It’s that time of year again—it’s back to school season, and about time to start off another school year! While a new outfit or set of school supplies can definitely help get you off to a good start, so can a fresh perspective. August is a great time for students to evaluate their performance from the previous year, explore new ways to overcome challenges, and come up with a plan to stay on track for…
Read More »in COVID-19, Health, Mental Health
Demand has surged for outdoor and wilderness programs, driven by parents desperate to get their kids off-screen and out of the house. Numerous New England wilderness schools report they could double or triple their already increased programming and still have waiting lists. “I think we’re entering the golden age of outdoor education,” says Sam Stegeman, executive director of the Vermont Wilderness School. “Because of COVID, one of the silver linings is we’re finally getting huge…
Read More »Most days, Jen Lamott would describe her daughter, Katie, as cheerful and kind. Lately, though, the 7-year-old has been acting moody and sometimes grunting instead of talking. “It’s like we have a teenager suddenly,” Lamott said. But while teenagers’ attitudes are usually chalked up to puberty, Lamott knows that something else is at play in her house: exhaustion. Katie has been having trouble falling asleep, expressing greater sleep anxiety and starting to take naps to…
Read More »in College
Student loan payoff can often be a financial nightmare. The system is loaded with confusing loan payoff and payment plan options, bad information, and pitfalls to avoid, and one wrong move can cost you thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, COVID-19 has added even more confusion with federal student loan payments being suspended temporarily, but even if your loans are on hold for now, you’ll likely need to start making payments eventually. If you know how to…
Read More »In a year full of challenges, figuring out how to implement outdoor learning may feel like a tall task for teachers. It’s too hot in Arizona. Too muggy in Mississippi. Too snowy in Maine. And in cities everywhere, “too dangerous.” Kass Minor has heard many of those objections in recent months. It’s a similar response that comes with “anything that’s outside people’s experience,” she said, but like her husband, Minor took her students outside regularly…
Read More »in High School
High school students face many of the same relationships dynamics as elementary and middle school students, yet relationships operate in distinct ways in these later adolescent years. The buffering effect friends provided in earlier childhood, for example, seems to disappear. “Not only did the presence of friends not reduce stress,” writes Lydia Denworth in the 2020 book Friendship: “It made things worse. Cortisol levels went up.” By the time students reach high school, relationships become more stable. “In middle…
Read More »As protests against racial injustice spread to communities large and small in this year, many educators have been pushed to examine how systemic racism harms students. Some have publicly proclaimed the steps they will take to create anti-racist schools, including diversifying classroom and library bookshelves. That task may be easier than ever, thanks to six years of advocacy by the We Need Diverse Books campaign. “There’s no excuse for the books in your classroom and…
Read More »Carole Clancy, who supervises special education for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania city schools had a serious problem: she couldn’t hold on to her teachers. The students in special ed classes were distracted and disruptive. “They had the reputation of being unmanageable and out of control,” she says. But that was before they started learning mindfulness in the classroom. When Wynne Kinder, lead instructor for the mindfulness program “Wellness Works in Schools,” walks into Kristina Suter’s special…
Read More »Some people were born to be leaders, and our lives are better for it. Where would we be without the brave women who step forward into the spotlight to help light the way? From historical heroes to present-day pioneers, kids should know these women’s names as well as their incredible stories. While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, here are 25 diverse, famous women in history to share with kids. 1. Anne Frank. Along…
Read More »No one can deny the concrete and long-lasting effect the Harry Potter series has had on the world of children’s literature. Last summer marked the 25th anniversary of the release of the famous books in the United States. The first book of the series was released in England in June 1997 under the title “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” and on Sept. 1, 1998, Scholastic published the first book in the U.S., renamed “Harry…
Read More »