TeacHimMom?

It was Summer of 2019, I was trying to have a moment to myself on the potty when my, then, 21 month old toddler decided to make an appearance. Interestingly enough, I was brainstorming changes I could make in my life to be more present and have more time with him. At the time, I was a full-time teacher pouring into and giving all I had to my twaddlers at school, then coming home depleted for my sweet boy. After all, shouldn't he also benefit from the fact that his mother was an Early Childhood Educator? I reflected on what I had in that moment that I could still support other children and families while also making him a primary focus. In that moment, taking into consideration of how I had been observing him at home as well as my years spent in the field, I realized that experiential learning is the answer. While having very short stints in a Family Day Home and then at the Child Care Center I worked at, it was not necessarily meeting the standards of what I felt he should be learning and experiencing. Life was definitely life'n so things shifted to where he did not stay in these settings more than 3 months each. However, in just his first 2 years of life, he had been fortunate to travel to Antigua, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Florida, Delaware, Barbados and St. Thomas. This is something I absolutely wanted to continue because he learned and retained so much during these times. The fact that I could make something we, for example, read in a book and make it tangible to where he got to experience a train ride, a flight, a boat ride, etc. was so beautiful. He had always been in love with nature and his surroundings. This is the moment where TeacHimMom was created.

With much gratitude,

Keisha P. James, M. Ed. aka TeacHimMom