Wow, time flies! Can’t believe it’s already May! That means it’s time to start thinking about summer school!
With summer just around the corner, you might want to organize some summer activities that will engage your child. The summer is the perfect time to build academic skills (you don’t need to compete with homework, after-school sports, clubs, etc). Merit’s Summer Enrichment Program offers one-on-one programs to improve reading comprehension, writing essays, math, and some new fun and interesting electives! Merit also offers SAT/ACT preparation for college-bound students.
Learn more about specific classes and the many ways we can make your child’s summer the turning point in their academic careers!
Wow, time flies! Can’t believe it’s already May! That means it’s time to start thinking about summer school!
With summer just around the corner, you might want to organize some summer activities that will engage your child. The summer is the perfect time to build academic skills (you don’t need to compete with homework, after-school sports, clubs, etc). Merit’s Summer Enrichment Program offers one-on-one programs to improve reading comprehension, writing essays, math, and some new fun and interesting electives! Merit also offers SAT/ACT preparation for college-bound students.
Learn more about specific classes and the many ways we can make your child’s summer the turning point in their academic careers!
After all of our bees took their honey and evacuated the beautiful beehives that we built for them last spring, we were dumbfounded.
It kind of felt like we were abandoned by head-strong teens and made reference to the “ungrateful bees” for not appreciating all of the hard work we put into building their hives, maintaining their food and water, and just taking care of them! But after 8 months, we cleaned the old hives, built new ones, and installed 10,000 bees last week.
By “we,” I mean Rob and John put on their bee suits and transferred the bees from the travel box to our hives.
Meanwhile, Julie and I built the steps down to the hives and watched at a safe distance.
This time around, we were all more comfortable with the bees.
Back in 1998, Nicole led a team of 8th graders to build a Hydrogen Fuel Cell at Merit Academy.
They were invited to present their 15-cell stack in Washington D.C. before Congress, but they didn’t make it past the security point at the Hart Senate Building because the guards thought the kids’ hydrogen fuel cell was a bomb!
The irony here is that the Dept of Energy financed the entire venture including contracting engineers as subcontractors to help the students build the fuel cell and providing transportation/lodging for the team to travel to Humboldt University and to Washington DC.
The photo above is of Nicole meeting with the bomb squad to demonstrate how a fuel cell works and to show them that it wasn’t a bomb.
The good news: Nicole presented the fuel cell to Congress with her classmates and received a warm welcome and lots of interest!
When I was a teen, I wish someone would have told me to invest the money I made (a whopping $2.10 per hour) from working at a movie theater in high school. Instead, my big earnings paid for bagels, coffee, and gas for my car (gas cost another whopping $0.35 per gallon). Even though it didn’t seem like I made enough money to invest, I wish I had. Let’s look at the same situation today.
For teens who are working or plan to get a summer job, they can take their earnings and put it in a Roth IRA. Let’s say that a 14-year old earns $2,000 by the end of the summer and they put it into a Roth IRA. In 50 years (assuming they don’t touch it), their $2,000 can grow to about $65,000! Not bad for a summer job, AND all of that money is tax-free.
Teens can invest up to $5,500 per year in a Roth IRA. Considering shrinking pensions and retirement programs, teens and young adults can set up their own retirement program while they’re still living at home. Most teens who live at home really don’t NEED the money they earn. Besides, they’ll probably just spend it on frivolous things anyway.
Rather than talking to your kids about this, take them to your bank, broker or credit union and let the experts show them how to open an account and explain the benefits. This may be one of the most important financial tips you give your kids.
My aquaponics system has worked effortlessly for 2 years. Other than cleaning out the tanks twice per year, it’s maintenance free!
I built a system with 4 large media beds on top and 2 large fish tanks and 1 filter tank below. Last year we produced all of the basil we needed to make weekly pesto sauce and kale for our morning smoothies.
This year, we’re growing all of our lettuces, spinach, kale and basil. It’s a great system but ours does take up quite a bit of space in our greenhouse.
For those DIYers who want to build a small system that you can keep in your house or garage, I recommend checking out this blog: blog.shanghaiaquaponics.com to see a variety of simple designs and plans.
In my opinion, if you have an opinion about something and you want to make it public, then sign your name and stand behind it. PERIOD.
It’s no surprise to me that cyber bullying and hate crimes are popping up on social media apps like Ogle. When cowards have a platform to spread hatred anonymously, trust me, they’ll come out of the woodwork and tarnish people’s reputations. That is exactly what happened at a local high school and seems to be happening across the country.
What is Ogle?
It’s a social media app that high school and college students use anonymously. While the creators of Ogle claim that it is a social place for positive group discussions, they haven’t set up clear rules and policies for unacceptable content. They also suggest that users be 17 or older. Hmm. Most high school students are between the ages of 14 and 18.
Talk to your high school or college kids to see if they use Ogle and how it is received on their campuses. I’m curious to see how this app will vet out. Please share with me your experiences with Ogle.
What’s the fuss about? Logan Conover, the founder of WHEN, NOT IF…, sums it up with his description about the Positive Feedback Loop. If this doesn’t scare the bejeezus out of you, I don’t think you’re listening. Leave it to a 17-year-old student to lay out the facts. Remember, DON’T DRIVE YOUR CAR TOMORROW – SATURDAY, APRIL 23RD! Go to www.WhenNotIf.org to report your stats so Logan can calculate how much CO2 we prevented from entering the atmosphere!
Positive Feedback Loop:
Rising CO2 levels will cause worldwide devastation similar to that of the end of the last Ice Age. To sustain human life on Earth, the ideal level of CO2 is 350 ppm. Scientists hypothesize that at 400 ppm the Earth will begin to spiral into becoming an uninhabitable planet for humans. Here is how:
Due to increased CO2 in the atmosphere, ice (white, which reflects sunlight) will melt, creating a larger ocean surface area (dark blue, which absorbs sunlight). The ocean absorbs more heat than ice does, making the ocean warmer and melting glaciers faster. This would “ultimately warm [the] global climate” because the ice on Earth stabilizes the world’s temperature, and without it the Earth’s surface would become warmer (1). This would continue in an exponentially accelerating loop until the Earth stabilized at an unknown average surface temperature too hot for humans to survive.
In March 2016 the CO2 levels reached 404.83 ppm; in October 2015 when I started research it was at 398.29 ppm. These numbers show that the amount of CO2 being produced is not decreasing, which is scary because scientists have predicted that reaching 400 ppm would be the beginning of the end of the world. Here are a few ways that climate change will affect earth.
You’re probably wondering why I’ve dedicated a whole week to Logan Conover’s WHEN, NOT IF… campaign. He’s a passionate young 17-year-old student who hopes to get the world on board to reduce our CO2 emissions. With over a billion internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles on the road today, something has to give… So if you drive a gas guzzler, consider good alternatives.
Electric motors are far superior to internal combustion engines on several levels:
- Electric motors don’t have any emissions; ICE are the cause of 20% of our CO2 problems
- Electric motors don’t have moving parts: fewer repairs and maintenance!
- Electric motors can be powered by batteries or hydrogen
- Batteries have to be charged by power plants that use fossil fuels… (terrible)
- Batteries have toxic chemicals that cause problems at the end of life (terrible)
- Solar hydrogen is produced through electrolysis using sustainable sun power (great)
- Black hydrogen is produced using steam methane reformation (Oil companies) (terrible)
It’s time to rethink what kind of vehicles we drive and make smart choices. Check out www.Kids4Hydrogen.org to learn more about how clean hydrogen will help to reduce CO2. You can also take mass transit, ride your bike, walk, or carpool.
Remember, it’s just 2 days until WHEN, NOT IF’s… big day! Don’t drive your car on Saturday, April 23rd! Then, go to Logan’s website at www.WhenNotIf.org to log in your stats. He’ll show how a grassroots effort started by a teen, can make a difference. Join him in helping to ward off Climate Change!
Don’t drive your gas-guzzling cars this Saturday, April 23rd!
Last weekend, Logan Conover debuted his WHEN, NOT IF… project at the Santa Cruz Earth Day festival. He met with hundreds of people to encourage them to join him in not driving their cars on Saturday, April 23rd. While some might think that Santa Cruz is filled with tree huggers and liberals, Logan was surprised to meet people who didn’t understand that driving cars causes a substantial impact on CO2 in our atmosphere. Then, there were others who have actually sold their cars and bike everywhere. The Santa Cruz Sentinel featured Logan’s project on the front page of the Sunday paper.
Logan recruited Nathan Decena, of Willow Glen High School, and Angelique Su, of Merit Academy to join him at the Earth Day event. Nathan brought a life-size Darth Vadar to attract the attention of the hundreds of children – and it worked! Kids came to the WHEN, NOT IF booth to see Darth Vadar, and their parents followed along and engaged in conversation with Logan. Visitors added their names and email addresses to Logan’s mailing list so he could remind them of future non-driving days and get their friends to join the movement.
Make plans to clear your day of all driving responsibilities on Saturday, April 23rd. Take a break from the hustle bustle of everyday life. Dust off your bikes and put air in the tires. Take the family on a bike trip or walk to your favorite beaches. Too far to walk? Take public transportation!
Then, go to www.WhenNotIf.org to enter your stats for Logan. He’ll tally this up and calculate how much CO2 we prevented from entering the atmosphere! Help Logan; help civilization as we know it. Thanks for doing your part!
So you’re a climate change believer but feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem. And what’s worse? You feel like driving your little Honda Civic, or NOT driving it, won’t impact climate change, right? WRONG! With one billion internal combustion engine (ICE) cars on the road worldwide, our transportation systems are responsible for about 20% of the CO2 problems we face. Yup! That means that if everyone stopped driving vehicles for ONE SINGLE DAY, we would be preventing 29 billion lbs. of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Just one gallon of gas produces 20 lbs. of CO2. So yes, YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
So here are 3 easy things you can do:
- Share this blog post with your family, friends, and co-workers.
- Clear your driving calendar for Saturday, April 23rd.
- Log on to WhenNotIf.org and click on the “Enter Your Data” page; enter your stats and you’re done!
Logan will post how many POUNDS of CO2 we collectively prevent from entering the atmosphere each month. So join Logan and When, Not If!
