Diane Ackerman once said “Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning”.  If you watch a child or children playing, you will be able to see that indeed through the art of play they are learning and processing the world around them.  Toddlers are busy and haven’t developed a long attention span to most things yet.  Finding creative play-based activities or tasks that work on building specific skill sets, while allowing the brain to do what it does best, learn through play is the goal of Toddler Tasks Thursday.  Child Development experts say that typically a reasonable expectation of attention...

You know those things that are lost on your To Do List?  The random things that you KNOW you have to figure out…. Like the life things, but they always seem to get put on the back burner?  OR maybe it is some way that you want to be more intentional, an area that you want to focus on and grow in, but it just never gets the attention it deserves? Welcome to Tackle It Tuesday!  The goal for Tackle It Tuesday is to provide action steps on one area of life and help you to create real meaningful change...

On Friday, March 13th I got up and got ready for school like I did any other day since August.  I drove to school, I started my day waiting for my kids at the door to say good morning as they filed into our room.  There were plans… there were lessons… there were skills.  Far more than those things though, there was also love, care, smiles, laughter, jokes, brain breaks, dance parties, snack, food, reading spots, and relationships… just to name a few. Shortly after lunch and recess, I learned that we would be closing for the following week due...

Help. Why is it SO hard for me to ask for help? I guess I know why… and if this is hard for you, I bet if you think long and hard you will find your why too. I grew up spending a whole lot of time with my Grandma, being her “right hand”.  During all of those years I listened to the stories about the Great Depression… like about walking to the “crick” and breaking the ice to get pails of water before they had running water.  I heard about raising four boys.  I heard about cleaning houses and...

Picture it: November 12, 1916… If you google this day, nothing totally remarkable happened in the eyes of most.  It was a day, a relatively normal day in November.  Yet, to our family, it is one of the most remarkable days of all.  Happy 103rd Birthday in Heaven, to my best friend, my soul mate, my confidant, my rock, my Grandma.  I’m a day late because yesterday hit me hard and I couldn’t sit down to write this yet.  I’m always flooded with emotion on this day and up until recently, I did a great job of placing a wall...

Balance. It seems simple, right?  We learn early as kids that the balance beam requires skill, practice, and that word… balance.  Yet, along the way, we never receive specific guidance on how that balance beam will translate to real life. I used to believe, not so long ago, that I was supposed to have it all figured out.  We turn 18 and we are “adults”.  Some of us go to college or right into the work force and we are off “on our own”.  We get married and we are “settling down”.  These life changes happen and nowhere along the...

If you have never googled the phrase “Social Media Quotes” and then clicked Images… PHEW!  You might just be blown away at some of the quotes there.  They cut deep.  You may even feel personally attacked because you relate so much.  Here are just a few that popped out to me: “Social Media is addictive precisely because it gives us something which the real world lacks: it gives us immediacy, direction, and value as an individual.” – David Amerland “I hate that our generation feels the need to share everything with the internet first before connecting with another person” “Don’t...

INTRODUCTION: READ ME FIRST:I don't usually do introductions, but for this one I feel like it is necessary. I wrote this post a few weeks back. I went back and forth on posting it and decided not to. I kept envisioning friends sending me messages, worried about me, ready to throw me in a loony bin. I sent the post to a couple BFF's and after sitting on it awhile, I have decided I need to share this post. Life is hard. It is beautiful, wonderful, amazing, and so much more, but it is also hard. We are pulled in...

O. Fred Donaldson once said “Children learn as they play.  Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn”.  As a teacher, I have the distinct privilege of watching students learn every day.  I have a front row seat to “a-ha” moments, eyes lighting up, hands shooting into the air, and that light bulb moment when you get something for the first time.  I have the honor of being there for it all, the struggles, the work, the moments when they want to give up, and finally those sweet, sweet moments when they get it.  I get to be the...

Hello friend!  Have you ever been questioned or challenged?  I would bet the answer is yes.  In some way, at some point, you have been questioned by someone else or challenged about a statement you made or a belief you have.  We have all been there.  Today on the blog, I explore how my Dad questioning me, challenging me, and at times not being on my team made me a better person. I have been trying to be very thoughtful about parenting.  I know that we will make mistakes (loads) and as Millie is learning and growing, so are we. ...