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“While all of us dread being blamed, we all would wish to be more responsible – that is, to have the ability to respond with awareness to the circumstances of our lives rather than just reacting.” – Gabor Mate We have TWO core school rules. I call them rules, rather than a mission or value…

Our IEP’s are not written down for the year. They are written down for the day. The torch we carry only shines so far so we take those steps with your child. And then the torchlight shows us the next step. When we take these right-in-front-of-us steps, we are never overwhelmed. Instead, we are in…

There’s a healing paradigm that we use. A simple four-step process that all but ensures a great outcome. I think perhaps an analogy might help us make sense of it. When children join us they are often tired, they have been fighting to keep their head above water for a long time now. And they…

Before we add anything to your child’s education, we stop and let them be. When you get hot in the late morning, do you keep your jacket on but crank up the air-conditioning? Or do you take your jacket off? As children start to enjoy school without having to perform or fit in or add…

We’re going to be talking a lot about mistakes. It is, after all, where all the learning happens. Today, the teachers were together, cutting our cow patches out of fake leather, for the kids to use to cover their new History books. I stepped in to help. After cutting out my first one, one of…

The first day back to school and I am always in awe of how we can help kids to really love school. It is most obvious in the new students. They really anticipate having a solidly horrible day. Until, of course, they come here. We hear it every time, by the end of the day,…

Back to school is its own special kind of joy. Life has been so much fun for a very long time (6 or so weeks) but normal is what I crave most after all the sun and storms of December. Sounds so uncomplicated, right? So easy to achieve on paper, right? Let me make it…

I think that learning difficulties are somewhat like having the wrong manual for the problem you are trying to solve. As a young mom, I would struggle with trying to fit my daughter into the system that was presented to us. The system that almost everyone else fitted into. It was only when I put…

Sometime last week, I came across a challenge. There were four big ideas but the first ‘had me at hello’. Get rid of 27 things in your home, every day for 9 days. When I read this I was feeling overwhelmed and burdened by the year behind me and this challenge really made sense. (If…

This week was our bi-annual optometrist visit. We go twice a year for two reasons. The one has to do with medication my children take that has been known to affect the macula of the eye and must be checked every 6 months. The second reason is that the correct glasses stop the decline of…