Harry Wong - The First Days of School

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk invovlement.
To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
Persons who risk nothing to do nothing, have nothing, and are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn,
                                                                                  feel,
                                                                                 change,
                                                                                 grow,
                                                                                 love,
                                                                                 or live.
Chained by their attitudes, they are slaves, for they have forfeited their freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

Structured Learning Center

I am looking for a structured learning center to observe in Oregon.

Curriculum information would be great too.

E.C.E.L - Education for Community, Employment and Life

Today, we met with our new principal and we talked about the changes in our Program. I am very excited about the changes, to bring two staffs together and create a very unique program that helps all of our students reach their potential. To feel great about who they are and what they are capable of doing.

: )

Parent's Wish

For my child I ask:
That they seek their happiness not so much at the finish line,
  as in the running;
That they have the strength not ot life tremendous weights,
  but one fallen friend;
That they learn to fight their own battles with a never-ending
  string of temporary cease-fires;
Not that the occasion makes them smile, but that their smile
  make the occasion;
That their bridges not be built over rivers, but over
  misunderstanding;
That their wealth be not in their banks, but in their hearts;
That they gain power not over others, but over themselves;
That they bow not to little people with big titles, but to big
  people with little titles;
That their names be household words not throughout the land,
  but in their own households;
That their monuments be found not in public parks,
  but in the lives of those they've touched.

Box of Crayons

""We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box." unknown

Bi-polar

http://www.raising-special-kids.com/bipolar-disorder.html

SPRING IS HERE

WOW! Where has this year gone? So much has happened, students have grown so much and have become so much more independant and are learning how to advocate for themselves in many different situations. They are growing up before our eyes.

Enjoy the beautiful weather today. It's sunny, it's rained a bit, it was sprinkling while cloudy and sunny. It's it amazing what our weather can do.