A Teacher At Heart: This blog is written to all people who have contact with children. Whether you are a parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt or uncle, school teacher, Sunday School teacher or neighbor, if you have contact with children, you have the potential to make a difference in that child's life. You don't have to have an education background to positively influence our future leaders. If you've ever had that feeling of great joy when seeing a child learn something new...YOU are a "teacher at heart."
We will share meaningful heart-filled ideas to do with your little ones. This team of three teaching mamas/grandma are by no means know-it-alls but are bold crazy enough to bring their ideas (or other's ideas they have used at home or in the classroom) to the public! Keep reading for regular ideas to encourage, inspire and nurture the teacher that is in you. Our children need us! Your comments and suggestions are welcome!
How To Follow: We will present ideas such as literacy enrichment, hands-on exploration, music, process art, cognitive development all in ways that are developmentally appropriate for your children. If you have no idea what that last sentence truly means...no worries. It will all be explained as you follow along!
About the Authors: (There ARE three...)
Susan Van Sickle:
Hey there! I'm Suzie (Baitland) Van Sickle! I married into this awesome teaching family! The moment I found out that Brandon's mom and sister were both teachers, I knew he understood what he was getting into when marrying me. We married in 2007, (2 weeks after Sarah and John), and have been living in Spring, Texas ever since. Needless to say, this family just goes with the flow!
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Fall 2010
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I grew up in Sugar Land, Texas. My mom and sister are both teachers too... so it's kinda in our blood! I taught for 7 years before becoming a stay at home mommy to my two precious TWINS! Yes, I am that crazy twin lady, but I wouldn't want my life any other way. My background is in Early Childhood Education, and I have a masters in Educational Leadership. I taught kinder for 5 years and second grade for 2 years. I plan on going back to education one day!
I don't get a paycheck or have a quarterly bonus, but I take what I do each day like a job. A really fun job! Each day the boys bring new joy to our house, and I just hope we can share a little bit of fun along the way!
Sarah McCoy:
I'm Sarah (Van Sickle) McCoy...see a trend here? Growing up with a mom like mine, learning was something that happened so naturally. She had a way of taking something we were interested in and creating an atmosphere of fun around it. What I didn't know at the time was that through all of this fun, I was learning. What I did know was that it was fun to be creative and so I began to teach at young age. I taught my little brother, my friends, little kiddos in the Church Nursery, and children I babysat whether they wanted to be taught or not! :) I caught the teaching bug and there was no way around it!
I married John over four years ago and the adventures began! We now have a son, Carter, dog named Lucy and have lived in Texas, Norway, China, and now Canada! Before becoming a mommy, I was a teacher. I taught Pre-K, First Grade and PYP Reading/Writing in Norway and Shanghai.
Mommy-hood is so special! I love every bit of spending time with my little Carter-Bear. However, this is not at all the "Mommy-hood" I imagined growing up. Living abroad is such a great experience in many ways but it can be challenging as well. I hope to share some of these experiences to help grow the teacher in you!
Rita Van Sickle
My name is Rita Van Sickle and I have been happily married to Ed for 35 years. I am a mother of three, two sons and a daughter and a Grandma of three grandsons. Although, I was an Early Childhood Educator for 10 years before I became Director of a preschool, in The Woodlands, Texas, 18 years ago; my favorite and most important job is being a mother. I truly believe that parents are their child's first, and most important, teachers.
I love children and all of the gifts that they bring. They are our future and I truly believe that it is our responsibility to work together to nurture them into fine, responsible, loving adults who give back to our world.
