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Travel Kits for Kids
I’m constantly asking Matt, “How do we savor this relatively short amount of time we get with our children during the years they live at home?” I don’t mean to sound obsessive, but I see the children that I taught in elementary school already having their own children. The days are long; the years are short.
One of our answers is to travel as frequently as we can as a family. This answer isn’t everyone’s answer; traveling just happens to be something that we really like and enjoy as a family. I love planning trips—really digging in and seeing what the unique options are available in a new place. And … Read More
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Teaching Children about the Big Bang
Tate is turning six at the beginning of July, and I can already see him transitioning from the “Absorbent Mind” to the “Reasoning Mind,” as Maria Montessori calls them. He’s asking about how everything in the universe came to be.
It’s time to start talking about the Big Bang! As a Montessori guide, I learned how to tell the First Great Story. I also made these follow-up cards for children to sequence.
I feel comfortable telling the story, but I also wanted to purchase a book to read to Tate, so that he could have something to go back to independently. After scouring Amazon, I decided on this book: … Read More
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Living in a Racist “Liberal” City
Photo Courtesy my partner Matt: Hank + Tank Photography Back in 2000, I moved to rural Louisiana to teach in a school district that was struggling to recruit teachers. On one of my first days there, I went to get my hair cut on the main street.
As I sat in the chair, I started gushing about how excited I was to be in Franklin, Louisiana. The white hair stylist said, “Yeah, Franklin used to be a good town until all the Black people moved in.”
Having lived in more progressive cities growing up, I was shocked by her blatant display of bigotry and racism, and I was horrified that … Read More