Meet Cindi
I am so glad you found Read Write Educate! I’m Cindi, and I’m passionate about helping parents educate their children in a fun, stress-free, and meaningful way. Now more than ever, families are re-examining educational models. My goal is to empower families to make and pursue the choice that best suits their desires and needs. I do that by sharing our family’s journey and the resources that have influenced and helped us along the way.
My Teacher Life
I resisted the call to teaching for several years. Instead, I insisted that writing was my calling. After running into multiple dead ends, I reconsidered my passions and skill set. A few months later, I was in a sixth grade classroom in Dallas, TX, wondering what I had just committed to. It was awesome. Have you ever had a feeling of awe? You know, that terrifying, this is a bad idea, but wow do I ever feel alive right now feeling? That was how I felt on my first day in the classroom. I knew I was meant to be an educator. I woke up excited to go to work, even on the hard days. That was a first for me. Every day brought different challenges, which only fueled my passion. After completing my first year in Dallas, my family relocated to the Atlanta, GA area. I transferred my certification and was back in the classroom a few months later.
This time, I was co-teaching 7th grade language arts. This meant I taught side by side with a special education teacher, teaching kids with IEPs and those without. It was awesome. My co-teacher and I quickly developed a bond that takes many co-teachers years to develop. We were in sync, unified, and the entire 7th grade knew it. Our kids did great things that year. Sadly, that position ended too soon after my husband’s job brought us to Florida.
In Florida, I was hired to co-teach 8th grade language arts. I found myself in an underfunded district, teaching kids of extreme racial, socioeconomic, religious, and ethnic diversity. It was exhilarating and exhausting. Here, I taught all aspects of 8th grade. I planned and taught as a co-teacher, regular education, and Cambridge curriculum.
Throughout my time in the classroom, my greatest joy came from helping students set and achieve their goals. That desire hasn’t left. I hope to use this blog and website to help you and your family identify, create, and reach those big goals you have around both education and life.
At Read Write Educate, we believe that your child’s education is too important to leave to chance. Together, we can teach something amazing.
My Homeschool Life
Homeschooling is a topic that Matt and I had discussed before we had children. In our early discussions, it felt overwhelming and like a poor fit for us. As our family grew, we have been better able to define our family goals and vision. After years of teaching in public schools across the country, I began to question how my kids fit into this system, or if I even wanted them in the system.
I’m an educator at heart. I’m passionate about learning. I’m passionate about teaching. I’m passionate about kids. I’m not passionate about cookie cutter curriculum, or standardized testing. I’m not passionate about assigning a label and an IEP to a child who learns differently than most, nor am I passionate about inflating grades and offering “bonus” assignments so a student can pass the class. I want to read with students. I want to watch them make discoveries and connections about our world. I want to see them struggle through a concept and watch their eyes light up when they master it. I want to provide tools, resources, and guidance along the way.
In 2019, my family moved to Tennessee. I was pregnant with our fourth child, and given the timeline of our move, had decided not to return to the classroom that fall. My daughters would be attending a new school that fall, in kindergarten and first grade. I had a few months at home with my son, before our second son would be born. Little did any of us know that this school year would be cut short and practically every aspect of our lives turned upside down.
I know many families felt frustration with the school systems in the spring of 2020. As my children were young enough to only have pass/fail grades, I abandoned the sent home suggestions and began teaching my kids from my own bag of tricks. This went much smoother for all of us. From here, our homeschooling journey was born. I’m inviting you into the journey with us, and hope that you will find inspiration, resources, and community here.