If you asked me last year if I missed teaching, I would have said no. Ask me today and I’ll tell you I do. I had no plans to return to the classroom but a strange twist of fate brought me back to teaching and I find myself missing my students more than I ever…
Education
9 Reasons Your Tween Should Enter the 3M Young Scientist Challenge
This is a sponsored post Identifying problems, coming up with solutions, and a passion for solving problems are characteristics of scientists. If your tween or teen has thought of improving the future of health, safety, mobility, the environment, energy consumption, or the community, they should enter the 3M Young Scientist Challenge! The 3M Young Scientist…
How to Keep Kids Learning When Coronavirus Closes School
With school systems across the country announcing coronavirus closures, parents everywhere have been left wondering how to keep kids engaged while they’re out of school. Trying to keep kids learning when coronavirus closes school and telework productively while balancing screen time with offline activities can be a struggle. My suggestion? Work with your kids to…
26 YouTube Kids STEM Channels & Videos to Inspire Future STEMinists
This post is sponsored by YouTube Kids During the week you can find me in a computer lab down on one knee helping students learn to code. Most of my students chose to take my high school level computer class as an 8th grade elective but some, like Leesa, were assigned to the class. “I…
Have Curious Tweens? Here’s Why They Need to Enter 3M Young Scientist Challenge!
This is a sponsored post When our kids were preschoolers, their curiosity was apparent in endless questions about the world and how it works. Sometimes we knew the answers and other times we didn’t, but it didn’t stop them from asking. The curiosity that our kids had when they were little is just as important…
Teach Digital Safety with Free Online Curriculum & Resources from Google
This post is sponsored by Google With today’s kids accessing media in a number of different ways throughout the day, lessons on digital citizenship are more important than ever. However, the critical learning our kids need won’t happen with just one person having a single conversation. As a parent, I’ve talked to my kids about…
Novice Travelers Ages 18-30: Apply to Explore America with HI USA
I’m a big believer of the transformative experiences that can happen through travel but for many, travel seems out of reach. According to a recent survey of 2,000 Americans, 11% have never left their state, 13% have never flown in an airplane, and 40% have never left the United States. As an educational nonprofit, Hostelling…
A Parent’s Guide to Giving the Best Teacher Gifts (by a teacher!)
As a former teacher, one of my favorite parent volunteer roles was serving as class room parent for my kids’ teachers because I LOVED shopping for teacher gifts. I knew first hand how hard my kids’ teachers worked each day, spending hour upon hour instilling important knowledge, skills, and confidence. I loved finding the best teacher…
How to Teach Coding at Home with Game Changers Kits
This 4-H National Youth Science Day post is sponsored by HughesNet “I don’t understand why we’re not using the computer if this is a computer science class,” one of my 8th grade students groans as he sits down at his computer while I pass out papers. Despite being tech savvy online, the teacher in me…
Rick Riordan’s Trials of Apollo Continues with The Tyrant’s Tomb
Disney Book Group sent me a copy of The Trials of Apollo #4 to check out and is partnering with me for a giveaway It’s not hard to understand why Rick Riordan is called “storyteller of the gods” by Publishers Weekly. Successful best-selling series such as Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, and the…
