A team at Durham University developed a new tool to test more than 3,000 students of various ages. They found that a poor working memory seriously impairs a student’s ability to learn and about 300 of those students tested suffered from a poor working memory. We know that children with fetal alcohol effect have poor working memories. The study indicates that poor working memory may also be genetic. Unfortunately, this question isn't addressed on most birthmother... more

Do you remember when whatever your brothers or sisters were doing had to be more fun than what you were doing? Usually your childish imagination created a wonderful scenario, way out of proportion with reality, on which you were missing out. The old, “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence,” adage. My eight year old has accompanied me to work on several occasions so that I could help him with his schoolwork. He still requires assistance with directions and when I am working in the office, I usually have time to help him. It was not a reward or... more

Do you want to get rid of some old junk, but you don’t want the hassle of putting together a garage sale? Do you want to teach your adopted children entrepreneurship, have fun in the process, do some bonding, and make money? Some of the older adopted children arrive at your home with a fatalistic attitude about life. One of our daughters frequently admitted that if she tried something, it would turn out bad, so why try. Therefore, you need to do something easy to try to change that attitude and create some enthusiasm through success.

It started this summer when for the first time in 10 years we decided to have a garage sale. That in itself was quite a bonding experience between the... more

My friends adopted a sibling group of five children many years ago. I have a special connection with this adoptive family because we parented two of their children. You see the siblings were split into two foster homes the first two times they came into foster care. These children really look like siblings probably because each has the same two birth parents, uncommon in foster care from my experience. Therefore, one might assume that their needs and goals might be similar. However, each child’s needs are very different.

One... more

Pardon me if I seem a bit perturbed today. I belong to a Yahoo group of homeschooling parents with a Christian focus and as such I was saddened last week to see many of them openly criticizing other parents who have chosen to send their kids to public school. Just like the working mom vs. stay at home mom argument, these women seem to have taken sides and feel that if you send your kids to public school you don't love them enough.

Excuse me? One woman, speaking of parents who send their kids to school because they needed a... more