When I wake up in the morning I have a couple of choices for what to do first.  I could brush my teeth.  I could take a shower.  Or I could fix that broken shelf in the garage.

Come again?  Two of those sound very typical and easy.  But the last one is less obvious, much harder, and not what most people would do first in the morning.  That is, until I tell you the story about how a hammer fell off the shelf last night and nearly crashed through the windshield of my car.  It sounds more important now, doesn’t it?

All work has value, but not all work has the same value.  I could spend an hour with my kids drawing pictures on the sidewalk with chalk, or I could spend an hour with them sorting a box of beads and explaining how they can be groups by size or color or shape.  Both tasks would be fun (theoretically), but working on basic math skills is arguably more valuable than drawing with chalk.  I’m not saying they don’t both have value; one just happens to be more valuable than the other.  Since I have limited free time, I should try to maximize the value of the work I do with the kids.  The challenge is that drawing with sidewalk chalk is so much fun!