Our Story
Life is a Collected Experience
At PB & J Everyday, we believe that eduction is a collection of our life experiences and the paths that we take along the journey.
Although we’ve traveled on some paths less taken, we are all connected by the desire to provide the children in our lives today with a brighter future tomorrow.
The joy of teaching children to read has always inspired me. My journey to becoming an educator began in high school, volunteering to tutor young students struggling to make a connection to the letters and words in class.
I was not given any kind of instruction manual on how to help these struggling students. The directions given were to read to the students and encourage them to read to me.
Rinse-and-Repeat. This was the secret to success for every student... or so I was told.
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I quickly noticed the differences between each student. In fact, each student had different strengths and struggles. These young students made the most progress when I approached them each as individuals, adapting short games and choosing books based on their level and interests.
The next path led me on a journey to study graphic design, the art of expressing ideas through eye-catching visual formats.
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"In graphic design, I discovered that each situation required an open mind and out-of-the-box thinking to arrive at a solution."
By this time, I had married my high school sweetheart and was a military spouse. Our new path led me in an exciting and different direction again.
I made the decision to go back to a path left unexplored. Education
I had a light bulb moment!
I would use my collected life experience to combine my passion for art and education.
Think out-of the-box
One Challenge Creates Endless Possibilities
I added a branch to my path and began to create educational materials to meet the needs of my students.
Time flew by quickly, and soon we were parents. This is when the path gets crazy. With the arrival of our second child, I made the decision to stop teaching.
It wasn’t easy!
Between all of the long days and nights, I had an overwhelming thought...
School is the next step, and our children need to be prepared!
We quickly discovered that the educational program we wanted for our children wasn't accessible.
So, I decided ...If you want something done right, do it yourself.
I set to work recreating many of the same materials that I had used in my classroom. I realized that, with the right approach, my children could understand the concepts of reading at a much younger age.
Not with worksheets and flash cards, but through play and memorable experiences.
And before I knew it, my children had constructed a solid foundation in early reading skills that they would take with them to school and beyond.
And just as we settled into our path, we took a turn as life so often does. We found ourselves again in a new place and another little one on the way. A new life to navigate and a new mind to grow.
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This time we had our guide.
Our collected life experience.
We decided that
this new path would become a road to the future.
A road to share our experiences with the world and make a difference in the lives of as many children as possible. So as we continue make this journey with our own family for the third time, we are proud to share our guide to reading education.
