year since. So, I…
education today
School Stuff Saved: The Elementary Years
When I started cleaning out our closets for our pending move, I began a trip down memory lane. We spent twenty years in one school district! For 13 of those years, I had one of our sons in elementary school due to their spacing. Elementary school was without a doubt my favorite time of schooling…
Graduation: It’s That Time of Year
May has always been a hard month for me. This year is no different. I think it’s because it is a time of transitions, endings, and beginnings, with old routines and comfortable schedules ending, and new patterns emerging – some of them far from home. Anticipation of the “next step” can be felt as early…
Poetry Friday: Student Newspapers & Poetry Pages
As part of our writers’ circle, we produced a third-grade newspaper for four years, from 2014-to 2017. The papers were all published from late April to late May, towards the end of the school year. All third-grade classrooms got copies that were two-sided and contained four-page spreads. And the classroom teachers allowed them to read…
Owned Treasures, Recently Found
Today is Slice of Life Tuesday! Thanks go to TwoWritingTeachers.org for creating this group and hosting it each week. I have participated in this supportive writing community since February of 2017. As we continue to clean out to ready ourselves for our move next month, I am finding enjoyment in reminiscing about things I’ve found…
Book Review: Moon Over Manifest
It’s been a while since I wrote a book review. Mostly, I think that is because I’ve been less than thrilled with the books I’ve read. Last last week that changed. I’ve been moving a lot of books which has given me the chance to see what I have that I never read or what…
Slice of Life: Disappearing Post on School Board Seats
Last night I wrote a somewhat lengthy post about school board seats. It was a cohesive blog about the issues school boards are having now. I reviewed my own extensive involvement with our school district, as I served in numerous volunteer capacities over the 21 years my boys were in school here. As an active…
A Change of Mind and Heart: Education is not enough
When I was in graduate school for my natural resources degree (EE/EI), one of our first assignments was to read two papers written by seminal voices in the environmental field. One was by Richard Wilke and the other was by Jo Kwong. Before I started the assignment, I was pretty sure that I felt that…
Stop Assuming, Please!
There’s a lot of assuming going on. You might assume I am a Republican. Actually, I was a registered Independent voter when we lived in New York State twenty-five years ago. When we moved to Wisconsin, I might have registered as a Republican. Honestly, I don’t know. And, it doesn’t matter because I don’t vote…
Educational Soapbox: Dander Up!
One thing I miss about not having my boys home anymore is the conversations we would have after dinner. This is true of my middle son, especially. He is a big picture thinker and a conceptual learner. Our current educational systems, in the U.S., at least where we live in the mid-west, do not cater…