There are glimmers of encouraging COVID-19 news these days: mortality rates falling, hospital admissions going down and releases going up, a drug showing promise at combatting the virus. In this spirit, today's Thoughtful Thursday offers poems of encouragement and hope. First, a favorite from Lucille Clifton (1936-2010), "Blessing the Boats", which holds the promise of a better day. "Instructions [...]
Thanks to all who attended the Ground Control Parenting/Hunter College Continuing Education webinar School in the Time of COVID-19, which was held on April 22. We had a great turnout, and heard wonderful advice and tips from our panel of experts: Dr. Karen Hopkins, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, specializing in behavioral and developmental [...]
For today's Thoughtful Thursday (yes, we KNOW it's Friday, but in Covid-19 world the days are all running together) we continue to celebrate Poetry Month with a couple of poems about poetry. So meta, right? We start with Elizabeth Alexander's (b.1962) "Ars Poetica #100", in which she encourages her students (who are all of us) to find our poetic [...]
Since you are primarily in charge of teaching your children these days, why not teach them some poetry? April is Poetry Month, after all. In today's Thoughtful Thursday we will look at three poems by African American poets (all women, in fact), which you and your children can enjoy learning about and discussing. If you need some motivation to [...]
Register NOW to join us on Wednesday April 22 at 4pm EDT for a free GCP webinar, School in the Time of COVID-19! We are gathering a group of experts who are helping educate and motivate our children in this crisis to give us strategies for managing the homeschooling experience. Wondering how best to oversee their schooling while [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]