Bronwyn Harris, Author

Interesting food for thought .

Lots of people have asked how Solomon is doing, so I thought I'd post the news. Solomon has a mast cell tumor - a type of cancer really common in dogs. It releases histamines, which was how I found out, because he was scratching and biting at it. This particular tumor is way up on his thigh (the meaty part of his drumstick if he were a chicken) and hard to remove because it is large and there's not a lot of margin around it. I thought long and hard about whether or not to do surgery or any other type of treatment. I had to think about the fact that he is about to be 10 years old (although a very young 10), what I am willing to put him through, and the cost. It was a very hard decision and I am sure people will disagree with me on both sides, but my plan is to do the surgery, once. I can't afford to have it done more and I don't want to put him through a lot of surgeries. I also won't do chemo or radiation - partly for money and partly because I don't want ...

This guest blog is written by my friend "Walter" (he chose the pseudonym, not me!) who has been involved with the two boys I've been writing about for several years now. I have known the boys for four years now. I met them through the author of this blog when we took them to the Exploratorium one da y - that was the first time I had ever met them. The kids were very polite and very cautious at first. They didn't go far from us and watched us the whole time until we got to the Exploratorium and they started running around and playing with stuff. Then they started to loosen up and have fun. By the end of the day that first day, they were smiling and having fun; getting to be kids. It was really neat to see them getting to be children. I was hooked. I said, "OK, we need to do this again. You guys had a good time, I had fun." Once they got to put off the hard exterior and be kids, I really loved who they were and that they got to be children. I wante...

The gecko is visiting a sixth grade class this month. I went to talk to the class about gecko care and they seemed really excited. I hope that Tiger (the gecko) touches these kids in the same way he touched the third graders. In honor of Tiger, here are some of the essays the third graders wrote about him during my last year in the classroom. The gecko eats crickets. The gecko comes out to see us. The gecko has its peace. The gecko climbs on its rock. the gecko sleeps in his own home. The gecko plays outside and sleeps in the day. the gecko has stripes. The gecko is 3 months old. The gecko's colors are brown and yellow. The gecko is scared of other animals. The gecko is a baby. Leopard geckos are found in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Leopard geckos are among the largest geckos. 8 or 9 inches. Leopard geckos can live in a aquarium or plastic sweater boxes. Leopard geckos need sand, newspapers, and exercise. Leopard geckos can hide in Rocks, hide box, and...

I've had several friends lately tell me that because of what they've heard about public schools, they don't want to put their children into the public school system. I have quite a few reasons for disagreeing, but one of them is that a small group of parents can make a big difference. If parents get involved, they will not be sacrificing their kids' education, but making a school much better. I'll write more about that later, but here's an article on the subject of parent involvement.