Our daughter has grown up an only child. She doesn’t know what it’s like to get lumped into the misdeeds of a sibling or to draw someone else into your own shenanigans. She gets rewarded or punished and receives mercy or grace on her own. When she got home from school today, she played teacher.Continue reading “Corporate Consequences”
Author Archives: Jonathan Sircy
Paintings
When my daughter got home from school, my wife got out the paint and paper. The results were four paintings with names like “Squiggle Snake,” “Zigzag,” “Surprise Orange,” and “Surprise Rouge.” She really leaned into the French pronunciation of “ORANGE” and “ROUGE.” What an artiste! She’s already discovered that branding is the name of theContinue reading “Paintings”
Jokes
Today, I started what I hoped will be a new habit with my daughter: teaching her a joke. My reasons: She’s been telling the same stale jokes from one episode of PBS kids show she watched two weeks ago, and I’ve about had it! Most jokes are short, and she can memorize them easily. JokesContinue reading “Jokes”
Legos
Today was my daughter’s birthday party. She received many gifts (Barbie accoutrement, Legos) that required assembly. It was a chance to see her at work and to see how she handled adversity in the midst of learning. She spent nearly four hours assembling various Lego sets. The sets all contained pictorial instructions. Her work onContinue reading “Legos”
Loose Tooth
My daughter is six now, but she has yet to lose her first tooth. She has a bottom-front tooth that is ready to break out of its rusty cage and run. My wife wants to pull it out. I would pull it out if called upon. But our daughter is scared. And so the afternoonContinue reading “Loose Tooth”
Picture Books
My wife and I often sing The Kinks’ song “Picture Book.” It features the line, “Picture book, pictures of your mama, taken by your papa a long time ago.” Picture books for children feature drawings, though, and so I had both this song and children’s books on my mind as a result of a projectContinue reading “Picture Books”
Infinite Games
My daughter was on campus with me this morning. As she listened to this Old Town School of Folk Music record and leafed through some books I got her from our campus library, I read this post from Seth Godin titled “The Modern Curriculum.” I spent the rest of the morning contemplating what it wouldContinue reading “Infinite Games”
Learning by Liturgy
My daughter is home for the week because of COVID exposure at school. While I was at school teaching, my wife was at home with our daughter. Apparently, the pair played a lot today. The most elaborate part of their play involved church. My daughter dictated a bulletin to my wife complete with announcements, aContinue reading “Learning by Liturgy”
Birthday
My daughter turns six today. During the past year, she’s had a series of firsts. They include her first… Bicycle Pet Experience reading all by herself Adventure standing in the Atlantic Ocean Graduation (from Pre-K) Day of kindergarten This morning, she went out with me for a birthday donut and to give my wife someContinue reading “Birthday”
Swallowtail Caterpillars
Though I’ve spent a lot of time with my daughter the past few days, I don’t know that I’ve done any official teaching. Yesterday, in just half an hour, my wife led my daughter in a brilliant science lesson. There are a host of black caterpillars crawling on the remains of our sunflowers. While myContinue reading “Swallowtail Caterpillars”
Learning Together 