Would your high schooler be interested in spending two weeks in New York City or Washington DC diving into unique academic pursuits which take advantage of the best these cities have to offer? The New York Times Summer Academy offers high schoolers two week courses in June -August which cover a host of great topics including "Diverse Voices in [...]
We were all heartened to learn how 8 year old Tanitoluwa Adewumi became a state wide chess champion while living with his family in a homeless shelter. And now the news gets even better. Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist who broke Tani's story, reports in a recent update that thanks to the generosity of people who read [...]
In today's Thoughtful Thursday we continue our month long tribute to women poets in honor of Women's History Month. Today we shine a spotlight on the four African-American female poets who have been appointed by the Library of Congress to serve as the U.S. Poet Laureate, our nation's chief poetry consultant. Originally called the "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of [...]
Have you heard about the 8 year old Nigerian refugee living in a NYC homeless shelter who took first place in the NYS Scholastic Chess Championship for his age bracket? This is a story of hard work, perseverance, and kindness to share with your sons and daughters. Eight year old Tanitoluwa Adewumi, who is known as Tani, came with [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday continues the celebration of Women's History Month, featuring women poets from a variety of cultures and generations. Today we offer a delightful assortment of poems about women by women. First Patricia Smith (b.1955) gives us a "Hip Hop Ghazal" celebrating femininity. A ghazal, originally an Arabic verse form dealing with loss and romantic love, consists of couplets [...]
BIG NEWS! I've developed a series of parenting classes called The Inside Guide to NYC Parenting, and it is coming to Hunter College in April!! If you live in or around NYC, you can join us to discover answers to some of the pressing parenting questions I've been focusing on for years in this blog. I'll be offering resources, [...]
It's Thoughtful Thursday, and in honor of International Woman's Day (which is tomorrow, March 8), today we are featuring a diverse slate of fantastic women poets. From June Jordan we have "Oughta Be a Woman", a poem that pays special tribute to mothers of color but is an ode to mothers everywhere. Chilean poet and visual artist Celia Vicuña gives [...]
Looking for ways to help your children stay motivated and succeed in school? Check out these resources we've recently discovered: Code.org. It is no secret that knowing how to code will put children at a huge advantage when they reach the job market. Jobs that require coding make up 58% of all projected new jobs in STEM fields, and [...]
As it is the last day of Black History Month, today's Thoughtful Thursday features several poems celebrating notable Black figures in American history and one in commemorating the history of Black people in America. GCP hopes that parents share Black American history with their sons and daughters throughout the year, (not just for one month, every month), but we are not [...]
As you've probably heard, this year's Best Picture Oscar went to the film “Green Book” on Sunday. This is the story of a white limo driver who discovers the existence of racism when he drives a touring black classical pianist around the Jim Crow era South. (A collective groan went up around our TV when this award was announced, [...]