Mom Reflections

Back to School Musings I am a mom of four-4th Grade, 6th, 8th, and 10th. I am also a teacher. When my kids were little, they loved to read. My 1st grader read all of the Harry Potter books and understood everything he read.  My 5 year old’s favorite thing to have in his bed at night were 20 of his most prized books. My kids created outfits out of newspaper. They spent an entire snow day making butter beer and role-playing Harry Potter scenes. It has been one of my primary focuses as a mom to foster their creativity and love  of reading, love of learning. Unfortunately, as they hit the middle school years and even earlier, reading has become a chore. They often hate going to school-and this is not for lack of friends as they all thrive socially. Our schools are becoming  assembly lines. Don’t get me wrong, we have had some amazing teachers who bucked the system and fostered excitement and inquisitiveness. However, the testing, testing, testing. Singular focus on computer skills at the