Guest Blogger: Page Protector Printables

Many call me Leslie, but I'm also Mom, Mommy, Momma and Ms. Leslie depending on which child is talking to me! I'm also known as "wife of the Prez" in the blog-o-sphere. I don't use my husband's real name on-line, but instead call him "The Prez" and we've been happily married for nearly 18 years. Since my teen years I've taught children in one way or another through church—currently teaching a three-year-old class there. As a young person, I dreamed of one day teaching illiterate adults to read, and I haven't given up on that dream.

But for now, my current field of learners are right here in my home! Since August 2009, I have taught our children at home. Back then The Prez and I had three children in our one-room schoolhouse, ages 10, 7 and 3. Today, we have six children in our one-room schoolhouse, ages 14, 13, 10, 7, 7 and 3.

I don't teach just one grade as our children are in various places in their learning journeys, but officially they are just finishing up grades 8th, 6th, 5th, 1st (2 of them) and tot school! Four of our children were adopted from China through the Waiting Child Program, and our 13-year-old son is my amazing ELL student having only begun English learning at age 10 after he came home with us in 2010. In addition to having an ELL student, I also have two children in our schoolroom with speech delays and one with hearing loss. All of the different grades, ELL and differently abled  learners keeps our one-room schoolhouse very interesting and inspiring!

As for my educational journey, I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English, with an emphasis in Journalism, way back in 1995. I have always loved writing, and blogging has given me an outlet to continue that love. Before children, I worked as an Editor for a large publisher of religious materials, and then freelanced with them for many years until we had our third child. My blog became an outlet for continuing to write, and currently this blog chronicles our daily life as home learners living life large with six children at our home on 15+ acres in the country soon. We will be moving to the country in a couple of weeks.

I opened my TpT store—Page Protector Printables and More—in July 2012 with my Page Protector Printables Calendar. It has become one of my best-sellers and I still believe in it so much because I've seen it help two of our children with daily calendar work in kindergarten and first grade. Up until the time I came up with this idea kind of on a whim, I had not found a daily calendar that really worked for them. I love to re-purpose items, and I had held onto these 9-Pocket Sports Card Page Protectors that I had long since emptied of sports cards. One day I was looking at them and thinking these would be so useful and hands-on, and the PPP Calendar Resource was born!

Since making that product and seeing how useful and EFFECTIVE it has been, I've created many more Page Protector Printables. I continue to believe in the benefit of ACTIVE learning that engages young learners. Another aspect of my products that I love is that they are reusable again and again, and they are versatile for many learning styles. They do require the teacher to be involved in the learning process, but they also encourage small group use and use in intervention groups as well as learners of varying abilities.

We use these resources in various ways, but when I first introduce a new Page Protector resource to my students, I often use it to assess their abilities in a given area such as Fractions, which is my newest Page Protector Printables product and utilizes a 10-Pocket Business Card Page Protector. Before my learners even realize they are learning and/or showing me what they know, they are having fun and asking for more! I believe children can learn so much more than we often believe if we just present the information in a way that is engaging and active.

Thank you to JoAn for allowing me to share a bit about myself, my students and the products I have created for them to use and which I offer in my store at TpT.