I don't often do "call to action" diaries, but something near and dear to my professional heart is in jeopardy, and I want to get the word out.

Those of you who work in school settings may be familiar with the National Writing Project (NWP).  It is a federally funded non-profit organization that supports the teaching of writing in schools across the nation.  

Each NWP site is based at a college or university.  NWP sites provide professional development for any and all teachers who teach writng as part of their classes.  Teachers at all levels--elementary, middle, secondary, post-secondary--participate in the wide variety of professional development experiences offered by the NWP sites.  

All NWP workshops and conferences are built around the core ideals of the NWP, which include: teachers of writing should be writers themselves, teachers make the best teachers-of-teachers, effective professional development is on-going, and effective professional development is a collaboration between the university and local schools.

For more information about what the NWP is, check this link here: http://www.nwp.org/ For more information about why NWP is so important to ME and why it is in jeopardy, read below the break.

Attention political junkies: Don't forget to set your TiVos for President Barack Obama's speech before Congress tonight 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT). He will reveal his budget before Congress.

Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana who has been talked up non-stop by the press, will give a rebuttal afterwards.

Chat away!

I hate starting over. But, start over is what I had to do last November. Because of circumstances that were beyond my control, I had to start a new job, in a new company, learning something new, and not getting paid nearly as much as I was accustomed to. In order to make ends meet, I took every opportunity they had to work some overtime, which meant 12-hour work days.

Working 12-hour days (5am - 5pm) and being a single mother raising two children are very much like oil and water. They just don't mix. I hate not having the energy or motivation to do things with my children, but more than that is that I hate and resent the fact that I don't have the financial freedom to say "no, thank you" to the offer of overtime.

The thing is that I'm afraid I'm raising two children who don't have any concept of money. The earning, budgeting, or power of it.

So, I was excited to find this article entitled, 5 Steps to Raising a Money Smart Kid.

So, what does this article point out as it's five gems?