All I Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

It's been an age since I posted. This is a busy time of year for me. That means the juggle is even more hectic than usual and you just don't get to do all the things you would like to do.

One of the things that I didn't get to do was attend Liam's kindergarten curriculum night last week. I was sorry to have missed it for a number of reasons. Last year (pre-K 4) I really didn't have any idea what curriculum night was supposed to do and I was very new to the whole issue of how I as a parent am supposed to relate to the school I send my child to. This year I have more complete views on both of those things and I have spent some time educating myself on the whole issue of what should be covered in a core curriculum. There is as little consensus on this as there is on the whole question of what environment children learn best in. If you're interested - I found the book "What Your Kindergartner Needs To Know" by E.D. Hirsch Jr. and John Holdren to be a great resource. It fits with my growing sense of how involved I need to be in Liam's education in order for it to be as fully rounded as I want it to be.

That doesn't mean I'm looking to front up at school and start double guessing the teacher. One of the most interesting aspects of last year was that Liam was put in a class with a teacher that was widely renowned as being God's gift to children - and for several months I didn't like her at all. On one of my first interactions with her I took Liam to class and watched as she told him his "sleep toy" was too big and he should have brought a smaller one that would fit in his cubby. He was so excited to bring that toy because it was a gift from someone special and her tone had his lip trembling and his eyes leaking within seconds. The next week I spent some time talking with the teacher's aide as I dropped Liam off, only to have her interupt and admonish the aide from the back of the room. She was altogether so unfriendly at drop off time that I stopped even trying to interact with her. At that point I thought "well she's certainly something that begins with B but it's not brilliant."

But as the year went on I saw what a wonderful teacher she was and how Liam was blossoming under her instruction and learning about things I never would have expected to see in a pre-K curriculum. Modern art, Greek mythology, French history. I also learned that my one on one interactions with my son are nothing like what a teacher who was 16 5-year olds in a class is dealing with. By most measures Liam is an extremely easy going kid - that's not true of all of them. A key aspect of what kids learn in school is how to operate effectively in group situations. And as a parent I learned that what I initially think of the teacher is far less important than I once thought.

But that doesn't mean the teacher is always right - or that you can abdicate responsibility for your child's education to any teacher or any school and then take the approach of criticizing when it is not what you want. Hence my greater interest in understanding exactly what the class will be covering in the pre-K curriculum. A few weeks back the mother of another child in Liam's class ran into me at a local store and asked what I thought about the educational content of an upcoming field trip. She clearly did not see the value of it and it overlaid a more general lack of comfort with the whole school approach to education. (Liam's school is at the crunchy granola, whole child, non-competitive end of the spectrum.) To be honest I hadn't even thought about the field trip but I am an advocate of the "learning through play" concept and the need for shcool to be fun and engaging for 5 year olds if it is to instill a lifelong love of learning.

And so I was happy when the following paper was included in the packet of information that Liam's teacher sent home because I missed curriculum night. It doesn't cover the content of the year's lessons - but I think it describes the approach pretty effectively. I like the distinction between wisdom and knowledge. Remember - knowledge is recognizing that a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Wisdom is knowing you still don't put it in fruit salad.

Why I Blog on Ordinary Days

A few days ago after my sister discovered my blog - she asked me why I was blogging. She said she "got" how just the act of writing about my life and my experiences helped me to process them but she was curious as to why I wanted to do it publicly. Part of it is the commitment factor. Even though I am a writer, I have never been able to consistently keep a journal. And yet when I look back at all the photo books I have created - particulalrly the ones I have done since Liam was born - I see how much they provide me with a link to thoughts and feelings that would otherwise be forgotten. Writing does that even better - and blogging is like publishing, which I know how to do and know I will stick with. So that is one reason why I blog.

The other is just that, as I get older, I long for the sense of community that comes from being with people that see the world the way I do and all the joy that comes from building friendships and helping and supporting others through everything that life throws at us. In the course of my day I come across a lot of things that make me laugh, make me cry, make me angry, make me wistful..... and my blog is my way of sharing them in the hope that they bring joy to someone else, or help them cope with something they are finding challenging.

One of my dear friends is a lady I get to see all too little as she lives in New Hampshire and we are both busy working moms so there is never as much time to chat as we would like. But she touches my heart each time we speak - or even email. This week she sent me this. The Gift of Ordinary Days needs no introduction. I loved it. I hope you do too.

LOL - Now That's Funny

The perils of an older generation adapting to new technologies.....

Fun with Flipper

In the last week of the school summer vacation I took Liam on a little mini vacation down in the Florida Keys. We’ve been to Key West a couple of times before but this time we stayed at a resort on Duck Key – which is only about half way down – 10 miles north of Marathon. The main draw card for us was the chance to interact with dolphins – and as you can see from the photos below we got to do just that.

At first they said they only had room for one more in the program on the last day of our trip – so I booked it for Liam, being a little worried that he wouldn’t trot off without me and follow all the instructions properly if I wasn’t there (typical mom huh?!)  I needn’t have worried because he wasn’t the slightest bit perturbed but just after they got started with the “class room” which is the 10 minutes in which they go over the drill of what to do and what not to do – the lady who had checked us in came out to me and said they had room for me if I wanted to do it. I immediately said “Oh no that’s alright my son seems OK” and then I thought “What am I thinking? Why does he get to have all the fun?” and so I scurried in there as fast as my feet would take me. We were just on the dock giving the dolphins and commands (and lots of fish.) They have a swimming interaction program but Liam is too young for that yet.

It was still great. There is something just magical about those creatures. The trainers were giving us lots of practical information about the dolphins – their life span, their size, their speed, what they eat – but my head was filled with tales of mermaids and shipwrecks and every hour I spent in the water as a kid swimming with my feet together pretending to have a tail after watching reruns of “Flipper.”

Liam was suitably impressed – particularly with the fact that a couple of the dolphins had pink tummies. We may be growing out of a few things but we’re still secretly big on pink. He talked about Twister and Sherman for days and can still remember the names of all the other dolphins we saw long after I’ve forgotten them. I have a feeling that those few moments of touching that slippery, smooth skin will stand out in his mind long after everything else in his ten week summer vacation has faded. I can’t wait till he is old enough for us to go swimming with them!

Batten Down the Hatches

Interactive Hurricane History

My thoughts are with all my friends on the East Coast dealing with Irene this weekend. Thankfully the storm is weakening but it remains a threat and they are in for a wet and windy weekend at best. My first experience of a hurricane was Wilma in 2005. She arrived in Florida literally a few days after I did and definitely had me thinking " Good lord - what have I done moving here?" Ulimately my house had little damage - but the neighborhood and town were hit hard and the memories won't soon be forgotten.

If you click on the link above - you get a very cool interactive map from the Wall Street Journal that shows the paths of all the hurricanes in the last six years. Let's hope Irene does nothing to make her more memorable than the countless ones here we barely even know about.

Floating Football

Take a couple of minutes out of your day to watch this youtube video - click on the picture below. It's guaranteed to make you smile and maybe even wipe a tear from the corner of your eye. Perfect antidote to the usual breakfast serving of fear, disgust and depression that comes our way by virtue of the morning news. My friend Jill - who is an inspiration in and of herself - first posted it to her facebook page. Her daughter's first grade teacher had showed it to them in class. We are blessed to have so many wonderful, enthusiastic, creative people who have dedicated themselves to educating our children.

Yet another reason to feel good about your day. Enjoy!

At Last - A Shirt That Fits...

There seems to be this underlying assumption that it is a wonderful thing to be ...err... well endowed. I think this one falls into the "grass is always greener" category. If you haven't been able to go without a bra since before you were a teenager, the rationale for thinking this can be kind of lost on you as it definitely has some drawbacks. Skimpy summer tops with shoe string straps - not for you. Tight fitting t-shirts - don't bother doing your make up 'cause no one will be looking at your face. Boob tubes - dream on. Even with a strapless bra you'll look like you swallowed a sausage sideways.

Seriously - for all the social admiration that supposedly goes with being a member of the over-the-shoulder-boulder club the fashion industry does a lousy job of catering to the curvy figure, particularly in the realm of business appropriate clothing. Victoria's secret seems to be that she has channeled her inner porn star so well she's made a career of it and she doesn't have much left to say to those of us with more mundane jobs.

Actaully it's not lingerie that I find the most challenging - it's blouses. Shirts. Any top with a button front. There are just precious few that fit well, don't gape and yet don't have to be so big that you feel like you stole it from your man's closet. And so I was delighted to find that someone who had expereinced similar challenges all her life actually went and did something about it. She used her tailoring background to found CarissaRose (www.carissarose.com) - a website that sells ladies shirts (and a couple of dresses) tailored to the top-heavy. I can attest to how well the shirts fit and it's true what they say - it really does make you look slimmer to wear clothes tailored to your shape.