Hello

My Story

My name is Beth Skaret. I'm a special education teacher, mom of 3 kids (2 adults, 1 teen), and wife to my wonderful husband Kevin - he's a pastor. We live in western Minnesota - though we are transplants from Connecticut. I actually grew up as a pastor's kid on Long Island, NY....that's a long story for another time, but it explains a lot. LOL! 

I love coffee, spending time with my awesome family, dropping Gilmore Girls quotes,  learning new things (like trying to play the flute, knitting, and sign language - notice I didn't say I'd LEARNED any of it yet!). I enjoy reading when I have time, writing children's books (I've got a few project currently in the works), teaching my students to read and to love reading, and mentoring new teachers. Basically, I love to learn and love helping others do the same.I love to laugh and make others laugh.

My humor can be kind of sarcastic (Chandler Bing and I would have been great F.R.I.E.N.D.S!). Maybe it isn't for everyone, but if you can take a joke, we'll get along just fine.

I've worked in education since 2009. I started out as a special education paraprofessional in CT while finishing a master's degree and raising 3 young children. Yes, I know that was a crazy choice, but we survived. My oldest child (now 24) struggles with ADHD and anxiety. She was diagnosed at age 11, but has struggled since she was 5.  We tried so many things...we even homeschooled for a couple of years (WOW! Homeschoolers - you guys are rockstars!).  I learned a lot very quickly about how to find / create supports to get her through school....social scenarios...life. There was a lot of prayer, coffee, and chocolate involved.

I started the Jesus Me & ADHD Blog in 2016 to share and encourage Moms facing similar struggles with their own kids with ADHD. Then COVID happend and the blog got put on hold as the world tried to spin off its axis. Finally, this past year - my 13th year teaching special education, I decided to start blogging again, but this time I wanted to do something a little different. Having worked in the resource room for so many years with students with all kinds of disabilities, I often have to create or modify tools and resources to really target what I needed to teach/ measure/ and track for my students. I also have to be SUPER organized to stay on top of everything. THERE'S SO MUCH STUFF TO KEEP TRACK OF! I realized that I'm actually really good at creating tools for keeping organized and (ironically) I kind of enjoy the paperwork end of my job - SUPER NERDY...I KNOW,  but hey, all the better for you!

So much of what is out there is meant for general education -  classes full of everyone working on the same thing, at the same level, at the same time. That is SO NOT my reality. My reality looks more like trying to engage 3-4 groups at a time of highly distracted squirrels hopped up on Fun Dip as I dance atop multiple piles of paperwork while acting like a cartoon character.

Normal classroom tools DO NOT work for me.

Most are visually overwhelming, too complex  for my students or my use, cover too broad a scope of content, or just flat out do not help me get my job done quickly and efficiently. 

Homeschool has even less for targeting and tracking special needs. When I homeschooled I basically had to make everything from scratch to do what I needed to do. I can't tell you how often I get questions about how to help a homeschool student with a disability. 

So, I decided to create Mrs.Skaret's Special Resources. I want to share the tools that I've found most helpful in organizing, progress monitoring, and supporting my students. I hope I can offer you some help and or encouragement where you need it most. 

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