Rachel Spigarelli

I am homeschooling, right now, today. I am homeschooling in the present tense. I am not a finished product, I am very much in-process. I am learning and growing and trying each day. I’ve been homeschooling for 15 years, and still have another 10 more years to go.

Blue Blind

For me, forsythia and daffodils are friendly reminders of the abundance of springtime.   Yellow feels so happy and cheerful.  I love spring in general, but yellow specifically, as a herald of growth and vitality. Imagine my disappointment when I learned last week that my child can’t see yellow.  At all.  Never in her life has …

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Sounding It Out

For five years now, we’ve been reading daily as a family in the Spanish language. Reading in Spanish is predictable; there are few exceptions. Though our accents aren’t perfect, at this point, we are all able to sound out any Spanish word. Learning to read Spanish is a huge help to all of us, but …

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Mrs. Zajac

Rules can be scary.  Rule enforcers can be scary.  Breaking rules can have big consequences. Compassion can motivate you to overcome obstacles. These mindsets are eloquently described by Tracy Kidder in his book, “Among Schoolchildren.” Mrs. Zajac seemed to have a frightening amount of energy. She strode across the room, her arms swinging high and …

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A Stroll Down Lexicon Lane

“Torrid and frigid are antonyms,” I repeat for the third time to my 10-year-old daughter as she takes her vocabulary quiz. “Why can’t she remember their definitions?” I pause in frustration. When we visited Planet Word Museum in Washington, DC, we encountered an exhibit that engaged my daughter in learning all kinds of synonyms and …

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