Teach Your Children Well

I appreciated all the comments and feedback from my experience in Boston last weekend.

Moving onto another topic, however, I use this blog mainly as an outlet for my own thoughts/doings/etc. As much as I like to toot my own horn, every once in awhile I do like to promote others' activities. As my readership grows from close friends, to colleagues, to random folks I don't really know, I realize that I can give enhanced exposure to things.

Today's item is from an email I received from a friend. She's an art teacher in a public school system. As with most public schools, she has a limited amount of funding. She has taken the initiative to seek outside sources of funding through the website Donors Choose. Here, teachers can submit prject proposals with the amount of funding required. Members of the public can then choose how much they would like to donate to a given project(s). And donations are tax-deductible! So, here is a list of the projects she has submitted. I encourage you to browse them and consider a donation.

Check It Out! Art Supplies To Borrow And Return
What A Bunch of Knit-Wits! Knitting Needles for Art Class
Traveling Artists Need Drawing Boards
Draw…Erase…Save a Tree in Art Class!
Elementary Art Class Library-Part One
Elementary Art Class Library- Part Three

Philanthropy is important, we all know that. We can give in any way we can. Yes, a lot of us have limited incomes and can only donate so much, but something is better then nothing. Some folks choose to donate to large organizations such as those geared toward medical research. These are great organizations, but there are other areas that can be of equal importance. In these projects above, however, you can actually decide where your money is going and see the tangible result. One thing I've learned throughout the years is the importance of the nonacademic courses in school -- the art classes, the music classes, the gym & health classes. These are all important and crucial to developing well rounded students. When budget cuts come, these are the classes that are often the first to be reduced and eliminated. We need these classes to encourage creative output and living a healthy lifestyle. So again, I encourage you to check these projects (and others on the site) out and considering helping a friend of a friend out.