I had the privilege of reading early an absolutely adorable children’s chapter book. I even got my own, real copy. Neener neener. I’m reviewing Wishweaver, written and illustrated by J.H. Winter, as both an author and an elementary educator. In both arenas, Whimsy’s journey–and it literally is a journey–is one that will delight young readers…
It happened again last Friday evening, though I can’t say I’m sad about it. My family and I were watching a movie together in the darkened family room. We had blankets and pillows. It was all very cozy. I decided to stretch out on half of the couch, where I snuggled deep in my blanket.…
Have you seen this floating around the interwebs lately? My local radio station posted it on their Facebook page this morning. As of this writing, it’s been shared from that page 55 times, and it’s one of many pages I’ve seen it on in the past few days. I’m sure the number of shares is…
I’m penning this post at the end of a long and irritating day. What should have been a three-hour event ended up being an eight-hour ordeal. But this story isn’t really about me. It’s about my kids. Both of my sons train in Taekwondo. They attend classes three times per week, and they participate in extra…
Way back when I started this blog, it was solely a humor blog. I wrote about funny observations in parenting, teaching, married life, and pretty much whatever struck my fancy. A few things have happened since then. The blog has evolved into a more “author” oriented endeavor, and readership has grown substantially. I’d like to…
I want to have a little fun today. Last night, I took my kids to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. For those of you who live across the pond, CEC is a pizza place/kids gaming establishment. There are some video games and other activities that kids play to win tickets. They exchange the…
My friend’s daughter started kindergarten a week ago, and yesterday he sent me a concerned message. Him: My kid is social and fun and outgoing, but I worry that when she gets in these classes and clubs she just sits there and isn’t making any friends or whatever. In her preschool, the two teachers loved…
Have you seen this movie yet? If not, go see it. Do it now. I’ll wait. Because I may or may not post spoilers. It’s probably trendy to write posts about the movie right now, but I don’t care. I have thoughts about it. Thoughts that I think will help parents and teachers make the most…
Ah, late April. The weather is warming, the birds are chirping, flies have started to invade my house. And the students at school are almost – almost – done with standardized testing. Think if I say that enough times, it will become true? I wrote a post similar to this last year (find it here) wherein…
I’m writing this post on my phone and in the darkness of my room. See? Dark. My boys think I’m asleep. There’s no school today or tomorrow (I want to kiss whoever decided teachers don’t have to deal with roomfulls of kids on Halloween. That is true mercy.) Anyway, I don’t have to be up…
Allison Maruska 