Fast times and wild living with (the former) Baby Whozit…
Posted in Jessica, KIP (Preschool) on Oct 26th, 2013
If online reading tutorials are teaching me a lot about the cultural expectations that feed into standardized tests and potentially trip up low-income and/or urban dwelling children, then pre-K books are teaching me a lot about how our color language can reinforce negative stereotypes about darker hues and put difficult (notice I did not write […]
Posted in Jessica on Oct 21st, 2013
Or: How to Buy a Car in 10 Easy Steps Step One: Research Edmunds and Consumer Reports for the make, model, and year car you can afford. Step Two: Go test drive three vehicles that match your research results. Step Three: Pick car. Research fair price. Step Four: Have brother look over vehicle. Negotiate price. […]
Posted in Birthday Letter, First Grader on Oct 16th, 2013
“Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man.” (Jesuit saying) Dear Simon, It’s your seventh birthday today, and I’m overwhelmed with two contradictory feelings. The first is that I can hardly believe it’s been seven years since you entered my life. The second is that I can hardly […]
Posted in First Grader, Jessica, Simon says... on Oct 11th, 2013
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a student possessed of an American education is in want of any knowledge of geography. Americans, as study after study informs us, are embarrassingly awful at geography. Can’t find Iraq on a map embarrassing. Thinks New Mexico is part of Mexico embarrassing. Matt and I feel confident we […]
Posted in First Grader, Jessica on Oct 9th, 2013
When we weren’t shopping for a car, clearing out our old car, or talking to insurance agents this past week, we were busy watching Simon twist, flick, and pull at his two loose teeth. One came out on his way to a friend’s skating party Monday afternoon. The second fell out on the third bite […]
Posted in Jessica on Oct 6th, 2013
Or Jessica and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. That would be Thursday, the day of Brandeis Elementary’s PTA Walk-a-Thon fundraiser. I was in charge of coordinating volunteers and figured from the start it would be a long day. It was made a longer day owing to Matt’s being out of town and […]