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Setting and Tracking Family Goals
I am enjoying my family so much right now. I know that sounds weird to say. I have always loved my family, but we are getting into the stage of life when I really enjoy our time together. We are out of the breast feeding stage and the napping stage and the diaper-changing phase. We are in a phase when the tantrums are decreasing and the conversations are increasing. We generate ideas together and make plans. We play games and read and ride bikes and hike and do art. And swim. How could I forget that one? Tate is now swimming completely independently so being around the pool is more… Read More -
Is the Vasectomy Working?
The answer is yes. And the answer to this question: “Did you really make your husband go to the doctor to check to make sure his vasectomy is working?” is also yes.I hear stories about people who accidentally have third children, even though their husbands have had vasectomies. I didn’t want that to be us.It’s hard. On the one hand, I can absolutely understand why someone would want a third child. The truth is, when I’m 60, I’m sure I would love having three adult children. I love the idea of more personalities and more variety in our family. But that path from 39 to 60 would not… Read More -
Teaching Problem-Solving to Young Children
Over Spring Break, I read an awesome book called Children’s Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction. It’s an approach to supporting children to strengthen their natural abilities to solve math word problemsIn the context of a classroom, you present a problem to the group, give them time to solve it individually (with the option to use manipulatives if they need to model the problem for themselves), and then bring them back together to share various strategies children used (since there are many ways to solve a single problem).The teacher doesn’t actually teach anything. Instead, they simply choose problems in a very intentional way and then purposefully choose which children they… Read More
