Reasons Like Seasons

I'll be doing whatever snowmen do... June...the mixed blessing of months. On the one hand, my students are itchy to be finished with work and get away for the summer; on the other hand, my older son gets out of school, and I have to entertain him 24/7.  Wait. Mixed blessing?! Where is the good part?! (I love my boys, but after about four straight days with them, things start to hit the fan.) Camp. I am calling camp to the rescue. The treacherous balance of quality time, sanity, and cost weighs large. After much careful consideration, I decide to mix things up with a Monday/Thursday/Friday schedule for the big one and a Monday/Tuesday/Thursday for the small fry. That means I get Mondays to myself, Tuesdays with big guy, Wednesday with (gasp!) both of them, Thursdays to recover alone, and Fridays with baby. This schedule costs more than my usual monthly childcare budget, but as I mentioned before, sanity is one-third of the calculation pie, and sanity, appa...

One of my middle school students wrote me an email explaining that a member of her team would not take the role of secretary to take notes for her group. Here was my response: Dear Student, Thank you so much for the wonderful job you have been doing leading your team for our play. I am pleased with your leadership and proud of your developing skills. As a leader, sometimes other people are difficult to deal with. Sometimes they can't do the jobs we want them to, and sometimes they can but choose not to. If one of your teammates will not complete a certain job despite repeated requests, I suggest you ask her which role she would like to take, and if it is reasonable, then let her take that role instead. All people are not good at all things, and I expect you will feel better and find more success if you allow you team to build on its strengths rather than focus all of your attentions on its weaknesses. Thank you, again, for all of your work. Sincerely, Mrs. Lydon  ...