Tonight, Elmo is hosting a virtual playdate, and everyone's invited!! Elmo and his friends are all stuck at home during this pandemic, and his mommy and daddy have helped him set up a video play date with lots of his Sesame Street and celebrity friends including Tracee Ellis Ross and Lin Manuel Miranda. This half hour of fun premieres [...]
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and as we all know it will be celebrated this year in ways unlike any other. Social distancing requires us to stay out of churches and cancel family gatherings, and we will be spending Easter at home with whatever members of our family with whom we have been isolating. Here are a few home bound [...]
On Wednesday April 22 at 4pm EDT, I will be hosting a free virtual video panel discussion, "School in the Time of COVID-19" to give guidance and answer your questions about managing your children's homeschooling experience. Are your children dealing with a full schedule of schoolwork that is tough for them (and you) to keep track of? Or do [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday features the poems of Marilyn Nelson, whose work we first featured in December 2019 . Marilyn Nelson was born in Cleveland, Ohio and was raised on several military bases, as her father was in the Air Force. Dr. Nelson, who began writing poetry in elementary school, earned her BA from the University of California, Davis, a masters [...]
Have your children settled into a home schooling routine yet? From many reports, this is an uneven and bumpy road. Some schools are providing an entire day of schoolwork, and parents are struggling to keep track of passwords and schedules, manage device use and sharing within the family, and track their children's progress, while trying to do their own [...]
In an earlier post we talked about the importance of caring for yourself physically and mentally during this COVID-19 crisis. Today we want to focus on caring for others: what can you and your family do to help others in this time of need? Even though parents have so much on their plates now, taking some time to focus [...]
Hang in there, homeschooling parents, more help is on the way! Common Sense Media has just launched its Wide Open School platform, a free collection of high quality online learning experiences for families and educators. Common Sense Media recognizes that our education system is not prepared for this abrupt transition to remote learning, and that while some schools are [...]
Need more homeschooling materials? Here are the latest online learning resources to help you and your children: Common Sense Media, a trusted guide for media and technology, has just released customizable learning packets for K- 2nd grade students. While these packets were principally designed for teachers, they are intended for use by parents and children as well. The materials [...]
Do you have a high schooler who had planned to take AP exams this spring? Here's two bits of good news: 1)The College Board is developing a new at-home testing option for students; and 2) The College Board has just launched a full schedule of FREE AP review classes on their AP YouTube channel. You can find more from [...]
It's Thoughtful Thursday, and boy could we use some poetry to distract us right about now. Poets.org, the website of the Academy of American Poets, asked its membership to suggest poetry to help us cope and give us courage. Four of the many poems suggested are featured below. "Alone", by our beloved Maya Angelou (1928-2014), reminds us that we [...]