Hello!  My name is Kathryn Highstrom.  I’ve been teaching in various settings, including home schooling, for over 27 years, mostly with teens. I choose secondary education/English because I enjoy teens first, not English first. When people blush and apologize to me for grammar errors, I usually remind them how embarrassed I feel when the English teacher makes grammar errors. We recover and learn. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 46, and I found teaching online allows me room to care for my health and my classroom better than brick and mortar.

While I’ve lived within the borders of Polk and Burnett counties of northwestern Wisconsin my entire life, I’ve been fortunate to travel Mexico, Scandinavia, France, Italy, and even the formerly named USSR and Eastern bloc countries, not to mention our own USA. I have friends around the globe. They taught me what it means to be American and what it means to be human.

Geek Report: I play Beethoven and Mozart sonatas on my grandmother’s antique piano for hours when I’m bored.  I also read travelogues, murder mysteries, teen novels, and creative histories about Europe and USA.

Other things I brag about: I paint houses and cabinets inside and out, tile bathrooms, trim rooms with a pneumatic nailer, and am the proud owner of a DeWalt table saw, chop saw, and two-story scaffolding. I’m a DIYer who suffered a spiral fracture in her right hand cutting three-inch holes in soffit two stories high. My family worries about these hobbies.

I have four adult children who sometimes sing and play music with me.

I can’t wait to laugh, cry, and learn with students and staff at iForward.