Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

"You talk talks... and your walk talks... but your walk talks louder  than your talk talks." Most of you know from my last post that I have recently quit my job. I just couldn't do it anymore. I was working long hours, a lot of which were on the road away from my family. I was burnt out, trying to work within a system for change, where I just didn't feel like I had the impact or the ability to advocate. I didn't feel as though my voice or the voice of my colleagues or the providers I was representing was being heard.  It was beyond exhausting.... sleepless nights, and I've been sick, really sick. Enough was enough.....  You, see here in Michigan, we are about to "go live" with our new tiered quality rating and improvement system. I was working as one of the "quality improvement consultants." My job was to work with sites participating in this voluntary program to assist them through coaching and consulting to improve qual...

The last six months have been a whirlwind. Are you kidding me, it's almost Christmas... how on earth can that be possible... I've been living in a time sucking vacuum... and I'm not getting any of that time back. Most of you know that back in June, I opted to take a "real" job, because you know working at home as a child care provider isn't really a real job. (Insert sarcasm here).  Contrary to popular belief, working with children is probably the most real job that there is.... well, that and being a mom. As a consultant, I had big hopes and dreams. I took a job too good to be true, that well wasn't true. In a rosy glasses kind of world the job was ideal. I really had the opportunity to influence change, to make a difference on a larger scale. To help mold the future in the field of early childhood in our state.  In reality, I had little power in my position. I worked long hours, and was continually struggling with my integrity. Although the goals of...

Yup.... I kissed a dolphin..... Little Hurley :).  I swam with a movie star! Don't you recognize Cindy from Jaws 3?  My not-so-baby boy turned 10..... We spent the week in Florida.  Lots of new experiences. Time with family,  dolphins,  gators, (We even wrestled them!) tortoises,  tapirs,  sting rays,  giraffes,  killer whales,  manatees,  Commerson dolphins, ......... Early closings because of inclement weather- 70 and overcast! Oh, well... We still had fun :).  After all, you only turn 10 once!

Last week, I introduced you to my new weekly topic for posting on Tuesdays, "Let's Talk Tech Tuesdays".  If you missed that post, you can find it here! Last week, I spent a little bit of time sharing with you an app that I use for taking anecdotal notes on my iphone/ipad. This week, I have a computer program/app that is more universal for use as you can utilize it from your computer, iphone/ipad, or android phone. This program allows you to track your daily information sheets through the program and to link individual children to their parents. Parents will then have the opportunity to receive up to the minute information on their child in care or opt to have a daily digest of information. You can log all activities including arrival/departures, feedings/meals/snacks, naps, learning activities, first aid, etc. You an also add photos and videos! I know that many sites use paper versions of daily sheets. This app is handy because it saves paper, and there is a lasti...

Often times, our view is distorted based upon our perception.  What is seen and experienced can often be simply only what is right in front of us.  The pieces that are clearly at our level. Sometimes it is more difficult to see the bigger picture.....  And sometimes, the bigger picture is so overpowering we forget about the little things.... We forget about the importance of looking at all perspectives...... Have you taken the time to really get down and look at the pieces from another perspective. Looking at things from another angle or perspective might just surprise you.... Have you taken the time to really look?  Looking at the BIG picture..... can be important, but so is spending time looking at all of the pieces..... It is important to work to find the balance.... What perspective are you taking today?

If you've been following my blog or spent any time at our place, you know that the children in our care have limited access to "technology".  I try to encourage creativity and exploration through play, real unplugged play.  We don't even have a television in the main area for our childcare. Out of sight, out of mind. As far as I'm concerned, children spend enough time watching television elsewhere, and it is not my place to make the decisions in terms of what is or is not appropriate for children to watch. (That is the job of the parent.) That does not mean that the children have no connection to technology here. They have all become quite good at taking photos, and I use voice recording software on my phone and computer to record some of their stories and songs. We do spend time looking at photos and recalling previous activities and events. There are even a couple of programs on my computer that I allow the children to use.  However, my primary foc...

The children helped to create this postcard for an international post card exchange awhile back. We talked about what is cool about where we live, which included various aspects of our local culture.  One of the areas we are working on as part of our Quality Improvement Plan is promoting more cultural competency in our classroom. As I have been working with a number of other sites to help them with their goals, it has become clear to me that the concept of culture is often misunderstood. For many sites, when I mention cultural competency folks tend to think directly to the outer rings of the world with multiculturalism and diversity. This is wonderful if you live in an area with a lot of ethnic or racial diversity. However, for most young children in our community this is not true. We have very little diversity when we think of it in this realm. So, although having things like multicultural dolls and various skin color crayons/paints are important,  if you do not have t...

It's Fall here in Michigan, and the pumpkins are ripe!  Fall pumpkins are perfect practice place for pounding. The children have been using hammers and  golf tees to dress up some of our pumpkins. It takes a lot of practice to master pounding.... When we are first learning how to hold the hammer and the tees or nails,  sometimes we use a clothespin to help us hold them in place.  This is helpful when we are still working on our hand-eye coordination  in order to keep our fingers safe. Part of the joy of working with mixed ages is to watch the  young children as they learn from observing the older children.  This little guy picked up very quickly exactly what to do! Although he didn't actually pound any tees in today,  He was very quick to mimic the actions with the toy hammer and tees! Perhaps tomorrow we will add some paint.... Perhaps we will opt to carve the pumpkins...... Perhap...

This Halloween is bound to be a MAMMOTH one!!! I actually finished Dane's costume a week early this year.... Which was perfect! He has had the opportunity to wear it twice already and Halloween is not until tomorrow :).  For all of you who join in on all of the festivities, Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

It's fall here in Michigan. We've been busy...... It has been quite a wet and rainy season for us, but that doesn't stop us from finding some fun things to do, both inside and out! One of our favorite books to read lately has been: (photo from Amazon.com) So, I thought...why not create a discovery bottle to go along with it! We took an empty 2 liter bottle, and started to add pieces of pipe cleaners to it. We added small clippings of green and we made 16 pumpkins: To make each pumpkin, we took a short piece of green pipe cleaner and wrapped it with orange pipe cleaners until it looked right. (Most of the time it took 2 full orange pipe cleaners to give the pumpkins the shape we wanted.) I also added numbers to the bottle. After I printed them out, I added a paperclip to each number to make them magnetic. After we were all done, I sealed the top with some hot glue, and reinforced it with a couple of layers of duct tape! Viola- Magnetic Discover...

I apologize once again for my absence here.  Life has been crazy, great things are happening.  Good questions are being asked, and real life has seriously kept me out of the virtual world.  There are really only so many hours in a day.  So, with that..... I want you to know that I'm not disappearing forever, but you probably won't see much of me around the blogosphere.... However, you may start to see some new posts from my wonderful husband and business partner, Mr. Allan. In addition to a few posts here and there from our assistants!   AND... don't forget, we have archives and a wonderful blog list for you to check out!  I've been writing a zillion blog posts in my mind when I'm on the road... So when the time comes, I'll have oodles of new things to share with you!   Until then,

We're busy painting with our homemade "smelly" water colors! (you can find our original post about them here:  http://www.childcentralstation.com/2010/06/im-not-sure-that-i-will-ever-buy.html We use these paints all the time.... It's hard to believe that it has been about 2 years since I made the first batch!!!! (AND we still have some of the original ones- and they work fabulous! That's what happens when you make monster batches of paint!!!!!)

I've been swamped, and we have been enjoying all of the craziness that life brings! So, the blog has been neglected. Life is still quite busy, but here are a few random moments captured with photos of some of our learning fun!!!