Homeschool

The Two Absolute Best Homeschool Curriculums for Your Child This School Year

by KristenLeave a Comment on The Two Absolute Best Homeschool Curriculums for Your Child This School Year
The Two Absolute Best Homeschool Curriculums for Your Child This School Year

Let’s talk about the hottest topic right now in all of the homeschooling groups, mommy chats, and parenting boards; homeschool curriculums! With so many options out there, and so many new families starting up homeschooling in 2020 due to COVID-19 safety concerns, the biggest question on everyone’s mind seems to be, “what curriculum is right for my child?” The answer is usually a mixture of different curriculums based on your child’s specific learning styles and needs, and it will probably take an experimental stage to really figure out what that combo is. I am going to post a complete list of all of the materials and curriculums that my son, Pato and I are currently using next week, but right now I want to talk to you about my two absolute favorite curriculums ever!!

These two curriculums were ones that were almost impossible for me to implement as a teacher in the public schools here in Mexico. Even though there is some serious research to back up these two specific curriculums as the absolute best in the biz, they are rarely feasible when working with groups of more than five students. All teachers know that they are the ideal teaching methodologies, and many try their hardest to create opportunities to use them in the classroom, but like many other things; schools rarely have the resources to give students what they really need.

Ok, so without further ado, let’s talk about these two very powerful curriculums!

The first, is of course….

The School of Life!!

Now wait, before you say that I’m crazy, let me tell you a secret. Teachers are constantly trying to recreate real life environments in the classroom. We do this, because we know that real life situations are where the majority of our learning takes place. In my English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms, we would set up imaginary grocery stores when teaching our students about food, money, and conversational vocabulary. We would recreate all types of environments; doctors offices, gardens, restaurants, anything that you can think of! Unfortunately, as hard as we tried, re-creating environments in an institutional setting was almost impossible, because at the end of the day; we were still in a classroom.

The absolute best part of homeschooling for me so far has been the unlimited ability to implement The School of Life curriculum on a daily basis with my son, and you can absolutely do the same thing! What do you have going on this week? Are you planning a family trip, or maybe a birthday party? Maybe there is something really cool going on in your community? What’s your job, or your hobbies, or what are your daily tasks like? You can find learning opportunities for your children in everything that you do. For example, if you’re planning a birthday party, you can implement Math lessons while creating a budget and shopping for the party, Language Arts by writing invitations and thank you cards, Art by making decorations together, and even Science by baking a cake! The possibilities are endless, and with so many resources on pinterest and other platforms like teacherspayteachers.com, you don’t even have to be that creative to come up with ideas anymore. I do guarantee you though, that as soon as you start implementing the School of Life curriculum in your homeschooling routine, it will come more and more naturally to you, and you’ll start to see learning opportunities in EVERYTHING! And if for any reason, you can’t come up with anything to start, leave me a message below in the comments section with your child’s grade level and some information about your daily life or what you have coming up, and I’ll be happy to help you with some ideas to get you started!

Just to get your creative juices flowing, here is a little bit of our plan for the next few months, implementing the School of Life Curriculum:

We are planning to buy a piece of land in the jungle of Puerto Morelos and start building ecological cabanas for vacation rental. To be able to accomplish this, however, we are moving from Cancun to Puerto Morelos, not only to be closer to the new property, but also to lower our monthly expenses and save money for the project. This month, I have Pato working on a budget curriculum of his own, and have him helping me create a comparative budget of our current living expenses versus what our new expenses will be, and determine how much we will be able to save and invest. He is currently reading the book, Crenshaw, about a boy that lives in poverty, which will set us up for next month’s “School of Life Curriculum”; Minimalism, where we are going to start deciding what we really need, what we actually just want, and start separating, selling and donating our personal items. In the month of December, he will be full hands on in helping us with the official move and unpacking in the new house.

Exploring the jungle of Puerto Morelos, Mexico.

The amount of not only real life skills that my son is currently learning, but also scholastic ones are endless (Math-budgeting, Language Arts-independent book study, Ecology-exploring the new property in the jungle, Social Emotional Learning-studying poverty, doing an investigation on needs vs. wants and learning gratitude, etc. etc.) The best part about it is that all of the scholastic skills that he is learning right now are being applied to real things in his actual life, and therefore he can see and understand their benefit in a relevant way. This is something that simply cannot be recreated in a classroom.

Last month, I organized an urban art event for my organization, ARTE Mutuo, in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. I invited three of our participating artists to work on personal projects in one of our vacation rental properties there, ranging from painting using natural pigments to creating illustrations for children’s books. The artists also donated their time to paint a public wall in an off-the-beaten-path neighborhood on the island, to help local businesses attract patrons during these difficult economic times. Now, even though this might seem like an obvious learning opportunity for my son, I would not typically have had him as involved as I did this time. I would normally leave him at school, and go to work like most parents. However, now that we are homeschooling, I decided that I would have him participate with us. He did things like measure the wall, calculate how much paint we would have to buy, mix colors to create a color palette and even painted the wall with the artists. Apart from all of the amazing learning opportunities this obviously afforded him and the element of community service it involved, it also inspired him to start drawing anime characters and writing short stories about them, which leads me to my second absolute favorite curriculum ever…

Helping the ARTE Mutuo artists with the Public Urban Art Gallery in Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

Student Led Learning

I will say this a thousand times in anything that I write or produce about education; students need to have information presented to them in a way that is relevant to them! They need to understand how the skills that they are learning can be implemented in their lives in a meaningful way, and they need to be participants in the decision making process about what and how they will be learning. I cringe when I think about how many times, as a public school teacher, I personally said things like, “because you need to know it for the exam” to my students in class or, “we have to follow the required curriculum,” to my co-teachers during lesson planning. The fact of the matter is, if it’s not meaningful to them, whatever they are learning will not go into their long term memory, and as soon as that test is over, all of that information will float right out of their frontal lobes, never to be seen again.

You might think that there is no room in the classroom for Roblox, Star Wars, or Power Puff Girls, but if that’s what your kid is into, trust me, there are unlimited opportunities for learning locked within, and I don’t mean the “do your work or there’s no Roblox later” opportunities. I mean real, authentic learning opportunities that you and your child won’t have to suffer through.

Let’s take the example I previously mentioned. During the urban art event in Isla, my son started drawing his favorite anime characters and coloring them in perfectly. This might not seem like a big deal, but my son is left handed and like many young left handed students, he struggles with drawing, writing, and his fine motor skills in general. The mixture of inspiration from the artists and watching his favorite anime show blossomed into this self initiated project to draw and color these amazing works of art. Then, of course, he wanted to share his art with the artists and with me, and he started going on and on about who they are, where they are from, what super powers they had, and BOOM; I saw an opportunity to get him writing!

I asked him to start writing down descriptions of the characters next to the drawings, and I could not believe how much effort he put into them. He checked his spelling and punctuation, he made sure to write perfectly on the lines and put spaces between his words, he wrote with a passion and an attention to detail that I have never seen in him before about writing. Now he is part of a comic drawing and writing class on Outschool.com that he gets super pumped about every week, and he started reading comic books in his free time to find inspiration. This has now spilled over into all of his writing assignments, and let’s face it, if it weren’t for me embracing his passion for anime and allowing him to see that the skill he was learning (writing) could be applied to something that he loves, something that he is passionate about, he would probably still be whining and moaning through every activity that requires him to put pencil to paper.

Additionally, I took some time to sit down and watch these anime cartoons with him that he loves so much, and I realized that he watched an entire season in Japanese with no subtitles, just because season two hasn’t been translated to English or Spanish on Netflix yet. He seemed to have a general idea of what was going on, but wished that he could understand more, so again BOOM; I saw an opportunity to introduce a new language to him. I had always hoped that he would choose Mandarin as his third language, but if I didn’t immediately sign him up for Japanese lessons as soon as I made this discovery, it would have been a huge missed opportunity. He is much more likely, at nine years old, to make an effort to learn Japanese, because he wants to watch a cartoon that he loves and understand it better than he is to learn Mandarin, because China has one of the most important economies in the world.

So, if you are just starting out in homeschool or are on the hunt for the absolute best homeschooling curriculum out there, I just want to let you know that you already have more opportunities to teach your child in a meaningful way than most or maybe all teachers in brick-and-mortar schools do. Between the School of Life Curriculum and Student Led Learning, and maybe a few teaching resources that I’ve linked throughout this post, you have everything that you and your child need for his or her education already!

Sustainability

Moving Forward Post-Quarantine:Tackling Plastic Pollution

by KristenLeave a Comment on Moving Forward Post-Quarantine:Tackling Plastic Pollution
Moving Forward Post-Quarantine:Tackling Plastic Pollution

 

Environmental activists have taken tremendous strides over the years to mitigate wildlife obstruction, plastic pollution, and climate change that has come from decades of industrialization, urbanization and growing multinational corporations. Let’s take Greta Thunberg’s activism against fossil fuel industries. In recent years she has created awareness around the fact that fossil fuels contribute to over 80% of greenhouse gas emissions and has held multinational corporations (MNC’s) accountable for their vast contributions. This type of activism has forced the hand of MNC’s to engage in environmentally conscious business decisions. Coca Cola, for example, set out the World Without Waste initiative in 2018 which planned to use 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030.  

Unfortunately, environmental activists are scared today, more than ever, about the possible setbacks to mitigation strategies that have been years in the making, due to the novel corona virus outbreak. A defining environmental obstacle that has been exacerbated because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the overuse of plastic causing a substantial increase in plastic pollution. 

While the ‘plastic problem’ existed well before the pandemic, activism and policies were actively set in place to spread awareness and give every person the tools to mitigate the issue. However, the positive progress that has been made is taking a step back. Important regulations surrounding the use of plastic and how to reduce overall plastic pollution has had to take a back seat to the worst public health crises of our time. This means we, as humans, need to be diligent and proactive in how we tackle the ‘plastic problem’ post-quarantine for the sake of our delicate world and prosperous futures. 

What exactly is the problem? Well, protective equipment, masks, gloves, hand sanitizer bottles, body bags, ‘emergency kits’, etc., are all plastic products that are in a state of overproduction because of hospital use and citizens stocking up. Not only are we over-buying too much plastic, but we are disposing of it irresponsibly! The medical waste industry is typically diligent, dividing levels of medical waste into categories from the organic materials used in hospital kitchens, to the hazardous materials used in operating rooms. The problem is, everyday households are also acquiring large amounts of medical waste. Plastic gloves and masks have been found on the streets and mixed in with other garbage that isn’t recyclable. The excess plastics begin to pile up in landfills and start emitting greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, which will make the effects of plastic pollution more destructive than ever, and potentially irreversible if we don’t take a stand. 

Another problem we are currently facing is the increase in demand for single use plastics. We were making crucial progress toward limiting this pertinent issue, however, consumers are nervous about the risk of infection from COVID-19. The plastics industry has unfortunately played on these consumer fears by voicing their reputation as the more disposable, hygienic option. In turn, this has resulted in day to day decisions made by consumers to reach for the less ecological option in stores. For example, plastic wrapped fruits and vegetables have been in demand, as well as pre-sliced fruits that come in plastic containers. The narrative that plastic is in fact the more hygienic option is actually false considering studies have shown that the virus lived longest on plastics (up to 7 days) as opposed to cardboard, steel, etc.

 Further, in an “effort to care for the health and well-being of their customers and partners”, companies like Starbucks have banned the use of refillable cups to curb the spread of the virus. Although the company claims to be supporting health official guidelines, the fact that they have not yet banned the exchange of currency between customers and employees raises speculation that the banning is more likely about increasing customer confidence and avoiding financial losses, than about protecting their customers. Even major grocery store chains have discouraged the use of reusable bags in an attempt to curb community transmission. 

The fact of the matter is, single use plastics have their benefits in the necessary forms of surgical gloves, syringes, masks, insulin pens, and various other medical gear. However, we as citizens do not need to be over-buying plastic items or be irresponsible with the way we recycle our residential medical waste. Even though the problem seems daunting right now, we can be proactive in mitigating the effects of what plastic pollution during quarantine will do post-pandemic. With that being said, let’s talk about some solutions!

  1. Brush Up Your Recycling Skills

We all learned it in grade school! Reduce, reuse, recycle. Even amidst a global pandemic, humans should still be attentive in ensuring recycling is a priority, especially if there is an increase in purchasing plastic products for the household. 

Clearly separate your medical waste, such as disposable face masks and gloves, and/or any waste handled by an infected person. This type of waste should be double bagged in biodegradable garbage bags and clearly labeled to avoid any hazardous waste from falling out and needing to be handled directly by workers. This also ensures that the excess plastics do not end up in a landfill. It seems like such a miniscule contribution, but conscientious recycling goes a long way!

  1. Buy in Bulk

Hand soap, dish soap, body wash, laundry detergent, shampoo, hand sanitizer, cleansers; these are all daily household items, among many, many others, that people use on a day to day basis. Consumers purchase these items anywhere from every month to every week, and most of these products are contained in plastic. So, why not buy in bulk? Not only does it save you the trip of going to the store, but it also saves on plastic! Instead of taking the weekly trip, purchase your household necessities in bulk and keep them in a refillable bottle or jug. This can also be an opportunity to create an aesthetic for your living space; having the same color palette of refillable jugs/bottles throughout your household would surely be pleasing to the eye. 

Some cities have refill shops where you can bring in your jug and get it filled with the distributors cleaning supplies. However, if you are unable to find everything you need in bulk or do not have a refill store in your area… consider online bulk purchasing and refilling! Litterless is a website that shares online bulk stores that allow you to buy household and beauty items in recyclable, biodegradable or return for refill packaging. 

https://www.litterless.com/online-zero-waste-bulk-shopping

  1. Ethical Consumerism

Ethical consumerism refers to consciously purchasing products from companies that practice ethical standards in terms of workplace conditions and environment. This is a great way to give back to the environment and practice a sustainable lifestyle. Take some time to do research on brands that practice environmentally friendly manufacturing processes and use recycled plastic or PET plastic. Take the company Lush, for example. Lush is a cosmetics retailer that sells vegan and vegetarian skincare and bath products. Their products are made with PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic which means that it is 100% post-consumer recycled. All Lush bottles also leave customers a lovely message that reminds them that the bottle should later be recycled again! The best part is, they have an incentive program that involves bringing in 3 empty containers to get a free product… sign me up!

Lastly, ethical consumerism also means being conscious of how you’re buying your food in grocery stores. Although many places discourage the use of reusable bags because of community transmission going from yourself, to the grocer, to the bagger; doesn’t mean you can’t still find safe ways around that. Bring your reusable bag and be prepared for self-serve checkout, which is available at most supermarkets. You are limiting contact from person to person, and you are limiting the use of plastic bags!

The world doesn’t need a couple of people making substantial changes, it just needs everyone taking small and constant steps to change their daily habits in favor of the environment. All in all, the goal is for us as a human race to be proactive in tackling the plastic pollution crisis that will inevitably leave long term effects on our environment for many generations to come. Let’s not let this pandemic backtrack progress toward saving our planet; now is the time to reflect on our habits and research what we as individuals can do for the future of our environment. 

Homeschool

Unschooling Myself: What I Learned During Our First Week of Official Homeschool

by Kristen2 Comments on Unschooling Myself: What I Learned During Our First Week of Official Homeschool
Unschooling Myself: What I Learned During Our First Week of Official Homeschool

Homeschooling, not distance learning, but real homeschooling has always been a secret fantasy of mine. What’s the difference, you might ask? Well, distance learning is when your child is enrolled in a school, where a teacher is guiding him or her through their lessons online and giving them assignments to complete and turn in to be graded. Homeschooling, on the other hand, is when you (the parent) are guiding your child personally through their curriculum and education. I have always taken the alternative route when birthing and parenting my child, I tend to flourish on the roads less traveled, however, there was something that never allowed me to fully commit to pulling my son out of his respective educational institution and start taking responsibility for his education myself, even when all of the signs pointed towards doing so.

After about a week of COVID distance learning with my son’s school in Cancun, I decided that now was the time to do what I had always secretly wanted to do anyways, begin an actual homeschooling curriculum that was truly catered to my son’s interests and needs. I was so proud of myself that I nearly bought a “Homeschool Mom of the Year” t-shirt and a “Live, Learn, Unschool” coffee mug, while everyone else around me thought I was about to go run away and live on a hippie commune in the jungle or something (also a secret fantasy of mine). I felt so liberated, so noninstitutionalized, so brave.

Technically, here in Mexico the school year started on August 24th, my father’s birthday. The way that I would have started the school year in the past, if this were the case, is have Pato go to school the full day and have a late lunch together as a family to celebrate Opa (my dad) afterwards. Since we live in Cancun, and my father lives in Isla Mujeres, this means that he would have likely crossed to Cancun to accommodate our schedule and spent the night in Cancun with us. This year, however, because we are officially homeschooling, and oh so bohemian and free, we decided to start schooling on the 17th instead of the 24th, to get a head start on the school year, before enjoying a week in Isla Mujeres with Opa. It was like a swap of one week of vacation for one week of school, and it seemed like such a progressive and rational decision at the time.

Opa’s birthday boat ride around the island with a view of Casa Ensenada in the background

And then it happened, all of my illusions came crashing down, from one simple facebook post; as so many things do nowadays. One of the many new mothers (myself included) in one of my homeschool support community boards posted that she was just beginning her first year of homeschooling and that her sister-in-law had promised her some hand-me-down curriculum books. She was nervous because the school year was starting on the 24th and her sister-in-law planned a last minute trip to the lake with the family and couldn’t get the books to her until the following week. I sympathized with her, and thanked the universe for making sure all of our curriculum books had arrived on time to not only start the school year, but to start the school year early.

As I scrolled down through the comments, there were varying responses, and it was very clear which ones were from newbies (like me) and which ones were from seasoned homeschool parents. While the newbies were at a loss for how a family member could leave her without curriculum books at such an important time, all of the homeschool savvy parents assured her that because her sister-in-law was an experienced homeschool parent, she probably didn’t see it as urgent as we did, because homeschool parents tend to schedule homeschooling around the family’s calendar and not the government’s, and that they also tend to think of all experiences (such as last minute trips to the lake) as teachable moments. All the while, I’m over here sacrificing our last week of summer vacation to get a head start on something that hasn’t even started yet. I literally could have just started homeschooling on Tuesday the 25th instead of Monday the 24th, and nothing bad would have happened. My son wouldn’t have “missed out” on the first day of school activities, no other parents would have gossiped about my level of irresponsibility, we would not have been sanctioned or neglected of anything. Mind blown!

I have attended, taught in, and administered programs in traditional schools my entire life, and although my level of experience contributed to my bravery in making the official leap towards homeschooling, it has also created a deep rooted, almost subconscious, belief system about how, where and when a “proper education” should be implemented. I realized in that moment, scrolling through the comments section on a Facebook post, that for something truly great to come of this new experience with my son, I would have to let everything that I thought I knew about education die first. It’s a little bit ironic that the big teachable moment during our first week of homeschool was that mommy might need a little bit of unschooling herself too!

Isla Mujeres rainbow at beach below Casa Ensenada

Homeschool

Homeschool Teacher Crash Course: How to Turn Quarantine Homeschooling into a Blessing Instead of a Curse

by KristenLeave a Comment on Homeschool Teacher Crash Course: How to Turn Quarantine Homeschooling into a Blessing Instead of a Curse
Homeschool Teacher Crash Course: How to Turn Quarantine Homeschooling into a Blessing Instead of a Curse

Wow, that escalated quickly. First, my son’s school announced that they would go on Spring Break (aka ‘Semana Santa’ here in Mexico) earlier than usual, then they announced that they would not go back to school after Spring Break until further notice! And now, although the schools have not announced it officially yet, there will be no classes on campus for the rest of the school year at all.

With that being said, adjusting to teaching at home has been  pretty simple for me. That was definitely the easy part. The difficult part was cancelling my two-week trip to Colombia and my summer plans in California and Colorado this year. I saw all of the memes on social media about moms buckling under the pressure of educating their children at home…I laughed, I related, I got it…but I didn’t take it as anything more than just some internet humor. I didn’t realize that moms were really stressed and worried about homeschooling their children.

Seven years ago, I founded an organization called VolunQuest in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. We were the first private organization in the entire republic of Mexico to implement the national English curriculum in the public schools here, and briefly in Playa del Carmen as well. VolunQuest brought down native English speaking recent college graduates from the US, Canada, Australia and Europe to earn their certificate to teach English as a second language through the Mexican Ministry of Education, whilst fulfilling the need for quality second language classes in the public schools. After managing government and school politics, the insecurities, homesickness, culture shock and egos of the intern teachers, a complete lack of materials and resources, and classrooms of anywhere from 35-45 primary school aged children, sitting down and homeschooling my almost nine-year-old with a houseful of quality materials was like a walk in the park. Trying to wrangle a group of 35 first graders fresh back from recess and hopped up on coca cola and whatever is in the purple mystery drink from the cafeteria, with just a sheet of stickers, some vocab cards and a smile takes a special talent, however. 

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Every educator on this planet dreams of working under the conditions that facilitate idealistic teaching methodologies, such as student led teaching and project-based learning. The overall goal of every teacher is to teach the curriculum in a way that calls to the special interests of the students, as to make the material relevant to each student and therefore captured into their long-term memory. No matter how much talent you have for teaching, experience you have in the classroom, or creativity you have in your soul, finding a theme that 35 students all share an equal passion for is almost impossible;I mean Justin Bieber didn’t even fascinate every single one of my sixth grade girls at any given point in time. 

But now I’ve got a third grader, not 35 third graders, just one. I know that he loves music, video games, science experiments, animals, Legos and skateboarding. He has questions about big issues like poverty and plastic pollution. I know that his favorite color is blue, but that when it comes to colored pencils, the silver one is king. I could go on and on about him, because he is not only my student, he is my son, and no one knows our children better than we do, no one! 

We are nearly two months into homeschool now, and I have already decided that we are going to continue with an actual homeschool program for the following school year. It’ll give us a lot more freedom to create a curriculum that focuses on his unique learning style and needs until everything with the virus gets sorted out. But it was a decision that I made with confidence as an experienced educator, not one that many parents would be so quick to jump on.

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The moment that I finally realized what most parents must be going through was this week when my son’s father decided to come and quarantine with us for a couple of weeks. This was the longest that my son had gone without seeing his father, I didn’t feel comfortable sending him outside of my home during the pandemic, and hey if Demi Moore and Bruce Willis can quarantine together then what the heck, right? The first couple of days of my son’s father helping him with his schoolwork went swimmingly, but then today his father decided to implement a points system (cringe), literally marking every action or response that he deemed appropriate or inappropriate with +5 and -5 points. It was uncomfortable to watch, but also extremely well intentioned. And that’s when it hit me, wow, parents everywhere must really be freaking out!

Teaching isn’t easy, but it also doesn’t have to be that hard. Ideal teaching actually centers on giving our students the tools and the confidence that they need to become independent learners. I’ve put a few tips together to help all of you well intentioned parents out there regain control of your new home classrooms and make sure that your children are getting the most out of this experience as possible.

Before we start though, just remember that the reason that you are freaking out is because you love your children and you want the best for them always. If you weren’t the amazing warrior goddess mother that you are (or amazing warrior father), you wouldn’t even be reading this right now. And remember that in moments of crisis what children need more than anything else is love, something that you obviously have plenty of to give. So, if the teaching part gets too tough, or your child isn’t accomplishing everything that you’d hoped that they would, just put down the crayons, bake some cookies together and teach them how to do the dishes. If all else fails, at least they can learn some life skills. Seriously.

 

Know Your Child’s Developmental Stage

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It seems that as parents we pay the closest attention to our child’s developmental stages when they are babies, checking WebMD and every baby app on the planet almost daily. Then, as soon as they are standing upright, asking for cookies, and pooping on the potty, we take a deep breath of relief (no major developmental issues here) and we move on. Well news flash, your child’s brain is forming millions of new neural connections and circuits way beyond the walking and talking stages, and the frontal lobe doesn’t even fully develop until they are 25 years old, hence why they stay on our insurance policies until then and also my excuse for so many of my rash life decisions. “Sorry Dad, my frontal lobe wasn’t fully developed then!”

As teachers, we study these developmental stages in great detail and we use that knowledge to create functional classroom management strategies, to communicate instructions, to create age appropriate activities for the curriculum, to set expectations, and to communicate with our students. We know that six year olds are gaining phonetic awareness, eight year olds need clear and visual instructions (not exceeding 3-4 steps), that ten year olds are no longer learning to read but rather reading to learn, and that twelve year olds are realizing that adults aren’t always right and are forming opinions of their own. 

Ok, I think that all parents of preteens are well aware that twelve year olds are forming opinions of their own, but my point is that if you have just recently been thrust into the role of homeschool teacher with zero formal pedagogy education or experience, it is important to research your child’s developmental stage to be able to set realistic expectations and to be able to help them on their scholastic journey. You don’t need to write a thesis paper on Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development but a simple Google search could open your eyes to things that you might not have thought of. For instance, telling your first grader that they have 15 minutes to complete a worksheet before they have even developed the ability to understand the concept of time might not be the most productive kitchen table classroom strategy, just saying.

Teachers Pay Teachers is an awesome resource for level specific teaching materials and lesson plans, and it also helps real teachers out, so double win! 

Outschool is our absolute favorite place for age appropriate activities and classes! Plus if you follow my referral link, you’ll get $20 credit on your first class. So far, we have signed up for Comedy Writing, Summer Movie Making Camp, GarageBand Basics, the History of Hip Hop, Photography and Basic Pokemon Drawing.

 

Avoid Using Negatives

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In all of my VolunQuest teacher training years, one of the hardest habits for new teachers to break was telling students that they are wrong. “But what do you mean?” you might ask, “if we don’t tell students that they are wrong, how will they learn the right answer?” Well, there is almost always something right about every student’s answer, even if it’s just understanding that you asked a question and that the question requires a response. There is always room for a “very good” before guiding that student towards the correct answer to the question.

Using negatives such as “no” and “wrong,” are discouraging to all human beings, but even more so to our youngest who are just beginning their scholastic journeys. Remember that our goal while teaching is to create positive associations with learning and demonstrate how to autocorrect ourselves and find the answers that we are looking for. Let me give you an example. Let’s say that you are doing your morning routine, wait what? You’re not doing a morning routine with your kids? Ok, we’ll get into that next, but for now let’s just say that you are doing calendar activities with them. 

You ask, “what day of the week is it?”

Your child responds, “May!”

Before ripping out your hair and screaming something like, “Whaaaaaat? You don’t even know your days of the week? Why am I even paying for you to go to school? You are grounded from video games for the rest of your liiiiiife,” look for what is correct about their answer and adjust your response accordingly.

“Very good, it is the MONTH of May, but what DAY OF THE WEEK is it?”

Do you see what we did here? You didn’t humiliate them, you didn’t threaten them, you didn’t make them never want to participate again, you guided them towards the answer. Now let’s go further. Maybe it’s Tuesday but your child responds:

“Thursday!”

“Very good, Thursday IS a DAY OF THE WEEK, but what day of the week is it TODAY? You can even show some visual aids or give some hints, “What day of the week was it YESTERDAY?” or “Okay, let’s practice our days of the week again, MONDAY, TUUUUESDAY (wink wink), We…”

“Tuesday, it’s Tuesday!”

“Very good baby, TODAY is TUESDAY.”

It takes a lot of getting used to, but just like anything, the more that you do it, the easier it gets. For me it’s so second nature now that I don’t even realize that I do it in almost all of my interactions, even with adults. There is a whole chest full of inside “you know it’s a VolunQuest teacher when” jokes on the small island in the Mexican Caribbean where we operated the program based on this very skill. But hey, positivity is a great trait to have, and what better time to start flexing your positivity muscles than during a global pandemic, right?

 

Have a Morning Routine and Incorporate Something That You Love

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Let’s flash back a few months. What was your child’s daily routine like? Most likely it was something like this; wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, grab backpack and lunch, hop in the car or on a bus, and then the magic moment, walk out of the home realm and into the school realm. There is usually this moment during their day when their home personality switches off and their school personality switches on, and it’s usually right when they cross that threshold. You know exactly what I’m talking about, like when your youngest child’s teacher tells you that they are a “joy to have in class,” and you’re remembering how they smashed your favorite lipstick on the bathroom mirror and throat punched their sister just this morning. 

It is a fact that most children behave their absolute worst when their parents are around and not in their absence. This is because children’s caretakers provide a blanket of trust and security that is impossible for any other person in their life to replicate. Our children love us, so they test our limits. How messed up is that?

So how can we recreate the threshold? How do we get their home personality to switch off and their school personality to switch on, when they never step foot outside of the house? That’s easy, it’s called make believe! Teachers have to recreate environments in the classroom all the time, especially in foreign language classrooms. How do we learn grocery store vocabulary in our first language? Well, by going to the grocery store, so foreign language teachers recreate grocery stores in their classrooms. That is exactly what you need to be doing at home, but backwards.

If you haven’t done it already, pick the largest spot in your house and turn it into a classroom immediately. Not a small desk area in your child’s bedroom, or the family office, but a large open space just like their classroom at school. We chose the dining room and cleared out part of the china cabinet to store school supplies. Put the china and silver in storage, it’s not like you’ll be having guests over any time soon. Next, collect all of the school supplies and art supplies that you have laying around the house, organize them in reusable cups and containers and set them up in the new classroom. This space needs to feel different and it needs to feel like a permanent part of the house, you should even start referring to it as “school” or “the classroom.”

“Hey Mom, where are my scissors?”

“They’re  in the classroom, honey!”

Now that you’ve got your make believe school all set up, you need to establish a morning routine that will mark the end of the getting ready for school routine and the beginning of the now we’re in school routine. Morning routines can be a simple calendar activity with just the month, date, year, day of the week and weather if you’d like, or you can add something into it that resonates with you and your family. We incorporated moon phases, a patience coloring sheet, daily intentions and gratitude, and a little bit of yoga into our morning calendar routine.

As simple as it may seem, establishing a designated classroom space and having an activity that everyday marks the commencement of homeschool will condition your children to understand that “now it’s time for school.” 

I would like to note that this is what has worked for us, since the abrupt change in our daily routine due to COVID-19. I do plan to take a much more ‘Unschooling’ approach for the following school year, when we are following our own homeschool curriculum and can use so many outside places as our classroom. I think we will always have a designated classroom area in the house, however. It just works for us.

 

Know Your Child’s Learning Style

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There are eight recognized learning styles, yet most school activities only appeal to two of them (verbal and mathematical). In a classroom setting, it is impossible to make sure that 100% of our activities are appealing to the learning styles of 100% of our students at all times, but at home it’s a different story. Is your child a musical/auditory learner like mine? Cool, let them tinker with the piano during vocabulary lessons or make up jingles with them to remember grammar rules. Whatever floats your boat, but make sure that it is formulated in a way that is specific to their unique style of learning. 

We are all very aware of the negatives of being thrown into our current work at home and educate at home scenarios, but this is definitely one of the positives. Being able to be hands on with our children and cater the material that they are required to learn to their unique style of learning, is something that will have ongoing benefits way beyond the coronavirus era. Take advantage of that opportunity, because it is once in a lifetime.

Take this Learning Styles Quiz with your kids to find out exactly how they learn, and take the stress out of homeschooling.

 

Use the Right R&P (Responsibilities and Privileges vs. Reward and Punishment)

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Do not enter into the power struggle, don’t do it. Put down the golden star stickers and behavior charts and back-away-slowly. Don’t even think about doing the “if you get all of your work done, I’ll give you an extra hour of screen time tonight” thing. They are always supposed to get all of their work done, it’s THEIR work, it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY, why are you rewarding them for it? I’m sorry, but this type of schooling and this type of parenting is what has created an almost entire generation of citizens that feel an unrealistic level of entitlement. 

I totally understand why this is almost every parent’s go to classroom management strategy though, because this is what we were taught. I’m sure all of you can perfectly visualize yours or one of your classmates’ names in white chalk on the blackboard of your 5th grade classroom. Why do you remember it? Because it was freaking traumatizing, as soon as your name was up there, you couldn’t think of anything else, “are all the other kids laughing at me?” “am I not good enough?” “what is my mom going to say?” “take it down, take it down, take it down.”

The same thing goes for sticker charts and rewards. Kids get so caught up in all the sparkle that they are no longer focused on the lesson, but rather on the competition and the special reward at the end. Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a place for giving out stickers and even taking them away. When we would have to get three hours of curriculum into two 45 minute windows of class time a week at VolunQuest, sometimes the only way to gain the attention of our 30 plus students was to give stickers out for everything, and I mean everything. We would give stickers out for raising your hand, attempting to answer a question, another for answering correctly, we would take a sticker away as soon as they started chatting with their friend instead of participating in the activity (mostly as a warning to other students, because we would always give it back as soon as their attention was redirected towards us again), we would divide the class into groups, and whichever group got the most stickers by the end of the class, we would go the extra step to give them a special pencil or eraser as well. Desperate times call for desperate measures. That is not the case in a homeschooling classroom, however.

Instead of thinking in terms of reward and punishment, think and speak in terms of responsibilities and privileges. Sit down with your child and come up with a contract that clearly states all of their responsibilities and all of their privileges. You can even do the same thing for yourself. It’s good to actually brainstorm and discuss the contract together, because a lot of things will come up that may not have come up before, like the simple fact that mommy sitting down and taking extra time to help them with their schoolwork is actually a privilege of theirs and not a responsibility of yours (depending on the age of your child, of course).

Download this FREE Responsibilities and Privileges Contract that I use with my nine year old son as a template for yours with your child.

The benefit of using the terminology ‘responsibilities and privileges’ is that it frames classroom (and even household) management in a way that puts the power in the hands of the child and not the adult. In other words, it creates a sense of responsibility for the consequences of their actions instead of always blaming us parents for their misfortune. Contrary to what they think, we do not enjoy punishing them!! But instead of GIVING them privileges for completing their responsibilities, show them in written form all of the privileges that they have, and what they could lose. “Research into the concept of ‘loss aversion’ shows that most people would far rather avoid a loss than make a gain. The threat of having a privilege withdrawn is more likely to be effective than either a straight punishment or the offer of positive rewards.”

“Mom, can I play video games before bed?”

“Did you finish all of your responsibilities, my love?”

There is no need to keep score, scream and holler, give prizes and rewards, there are simply no privileges before completing all of their responsibilities or after abusing the privileges that they have been  given. Period! Trust me, they will thank you for it later in life!

 

Homeschool

FREE Responsibilities and Privileges Contract Template Download: End the power struggle between you and your kids!

by KristenLeave a Comment on FREE Responsibilities and Privileges Contract Template Download: End the power struggle between you and your kids!

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Get out of the Reward and Punishment Mindset with your elementary school aged (plus) children and into the Responsibilities and Privileges Mentality with this FREE download!

    Homeschool

    Free Learning Styles Quiz: Know your child’s learning style to make homeschooling a breeze!

    by KristenLeave a Comment on Free Learning Styles Quiz: Know your child’s learning style to make homeschooling a breeze!

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    We all learn differently. Download this FREE Learning Styles Quiz to find out what are the best activities and methods for your child to retain information and to take the stress out of homeschooling.

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      Oreos for Breakfast: A Morning Routine That’ll Get Your Kids Pumped for Homeschool Everyday

      by KristenLeave a Comment on Oreos for Breakfast: A Morning Routine That’ll Get Your Kids Pumped for Homeschool Everyday
      Oreos for Breakfast: A Morning Routine That’ll Get Your Kids Pumped for Homeschool Everyday

      The alarm goes off, you set the pot of coffee to brew, and start moving to get everyone up and ready for another day of homeschool. The routine is slower than usual, there is no fear of tardy slips or drop off lines, maybe you’ve even got faking that your kid actually took a shower before their online class this morning down to a science (a little extra squirt of hair gel and a good comb’ll do the trick). But something is off. Even though it seems that we have got nothing but time on our hands right now, there still don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get all of this schoolwork done.

      Truth is, it’s not about the amount of time that you have, it’s about the mindset that you’re kids are in while they are getting it done. And I don’t know about you, but even when I’m working from home, the only way that I have a productive day is if I complete my typical morning routine (coffee, reflexion, shower, and outfit). It is what sets the foundation for a kick ass day, always!

      An awesome way to get your kids ready for homeschool every morning is a calendar routine. During my time running the English programs in the public schools of Isla Mujeres, Mexico, I had the teachers at VolunQuest use a calendar activity at the beginning of every ESL class. It was an easy and quick way to get the kids to transition out of using Spanish and into using English before each lesson. We had very limited time with our students and no permanent English classroom, meaning the teachers couldn’t put up English materials on the classroom walls or leave resources in the classroom; everything had to be portable. So this little trick was the most painless way to get our students into ‘English mode’ without us having to unpack a truckload of materials (just a whiteboard marker and some reward stickers would do). The exact same thing applies for getting your kids into ‘school mode’ without ever stepping foot outside of the house.
      P1N_6284Don’t Make it Too Complicated

      You can do a quick Pinterest search to find lots of fancy classroom calendar activity ideas, or you can just create something totally unique with supplies you already have at home. I’m a huge Erin Condren planners geek, so I have tons of leftover stickers in my old EC sticker books. I also found a full pack of Colored Date Dots and put them to good use. The first step in our calendar routine every morning is for my son to grab the next colored date dot on the sheet and place it on the calendar. It sets it up, so that he has a frame of reference for what day of the week and date it is, before moving on to the next steps in the activity.

      P1N_6283Practice Makes Perfect

      My son was raised bilingual, but living in Mexico and having a large Mexican family on his father’s side has shifted his primary language more towards Spanish than English. I noticed that he had more knowledge of his calendar vocabulary in Spanish, so I decided to use English days of the week and months. Just like anything, if you practice something everyday you will eventually master it, so include something in your morning routine that you would like to help your child gain mastery of, whether that be a new language, calendar math or something totally different. 

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      Incorporate Something That You Love

      What better way to start the day than by sharing something that you love with your children? I personally am a total moon child, and plan a lot of my major decisions and do monthly planning based on the phases of the moon. Maybe you like gardening; you could add a flower of the month activity to your calendar. Or maybe you’re really into yoga; why not throw some simple sun salutations into your routine? Use your imagination, and make sure to make it fun for your little one too! I made our moon phase ritual into a kid friendly activity by turning it into an excuse to eat Oreos for breakfast! After we look up the current moon phase in my Deluxe Moon app, and place the matching moon phase on our calendar, we have a competition to see who can get their Oreo to look the most like the actual phase of the moon. Yum!

      P1N_6341Good Habits

      We all have areas that we can improve on, all of us. Life is a journey in self improvement. I personally know that I naturally am very strong in the virtue of forgiveness, but not so much in patience. And my son definitely shares my lack of patience with me. He tends to think that to get something done well, you have to get it done fast. I blame it on watching Will Ferrel in Talladega Nights so many times while I was pregnant. “I wanna go fast!!” is definitely my son’s motto.

      To remind him gently to take his time everyday, I added a gumball machine coloring sheet and the quote, “Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.” Everyday he colors one gumball, takes his time to do it well, and then we move on to another great habit to create; gratitude and daily intention setting. Using different colored post-it notes, each family member writes down the thing that they are most grateful for from yesterday and their goal or intention for today. 

      P1N_6272Keep it Green

      There’s no need to go out and fill up a cart at Hobby Lobby or Officemax with new supplies to make your home calendar. If you can, use bits of colored scratch paper or leftover stickers for decoration, print out a blank calendar format and fill in the dates with numbered stickers or pencil; instead of printing out a new calendar every month, and use solid cardstock for your reusable months and days of the week cards so that they will last a long time. We also save all of our gratitude and intention post-it notes in a jar and we plan to turn it into confetti for New Years. There is going to be something pretty magical about throwing up a beautiful handful of all of our favorite moments and goals of the year. 

      P1N_6273What We Used to Make Our Calendar 

      (Here’s a list of materials to help you get started, but make sure to add your family’s own special touch!)

      Travel

      Set Me Free: 5 Post Quarantine Travel Trends

      by Kristen2 Comments on Set Me Free: 5 Post Quarantine Travel Trends
      Set Me Free: 5 Post Quarantine Travel Trends

      It is safe to say that the last couple of months in quarantine have been rough for the majority of the world. We have found ourselves being tossed into roles we have never filled before; perhaps  you’ve suddenly become a homeschool teacher, or maybe you’ve had to learn how to adapt to working in a team using tricky online conferencing tools. Whatever the case may be, it has definitely taken some getting used to. This new-found norm brings up the question, what’s life going to be like when restrictions are finally lifted? Many of us have this utopian vision of running out the door and hopping on the next flight out to… well, anywhere that isn’t where we’ve been holed up for months (preferably somewhere with warm weather, a nice sea breeze, and maybe an ice cold drink in your hand, right?). The reality is that a post-coronavirus world means the ‘hop on a plane and go’ mentality may not be ideal anymore. But not to worry! Start packing your bags, all you travel lovers and adventure seekers; these 5 Post Quarantine Travel Trends will fulfill that utopian vision in ways that you may have never thought of before! 

      Regional Travel

      Travelling is truly a magical experience. It has the ability to connect people from all different walks of life and from different ends of the world via flying across the sky. However, it has become so effortless for travelers to log onto a website and book a flight with just the click of a mouse that traveling regionally doesn’t seem very exotic anymore. While sometimes it’s great to “get away” especially far away, the fact of the matter is that this magic can be found right in one’s own backyard. 

      Leisure travel won’t be so leisurely for a while, once travel bans are lifted. Airlines will be forced to implement protocols that’ll make travelling a lengthy and unusual process. Officials predict fares lowering briefly once travel restrictions are lifted, however they will increase just as fast because of fewer flights and seats than usual. You can even expect to have your temperature taken once arriving at your destination, along with mandatory face masks, and no option for ordering food and beverage while en route. 

      With this in mind, why not take the time to research some regional travel options? So many of us take for granted the beauty and culture of where we live because it is where we conduct our daily routines: go to work, run our errands, go to school, etc.; especially those who live in metropolitan areas. Everything is moving at such a fast pace, every which way you look, that it’s sometimes hard to imagine serenity is just a short road trip away. Fortunately, with just a hop, skip, and a jump, you may find the most beautiful vacation spot… without the hassle of long lines, medical checks, or people falling asleep on your shoulder for five hours while you’re crammed into the window seat (not even exaggerating)! 

      Take the city of Toronto, for example, it’s a concrete jungle that hosts employment districts, research universities, and a super busy transportation network. But just 3.5 hours northwest of the city, Torontonians can find the clearest blue waters and the most beautiful mountainous cliffs of Tobermory, Ontario. It is truly a scene straight off of a postcard. The fact of the matter is, a post-quarantine world means regional vacationing and adventuring is what will be the more financially viable, unchallenging, and not to mention environmentally friendly option. There is something beautiful closer than you think. 

      • Check out Wikitravel! “Fast becoming the new go-to travel resource over the trusty guidebooks, Wikitravel lists everything from must-see sites to decent accommodation, concisely and knowledgeably.” Just type in your location and start exploring travel options near you!

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      Nature Travel

      Speaking of clear blue waters and mountainous cliffs… nature travel will be a post-quarantine trend to kick that travel craving in a way that will also create awareness as to how marvelous, delicate, and serene our world is. If quarantine has taught us anything, it’s that we can definitely survive with less. So maybe come time for that next vacation, instead of staying at the Four Seasons or Hilton, consider looking for some popular camping grounds near national parks. Camping is one of the best ways to experience and connect with nature. And no, there won’t be any bears roaming around your tent come nightfall! The fact is, camping is extremely safe because so many national parks around the world have designated campgrounds for visitors to set up shop. 

      Have you ever thought about going to California? Instead of dealing with large crowds and facemasks during a visit to Rodeo Drive, how about taking a deep breath of fresh air at Yosemite National Park instead? Just a 4-hour drive away from Los Angeles, travelers can camp out at White Wolf Campground. Spend the day taking a short hike to Lukens Lake where you can go swimming, surrounded by the pristine white pine and mountain hemlocks of the California wilderness. The extraordinary granite carved glacial valleys of Yosemite Park will open your eyes to the realization of why nature travel is the new trend to get on board with. 

      • It is as easy as looking up what national parks are within a couple hours’ radius of your city or town. All accommodation, including campground information will be on the national park services website of your country.

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      Vacation Rentals instead of Hotels

      Once restrictions are finally lifted, it doesn’t mean that social distancing is to be totally disregarded. Experts predict a potential second wave to hit in the fall of 2020; this means we need to maintain as much social distancing as we can in the coming months. With that in mind, vacation rentals (like AirBnbs) may be a safer, and the more social distance-conscious decision compared to hotels. Staying at an AirBnb ensures less social interaction. Not only because you don’t have people passing you by in the hallways, lobby, and elevator, but also due to the fact that AirBnb has 72-93% of its listings located just outside over-touristic areas. Plus, you’ll be helping out small business owners and entrepreneurs! What’s even better is that vacation rental hosts will be able to give you an inside scoop on local hidden gems, based on their firsthand personal experience, rather than relying on the hotel brochure that everyone gets upon entering the lobby. 

      Cancun, Mexico,  popular for its clear blue waters, tranquil beaches, and booming night life has proven to be a popular destination for travelers over the years. Despite the abundance of resorts located along its hotel zone, you might want to consider some AirBnb options in order to really experience the culture and beauty of the area. Casa Ensenada is a full-service beach house on Isla Mujeres just off the coast of Cancun, which offers breathtaking private ocean views, golf cart arrangements to island hotspots, private beach access just a few steps away, and much more. This AirBnb listing will have you rounding up your favorite group of people to plan your post-quarantine vacation in no time.

      P.S. You’re Welcome…

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      Minimalist Travel

      Minimalist Travel is a trend derived from the 70s that typically references a capsule wardrobe that consists of a few quality clothing items, saving the traveler costs and time on fashion. Well, minimalist travel is now back and better than ever, ready to be a post-quarantine trend. Instead of a focus primarily on saving time and money on fashion, it’s centered around travelling with less to avoid physical body and personal item contact. Fewer bags (perhaps just a backpack and carry-on luggage) means avoiding other people handling your bags and waiting in the long baggage claim lines. This can be an especially pertinent strategy for those who have no choice but to get on a plane to travel for business or personal reasons. 

      Three main tips to hop on this trend are: the aforementioned classic capsule wardrobe, invest in a small durable suitcase, and quality carry on toiletry kits. A classic capsule wardrobe will include 10 items or less including shoes centered around your choice of color palette that are of optimal quality. Limit accessories to the ones that you are actually wearing during travel. Not many people do this but, you are able to bring a suitcase into the cabin as long as it fits the maximum measurement guidelines. Invest in a cabin-friendly durable bag so that whether you are travelling by plane, car, or train, you are saving space. More often than not, when we have larger luggage, we tend to fill that bag up to its rims. Smaller baggage means no over packing, it also means you will be able to handle your own luggage from start to finish. Lastly, we have the good ole’ carry on toiletry kits. It is hard to find toiletry kits that are compact, follow TSA regulations, are aesthetically pleasing, and eco-friendly. For your next trip, consider Gypsy Kits. The beautiful vegan leather pouch holds bottles made with amber glass and bamboo, totally eco friendly items…and it’s compact enough to fit in just your backpack! Essentially, minimalist travel is all about preparedness.  Keeping these three tips in mind, you’ll be ahead of the minimalist travel trend come time to book your next vacation!

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      Digital Nomad Lifestyle

      The new generation of travellers are the digital nomads. These types of travellers work in shared spaces to deliver their day to day tasks from all over the world. Essentially, they are immersed in different cultures and environments, while being able to get their work done; very far off from that 9-5 lifestyle. 

      Do you ever find yourself caught up questioning when the right time for travelling is, because of work? Why not do both at the same time? I know it is easier said than done; however, now may be the best time to consider making this life change. Many people working for both small scale and large scale businesses have had to work from home amidst quarantine regulations. This has proven that as long as employees have access to the internet, working remotely works just as well as going to the office cubicle everyday! Big companies will begin to realize that they don’t need as many people in office because of the high levels of productivity being delivered remotely right now. Consider speaking to your manager about starting off doing full-time remote work or if you’re someone who is just starting their career, check out the website We Work Remotely to find a job that you can excel in whilst roaming the globe.

      Also check out Selina, a chain of hotel/hostel/co-working spaces (with exceptional Wi-Fi) made for those living a nomadic lifestyle. This hotel chain has exceptionally turned vacant spaces ( like schools and chocolate factories) into a place where travellers can work communal, emphasizing a sense of community for people of different professions. 

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      Sustainability

      The Environment Takes a Breath During COVID-19 Lockdown: Five Things We Can Do After Quarantine to Keep the Planet Healthy

      by KristenLeave a Comment on The Environment Takes a Breath During COVID-19 Lockdown: Five Things We Can Do After Quarantine to Keep the Planet Healthy
      The Environment Takes a Breath During COVID-19 Lockdown: Five Things We Can Do After Quarantine to Keep the Planet Healthy

      Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns began around the world, one little piece of sunshine that has peeked through our windows is the almost instantaneous recovery of our air qualities, animal populations, forests, oceans and natural resources. The pre-quarantine general attitude towards nature seemed to be that, “yes, we know that we have damaged the earth’s ecosystems but it’s too late to do anything about it.” Now that this little green glimmer of hope is brightening up our news feeds, neighborhoods and hearts, maybe just maybe humans will be inspired by this international health crisis and start implementing simple solutions into their daily lives to keep the planet healthy too.

      Cities from around the world are reporting unprecedented drops in air pollution levels since shelter in place orders have been given. “Paris has seen nitrogen dioxide drop by 54 percent, while Madrid, Milan and Rome saw a drop of nearly 50%, according to scientists from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.” International clean air agreements such as the Paris Agreement, which was put in place by the UNFCCC to lower greenhouse gas emissions and finance climate resilient development, have recently been thrown out by our leaders, prioritizing economy over ecology. The irony that a new human respiratory virus is what is finally allowing the earth to take a breath is impossible to ignore.

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      Not only are our skies cleaner, but they are brighter too. Now that they are no longer competing to outshine unnecessary urban light cluttering, we can see the stars brighter at night. As a matter of fact, all of our senses seem to be in high definition. We can hear the beautiful sounds of nature now that the birds aren’t battling with the noise of industry and traffic, and the smells of the trees and grass are finally more prominent than the odors of progress. 

      Someone else is also feeling the shift and finding security in the silence. Many of the earth’s creatures are coming out of hiding and are enjoying the freedom to roam. Animals on the endangered species list that haven’t been spotted in many areas for years, or even decades are making appearances all over the globe, such as the manta rays, jaguars, bull sharks and hocofaisán (Crax rubra) in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Bear, coyote and bobcat populations at Yosemite National Park in California are coming out of the shadows too, now that the park is closed to everyone except “employees, essential workers and those that can show deeds to their houses,” which are only the few vacation homes located within the park’s limits. 

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      When everybody thought that the science was too scary, and people were in various stages of grieving the loss of our planet, including denial, it seemed impossible to come to a common consensus about anything. The problem once seemed too big for any effort to make much of a difference at all, but now we have been given, almost overnight, a vast array of examples of how much just a simple effort on our part can alter the future of our planet. 

      If our time in quarantine has taught us anything, it is that we can survive with less than we previously thought possible and that the ecological benefits of doing so are immeasurable. Here are some ideas that we can all incorporate into our current and post pandemic lives to keep this ecological progress going:

      Five Simple Things that Everyone Can Do to Help Protect the Planet

      1. Keep Your Bathroom Eco-Friendly.

      Too often people think the only way to lower their plastic footprint is by utilizing reusable grocery bags and water bottles, however the cosmetics industry creates 120 billion units of packaging every year that also contribute to our global plastic pollution crisis.

      By purchasing your personal care items in bulk from big box or specialty shops, and using refillable bottle solutions in your shower, you can save the oceans from about 15-20 plastic bottles a year between just shampoo and bodywash alone.

      Some other green beauty solutions are using bamboo hair and toothbrushes, making homemade exfoliants with items such as salts and sand to avoid getting microplastic exfoliant beads into our water sources, and making sure that your products all use ingredients that are sourced responsibly.

      1. Do the Same Thing with Home Cleaning Products.

      The same thing goes for your home cleaning supplies. Buy in bulk and use refillable solutions whenever possible.

      When COVID-19 first hit, in many countries the first things to disappear from the shelves were the disinfecting and sanitizing products. Because of this, many people began to come up with homemade solutions and the World Health Organization released a list of standards for locally manufactured sanitizers. Products that for a long time were considered to only be able to be made commercially, have started to be produced locally out of necessity.

      If you can cut out buying all commercially made cleaning products, and stick to locally manufactured or homemade products with refillable bottle solutions instead, you could save the environment from a chunk of the sixty-million plastic bottles that are currently purchased every day.

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      1. Check Your Local Recycling Guidelines in Detail

      One of the most common mistakes that we make while trying to keep our planet safe is not reading the fine print in our local recycling programs. There is so much misinformation out there about what materials can actually be recycled and where it all goes that more often than not people that mean to be green are being anything but.

      Check out berecycled.org/ for up to date global and local information about recycling. You might actually be surprised to find out how much unrecyclable waste you are throwing into the blue bin every year!!

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      1. Save Electricity and Water!

      You’ve heard it before, but it’s still the number one thing that you can do every day to help our planet; conserve energy and water. I’m sure you have maybe implemented suggestions such as turning off the water while you’re brushing your teeth or waiting until you have a full load before running a laundry cycle, but if you use a little creativity you will see that there are endless ways to quickly lower your footprint.

      Here are a few:

      • Use a Crockpot, Instapot or a Thermomix when cooking. These throw-everything-in appliances help minimize the number of dishes you’ll have to use when cooking, therefore lowering the amount of water you will have to use to clean them.
      • Don’t dispose of chemicals, medicines or other pollutants down the sink.
      • Consider unplugging all of your appliances when you travel, sleep or leave the house to avoid using phantom energy. You can also just turn off the applicable breakers or switch off your smart energy strips whenever you leave the house, and before you go to bed.
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      1. Start Carpooling.

      Carpooling apps, such as GoCarma have made carpooling to work easier than ever. Although people will surely be wary of taking public transportation for a while, carpooling is still an excellent option to keep our air quality as clean as we have seen it during this global lockdown.

      Another thing that has become very clear to many employees around the world during the current crisis is that many people in a variety of positions can work remotely without lowering productivity, and in many cases actually increasing it. Consider talking to your employer about following the example of companies such as Dell and Xerox by limiting their employees’ in-office days. Not only do actions like these drastically lower greenhouse gas emissions, but lower company budgets as well. 

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      Why Was I Ever Scared of Bees?: How I Evolved From a Bee Screamer to a Beekeeper.

      by KristenLeave a Comment on Why Was I Ever Scared of Bees?: How I Evolved From a Bee Screamer to a Beekeeper.
      Why Was I Ever Scared of Bees?: How I Evolved From a Bee Screamer to a Beekeeper.

      Every summer of my childhood was marked by the smokey scent of BBQ, the freezing cold water of our above ground pool, envied by the whole neighborhood, dirt under my fingernails, and fallen apples on the lawn, which of course meant, that’s right; bees!

      I will never forget my first bee sting, I must have been no more than six years old. We were walking into the front door of our house, passing by the seasonal flowers that my mother planted every year, and it happened. A little bee landed on my hand. I was in awe. I remember watching it as it walked between my fingers, weaving in and out without any malice in its tiny heart, probably more interested in the sweet sticky fingers of a child than worried about my presence. I felt the same enchantment gazing at it as I did when I’d watch the butterflies in the garden or chase the fireflies on those late summer evenings. My instinct was to be gentle with it, to appreciate it, to protect it.

      Me before my fear of insects began, at the National Museum in Washington D.C. holding a giant hissing cockroach.

      Startling me out of my charmed state were the panicky screeches of my mother’s voice, followed by the manic swatting at my hand, and of course the instant jolt of my entire body, and boom, there it was; my first bee sting. I don’t remember how it felt, or what the sting looked like, I don’t even remember if anyone plucked the stinger from my palm. What I do remember was the overwhelming fear, the screams (my own and my mother’s) and above everything else I remember the sense of betrayal I felt from my little friend.

      From that point on, I was that girl, you know the one. The girl that would jump up and run screaming anytime even a mosquito flew past her head, would paranoidly check the inside of her Coke can before every sip, would embarrass anyone brave enough to sit outside with her at a picnic table. Bees, and anything with wings for that matter, quickly became my deepest and only fear. And strangely enough, even though I seemed to be the one most cautious about flying insects, I also seemed to be the only one that ever got stung, and oh did I get stung. I have had the pleasure of knowing the agony of the bite of not only bees, but also horse flies, jellyfish, wasps (lots and lots of wasps), poisonous plants, spiders, ants, and even a dragonfly in Arizona. Who even knew dragonflies could bite?

      I went through my entire life this way, well at least thirty years of it, until I was forced into a situation that changed everything. I started a project in Isla Mujeres that involved taking over an abandoned hotel to turn it into a youth center for the island’s youngsters. The project was overwhelming. It involved various legal issues with the previous owners, thirty squatters, a totally eroded plumbing and electrical system, and an invasion of 30,000 African Bees. My passion for the project surpassed my dread of having to face the hive. There were various solutions proposed, most of them involved killing the tiny creatures, but even though I still held the betrayal of my childhood friend in my heart, I couldn’t bring myself to hurt them.

      The Director of Ecology on the island introduced me to an amazing man, and now dear friend, Elmer from Miel Curativa Tradicional Maya Y Rescate De Abejas, who rescues bees in the region where I live. His sense of calm and complete admiration for the creatures inspired me to put on the protective gear and walk into the damp storage room of the hotel where the bees had built their kingdom.

      As I stood outside of the entryway listening to the deafening sound of tens of thousands of bees sheltering their queen, my heart was racing and my palms were sweaty, my anxiety was at an all time high. I couldn’t get the scene out of my head from the movie My Girl when Macaulay Culkin was brutally attacked by a huge mass of bees as he was just casually walking through the forest, and I was here invading their fortress. It was single handedly the most frightening moment of my life.

      Walking inside was like being transported to another dimension, one where I was alone with myself. I have never been so present in my life, except for maybe during childbirth. I consciously lowered my heart rate, breathed in the musty air of the abandoned storage room, felt the uniform vibration of the bees as if they were bringing me to another wavelength in time. It was if they were drawn to me. Out of the three people in the room, the tiny insects seemed to follow me in particular and mimicked every motion that I made. Even though I was covered in hundreds of bees and could have easily been stung through my clothing, I did not have one stinger on me when I walked back out of that space.

      Just after walking out of my first encounter with a bee colony in Isla Mujeres.

      Bees provide us the very air that we breathe. Researchers from the University of California – San Diego, published the first ever quantitative results showing that honey bees are the world’s number one pollinator in natural environments. Since “90% of wild flowering plants depend to some extent on animal pollination,” then that means bees are to thank for the production of oxygen during the process of photosynthesis of these plants and trees (Lumpur, 2016).

      Bees are boss of the world economy and our food supply too. “75% of the world’s food crops depend at least in part on pollination” and “between US$235 billion and US$577 billion worth of annual global food production relies on direct contributions by pollinators,” meaning that without the world’s number one pollinator the stock markets would falter and the majority of the world population would go hungry (Lumpur, 2016).

      With the new political climate in the United States and parts of the rest of the world, it is becoming ever more apparent that many politicians do not concern themselves with issues such as world hunger, however it would seem strange that they don’t worry about their precious international trade markets and H2O. Right now, more than “40% of invertebrate pollinator species – particularly bees and butterflies – are facing extinction” due to issues such as agricultural pesticides and climate change (Lumpur, 2016). Treaties, such as the Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), have been set in place to decrease the risk of such occurrences, yet in 2017 Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from said agreement, putting not only bees at risk, but also our coral reefs, the polar ice caps, most of the world’s marine life, and human existence as we know it.

      With as many enemies as bees already have in this world, I decided that I would no longer be one of them. Being covered in them reminded me of how sardines swarm together for protection when trying to escape larger predators in the ocean. It made me feel as if they were drawn to me because they felt that I could safeguard them, and all of these years I had been literally trying to kill them. I finally realized that the betrayal that took place all those years ago wasn’t towards me at all, but rather the other way around.

      Today I am the proud momma of two bee hives, both species native to the region where I live. I have one hive of meliponines, which are stingless honey bees, and the other is of plebeias from the nanotrigonas family. They are as tiny as ants and are also stingless, but love to play in my hair. In a year, I will divide each hive into two by moving the queen to a new box and leaving a princess in another. I only plan to duplicate enough hives to be able to harvest sufficient honey for my personal use and for my baby bees to be able to flourish. I have filled my garden with honey bee friendly vegetation, such as lavender to avoid them crossing over into a neighbor’s yard when they get hungry. Not everyone has seen the light yet, and bees bring more panic than joy to most. I wouldn’t want some well intentioned neighbor to accidentally exterminate my new family members.

      Part of my half sleeve tattoo featuring my queen bee and her guardians

      If you are interested in keeping bees yourself, please do your research beforehand. Bees are not the only pollinating creatures that are important to our ecosystem and “even in the presence of a highly abundant species that pollinates many plant species, we still need healthy populations of other pollinators for entire plant communities to receive adequate pollination services” (University of California, 2018) This means that we do not know what negative effects introducing non native bee species into local ecosystems could have on other pollinating animals. Also, even though I have non stinging bees, beekeeping of more hazardous species should only be done after sufficient training and education on the subject.

      There is something very familiar to me on a personal level about how mankind tends to fear and fight against the things or people that can do the most for them. Maybe a part of our evolutionary process kept the more fearful ones around longer to procreate. Whatever the reason may be, fear almost always comes from ignorance, lack of experience, or lack of education on a certain matter. To reverse the decades of destruction against the earth and its creatures, it is imperative that we educate the future generations and expose them to all of the information that we did not have presented to us during our youth. There isn’t a prouder mommy moment for me than when a bee lands nearby, someone jumps, and my son says, “don’t worry, they won’t do anything, they’re probably just looking for food.”

      My son with our meliponas during their division from their original colony at Miel Curativa Tradicional Maya Y Rescate De Abejas.

      “Has a bee ever landed on you, and instead of getting scared, you appreciate the possibility that you got confused for a flower?” 

      -Author Unknown

      References:

      Lumpur, Kuala 2016, Pollinators vital to our food supply under threat; Assessment details options for safeguarding pollinators, <http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/384726/icode/>

      University of California – San Diego. (2018, January 10). Worldwide importance of honey bees for natural habitats captured in new report: Global synthesis of data reveals honey bees as world’s key pollinator of non-crop plants. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 10, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180110101005.htm