Gary Karlson is a master teacher — so “master” that he is now an assistant principal. But last year, when he was still teaching third grade in a Title 1 school, he invited us to meet his incredibly sweet students who had done dozens of independence-building Let Grow Projects throughout the year — from teaching […]
Archive | 2020
Not That We’d Want It to Happen This Way! But Could COVID Course-Correct a Too-Structured Childhood?
Ironically, Childhood Anxiety Could Go Down In this New York Post op-ed I wrote with Let Grow co-founder Dr. Peter Gray, we say: SILVER LININGS are hard to come by, but maybe this could be one. With the cataclysmic coronavirus upon us, it is just the tiniest bit possible that, in terms of child development, something […]
Agghhhh! The Kids are Home AND Their Teachers are Far Away!
Okay, it’s Sunday. Here are some funny tweets about “distance learning” and a typical COVID homeschool day. Yep — just click here. Hang in there! – L
Now is The Time to Empty Your Junk Drawers
Empty those junk drawers, take a step back, and probably close the door. Your kids will make something. Educators call it “loose parts play” and they have everything good to say about it. And were you going to use that broken pipe anyway? (Why do you even HAVE a pipe?) For some loose parts ideas click […]
The Slightly Freaky Friday Feel to this Virus as Young Adults Start to Helicopter their Parents (and Rightly So!)
As I write on Reason.com : The COVID-19 crisis has produced an interesting role reversal. Many people over the age of 50 are currently being hectored by their protective progeny to keep safe and practice social distancing—no more lunch with friends, or church, or cards, or even strolling the neighborhood. Wash all the clothes you went […]
Standardized Testing Now Cancelled — Thank Goodness!
“In the midst of the worry and disruption, is having kids prepare for a multiple choice test really the best use of time? Is it ever the best use of time?” Great question — great essay by teacher Trevor Muir, over at Let Grow. Click here to read it!
My Goofy Public Service Announcement (Particularly Enjoyable if You Know the Bette Midler Song, “From a Distance”)
Sometimes we just have to create. Feel free to share this. (Here’s the link.) And I am sending love to you all, because it’s that kind of time in the world. – Lenore
Will Gen-X Lead Us All? Advice From An X-er About Being Alone without Being Lonely
Perhaps Gen-X really is having its moment. Those former latchkey kids know how to cope on their own, and Let Grow’s own Seamus Condron has some memes to prove it. See them by clicking here.
Should Your Kids Keep a Journal?
At Let Grow we have a downloadable “journal” for kids, with prompts about their daily lives. Some day these dark times will pass and become part of history. In the meantime, it’s possible that writing about it can make kids feel a little better. Get the journal by clicking here (and then you have to […]
A Grocery Store Incident, A Flash of Shame — and Then an Insight in These Unsettling Times
Yes, everybody’s on edge, but when tensions escalated over a minor incident at the supermarket, it provided a hard-learned lesson in what it takes to stay sane and kind in these kind of insane times. Telling us that real-life story is Let Grow’s own Irshad Manji, author, professor and now our Director of Courage, Curiosity […]