McKenzie Ross

February 22, 2023November 22, 2022

Ideas On How to Support Our Community’s Teachers

It’s no secret that teachers within public schools (and even private and charter schools) struggle to find the resources they need. How can we as parents and community members help support them? Here are a few ideas!

Give your time. Volunteer in classrooms, help out in the lunchroom, grade papers, put together class parties, or read with students in the hallway that could use extra practice. If you offer your time to the school, it’s almost guaranteed they’ll find ways to put you to work.
Provide teachers with shelf-stable snacks. Oftentimes teachers are buying these for their classrooms out of their own pockets, so it can be helpful to provide them with some to keep around.
Give them positive feedback on things you enjoy or notice about their teaching. It can be such a thankless job sometimes! So nice comments can go a long way for teachers that can use a pick-me-up.
Provide Amazon or Walmart gift cards for their classroom so they can purchase needed supplies.
Ask teachers specifically what they need. Check-in throughout the school year to see if there are school supplies, snacks, or other things you can provide. Ask if they need help with classroom parties or if it would be a benefit for you to spend an hour or two in their classroom each week helping with things.

As a rule of thumb, if you’re heart is in the right place and you’re trying to help, anything you do for your school and teachers can help them in some way. Don’t forget about the P.E., computers, music, and other extracurricular teachers too! They deserve and need help, too!

If you’re a teacher, what would you add to this list? If you’re a parent, what is a way you like to support your local schools?

February 20, 2023December 6, 2022

There’s A Lot of Learning For Kids In Traveling, And I’ll Prove It

Have you ever hesitated to pull your child out of school for a family trip? Well, let’s talk about traveling with kids. I know that even just reading this sentence can cause anxiety in some! To be honest, it does for me, too.

But there is a lot of importance, development, and learning that can come from traveling with kids. And this can be any level of traveling! It could mean packing up and taking an airplane to the other side of the globe, and it could also mean taking a class to the next town over for a field trip. Traveling can be a far or small distance, a long or short amount of time! A few months back I drove my kids one hour to our state’s capitol city to visit the zoo and see the capitol building. We left home around 9 am and were home before dinner. That was still traveling with kids!

Why is it so important? Because there can be so, so much learning and development when adventures like this are taken.

Children learn about different cultures by traveling. It’s fun to read books about cultures and maybe even watch videos, too. But you know what’s an even more engaging and fun way to learn more about the Native American tribe in your state? By visiting them.

Children become more empathetic and understanding of others when they are given chances to experience and interact with people that are not just like them. It is within our human nature to help those that are most like us, but when we spend time loving others, we are allowed to expand that empathy. And what better way to accomplish this than… visiting those people?

It teaches them to go with the flow. Especially for our school-aged children that are set on a very consistent schedule every day (which is very good for them!), it’s also great to let them experience what it’s like to have to change and adapt plans as needed.

It gives them the chance to see how the world works. A country-dwelling kid may marvel at the use of the subway system in NYC, while a city-dwelling kid may marvel at a field of wild horses in Idaho.

They learn that they have a place in this world. In a culture that is very adult-oriented, it can be overwhelming to kids when they feel like they don’t have a place they belong. But showing them that planes, trains, and buses are for them, too, gives them the message that they have a place and role in each community that they are allowed to be a part of.

There are all of these reasons and more why taking the time and effort to travel with kids can be incredibly beneficial. I will be the first to admit, it takes a lot of extra time, effort, and planning. But the payoff can also be incredibly worth it. And pulling them out of traditional school to learn in different ways isn’t the end of the world! In fact, it may just open up their world.

Do you travel with kids? What learning experiences have you found yourself coming across while traveling with them?

Photo by Ivan Samkov

February 18, 2023November 30, 2022

Ways To Help Reluctant Readers

We have a reluctant reader in our house. She has been from the beginning! It’s very interesting though because she loves learning to read and work with letters to put them together into words. But when it comes to actually reading the books, she’s never very into it. Here are a few ideas on how to help reluctant readers love books a little more.

Stop pushing it. Let the child come to the books, don’t push the books onto the child!

Make it fun. Yes, interactive board books may seem too young for a kid in elementary school. But if they are opening a book and choosing to read or listen to words on a page, then it’s worth overlooking the suggested age range. Reading is reading.

Take it at their pace. Yes, it may be frustrating to not completely finish a 10-page book in one sitting. But if halfway through they need a break, consider it a win that you made it through 5 of the 10 pages.

Model, model, model. There is a lot of power in a child watching their parent, teacher, or other trusted adult pick up a physical book and read it. I listen to audiobooks on my phone every day, but once I started reading physical books, my daughter started picking up books and reading a lot more often.

Let them choose. Allowing them choices in the literature they pick up instead of assigning certain titles can give them a lot more interest in books.

Utilize TV or video game characters. Just because a book is based on a tv show, movie, or videogame does not make it bad. Books are books. If they are picking it up, taking it in, and reading the words, it’s reading. And reading is reading. It can be a big advantage for you to take a beloved character and change the setting from the tv to a book.

Above all, accept the fact that not everyone has to love reading. We all have different interests, likes, and dislikes. Celebrate their reading however and whenever you can. You may have a child that celebrates reading 100 books in a year! Amazing! And you may have a child that celebrates co-reading a full chapter book with a trusted adult or peer. Also amazing! Reading is reading!

What are ways you support your reluctant readers?

Photo by Min An

February 15, 2023January 11, 2023

The Many Reasons to Love Reading

My whole life I have been an avid reader. The amount of books I’ve been able to consume has varied my whole life, depending on how much school work or work I’ve had, or the ages and stages of my children. Recently, I’ve been able to read more despite being in the deep trenches of stay-at-home mom life, which has brought me a lot of joy. In 2022 I was able to read 53 books!

There are so many reasons to love reading and books. One of those reasons is the sheer fact that reading is educational. It doesn’t have to be a textbook or self-help book to deem itself educational. Consuming words on a page is inherently so. Taking the time to read word for word a romance novel or thriller, or anything else, is exposing you to different writing styles, vocabulary, metaphors, similes, and so, so much more. You don’t have to be noting all of the foreshadowing and imagery in the book, because somewhere in your brain you are internalizing it. You can thank your English teachers for that!

I love researching and learning as much as I possibly can. I would be content to take college classes forever! But reading a book every day is a cheaper alternative, instead.

Reading takes you places. I know, I know. I sound like a cheesy poster hanging up in your middle school library. It probably has some fantasy-looking tree and weird bubbly letters, too. But if you can cut through all the cheese, it really is true.

My favorite example of this was back in November when the weather here in Idaho started getting really cold and snowy, the good old seasonal depression started kicking in for me. Typically I combat this with some exercise, but we were on random virus #4 and I couldn’t stay healthy long enough to even think about walking around the house, let alone the block. My next solution involved spending a few days on the couch with a vitamin D supplement, some cold medicine handy, and an Elin Hilderbrand book in my hands. Elin Hilderbrand writes books set on the island of Nantucket. Reading about twin sisters on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard spending their days on the beaches and enjoying the sunny weather made me feel like I was there for a time. Elin brought me to the summer days on the islands when I couldn’t go myself.

I’ve also enjoyed some time in Australia, Oxford, New York City, India, Europe during WWII, and many, many other places and time periods. If you give them the chance, reading really can take you wherever you want to go.

For me, reading is also an escape. When life is overwhelming, noises are too loud, and I just can’t handle it all anymore, I always know that there is a book I can escape to for a time. I can leave my worries behind and completely envelope myself into a storyline until I’m ready to head back and face everything that lies before me. Reading really has become a great addition to my mental health.

Books of all sorts have always been such a staple in my life. I could not imagine a world where I wouldn’t be able to pick up a good book and start reading! Instilling a deep love and appreciation for books in young readers is an important job as well, and a blog post will be coming in a few weeks talking more about that. Don’t miss it.

February 10, 2023February 8, 2023

Kindness Begets Kindness

Kindness begets kindness. Those who receive service or kindness in any form are more likely to spread it further and show kindness or service to others. And this high school student applying for our 2023 scholarship is the perfect example of spreading love and service throughout her community after being on the receiving end earlier in her life. She writes,

“In November 2021 I was diagnosed with Epilepsy. During my hospital stay, I received a blanket. At that point, I had been in the hospital for several days. Receiving the blanket really made a positive impact on me and cheered me up. Since then, my goal has been to create a project of my own to give other hospital patients blankets. After starting my project, it began growing rapidly. This project has really brought my community together as many people have donated materials such as fabric to my project. I have been able to give blankets to several community members who are suffering from cancer, including my mother who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer in September. In addition, I have approximately thirty-five more blankets that I will soon be donating to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.”

“Through The Little Ray of Sunshine project my goal has been to bring joy and comfort to people fighting various severe medical conditions. My long-term goal is to start this project up again in January and gather materials to continue making blankets for those in need.”

“Through The Little Ray of Sunshine project, I have gathered many different resources. I have devoted many hours to hand-making these blankets. They can take anywhere from two to three hours to make a blanket depending on its size. In addition to this, I have spent a lot of time uploading pictures to my Facebook website, “The Little Ray of Sunshine project” that I have created for this project in order to keep the community involved. Through the Facebook site, I have dedicated a lot of additional time to responding to texts and emails regarding questions about the project. Other time-consuming aspects of this project include picking up donations from people and teaching other community members how to tie blankets themselves. It has been a fun and rewarding experience to get involved with my community and get to know people while helping others.”

“My project has been up and running since January of 2022. My first steps in the project were to create a Facebook site informing my community about my goals. My initial post welcomed the community members, told them about my story in the hospital, and talked about the various supplies I may need to succeed. Everyone was very supportive of my project and began donating supplies such as fabric. Each time I complete a blanket I upload a photo of it on my page to show my community. Additionally, I give shoutouts to those who donate to the project. I hand-make tie blankets weekly to keep up with my page and get them ready to take to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.”

Photo by Kristin Vogt

February 8, 2023February 8, 2023

Real Life Risky Play

On a fall afternoon, I was outside supervising a group of neighborhood kids playing in my yard and neighboring yards. I am a big fan of risky play, so watching them scale apple trees and climb up our rope swing was bringing me so much joy! (And yes, some anxiety. But I do trust them and their ability to know when it’s too much for their body.)

At one point they found a ladder lying on the ground that they worked together to prop up onto a stump in the yard- yay for teamwork! They were using this ramp to climb up and down and hang on and jump off of it, it was great to watch. However, upon closer inspection, I realized that right under the propped-up ladder were several 2×4 boards that were full of rusty screws and nails.

Instantly their risky play turned to dangerous play.

I was able to take a second to gather my thoughts and plan my next move, how I reacted could drastically change the outcome of their work.

There was danger, but nothing was immediate. Courses needed to be changed, but it wasn’t a life-or-death situation at the moment that I needed to swoop in right away.

I offered them some awareness of the situation,
“Hey guys, let’s look around really quick. What do you see on the ground? Boards with nails in them? Yeah, that can be dangerous if we fall on them! What can we do to make this a little safer?”

Their first solution was to move the boards away from where they were playing, but with the number of children and only myself there to supervise them, I didn’t feel like this would be a safe option to make sure all of the boards were picked up and moved without a nail going through someone’s hand or foot, so I had to tell them we needed to find a new option.

After some more deliberation, they decided to work together to pick up the ladder and move it to a different area to prop up and play on again. After moving it, the ladder was taller and in a more risky position to play on, but the danger of it was gone because it was a safer landing than the alternative.

They played with their setup for hours and hours with no incident! And maybe they would have played in their first location for that long with no harm to anyone either, but the danger there was not something I could ignore.

Risky play is important and good and needed, but as a caregiver, it’s my job to determine when risky play turns into dangerous play.

There was so much learning in this situation, both for the children, and myself! I am not perfect and every situation isn’t handled this well every time. But with practice and time, I’ve learned more and more how to differentiate between risky and dangerous play and the best way to approach the changes we need to make in order to keep everyone safe, while still giving them opportunities to learn through risk.

Our Distance Learning Experience

I think everyone can agree that the winter of 2022-23 was full of sickness, sickness, and more sickness. This was unfortunately all too true for our family as well, even more since we moved to a new city this year. New cities and new schools mean new germs and lots of sicknesses!

From Labor day until Christmas, we were getting hit with one big thing after the next with no breaks in between. Our immune systems needed a break! Desperately! How many more doctors and hospital visits could we realistically take on before we needed to draw the line?

Over Christmas break, we spent a lot of time discussing with our doctor and with each other the best steps moving forward, and ultimately what we knew was best would be pulling my oldest from kindergarten and homeschooling for a time.

It was not a decision we took lightly. This would be a huge decision that could have an effect on her for quite a while.

On Tuesday morning after Christmas break was over and everyone went back to school, we spent the day on the phone with her teacher, principal, and superintendent. Ultimately, the biggest question was, “Is this temporary, or for the rest of the school year?”

With our specific situation, it needed to be temporary. She is not the type of child that would thrive in a homeschooled situation because her social needs are more than I can ever provide her while homeschooling.

Because we chose to make this temporary, we needed to figure out the best way to move forward, whether we would unenroll her from school and then re-enroll when she came back, or how we would handle it.

But we ended up being very fortunate that as a result of the 2020 Covid shutdowns, distance learning is still an option, but this is the last year they are allowing it in our district. So a distance learner she became!

When schools shut down in 2020, I, fortunately, did not have a child old enough to be in school and did not have to take on the burden of distance learning. However, we’re getting the full effect now! We now have packets of papers to do with her, books to read, activities to work on, and more.

It’s been fun to have her home each day and it’s been fun to hone in on my inner teaching skills to help her understand new concepts. I’ve loved being more involved with her learning to read and we’ve adapted a lot of the worksheets to be more hands-on and interactive, which I know is a huge privilege we have while doing work one-on-one instead of in a classroom of 25 students.

But at the end of the day, she is one of the most extroverted humans I know (okay maybe she’s second to me), and a public school situation is somewhere she thrives, there’s no denying it. Even her teacher and her principal would agree!

We have loved this learning experience of having her home, but we’re still counting down the days until she gets to go back and spend the day at school with all of her friends and various teachers that help in the school.