Kids and dirt. It’s a classic combo that has fallen out of favor, like peaches and cream. (Something I’ve never actually eaten — have you?) But when kids don’t get enough dirt and all its microbes into their system, the system is too clean for comfort. It needs a dose of dirt to boost the immune system. Over at Let Grow we’ve got a piece that explains all this, so click here to read it — maybe while you send the kids out with a shovel. (Just keep their friends 6 feet away.)
Author: lskenazy
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 a sibling to ride a bike, to learning to make tortillas, to fashioning an “amphibious vehicle.” Below is our 2-minute video. And now here is Gary’s first blog post for us, about the absurdity of considering “soft skills” as educational also-rans. As he…
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 good could come of it: A way to press the reset button on child anxiety. Yes, even during — and precisely because we are in — these insanely anxious times. ….” We suggest that before COVID, childhood anxiety was one of the worst problems…
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
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 here — it’ll take you to the piece at Let Grow. Hang in there, friends. – L. Photo by Liz West: https://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/
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 out in today, including daddy’s jeans… bring Clorox wipes… use baggies for gloves…. etc. Frankly, I’m fine with this. Hectoring is where it’s at in these times of global crisis. Hector on, I say! But it does feel just the tiniest bit like Freaky…
“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!
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
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.
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 do another click at the bottom of the page).