Early Friday morning, we loaded up the van and headed for Target, armed with three school supply lists and Christian’s iPhone to calculate whether it’s better to buy 18 small glue sticks or 9 large ones. I had compiled the three lists into one so we’d know total numbers without having to cross-check lists, but…
Read MoreAll articles filed in education
Preschool Hassles (a 7QT post)
Nicholas needs to go to preschool. He’s extremely precocious and determined that it’s his turn right now. He puts on Julianna’s shoes, shoulders her purse, and says, “I’m going to ‘chool now. I will see you on Wednesday.” To keep the expense and inconvenience factor low, we planned to send him to the early childhood…
Read MoreGreat Expectations
Last Friday was Julianna’s kindergarten IEP meeting. The wisdom of my fellow parents-of-kids-with-special-needs told me I needed backup for it. Several people offered to accompany me. If I’d remembered before the meeting, I probably would have availed myself of the offer, but as I said earlier this week, my life is crazy, and I only…
Read MoreI Don’t Freak Out…unless…
I don’t freak out about my kids…unless the topic is Julianna and kindergarten. I was honored to be invited to participate in Crippled Girl’s blog month-long series on special needs. Hop on over!
Read MoreKindergarten Demystified
One of the most unsettling things for a stay-at-home parent is that once your children go off to school, you no longer know every single thing that happens to them. Suddenly they have all these rituals that have nothing to do with you; you don’t even know what they are. That’s okay with me; I’ve…
Read More7 Quick Takes
1. Late last week, I short-circuited from novel rejection letters and general loathing for my own work, which naturally led me straight to the edge of an impenetrable titanium wall called WRITER’S BLOCK. After I’d bloodied my cranium against it for a few days, I finally decided it was time to take some time off,…
Read MoreSpecial Exposure Wednesday
I realized something this week: It’s never going to end. For the first two and a half years of her life, my sight was focused on getting Julianna mobile. Crawling, pulling up, and all the other steps along the path to walking. I knew that on the far side of walking lay teaching her to…
Read More7 Quick Takes
1, 2 and 3: Alex’s school years begin. I was a little worried because he’s been giving me a lot of attitude about his new school. I knew full well that this was how he manifests anxiety about the change, but nonetheless, you can’t help but worry. He came home from the first day…
Read MoreAlex’s Last Hurrah
I wanted to give my son a gift, before he enters a new phase of life. I wanted his last two days of small childhood to be unforgettable. And so on Monday, we went to Moberly. We visited Great-Grandma… …and then left the little ones with Grandma and Grandpa so we could go out for a…
Read MoreWaving Goodbye
There’s a moment every day that I love. It comes in the freshness of the new day, on the tail end of the morning rush, after rousing and diapering and brushing and eating, when we hear the bus lumber around the bend and we rush outside to meet it, Julianna a little ball of excitement,…
Read More
Kathleen M. Basi 