The Luckiest No Matter What!

Today is Nolan and Judah's last day of first grade. Technically, Carter's last day was two weeks ago, but I'm throwing him in here also because he basically fully participated in any learning we were doing... so it's his last day of preschool too!  Normally, at the end of the year, I have ALL the feels.  For my sons, we make summer To-do lists, we spend a ton of time looking at their art portfolios, I cry reading their report cards overwhelmed with how much these tiny humans learn. I just cannot WAIT to spend every day with them, my excitement is busting. We look forward to cottage trips, BBQs, swimming, and so many outside adventures.  My sixth graders spend the last week giving feedback on the year, reflecting, usually presenting on learning to a wider audience, finishing genius hour projects, and trying sketch maps of the Western Hemisphere being so proud of the global knowledge they've acquired. The last 2-3 weeks of school, we pop a balloon at the end of ...

Thursday. A day I won't soon forget. I began the day as I have been lately, journaling and watching the news. I happened to catch a story of a 30 year old teacher and coach from New Jersey who died of the Corona Virus. The journalist was speaking with his wife and tears were just streaming down my face. This person had already been treated at the hospital and was responding well to oxygen treatments and meds. He was sick and uncomfortable, but managing. He went to bed and never woke up. He had no preexisting conditions and was healthy. There are stories like these as well as stories about the population this is affecting the most, but this story stuck with me huge. Our 'school' or whatever you want to call it started at 8:30 with our usual community meeting where we greet each other, talk about the upcoming day, and read a picture book together. Even though I maintained my composure despite my shook-ness from earlier, I knew this day was going to be a memorable one. How...

The average American tosses 4.4 pounds of trash every day. You multiply that by the six people that live in my house and that's a whole lot of trash!  The Hundts are really trying to reduce our waste footprint. This isn't easy and takes a lot of intentionality and thought. We are surrounded every day by things trying to make our lives 'easier,' but the opportunity cost is usually that easy equals more waste: frozen meals, take out, plastic silverware, buying things in bulk, online shopping, etc, etc, etc. I am so guilty of every single one of those things (especially the take out and the online shopping- does it make anyone else's head spin how much packaging is in both of those things?!) Over the last year or so, especially, we've really been trying to reduce and also buy products that are better for the environment and less wasteful. Here are a few products that have been really successful for our #halfdozenhundts crew: 1.) Glass Straws:  My boys love d...

My name is Kristin- I am a teacher, a learner, and a global citizen. I have four sons going through this public school system. I thought I might enlighten you to what a day looks like for one of my sons.... He wakes up over two hours before school starts. This gives him enough time to take care of regular routines like getting dressed, making his bed, and eating breakfast. This early morning start allows him to spend a bit of time relaxing and gives him some much needed time to work on homework. When you get 6-8 pages of math homework per week, the expectation of reading every night, and spelling/vocabulary work, sometimes you need the mornings AND the evenings to stay caught up. The school day starts. My son is in school for more than four hours before he eats lunch. During this 4+ hours he is experiencing a very long literacy block. He needs to sit still, he needs to listen, he needs to work fast. My son does not work fast- he has always taken his time. I love that about ...

My boys celebrated all their half birthdays in November. This halfway point makes me pause and reflect on each of them. It's almost February so clearly my reflection is a bit delayed ;)  Here's what's going on with each of my boys... NOLAN, 6.5: Nolan is the biggest fan of all sports. He wakes up every morning just to look at scores and see teams' records. He just is a sport enthusiast. Currently, he's started playing basketball for the first time and has loved playing soccer and t-ball. Nolan is a reader and I love it. He reads in the car, he reads to calm down, he reads to learn, and he reads for enjoyment. We feel very lucky this love of reading is already inside of him. Recently, he's been big on atlases and just informational text on countries, populations, weather, etc. He also likes chapter books. We've been reading The Princess in Black, Nate the Great, Notebook of Doom, and Magic Tree House series. This kid needs to be kept busy. If left to ...

In my teaching career, I've attended several board meetings in my district. My students have presented their learning to the board, I've gone there to stand with my fellow teachers during contract negotiations, and I've been honored to be recognized as we partnered with a local business to construct a student-driven outdoor classroom.  I know that board room is where things can get done. We have to go to the board to get curriculum approved, for example. There are a lot of decisions made on budgets, human capital allocation, and the priorities for a community and student population. The vision of the entire district is set through a board of education. They adopt policies.  These elected members do have a lot of power, which is why learning about the candidates and voting is so important.  Even though these board meetings felt important to me, as a teacher, I hadn't given them a lot of thought as a mom of students until a couple of weeks ago... I was sitting acr...

The other day a woman at Josh's work was telling him how pleased she was with her daughter's third grade teacher and what a nice start to the school year it was. The two of them talked briefly about how Nolan and Judah were doing at the beginning of the year as well.  She then asked Josh, "With Kristin being a teacher, do you find that she is highly supportive of other teachers? Extra critical of them?" Josh smiled and answered, "Yes." #nailedit. That one word answer is not only the truth, but is a short, concise way to say a mouthful. Although he could've left it there and got a point across, he elaborated a little saying that I am HUGELY supportive of the educators themselves, and extra, super critical of the institution of education in general. Also, #nailedit. Teachers as a whole are absolutely amazing: steadfast, unwavering, determined, kind, compassionate, empathetic, intelligent, loving, hardworking, and passionate. I love my students...