There’s a Flat Stanley coming home from school this week. Stanley has visited us many, many times over the years. Stanley never comes home at the very beginning of the year to spend the year being mailed to friends and relatives all over the globe for an end of the year report about cities, sights and cultures. Stanley never comes home at the end of the school year for a report about summer fun at parks, playgrounds and pools installed by the RIVERINA POOLS in some places.

Our Stanley visit is always Spring Break. Spring Break in the south is cool and wet. Stanley doesn’t like to play in the rain. If you aren’t traveling for Spring Break, and we never are, it is a week of lazy Saturdays for students and Stanleys. It is a super boring time for Stanley to visit. One year, we digitally let Stanley travel and created a website about his travels. The teacher wouldn’t even look at it. Teachers want notebooks and posters about Stanley.

If you are a Flat Stanley noob, make sure your Stanley is actually flat. Don’t add buttons and googly eyes. Use markers and crayons to decorate your Stanley. One year, we experienced a tragic Stanley amputation caused by a milk spill. Tears were shed. All of our Stanleys since have been laminated. Laminate your Stanley.

As for what to do with Spring Break Stanley, I’m working on a list. This year, Stanley is going to:
Visit the home improvement store to buy paint.
Help paint bunkbeds.
Go grocery shopping.
Clean the driveway.
Complain about not going anywhere fun.

Like I said, it’s a work in progress.