It’s a math drill with no flash cards!
It’s exercise without leaving the patio!
And it’s also an idea I blatantly stole from Parents Math Night at Big Guy’s school – but, hey, there’s nothing wrong with …

It started out ugly yesterday afternoon, but it ended with a peace accord that made all sides happy.
Big Guy and a friend from school were playing tag at a park when another kid came along …

Life was so much simpler when I was in school. History texts focused on presenting facts – and back then, a fact was a fact was a fact.
Today, though, there are some who think the …

Where does “protest” end and “publicity stunt” begin?
With PETA and its propensity to station costumed characters in high-traffic public places – always making sure the media are aware of the big news- it’s hard to …

I’m certain it was the bright-blue goggle-eyed pug on the cover that drew Big Guy’s attention. The fact that I was trying to steer him to what I thought was more age-appropriate reading material – …

It was, admittedly, a new take on the old “these kids and their short attention spans and self-absorbed natures are ruining the world” spiel.
Instead, a British education union leader blamed a culture of “instant gratification,” …

We’ve read the books, and we’ve eaten the cake at the library. That’s all old Cat in the Hat now. What else could we do to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday and Read Across America, I …

It’s unfortunate that the AFL-CIO did its job today and jumped into fray in a Rhode Island district that’s firing the entire staff at the low-performing Central Falls High School.
Unfortunate because that gives more ammo …

When we last left Big Guy, his big mouth was causing problems at school on a daily basis. It’s a seasonal issue for him that’s going to crop up just as sure as the teacher …

Every time Big Guy’s class has a substitute teacher, his regular one says she’ll get a report about their behavior from her “spies” when she gets back.
She’s joking. In a certain school district in suburban …

Take one over-sized wall map of the United States.
Add quick sheets filled with random information about various states.
Combine with a boy’s passion for racing, stir with a DryErase marker and marinate for 36 events over …

Valentine’s Day has been canceled according to Boots’ school, which should save a few relationships that normally would shatter in the “I don’t want to buy a present” pre-holiday breakup rush.
Don’t breathe that sigh of …

I get that some parents are a total pain in the rear. I’m sure I am at times, though I try hard not to be.
And I know that a sarcastic diatribe can be cathartic.
Unless, of …

I did a double cringe when the Valentine’s Day note came home this week from Big Guy’s school: “Due to food allergies, please do not send any candy, cupcakes or food items.”
The first cringe came …

Back in the day – yes, the day when we had to walk four miles to school, uphill both ways – snow days held a certain mysterious romance.
We’d watch the flakes start to fall the …

I don’t know Paul Gibson from Adam. I have no idea if he’s white, black, green or purple. I don’t know if he’s liberal or conservative.
But I do know that if his take on a …

Note to school officials in Dearborn, Mich: Teens do stupid things. Incredibly stupid things that at times demonstrate a stunning lack of awareness of history.
And something that happened in 2001 is indeed history to today’s …

Big Guy had big news just before the holidays. He’d been promoted to the hot-pink dots under the school library color-coded system for deciphering reading levels, meaning he now was allowed to check out “chapter …

We got a call yesterday morning, just hours before the start of winter break, from Big Guy’s teacher. She’d wanted to know if he’d been sick the past two days – he had – and …

Merry Susan Hyatt is a 61-year-old substitute teacher in Redding, Calif., who’s also taught in Southern California. In all those years she seldom encountered students who weren’t Christian. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a …

A full eight months before he’s to start kindergarten, Boots already knows a half-dozen “sight” words.
I’d never say this to his face because it would break his little heart, but so what?
Yeah, yeah. I know. …

Of all the things to go to the wall with a kid over, hair has to be the most ridiculous.
An odd-ball hair style causes no long-term damage – it can always be cut or grow …

I stood on tip toes and reached high above me, to the top shelf of the coat closet where the bag had been stashed since we moved. I used to leave it open in my …

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen …
But do you know how scary it is up here? Even when the audience is all mommies and daddies …

Used to be I thought the weirdest story assignment I’d ever tackled was in seventh grade, when the teacher told us to write about what life would be like inside a ping-pong ball.
That was before …

As much as I hate to crush a kid, sometimes doing so serves the greater good.
Times such as last night, when Big Guy dallied over his latest penance for misbehaving at school. He’d tossed Play-Doh …

There are two things I like about the new voluntary reading program at Big Guy’s school, which involves his teacher sending home two books that the kids read until they can complete the text without …

I dodged the “overpriced crap the PTA wants you kid to hawk” bullet last year by simply making the flier fly away.
The brochure, which suggested that each kid sell $40 worth of “product,” went quickly …

Today was a “good” day at the bus stop.
The dozen and a half first- and second-grader crammed into a shelter not really big enough to hold them and either sat quietly on the bench or …

I’m not a big meeting person – I’ve sat through too many in my life to voluntarily assign myself more.
I’m not a big on telling schools how to do their jobs – as much as …

Note to school officials:
I am not going to send my 6-year-old out to prosthelytize the neighborhood about the evils of drugs just to earn a paper “key” to tack up on a wall at school.
For …

Officials in a Central California town had a great opportunity to teach near-adults a tremendous value lesson last week. Too bad they picked the wrong curriculum.
The event was the football game between cross-town rivals, …

Funny how an off-hand comment from three decades ago can stick with you, its implications changing over time.
For me, the comment came during the summer between sixth and seventh grade, when I was visiting the …

Note to the West Babylon School District in Long Island: Thank you for your concern for children with food allergies, but your ban on home-baked goodies doesn’t help them in the least.
Sure, you specified that …

Amidst the announcements about the fall carnival and the homework assignments this week came a blue sheet from the school district titled “Budget Survey.”
Among other things, it asked parents to rank 10 items in order …

A few weeks into spelling tests and I was tired of dancing, though at least it burned off the calories from the fruit-snack math.
Even worse: Big Guy was a little bored with the homework boogie, …

There are two types of behavior that put a kid at risk for being labeled “naughty” – a label, by the way, that can stick through a child’s school years and a reputation that can …

Parental advisory: The following trick incorporates two great evils I usually avoid at all costs – corn syrup and artificial dye. It’s an awful, awful idea. Except it happens to work.
It’s hardly an original idea …