Category: Education
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Time to review Missouri’s school calendar
The frigid, snowy, icy start of 2024 is causing havoc with the Missouri schools. In three weeks and heading into a fourth, schools have not been in session with any consistency. And what is happening? Student growth is plateaued at best. At the worst, student growth is sliding downhill just like the…
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Yes, 2021 arrived, now a few musings for a new year
For a week, I have thought about how to look at 2021. One challenge that showed up in my inbox was to identify one word for the new year. Immediately one popped up: Resilience. Why? Think about the history of our country. How many times has a challenge presented itself and the very principles that…
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Thoughts from Quarantine 2020
Waking up this morning, I feel Christmas sneaking in on me. There are clouds and the possibility to see snowflakes in the air, and it is cold–24 degrees. And yet, I am in quarantine. Christmas has been central to my life forever. Growing up on the farm, Christmas was a time we developed…
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Surprising times challenge faith, Redefine today’s lifestyle, goals
How many times do we experience something in our lives and we cannot believe what just happened? Maybe it was a near accident, maybe it was a health issue, maybe it was a work achievement. Afterwards, we just walk away and marvel at the outcome. Maybe we are in the midst of…
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Praying the Psalms V: Pleas and Praise apply today
Life just keeps us hopping, doesn’t it? Even though we can establish a daily routine and settle into a comfortable pace, surprises develop. Certainly the wreck, now over four weeks ago, was a surprise and life suddenly forced a change to daily routines. But, the days keep moving forward and new routines…
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An open apology to kids about knowing God, faith
I apologize. As I continue to study and to read the Bible, I realize I failed. I failed to teach you faith. I failed to practice the parenting principles that my own parents taught me. I failed to share what I know to be my own life foundation. I apologize. As I grew…
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Prayerful thoughts on closing 2018-19 school year, summer
Certainly I have not kept it secret that I am a retired educator, and also there is no secret that I served in the pulpit for 10 years in a bi-vocational role. Therefore surely there are no surprises that my thoughts for this week are closely connected to the ending of…
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Have you ever been so afraid to read a book that you fail to?
Ok, I admit that is what happened to me in relation to an entire genre—fantasy. And I had my reasons to avoid them. Primarily I am dyslexic and reading books with created language does not work well for me. First, I have to decode the language and then I have to create…
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An Open Thank You Letter: International Dyslexia Assoc. (formerly Orton Dyslexia Society) C. Wilson Anderson, past IDA president Dr. Joan Stoner, Nebraska Dyslexia Assoc.
Almost thirty years ago, I drove to Des Moines, IA, and met national Orton Dyslexia Society board members for my first regional conference on dyslexia. Last week my daughter made her first presentation on the subject of dyslexia—her personal journey and methods that work. That January 1990, weekend conference began a…
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Activate prayer any time, any place, anyway you can
Last week, I was fortunate enough (maybe I should say, blessed) to attend a Ruby Payne conference, attend a Passion City Church worship service, and bond with two passionate Christians seeking to learn more about how to make pathways out of poverty—more specifically how our churches can make pathways out…
Susandoodles 