Corona Virus and the shift in Education from the classroom to the Homefront
Hi,
Looking for ways to transition learning to Home?
I have comprised list of all the educational offerings showing up in my mailbox over the past weeks as
our educational systems have ground to a halt and each person collectively has reorganized their lives to accommodate for the shift from normal to a new normal.
Change is inevitable.
We weren't prepared for this.
How do I start to educate my kids when I am also reorganizing my life?
This is something we are all trying to be resilient through.
I am consistently awed by the way people are coming together to help each other right now.
I have been waiting for my moment to contribute.
Today I am starting this blog to bring what I know to the table, share, and ask you to share your triumphs along the way.
I will load content that I come across that applies to anyone wishing to use these readily available tools online.
I will organize them here, along with activities and places to view, engage, or otherwise educate yourself about the education process, advocate for your kids, become a life long learner, foster positive motivation in your kids and encourage wellness of health and motivation. Bringing your family a greater sense of peace hopefully.
My disclaimer, I raised my kids while supplementing with readily available content. I have a varied background. I was a kid that needed to move and had some issues learning, I was unique and still am. I do not follow the crowd. I am an individual and I tried to allow my kids to figure out who they were, what they were interested in and where they wanted their education to take them.
That said. I was balancing a lot at different periods of time through my kids growth stages. I went through a nasty divorce and was on my own for all practical purposes (however, my family has sustained and supported us in so many ways).
I did not help my kids with their homework much. I felt that was their job. I told them this. I also told them I was not their friend, I was their parent.
The choices I made reflected this. Although I love my kids beyond words and I am proud of their accomplishments and try to convey this by any means I have. I have also expected high achievement from them. I had a friend, with whom I got my Master's with, who gave me the idea of paying my kids to achieve.
This translated to two different means of motivation for me to offer them.
1. I had an earning box. (a dark green Tupperware bin) on our stairs for all of their years, eventually they grew out of the bin and we moved to grander earnings, like clothes items.
- this box held:
--every small trinket they asked for at a store I wanted to include, never given in the checkout aisle.
These items had to be earned. Once learned, they stopped whining for things. This takes resilience, and planning. Calculated and measured, controlled words.
I looked for opportunities where they were on task
when they were kind
When they earned a good grade
When they deserved a reward.
2. I started paying them to do well, and for small chores.
{However, they could not have the earnings, not until College}
so
that translated to my means... sometimes it was hard to find the money at that specific point in time, but I always added it when I got it, and did not touch it after.
$50 for any report card, 2x a year, went into a savings account, managed on my bank site.
one for each girl. For their school work, I told them it was their job, not mine, they needed to be resourceful and get help from a teacher or friend, and a few times they had to find a tutor. On Thursday nights one of our town libraries offered peer tutoring, some high school students would be at the Library from 6-8. My younger daughter peer tutored in High School for the 7-8 grade school, for Volunteer hours, they are required to graduate with a certain # of Volunteer hours in our district. My kids did many different volunteer jobs until they graduated. My older daughter had her own class for Art Therapy at the Middle School level during her Senior Year of High School.
I told them I had already gone to school and I would help with what I could but sometimes you learn differently from different people, and coaches, and this is good. Learning how you learn is essential to your success in life.
If they got all A's or equivalent then they received $100. I showed them how their earnings grew over the years.
Necessities I took care of. We are thrift store shoppers, Ebay, sometimes Poshmark or thread up. While Second Time Around was a store (in the Boston area), this was our favorite place to shop. I brought them to church fairs for books and all things, church suppers. I tried to teach them new is not better. A meal at home has better quality ingredients, costs less, and is usually better for you.
Quality is important, and that if we have different expectations, then we can be happy with what shows up, or for us that means, reusing, sharing, buying used cars and products, and that it is fun to see what comes our way.
Today, my older daughter has graduated from College and works in the greater Boston area.
(see my older blogs... <http://envisagestar.blogspot.com/?m=1> and <http://museumsonthefly.blogspot.com>)
She needed a car. I gave her the money from that account towards her car. (I had it as a rainy day fund to help her with school costs, a downpayment on an apartment or other needs until this point) It was substantial by then, and I was thankful my friend had given me that tip long ago.
I have organized lots of education information for years.
I received my Masters of Education provisional certification grades 1-6 in 1997. I student taught in First Grade at that time. I have volunteered and substituted at the 5-6 and 1-4 levels in local schools for all the years my kids went through the public schools in our town's system. I volunteered in the Church School we have been a part of also, and in the Art Education Program set up by volunteers long ago in the Elementary School the girls attended.
I was a single parent for many of those years. I encouraged my two girls to try anything that was offered to them or they were interested in.
My girls went through United States Figure Skating's Learn to Skate program (Three local rinks here) which they started when they were small (in learn to skate and Snowplow Sam), they continued through until they graduated from High school, and tested through their respective Figure Skating Careers. (We found ways to make this sport cheaper, by using quality second-hand skates, and hand-me-downs. My younger daughter tested (she started earlier and was younger than her sister, thus the difference in their testing levels) Senior Level last spring (Olympic level) and is skating in College. My older daughter started to compete in Triathlon in College, she also does a fair amount of Yoga and worked out at her gym until Covid19 shut downs began recently. Being a part of sports teaches team work sometimes (by this I mean, coach/sport dependent), hand eye coordination, problem solving, time organization, perseverance, and strategy. These skills translate well to school, music lessons, and life, etc. I'd like to add here that I gained a daughter when I met my partner. She is in Community College working towards her Psychology Degree and was working full time in the Health Care Industry until this epidemic reached us, and she was laid off. Our kids are collectively, 24, 23, and 19.
I am a life long athlete, lover of art, and I juggle many things daily with a bag for each sport, or category of life needs. ie, car bag, skate bag, triathlon bag, swim bag, etc,. Usually a reusable grocery bag for each. The joke in my family is I am the Bag Lady.
I began life with many animals (Chores, riding, caring for others) as my grandparents had a farming background. My parents believed education, music, travel experiences, and hard work, truth and ethics were important components to life in our household.
My brothers and I were always busy outside, I had a pony from early on whose care was my responsibility, we also had my brothers horses, two cows, goats, chickens, a few sheep, dogs, cats, Guinea pigs and rabbits over the years.
Today, we have three animals, a dog named Macy, a cat named Finn, and Annabelle, our rabbit who lives in our kitchen. Riding was the largest part of my life when I was young and school sports. I took gymnastics on Saturdays, and later when I joined the team, two to three nights a week. I rode, competed at school in soccer, basketball, and softball and then tennis, and pursued Gymnastics from an early age to a competitive level. I swam in a pond we live near daily for years with our neighbors in the summer months and sailed there, competing within our ever changing family groups (our 3 kids, their 6, and whoever else showed up at the pond). I have skied throughout my life and was on a ski team for three years in high school where I skied daily and played soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, ran, and road my bike long distances as well. In college I skied in an adult league and swam for my sports requirement, when my University completed their pool, in my last semester of college the Coach asked me to be on the team.
Recently, I am motivated to attempt an Olympic distance triathlon, (Triathlon drew me to my life partner. He is a Canadian American Chiropractor who is semi-retired, and now coaches triathlon, his company is Catalyst Wellness + Performance. This years ironman race, and many others, at Mt. Tremblant, Canada has been cancelled but we are still hoping to do other triathlons closer to home. Due to Covid19, the world Triathlon community/season has been greatly affected by the Corona Virus closures. So, while I have done some sprint triathlons, and there was a period of time a while back I had considered and trained for biathlon on rollerblades with grandiose dreams of competing in that sport, today, things have changed, I continue to make plans, train and know that life will happen and things might change my path. I find joy in the mundane and train to maintain my mental health and weight as a 50 year old woman. I eat well, do not diet, sleep as much as possible and live the triathlon lifestyle. Dreams are good, we need to have something to work for, training challenges your mind and is essential for growth. Last Fall I took up Cyclocross and became interested in Mentoring girls age 7-16. I have gone through the interview process to begin a "Little Bella's" Mountain Bike Group on Cape Cod. I am in the process of waiting for the Application to be approved for a Spring 2021 launch of this Group which I hope to oversee in my community. <https://www.littlebellas.com>
During the years I was struggling as a young mother in my relationship with my x-husband, who I loved, but decided; over a check list of 10 or so items, that I would put up with a relationship as long as there was mutual respect and goals within that relationship, to end my struggle to be respected by him. My decision to leave my marriage took a long time. I was married 10 years. I decided that I wanted my kids to see that I had boundaries and that at some point the relationship works or doesn't. My kids were 7 and 2 respectively when I divorced.
In my case, I stood up for myself and forged ahead without the partner I had wanted in life. Some things cannot be fixed. This brought a whole other set of parameters to my world, and I chose to explain things simply and with truth as objectively as possible to my children. To focus on their education and sports to keep them busy and focus on the positive. At this point I had taken Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga and was transitioning into Naam Yoga. To this day the Kundalini Yoga practice is part of my being and has brought me immeasurable strength I did not know existed within me until I learned how to channel my mind to work through difficult postures and emerge stronger.
In a nutshell. This is where my perspective, lens, and personal narrative originates. I don't think it is relevant to education, however you may be in a very different or similar situation. To me, the bottom line is USE THE TEACHABLE MOMENT. Sometimes that means waiting to address something.
Each moment we arrive at has relevance and can bring understanding and perspective.
Be well, and thank you for your interest.
Here are the resources I have come across recently, I'll keep adding as they present themselves.
There is no order. Just help yourself to any public websites listed here.
From the long time editor of Adirondack Life Magazine. Designed by world renowned authors and poets.
I have comprised list of all the educational offerings showing up in my mailbox over the past weeks as
Change is inevitable.
We weren't prepared for this.
How do I start to educate my kids when I am also reorganizing my life?
This is something we are all trying to be resilient through.
I am consistently awed by the way people are coming together to help each other right now.
I have been waiting for my moment to contribute.
Today I am starting this blog to bring what I know to the table, share, and ask you to share your triumphs along the way.
I will load content that I come across that applies to anyone wishing to use these readily available tools online.
I will organize them here, along with activities and places to view, engage, or otherwise educate yourself about the education process, advocate for your kids, become a life long learner, foster positive motivation in your kids and encourage wellness of health and motivation. Bringing your family a greater sense of peace hopefully.
My disclaimer, I raised my kids while supplementing with readily available content. I have a varied background. I was a kid that needed to move and had some issues learning, I was unique and still am. I do not follow the crowd. I am an individual and I tried to allow my kids to figure out who they were, what they were interested in and where they wanted their education to take them.
That said. I was balancing a lot at different periods of time through my kids growth stages. I went through a nasty divorce and was on my own for all practical purposes (however, my family has sustained and supported us in so many ways).
I did not help my kids with their homework much. I felt that was their job. I told them this. I also told them I was not their friend, I was their parent.
The choices I made reflected this. Although I love my kids beyond words and I am proud of their accomplishments and try to convey this by any means I have. I have also expected high achievement from them. I had a friend, with whom I got my Master's with, who gave me the idea of paying my kids to achieve.
This translated to two different means of motivation for me to offer them.
1. I had an earning box. (a dark green Tupperware bin) on our stairs for all of their years, eventually they grew out of the bin and we moved to grander earnings, like clothes items.
- this box held:
--every small trinket they asked for at a store I wanted to include, never given in the checkout aisle.
These items had to be earned. Once learned, they stopped whining for things. This takes resilience, and planning. Calculated and measured, controlled words.
I looked for opportunities where they were on task
when they were kind
When they earned a good grade
When they deserved a reward.
2. I started paying them to do well, and for small chores.
{However, they could not have the earnings, not until College}
so
that translated to my means... sometimes it was hard to find the money at that specific point in time, but I always added it when I got it, and did not touch it after.
$50 for any report card, 2x a year, went into a savings account, managed on my bank site.
one for each girl. For their school work, I told them it was their job, not mine, they needed to be resourceful and get help from a teacher or friend, and a few times they had to find a tutor. On Thursday nights one of our town libraries offered peer tutoring, some high school students would be at the Library from 6-8. My younger daughter peer tutored in High School for the 7-8 grade school, for Volunteer hours, they are required to graduate with a certain # of Volunteer hours in our district. My kids did many different volunteer jobs until they graduated. My older daughter had her own class for Art Therapy at the Middle School level during her Senior Year of High School.
I told them I had already gone to school and I would help with what I could but sometimes you learn differently from different people, and coaches, and this is good. Learning how you learn is essential to your success in life.
If they got all A's or equivalent then they received $100. I showed them how their earnings grew over the years.
Necessities I took care of. We are thrift store shoppers, Ebay, sometimes Poshmark or thread up. While Second Time Around was a store (in the Boston area), this was our favorite place to shop. I brought them to church fairs for books and all things, church suppers. I tried to teach them new is not better. A meal at home has better quality ingredients, costs less, and is usually better for you.
Quality is important, and that if we have different expectations, then we can be happy with what shows up, or for us that means, reusing, sharing, buying used cars and products, and that it is fun to see what comes our way.
Today, my older daughter has graduated from College and works in the greater Boston area.
(see my older blogs... <http://envisagestar.blogspot.com/?m=1> and <http://museumsonthefly.blogspot.com>)
She needed a car. I gave her the money from that account towards her car. (I had it as a rainy day fund to help her with school costs, a downpayment on an apartment or other needs until this point) It was substantial by then, and I was thankful my friend had given me that tip long ago.
I have organized lots of education information for years.
I received my Masters of Education provisional certification grades 1-6 in 1997. I student taught in First Grade at that time. I have volunteered and substituted at the 5-6 and 1-4 levels in local schools for all the years my kids went through the public schools in our town's system. I volunteered in the Church School we have been a part of also, and in the Art Education Program set up by volunteers long ago in the Elementary School the girls attended.
I was a single parent for many of those years. I encouraged my two girls to try anything that was offered to them or they were interested in.
My girls went through United States Figure Skating's Learn to Skate program (Three local rinks here) which they started when they were small (in learn to skate and Snowplow Sam), they continued through until they graduated from High school, and tested through their respective Figure Skating Careers. (We found ways to make this sport cheaper, by using quality second-hand skates, and hand-me-downs. My younger daughter tested (she started earlier and was younger than her sister, thus the difference in their testing levels) Senior Level last spring (Olympic level) and is skating in College. My older daughter started to compete in Triathlon in College, she also does a fair amount of Yoga and worked out at her gym until Covid19 shut downs began recently. Being a part of sports teaches team work sometimes (by this I mean, coach/sport dependent), hand eye coordination, problem solving, time organization, perseverance, and strategy. These skills translate well to school, music lessons, and life, etc. I'd like to add here that I gained a daughter when I met my partner. She is in Community College working towards her Psychology Degree and was working full time in the Health Care Industry until this epidemic reached us, and she was laid off. Our kids are collectively, 24, 23, and 19.
I am a life long athlete, lover of art, and I juggle many things daily with a bag for each sport, or category of life needs. ie, car bag, skate bag, triathlon bag, swim bag, etc,. Usually a reusable grocery bag for each. The joke in my family is I am the Bag Lady.
I began life with many animals (Chores, riding, caring for others) as my grandparents had a farming background. My parents believed education, music, travel experiences, and hard work, truth and ethics were important components to life in our household.
My brothers and I were always busy outside, I had a pony from early on whose care was my responsibility, we also had my brothers horses, two cows, goats, chickens, a few sheep, dogs, cats, Guinea pigs and rabbits over the years.
Today, we have three animals, a dog named Macy, a cat named Finn, and Annabelle, our rabbit who lives in our kitchen. Riding was the largest part of my life when I was young and school sports. I took gymnastics on Saturdays, and later when I joined the team, two to three nights a week. I rode, competed at school in soccer, basketball, and softball and then tennis, and pursued Gymnastics from an early age to a competitive level. I swam in a pond we live near daily for years with our neighbors in the summer months and sailed there, competing within our ever changing family groups (our 3 kids, their 6, and whoever else showed up at the pond). I have skied throughout my life and was on a ski team for three years in high school where I skied daily and played soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, ran, and road my bike long distances as well. In college I skied in an adult league and swam for my sports requirement, when my University completed their pool, in my last semester of college the Coach asked me to be on the team.
Recently, I am motivated to attempt an Olympic distance triathlon, (Triathlon drew me to my life partner. He is a Canadian American Chiropractor who is semi-retired, and now coaches triathlon, his company is Catalyst Wellness + Performance. This years ironman race, and many others, at Mt. Tremblant, Canada has been cancelled but we are still hoping to do other triathlons closer to home. Due to Covid19, the world Triathlon community/season has been greatly affected by the Corona Virus closures. So, while I have done some sprint triathlons, and there was a period of time a while back I had considered and trained for biathlon on rollerblades with grandiose dreams of competing in that sport, today, things have changed, I continue to make plans, train and know that life will happen and things might change my path. I find joy in the mundane and train to maintain my mental health and weight as a 50 year old woman. I eat well, do not diet, sleep as much as possible and live the triathlon lifestyle. Dreams are good, we need to have something to work for, training challenges your mind and is essential for growth. Last Fall I took up Cyclocross and became interested in Mentoring girls age 7-16. I have gone through the interview process to begin a "Little Bella's" Mountain Bike Group on Cape Cod. I am in the process of waiting for the Application to be approved for a Spring 2021 launch of this Group which I hope to oversee in my community. <https://www.littlebellas.com>
During the years I was struggling as a young mother in my relationship with my x-husband, who I loved, but decided; over a check list of 10 or so items, that I would put up with a relationship as long as there was mutual respect and goals within that relationship, to end my struggle to be respected by him. My decision to leave my marriage took a long time. I was married 10 years. I decided that I wanted my kids to see that I had boundaries and that at some point the relationship works or doesn't. My kids were 7 and 2 respectively when I divorced.
In my case, I stood up for myself and forged ahead without the partner I had wanted in life. Some things cannot be fixed. This brought a whole other set of parameters to my world, and I chose to explain things simply and with truth as objectively as possible to my children. To focus on their education and sports to keep them busy and focus on the positive. At this point I had taken Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga and was transitioning into Naam Yoga. To this day the Kundalini Yoga practice is part of my being and has brought me immeasurable strength I did not know existed within me until I learned how to channel my mind to work through difficult postures and emerge stronger.
In a nutshell. This is where my perspective, lens, and personal narrative originates. I don't think it is relevant to education, however you may be in a very different or similar situation. To me, the bottom line is USE THE TEACHABLE MOMENT. Sometimes that means waiting to address something.
Each moment we arrive at has relevance and can bring understanding and perspective.
Be well, and thank you for your interest.
Here are the resources I have come across recently, I'll keep adding as they present themselves.
There is no order. Just help yourself to any public websites listed here.
Teaching websites/resources Below.
1. Mathisfun.com
2. Mathopolis.com
3. Thinkcentral.com
4. mysteryscience.com
5. Power teacher
8. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL14hRqd0PELGbKihHuTqx_pbvCLqGbOkF
also Photomath, Calculator 3, 7 little words and BrainPop
also Photomath, Calculator 3, 7 little words and BrainPop
From the long time editor of Adirondack Life Magazine. Designed by world renowned authors and poets.
10. adirondackcenterforwriting.org
12. https://www.bso.org/brands/bso/at-home/bso-homeschool.aspx?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=This+week+s+%22BSO+at+Home%22+offerings&utm_campaign=MKT+BSO+at+Home+Week+2+recap
From a RI Public School Teacher (Lauri McTeague)
individual bio blueprints
When you have time check out the school of the air. I saw this in 1993. And learned of how they educate kids across the outback in Australia, by radio
19. https://www.assoa.nt.edu.au/visitors-centre/the-centre
From Wellness Mama
Activities that are keeping us busy...
With all of the kids normal activities canceled, we each made a goal list of things to learn and do during quarantine. Some of our ideas:
23.-31.
23.-31.
- Learning languages using apps like DuoLingo
- Practicing handstands and pull-ups, walkovers, cartwheels pushups, stretching, walking, and other sports while social distancing.
- Cooking classes like Kids Cook Real Food
- Doing exercise classes and CARs from Hunter Fitness
- Practicing slack line and learning to ride a unicycle in the backyard
- Art and music classes on Udemy
- Tackling cleaning and remodeling projects
- Family version of Cards Against Humanity (Print and Play version here)
for the Autism spectrum,
36. https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams/sea-otter-cam?campaign_id=58&emc=edit_ck_20200406&instance_id=17379&nl=cooking®i_id=67240182&segment_id=24020&te=1&user_id=c54a3d3ff457b80d10f0624ed5bccb9d
Great on a young woman's role defining herself by living her dream as a Muslim woman and going all the way to Professional Basketball in Europe.
37. Life without basketball, movie
37. Life without basketball, movie
Springfield, MA. Muslim. Lends itself to family discussion, dreams, goals, list for achieving these goals. differences/similarities in all humans, how celebrating can bring greater success for the human race.
38. https://www.capenews.net/arts_and_entertainment/director-takes-to-zoom-to-keep-show-moving-forward/article_d40319d1-c5c3-5c50-9869-85d4c0b90c15.html
Today's ad in:
39. https://artprojectsforkids.org/how-to-draw-a-rabbit/
40. and if you celebrate Easter and are interested in the origin's of it's traditions.
https://www.almanac.com/content/surprising-origins-easter-symbols-lambs-lilies?trk_msg=OMAHUQ5V2MOKPB0BKQKE61BP70&trk_contact=1DU0LSIQQ2D7E17EPG51SHLNK4&trk_sid=EE4KCI752NCL1BB25OJ9OAGN6K&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=The+Surprising+Origins+of+Easter+Symbols%3a+From+Lambs+to+Lilies+(read+more)&utm_campaign=Companion+Daily
Teacher's and how they are feeling without their students and classroom time
41. https://www.wbur.org/edify/2020/04/10/teaching-without-a-classroom?utm_source=WBUR+Editorial+Newsletters&utm_campaign=7be151ed1f-WBURTODAY_2020_04_10&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d0781a0a0c-7be151ed1f-134653757
Today's ad in:
39. https://artprojectsforkids.org/how-to-draw-a-rabbit/
40. and if you celebrate Easter and are interested in the origin's of it's traditions.
https://www.almanac.com/content/surprising-origins-easter-symbols-lambs-lilies?trk_msg=OMAHUQ5V2MOKPB0BKQKE61BP70&trk_contact=1DU0LSIQQ2D7E17EPG51SHLNK4&trk_sid=EE4KCI752NCL1BB25OJ9OAGN6K&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=The+Surprising+Origins+of+Easter+Symbols%3a+From+Lambs+to+Lilies+(read+more)&utm_campaign=Companion+Daily
Teacher's and how they are feeling without their students and classroom time
41. https://www.wbur.org/edify/2020/04/10/teaching-without-a-classroom?utm_source=WBUR+Editorial+Newsletters&utm_campaign=7be151ed1f-WBURTODAY_2020_04_10&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d0781a0a0c-7be151ed1f-134653757
thanks for stopping by,
Eliza
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