by Stephanie | Articles, Blended Life, Negotiations & Lullabies
Adjectives, nouns, and verbs. Second grade begins to teach the navigation of words in the English language. My seven year old had no problem with nouns and verbs, but adjectives trouble her. As seen by this recent work assignment at school in which she assigned...
by Stephanie | Articles, Blended Life
Her words hit me in the gut. “Mom, I don’t care if it’s my birthday and Christmas presents for the next five years. The greatest gift I could ever receive is knowing who I am.” My daughter is talking about a DNA test. Over the summer we had hoped the state...
by Stephanie | Articles, Blended Life, Negotiations & Lullabies
Notes get sent home in her backpack. Notes from her teacher asking me to please help her speed up the process of writing; encourage her to move more quickly. I get assessment reports saying she is lagging behind the momentum of her class in her short moment story, and...
by Stephanie | Articles, Blended Life
Last week my daughter came home from middle school full of energy and with a look on her face that I recognized. She had connected with someone at school in a significant way. But you know tweens, I didn’t want to push too hard, so I began guessing in my head...
by Stephanie | Articles, Blended Life, Book Reviews
Book-smitten. A word I coined with my kids when we fall in love with a book. For me, that book must contribute to our bookshelf – in story, diversity, and beauty. The power of diversifying your bookshelf is found both in your children seeing themselves on the...
by Stephanie | Articles, Blended Life
The day of Michael Brown’s funeral I stood in the bereavement card aisle. My three children danced and swirled about me pulling open cards that loudly played “We Are the Champions” or “Celebration” as I stood frozen, hands sweaty, with a card that read ‘We lost...