As parents we know how important reading is to a child’s brain development. Reading to a child everyday for just 20 minutes can help your child develop a love of books and increase his/her vocaulary skills. While I believe that is important that children be surrounded by books so that they can get used to [...]

ETA: I left out important information.
I found this over at Suspension of Disbelief.
According to The Big Read, the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books on this list. How many have you read?
The instructions:
Look at the list and:
Bold those you have read.
Italicize those you intend to read.
Underline the books you LOVE.
1. [...]

My life has changed so much over the last few days. I am not teaching any longer (at least for a year) and I have gone from a WOHM to a WAHM. The funny thing is that I am not afraid. I know that no matter what happens, this is the right decision for my [...]

I am always interested in games that promote literacy skills. Mia-Reading: The Bugaboo Bugs is a great computer adventure game focused on helping your child develop his/her reading skills. The game is made by Kutoka, an innovative company that strives to provide children with a fun and exciting ways to learn math and [...]

Dear Oblivious Parent in the Supermarket:
Let’s talk for a minute about what it means to be a Parent- a real one. Parents teach their children morals and values, right? They learn how to say, “please,” and “thank you,” and more from the Parent. Real Parents care about fulfilling a child’s emotional, spiritual, and physical wants [...]

Not you per se, but this post is in response to the 2006 editorial by Prescott Carlson at Imperfect Parent. I left this comment on the post, but I wanted to post it here because I think it deserves its own post.
I’m a teacher and although this article is 2 years old, I had to [...]

We are allowed 10 absences a year at work. I usually take ten. When I was pregnant, I had to borrow 20 days and am now in the whole. I was supposed to be tenured last year, but because I had too many absences (16 but all accounted for with medical notes) my principal postponed [...]

There has been so much controversy over Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy especially with the release of the movie, The Golden Compass. I believe that these books deserve a close read because the common thought is that they are about killing god. The books do talk about killing “god” but Pullman’s “god” is a [...]

GMAC Home Services offers great guides to assist you with corporate relocation as well as personal relocation. In this day and age, the Internet is a plethora of information to help you research any location. But who has time to really to figure it out on their own? GMAC tells you what questions to ask [...]

I am writing a new column for PJ Mommy.com. It is called Book Talks and in it I introduce parents to great books for their Young Adult readers. As an High School English Teacher I know how difficult it is to get Young Adults interested in reading. With the digital age making books virtually obsolete, [...]

Calling ALL Mother F.U.C.K.E.RS
I am sending out the Bat Signal to all of my fellow Mother F.U.C.K.E.Rs as named and defined by Mrs. Flinger w ho began the movement.
According Mrs. Flinger, a Mother F.U.C.K.E.R is a Mother For Using Common Knowledge EverywheRe.
I fell in love with this slogan and decided to create an entire [...]

I watched Sesame Street today with my daughter, and I just have to say it: I really hate Elmo. He was supposedly created to give toddlers someone on the show to relate to, and his Elmo’s World segment was created to keep youngsters watching past 45-minutes. However, when his target audience, my 16-month old toddler, [...]

Beginning of the school year.
Lot’s to be done.
Free time is nil.

$1.00/hr Andrew D
$5.00 Jose O
$20.00 Nanny and Poppy D
$3.00 Anna
You guys have donated a total of $52 Dollars for DonorsChoose.
In addition, I will donate $1.00 per comment left on my blog during the Blogathon. There were 50 comments @ $1.00 a comment = $50.00
Total Raised: $102.00

History of the Night
by Jorge Luis Borges
Throughout the course of th generations
men constructed the night.
At first she was blindness;
thorns raking bare feet,
fear of wolves.
We shall never know who forged the word
for the interval of shadow
dividing the two twilights;
we shall never know in what age it came to mean
the starry hours.
Others created the myth.
They made her [...]

I need you to speak to me
melodically if you dare.
My heart longs for rhythmic
persuasion. I want to come with you.
I want to be enveloped in orgasmic
verse. Rehearse if you must, but
hurry. My heart is turning to stone.
I need you to speak to me
not sarcastically, but honestly. Do you
dare? Can you hear my heart?
I want to [...]

If you had to spend two weeks alone on a remote island and could choose only one kind of food and one kind of drink to take along, what would you choose? Explain
My first instinct was to say coffee and cheezIts, but I would get so dehydrated. So, I am going to say jugs of [...]

Choose something interesting that has happened too you in the past yearm and write about it. Write in THIRD PERSON (usin g the pronoun “he: or “she”, and make yourself the main character in the story.
This is unfinished and untitled, but here it goes.
For some reason, at the very moment that her husband was getting [...]

When used in moderation, ADJECTIVES help a reader imagine the situation or thing being described. Fill in each blan below with an adjective to make the sentence colorful and interesting:
The ________ tree fell closeto the _____ car, startling the _______ lady. Without pausing, the ______ cat jumped from the ______ tree, terrifying his ______ owner. [...]

Part 2: After the five minutes, go back through what you’ve written, and pick out a few details that appeal to you. Write a poem using these details.Part 1:
Coffee brewing while sleep moves from my eyes. The taste of mint burns the back of my throat and  reminds me that i am alive. A long [...]