Social-emotional learning, or SEL, is an education practice that aims to teach both social and emotional skills within the school setting. It equips children with lifelong skills, helping them to develop compassion, thoughtfulness and healthy attitudes, as well as to...
This month, school districts in Austin and the surrounding areas will be marking the 100th day of the school year. It’s a big milestone for children, marking 100 days of learning important new concepts, classroom rules and guidelines, as well as making friends and...
The saying, “Little kids, little problems, big kids, big problems,” may be true in general, but when it comes to making important choices for our little kids, those choices can feel pretty big! Preschool is your child’s first formal learning experience, and it’s...
There is something divine about a good dog. Simple, trustworthy and loyal to the core, it reflects back to us that which makes us our best selves. In its eyes, we do no wrong and we are always worthy of an effusive greeting, whether we’ve been gone five minutes or...
To kids, Thanksgiving can seem like a second-rate holiday. It doesn’t offer the wild costumes, delayed bedtimes and candy-fueled dreams of Halloween, nor does it come with the present overload, cookies and parties of Christmas or Hanukkah. What Thanksgiving does...
As tired parents of poor sleepers and early risers, my husband and I loved a good playground. We could find a bench, settle our weary bones and watch our kids enjoy being out in the fresh air. We might even occasionally rally to push a swing, accept a make-believe...
I can vividly recall how I felt as a child as the first day of school approached. It was a unique mix of excitement and trepidation. Somehow, I couldn’t wait to go back just as much as I dreaded the actual day. This year, our children’s feelings about school...
When it was time for my first baby to start kindergarten, I couldn’t believe the time had gone so quickly. How could this little person be ready to spend all day away from me in the big school? Was she actually ready? By the time my twins were kindergarten-bound, I...
Just hearing the word “travel” makes me want to pack my bags and go! Well, that’s not entirely accurate. It makes me want someone else to pack my bags so that I can just go! I’ve always loved to travel, even as a little girl. I loved the new sights, experiences,...
It has been interesting to watch my children during this strange school year of hybrid learning with its mixture of Zoom and in-person classes. The first weeks of school were spent finding our rhythm, and those early days required a not-insignificant amount of my time...
Being a former teacher, I typically get questions at this time of year about how to address the dreaded “summer slide,” the loss of learning that takes place when kids have months off from school during the summer. If a long break makes parents nervous, reflect on an...
Our oldest daughter had always struggled with math, but it wasn’t until after private testing in third grade that she received a formal diagnosis of dyscalculia, a math learning disability. Despite the fact that I was a former teacher, I felt out of my depth in regard...
