I think we all want to thank our teachers for putting our children first. This year during the shelter-in-place orders, teachers nationwide are conducting their classes from their homes while often caring for their parents and homeschooling their own children. As they shelter in place, suddenly they had to learn how to set up online classes and troubleshoot their students’ connectivity issues. Many teachers are reaching out to their students with drive-by materials drop offs and encouraging words.
Our teachers have one of the most important positions in our children’s lives. Not only do they teach academic subjects, but they also teach compassion and other life skills. They are role models to many students and often they become confidantes to at-risks kids.
Thank you to all of the teachers! Thank you for preparing our children for the future. We love you and we need you!
I think we all want to thank our teachers for putting our children first. This year during the shelter-in-place orders, teachers nationwide are conducting their classes from their homes while often caring for their parents and homeschooling their own children. As they shelter in place, suddenly they had to learn how to set up online classes and troubleshoot their students’ connectivity issues. Many teachers are reaching out to their students with drive-by materials drop offs and encouraging words.
Our teachers have one of the most important positions in our children’s lives. Not only do they teach academic subjects, but they also teach compassion and other life skills. They are role models to many students and often they become confidantes to at-risks kids.
Thank you to all of the teachers! Thank you for preparing our children for the future. We love you and we need you!
Thank a nurse today — and every day. They chose this profession to care for all of us and it is a thankless job. Did you know that…
- 8 out of 10 nurses say they and their coworkers don’t have enough PPE.
- 8 out of 10 nurses say their hospitals do not have sufficient staffing.
- Nearly 9 out of every 10 nurses say staff can’t request and receive COVID-19 testing quickly.
- 8 out of 10 nurses say their hospitals do not have enough ventilators.
- 9 out of 10 nurses say the federal government is not doing enough to ensure there is sufficient PPE and other protections.
Tell congress to support the Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act, which will force this administration to increase production of vital supplies like masks, ventilators, and gloves. Now that’s supporting our nurses!
We are just beginning to see the impact of the coronavirus on our education system in the US. In California, we expect to lose about $1,400-$2,000 per student. That’s 15% reduction from the $13,000 per student the state now receives. This will likely translate to larger class sizes, layoffs and furloughs, and pay cuts when we resume classes. We’ll need much more than emergency funds and stimulus packages to save our schools, we’ll need the federal government to step in.
As a college advisor and director at Merit Educational Consultants, I’ve advised my students and their families to supplement their current education to ensure that they continue to learn and that they’ll be prepared for classes whenever they resume. I’ve taken a lot of heat for my stance because not all students can do this. Disadvantaged communities are always hit the hardest and my heart goes out to all of them. That said, here’s what I am recommending.
1. Reading:
This may be the only time when kids are bored of watching Netflix! Order books or ebooks and set up reading time each day. This will build reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Discuss the books with your children and watch movies based on the books. With at least 16 weeks before school starts up again, they can read dozens of books. Introduce classics to build the reading literacy.
2. Writing:
Writing critical analyses about the books they read will give them a huge advantage when they return to their classes. This requires them to think about the story lines and practice writing. Most classes aren’t requiring students to write essays at this time so having them write every day will improve their writing skills. They can also write letters to grandparents and family that they miss. Bringing back letter writing can be a good thing.
3. Math:
Continue to do math exercises in their textbooks or online programs. Math, like writing, requires practice and mileage. If they stop doing math, their brains will atrophy and they’ll fall behind when school starts up again. Give them math computer games that reinforce basic math skills. Move ahead in math textbooks and explore online programs like Khan Academy to get lessons and practice problems.
4. Science:
Review and cover concepts taught since the start of the school year. This will reinforce weak areas and introduce new lessons. Check online for labs and Youtube videos to enhance classes and to ensure that they are ready to move on to the next level in the fall.
5. Modern Languages:
Introduce radio, TV, and movies (with subtitles) in the modern language that your child is studying in school or any language of interest. This helps them stay tuned in with the language and it will build vocabulary and improve their accents. They can do online classes and play video games.
6. Projects:
Choose something that fascinates them and build a project around that. They can do something to help others during this pandemic. They can also write a book, start a club, create an app, design a gadget, build furniture, and do just about anything they’re interested in. Working with family and friends in Hangouts or Zoom, they can get guidance and support to keep them going. For project ideas, check out ProjectMerit.
Many classes will not complete all of the lessons listed on the syllabi, so block off time for your kids to do them on their own. Read those chapters or go online and get supplementary Youtube videos, Khan Academy lessons, or worksheets. By having a routine to do these supplementary activities, we may stave off stress and uncertainty. Kids love routines and they will be more prepared for school if they can spend a little time doing academics at home while sheltering in place.
While we may feel like we were side swiped by the coronavirus and the disarray that the shelter-in-place order has caused us economically and socially, we should have known better. The signs were all there. Looking at the big picture, we have grown so big, so quickly, that we lost sight of what’s important.
Since the colonial times, America has been the pillar of innovation and entrepreneurship because it was founded by true pioneers. Our ancestors came to the United States to improve their lives; when they first arrived, they all faced discrimination, poverty, and uncertainty. It was those brave souls who came from the Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America who formed this incredible nation.
These wise and brave people built homes, started businesses, grew vegetables, and raised livestock. It’s their ingenuity that improved and increased production to make our lives better. The Industrial Revolution brought the cotton gin and the printing press. America was the leader in producing the biggest and the best, and we became a superpower. BUT, that was the beginning of the end.
Although we are grateful for the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane, and the refrigerator, we lost sight of the value of the well being of individual people. Businesses grew into large corporations with shareholders who demanded bigger profits with little regard for how their products might harm consumers or the earth. Just over the past 100 years, corporations have exploited marketplaces by choosing profits over the safety of the very people they sold their good to. Here is just the tip of the iceberg:
1. PLASTICS
Made from petroleum, plastic is in or used to package just about everything we buy. We produce so much plastic waste that landfills are closing and oceans are drowning in single-use plastics.
2. MEATS and DAIRY
Our livestock are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to bump up sales and minimize labor. We now face antibiotic resistance, which will cause a horrifying pandemic when people die from illnesses that used to be cured by antibiotics.
3. VEGETABLES and FRUIT
Corporate farmers use pesticides that have known carcinogens. Companies like Bayer-Monsanto face major lawsuits against them for their Roundup weed killer that has caused cancer in thousands of people. They also grow GMO plants to produce larger vegetables by altering the genetic makeup of the plants.
4. ENERGY
We have viable energy solutions (solar, hydrogen, wind, geothermal, etc) ready to go but oil and gas companies control the auto and energy industries. They want to use up all of the oil (pumping for gasoline) and gas (fracking for methane) to make billions of dollars instead of using clean energy like solar, hydrogen, and others. They are the major contributors to the Climate Crisis.
We have become complacent over the past 70 years. Life was good but we weren’t watching the captain steer the ship. We got lazy, we got fat, we got self absorbed. Maybe the coronavirus and the climate crisis coming to a head at the same time is exactly what we need to become the pioneers our forefathers once were.
Those of us who are strong, innovative, and entrepreneurs will once again overcome these obstacles and reinvent the way we live. Our students and college graduates have an opportunity to force change and unite together. I hope that they will find solutions that respect human rights and the earth. It’s time to help our neighbors, produce healthy foods, use less energy, and heal our bodies.
Just returned from Valley Medical Center after delivering our last batch of 3-layered cloth masks, plastic face shields, and bottles of wine. We set up our table at the end of their shifts to ensure that we would give the gift bags to all of the ER staff. Today’s shift ended at 7:00 am, so we were there at the crack of dawn!
With so little known about the coronavirus and what to expect with the shelter-in-place order, our doctors, nurses, techs and other frontline workers are stressed out. I loved watching their faces as they left the ER and walked over to get their gifts. Their smiles were all I needed to see as I sat in the RV watching from afar.
Thanks to Michele Roush for sewing masks, to my IT (who would like to remain anonymous) for making 3D face shields, and his girlfriend (also anonymous) for organizing the wine donations and discounts. Love how family and friends have stepped up to help, too. My sister Christine Grennier and my mother donated 500 surgical masks, and my aunt and uncle are planning to deliver a fancy meal and dessert to the ER staff.
Now we’re hoping to have enough supplies to do the same at Central Fire and AMR. These frontline healthcare workers help all people under stressful conditions. Want to help sew masks, print 3D shields, or donate funds? Come join us!
High school seniors have been robbed their senior top-dog activities like formals and proms, and most won’t be able to walk at their high school graduation with their classmates in May or June. What’s worse is that college-bound students don’t know if their colleges will have classes on campus this fall. Current seniors/soon-to-be college freshmen, may also be robbed their “freshman experience” if they are taking online classes from the bedrooms at home. With the May 1st deadline quickly approaching, seniors need to make final decisions about which college they plan to attend this fall.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken the nation by surprise and colleges are scrambling to announce how they will offer the fall term. Most colleges transformed onsite classes to some version of online classes when they sent students home for spring term. And, they’re getting heat from students and parents about housing and meal refunds. Colleges are struggling with financial obligations (paying professors and staff) while balancing difficult decisions about sheltering in place (at home) and exacerbating a pandemic that is nowhere near running its course.
Here are the 10 possible scenarios colleges may offer this fall.
#1. Classes back on campus
… See you on campus! Everything back to normal.
#2. Late start in October or November
… After there are vaccines or better testing, students start classes later.
#3. Skip fall term and start up in spring
… Then, move spring term to summer.
#4. Freshmen only
… Sophomores, juniors, and seniors would take online classes at home, while freshmen would be on campus following social distancing guidelines so they have their freshmen experiences.
#5. Graduate Students only
… Just grad students would be on campus to continue their research while undergrads take online classes only.
#6. Targeted Courses
… Students take some on-campus classes that require that face-to-face interface while other classes are offered online. Housing may be an issue for dorms and dining halls.
#7. Block Courses
… Students take one course at a time for 3-4 weeks and complete the same number of courses over the term. This gives flexibility should students be ordered to move back home while giving them full credit for courses completed on campus.
#8. Low-Residency Model
… Students take online courses from home, but participate in on-campus face-to-face classes with a small portion of the class and the professor for short periods of time. This allows for making friends and improving on-line discussions with people they met on campus.
#9. HyFlex Model
… Classes are offered both online and on campus. Students choose which works best for them. Professors and TAs teach on campus and online classes.
#10. Online Courses only
… All classes are taken online from home, similar to the structure used this spring term.
Colleges will announce their decisions about how fall term will be conducted. For many freshmen, this decision may determine which colleges they start this fall. This will be interesting to see how each college develops their plans to retain their reputations while offering what students need.
For Arbor Day – and to support Aidan’s Seeds of Hope project – I am planting 3 Lamb Haas avocado trees today! Since 1872, people have been planting trees on this day to celebrate the vital role trees play in our well being for both human and climate prosperity.
My student Aidan has planted over 600 trees since October 2019. He was working with schools (before the coronavirus struck) and continues to plant trees on his own. Why? Check out his website to learn more. I love joining my students – they have refreshing ideas and they have ethics and drive.
I just learned that the avocado seeds that I placed in glasses of water with toothpicks to hold them up, the kind you get from the grocery store, usually don’t produce avocados… This was disappointing to learn considering I planted 3 trees from seeds about 6 years ago. No wonder they aren’t producing fruit. Then I learned that they need to cross pollinate between type A and type B varieties. So we got avocado trees that have been grafted with both type A and type B branches. See what you can learn when you’re spending more time at home?
You can even plant from seeds to save money! I’m hoping for bushels full of my favorite Haas avocados in a few years. So plant a tree this weekend!
History repeats itself. Plagues have wiped out millions of people every 100 years for 4 centuries. That’s why we trust facts and statistics. When we aren’t testing our 350 million US citizens, yet the government is talking about lifting the shelter-in-place orders based on economics and not the status of COVID-19, I am outraged and disillusioned.
My daughter Nicole (ER doc) just texted this to me:
“If the first wave of the Spanish Flu killed 3-5 million but the second wave killed 20-50 million, how are we going to handle the second wave?”
I told her that she shouldn’t be a hero when protestors are heading back to work, taking mass transportation, and ignoring the shelter-in-place orders. My friends and I have made 300 3-layered cloth masks with MERV-14 filters and 300 face shields to give every frontline worker in the Emergency Dept at her hospital the personal protection they can use when the second wave hits the Bay Area.
It sickens me to know that come fall 2020, my daughter and all of the healthcare workers in the United States and the world will face the second wave of this pandemic that will overwhelm them and probably kill 20-50 million people.
Why?
Because short-sighted people who run the government at the federal level and in many states don’t understand that by lifting the shelter-in-place order to get people back to work again BEFORE we’ve analyzed the spread of the virus and antibodies, we may experience an overwhelming resurgence of the coronavirus that will topple our economy and kill over 100 times more people in the process.
We need to listen to the medical professionals and stop listening to the politicians. Hunker down, simplify your life, and then come out to play and work when the coronavirus is contained and controlled.
The global response to the coronavirus pandemic has shown us that we can change our routines and behavior. One of my students organized “WHEN, NOT IF…” to ask if people could reduce driving vehicles by 10% per week to substantially reduce their CO2 output. He created a handy calculator that allows you to enter the amount of driving you do per week so you can see how much CO2 you are responsible for emitting each year. Now that we’re all sheltering in place, let’s enter our numbers to see how much CO2 has been reduced and what we can do in the future to lower our carbon emissions. That’s something we can all do now that we are driving less!
Roadways and freeways are open with considerably less traffic. The skies are clear and the air is fresh to breathe. Plants and wildlife have shown significant improvement in just a few months. The earth is breathing a sigh of relief. We can all make changes in our lifestyles to treat ourselves better, to treat the earth better, and to treat future generations better. We can do this!
Happy Earth Day!
We all know that we need 8 hours of sleep per night to be alert, to learn, and to be productive, but did you know that a REGULAR SLEEP-WAKE SCHEDULE can significantly prevent the chance of having a heart attack or heart disease?
That means that if you go to bed EVERY NIGHT and wake up EVERY MORNING at the same time (within a 90-minute window), you are actively improving your chance of preventing a heart attack. Your cardiovascular system relies on a strong circadian rhythm to maintain healthy functioning. When we fluctuate our sleep patterns – late nights on weekends and sleeping in on Saturdays and Sundays – we mess with our internal clocks, and this is linked to hypertension and diabetes.
With high school and college students staying up late to study a few nights per week and partying late at night on weekends, then going to bed early on Sunday nights before the school week starts, many students develop erratic sleep patterns. If this routine becomes a habit, our youth may be at a higher risk of heart issues.
So set a specific time to go to bed and to wake up each day that works best for your school, work, and family schedules. Then stick to it EVERY DAY. Create a bedtime routine so your body and mind start shutting down. I find tidying up the kitchen, brushing my teeth, taking a spa or bath, and then reading puts me to sleep in minutes. My morning routine starts with reading my emails at the same time every morning, which wakes me up and keeps me from falling back asleep.
Let’s organize our sleep-wake schedules, and then get our families on board next. It’s good for our kids’ mental and physical health, and it’s a gift that can save their lives!