There is no doubt that, for education to be effective, there has to be a collaboration and partnership between home and school. Too often, our harried lifestyles prohibit us from taking the time to engage, both as parents and as teachers. This resource from Edutopia may help (it’s a free download that will first ask [...]

As our country’s population grows as never before, high schools in many of the most densely populated areas (and areas with the highest concentration of social ills) have become, in my opinion, “failure factories.” With upwards of 3 to 4 thousand students, those who aren’t lost in the shuffle are much more likely to stand [...]

For a person to be well-rounded, it is important to not only have a strong general (classical) education, but also to have a vocation. The classical education stands as vocations change. But to start off in the workforce and in the adult world, the ideal is to have both a strong foundation in academics and [...]

This from a friend (and teacher) who used my Summer Mini E-Course: “This is a great resource! Thank you for all of the creative ideas. I have been looking for something other than workbook pages! My children will love them.” I love getting feedback too – Thanks! – Heather

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, some great local education news: “Carver Middle has been transformed from a failing school… to an exemplary one.” Read on. All it really takes is a little TLC. Amazing that it took a first time principal, rather than a current staff or commnity member, to take notice! Great job done!

Anyone else out there use Technorati? Technorati Profile

If you are looking for an alternative to a paper dictionary, or if you would like to find a rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, and traditional dictionary all in one place, complete with audio tools that allow you to hear the pronunciation of the word, check out www.wordcentralcom. It is a site from Merriam-Webster and, while its [...]

I was working with my 3rd grader on a writing project for school. I noticed that he had taken copious notes in school in preparation for a report, and that most of them were written in simple, fact-based sentences. When asked to write a rough draft, he drafted a boring topic sentence, copied each fact [...]

Whether you are a parent, a teacher, or both, you make your greatest impact on the children in your life not by the content of what you ‘teach’ them but by the person you demonstrate to them every day – in other words, by who you are. I read a wonderful article recently on the [...]

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills presents a framework for 21st century learning that includes not only the ‘basics’ of core subject areas, but also areas that have been all but abandoned under NCLB, such as communication, critical thinking, and innovation. I applaud their efforts and urge you to take a look and see if [...]