Monthly Archives: February 2013

President’s Day Challenge

Monday, February 18, 2013, @ 9:24 amadventure, Family, history, Life in General, pets, Reading, sports, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, Grayling, great days, history, making the days count, patriotism, President's Day, reading, seventh grade, teaching, US Presidents, winter sports, writingClay

Today is President’s Day. It’s the holiday to celebrate all of our presidents, but in particular George Washington’s birthday. I remember in elementary school coloring pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and learning stories of their exploits of how George chopped a cherry tree down and couldn’t tell a lie and Abe was an honest self-educated man who chopped wood. I don’t know if these tales are true, but I do know that these two presidents led our nation in a time when its citizens were uncertain of how events would turn out.

And so being the wise nation that we are, we celebrate our heritage and history by letting the schoolchildren out of school for the day. Now, in the interest of transparency, I do personally benefit from this holiday and all of the other holidays, as well. I am a teacher. However, being a teacher does not imply an endorsement of our holiday practice. Now that that is out in the open, I can continue. Continue reading President’s Day Challenge →

President’s Day 2013

Sunday, February 17, 2013, @ 9:42 amadventure, Family, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, travel, WritingAmish farmers, children, Family, Grayling, great days, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, teaching, weather, winter sports, writingClay

this morning's report.... — this morning’s report….

It’s another three-day weekend for me and a four-day weekend for the kids both my own kids and my students. Monday is President’s Day and schoolchildren across the land have the day off. I think those days should be spent in school, but I’m a minority voice. My school district has parent-teacher conferences Tuesday and the kids are off while we meet with parents to give feedback, praise, and some serious honesty about how their child is performing (or not) in our classes. My kid’s school district had an in-service day Friday – so we both had a long weekend. What it really does is to provide an excuse to spend time recreating, so we left town and headed north for snow and winter outdoor fun. Continue reading President’s Day 2013 →

Another Saturday evening post, on Sunday evening

Sunday, February 10, 2013, @ 7:48 pmFamily, Life in General, pets, Reading, teaching, Weather, WritingBell's Palsy, children, education, Family, great days, Guys Read, hard work, Ivy the dog, making the days count, pets, reading, seventh grade, teaching, weather, writingClay

I started writing this Saturday morning and I never finished, such is life.

It’s Saturday mid-morning and my plan to post in the middle of the week was foiled, yet again. Honestly, I do have ideas during the week, but I never have time to actually sit down and write them. Looking back on my week, it was a blur. I had to think back long and hard to remember all of the big rocks, small rocks, pebbles, sand, and water, which filled my week to recall all that I did and or more importantly, did not do. Continue reading Another Saturday evening post, on Sunday evening →

Sixty degrees in a week

Sunday, February 3, 2013, @ 12:58 pmadventure, Family, growing up, Life in General, Reading, sports, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, hard work, making the days count, seventh grade, teaching, weather, writingClay

A week ago, it was cold and freezing rain and ice was bearing down us. This morning it was lightly snowing. In between, we’ve had a sixty-two degree day, rain, near zero temperatures, sub-zero wind chills, and our first significant snow – a paltry two and half inches. It is difficult to believe it is February in Chicago. Continue reading Sixty degrees in a week →