This is my original blog. I haven’t updated for years. I keep it as a reminder of the journey. 

Please see Broke Teacher for education and Poser Homestead for chickens, recipes, and dead zucchini. 

Lies Parents Tell: Preparing for Age Six–Age of Diablo

We're watching TV. I'm writing, Declan is watching a show designed to sell stuff using anime characters pretending to fight evil. I've stopped arguing. For a long time, I tried to censor these screechy, annoying cartoons. I tried to keep him on the little kid channel...

Only One Blue Cheese? Struggles in a Small Town

I went to the local store for buns and blue cheese. There was only one kind of blue cheese. My heart stopped just a little bit. I panicked and shuffled the cheeses around a bit. No Stilton, no Roquefort, no Maytag? No local vs. French dilemma? Just two choices: that...

Honesty Is Such A Lonely Word

"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." --Thomas Jefferson I was reading a message from a friend who wants to improve his product.  I said I'd give my honest opinion. The other day, I looked at a website. I said, "Looks good--news features are solid, a...

Can Too Many Veggies Kill You?

I stop. I look around my garden, which just six weeks ago was a 44x33 section of lawn. Odd dimensions, I admit. Rusty bought a tiller for my birthday and turned over the soil. Best birthday present ever! Since moving to the sticks, every gift-giving occasion, we get a...

You Can’t Handle The Truth: Asking Students What THEY Want

Sometimes I'm searching for something obscure. I go to Google. I put in the first letter-- something nobody thinks about, like aardvarks. Google knows as soon as I type "a." I check to see if the webcam turned on--if someone's spying on me and UStreaming me all over...

Breaking Up the Band

We were playing guitar, last night. My husband is a classically trained guitarist. I'm an untrained disaster. It's a perfect combination. Sort of like The Monkees, who I loved growing up. One musician and a cute front man. I'm the cute front man. I can strum, play my...

Thanks for Teaching Me to Gamble, Grandma

I've been playing cards for a very long time. My Irish grandmother taught me when I was about five, and I'm sitting down teaching Declan now that he's reached the golden age himself. He's not ready for poker--he doesn't have a poker face, just one smeared with honey...

Jobs Where You Can Succeed Even If You’re Awful

I do a lot of career counseling, even though I'm technically a social studies teacher. Students ask what they should do with their lives. They seek validation and a good plan. Many come to me far too late. I've been trying to have this personalized conversation for...

Sunday Garden Lessons: Be Like Mint. Indestructible.

I grew up in the 80's when the entire world watched nuclear disaster movies and made lists of the things that would survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Most people said cockroaches would survive. I know something even more indestructible. Mint. Mint can survive...

Coffee is Teacher Crack

  Coffee is teacher crack. I'm about to make 30 cups and line them up on the back of my desk. I don't only double-fist cups of coffee, I "quad" them. This is a technique I saw once in college, where the individual rehydrating himself carried four cups, two in the...

We (Don’t) Got the Beats

"Miss, come here." I do. "Can you please explain to him why he's stupid?" said friend about friend. "Elaborate? Give me the details of this conversation?" I inquire. "He's got $80 headphones." friend says. Now, I am the queen of coupons, the maven of money-saving, the...

Building Bridges Instead of Burning Them–EdTechRI

I was teaching a unit that was boring. But it's in the curriculum so I had no choice. I tried to chug it down and get on to something better. I gave the test. They bombed.  I don't even like tests--In a few years, I bet we won't even need tests--they'll wear a Yankee...