LEARN

02/10/2026

🥈 2nd Place at Science Fair! 🥈
Thank you to everyone who took Lia’s middle school science test! Her win wouldn’t have been possible without your participation!

01/15/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Btrbk3r18/?mibextid=wwXIfr

👏 Congratulations to 7th-grade student Lia Parelli on winning this year's American History Essay Contest of the Daughters of the American Revolution-Joseph McDowell Chapter of Hendersonville. 🏆 This year's essay topic was “Lunch with a Signer,” with the prompt: "If you could go back in time and meet one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence for lunch, who would you choose?"

✍️ In her essay, Lia imagined a cozy lunch at Boston's historic Green Dragon Tavern with John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress and first signer of the Declaration. She read her piece for DAR chapter members at their recent meeting, and now advances to compete for the state title and a chance to advance to nationals.

🎉 Way to go, Lia! Thanks for representing FBRA so well!!

📸 📷 L-R: Lia at the podium reading her essay; with Britt Payne, FBRA Girls Program teacher; and with other essay contest winners.

05/28/2025

Kids lose an average of 39% of what they have learned over the school year (Atteberry & McEachin, 2020) during summer break.

What teachers call ‘summer slip’ can be prevented. In fact, students who are on par with their peers can often surpass classmates simply by maintaining skills learned throughout the school year. For those students who are behind, summer presents an opportunity to catch up.

Parents can mitigate summer slip by encouraging reading and incorporating learning into everyday activities. Let me know if I can help!

02/03/2025

My daughter, Lia, in today's newspaper:

Sixth grade student Lia Martinonis is the two-time winner of the Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest.

01/30/2025

PSA: Very little ‘handwriting’ is being taught in schools these days. Poor handwriting habits can be very hard to correct.

This is very well made (purchased on Amazon) and I highly recommend it for car-ride entertainment/practice for ages 4-7. Teach your children to follow the arrows ;)

01/13/2025