Habits of Mind

You have to take that leap of faith toward a new idea or a new way of thinking and then lead through it.

It wasn’t too long ago when I started turning the pages of an emotional outpouring of saying goodbye to four boys into a book. Ok...it was a long time ago. That was in 2017. It’s hard to believe all the places that story has taken me. I actually did it. I wrote and published a book. Not a small feat by any means, but looking back, I sort of wonder what took me so long. Why did some of the pages seem to just stick in my mind and never make it on paper? Why were there so many d

Have you ever had one of those moments where reality doesn’t match your expectations? Sometimes when this happens it’s easy to get stuck in a downward spiral. This happened to me recently. I was so excited to be accepted to present at the annual MEGT conference in Brainerd, Minnesota at the end of January. I know it seems strange to be excited about driving up to Brainerd in January, but this conference had been an annual event when I lived in Minnesota. It was a time to gath

What are some moments when you experienced joy?

When I first started planning to do this blog, I had a great idea for an inspirational message about getting up in the morning and leaning in. But to be completely honest, this is something I’ve struggled with over the past few weeks. With the cooler fall mornings, instead of jumping out of bed, I have been hitting the snooze and snuggling under the covers for a few minutes. Many of my creative writing tasks have recently been replaced with needing to develop spreadsheets and

I thought it was spring.  After spending sixteen years in Minnesota where spring plays peekaboo until June when it launches right into summer, I was wary.  But it seemed like spring.  The water in the chicken coop finally thawed.  I was finally able to dump out the frozen chunk of ice from the kiddie pool, otherwise know as the duck pond, and fill it was fresh water.  The ducks thought it was spring too!  The ducks, chickens and cats enjoyed a few days of free ranging in the

Want to know how well your student is learning or what your school is teaching? Listen to the questions.  I am lucky to drive 3 high school students to school a few days a week.  No, I’m not being sarcastic.  I do consider this lucky.  For several logistical reasons the neighbors and I decided to carpool.  Why is this lucky?  Well, you know how you talk in a cab or a limo without really paying attention to the driver.  That’s exactly what happens on our morning commute.  Many

Our chickens gave us our first eggs this week.  It was so exciting to see those two eggs just sitting in the nesting box.  While it seems simple, it’s actually a culmination of months of effort.  Buying and raising chicks, 3 bags of feed, building a coop and run, bringing them in and out daily, and lots of cleaning. So, you’d think I’d be frying up and enjoying these first eggs.  However, while one of the eggs was small but perfectly formed, the other had a really soft shell

When the spring rains finally stopped, I think the only thing that grew in my yard were weeds.  I’m in a new house with a lot of yard that hasn’t been tended in quite awhile.  As each new green thing burst through the ground I had no idea if it was a plant or a weed.  Now that we’re fully into spring it’s pretty clear that while there are a few welcome surprises, much of what has sprung up will need to be weeded out.  Some weeds are easy to spot and you simply grab them by th