Posts under ‘Oaxaca’

It’s been a while.  A new grade, a new curriculum, new standards, 33 beings each with his or her own concerns and quandaries, and not to mention my own in-house proto-teenager draped over the couch in poses of iPodded distress.  Not a lot of energy to write.  Complete sentences.  Even.
When there are that many kids [...]

So often life is about the bad and the ugly.  Not today.
I’m helping three of my 5th graders apply to private schools for next year.
This is a private school in LA:

And this is a public one:
I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
The application process is, as you might imagine, lengthy and complicated.  Not quite a [...]

Today a mother came to visit after school, four children in tow.  Her son Efrain was a 2nd grader with me last year, and her son Elijah is a fifth grader with me this year.  They are both behind grade-level in all subjects.  They are both small, sweet boys with broad, white smiles and a [...]

I had to do it again today.  Call the Department of Child and Family Services to report a parent.
This one haunts me for different reasons than the last one: last week, I knew the mother intended well but just needed some parenting help; today I know the mother intends bad.
This mother instructed her seven-year-old child, [...]

There’s something about a new beginning in September that’s embedded in our life’s rhythm no matter how far we are from school. New season. New wardrobe. A new fall line-up.
A scrubbed and purposeful self ready to begin crisp new things.
Parents and teachers. We feel it more acutely. We live by [...]