I liked this article this morning

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The article is headlined about teaching students life skills. That is a big part of what our class does at school. Our students, however, start from further behind. To save reading, if you do not want to, I will summarize. The teacher in question co sponsors a fiber arts club. So the students who come are there voluntarily. She invited them one week to bring anything fabric that was meaningful to them but needed repairs. A lot of them brought favorite stuffed toys. They were shown how to mend their items. The co sponsor brought brushes and clear nail polish and other things to spruce up the toys. The fibers were combed and brushed. The clear nail polish was applied to plastic eyes to make them bright and shiny again. It is hoped that this skill will transfer to mending their own clothes and household items, thus keeping things out of the landfill, and holding on to cherished memories. Also less manufacturing of new goods if they can reuse old. It's about time kids learned some practical skills. The kids in question were fourth and fifth grade students so about 9-11 years old. Old enough to be trusted with needles and such and old enough to be proud of what they did. I know some users mend and repair things. Not just cloth things, either. I think it is a skill we really need.