The relationship between a child and their grandparent is amazing. I remember when  my father, who always let my mom do the “kid” stuff, picked up my hours-old daughter and held her like it was the most natural thing in the world.  His smile was so big and his eyes shone so brightly, I honestly did not recognize him.  Watching him dote on her for the next three years, before he passed away, was such a blessing. I’d never seen him so happy.  This year, I got to discover the wonder of being a grandma.  Someone shared the phrase, “You love your kids, but you’re in love with your grandkids.”  Wow, so true.  I literally thought perfection had been born. I’m constantly in awe of every little thing he does.  At our school we see it as well.  There is just a special bond when grandparents come by. Each year we honor that relationship, whether it ... Read More about The Importance of Grandparents

Are you gearing up, have you been geared up or are you clutching to the last bit of summer before you have to start the school season again? Whatever stage you are in, this will be a good resource to make this school year amazing.  Have a schedule in place. Some of us love the lazy summer days when we wake up when we want, eat when we want and sleep when we want.  I am one who when given the opportunity will fully embrace the “Slug Summer”. I work hard and relax hard core. Some of you can relate and getting back into a regular schedule can be hard. So first, write it out. Have everyone’s input into what the schedule needs to look like from morning routine until evening.  Even if this is not written in stone, it will help to get the brain on board for the needed changes.   Some of you had busy summers and stayed on a scheduled, for you just tweaking a bit ... Read More about Prepping for a Great School Year in 3 Easy Steps

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