Yesterday, we went for a bike ride through our small town here in the mountains. We picked up our young American born Jamaican friend who moved here from Texas with his mom and dad when he was two. The boys were riding on the sidewalks, hopping on and off the curb, and I said to… Continue reading Let’s be “Radically Pro-Kids”: Tap the Glass and Talk to Each Other
During our daily pandemic pandemonium, it is clear that not every week of homeschooling and teaching from home is good. Actually, most of them are not, but this week was extra not good. Now that the weekend is here, I can finish cleaning up the bird poop and feathers all over the walls of our… Continue reading That Night I Caught a Bird Inside my House
Maybe you are a senior perched on the edge of everything. Maybe you have a senior at home just trying to make the best of a crappy situation to finish this last year of high school from their bedroom or your kitchen table thanks to COVID-19, social distancing, and remote learning. Maybe your work… Continue reading For the Class of 2020, Those Who Love Them, Teach Them, and Learn From Them…
Recently, I took our daughter to see Annie with a group of local female mentors and the young women they mentor. This Annie was amazing, and the production at Plymouth State University included 125 actors and actresses ranging in age from 8-80 and included very professional as well as community theater participants. This version included Franklin Delano Roosevelt from… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Blog, March 13, 2020: “When We Least Expect It”
When Geoff headed away to work this week he was very excited to be traveling to Sunday River and Sugar Loaf for Maine Adaptive Sports. Don’t get me wrong, he generally loves his career when it comes to working with athletes, teaching skiing, and helping people to reach their potential. However, he was EXTRA excited… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation: March 30, 2020: “The Power of Yet”
First, thank you to Mrs. Felicia Hamilton and Mrs. Sally Nicoll for their 3rd grade “Struggle Time” poster which I observed while my big kids were up sharing read alouds during Read Across America Week in early March. Some of my sophomores were planning to help me to recreate a HS version when the Coronavirus… Continue reading In “Struggle Times” of COVID-19
Hello World, I’m a teacher without a classroom, which made me cry packing up yesterday. It’s not the first time I’ve cried this week, and likely won’t be the last, now a homeschooling mom of a third and fourth grader trying to teach high school English remotely. Earlier in the week, a male friend, not… Continue reading Letter from Just One Teacher in Just One Place
When you are 8 and supposedly have the “oldest parents in the third grade,” you argue that at 16 you won’t have to share a car with your sibling like your parents did with their siblings because, well, your parents are old enough that they will be in a nursing home by the time you… Continue reading When You Have the Oldest Parents in the Third Grade…
A friend sent me an article about a woman who had lost both her arms below the elbows and her legs below her knees. As interesting and powerful as the story was, as empowering as the woman clearly is in her day to day life, I wondered why this friend had sent me this piece… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Blog, January 9, 2020: “Let’s Face It…”
Dear Greta, You asked your Elf on the Shelf Snowball for a gift from the heart…with your heart being so big at 8.5 years old, this will be an enormous undertaking. You seemed very happy with your cozy, fleece Christmas blanket the morning before you kicked that older boy, not your brother, in the… Continue reading Gifts from the Heart: Body Belongings, Elves, and Tooth Fairy Criminals
