I woke up to a Facebook message from my friend saying there was a shooting at Sparks Middle School and her husband was fine (incidentally, Sparks is right next to Reno, where I live). She wrote this in all caps at least four times and with about five exclamation points behind each "fine." I see [...]
"I just really don't want to go. I'm going to miss you guys too much." My 10-year-old son is lying in his bed. I'm snuggled next to him, stroking his head. He finds a hole between my body and the mattress so he can get both arms around me. It's like he's holding on for [...]
Here's a testament to how well people learn when the material means something to them -- I can remember second grade better than, well, most of college. I had a teacher, Mrs. Keyes, who made you forget you were in school. Let me give you some examples. For the science fair, we made a giant, [...]
We had the first day of school this week, and Elfie was a little freaked out. After three years, she started a new class with a new teacher (they're clumped 1st through 3rd and 4th through 6th), so it was a big change. Anyway, I decided to write something on a Post-It and stick it [...]
Confession time: Not only do I not want school to start and summer to end, I'm actually scared about it. Okay, maybe scared isn't the right word. "Scared" conjures up how I feel on those nights when I'm checking closets, armed with a baseball bat. And I can't say I'm that keyed up. But I [...]
Last night, Elfie and I went camping at Lake Tahoe with her 3rd grade class. It's an end-of-the-year tradition, and even though I wasn't that jazzed about the idea of going up without my husband, I did because she really wanted to take me, not Dad. I don't mean to be a wimp, but honestly, [...]
The kids are in the middle of evil government testing week. This is the way to determine if your school is "good" because everyone knows that sitting kids down and having them fill in bubbles is the best measure of their intelligence. Just ask Einstein. Or Leonardo da Vinci. Or Legolas (apparently Orlando Bloom, the [...]
More tales from the autism front. Today's questions come from the mother of "Tara," a 3-and-a-half year old who was just diagnosed. Keep in mind that I've never met these people, so I'm basically just relaying what we did in these same situations. Our son, Newt, was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at the same age and [...]
The kids turned in their science fair projects last week. Neither of them made it to "the big show," but that wasn't a huge surprise. Motivating kids in this department has been historically. . . frustrating. They basically procrastinate for two months, decide last minute that they want to do a "great job," and then [...]
The science fair was this week, and I've never been so happy to finish "projects that I'm not involved in." While it's lovely in theory to allow your child to conduct and then create a presentation of an entire project on his/her own, the practical execution of said theory never shakes out the way you [...]
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