Teaching is hard. I think everyone knows that intellectually, but once you’re in the trenches it’s.really.hard. Physically, emotionally, and intellectually. And when the teacher is drained and just done for the day, the week, or (yikes!) the month, it can be hard to show love…
I’m a planner, especially when it comes to Back-to-School season. This lady prepares early. So, I planned my first day of school outfit several weeks in advance. As one does. However, one year I did not account for Restaurant Week. If your city doesn’t have…
I recently had a question pop into my head about my great-grandmother’s confectionary (a sweets and food store) that she ran a century ago in rural Idaho. Did the store have a name?? I’ve never heard anyone in the family refer to it by a…
A few years ago, I visited Niagara Falls with friends. On the Canadian side, I spotted a small history museum and convinced my friends to go in with me. It blew our minds – even my friends who aren’t into history – and made me…
Is there anything better than summer vacation? Long days, warm nights, and nothing to do. I always loved summer break . . . for the first 6 weeks or so. And then boredom started to kick in. I had already read all my books, tried…
My one-year-old daughter is nicknamed the “Destroyer of Books.” She puts everything, including books, in her mouth. And proceeds to gum them to death. As a life-long book worm, this is incredibly painful to me. I wouldn’t even highlight my own college textbooks because I…
As an AP teacher and now tutor, I spend every spring in the trenches with my students, reviewing content, creating study plans, and going over test strategies. And come July, it is all about the test results. What did my kids earn? How much college…
I was the “homework teacher”. When I taught high school Social Studies, I assigned homework every.single.night. Granted, my homework assignments were usually creative and engaging. But it was still homework. Every night. In the beginning, I also assigned homework over Winter and Spring Breaks. “Hey,…
It’s Spring Forward! That’s right, Daylight Savings Time has started. The first few days are always ROUGH, but that extra hour of sunlight at night is pretty sweet, right? It’s like we just got an extra hour in the day. Think of all the times…
One time, I got food poisoning while teaching. And I STAYED AT WORK. That’s right – even though all my co-workers told me to go home, I stayed. The students in my last class just *HAD* to do the activity I’d planned, so I needed…