I came upon this quote the other day from Jeffrey Wilhelm, a professor of English Education who has written several books on kids and writing: “Students now need more time to immerse themselves in curricular topics, more time to read, write, and reflect; they need more informal writing, they need more exploration, and they need [...]
It’s a new year, and just the right time for new projects. Trouble is, the project I’m working on right now has me arguing with myself. What’s happened is that the time spent last month ranting on my soapbox about 5-paragraph essays got me all lathered up. I tried to keep pressing away at the [...]
A photo from last New Year’s Day. A quote recently discovered. The quote’s attribution is disputed, but I love it so much that I’ll take it anyway. It’s a lovely analogy for the way I hope to parent, and what this wonderfarm is all about. A thought to carry into the new year. Happy 2011, [...]
I found a present in my inbox today. Heather Janssen, editor of get born magazine, wrote that the Fall issue of the magazine is finally live on this second day of winter. (Her blog post announcing the issue has the subtitle a little late, but hey, we’re moms.) I have an essay in the issue, [...]
There’s so much to set a person atwitter in December. rendering my beeswax: For the first time I melted down the bits of wax I’ve collected from my girls. I got a nice golden prism–enough to make into two (count ’em!) candles. I was hoping to be able to make more for gifts, but I’ve [...]
If you ever think it might be fun to rile me up, to get me talking so fast that my sentences overlap and my hands dart about like an Italian grandmother’s, just say the words “five-paragraph essay.” Really. Ask the moms at my homeschool park day what I do when the topic comes up. Ask [...]
I have this old friend named Betsy Warrington Ray. Do you know her? Any of you Betsy-Tacy fans? Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books were my no-contest favorite books as a girl. I can still see the particular corner where the “L” books were shelved in the portable that served as my hometown library. In fact, [...]