"There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move"

The Climb by Miley Cyrus

Hi Reader,

Yesterday I was tutoring one of my fourth grade students, when she started to cry.

To me it came out of nowhere, but to her it came from deep frustration.

You see, we'd just had a HUGE win. Each week we start tutoring with 4 minutes of free writing time. She was really excited to write, so I quietly stopped the clock and she doubled her writing time to 8 minutes!

She excitedly shared her story and then we worked together to edit it. Just as we finished, I saw she was confusing the spellings for "are" and "our..."

I jumped into teaching, whipped up a chart to teach the difference when I saw her eyes were welling with tears.

What's wrong?

She tearfully explained that she knows this already but forgot it.

Spoiler: she doesn't know the difference (yet). But that's not the point...

Kids are constantly learning new things. Constantly having adults explain things to them. Constantly being asked "do you understand?" and frankly- it's exhausting.

I had to pick my battle.

This girl had a huge triumph- she sat and wrote a special story for 8 minutes!

She was up for a little editing. But it needed to stop there. She wanted me to enjoy her cute story, celebrate her triumph, and save the difference between "are" & "our" for another day.

What does this have to do with your kids?

When it comes to supporting children in school, you have to pick your battles. There are endless ways kids can improve their writing, but you can't focus on everything at once.

When you help your child write, pick 1-3 things to focus on at a time:

• planning their writing
• adding details
• answering the prompt
• handwriting
• spelling
• grammar
• punctuation
• formatting

See how frustrating this can get? The goal of homework is not perfection- it's practice. So pick your battles and save the other mistakes for another day.

What's New?

🏠 Thankful: My husband and I had a very relaxed Thanksgiving at home. We hosted a couple friends for dinner and spent a much needed quiet weekend. How was your Thanksgiving?

🧡 Little Focus: The Last two weeks of November I shared the Little Focus Livestream daily to support children aged 4-7 staying home from school during CBP / ICE raids in Charlotte, NC. Our district, CMS, had a record amount of students absent: 30,000. To put it in perspective, the district next to us only has 40,000 students and CMS has 140,000 students. Together we fundraised $700 to share with the Carolina Migrant Network and a Neighborhood Association in Charlotte with many impacted residents.

📚 Story Time: Come by for a cozy, cute story time next Friday 12/12 at Betty by Moxie in Plaza Midwood. 9:30 - 10am

Things I Love

👧 Save em all!: If I could I'd save all the kids. So many crises are happening around the world that are getting in the way of a child's right to grow up. Consider giving today to Save the Children​

👚 Perfect V Neck: I stocked up on the perfect high quality V Neck shirt. Both loose and form fitting, this shirt is stretchy and perfect for layering. It's great under a blazer or on its own. If you're in between sizes, size up.

😉 A Little Festive: My heart was stolen by this cute pink winking Santa collection! I got the dish towel and spoon rest. I smile every time I see them in the kitchen ☺️

🎄 Stocking Stuffers: I got these gift sets for my mom and mother in law with a little mascara and the viral Black Honey "almost lipstick." This viral sheer lip color that looks good on most everyone making it an easy gift.

Remember, it's about progress- not perfection. Be easy on yourself 🩷