Hi! My name is Tessa and I am so glad that you have found my blog. I love teaching about parenting, childhood, nutrition and homeschooling. I am a lifelong learner who enjoys doing research and I hope to share this knowledge with others.
I graduated from Scripps College in California with a dual major in English and History. Not knowing where life was going to lead me, I became an au pair to a wonderful family with three boys under the age of 5 on a beautiful homestead in Switzerland where I discovered my love of picking fresh blueberries straight off the bush and that it really was okay for little ones to eat dirt. After a bit more wandering, I became first an assistant preschool teacher, and then a group lead qualified preschool teacher, at a Reggio Emilio inspired, developmentally appropriate preschool on two acres of land. I learned here that painting with fly swatters is great fun and that it is possible to have children outside in just about any weather.
I kept finding myself paired with special needs children and having volunteered in High School with this population, I pursued becoming a Special Education Teacher. Initially I became a secondary paraprofessional working with special needs 7-12th graders. With the help of an alternative licensure program, I became a licensed K-12 Special Education Teacher at a rural mountain school. Here is where I learned that potential is not defined by a labelled disability and that children of every age have an amazing capacity to surprise you. I also became a licensed foster parent while working as a Special Education Teacher and, over the next 7 years, I had 12 children come into my home through foster care. Some stayed for hours, others for a year. They ranged in age from 13 months old to 17 years old.
When COVID hit, I spent a year teaching English to English Language Learners in China and teaching early reading skills virtually to students in the US. I then took a job as an Intervention Teacher at a K-8 Waldorf charter school where I learned gnomes can be used to teach math and the joy of wet on wet water painting. Here I taught struggling students math, reading, and writing while having the privilege of starting my own family. Currently I am blessed to be a work from home mom with my rambunctious three year old in tow. Life has taught me to embrace challenges, which is why I am starting this blog. I wish to share the knowledge that I have learned through being a teacher, foster parent, and mother with other parents looking to parent intentionally and are interested in meeting their children where they are developmentally no matter their diverse needs.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
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