A little update on what's keeping us busy these days...

I was recently asked if I could put together information on empathy training for kids for one of the nearby Montessori schools, and was very quick to jump at the opportunity.  I am really excited to put together a fun little "program" for kids that will help them explore/better understand their own feelings, the feelings of others, as well as highlight similarities and differences among them in order to help them build the skills necessary to be empathetic as well as to learn to be more understanding and compassionate.

The fun thing about working with kids is that simply talking to them about "empathy" and what it means to be empathetic, would be pretty boring and pointless to them. After a minute or so they'd lose interest and be off doing who knows what. So instead I've found several really fun and engaging activities that will do the job much better than a long-winded speech ever could :) 

This has been my main project the past couple of days so I am really looking forward to either passing along the program curriculum or presenting the training myself soon! Even though they are young kids and I am not sure I will be able to use a powerpoint presentation here, I've started to make one up (a short one) mostly to organize my thoughts and help with the sequencing of activities, but figure it is also a good way to potentially be able to use it again in the future right?? And, lets be honest... it doesn't hurt that it's a good resume builder either! 

Nick update- with mid-terms quickly approaching Nick has been putting in long hours on campus studying. And when I say long, I seriously mean long! He leaves around 7:20 am every day and gets home a little after midnight. Nothin' like a 15 + hour day on campus eh??

Stumbled across this picture in Nick's tagged pictures and thought it was pretty awesome! Thanks for the picture Kelsey!  I'm assuming this is on a study break one day... not a bad way to unwind for a bit eh?