Middle School is officially in the rearview mirror. Everybody finished, everybody survived, and I don't just mean the eighth graders. Many years ago, I was invited to speak at the continuation ceremony of a class of eighth graders, a special crew who had gotten their start in my kindergarten classroom. They're all well into adulting […]
I took my children to school today. It felt gloriously normal, like muscles that have ached to be stretched. It's hard to be isolated in eighth and ninth grade. As a friend of mine said, "Once I started ninth grade, my social life was so busy that I pretty much never really came back home." […]
This is the final week of distance learning, a household term that nobody knew three months ago. This week, we go to the school to pick up what was left behind in their lockers in the Great Middle School Rapture of March 2020. One of the parents commented on the school thread: I'm so sorry […]
Back when I was navigating the long days with little people, some researchers endeared themselves to me with a released study that indicated that stay-at-home parents have 30+ hours of leisure time each week. They implied there's no reason to complain about busyness or exhaustion, because really, most of it's leisure time. Back then, a […]
"What's keeping you awake at night?" A friend of mine asks this question when she wants to get the to the heart of what's on the minds of the people she loves. The worries that keep us awake at night can point to the core of who we are. What's on my mind tonight? The […]
The carpool lane might be one of the world’s best arguments for homeschooling. If there's one thing that most consistently makes me impatient, or straight up makes me lose my mind, it's the morning carpool lane at my kids' school. If you could be a fly on the windshield (which is admittedly a gross comparison) […]
Well, I'm about to be a Middle School Parent. We went to the Parents' Information Night this week, to dip our toes into the unknown waters of this next life stage. Buckle up, warriors. It's almost game time. Peter and I parked the car and followed the general flow of traffic into a building we've […]
The very strangest thing happened this morning. My sweet Aunt Janet is in town, and she asked about the next book I’m writing, a memoir with the running title Every Confidence. I talked about the first chapter that opens with this sentence: “The first bully of my life was my fourth grade teacher.” (I will […]
Somewhere along the way, likely within the last few weeks, we entered a new era at my house. This new era arrived with a swiftness and subtlety I didn't suspect at all. It wasn’t until the third week of school that I even knew it had happened. Picture day came upon us, and they cared. Suddenly, […]
Among the ranks of elementary teachers, it’s pretty safe to say: once a teacher, always a teacher. I taught third grade and kindergarten before my children were born, and I was the quintessential elementary teacher. With a lifetime’s aspirations and my degree finally in hand, I embraced it all: right down to the plaid jumpers […]
