Anti-bias/Anti Racism

This week has been overwhelming. May was brought with additional knowledge that more innocent Black lives were taken with no investigation, arrests, or conviction. After years, decades, centuries of the senseless, racially motivated murders, people can only take so much.

With protests happening all over the country and world, which brought out counter-protests from White Supremacy groups, tension has boiled over.

Many people want to be educated, taught, and put their love forward into action and don't know the best way how. After talking to neighbors, friends, and co-workers, I asked a few simple things.

1. When you are invited to a Black event (or any culture), show up. SUPPORT. Be there. Learn and grow. If you can't make that particular event, watch the video later and promise yourself to attend something else in the future.
2. Put your love into action. VOTE for candidates that have anti-racist/anti-bias bills. Check out their pages. Have they mentioned anything about police reform or simply speak to how "violence is never the answer?" Vote, not just because of your party, but for change.
3. TEACH your children, grand-children, or any grandchildren in your life about what it means to be an ANTI-BIAS/ANTI-RACISM family. There are so many resources at your google fingertips. Here is just one: Books on the racism that you can read with your kids. Make it apart of your daily reading.
4. Put books, dolls, and PEOPLE in your lives. Find authors by Black and African-American. Find books with black characters. Watch movies with Black Actors.
Don't have any black friends? See #1.
5. Support Black owned businesses.
6. Push for an anti-bias/anti-racist curriculum in schools and Universities. We may bot be able to model what happens in the home, but we can reach students in our schools. Teachers must take the training like they take child abuse training. And not everyone will be able to teach the curriculum.

Summer plans!?

We finished Emergency Homeschool at the Lovely Day Academy Friday, May 22. It was a great day. Their school is going to do some virtual activities next week that we will log on, but I’m ready for independent learning. Usually, during the summer, the kids have some camps to attend. That is not the case this year. So...... what are we gonna do!? I still have to work, I am a 12 month educator. Usually, they can go to camps near my place of employment. I did learn that a few activities will be virtual. That’s awesome! Maybe pools will open back up?

This summer, I decided that we will do 2 miles of activity together each day. Skating, biking, walking, or running. It reminded me of a summer when we did the “summer of 100 miles.” An activity I found on Pinterest.

Whatever we do, you can guarantee that Kiwi Co is gonna be right by our side. That is a Christmas gift that keeps on giving. And of course, reading and memorizing math facts will be in full effect. The rest, I’ve gotta plan. I’ll keep you posted on Lovely Day Camp.

Poetry is healing

I mentioned in an earlier blog that April was National Poetry Month. We did a few good ones and enjoyed sharing them with family. We wrote about our current season and our favorite season.

And thanks to inspiration of the book the 5th grader is reading, "The Secret Garden, " we have a poem about one of the characters.

Of course with anything, lessons spill over and I was able to sit in a conference with the Utah Division of Arts, Mountain West Conference. I went for the first time last year and I was met with two of my favorite things. Art and Equity Education.

After applying, getting on the waitlist, and by a small miracle, being accepted, I attended the Change Leader Workshops where I learned how to facilitate change in my community, especially surrounding the Arts. But that is not what this post is about.

It's about the virtual conference that was brought to us since the full day one had to be canceled.

The keynote was Glenis Redmond- POET, TEACHING ARTIST, IMAGINATION ACTIVIST. 

She shared her story. She began in education and due to health, had to leave the school counseling section early. So she begin writing poetry again. She shared many poems and I will be buying her books. Her poetry was healing for me. On a week where so much is happening in the world and stress is high. It reminds me to take the writing I have my girls doing in their Gratitude Journals and turn that into poetry. 

Ellen Weist wrote an amazing article on Ms. Redmond and it is true, "poetry is accessible, healing, and immediate." 

May we all continue writing and integrating literacy. 

Change of Scenery

We have 4 more weeks of homeschooling. My daughter said last week everyday feels like Monday. The days of the week go like this for her:

Monday #1

Monday #2

Monday #3

Monday #4

Monday #5 

Not Monday- no school

Pre-Monday and virtual church 

I could relate. Our days are the same with no where to go. We are fortunate that we can still go on the bike trials and take walks in our neighborhoods. We don’t take that for granted. So this week, I decided that we would make the most of these last 4 weeks. I haven’t been to my office in a while. When we get started, we will go there first. And if the weather permits, after lunch, we will sit outside to finish our learning. I’m so glad this Monday was different than the others. And the girls were so excited! I was too! 

Don’t mind the face, I haven’t put on make-up in a while. Natural is the Covid-19 look. :)

April is National Poetry Month

A celebration of poetry was introduced in 1996. The Academy of American Poets wanted to remind everyone the important aspect that poetry brings to life. The website has so many virtual ideas to try and do as we extend in to our new #Covid19 lifestyle.

ACTIVITY:
One of my favorite poets that I introduced my children to is Maya Angelou. I shared a story on youtube with them and for our Easter weekend, they are going to work on a poem to share with the family.

ALL AGES: 
Teaching Tolerance has a good article in their Spring Issue about her life, what teachers can do, and a question and answer with her grandson.

Another one of my favorite video demonstrations of her Poem, Still I rise, can be found here.

I hope you can write a poem and learn about the many poets that create thought, feeling, and expression. Now would be a good time to capture our emotions. Happy Writing!

Don't feel the pressure

Hi all! I hope you made it through this second week. I at least hope some of you did. I thought about posting on here, but I was focused on getting into a good rhythm with the family.

We start each learning day around 9 a.m. We follow the schedule and not putting times on things has proven to be helpful because while my 2nd grader might need 30 minutes on Math, my 5th grader might need 1.5 hours. As we take an hour break for lunch and PE, we finish up the "school day" around 2 p.m.

But here is what I cannot stress enough---- please don't worry about getting everything accomplished that the teacher has sent home! A regular school day looks different than a COVID day and I shared that with my child's teacher. I also suggested that Friday she doesn't assign anything so that that day can be our catch up day and she loved the idea.

There is education in everything you do as a family: cooking, taking walks, playing board games. But the learning that takes place is new for everyone. Please give teachers a moment to figure out what that looks like but be in contact with them. I found this website site that talked about what continuous learning should look like.

As an educator myself, I didn't do every assignment given to my children daily and I didn't feel bad about it. We are about 3 days behind and I am ok with that. It will get accomplished. We are learning.

Chalk Your Walk

What a great family activity. We even checked out the Chalk Your Walk Facebook page. I can’t wait to get out tomorrow after our virtual church service and see more art from our neighbors.

For our Secondary Kids

Being home with Elementary kids requires a energy, planning, and engagement, but there seems to be a never ending storage of ideas for activities to do with them. And honestly, for the most part, they are excited about learning.

It's the secondary students that are more independent and on their own that will get left behind on this home school quarantine time. Let's face it. I haven't thought of anything for them to do other than, "go see what your teacher has posted." But now that we are on Day 5 and my college kids are walking around like they are sooooooo tired. It's time I give them something to get over being:

I just can't anymore. So they are going to join our schedule at the Lovely Day Academy with some modifications. 

News reports: They will find a current event on the many trusted sites available, read it, and create a video about it and send it to the family Marco Polo account. I have a few children that despise seeing themselves on camera. So hopefully, they will get creative. 

A few sites I like as a teacher that parents can set up a few account with is NewsELA. I love this site because you can find news that lines up with your teens reading level. 

Another source is the NY Times Learning Network . There are lessons, stories, current event articles, and activities for students. 

Journaling: I am big on journals. So I will be thinking of prompts throughout the week to get them to reflect. Today's topic was :I am lucky because............. (we are extending St. Patrick's Day lessons until the end of this week.) 

Math: They will be logging on to the Kahn academy if they have nothing else to do. 

They have classes online and will need to get those finished. But after that, they can work on these activities. And then they can: 

clean the garage

create a scavenger hunt (outside) for their little siblings

update their resume (for the job they need to look for when all of this blows over) 

Study how to interview

clean 

and they will each take turns making a meal. 

St. Patrick's Day without coins

Day 1 of Lovely Day academy. I had to go to work. The kids were so excited. They flew through everything, but no one argued and in fact, they were happy all day. And then we had to make the leprechaun trap. And this momma is not fully prepared. I have no gold coins. And I wasn't planning on going to get them. Not during this time of health in question. 

So, what am I going to do? I have some Hershey Kisses. I can wrap them in yellow paper. Done. 

We set a trap, I let the youngest take the lead. 

Thankfully, I have laminated large sized clovers from my classroom days. If you don't have those, use square paper. It doesn't have to be perfect, it's about creating memories.



This is what I did around the house 5 years ago. And now they are older and smarter. What will I do with the clues?

I think I am going to use those Ceasar's English Vocabulary words. For example: 

"I am not going to placate you, but I am near the place you ................" 

"I am so vivacious ...........

Forget it, It's 10 p.m. Google is my friend. 

Found these cute clues, yes, I am about to use.........

Thank you Tauni Everett !

Preparation for school at home

Tomorrow will begin the first official day of school at home for many around the country. I know the key to a successful day is preparation and setting expectations. A few things I am aware of:
1. Many students won't have a parent at home
2. If the parent is at home, they will have to try and work from home.

I fall in both categories. Right now, as an administrator, I have to report to work to try and figure out how I am going to help families in my District get in some Distance Learning. Our State announced the school closures on Friday at 4 p.m., so it left us scrambling a bit.

Here is how I am setting up our Homes School. We had a homework station that looked like this and with a checklist for them to get through. It helped me get dinner ready and created some independence:

But let's be honest, I will not come home to a neat house if they are in my living room. So I moved them to the unfinished basement. And our set up and schedule is ready to go! I didn't assign times to the activities because some might take more than others (we hope) and let's be realistic, school at home will NOT be able to hold to the rigorous schedule that a real school has (unless you have been in the real, real Home Schooling business).  I also did an important thing: I included the kids in what they want to be in charge of so it is not left to me. If they feel ownership of leading the others with activities, they will stay engaged longer and take it more serious. 

Welcome to Lovely Day Academy!!

With many schools canceled for 2 weeks or more, I thought I would hop back on here. It has been a while, but I have been posting on the FB page here and there. It is really fun to keep my kids engaged in learning at home. I have a few friends that even home school, so many are prepared for situations like this. For those that don't have teaching in their blood or even second nature, no worries. I already see many teacher friends sharing ideas and home learning activities to keep your family sane, together, and most importantly not tearing your house up. I hope to work on sharing those ideas here and many of my own K-12.

I still have to report to work as an administrator for the next two weeks to make sure my school district has families and students supported, but I have to make sure my children don't argue too much.

Best of luck, enjoy this time with your family. Remember, while you need to be informed, try not to keep the news on 24/7, the kids can become anxious as well. They need to understand what is going on, but they do not need to be overwhelmed with adult concerns.

A quote from Special Ed Resource: