February 26, 2007: My little guy did his homework all by himself.

I know what you're thinking: Big deal. Mom needs to get a life.

But it is a big deal, a really big deal. A big milestone for a kid that, a little more than one year ago was viewed only in the negative.

I adopted my little guy in October 2005, a few months short of his fifth birthday. I put him into pre-school almost immediately, a school that my older child had been to for kindergarten. A local Russian grandma, to whom I owe a huge debt of thanks, served as... more

This is the kind of story I wish I read more often: What becomes of child after he or she was adopted from Russia.

It popped up in the "The Oshkosh Northwestern", thanks my trusty Google Alerts. Confession: I have never read "The Oshkosh Northwestern" before, but I did spend a few days in the charming town this past summer when I took my kids there to see the gigantic EAA AirVenture show. There... more

A new report from the Evan B. Donaldson Foundation came out a couple of weeks ago: "Adoption in the Schools: A Lot to Learn" Here's the lowdown:

[The report] for the first time brings together research and years of broad experience on a range of issues that affect millions of boys and girls nationwide. It points out that, as adoption becomes increasingly normalized in the United States, more and more adoptive families are confronting challenges when their children attend school - and it offers recommendations for how educators can better meet those challenges.

I facetiously... more

This is continued from part 1, an introduction to therapeutic boarding schools.

Here's what I think you need to look for in a therapeutic boarding school:

1. Real high school level classes, but also remediation. Many times kids who've been struggling over the past few years are behind in school. You should pick a program that will help them catch up and will prepare them for college or whatever post-secondary training they're going for. From what I can tell this... more

Yesterday I wrote a post about spotting learning disabilities early on. I got the article I used from the International Adoption Articles Directory, which is a great resource that I want to make people aware of. People involved in adoption or experts in their field can post articles to provide information on all sorts of aspects of adoption.

In the articles directory there's an article called "Teens... more

This is kind of a companion post to our Special Needs' blogger's recent post on homework. We have our own homework struggles in this house involving my older, school-aged son, but I think it's due to the beginning-of-school ya yas and the transition from our lazy summer schedule to our current more scheduled schedule.

But I am wondering how people feel about putting pressure on kids to do well in school. How much pressure is too much? Should pressure to do well come from... more

I got an e-mail this morning from a PhD candidate who is studying children who've been adopted internationally and their experience in school settings. I think this is an area that's sorely in need of study and I encourage anyone with a little time on their hands to complete the survey.

She has allowed me to repost her original request for participation in my blog. If you're wiling to help her out, please send her an e-mail (her address is at the bottom) to get a copy of the survey.

My name is Belinda Conrad Richardson. I adopted three children from Russia. Mary and Ethan in July 2003 (6 and 4 at the time) and Emaline in July 2004 (11 months at the time).... more

Today I had another visit to an elementary school to talk about my book, about writing, and about adoption. I spoke to four 2nd grade classes and a 1st grade class. That was a lot! Once again, the kids asked wonderful, insightful questions. But for the first time I was also asked some questions that gave me pause.

Here we go. Things that made me go 'urm?'

When you buy a baby for adoption, how much does it cost?

Did a baby die in your belly? If a baby died in a mom's belly and you were going to adopt it, what would... more

Over the past few weeks I've been doing school visits to various local schools (mostly year-round, which is why I visited in August). I talk to them about adoption, about writing, and about my book, When I Met You: A Story of Russian Adoption.

I wrote about my classroom visits a bit at the end of the last school year (in this blog entry, this... more

This is part 4 of a series about family tree assignments. Beth Waggenspeck, a communications professor at Virginia Tech, an adoptive parent, and a writer about adoption issues, kindly gave me permission to repost something she wrote about the problem with family tree type assignments.

For years, I have offered those resources to teachers and will append some of them here. I will not let the teacher say "Well, your child IS part of your family tree" as the "excuse" for such an assignment. Of course Sasha and Will are mine, and the Waggenspack... more