Ah, the brand new blog all about education!
This is a huge topic, so we will address as many current issues and questions as we can – your comments and suggestions and ideas are not only welcome, they are needed! One of the best things about a blog like this is that we can not only keep people informed about what is going on with education, but we can discuss ideas and share them. We are all a community of learners.
I was a substitute teacher for several years in New York City, while working on my degree in elementary education from Queens College. Substitute teaching is an art in itself. I genuinely enjoyed it. Then, I had the best educational experience in the world – I had children! Because of them, I switched my area of practice and study to early childhood, started my own family child care center, and life took on a whole new direction. That was almost 20 years ago. I have also directed a preschool, worked in a daycare center and been a music school administrator. I am proud to say that the music school was an important resource for home schooling families in the area.
As a parent, I became involved in the educational choices for my children. For my boys, the issues that touched us are gifted education, classification of learning disabled students, bullying, public vs private choices, arts in education, religion in education, magnet schools, charter schools. We live in a very richly diverse area, with every race, language, religion and culture in a 10 mile radius. Learning how to get along has been a big part of our shared educational experience. I have some experience as a parent with sending a child to college – and having him come right back home and start the search for a college all over again! A definite “learning experience” – and a good one, because like the song says about love, college is better the second time around too. He wants to be a teacher. Funny, wonder where he got an idea like that?
We parents are the first teachers, and the most consistent ones throughout our children’s lives. The privilege of sharing my experience with you, and sharing new ideas as we go, is one that I am grateful for and looking forward to!