Karly Speaks About Rett Syndrome and the Importance of Hydration

My friend Karly who has Rett Syndrome has just posted on her blog about having Rett Syndrome and The Importance of Hydration. Most girls and women who have Rett Syndrome often have breathing issues and do a lot of hyperventilating. Karly also battles with seizures constantly. In this blog post, she talks about how she is including more fluids into her diet daily. The outcome has lifted her spirits and she is feeling great. Please visit her blog Inspired By Love.


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Agate Treasures at Herbster Beach

Ah, June is here and we finally made it to the beach for playgroup. In the summertime, our group meets every Monday at either the Herbster or Cornucopia beach. Both have their perks. The Cornucopia Beach boasts of a wonderful Artesian Spring that continually flows into Lake Superior. The kids love to play here, attempting to dam up the flow with elaborate designs made of driftwood and sand. It is also a very shallow bay. The kids can wade out pretty far and still be in waist deep water, and because it is so shallow, it stays warm unless churned up by a storm.

Herbster beach is the perfect beach for those who love rock hounding. If you were to ask Charlotte which beach she prefers, she would reply Herbster in a heartbeat. When we arrive, Charlotte is usually headed straight for the beach with bag in hand, head down, crouched or squatting, scanning for Agates and Beach Glass. On our first day back, in less than five minutes, Charlotte and I each found our most treasured Agates to date. Here they are:


My Agate is on the left. It is sitting on a quarter and it is called Agate Eyes. Charlotte's Agate is on the right. It has very defined lines and prominent crystal formation. She was so thrilled when she found it because it is so much bigger than any she has found yet. Here is the book we use to identify our rocks and Agates:


Of course, beach glass is treasured, as well as any rock that is pretty and smooth. These usually come back to our herb garden by the front steps of our house. So friends and fellow rock hounds, if you are ever on the South Shore of Lake Superior, stop by Herbster Beach on a Monday and search for Agates with us!

Location:Herbster Beach on Lake Superior, Wisconsin

OYATE: An Invaluable Resource for Non-Biased Native American Books

I have come across a wonderful website that I refer to whenever I am considering reading a book about Native Americans to the kids. It is called
OYATE. Here is their Mission Statement:

Our Mission
Oyate means “The People.” We are a Native American/American Indian advocacy and education organization that serves The People. We review children’s literature and advocate for Native Americans/American Indians to be portrayed with historical accuracy, cultural appropriateness and without anti-Indian bias and stereotypes. We teach others to do the same.

I don't want to perpetuate the typical stereotypes and myths about Native Americans. There are a lot of books out there that do this. Two invaluable resources to help you determine if a book is an authentic portrayal of Native Americans are Oyate's articles How To Tell The Difference - A Guide for Evaluating Children's Books for Anti-Indian Bias, and OYATE Criteria for Evaluating Books. If I am uncertain about a particular book, I enter the author's name or the title of the book under their catalog to see if they carry it. If it is listed on their website, then I can be pretty sure it is non-biased. If you are ever curious about the truth behind Thanksgiving, or want to know what this "Holiday" means from the Native American perspective, go to their resource section and read Deconstructing the Myths of the "First Thanksgiving".

Disco Bomb, the Penokee Players, and Creativity

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of watching an original adaptation of the era I grew up in. Stevie Nicks, Jimmy Hendricks, Charlie’s Angels and the Love Boat all rolled into one. What is truly amazing about the production was it was written, produced and performed by young people ages 5-19 that attend the Penokee Mountain Cooperative School.

The Penokee Mountain School is a little gem tuck away in the rolling farmlands of Northern Wisconsin. Formed in the 80’s as a cooperative, parents and youth gather on Fridays in the fall and conduct classes for home school enrichment. One of the classes is the Play Writing. The older youth meet the first ten weeks and write an original work to be performed in the winter session. During the winter, the written word transforms into weekly play practice, set design, costume creation and healthy doses of fun.

Sitting through the production I was amazed at how the youth leading this effort hit upon many higher order thinking skills, that many innovative educators would drool to see happen in their classrooms. Yet I would cite with caution that trying to recreate this special night in a classroom may be its undoing. The youth that produced this show had some things that are very hard to recreate in a classroom. Daniel Pink talks about drive and motivation (See his RSA Video). In a nutshell, Pink talks about Autonomy, Purpose and Self-Mastery as the elements for motivation. It only took five minutes into the play to reveal that these performers had all three.

Too often the factory model of schooling tries to artificially create the magic that happens when kids are given the freedom to explore, resources from adults, and access to spaces without an overabundance of conditions, control or the dreaded rules. Often I have seen that this kind of learning is used as a reward for compliance, which at the start kills the magic.

In terms of assessment, the play was a prime example of authentic assessment. The audience was filled with community members, and their responses i.e. laughter, clapping came at the appropriate moments of a relevant 70’s flashback. It struck me with awe how kids born 20 years later were able to re-create the flavor of the 70’s sitcom era. They must have done a tremendous amount of research to nail their parts. Much better than a standardized test.

I was also struck by the cooperative nature of the performance. This was a multi-generational production. Every kid who wanted a part was written into the play. I saw validation and pride in the faces of them before, during and after the production. This multi-age project capitalized on the strengths of the members of the community. Adults were seen as facilitators and supporters of the journey not the leaders.

I want to thank visionaries of Penokee for keeping this organization alive and thriving for my own children to participate as members. This truly was a special night.