The Christmas season is often hectic. It seems that this time of year has almost become synonymous with busy-ness. Decorating, cooking and baking, shopping, scheduling out holiday events...all wonderful activities that can bring us together with family and friends. Yet all of this hubbub has the potential to drown out the deeper meaning of the season. Sometimes it almost feels challenging to find Jesus in Christmas.

As parents, it's worth asking ourselves, "What are my children learning about Christmas through the way I approach the holiday? What am I communicating, directly and indirectly, about the meaning of Christmas?"

Choosing a school is arguably one of the most important decisions parents make as their children grow from the preschool years into formal schooling. Over the course of a child's K-12 education, they spend thousands and thousands of hours in their school context; it is safe to say that a school has a profound influence on our children. Nowadays, there are so many factors for parents to consider as they seek to make the best schooling choices for their children. For many, there are myriad opportunities--private schools, public schools, and robust homeschooling options.

Many parents associate reading issues such as dyslexia with the first years of formal schooling, Kindergarten, first, and second grades. This is the time when children typically begin systematically learning to read through phonics and high-frequency words, so it stands to reason that this is also the time when reading challenges surface. This is a common misunderstanding of dyslexia; in reality, dyslexia can begin to present itself in preschool-aged students as early as age three. Early identification of and intervention for specific learning challenges can serve to set students up to be successful readers as they progress through their education. And an understanding of how the brain works and what to look for in a child’s literacy development can serve to empower parents (and educators) in supporting a student’s growth as a reader.