Box of Chocolates

I am a dreamer. I am a thinker. I know for a fact I over analyze everything and question life constantly.  Lately it was been my role of mother.  What I have recently called my guilty pleasure in life, being the stay at home mom of three school aged kids that send to school 5 of 7 days a week.  The other day as I walked out to the mailbox in deep thought I had a epiphany.  What if God's plan for me with my degrees in education is just for the purpose of sheepherding Alex.  Humbling to tears.  What if what God wants for me is not to go to work everyday to make a teachers salary but for the soul purpose of being the best advocate for my kids.  Given all the tools needed to make sure my kids get the best education possible.  I don't thinks these thoughts even if they sound silly should be ignored.  If anyone knew that Alex would be so unique wasn't it God?  Did he guide my path into education just because one day I would be her mom? ...

I try hard not to be that parent.  The parent that really has no business making outrageous requests on behalf of their children. On the flip side my past teaching experience tells me that my kid is unique. I know enough to be dangerous. I have been in the public school as a teacher long enough to know how things work, what questions to ask, and I know who you ask is crucial. Last year in kindergarden my student was reading on a third grade level early in the year. I requested her to take the STAR test early. The STAR test gives you a grade equivalent to reading skills. I only knew this because of my older student. Kindergardeners usual don't take this test because most of them do not read. She was reading on a mid third grade reading level. Her teacher of 26 years said she never had a student that could read so high. Bells and whistles went off in my head. We had our conferences and made requests. What we would have liked to see happen didn't. On the flip side she loved sc...

Education seems to be a touchy subject with so many people.  I know for a fact it is one of my hot buttons. As a parent and former elementary teacher I often think about education and all the different forms.  As a parent I struggle with what is best for my children.   There are so many choices in education.  So when you mix my hot button of education, my children, and the fact I like to write for fun.  You get the following.... We choose to send our kids to public school.  For a number of reasons.  One of them is I don't have the overwhelming desire to homeschool.  We don't send them to private school because we have three kids.  Tuition for three kids at even a low costing private school can run over $15,000 a year.  I also don't think that a private education always gets you the best education. I also feel this way about all forms of education.  I don't think there is a perfect learning environment.  All learning environme...

I recently watched the movie I Don't Know How She Does It. I found it entertaining and irritating all at once. I really don't know how the working mom does it. If her husband is not doing at least half of what I do as a stay at home mom for the family, I see why people end up divorced. This movie probably irritated me because of where I am in life. I am an over-educated stay at home mom. I have been in the college classroom longer than I actually worked in my degree field. I do struggle with this fact more than a normal person should struggle with a silly fact of life. Life is about choices and I made my choices. I had the opportunity to go back to college with tuition paid to get my masters degree. I was newly married with no kids. Carpe Diem!  For two years of my life, two days a week I went to class. When I graduated I was three months pregnant. I never went back to working outside the house once I had our first of three kids.  You can only imagine the guilt that one has ...