Coming soon....

A flexible, easy, imaginative curriculum for bringing out the writer in everyone.


Under the Wondering Tree Writing Curriculum spans grades from kindergarten to high school and beyond. Unlike other curricula, Under the Wondering Tree focuses on drawing out the creativity in your children and showing them how to translate the pictures in their mind into entertaining, informative, beautiful writing!

Don't worry - this isn't another set of grammar lessons. This is about making words work for your student and turning writing assignments into writing joy!

Why I Write

A writer writes because a writer can't not write.

That's what I always teach my students. That writing is a compulsion similar in vein to breathing and blinking and seeing. At least, it is for me. Everything I take in with my five senses gets processed, arranged, fluffed, and folded into stories, both fact and fiction.

A writer is not what I do but who I am. Anyone can be. I operate under the belief that everyone is capable of writing but for some it is challenge, others it is chore, and others it chocolate - a glorious food for the soul that brings on euphoria.

I can teach anyone to draw out their creativity, forging words to their will. What I cannot teach is desire. You have it or you don't. I can only describe to you the silken, dark chocolate as it melts on my tongue pulling me from the mundane reality to the place where people live and die at the whim of my keyboard. I can only tempt you with absolute power.

People often wonder what it feels like to be God. Writing is the closest sensation I know of to being the Creator of the universe. Whole worlds, weeping and jubilant, people of strange habits and looks, modes of transportation powered by the harnessed energy of a single hummingbird's wings. I can do it all. I am Gepetto. I am the puppet master. I am the end all - be all of the existence of the blank page.

Pretty In The Dark

This is the first poem I have written in years. My inspiration came from the astoundingly beautiful, precious souls at the school where I teach that do not see their own beauty. This poem is currently being made into a song. I hope it touches you.

Pretty In The Dark

My curtains glow with the sun’s first light

Staring in the mirror I’m trying to fight

All those voices that say

I’m not worth the time of day

I learn to pretend

I learn to dream

About being the face on the magazine

But I’m not her and

She’s not me

Not matter what I do I can never be

Try as I might

Try with all my heart

Still, I’m just pretty in the dark

Everyone around me seems to have it all together

A handle on everything, living in power

I feel so scared and so unworthy

Can anyone see inside to the real me?

I learn to pretend

I learn to dream

About being the face on the magazine

But I’m not her and

She’s not me

No matter what I do I can never be

Try as I might

Try with all my heart

Still, I’m just pretty in the dark

Now I see the face that’s bright as the sun

He knows me better than anyone

He sees to my heart and loves me just the same

I live in His joy not in shame

I don’t have to pretend

I don’t have to dream

About being the face on the magazine

Cause I’m not her

And I don’t have to be

No matter how I look He loves me for me

Strong in His might

Bought with His scars

Now I’m more than just pretty in the dark

Life is good Under The Wondering Tree

Birds hide here. Not regular birds but those that sing like princesses in flower-strewn meadows. Squirrels gather chocolate flavored acorns and scamper across branches with leaves in colors we've never seen. The bark really barks. At the foot of the great old tree, sitting snugly between the large comforting arms of the roots, is a writer. That is the purpose of the wondering tree. Here we invite the imagination to soar, the "what ifs" to abound, and the childlike wonder to ingratiate and cement itself into minds of all ages.

The tree is my refuge though it exists only in my heart and mind. When I am writing I continually say, "I wonder..." I am not a writer who lets characters drive my writing. I am the creator of the little world that drips from my pen. I get to make the once upon a time and the happily ever after. I instill virtues into redeemed souls. I give miracles to terminal patients who have been told there are none. I can stop the speeding train or cause it to go faster.
All of this I do Under the Wondering Tree.

In the near future, I am going to add some of my writings for your enjoyment and comments. I am also going to add tidbits and helps for improving your writing whether it is fiction or just a letter to a loved one. I encourage you send your own writings for critique and comment also.

Please feel free to pull up some ground under the wondering tree and sit a while.
The view is amazing.