Book: Cellombies

The picture book Cellombies: Have you seen one? is a lesson for children and adults in cell phone use, and its addictive (and potentially dangerous) properties. A quick read and a clever bit of modern satire.

Summer Camp! Music and Mayhem

Several years ago, I did a short weeklong summer camp on Indian music for kids, and we had a lot of fun learning songs, exploring instruments, composing, and more. I've been wanting to do it again but somehow never got around to it. This year, I have the honor of doing a fun music &...

Talking to kids about climate change

Image by Dharamveer Singh from Pixabay Earth Day is still a good month or two away, but it's always a good time to talk to kids about climate change. Of course, most of them already know what it is, and there is a lot of fear and anxiety around it - some coming from us,...

Friend Friday 137: Allcove

Allcove is a mental health organization in California funded publicly and is a free space for youth 12-25 to find mental health support, therapy (including drop-ins) as well as fun small group activities like art, games night, or soup-making, and a quiet space to just be. Every town needs a space like this to support...

Climate Mental Health

Climate Mental Health at climatementalhealth.net is a great resource that includes guided meditations, parenting seminars, posters, articles and so much more related to climate change and mental health for all ages. Check out this great download of climate emotions There's also the emotions wheel, art therapy, in person classes, training for educators and more. Many...

Book: Good Different

Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt is a teen/middle grade book, a a tear jerker. I sometimes shy away books that are written like poems, but this book in verse was an easy read, and covered many topics: neurodivergence, autism, being highly sensitive, and other topics that many different kinds of kids and adults can...

Mirror art and writing and hands

The kids and I a while ago were exploring "word records" - longest words, strange words, and this link has a great many fun ones: http://www.fun-with-words.com/word_records.html This led to an exploration of mirror writing words - in which you write the reflection of the words, then hold the paper up to a mirror to read...

Friend Friday 126: Teaching young students

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay An article by my mother, a longtime educator and sort of pied piper for children - she has taught math, English grammar and composition, reading, ESL, done substitute teaching for all ages, and worked in juvenile court schools. Teaching Young Students Teaching any student, especially a young one, is...

Mindfulness for Teachers Article

As I mentioned yesterday, I previously posted articles at schoolofexploration.com. The website has since closed, but I wanted to make sure parents could reach the article on Mindfulness for Teachers as well,, so here it is: Mindfulness for Teachers The classroom can be a chaotic place - children with different needs and activities, varying levels...

Mindfulness for Parents and Kids Article

A while ago, I had mentioned a post on Mindfulness for Parents at schoolofexploration.com. The website has since closed, but I wanted to make sure parents could reach the article anyway, so here it is: Mindfulness for Parents and Kids As a parent, I'm constantly on the look out for that one thing that will...