Raising Brain

04/11/2026

Check out the beautiful gallery wall at Art Studio 81 Warrenton has on display for their upcoming event, The Great Mother Walk, they are hosting this Saturday! Stop by and check it out!

More info:

https://www.warrentonartistcollective.com/blog/post/2351629/old-town-warrenton-welcomes-the-great-mothers-march

Our Wall of Art supporting The Great Mothers March is still growing. Ashley from Raising Brain (A microschool supporting Minds and Celebrating Diversity) brought her students artwork to be displayed. Come check out our community of artists.

01/27/2026

With full hearts, we’re sharing that our Microschool will be closing as our family prepares to move. Our property will go on the market on April 6th, and we are deeply grateful for every learner and family who made this space so special.

While our in-person chapter is ending, we’re excited to continue our work through online courses. Our first course begins February 3rd: “Behind the Scene,” a short film study course, and there are a few spots still available.

Our courses are neuro-affirming and offer a safe space for learners to practice asynchronous learning and live Zoom classrooms, with opportunities for social connection. Self-advocacy is foundational, learners build the skills to understand and advocate for their educational needs, preparing them for a successful future. We will be adding more courses, stay tuned!

Visit our site for full details and enrollment information:
https://www.raisingbrain.org/

01/20/2026

We’re thrilled to announce that our 2026 Future City Competition team of six took home the trophy for Most Safe and Sustainable Highway System with their innovative underground pneumatic T.R.A.S.H. (The Really Awesome Sucking Hose) system, inspired by ENVAC. By moving trash underground, they eliminated emissions from trucks and made our highways safer for everyone. Set in Kvhamstangi, Iceland, their city, Eco Paradise, incorporated lava tubes for food storage, hydroponic watering system for a vertical farm, geothermal energy, and even biopropane-fueled hot air balloons for tourism revenue.

Here are just SOME of the things they learned:

- Understanding clean energy and green technology and their environmental impacts

- Applying regenerative agriculture and circular economy principles to reduce waste

- Studying sustainability and environmental systems, including composting & biogas production

- Investigating resource management and pollution reduction through urban design

- Using the engineering design process: brainstorming, modeling, testing, iterating, and problem-solving

- Building a functional model of the T.R.A.S.H. System, including mechanical and pneumatic systems

- Integrating innovative technology into solutions, like underground vacuum transport, mushroom-based packaging, and hydroponics

- Learning project planning and collaborative engineering using tools like Google Classroom, Google Calendar, and team role project management

- Applying measurement, scale, and modeling skills when creating city layouts and designing

- Considering the economic impact of sustainable practices, such as job creation and resource efficiency

- Exploring cultural and community engagement through arts, festivals, and public spaces

- Practicing team decision-making and conflict resolution, including voting, compromise, and collaborative planning

- Engaging in peer-to-peer feedback and respectful debate

- Communicating technical ideas to experts, such as the ENVAC team, and applying real-world feedback

We are so thankful to be part of this competition each year and proud of our students’ creativity, engineering, and teamwork.

A BIG thank you to Baltimore Marriott Waterfront for sponsoring our team!

https://www.raisingbrain.org/futurecity

12/21/2025

When we go to new cities we always take the Bus Tours . It’s a hop on and off bus that takes you all through the city, giving you a tour and information on what you can see at each stop. You can get off, explore and then go back to the stop and they’ll pick you back up! It runs 9-5, and it’s such a safe way to see all of the things, making sure you don’t miss anything! Highly recommend! Most big cities have them!

12/19/2025

Functioning labels are harmful because they collapse a complex, variable human experience into a single judgment, and then treat that judgment as a measure of support needs.

When someone is called “high functioning,” it’s often interpreted as low support needed. In reality, it usually just means their struggles are less visible, more internalized, or easier for others to overlook. The person may still need significant accommodations, but because they can speak, mask, work, or comply, their needs are minimized or dismissed.

On the flip side, “low functioning” is often used to justify low expectations, ignoring strengths, autonomy, and potential for growth, while still failing to provide respectful, individualized support.

Functioning labels don’t describe what someone actually needs. They describe how comfortable other people are with their disability.

Support needs aren’t fixed, they shift with environment, task, stress, and life stage. When all of that is reduced to a single label, accommodations are missed, burnout increases, and unmet needs are misread as defiance or failure.

That’s why many advocates focus on specific support needs, not perceived “functioning.”

If you don’t already, follow Kaelynn’s Autistic Angle, she is a wonderful resource!

https://youtube.com/shorts/YuvBtoRs-q4?si=GYjnjn8LKlEum-Vrdbeo

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

12/12/2025

I have a few spots available for Home Harmony Coaching in the Northern Virginia and DC areas. Home Harmony Coaching is designed for families who are looking for a calmer, more connected home life. Sessions can be especially helpful for parents of neurodivergent children, families navigating stress or transitions, or anyone looking to strengthen understanding and connection within their home.

If you are interested in creating a more peaceful and supportive home environment, I would love to talk with you about how Home Harmony Coaching can help.

You can reach out to me via email: [email protected]

Or on my website:
https://www.raisingbrain.org/homeharmony

Explore neuro-affirming parenting support and parent coaching in Northern Virginia for parents of children with autism, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder. Our neurodivergent practitioner offers coaching, guidance, and resources to create a supportive, empowering environment for both parents and....

12/12/2025

Today we explored the holidays of the Arctic, including the Inuit celebration Quviasukvik and the Inuvik Sunrise Festival. We talked about their cultures and ways of life, which led to great questions about whale hunting. We discussed how it is legal and ethical in these communities and how they honor the animal by using every part, from the bones to the blubber to the meat.

We also learned about St. Lucia’s Day in Sweden and the 13 Yule Lads in Iceland. They loved hearing about the antics of the Yule Lads and were inspired to create their own. They even voted on which one was the creepiest. The Eyebrow Grabber was the winner, with the Pooper Scooper coming in a close second.

12/11/2025

We are officially in our Arctic Era this month! For music, we dove into Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King, originally composed for the play Peer Gynt. We started with a lesson about Grieg himself and explored the geography of his home country, Norway.

From there, we connected everything to Trolls! We watched an animation of Peer Gynt, the story of a boy whose tall tales land him in a wild chase with mountain trolls. The students immediately noticed how the music grows faster and more intense, matching the chaos of the chase scene.

We learned that this is an example of program music, music written to tell a story. We also took a fun detour into Norse mythology and tied it back to Disney’s Frozen.

Then the students got busy creating their own program music, coming up with original compositions and crafting stories to go with them!

12/09/2025

Our Future City team wants to give a huge shout-out and sincere thanks to the Baltimore Marriot Waterfront for becoming a wonderful sponsor!

The hotel has provided us with a generous discounted room rate for our entire competition team and their families, which is a massive help as we prepare for our event.

We are so grateful for the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront and their commitment to supporting future engineers and problem-solvers. Their beautiful hotel and incredibly helpful, accommodating staff make our competition weekends stress-free and enjoyable. Thank you for being such a supportive home base for our team!

https://marriottbaltimore.bookonline.com/

12/06/2025

A hollow tree isn’t empty — it’s full of life fighting to survive winter.

Raccoons rely on dry inner chambers to conserve heat.
Flying squirrels stash nuts in hidden cavities.
Owls perch inside sheltered hollows to escape storms.
Beetles, moths, spiders, and countless invertebrates overwinter in its protected layers.

When we cut down every dead or hollow tree “for safety,”
we erase one of the most critical winter habitats left in our landscapes.

If a hollow trunk isn’t threatening your home,
leave it standing.
For wildlife, it’s the difference between shelter and starvation.