Education | PulseonParenting

The Book Every Parent Needs to Read

May 14 2020

I was soooo ready to take the reins on this. When we got word that our school district was going to start remote schooling in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I went about setting up a schedule for my kids to follow while they homeschooled. They needed structure. They needed to do their chores. They needed free time. They needed things laid out neatly so they could do school as best as they could. But what they really needed was for me to get out of the way. Wow, was this a tough realization for me to swallow. I had…

Apr 23 2020

“My friend’s son has the chickenpox. So I’m taking my kids over to her house for a playdate.” Horrifying as that may sound, there was a time when parents made the effort to expose their offspring to this childhood disease. Some of us parents may remember Pox Parties, and may have even been a part of one. Parental urgency for children to contract the disease rose from the risk of complications that increased with age, and the desire to “get it over with,” among other concerns. Thus the rubbing of elbows with families with a literal pox on their houses….

Mar 05 2020

It’s a stretch. But there is an upside to the growing outbreak of the new strain of coronavirus, Covid-19, that has us on edge, changing spring break plans (or tenatively going ahead with them), making jokes about beer, and the limiting by grocery stores of the purchase of cold-and-flu products. We fear what we do not know, it’s human nature. And we should be concerned about this novel strain of the coronavirus. As of this writing,* COVID-19 has a two to 3.4 percent fatality rate (2 to 3.4 in 100 people afflicted). The virus can incubate for up to 2…

Feb 13 2020

I remember the first time I tried yoga. It wasn’t completely of free will. Up until that morning, I thought yoga and its buddy, pilates, where some kind of granola-y form of useless exercise. Like Lamaze breathing during labor: it sounds good but doesn’t do a damn thing. (At least that was my experience…) But then my parenting group invited an exercise instructor to give us an intro to yoga. Given it was a small group of friends, and I wasn’t going to miss my favorite social hour just because I was skeptical of yoga, I took my place on…

Jun 06 2018

I originally published this post on June 22, 2017. Here is a reprint to kick off Summer 2018. Happy riding, everyone! My family lives in a free-spirited town. A place where you can’t say I’ve seen it all, but you regularly get a little closer. Like the other day. As my favorite barista was handing me a much-needed java, I spotted, making a bee-line across the local highway, a bicyclist pulling a child trailer. Even in my coffee-deprived state I was present enough to think OMG, that’s dangerous, then realized with relief that the trailer did not chauffeur…

Jan 31 2018

I’m not easily swayed. To the frustration of Kirby vacuum salespeople and real estate agents across the Midwest, I’m not quickly convinced, if at all convinced. As Jimmy Buffett sings, “Indecision may or may not be my problem.” Maybe that’s my affliction, too, but I think it really it comes down to my preference for being in my head, mulling things over. And over. And over. Aaaaaand… over. Constant wheel-turning is one of my seriously introvert traits. Overall, I’m an ambivert, sitting on the fence between getting jazzed from socializing and feeling…

Oct 31 2017

As if summer didn’t commit its disappearing act yet again, here we are, facing down November, and I haven’t published my back-to-school post. No, the dog didn’t eat my homework (at least not this time), and I don’t really think of myself as a procrastinator (my fault usually lies in being the opposite). Honestly, it’s been tough adjusting to the new school year, and it still, a whole quarter down, feels like we are settling in. Looking back, it was a bad omen when we shopped for the usual cache of No. 2 pencils (sharpened!) and three-ringed binders (four different…

Jul 13 2017

At 3 am we were awakened by a dull thumping-and-scraping coming from our garage. In my half-awake haze I wondered why one of the kids would be up at this hour, and in the garage no less. Then I heard slap-slap-slap-slap-slap! on the mud room door, and I realized my husband was up, making a ruckus of his own. There’s something in our garage, he said. My husband strode purposefully out of the room, and I was left confused as to where he thought he was going, if our garage was being rearranged (so it seemed) by someone who didn’t…

Jun 22 2017

My family lives in a free-spirited town. A place where you can’t say I’ve seen it all, but you regularly get a little closer. Like the other day. As my favorite barista was handing me a much-needed java, I spotted, making a bee-line across the local highway, a bicyclist pulling a child trailer. Even in my coffee-deprived state I was present enough to think OMG, that’s dangerous, then realized with relief that the trailer did not chauffeur a toddler but an oversized stuffed toy huskie. An arthritic toy dog, who I swear had a look of frozen terror on…

Jun 09 2017

Homeschool is out for the summer! We did it. We really, really did it. 175 full days. Sometimes we hummed along without a hitch, and some days drug on. And on. And on. In other words, our school year was much like a traditional one, with ups and downs. And here are some of them: The “ups”: I got to spend lots of time with my kids. Every day. We haven’t spent this much time together since before the kids started all-day Kindergarten. I feel like I know them so much better in their “tween” stage; I’ve had more time…

Category - Education

The Book Every Parent Needs to Read

How to Give Your Immunity a Boost

Coronavirus (Covid-19): the Silver Lining

Yogaaaah: Its Benefits for You and Your Kids

Rules of the Road: Hand Signals for Safe Bicycling

#MeToo and What Comes Next

Questions to Ask Your Child’s Teacher: the Sooner the Better

Playing it Safe in Bear Country: a Few Stories From the Other Side

Rules of the Biking Road: Hand Signals

Homeschool: a Year in Review