So I have these really deep and meaningful conversations with one of my friends.  We love to dive deep and get to the heart of the matter pretty quickly. She asked me if I was insecure about anything. People tend to live on a spectrum of desiring security over significance or vice versa and we were talking about where we are on that spectrum. For the record, I’m hard core wired to seek significance.  I genuinely want to change the world for the better.  But when she asked the question, I really thought and said, “ Yes, the one area I have always been most concerned about is being a good parent.”  In my mind, it is the single most important job I or any of us will ever have.  It is also the easiest to get off track.  Let me explain:  Just think how hard it is for some or most of us to really care for our own bodies.  Eating healthy and exercising ... Read More about Parenting – The Most Important Job You Will EVER Have

As we come up on the end of our school year, many thoughts fill my mind and take stock of the year in review. One of my favorite illustrations in the Bible is when Jesus tells the story of the man who built his house upon the rock and because he took such care, it withstood the storms; versus the one who built his house upon the sand and it was destroyed when the storms came.  (Luke chapter 6: 46-49) It’s a helpful reminder that foundations are important. A building well-made can last hundreds, even thousands of years.  Where one poorly made building will soon be worthless.  This year has been a year to test our foundations, to see if our foundation was firm enough to withstand the envy, and strife ,and pressures of our world right now.   I was trying to think of my own visual of what we have experienced this year and what came to mind was a snow globe.  ... Read More about In the Midst of the Storm

Measurement is a concept that is very important in any curriculum. From baking to building, from sewing to super jets - everything must be measured. How much, how far, how heavy, how wide, how tall - and the list goes on. In class, we have been measuring distance, mass, and volume. We’ve been drawing to scale and reconfiguring objects to evaluate surface area. We’ve reviewed metric versus standard units of measurement. The pure love of learning has sent us down the exciting rabbit hole of discovering the many ways measurement plays a role in our lives. In all of this, it is important to reflect on how measurement plays a role in the development of each and every child. In our societal obsession and necessity for measurement, we have a long standing concept in academia of measuring each other. Is this an “A” student or a “C” student? Interestingly these are the same “grades” given to ... Read More about Measuring Up

When I was a new mom, I desperately wanted to know what made for a good mom. Love your kids… ok, that seems pretty natural, but like all worthwhile tasks in life there had to be a certain level of objective excellence that could be achieved. I found my answers from 2 places. Asking parents that had kids I admired, what they felt they had done well, andA book called “Revolutionary Parenting,” by George Barna Both of these sources of wisdom said something very interesting: to be a really good parent, one has to be willing to do things outside of the norm. One has to be willing to choose different parenting styles based on the individual child they have, and one has to be willing to choose different parenting styles from their peer group! In other words, parents who want to excel at parenting need to be very intentional about the choices they make and be unafraid of those ... Read More about Taking The Road Less Traveled

“Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to make him learn things, but by the endeavor always to keep burning within him that light which is called intelligence.” Maria Montessori One of the most rewarding lights to see as a parent is the light in our children's eyes. Children get lights in their eyes for some really wonderful reasons and as parents there is such profound satisfaction when we see it. Our littlest ones are magically capable of this light with the simplest discoveries: when we reappear from behind a blanket during peek- a-boo, or the delight at the effects of gravity while dropping an object to the floor over and over. (Usually at the dinner table) As our children grow, helping them to keep that light aglow is one of our most sacred jobs. The light glows brightest when the child has an "Ah Ha" moment. The desire to discover is ingrained in ... Read More about Look for the Light

2020 has been very interesting to say the least. During this year many of us have gotten off the hamster wheel. Some of us felt pushed off, but none the less we are off and although stunned and dazed we are looking around - really looking around and taking a moment, not just any moment, this moment - to reassess. Our current situation, like all trials, has given us a gift. The gift of observation; the gift of knowing only that which is present and close and the desire to understand it even more - namely our children. We are watching our children and wondering how they are interpreting the world of mixed messages and complete upheaval of normative behaviors they have known. We are standing in awe as our children navigate the ins and outs of their new life. Mesmerized as they calmly look for the bright side in the remote birthday party, interpreting the world through a computer ... Read More about The Gift of 2020