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The holiday season is such an amazing time of the year! Once you hit December, your kids are in countdown mode for the big day, as well as their holiday break!

Teachers are no exception. 

We all enjoy time with our families to share memories and create new ones with the people we care about the most.

The holiday season also means shopping. For some people more than others, but shopping has become a huge part of what we relate to this special time of the year.

Usually, just before Thanksgiving, kids in my classroom start asking me what I would like for Christmas. They are so thoughtful! 

I think many of them are confused when I tell them that I would rather have them donate money to a worthy charity or give a couple dollars to a kind soul ringing a bell with a red bucket at the mall. 

About 8 years ago, I finally had the chance to re-direct their kindness in a way that would make a difference in their life and the lives of others.

One of my amazing teacher friends spends a couple...

Have you ever stopped and wondered what life would be like if we all simply chose to be kind?

I mean, stop and think about it. How simple would it be if everyone grew into a mindset of choosing to be kind? Think about the benefits it would create. 

Working with kids day in and day out, I am here to tell you the struggles kids are coming to school with today are more challenging and alarming than ever. 

Depression, bullying, anxiety, causing self-harm...these things were rare when I was a kid! Now they are becoming common language and that scares me.

How can we get this in check?

Choose kind. 

Sounds so simple, doesn't it. 

It is that simple.

If we chose to be kind more often, our world and the world our kids will live in would be a better place. Period, the end, game over.

It's our job as parents to show our kids that the world is an amazing place and their dreams can come true. It's also our job to prepare them to face the ugly in the world. Choosing to be kind is a good plac...

Let’s be honest, we don’t typically enjoy failing. We are people, we want everything to be sunshine and rainbows...all the time.

The reality is failing is awesome! Yes, you read that correctly, failing is a good thing.

Huh?

Um...what?

Yeah, I know we were all taught growing up that failing was a bad thing. You did not want to fail. We had that ground into our head so hard that it became part of who we are as adults.

The result?

We might be so afraid to fail that we never try anything new. We always go the safe route. We don’t like getting out of our comfort zone.

BUT

We want our kids to try new things and get out of their comfort zone.

Hmmm…

So, failing and quitting are basically the same thing, right?

Not at all!

Think about it.

If you quit something, you usually just give up.

In the dictionary, “quit” is defined as, “leave, usually permanently”.

Wow...powerful stuff!

To permanently be done with something has such a closed minded feel to it.

To quit takes little to no...

Have you ever been around that friend who is always freaking out about every little detail going on in their life?

How does being around that person make you feel?

Have you ever noticed when you are around certain people, your mood, energy, and feelings change a bit?

That’s the way it goes folks!

Whatever we focus on is what we get!

If we allow our minds to think about things in a stressful way, that’s how we will see them. This is a total mind trap. Think about anything you stress about. Where did that begin? Did you let someone else’s perspective impact how you think?

We all do!

That stops today.

Today we realize we are in control of how we think about things.

...and yes, I mean ANYTHING!

The power of our mind is so incredibly powerful. When we think something is going to be awful, stressful or just plain bad, more than likely that’s how things will play out. On the flip side, if we realize we have the CHOICE to decide how we think about things, we can empower ourselves to ...

Time is one of those tricky things.

We all have the same amount of time, but depending on how we use it, organize it and think about it, our perspective related to time can be all over the place.

During summer vacation, you might have all sorts of time to do any number of things with your family.

- Go to the beach
- Play outside
- Do arts and crafts
- Go to a children’s museum
- Take road trips

The saddest thing to see is when parents transition away from these things when the school year begins.

We MUST continue to explore our world with our little ones ALL THE TIME!

I know...you have work...you have cleaning...you have a yard...you have laundry…

So do I. :)

That does not and WILL NOT stop me from making the most of my family time.

With the school year beginning, the school year schedule comes along with it.

This is not a bad thing, it’s just different. We can roll with it!

Here’s a look at how my family maximizes our time during the school year…

Working Out

Some of us do and...

Make the Introduction Count!

Chris Horton,  beahandraiser.com

Before the school year begins, write a letter to your student’s teacher. Give them the scoop on who is going to be in their classroom and all the things you want them to know about your son or daughter. This is huge! As a teacher, this is incredibly helpful for me in knowing how to make each student’s learning experience the best it can possibly be!

Once you have the letter written, be sure to snag a gift card or two to include in the envelope. This is one of those things that doesn’t happen, but should! This year, I am including a gift card to Target (for teacher supplies) and Starbucks (because teachers need their go go juice). These gestures early on in the year go a long way over the course of a long school year. Remember, this teacher will be seeing your kids more each day than you do! We want to butter them up a bit!

Aside from the letter, be sure to sign up for volunteer opportunities to help out in the classroom....

How’s Back to School Looking?

Ah yes, it’s that magical time of year once again!

Back to school time is here!

This is such an awesome time of the year for so many reasons. A new year, new teacher, new possibilities... and the often brought up and EVER so popular...fresh start.

There is SO much power in a fresh start and the mere idea gets people all jazzed up over the possibilities. Kids, parents, and teachers all love the concept of a fresh start! There’s just one little tiny detail that puts a snag in the joy that goes along with that OH so appealing fresh start.

What’s the snag you ask?

Change.

Yup, I said it, change.

HOW in the world can change be a snag in the pursuit of the fresh start to a school year?

Change CAN be really hard because it’s so easy to SAY you are going to do things differently, but the truth is, most of the time we all fall back into old habits. We have all good intentions of making good on the fresh start, but then life happens. You get busy, the schoo...

A Handraiser is a person, empowered and equipped with a solid skill set, that they have confidence in standing up and sharing their opinions freely.

When you see this person in a classroom, they look like a regular kid until you see them confidently raising their hand when the adult/teacher asks for volunteers while their peers nervously glance around the room trying to avoid being called on. 

A Handraiser quickly stands out from the rest of the class because they raise their hand, answer questions confidently with a solid voice, and when needed stand up, smile, walk to the front of the room and share their opinions because they trust themselves to speak their mind.

When it’s time to stand up and talk in front of their peers, a Handraiser knows they are going to crush it! They’re not afraid of being laughed at, or feeling like they’re going to puke up breakfast due to nerves - they have a calm solid air about them because they’ve been training, if you will, for weeks and just li...