Letting Go of the Ledge and Freeing the Wall

Well friends, I am finally blogging and so far, it's actually fun - picking out the templates, the colors and fonts.  It's just like going shopping, but at least for now I don't have to spend money I am not earning!  Soon I hope to learn what a "gadget" is and how use it, get it, apply it.  Help from you is greatly appreciated.

I feel like my son when he first learned to swim.  He was (and still is) scrawny, although now he is a whopping 5'10" and appreciates every centimeter!  At the age of 6, because my son had no fat on him (I am still jealous), he had no buoyancy.  The poor kid would sink.  And paddle as he may, the feet went first and then the rest of him.  It's funny now but it was a real struggle back then - on so many levels.  After about a year of lessons and for a long while thereafter, when he would get into a pool, he would swim, but always along the edge so he could reach up and not sink.  I feel a little bit like that right now, still holding on to the edge a bit and hope with your help to be swimming soon!

I think, however, that the struggle for me isn't really about blogging.  It is about redirecting.  In a sense I am recreating who I am.  No longer teacher, at least not in the traditional classroom sense, I am charting a new course.  My course has never been a straight line and I don't expect it ever will be.  I like it this way.  I like the challenge.  So when I got tired of consulting in schools, feeling that the problems were so embedded in the system that I was just treading water, I decided to redirect my efforts.  While I may go back to the classrooms and teacher workshops, right now I am writing and embarking on parent workshops - helping parents recognize the demands school places on their kids and how through reading, conversations and simple games they can create wonder, motivation and a love for learning while building strong relationships and school-related skills. 

I am enjoying it and look forward to moving away from the wall real soon.

So thanks for the visit, and if you know what a "gadget" is on the blog page, please let me know.   I would also love suggestions on how to make this more reader friendly and interactive.  Until then, I'll keep treading and looking for your comments.