Mountains and Valleys, educating the special needs child

The title of this post may seem impossible to some. I am one of those people. Me + Math = disaster......  But there is hope. Educators are getting better and better at identifying weaknesses/differences and serving those needs.  For children with learning difficulties, Math can be so frustrating because of it's complexities. Math is both concrete and abstract. And for my fellow Ontarians with children in the school system, Math is mind-boggling! The Ontario curriculum has changed so drastically the way they teach Math that parents are clueless to help even at the primary grades. Children are expected to draw...

*Warning* If you are the parents of children that fall asleep as soon as the car is in motion then I am entirely too envious of you and this post is not for you. This is one area where we are not blessed. My kids NEVER sleep in the car.  From the time my kids were newborn we were trekking them across the province, so you would think that I would be an expert when it came to being prepared for long car trips. Yet this holiday season, I found myself sitting in the van with the kids loud and...

Being able to read is a gift that opens us up to new worlds, new thoughts, new adventures. I take for granted on a day-to-day basis that reading comes so naturally. In fact, I love it. For as long as I can remember, I have sought time to delve deep into a novel and escape for a few hours. The outside word slips away and I lose track of time and of my surroundings.  But for those who struggle with reading, for various reasons, it can be a chore. Instead of a sweet escape or a gateway to learning new...

Today's post is less about education and more about patting ourselves on the back for our good intentions and allowing and accepting our imperfections.  This is important for all parents...or anyone that works with kids. What can we do about the chaos in our lives? We can laugh at it!  When you have children your daily life becomes chaos. You think to yourself; as soon as I can sleep through the night things will get better. I will get organized. Then they sleep through the night and and you all of a sudden have way more stuff to organize. Then...

Pressure. We experience it every day.  Pressure to meet a deadline.  Pressure to do better.  Pressure to conform, to make more money, to meet expectations. Pressure to ........... you can pretty much insert here anything on your to-do list to complete that thought.  But not all pressure is bad. Pressure does push us to step outside of our comfort zone and in the process we discover new things and challenge ourselves to experience things we would not have experienced otherwise.  And then there is physical pressure. The actual physical sensation of weight pressing down on us. The pressure of the...