Last year, Facebook was all the rage among the fifth grade crowd. Why? Farmville. No more no less – sending Mystery Gifts, planting crops and decorating the farm. Over time, Farmville got old (and they pretty much made it so complicated it’s no fun anymore anyway) and the kids got older. Yeah, I know, they… More Ahh Facebook: The Strange (Dangerous?) Case of Tweens Online

Katie’s home room teacher rocks. She not only teaching language arts, but she also brings in lots of life lessons – from drinking to college admissions to cutting. Yep, she brought it up in class and it was the first time Katie had ever heard of it. Turns out, there’s a cutter in her class.… More Relieving the Pain: When 11-Year Olds Start Cutting

Okay, so I need to say a bit more about grades. After my last blog about Katie’s addiction – which has been tempered, sorta   – I find I am still stuck on the subject after watching a disaster in the making yesterday! I arrived at school a little early and decided to wait for Katie… More Report Cards Came Out Yesterday – Publicly. Do Students Have a Right to Privacy?

I was there the first time she used. I actually gave her access to her drug without realizing what I was doing. And it took just a few times to get her hooked. I was a complete enabler. This fall, my daughter became dangerously addicted to grades. If I hadn’t watched Race to Nowhere last… More My Daughter Became an Addict in Sixth Grade

The coolest thing happened yesterday. I didn’t expect it to be cool. I thought it was going to be a nightmare. But man, it turned out awesome. Imagine, it’s Monday: the day after Halloween (where we somehow picked up two extra kids along the way who ended up back at our house to watch the… More Students Helping Students: They Can Lift Each Other Up (Academically)

I love Halloween. It’s colorful, creative and usually good fun. But there are weird conversations going on this year about making rules for how old kids can be who want to trick or treat – like no one over 14 should be allowed to go house to house (can you imagine being the cop who… More Restore Sanity to Halloween: The Ultimate Socialist Holiday!

While I was watching the Giants take game three last night, Katie was focusing on “groking” what she had learned in PE this week in preparation for Friday’s big (first) dance! At the commercial break, she dragged me into the office where she had laid it all out on our white board (they are closet… More First Middle School Dance Comes with Instructions! You Gotta See This!

Ever since school started this fall, Katie has come home with weird stories about new behaviors she’s experiencing now that she’s in middle school. These are things the kids didn’t do before middle school (well, maybe a little but nothing like what’s happening now). It goes like this: Katie opens her lunch her friend immediately… More Tween-age Grousing: This Strange Behavior Has Hidden Meaning

I woke up yesterday fired up. Fall – my favorite time of year! I had scoped out an event at our local crafts store, Beverly Fabrics, and I knew Katie was going to love it. They were offering small craft projects of the fall variety with a hint of Halloween thrown in. This would be… More The Sheer Pain of Being a Tween: So Simple but So Awful

Katie created this award-winning poster for our local water utility. We know water is a limited resource. And I have talked to Katie about it for years. We live in a wonderful area but it is regularly impacted by climate shifts that often result in limits on our water consumption. So today, around the world,… More Blog Action Day: Save Water, Take a Dirt Bath