I am so excited (and quite frankly, pretty surprised...) to finally be fulfilling a New Year's Resolution!  I have a long and tortured history with resolve...the short version is that I'm a really great resolution-maker (I have lists that date back for decades!), but I'm not so terrific at actually accomplishing what I dream up at the end of each December.  The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge (www.a-to-zchallenge.com)  has given me the structure I need to make some headway with one resolution: to create a blog about helping children navigate their elementary school years successfully. What's funny about this, is that I actually find the massive undertaking of working with a blog to be far less intimidating than my usual resolutions- losing weight, getting more sleep, quitting reality t.v., and (a guaranteed "fail" for me!) buying the P90X system and NOT returning it unopened to QVC !

During the month of April, I'll be completing 26 posts that detail an alphabetical array of strategies parents can use to guide their kids with intention and purpose towards developing excellence in academics and more importantly, personal character.  These strategies will be woven together around a central theme of "walking your talk" with your children, or "do as I DO, not only as I say".

Even though I'm a lousy resolution-keeper, I've learned over the years that  I'm a pretty darned good educator (if you can trust an educator who uses that sort of descriptor!), and my work with hundreds of families of elementary-aged students has taught me a great deal about what works and what doesn't when it comes to raising successful kids.  I've also learned that there are loads of resources available to parents of preschool children; however, once kids reach elementary school age, the choices are fewer, and often much more specialized according to need.  It is my hope that my A-Z posts will provide some insightful and useful information to help families make their goals for their children a reality.

My goal over the next 17 days is to find my own "blogger voice"; it sounds totally corny, but for someone who has been used to writing purely for academic purposes for many years, finding a narrative voice that accurately conveys my personality and the information I'd like to share- well, that's a challenge!  My hope is to do this by blogging about my baby steps as a blogger: what it's like to try and squeeze writing in among teaching full time, and my family's crazy schedule.  In between now and April 1st (Day 1 of the challenge), I have some pretty significant obstacles:

1) The Cub Scout Pinewood Derby- 48 hours away, and the car still needs paint, decals and wheels
2) 5 family birthdays, including 2 nieces, both in-laws, and my mom
3) Report cards and parent conferences for my class of 20 second graders
4) A report card conference with my son's teacher...uh oh!
5) Attend 4 performances of "Seussical the Musical" at my daughter's middle school- she's a "Who"!
6) Help my son write a biography of my husband's life so far, throw together a costume to make him look like my husband (turning a kid who looks like the boy from "Jerry Maguire" into a farmer with a three-day old beard is gonna be tricky!), and write a speech to go along with the project
7) 3 dentist appointments
8) 3 doctor appointments
9)More stuff I'm sure I forgot because my brain has maxed out its working memory....

So, among the monumental minutia outlined above, I'm resolving (yikes...just using the word is intimidating) to carve out time to blog about beginning to blog, so that by April 1st, when the challenge begins and it's time for me to settle into my alphabet-structure and parenting theme, I'll have grown as a writer, and hopefully will be able to share some valuable information in a way that is enjoyable to read and fun to apply!


Before I go, I need to give a shout out to Tina, Co Host of the Blogging A to Z challenge- thank you so much for your encouragement- you brought me past the tipping point and into the blogosphere!