Mom Is Teaching

Hello and welcome.

My name is Jerri Ann and I am the new writer for Mom is Teaching. I’ve been busily reading through the archives. I want to be informed before I start writing. I’ve read the comments to. I want to know what you all have been learning from this site as well as what you hope to gain from me. Let me tell you a little about myself and then I’ll get down to the task at hand.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME AND MY HUSBAND

First of all, I am married to Wayne. This is my fourth marriage and I must tell you that if I am educating and an educator in anything, I can tell you a little bit about marriage. I’ll save that for the Marital Talk blog that I will also be writing. We met 6 years ago and at the time, neither of us had any children. I can’t tell you how fortunate we are that we were the ages we were, 33 for me and 32 for him, and neither of us had baggage. We have two boys, a three-year-old and a five-year-old. The five-year-old is Walker and he started kindergarten this year. The three-year-old is Jace and he came into this world as a terrible-two and has not managed to move past that phase.

I have taught in the public school system. I owned a daycare up until last month and I am attempting to prepare Jace for what we call Big Boy School (regular public school). Since Walker had the added benefit of daycare/preschool before he started in the public school system, I would like to ensure that Jace has some preparation as well.

A LITTLE ABOUT MY CHILDREN

Walker is often called the Ditto-Boy as he looks exactly like his father. However, the child definitely has his mother’s disposition. And, he talks a lot, just like his mother. I mean, he talks a whole lot. As a matter of fact, out of the first 3 days of school, he received a warning two of them. What for? Talking indeed. I knew it was going to happen. We’ve tried to prepare him so hopefully he gets it soon. His time spent in our daycare/preschool was much needed as he learned to follow the rules of someone besides his immediate authority figures. He loves people and I no reservations about him enjoying kindergarten from the perspective of interacting with other children.

Walker also played T-ball this year so he made some friends that we have encountered in kindergarten. I don’t anticipate him getting in trouble for being mean or doing mischievous type things, I merely suspect that he will talk too much. And, in the grand scheme of things, how bad is that?

Now, let’s talk about Jace. He is affectionately called Mini-Me (referring to me, his mother) because he looks a lot like me compared to his brother. He does however have a disposition that we’ve yet to identify. The child has a temper that is plain horrible. As I mentioned, he appears to be stuck in the zone of the terrible twos. He didn’t fair as well in the three-year-old class at preschool as his older brother. He cried quite often to “go see my mommy” and would beg his teacher to let him come into my office at nap time. It was hard for me.

I do expect him to get plenty of interaction time with other children as he follows his brother everywhere. He has two years before he starts kindergarten but he will be able to play T-ball next spring with his brother. So, I’m not too terribly concerned about his social skills. And, the last thing I want is for him to be behind academically. So, we will be conducting “school” at home several times a week for the next two years so I can assure that he is right on target when he finally starts public school.

MORE ABOUT ME – MY EDUCATION THAT IS

I have a Bachelor’s in Physical Education from The University of Alabama in Birmingham and a Master’s in counseling from The University of West Alabama. My husband is an electrical engineer a la the Army. My husband however is a genius. He has been tested and he is a certified genius. We continue to work on the issues where his intelligence gets in the way with his ability to function within this family of non-geniuses.

As I go about writing Mom is Teaching, I plan to draw on my experiences as a public school teacher in physical education, life science, earth science, health and chemistry as well as my ownership of the daycare. Toss in a side of education in counseling and we will see how we an all learn and grow together. I look forward to it and hope to get to know each of you better.