PulseonParenting | Let's Get to the Heart of Parenting

Putting Standardized Testing in Perspective

Don't overdo it. Consider how AP courseload fits in with an already busy schedule.

Sep 12 2016

Well, the remaining 40 percent of the districts are reporting in. But it’s too early to call it. Even in this tumultuous election year, I actually wish this post were about the drama leading up to November 4th. But instead, this post is about standardized testing. Our school district is one of the 40 percent whose scores from spring testing are not released until the following school year. As expected, the scores were released recently, and they made headlines in the local newspaper (Butler, Ann. “State tests: Math results alarming, 9-R superintendent says” Durango Herald, Friday, September 2, 2016) ….

Aug 30 2016

It’s hard to believe the back-to-school season is upon us. Kids love the flurry of activity that swirls around shopping for new clothes and shoes (a pair of Tom’s, please, requests my 9 year-old, already a cute-shoe guru), school supplies and for us, homeschool curricula. It’s not quite as much fun completing the requisite back-to-school paperwork and gathering and maintaining (ouch) up-to-date health records (yes, even for homeschoolers). As I do the paper-pushing, I am reminded it is time to repost the following essay on the importance of vaccinating our children: I’m going to give this to you straight….

Aug 24 2016

Well, at least I didn’t say “never.” Instead, fortunately, I said “won’t.” I love the saying “Never say never, never say always.” It’s clever. And most of the time it’s good advice…but there are exceptions. For me, for example, those exceptions are: I will never like marmalade. I will never not get motion sick in an IMAX movie. I will always love my family. I have written three posts on homeschooling, the most recent about how I won’t homeschool our kids and the reasons why. Well, if I don’t swallow my words on this one, I (ahem) never will….

Meningitis, Mistaken Gender, and Orange Pee…Our Week in Review

Aug 18 2016

It was one of those weeks. One of those that by the time it’s over, you feel as if you’ve been in a time warp and wondering what the heck happened. As crazy and weird as it was, the week was a learning experience, a wake up call and in some ways, pretty joyful: ~Early Monday morning, I took my husband to the emergency room; his headache had returned with a vengeance, with a fever, chills and a stiff neck. He was admitted to the hospital for meningitis and then given every available IV drug the pharmacy had to offer….

Aug 12 2016

It’s not just adding insult to injury. It’s literally adding injury to injury. Two of my kids, when they need a bandaid to cover a scraped knee or elbow, end up with that painful, red and raised “rash” from the sticky part of the bandage. Talk about unfair. And putting bandaids on a bandaid rash obviously isn’t gonna work. I remember the first time I saw a rash from bandage adhesive. I was working as an aide in a hospital, and the rash was actually from the white tape we used to secure gauze dressings. Then I saw it again….

Losing a pet and how we teach our kids about loss

Aug 02 2016

We have the worst luck with pets. Dog number one. We had to give her up because she kept running away. Dog number two. Became food aggressive with kid vomit and bit my husband. We had to surrender him to the humane society. Lizard. My son caught “Lizzy” in our yard and designed a lovely terrarium for the randomly-assigned “her.” She lived her life span adored, sunning herself under her own heat lamp and feasting on bits of banana. My son was devastated when she died. Dwarf hamster. Our most recent, and possibly cutest, pet. She loved corn and green beans…

Jul 01 2016

When it’s a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence, I just have to share. Getting all three of my kids to agree to anything at the same time and in the same place is practically a miracle. As my mother-in-law has observed, not just with her own grandkids but in other families as well: one child is always unhappy. Not this time. And the task involved actual work. A request. And since the reward wasn’t a lego set (note: it never is)…well, I still can’t believe this project went 3-for-3.

Jun 16 2016

I completed a half marathon last weekend and this time, I crossed the finish line under my own power (my first “half” didn’t go nearly as well…but that’s another story). Along the way I was relieved to find a port-a-potty a) because I really had to go and this meant b) I was actually well-hydrated for this run through our high-altitude, arid climate. After taking care of business, I was startled to see a man sitting by the side of the road near the portable stall. I hadn’t seen him before so I felt a little creeped out, especially as…

May 31 2016

If someone were to ask me if I were a more of a religious person, or more of a spiritual one, I would say I am definitely more spiritual. I believe there is a reason for everything, things become as they are supposed to be. Not that I’m always happy with the reason or the result, but I truly believe the world becomes as it should. Someone I know recently shared with me a beautiful quote taken from mystery novel The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny: “Where there is love there is courage, where there is courage there is peace, where there…

May 24 2016

It’s almost here! For some of us, it already is. Summer break. Honestly, my head is spinning the school year went by so fast. And I feel totally unprepared for having my brood around for three months. So I dug up this post from a year ago to help refresh my brain on how to (and not to!) navigate summer with kids. And I hope it helps you, too: A year ago, as the school year drew to an end, I wrote a post that received some flak. In Hooray for Summer? (In retrospect, Horrors, It’s Summer! would have been…

My name is Heidi Black and I have it all... Maybe not in the traditional sense of the phrase but I do feel I have it all: three beautiful, healthy children, a devoted husband and father and the privilege of being a Domestic Engineer. (I used to call myself a SAHM but that just doesn’t fit when my day is filled with coordinating 5 schedules and preplanning their execution, all up to a week in advance.) And now, indulging in a not-so-secret desire to write, and following the advice “write what you know” I am ready to share what I have learned from this ironic life journey and along with you, discover answers to those many questions related to parenting.

Getting to the Heart of Parenting...

Putting Standardized Testing in Perspective

It’s Time to Return to School: Should I Vaccinate My Children?

Homeschooling (Yes, This Again)

Meningitis, Mistaken Gender, and Orange Pee…Our Week in Review

Is My Child’s Bandaid Rash an Allergy?

When a Pet Dies

Hate to Pack? Try This “Hack.”

A Little Potty Talk

Where There is Love…

Hooray for Summer (Exclamation Point): Steps to a Successful Break (Question Mark)