Tom 2.0

So begins a new chapter. Yesterday, on the 13th aniversary of my wife’s passing away, our youngest son joined the Australian Army, embarking on two long blocks of intensive military training. Our eldest son is in year 2 at UNSW studying Maths and Computing, working through the challenges of managing this phase of life. So today I begin what I’ve been calling my sabbatical, five months that I’ve been able to set aside to see what to do when the role of being a father changes literally overnight. Seeing this coming, I’ve organised some travel to explore life after single parenthood. The journey begins with several weeks back in Cambodia where I want to follow-up on things I didn’t get to complete when we did some service tourism there in January. The main thing is setting up an iPad for the students in Phnom Penh so they can video conference with myself and Aussie students and continue to develop a Web site we began where they write posts on their interests and what life is like growing up in Cambodia. Then it’s back to San Diego to reconnect with good friends of many years and then to Arizona for time with family. In June, I’m taking a month in my hometown of Milwaukee to reflect and write, to listen in open-heartedness for a calling to what comes next. The time off concludes with a couple months back in Austalia where I plan to complete drafts that I’ve been working on intermittently for years. I will continue to work with schools and cients to support their digital learning initiatives, but I also expect to use this time to define new ground, to integrate what we know about the mind, learning and motivation. Stay tuned.