I’m surprised when people react negatively to infant water safety classes. If you’re not familiar with these programs, they’re the ones that teach infants who fall into a pool how to right themselves by floating on their backs and kicking their legs until they reach the side of the pool.

The people who oppose these programs claim that these children are traumatized, screamed at, and fearful of pools after experiencing these potentially life-saving techniques. Contrary to that, my girls LOVED their first experience with swim lessons.

When my girls were very young, they learned how to swim at Polly’s Puddle in Santa Cruz.  Polly had an outdoor pool that she covered with a tent, and she kept the pool at a very warm 90 degrees. All classes were taught one-on-one and parents were required to sit at the end of the pool during the class. I loved the routine: select their swim caps, then jump into the pool where their teachers caught them. 

My youngest daughter, Jaclyn, loved to go “unner!” (under water).  She would keep her eyes open and smile at her teacher.  Because she was so young, her natural instinct was to hold her breath — she never gulped water. Jaclyn quickly learned how to flip over on her back to breathe.  Kicking her feet to reach the side of the pool, she extended her arms over her head so she could feel the side of the pool and not crash into it.  I loved what happened next: she would reach up with both hands and pull herself out of the pool all by herself! We all clapped our hands for her and she was one proud toddler.

My oldest daughter, Nicole, didn’t like water on her face.  So Polly would dribble water down her face while she held her in her arms to help Nicole get used to the water sensation. Nicole was a little older when she started swim lessons so she learned how to swim to the side of the pool and how to take breaths until she reached it. The warm water made getting into the pool comfortable — like taking a bath.

Not sure how other programs are taught — especially the ones that parents are complaining about. Do your research and find programs that have warm water pools and are taught one-on-one.  It’s worth the peace of mind knowing your babies are water safe! 

After I lost my tomato plant to a gopher — I actually saw the plant shake and then slowly disappear into the soil as the little *!@* rodent pulled it down into its labyrinth — I gave up on gardening for a decade. I couldn’t handle doing all that work to lose the fruits of my labor (LITERALLY) to rodents and pests. Trying to re-introduce gardening to me, my husband researched building a greenhouse using metal tubing and sheets of corrugated plastic. Besides the exorbitant material cost, I didn’t want an eyesore in my backyard, so we put the idea on the backburner.

But it didn’t take long to rethink the greenhouse idea because our weekly trips to the farmers’ market to buy fresh, organic veggies started to eat into our retirement savings. I checked out greenhouses that were built using old windows and collected all kinds of colorful designs on Pinterest. Then I went to a local salvage yard where they sell used windows (among other things) to see what they cost.  I flew to LA where my best friend owns Silverlake Yards, a salvage and restoration company in LA, and bought 17 windows and 8 glass doors for a song and rented a Budget rental truck to drive them back to Santa Cruz.

Putting the greenhouse together was like assembling a puzzle.  I laid out various scenarios using the windows and doors that I had. I hired a helper to assist me with building the framework and installing the windows. There probably isn’t a square or level surface anywhere in the greenhouse because we built it using an assortment of window sizes and shapes. I love the fact that all materials were used and that I didn’t use any virgin materials.  This actually saved tons of materials from going to the landfill!

I’m growing microgreens, seedlings, veggies, and fruit trees in the greenhouse.  They love the warm, moist environment, and I love learning how to grow things. We even put our aquaponics system in the greenhouse. My greenhouse gives me a safe place (from rodents!) to grow veggies year round!

Okay, now that all the pomp and circumstance celebrations are over, and your college-bound kid is reveling in get-togethers with high school friends, it’s time to get them on board with the next phase in their lives – *their college education*! 

Unlike our college days when tuition was just $1000 a year and we bounced from major to major based on a whim, spending an extra semester or two to graduate didn’t break our parents’ bank. College was supposed to be a time to explore majors and “find yourself.”

But with college tuition starting at $20,000 and as high as $60,000 (Yikes! That’s more than the average family income!), that extra year can dry up your retirement savings or eat into your next child’s college fund. So that’s why EVERY COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENT NEEDS TO CREATE THEIR FOUR-YEAR PLAN!

Most students who end up taking more than 4 years to graduate are *victims of poor planning*. They didn’t understand the progression of courses that they needed to take and when all of those courses were offered. Just about every required course has a prerequisite and with some majors, they need to take these courses during their FIRST SEMESTER in order to complete them in 4 years (especially for engineering and pre-med). With colleges operating on slashed budgets, some of these courses are offered just once per year, or worse, on odd or even years! Upper division courses often have several prerequisites, which requires careful planning in advance.

Then, every college also has set core or general education requirements that are taken in addition to the major courses. With careful planning, some gen. ed. requirements can be satisfied by lower division major courses. Again, CAREFUL PLANNING AHEAD OF TIME. Just yesterday I worked witha client who took 2 courses that satisfied 1 requirement – he’s kicking himself now…

What’s ideal about the 4-Year Plan is that your student will completely understand what courses to take AND why to take them. By doing this research, they’ll know what their major departments have to offer and requirements for special programs like Study Abroad, Internships, and Research. By adding these to the 4-year plan BEFORE starting college, they’ll take advantage of all of the wonderful opportunities available to them. So, now that the celebrations are over, it’s time for them to roll up their sleeves and create their 4-Year Plans!;

I dropped off the last family member at the airport on Monday morning after hosting an extraordinary family reunion. Like all families, ours certainly has had our share of drama over the years, so when I planned the activities for this first family reunion, I was both hopeful and worried.

I set up stations where each family member could enter information about themselves and their parents and children; give their oral history via video; and fill out the family tree on a 27-foot cloth banner. While these activities are vital to building our genealogy database, they’re usually not considered a fun activity.

So this year, we had a team of 2 to 3 people to support each interviewee. Even our really shy family members came to life with great stories and we all had fun in the process. When people couldn’t think of answers to personal questions, that was no problem for our group – others chimed in and shared their recollections, which often led to even more interesting anecdotes. Even those with a history of drama bonded as they remembered the good times. Capturing these story-telling sessions on video will certainly be fascinating, and revealing, to future generations.

Playing baby photo match-up and trivia games gave us interesting insight to family traits (physical likenesses) and idiosyncracies. I made reunion “bucks” to encourage everyone to play the games to win prizes. And our youngest family member was appointed banker, which gave him the opportunity to determine who correctly answered each question. No longer hidden behind his father, he was front and center. By the end of the weekend, everyone felt a renewed closeness and appreciation for our lineage. 

We’re already planning the next reunion!

So you just finished up your junior year in high school and you’re a senior now. Hooray! You kinda remember the college-picking hell your senior friends went through last year and promised yourself that you won’t do that yourself. And now it’s the summer before your senior year and you still haven’t started the process  Don’t worry – you’re not alone.

With over 4,000 colleges in the United States, there IS a perfect college for you.  Every college has its own unique programs and the best way to determine which ones are best for you is to think about your future career options.  You don’t need to definitively decide what you want to be when you grow up but you SHOULD choose between 1 and 5 career options.

Then take those options and make a list of possible majors.  For instance, if you want to be an elementary school teacher, you will probably major in Liberal Arts.  If you’re interested in becoming a stock broker, you’ll probably major in Business Finance.

After you’ve narrowed down your list of careers and majors, rank them from 1 to 5 (1 being your top major). Then dust off your Google-fu and find colleges that have excellent departments with a variety of concentrations and degrees for each of your top 5 majors. By selecting colleges that have the programs you’re interested in, you’ll increase the odds of finding your perfect major. You don’t want to end up on a campus that doesn’t offer the majors or minors that you’re interested in, right?

To be thorough, you’ll want to find around 50 colleges.  Check out their social life, extracurricular activities, and location. Cut about half of the colleges that don’t offer exactly what you’re looking for. If you’re not into wild parties, stay away from colleges known for their party scene. If you’re not into the Greek society, stay away from colleges that have large fraternities and sororities. If you’re not religious, stay away from conservative colleges that require religious worship and courses.

Once you have a great list of about 25 colleges that have everything you need, check out their average GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and selectivity ratings to see where you stand. Now cut 50% of the colleges using this criteria. One third of the list should be “Reach” colleges (institutions that normally select students who have higher GPAs and SAT/ACT scores than you have), one third should be “Target” colleges (those that have similar GPAs and SAT/ACT scores), and one third “Safety” colleges (colleges that you’ll definitely get into).

Finally, it’s time for a road trip to check out your top colleges. You’ll find that you’ll have a much better understanding about how you can benefit from each college or university by walking around the campus, sitting in on classes, eating on campus, and visiting the dorms. By the time you visit the colleges, you’ll have a great list of about 7 to 15 colleges that would be perfect for you.  Apply to several colleges to ensure that you’ll get in.  We’ll discuss essay topics, letters of recommendation, and other important topics soon.  So get started now!  

According to an article on EdWeek, the Senate released their 2016 “plan” to fund the Department of Education in 2016.  It CUTS funding from the previous year by $1.7 BILLION, to $65.5 billion.

Believe it or not, this is actually the BETTER of two bad plans – the House bill recommended cutting the budget by a whopping $2.8 BILLION.  The biggest cuts appear to be in programs that support teachers, the children of immigrants and funding for guidance counselors.

By contrast, the Senate is looking for ways to increase the Pentagon budget by more than $38 billion OVER the legally mandated $499 billion cap.  

The bad (well, even WORSE) news here is that due to the nature of Congress, the final bill will be a compromise between the two plans, so the BEST we can hope for will be the $1.7 billion cut, but the reality is that the cuts will probably be even deeper.

If this country is going to continue to be a world leader, we need to INCREASE the quality of our education system and support the schools, teachers and counselors who are building our future by teaching our children today.

Everyone comes from somewhere.  It’s our duty to make it the best “somewhere” it can be.

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With undergraduate college degrees costing between $60,000 and $240,000 today, I wonder how long brick and mortar institutions will be the norm.  Seriously, how long can the average family afford to give all of their children college educations AND plan for their retirements? That’s why colleges are scrambling to find alternative ways to offer higher education.

It seems that if we take the top professors, the ones who are incredible experts in their respective fields who also happen to be entertaining lecturers who inspire their students, and then record and broadcast their entire classes, we can offer the most dynamic educational experience to unlimited students. These professors could be compensated handsomely for preparing mind-blowing lectures that will be captured on film. This concept is called MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses. A Harvard and MIT research team studied MOOCs in 68-certificate-granting courses with over a million participants.

Interestingly, about 40% of the MOOC students were actually teachers.  No surprise here; teachers love to learn. More and more people are interested in seeking this type of certification.  But when MOOCs are free, students don’t take the courses seriously and often don’t complete the courses or do the reading and homework. A friend of mine who writes curricula for Stanford’s MOOCs suggested that students who pay for classes and receive letter grades are more inclined to do the work and get more out of their classes. 

If MOOCs that lead to degrees become the norm in the future, it will create a massive restructuring of the college experience. Rather than parents being wowed by the landscaping or architecture during college tours and visits, instead, they will be wowed by opportunities to learn from world-famous professors. It’s like sharing the wealth and talent of our best faculty with everyone. The possibilities are endless and student learning will be comprehensive.

Students of the future might have options to take MOOCs at a number of different schools at the same time. Imagine if they could pick fascinating courses taught by cutting-edge professors, with no physical limits to attendance (like the number of seats in the lecture hall). No more would students need to accept boring professors or TAs teaching their classes – these classes would be lightly attended and would probably not survive, kind of like professorial natural selection. This could really revolutionize higher education!

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Life gets busy but it’s important to make room for FAMILY REUNIONS.  It goes without saying, your elders won’t be around forever and when they go, they’ll take your family history with them. Sure you might have to deal with those annoying relatives — we all have them — but your kids will benefit from seeing where they fit into your family tree.

My family didn’t have family reunions on either my mom’s or dad’s sides — odd, huh? So 6 years ago I hosted the first family reunion for my mother’s side. We videotaped everyone’s oral histories to capture their stories, and we even taped group discussions about our ancestors that went back several generations. 

I loved hearing 3 versions of how my grandfather came over from Japan, and how the anti-immigration laws kept my grandmother waiting for 7 years to join him. Hearing how they lived before WWII, and then how the family lost their business and all possessions while incarcerated in an internment camp was fascinating. 

My girls appreciated hearing first hand the hardships that their family endured, and how the family prospered again through hard work and determination. I co-hosted the 2nd reunion in 2013 in Pasadena at my uncle and aunt’s house, and we’re hosting the 3rd reunion this August.

This summer I’m also hosting the first family reunion for my father’s side right here in Santa Cruz. We’ll be capturing these family stories, building a family tree, entering data in Family Tree Maker, and playing lots of games to teach us about our ancestors.  I’m looking forward to bonding with cousins that I rarely see and most importantly, I want my girls to really know their relatives and be proud of their ancestors.

So if you have the opportunity to attend a reunion this summer, carve some time out of your busy schedules to check it out.  Your kids will thank you some day. 

Okay, I know nobody wants to talk about who will make their end-of-life decisions. I avoided this topic for decades. Even when I went to write my own ADVANCE DIRECTIVE, I found all kinds of excuses for why I couldn’t fill in the blanks and state when it would be time to pull the plug on me. I even wrote a comprehensive will designating exactly who gets what so there would be no disputes after I die.  But having to clearly lay out precisely at what point I don’t want any life support was gut-wrenching to me.

While my daughter Nicole was in medical school at Stanford, she wrote a song and created a musical video, “Ode to Advance Directive,” that clearly stated why everyone should complete an Advance Directive. It wasn’t until I heard her perform the song before her Class of 2008 that I realized that I was being selfish by not writing and signing my advance directive.  If I was to become incapacitated — you know, brain dead — without an advance directive, my husband Rob and my daughters would have to make the decision. 

Undoubtedly, this would be very difficult and no matter what they decide collectively or separately, they would suffer anxiety from having to make this call.  That’s when I finally got up the courage to read through the advance directive forms and fill in the blanks. I had it notarized at my credit union and placed it in my safe deposit box.  Now I know that if the time comes for them to make my end-of-life decision, they’ll be able to do it because they’ll know exactly what my wishes are for that situation. The last thing I want to do is create strife between my family. So, write yours!  Here is a link to the forms.  Just do it!

Please watch this music video and pass it along to your family and loved ones. It’s the best parting gift you can give them.

We’ve got pesticide and GMO problems that are causing massive agricultural issues and health degradation for humans AND bees.

Using something as simple as mushrooms (no, not magic mushrooms), Paul Stamets (a real fun guy, get it?) has patented a SMART pesticide to destroy over 200,000 species of insects without harming plants or humans.

Unfortunately, pesticide giants like Monsanto don’t want us to learn about this new-found solution.

Watch his TED Talk below:

Now can you imagine mushrooms solving our pesticide and GMO problems?

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