Latest / Two Ts In A Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge / Back to School

Transcript

Back to School · Two Ts In A Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge

0:02
Speaker 1: This is t PO. Hi, guys, welcome to this week's
0:14
Speaker 1: Teddy Tea pod Um. Before we dig into today's topic,
0:19
Speaker 1: which is, you know, ways to ease the stress of
0:22
Speaker 1: remote learning for parents and what the effects will be
0:25
Speaker 1: for kids, UM going into the school year next year,
0:29
Speaker 1: whether it's remote or in person. I kind of just
0:32
Speaker 1: felt like I wanted to talk with my producers who
0:35
Speaker 1: are gonna, you know, help me through this a little bit.
0:37
Speaker 1: Danielle and Tori on what's kind of going on in
0:41
Speaker 1: in in my world. UM, I don't know. I posted
0:45
Speaker 1: on my social media and I felt really uneasy about
0:48
Speaker 1: doing it, but it actually was a blessing because there
0:51
Speaker 1: was so many moms that commented that they had gone
0:57
Speaker 1: through a similar situation that I'm going through with Dove. UM.
1:01
Speaker 1: The backstory is UM. At Dove's two month appointment, I
1:06
Speaker 1: took her in and the pediatrician said, it looks like
1:09
Speaker 1: she might have tort to callis UM, which my son had,
1:13
Speaker 1: which wasn't you know, super alarming to me. UM. And
1:17
Speaker 1: you know, she may end up being in needing to
1:19
Speaker 1: go into a dock band or you know, the helmet
1:22
Speaker 1: and or you know, she may need some physical therapy
1:25
Speaker 1: why don't you start in physical therapy now and then
1:27
Speaker 1: we'll see where she is at her next appointment. So
1:30
Speaker 1: we started on in physical therapy and then UM and
1:34
Speaker 1: her next appointment, her followupal appointment. The doctor was like, yeah,
1:38
Speaker 1: we're definitely leaning in the direction of needing the dock band, UM,
1:43
Speaker 1: but before you go to those specialists, I want you
1:46
Speaker 1: just to go to this neurosurgeon just so he can
1:48
Speaker 1: have a look UM. So immediately after UM, I went
1:56
Speaker 1: into the neurosurgeon. And you know, right now, you can't
1:58
Speaker 1: go into the hospitals with your significant another, so I
2:00
Speaker 1: was just by myself a dove, and I thought it
2:03
Speaker 1: was mainly just like a routine check. And immediately he
2:06
Speaker 1: was like, Teddy, we we have to take her and
2:09
Speaker 1: to get UM a CT scan. And they walked me over,
2:13
Speaker 1: and like, getting a CT scan for a baby is
2:17
Speaker 1: already like a thing because you have to like put
2:20
Speaker 1: their head in this little space and they're nervous, and
2:24
Speaker 1: my mind is like racing a mile a minute. And
2:26
Speaker 1: then I was like waiting for the results and I didn't.
2:30
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, I had like all this worry
2:32
Speaker 1: and panic. And then that night they called and said
2:36
Speaker 1: that she has something called lambdoid cranio synistosis and she's
2:43
Speaker 1: gonna need no surgery. Um, so you know that's booked
2:49
Speaker 1: for July, and it's like, um two days in the
2:54
Speaker 1: nick after the surgery, and then it's um, you know,
2:58
Speaker 1: for a four to five days in the in the hospital,
3:01
Speaker 1: and there's just so many unknowns and you know, I'm
3:06
Speaker 1: so sorry. Like when you texted us, my heart literally
3:10
Speaker 1: broke and I just I like how, And I just
3:16
Speaker 1: want to hear more about the process of like how
3:19
Speaker 1: you were by yourself with us, I know, you know,
3:21
Speaker 1: like obviously like I'm sure you're texting with Edwin, but
3:24
Speaker 1: like how how did you navigate that as a couple,
3:28
Speaker 1: like not you know, him not being able to be there.
3:30
Speaker 1: I'm sure he was so upset about that as well.
3:34
Speaker 1: Like my husband in general, he's such like a fixer,
3:38
Speaker 1: you know, like when something's wrong, he's immediately such a
3:41
Speaker 1: positive force. But like when I came home that day,
3:44
Speaker 1: like it didn't really hit him yet, like when I
3:46
Speaker 1: was explaining it to him, um, but he was just
3:49
Speaker 1: like super super positive, which was great, But also I
3:51
Speaker 1: was like, I need you to just let me like
3:54
Speaker 1: crumble for a second. And then it was the next
3:58
Speaker 1: day where he came in with me to the doctor
4:01
Speaker 1: because they brought us both back in to explain. They
4:04
Speaker 1: let us both come in to explain the surgery. Um
4:07
Speaker 1: that you know, I think it really hit home. And
4:11
Speaker 1: I mean we both you know, have our faith and
4:13
Speaker 1: we know that you know, it's gonna be okay, but
4:17
Speaker 1: we definitely it's a struggle right now. Um, you know,
4:20
Speaker 1: just the thought of her being in the and you know,
4:22
Speaker 1: they're saying her face is going to be really swollen
4:25
Speaker 1: after the surgery and she's not gonna know what happened,
4:28
Speaker 1: and so it's it's definitely one of those like trying times,
4:33
Speaker 1: you know where you're definitely just like one ft in
4:35
Speaker 1: front of the other. And then how do you explain
4:38
Speaker 1: this to your other three kids? Like how how was
4:41
Speaker 1: that conversation? Do they understand what's happening? I don't know. No,
4:46
Speaker 1: the biggest thing that they understand is Mommy's leaving, gonna
4:50
Speaker 1: be gone for you know, six days with death, and
4:54
Speaker 1: that's you know, something that's gonna be hard for them
4:57
Speaker 1: as well. And um, you know, in one way, it's
5:01
Speaker 1: great that Edwin will be home with them, but in
5:02
Speaker 1: another way, it's gonna be hard that he can't be
5:05
Speaker 1: in the hospital with me, you know. So it's it's
5:09
Speaker 1: just one of those things. And you know, all I
5:11
Speaker 1: wanna do is like make sure that I'm in the
5:13
Speaker 1: best possible mind space for her. By then you know,
5:18
Speaker 1: there's those highs and lows of anxiety and like feeling.
5:22
Speaker 1: You know, I just want to protect her and make
5:25
Speaker 1: sure that she's gonna feel safe and good. And so yeah,
5:29
Speaker 1: I definitely have a heavy heart. And then you know,
5:32
Speaker 1: waking up and seeing in the news today about Nya Rivera.
5:38
Speaker 1: You know, you guys that are listening to this episode,
5:40
Speaker 1: you're gonna be listening to a couple of days after
5:42
Speaker 1: we recorded it. So but it really just made me
5:46
Speaker 1: made my heart feel so heavy and so sad. Um,
5:49
Speaker 1: And I think that's so many of us right now
5:52
Speaker 1: just need hope and need like faith, And you know,
5:56
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of dark days, and you know,
5:59
Speaker 1: I hope that to day's episode we can dig into
6:03
Speaker 1: for ways for parents to cope and work through things,
6:06
Speaker 1: um and just put our faith into knowing that you know,
6:10
Speaker 1: we're going to be okay. Yeah, I feel like today
6:12
Speaker 1: is like the ultimate parents like and like guide to
6:19
Speaker 1: just getting through what's happening right now, especially with their kids.
6:22
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just so much happening with just personal
6:25
Speaker 1: things like stuff that you're experiencing, but also you know,
6:28
Speaker 1: how do you explain what's happening and what's going on
6:31
Speaker 1: in the world to your children? And you know, how
6:34
Speaker 1: do you make them understand in their their words? And
6:38
Speaker 1: how do you cope and get them through this? And
6:41
Speaker 1: there's just a lot of anxiety and uncertainty and sadness,
6:45
Speaker 1: and you know, we all need those tools to help
6:48
Speaker 1: get us through what's going on right now. No, I
6:50
Speaker 1: feel the same way, and I'm grateful to you guys
6:53
Speaker 1: for you know, helping me out. And we have some amazing,
6:55
Speaker 1: amazing guests today, um, and all different avenues of the
7:01
Speaker 1: you know, teaching and parenting and learning space. So UM,
7:06
Speaker 1: I'm excited to get get started on that. And you know,
7:10
Speaker 1: if I'm a little all over the place today, you
7:12
Speaker 1: guys give me a little grace because, um, you know,
7:16
Speaker 1: I'm doing the best that I can and I know
7:18
Speaker 1: that you guys are all doing the best that you can.
7:21
Speaker 1: And I thank everybody for tuning in you guys. I'm
7:25
Speaker 1: so excited to bring on our first guest, Una Hanson.
7:28
Speaker 1: She has been doing something super cool and fun and
7:31
Speaker 1: different with her kids, which I absolutely love. It's called
7:35
Speaker 1: the common Sense Camp. I'm gonna get her on, have
7:38
Speaker 1: her talked to us a little about it. It's so positive.
7:41
Speaker 1: It's something that we can do. It's something tangible we
7:44
Speaker 1: can do with our families, and I love it. Okay, guys,
7:56
Speaker 1: super excited. Una Hansen. Um, she has the common Sense Camp.
8:01
Speaker 1: Can you just give me a little background and information
8:04
Speaker 1: on this? I love it. You know, it's funny. Um.
8:07
Speaker 1: It actually started out as a joke. So for years,
8:11
Speaker 1: my husband and I have kind of marveled at some
8:14
Speaker 1: of the things our kids couldn't do on their own. Um.
8:18
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, they could read the whole Harry Potter
8:19
Speaker 1: series in first grade, but could they, you know, figure
8:22
Speaker 1: out how to water a plant or take out the trash. So,
8:25
Speaker 1: you know, we would joke that they needed common Sense Camp.
8:28
Speaker 1: So fast forward to this year where their sleepaway camps
8:31
Speaker 1: got canceled because of coronavirus, and the light bulb went on,
8:35
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, we need to actually have common Sense
8:38
Speaker 1: Camp this summer. You know, we have all this time
8:40
Speaker 1: together as a family because we have the luxury of
8:42
Speaker 1: being able to work from home, and uh, we thought,
8:46
Speaker 1: let's make a plan. And I I'm an educator, so
8:49
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, designing curriculum, and you know, I
8:51
Speaker 1: ordered camp T shirts and we went all in and
8:55
Speaker 1: uh so I wrote about it and then you know,
8:57
Speaker 1: I think everyone's so hungry for something like this, something positive,
9:01
Speaker 1: especially parents who are just have been in a horrible
9:04
Speaker 1: few months. Um so, yeah, I'm excited to share more
9:07
Speaker 1: about it. And for us that aren't aren't quite as
9:12
Speaker 1: creative and um, you know educated in this department, how
9:18
Speaker 1: would you recommend for us to get started on doing
9:21
Speaker 1: this type of thing with our family or even some
9:23
Speaker 1: of us that work from home but have less time
9:26
Speaker 1: to do something like this. Right, Yeah, this is not
9:29
Speaker 1: an all day camp. And you know, this is not
9:31
Speaker 1: something where you know you're putting your kid on a zoom.
9:34
Speaker 1: This is something you're doing with them hands on, ideally
9:37
Speaker 1: for at least part of the time. Um. So I
9:40
Speaker 1: actually wrote a parent guide kind of a how to
9:42
Speaker 1: how to get started. Um, but the most important thing
9:46
Speaker 1: is just to decide as a family that you're going
9:48
Speaker 1: to do this. Um And commit to it and pick
9:51
Speaker 1: the topics that are most important to your family and
9:54
Speaker 1: write them down and have a you know, have a plan.
9:57
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be super elaborate, but you know,
10:00
Speaker 1: picking Let's say, you know, we did Kitchen Confidence Week
10:03
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, and we decided, let's figure out
10:06
Speaker 1: what skills our kids need. And we started slow, and
10:09
Speaker 1: you know, by the end of the week, the kids
10:11
Speaker 1: are making fresh pasta from scratch. You know, my younger
10:14
Speaker 1: one had never even made pasta like from a box before.
10:17
Speaker 1: So so my daughter is seventeen and my son is twelve,
10:22
Speaker 1: so my kids are older. But you know, you can
10:24
Speaker 1: start this. I mean I have families doing this whose
10:27
Speaker 1: you know, kids are in preschool and you know, so
10:30
Speaker 1: in my parent guyed I have it kind of broken
10:32
Speaker 1: down into beginner, intermediate, and advanced, so you can kind
10:35
Speaker 1: of figure out where your kids are UM and start small.
10:38
Speaker 1: It could be as simple as you know, a toddler
10:41
Speaker 1: can help fold wash cloths, um and really feel part
10:44
Speaker 1: of contributing to the family. So it doesn't have to
10:47
Speaker 1: be you don't have to make fresh pasta. It's not
10:50
Speaker 1: one it's not one size fits all. I was like,
10:52
Speaker 1: I don't know how to make fresh well I need
10:54
Speaker 1: the common sense guy. Well that's the best part. You know,
10:58
Speaker 1: I have never made fresh pasta before either, And so
11:01
Speaker 1: that's the nice thing. You don't have to be an
11:02
Speaker 1: expert yourself and all of these things. Um, you can
11:06
Speaker 1: learn right alongside your kids. And that is huge for
11:10
Speaker 1: kids to kind of have you learning with them. You're
11:12
Speaker 1: not this sort of all knowing perfect being. Um. Yeah,
11:16
Speaker 1: they didn't know that before. They're learning that now because
11:18
Speaker 1: we're getting a lot or dive together. So you know,
11:20
Speaker 1: I think it's really um, it's really great to learn
11:23
Speaker 1: with them and say, you know, I don't know how
11:24
Speaker 1: to change a tire, let's google it, or let's ask
11:27
Speaker 1: so and so and they can you know, we can
11:29
Speaker 1: connect with them over zoom or maybe if we're outdoors,
11:31
Speaker 1: if it's safe, we could do it with masks and
11:34
Speaker 1: and learn hands on from a friend or a neighbor.
11:36
Speaker 1: So this is not all falling on the parents. Um,
11:39
Speaker 1: but if you're you know, if parents are working just
11:42
Speaker 1: crazy hours and you don't have time, this could even
11:45
Speaker 1: be you know, once a week on a weekend, you say, okay, kids,
11:49
Speaker 1: we're gonna learn. You know, one thing about how to
11:52
Speaker 1: do laundry. Let's learn how to separate lights from darks,
11:56
Speaker 1: or let's pick you know, let's learn how to fold
11:58
Speaker 1: a towel. Um In just those little steps along the
12:02
Speaker 1: way builds their sense of confidence and then down the road,
12:06
Speaker 1: that's one less thing as a parent that you have
12:08
Speaker 1: to do yourself, so your kids can start to take
12:11
Speaker 1: more and more responsibility. So a little bit of investment
12:14
Speaker 1: of time upfront as a parent could save you time,
12:17
Speaker 1: you know, down the road for sure. And what do
12:22
Speaker 1: you think the best way for parents to help their
12:27
Speaker 1: kids understand what's going on right now? You know that
12:30
Speaker 1: is a it's really tough, and it's very age dependent
12:33
Speaker 1: and developmental. You know, you have to be developmentally appropriate
12:37
Speaker 1: because you could have a very mature, you know, eight
12:40
Speaker 1: year old and you could have a very um, you know,
12:43
Speaker 1: young teenager, right, so you really have to kind of
12:46
Speaker 1: know your kid. Um. I think the most important thing
12:49
Speaker 1: is when they have questions to, you know, respond with
12:52
Speaker 1: your own question, well what do you think? What have
12:54
Speaker 1: you heard? Because sometimes as parents we jump to conclusions
12:58
Speaker 1: and we might launch into a lecture about something that
13:01
Speaker 1: had nothing to do with the child's question. So it's
13:04
Speaker 1: really good. This is true for things like the birds
13:06
Speaker 1: and the bees, or death or you know, any of
13:08
Speaker 1: these heavy topics. It's really important to pause and ask them, oh,
13:13
Speaker 1: I'm so glad to ask that. Tell me more, um,
13:17
Speaker 1: and get a sense of where they're coming from. There
13:19
Speaker 1: is a great list of books for young kids that
13:22
Speaker 1: talk about just general anxiety, but also the actual coronavirus um. Actually,
13:27
Speaker 1: The Today Show Online has a great collated list of
13:32
Speaker 1: you know, picture books and so for really little ones
13:35
Speaker 1: that it's a really great list of resources. I highly
13:38
Speaker 1: recommend to parents, so they should go on The Today's
13:41
Speaker 1: Show online and they have the list perfect sure, and
13:44
Speaker 1: I can send you that link if you want to
13:45
Speaker 1: put it in the You guys, if you're following me
13:49
Speaker 1: on Instagram, I'll make sure to do a swipe up
13:51
Speaker 1: when this episode airs. UM, because I definitely have noticed
13:56
Speaker 1: little things with my kids, like we I didn't even
13:59
Speaker 1: realize it, but I guess. We were in the car
14:00
Speaker 1: one day and one of the radio stations said something like,
14:04
Speaker 1: guys are opening up schools, and it was right as
14:07
Speaker 1: school was ending this year, and the rest of the
14:10
Speaker 1: day my daughter was kind of like in a llow
14:13
Speaker 1: and I was like, Hey, what's up, honey, and she
14:15
Speaker 1: was like, mom, I heard their opening up schools in
14:18
Speaker 1: my schools over for the year. And I was like,
14:21
Speaker 1: what do you mean you heard? And she's like, well,
14:23
Speaker 1: it was on the there was a commercial on the
14:25
Speaker 1: radio that that happened, and nobody told me at my
14:28
Speaker 1: school and I didn't even get to go in, and
14:30
Speaker 1: like she had taken herself down this own spire and
14:33
Speaker 1: I didn't even hear it on the radio, Like I
14:35
Speaker 1: was just mindlessly driving, like not even thinking about it.
14:37
Speaker 1: So kids are really picking up little clues, any little
14:41
Speaker 1: detail that they can, and especially with not having the
14:45
Speaker 1: peers to discuss this with, I've definitely found that, like
14:49
Speaker 1: they're not missing anything. I mean, even even toddlers that
14:54
Speaker 1: have been protected from news, they know it's something that's different. Right.
14:57
Speaker 1: Our schedules are different. Maybe Grammy Graham I used to
15:00
Speaker 1: come over for dinner on Thursdays. She can't come anymore.
15:03
Speaker 1: You know, there's that kind of background tension and anxiety
15:05
Speaker 1: that parents are feeling. So even really little kids know
15:09
Speaker 1: something is up. And I think the most important thing
15:11
Speaker 1: is that, you know, we let them know it's okay
15:13
Speaker 1: to express those worries. We don't have all the answers,
15:16
Speaker 1: we can't fix anything. But that's actually a great gift
15:19
Speaker 1: for kids to know that it's okay to be uncomfortable
15:23
Speaker 1: and things will will pass, right that old expression, this
15:27
Speaker 1: too shall pass, And they're building that sense of like
15:30
Speaker 1: I can be comfortable being uncomfortable, but it's also okay
15:33
Speaker 1: to you know, distract them a little. It's it's not
15:36
Speaker 1: healthy to have that kind of chronic stress for any
15:39
Speaker 1: of us. So it's really important that we find those
15:42
Speaker 1: little moments of joy distraction. Um, finding new routines. You know,
15:46
Speaker 1: if you you know our kids, routines have been so disrupted. Um.
15:50
Speaker 1: So you know, one thing we did in our family
15:52
Speaker 1: as we started doing a Sunday morning walk around a
15:55
Speaker 1: lake that has ducks and geese, and it became like
15:58
Speaker 1: this nice new ritual, like every Sunday, let's we'd call it,
16:01
Speaker 1: let's go check on the goose gang. And you know,
16:04
Speaker 1: my kids are older, but they still like there's still
16:06
Speaker 1: that little kid in there that wants sort of that
16:08
Speaker 1: that fun. It was a nice break, a change of scene.
16:12
Speaker 1: I've noticed that completely with my kids too. And and
16:16
Speaker 1: also just keeping something saying what we're going to do
16:19
Speaker 1: something and continuing to do it, yes, you know, like
16:22
Speaker 1: our morning walks or whatever it is. And then the
16:24
Speaker 1: only other thing that I'm kind of curious about, and
16:27
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know the answer to this
16:29
Speaker 1: as their house. But like my baby Dove, she was
16:33
Speaker 1: born right as this happened, and so she doesn't really
16:37
Speaker 1: know anyone but us, um and when we go to
16:40
Speaker 1: doctor's appointments, but when we go out, I have a
16:44
Speaker 1: mask on, So all of a sudden, she's almost fearful
16:49
Speaker 1: of of me or the doctor because she's you know,
16:52
Speaker 1: she's either in our home or we don't have masks on,
16:55
Speaker 1: or we're out and now all of a sudden, Mommy
16:56
Speaker 1: and this strange person is speaking. It's almost like strange
17:00
Speaker 1: your danger. So like how to work around something like
17:04
Speaker 1: that with with your baby? You know, like who they
17:07
Speaker 1: don't know any other life but this. But it's also
17:10
Speaker 1: you know, seeing your mommy with a mask on all
17:13
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's confusing to them. I think, even
17:15
Speaker 1: at this young of age. Or am I just looking
17:17
Speaker 1: into it? You know? I mean I think you're very
17:19
Speaker 1: attuned to your baby. You know that she's responding to something.
17:23
Speaker 1: That's different. UM. So you know, one one possibility is
17:28
Speaker 1: to you also sometimes wear the mask at home, you know,
17:32
Speaker 1: even if you're like feeding the baby, not the whole time,
17:35
Speaker 1: because they need you know, babies are learning so much
17:37
Speaker 1: when you're feeding them. You know, they're not only being nourished,
17:40
Speaker 1: you know, like nutritionally, but they're looking at your face there.
17:43
Speaker 1: You know, there's so much communication and learning that's going on. UM.
17:47
Speaker 1: But to normalize it a little bit um would be too.
17:50
Speaker 1: You know, occasionally put it on, like show them, show
17:54
Speaker 1: her putting it on. It's a little girl, right that
17:56
Speaker 1: I guess, okay, yeah, that's so, you know, you put
17:59
Speaker 1: it on, take it off. I means she's too young
18:00
Speaker 1: for peekaboo. But for older kids it could actually be
18:03
Speaker 1: a little bit of a you know, you could make
18:05
Speaker 1: it kind of fun and you know it could be
18:07
Speaker 1: worth getting a mask that is something very high contrast.
18:11
Speaker 1: So you know babies love black and white. You know,
18:14
Speaker 1: little ones love really sharp contrast. So you know they've
18:17
Speaker 1: smiling space or something, you know, a really intricate pattern.
18:21
Speaker 1: They're not really getting that, but something like even a
18:24
Speaker 1: stripe like what I'm wearing, you know, a bold stripe
18:27
Speaker 1: or something that you would see in like a newborns
18:29
Speaker 1: like mobile that you might put, you know, above a crib.
18:33
Speaker 1: That kind of pattern is very engaging to them. But
18:36
Speaker 1: again I would expose it to the baby in a calm,
18:40
Speaker 1: safe setting like at home, because obviously if you're going
18:42
Speaker 1: to the doctor's office, even before coronavirus, there's a little
18:45
Speaker 1: bit of maybe tension that happens, right, but now you're
18:48
Speaker 1: adding coronavirus into the mix, and so they're picking up
18:52
Speaker 1: on not just the mask, but probably like the whole
18:54
Speaker 1: energy of the experience. So yeah, but it's okay, Like
18:58
Speaker 1: it's She's going to be okay. I just I think
19:00
Speaker 1: that's like the biggest concern. I think parents are spinning out, catastrophizing,
19:04
Speaker 1: like what's going to happen to my kid, you know
19:06
Speaker 1: down the road. Um, it's just going to have some
19:09
Speaker 1: long term effect and we don't really know. But kids
19:12
Speaker 1: are really resilient and you know, what happens for a
19:16
Speaker 1: few minutes every other week at the doctor's office is
19:19
Speaker 1: nothing compared to that time that they're getting in your family,
19:22
Speaker 1: you know, with love and attention and kind of normalcy.
19:25
Speaker 1: So so she'll be okay. Thank you and thank you
19:29
Speaker 1: for so many great tools and tips. Where do people
19:31
Speaker 1: get your guide? So, because I know I want one,
19:34
Speaker 1: I'm told that our listeners do as well. Yeah, so
19:37
Speaker 1: I put it up on a little website. It's common
19:39
Speaker 1: Sense dot camp and it's a pdf booklet that you
19:43
Speaker 1: can download, um and you know, walks you through the steps.
19:48
Speaker 1: And then I know, because we're so alone and isolated,
19:51
Speaker 1: what I did is I also created a private Facebook
19:54
Speaker 1: group for people who are using the guide so that
19:56
Speaker 1: we can support each other because we're you know, we're
19:58
Speaker 1: also alone right now out Uh, So I'm creating what
20:02
Speaker 1: I hope is this bubble on the Internet where there's
20:05
Speaker 1: no judgment, no competition, no mom shaming, no dad shaming.
20:09
Speaker 1: We're all in this together. We're supporting each other. And
20:13
Speaker 1: you know, our our camp has a mottel, which is
20:15
Speaker 1: be observant, be useful, be kind, And my Facebook group
20:20
Speaker 1: has a model be kind. So that's sort of driving
20:23
Speaker 1: the culture of this private Facebook group. So I'm really excited.
20:27
Speaker 1: I know it's probably a utopian fantasy, but I'm really
20:30
Speaker 1: hoping we can make it a supportive community because we
20:33
Speaker 1: are all struggling with this. Well, I have to tell
20:36
Speaker 1: you that you lifted my spirits just even talking to
20:39
Speaker 1: you today, and I hope that you guys can feel
20:42
Speaker 1: via the podcast like how much that you actually shine.
20:46
Speaker 1: I'm looking at you right now, so I thank you
20:49
Speaker 1: so much for today and I appreciate you taking the
20:51
Speaker 1: time to talk with me. My pleasure, good luck. Thanks
20:56
Speaker 1: all right, guys, Now I'm gonna dig into the topic
20:59
Speaker 1: of edgection and remote learning and how we can best
21:02
Speaker 1: help our kids. I know, as a parent, this is
21:05
Speaker 1: one of those things that's just constantly on my mind,
21:08
Speaker 1: like how can I do my best but also give
21:10
Speaker 1: myself grace when I'm striking out a little bit. So
21:13
Speaker 1: for our first guest, I'm gonna bring on Sarah Fisher
21:16
Speaker 1: and then we have a couple of other experts are
21:27
Speaker 1: so I'm super excited to have on our guest Sarah Fisher.
21:31
Speaker 1: She is the co founder of two Moms Media, which
21:34
Speaker 1: is a full service marketing agency catering to brands that
21:37
Speaker 1: want to reach parents, which like I really need right
21:39
Speaker 1: now because um, we are we're essentially in summer break
21:44
Speaker 1: right now, but prior to that, being a full time
21:48
Speaker 1: working mom also trying to be a you know, teacher,
21:53
Speaker 1: I'm putting it in quotes because I am clearly not
21:56
Speaker 1: qualified and have so much respect for the kids teach
22:00
Speaker 1: years now. Um, but I I really ran into some
22:03
Speaker 1: things that I you know, I was expecting, but also
22:07
Speaker 1: I didn't know how it would take an effect on
22:09
Speaker 1: me or or the kids, um, because we're all just
22:12
Speaker 1: kind of thrown into it. But for example, Slate really
22:17
Speaker 1: like she she was thriving during the during Zoom school,
22:21
Speaker 1: like she was loving it, even though she was struggling
22:24
Speaker 1: with stuff going on with her finger, she still was
22:26
Speaker 1: happy to be a part of the class and the
22:28
Speaker 1: activities and love to learn. And then Cruz was completely
22:32
Speaker 1: the opposite. He was like, I am so not into
22:36
Speaker 1: the zoom calls. He would beg not to have to
22:39
Speaker 1: do them, and you know, Cruises five Slate seven. So
22:43
Speaker 1: I have a feeling it has to do with age.
22:44
Speaker 1: I don't know if it has to do with being
22:46
Speaker 1: a boy versus a girl. Also in different ways that
22:49
Speaker 1: they learned, but it's definitely something that even going into
22:54
Speaker 1: the summer, I've been trying to like figure out ways
22:56
Speaker 1: for them to do zoom camps and things like that,
22:59
Speaker 1: and they're like not having it. So I'm I'm excited
23:03
Speaker 1: to pick stairs Bryan. I'm sure you guys want to
23:05
Speaker 1: hear as well. Hi, thanks for joining us. We were
23:09
Speaker 1: just talking about some of the struggles we're all going
23:13
Speaker 1: into with all the unknowns and finishing off and now
23:16
Speaker 1: being on summer break, and how we can help kids
23:20
Speaker 1: with like the COVID slide and all those types of things. So, like,
23:24
Speaker 1: the biggest thing for me that I was wanting to
23:26
Speaker 1: ask you about is how to really cope with your
23:31
Speaker 1: kids when it comes to this remote learning. And there
23:35
Speaker 1: are frustration levels when it comes to doing it, because
23:38
Speaker 1: my daughter is loving, like loved it, and my son
23:41
Speaker 1: was like, uh no, so hard. Isn't it such a struggle.
23:48
Speaker 1: It's such a different way of life than we're used to.
23:50
Speaker 1: It's almost like a tornado or Finati came into our
23:53
Speaker 1: house like wipes everything clean, and now we've got to
23:55
Speaker 1: totally start over and totally reset how we live our
23:59
Speaker 1: daily lives. Like we're all used to going going out,
24:01
Speaker 1: our kids going to school. So I think it's really
24:04
Speaker 1: important that we be mindful of what our kids can handle.
24:10
Speaker 1: So childhood development experts say that kids can really only
24:14
Speaker 1: pay attention for two to three minutes per year of
24:17
Speaker 1: their age. So for a four year old, it's really
24:19
Speaker 1: about twelve minutes. We can't expect our young kids to
24:23
Speaker 1: be sitting for an hour in front of a screen
24:25
Speaker 1: learning their school work. We really need to break it
24:28
Speaker 1: down for them, start and stop, take breaks based on
24:31
Speaker 1: their age. This is really big news for me, right
24:34
Speaker 1: even for older kids. In a ten yere I've got
24:36
Speaker 1: a ten year old, he really can only sit there
24:37
Speaker 1: for thirty minutes before he's going to start to lose it.
24:40
Speaker 1: So I think we have to set the right expectations
24:43
Speaker 1: for what we can expect out of our kids based
24:44
Speaker 1: on their age and their capacity to learn. So what
24:48
Speaker 1: do you think the best thing to be doing during
24:50
Speaker 1: summer right now with our kids to make sure that
24:53
Speaker 1: they're going to be prepared for whatever is coming in
24:55
Speaker 1: the fall, whether it's school or remote learning. Well, there's
24:59
Speaker 1: so many rate apps online right I go to common
25:02
Speaker 1: Sense Media a lot and I look up some of
25:04
Speaker 1: their educational apps. They have wide Open Schools, which is
25:08
Speaker 1: a whole platform that you can go and they have
25:10
Speaker 1: all these free learning um E learning activities that are
25:14
Speaker 1: totally approved by Common Sense Media. If you don't know them,
25:16
Speaker 1: they rate movies and TV shows and apps based on
25:20
Speaker 1: violence and sex and other bad things in it. So
25:23
Speaker 1: it's a very trustworthy source to find a lot of
25:26
Speaker 1: the learning activities. And this Wide Open Schools as a
25:28
Speaker 1: program they created just for summer learning to kind of
25:31
Speaker 1: catch your kids up right. Um. There's also Mathmatium. I
25:34
Speaker 1: think you know about that, but they have a lot
25:36
Speaker 1: of assessment tools to kind of find out where your
25:38
Speaker 1: kid is at benchmark, then when they go back to
25:39
Speaker 1: school in the fall, to figure out where they are
25:41
Speaker 1: with masks. You know. Also for us, I have to
25:43
Speaker 1: say summer for us, I really wanted to make sure
25:47
Speaker 1: my kids had a break because I felt like the
25:49
Speaker 1: end of the school year was so tough and it
25:51
Speaker 1: was so hard to transition from being in school one
25:54
Speaker 1: day to not being in school the next. I have
25:56
Speaker 1: given them more leeway during the summer. I have not
25:59
Speaker 1: sort of ramped up do anything yet because I do
26:01
Speaker 1: want them to kind of have a little bit more
26:03
Speaker 1: freedom and feel free to be kids during the summer too. Um.
26:06
Speaker 1: We're all worried about what the fault and was like
26:08
Speaker 1: in our kids learning. We all want our kids to
26:10
Speaker 1: achieve high exenomic success. Um, But I do think some
26:13
Speaker 1: of the summers should be a little more relaxed to
26:16
Speaker 1: while we have it. It's the only July, right, I know. Right? Um,
26:20
Speaker 1: and then what do you think like some tools for
26:23
Speaker 1: us parents who are feeling guilty about, you know, our
26:27
Speaker 1: teaching capacities and so, yeah, I'm frustrated or impatient or
26:34
Speaker 1: whatever that may be. Right, Well, we're not teachers, right,
26:37
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm at a teacher. I didn't I didn't
26:41
Speaker 1: sign up for this, I guess I would say, but
26:43
Speaker 1: we're doubtless what we have. Um, um, we're lucky, we
26:45
Speaker 1: have resources. So one thing I'm really trying to do
26:49
Speaker 1: is not be so hard on myself all the time.
26:51
Speaker 1: We're not perfect. Kids are gonna have temper tantrums. We're
26:54
Speaker 1: gonna get insight. And as one of my friends said
26:57
Speaker 1: on Facebook, she said, sometimes I just locked myself in
26:59
Speaker 1: the pantry cry. So sometimes we have to take like
27:02
Speaker 1: a mommy time out, right, we do. We have to
27:05
Speaker 1: take a mommy time out. I have a dog and
27:07
Speaker 1: I'll use it as an excuse. Okay, I gotta go
27:09
Speaker 1: walk the dog. I need twenty minutes to myself to
27:12
Speaker 1: like cool down, take a break. So I I think
27:16
Speaker 1: that's okay. We all have our mental health to take
27:18
Speaker 1: care of, so taking many breaks, having like a quick
27:21
Speaker 1: event in the bathroom away from the kids is fine. Also, UM,
27:26
Speaker 1: I really like this site. It's called Virtual Health Partners
27:29
Speaker 1: and they have a lot of mindfulness activities on their
27:33
Speaker 1: site meditation, UH, coping skills, mental health resources, Virtual Health
27:40
Speaker 1: Partners dot com and it's a really great place for
27:42
Speaker 1: adults to kind of go look up ways to be
27:45
Speaker 1: mindful because we have to have our own sanity preserved
27:49
Speaker 1: right during this because if we're not, we're not in
27:53
Speaker 1: a good mental place. Our kids will in turn probably
27:56
Speaker 1: fall apart more and and I've learned a lot. It
27:58
Speaker 1: was really hard at first. It's gotten a little bit easier,
28:00
Speaker 1: but it's a big culture shift. Yeah, I definitely feel
28:04
Speaker 1: like it comes in waves. And I appreciate you coming
28:08
Speaker 1: on and talking with us and giving us these tips. Um.
28:10
Speaker 1: If people want to find out more information from you,
28:13
Speaker 1: where do they look you up? Yeah? Well, our websites
28:16
Speaker 1: two months media dot com and we reached UM and
28:20
Speaker 1: talk to parents all the time about ways to connect
28:22
Speaker 1: with technology and brands they might be interested in. So
28:25
Speaker 1: we'll put some stuff stuff on our website two months
28:27
Speaker 1: media dot com. Awesome, thank you so much for joining us.
28:31
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, appreciate it. Okay, guys, so our next
28:34
Speaker 1: guest is Michelle Torgerson. She is with Raising a Reader
28:38
Speaker 1: dot Org, which is so exciting to me because she's
28:41
Speaker 1: gonna be talking about best ways to establish a regular
28:44
Speaker 1: reading routine at home, which I know what we do
28:47
Speaker 1: right now, but I don't know if that's the best way.
28:51
Speaker 1: It seems to work well with my um stepdaughter and
28:55
Speaker 1: with my daughter, they're older there seven and eleven, which
28:58
Speaker 1: is like before bed for one to thirty minutes, they
29:01
Speaker 1: have reading time, um and either my husband and I
29:04
Speaker 1: will go down and read with them. But my son,
29:07
Speaker 1: who's five, he's like not interested in reading at all.
29:12
Speaker 1: I've gotten all the books, I've tried different things what
29:14
Speaker 1: he's into, and he's like no, Ma'm so what what
29:19
Speaker 1: are some tips for some different age groups. Well, first
29:22
Speaker 1: of all, Teddy, you're not doing anything wrong. The most
29:25
Speaker 1: important thing is to try to establish some kind of
29:28
Speaker 1: routine and for the parents to get involved and to
29:31
Speaker 1: make it fun. So reading should be fun, especially reading
29:35
Speaker 1: that's done at home. And some of the tips that
29:37
Speaker 1: we give to the families that we work with would
29:40
Speaker 1: be to do it around bathtime. Bathtime can be a
29:42
Speaker 1: time where your child's kind of captivate that's uh in
29:45
Speaker 1: within the tub or the sank. I mean, this guy
29:47
Speaker 1: is probably at the tub and you're able to enjoy
29:50
Speaker 1: a book while they're in the bathroom they're doing something else.
29:54
Speaker 1: Another time would be I know we're not commuting as
29:56
Speaker 1: much anymore, but if there's one or more caregivers within
29:59
Speaker 1: a car sharing a story again and the child's in
30:01
Speaker 1: the car, so maybe he'd be into that. Um also
30:05
Speaker 1: meal time, So what we do at our house sometimes
30:08
Speaker 1: I have an eight year old stepdaughter and will share
30:11
Speaker 1: from the time she was really little, we would have
30:12
Speaker 1: a story time just before we'd sit down to eat.
30:15
Speaker 1: So the incentive would be her favorite meal that was
30:18
Speaker 1: coming up next. But building in that regularity made a
30:21
Speaker 1: difference for her. Oh that's such a good idea. And
30:24
Speaker 1: the question do you think that it makes a difference
30:27
Speaker 1: if your child is reading from an actual book versus
30:31
Speaker 1: an electronic device? Great question and a super hot topic
30:35
Speaker 1: right now because everyone's worried about screen time as we're
30:39
Speaker 1: all living in this time of COVID. So what we're
30:41
Speaker 1: is telling and sharing with our community is and what
30:43
Speaker 1: we know is we want our parents to take a
30:45
Speaker 1: little bit of the pressure off. Right, there's so many
30:47
Speaker 1: shig messages out there and shaming of parents around screen time,
30:51
Speaker 1: so we're really striving for balance. The best way to
30:55
Speaker 1: book what we call book cuddling and the share stories
30:57
Speaker 1: was with the physical book, so we highly in courage that,
31:00
Speaker 1: but there are a lot of other really great ways
31:03
Speaker 1: to access stories online through places like Epic or kind
31:07
Speaker 1: Academy Kids, so it's not or even your local library.
31:10
Speaker 1: So we encourage the physical book sharing, um, but using
31:14
Speaker 1: a digital advice is fine too. We mostly want parents
31:17
Speaker 1: to take that shame off a little bit and to
31:19
Speaker 1: really just spend that bonding time with their child and
31:22
Speaker 1: make it fun. The kids look forward to that, yeah,
31:25
Speaker 1: that's for sure, and then every summer the kids kind
31:29
Speaker 1: of like fall back a little bit, you know, when
31:32
Speaker 1: they're out of the routine. How do you recommend, especially
31:35
Speaker 1: now with COVID and all of these other changes, what's
31:39
Speaker 1: your recommendations on how to like kind of push through that,
31:43
Speaker 1: especially getting that resistance. Yeah, so we we're talking about
31:46
Speaker 1: the summer slide is what we call it in in
31:49
Speaker 1: academia UM and usually kids will lose about of our
31:53
Speaker 1: learning that they gained over school year. So we're talking
31:56
Speaker 1: about our kindod first and second all the way through
31:58
Speaker 1: grade school. Right now with it slide because kids have
32:01
Speaker 1: been out since March, we're looking at about forty learning loss,
32:05
Speaker 1: which is really significant and our isn't that pretty shocking?
32:09
Speaker 1: Our schools are working to figure out how do we
32:11
Speaker 1: remedy that, and what we're saying, what we know is
32:14
Speaker 1: if you share books at home and established that reading
32:17
Speaker 1: routine at home. And I'm saying if you can read anything.
32:20
Speaker 1: My stepdaughter sometimes likes to read the design with in
32:22
Speaker 1: Reach catalog and I say, that's just fine. Whatever it
32:25
Speaker 1: is that interests her, UM is really great. But it's
32:30
Speaker 1: establishing that routine of we recommend about twenty minutes a day,
32:34
Speaker 1: and if you're modeling and reading with the child, that
32:37
Speaker 1: makes a big difference as well. So maybe it's structured
32:39
Speaker 1: family reading time. But what we know is that if
32:43
Speaker 1: you do that for a for a month, if you
32:44
Speaker 1: do that over the summer, you'll gain about a month
32:47
Speaker 1: of those reading skills back at the school year. So
32:49
Speaker 1: we're facing a loss of about forty by just but
32:52
Speaker 1: by simply just sharing a book with your child or
32:55
Speaker 1: supporting your child with their own reading time, we can
32:58
Speaker 1: gain about a month of those reading skills is back.
33:00
Speaker 1: That's incredible. And I also have a four month old.
33:04
Speaker 1: How much time do you think you should be reading
33:07
Speaker 1: to like a baby? Yeah, every day, so it's never
33:11
Speaker 1: too really to start and UM, you can start when
33:14
Speaker 1: you know, while you're pregnant as well. You know a
33:16
Speaker 1: lot of families do that UM during maternal health UM supports,
33:20
Speaker 1: but I would say, you know, again, we recommend for
33:22
Speaker 1: our families it's about that routine. So it's the fifteen
33:25
Speaker 1: to thirty minutes of time UM for our babies as well,
33:29
Speaker 1: and we recommend doing that again around bathtime or just
33:32
Speaker 1: before bed um and the child will begin to look
33:35
Speaker 1: forward to and really appreciate that bonding time. So especially
33:38
Speaker 1: in a house where we've got lots of kids and
33:40
Speaker 1: lots of stuff going on. But we tell our parents,
33:42
Speaker 1: if you can have that one on one bonding time
33:44
Speaker 1: with their child, they will come to really love and
33:47
Speaker 1: appreciate that time. And it's really about the sound of
33:49
Speaker 1: your voice. I'm not kidding when I say you can
33:51
Speaker 1: read a board book one of my favorite my friends,
33:55
Speaker 1: or you can read the newspaper. But it's about again
33:57
Speaker 1: your child hearing your voice and also getting disposure to
34:01
Speaker 1: more words. Oh I love that. And I always think
34:04
Speaker 1: that my baby gets excited when she sees like the
34:06
Speaker 1: colorful pictures. She's kind of like her hands, like, well,
34:13
Speaker 1: thank you so much. So where do people find out
34:15
Speaker 1: more information on this? Oh? This is so great? Um,
34:18
Speaker 1: so you can. You can find us online at Raising
34:21
Speaker 1: a Reader dot org. We have a bunch of resources
34:24
Speaker 1: for parents. We know that we have kids who are
34:26
Speaker 1: reluctant readers. We have parents who maybe aren't as confident
34:29
Speaker 1: in sharing books with their with their kids and maybe
34:31
Speaker 1: are a little afraid or embarrassed to share that. So
34:34
Speaker 1: we break down all those barriers around fear about sharing
34:36
Speaker 1: books and we have lots of tips on our website.
34:38
Speaker 1: We also have a great parent guy that's free. Are
34:42
Speaker 1: super Summer Um Family Guide for our rising pre k
34:46
Speaker 1: kindergarten and first graders. That is a it's an English
34:49
Speaker 1: and in Spanish, and it's for our families to guide
34:51
Speaker 1: their child through five weeks of readiness for school. Because
34:54
Speaker 1: we know that a lot of our parents are really
34:56
Speaker 1: concerned about getting their kindergarteners. Are their younger children writing
34:59
Speaker 1: to go to school? You can find that on our
35:01
Speaker 1: website as well. I need that for sure. Thank you're
35:07
Speaker 1: having me, Thanks for coming on. Okay, guys, So our
35:18
Speaker 1: next guest is John B. And Ketty Did I get it?
35:23
Speaker 1: You did get it? You nailed it from mathemaesium dot com.
35:27
Speaker 1: Can you explain to us your Kickstart program a little
35:29
Speaker 1: bit of course. So the Kickstart program we developed kind
35:33
Speaker 1: of in response to what's being called the COVID slide
35:38
Speaker 1: um and really what the COVID slide means. Three studies
35:42
Speaker 1: have been done that students, given the fact that they
35:46
Speaker 1: haven't received direct instruction on a lot of math topics
35:50
Speaker 1: over to last ten to twelve weeks, let's just say
35:54
Speaker 1: of the school year, that they're developing significant gaps in
35:57
Speaker 1: their knowledge and it compounds what we would normally refer
36:01
Speaker 1: to as being the summerslide. So as an organization, we
36:06
Speaker 1: we wanted to offer something that targets those particular critical skills.
36:12
Speaker 1: So we did an evaluation of national standards and curriculum frameworks,
36:18
Speaker 1: you know, kind of pacing to really identify what a
36:21
Speaker 1: student would have learned in the last two to three
36:24
Speaker 1: months of their school year and create a diagnostic assessment
36:28
Speaker 1: around those skills to put together a learning plan to
36:32
Speaker 1: make sure they got they get what they need. This
36:35
Speaker 1: allows us to provide that direct instruction that they may
36:38
Speaker 1: have missed over the last couple of months of the
36:41
Speaker 1: school year. So cool. So what are some of the
36:44
Speaker 1: main tips for like keeping your kids on track right now?
36:47
Speaker 1: In regards to math, there is no secret. I mean
36:52
Speaker 1: if we were in July of any other year, we
36:54
Speaker 1: would be talking about the importance of kids doing math
36:57
Speaker 1: over the summer. Anyway, we know that kids will lose
37:00
Speaker 1: some of the knowledge that they've gained over the course
37:02
Speaker 1: of their school year. It just just further exacerbates the problem.
37:06
Speaker 1: So um, it's critical when you're working with your child
37:10
Speaker 1: over to summer to really get a sense of what
37:13
Speaker 1: they may have missed and make sure that they get
37:16
Speaker 1: the support that they need. You know, mathmazing for example,
37:19
Speaker 1: Even if you're not comfortable your child going to a
37:21
Speaker 1: physical center, you know, we have an at home program
37:24
Speaker 1: that allows you to do it virtually from the comfort
37:27
Speaker 1: of your own home. That if that the issues are
37:32
Speaker 1: there are rock they arise from this lack of direct
37:34
Speaker 1: instruction and engagement and feedback that you have to make
37:38
Speaker 1: sure there's some sort of mechanism for them to get
37:41
Speaker 1: that feedback that they need in order for them to
37:43
Speaker 1: move ahead. So you know, there are a lot of
37:45
Speaker 1: resources out there that you can gather that would allow
37:48
Speaker 1: you to remediate some of those skills and and make
37:51
Speaker 1: sure that your child has encountered them. But somebody has
37:54
Speaker 1: to be there that can provide them that that guidance
37:57
Speaker 1: and support that they need. And that's that's a critic
38:00
Speaker 1: a part of this whole thing too, um And there's
38:03
Speaker 1: a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen in
38:06
Speaker 1: the fall, and and I think we're you know, a
38:09
Speaker 1: lot of the impetus behind this was too, you know,
38:12
Speaker 1: help correct what happened over the last couple of months
38:16
Speaker 1: of the school year. But when we start to look ahead,
38:18
Speaker 1: there's a lot of uncertainty there too. And I mean,
38:21
Speaker 1: obviously I'm asking for a friend on this one, but
38:24
Speaker 1: what is mother? It's not so good at math like
38:28
Speaker 1: my daughters in first grade, and I had no idea,
38:33
Speaker 1: like the amount of videos I tried to watch on
38:35
Speaker 1: what common core math was like every time she'd show
38:39
Speaker 1: it to me, I'd be like, yeah, but you know,
38:41
Speaker 1: I had to like stop myself because the way that
38:43
Speaker 1: she's learned math is a completely different way. And I
38:47
Speaker 1: know how to do math. I mean I barely know
38:49
Speaker 1: how to do math. But um, like, for those of
38:52
Speaker 1: us that you know didn't learn this same way, how
38:55
Speaker 1: do you engage your family and are still helpful without
38:59
Speaker 1: you know, teaching them the wrong way? Right? And and
39:02
Speaker 1: that's and that's a fair point. I a lot of
39:05
Speaker 1: students that we serve in Mathmasium, they come to us because,
39:10
Speaker 1: you know, mom just wants to be mom at home
39:12
Speaker 1: and they want to do things and and that dynamic
39:15
Speaker 1: either it's the concepts are difficult to teach or and
39:20
Speaker 1: like I said, they just want to be mom and
39:21
Speaker 1: just support their kids in different ways. And there's a
39:25
Speaker 1: lot of interesting present you know, presentations of math out there,
39:30
Speaker 1: and you know, it's so important when they're not in
39:34
Speaker 1: the structure of a school environment to have something that
39:36
Speaker 1: provides that structure. So if it's not quite working out
39:40
Speaker 1: at home between the parent and the child and they're
39:43
Speaker 1: trying to work through these you know, workbooks or whatever
39:45
Speaker 1: resources you may have pulled online or even some of
39:49
Speaker 1: the more passive online resources that exist where child just
39:52
Speaker 1: does a bunch of practice problems and they're getting them
39:55
Speaker 1: wrong and they don't understand why, and it's they're hard
39:58
Speaker 1: to explain that you really should seek out a resource
40:03
Speaker 1: that will that will help bridge that gap. Because if
40:06
Speaker 1: a child is experiencing, you know, math problems and they're
40:09
Speaker 1: getting them wrong, it's it's it's hurting their confidence and
40:14
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're they're kind of reinforcing bad habits
40:17
Speaker 1: within themselves too. So, um, there are a lot of
40:20
Speaker 1: great resources you know out there that it's you know,
40:23
Speaker 1: a live person. There is no substitute for that. Um
40:27
Speaker 1: And like I said with Mathemaesium, it's it can be
40:30
Speaker 1: a completely virtual experience. And we've while there may be
40:33
Speaker 1: a lot of aversion to kind of virtual online learning,
40:37
Speaker 1: we've refined it over the last couple of years to
40:39
Speaker 1: the point where we are just as effective online as
40:43
Speaker 1: we are in the center. Can we provide that live
40:45
Speaker 1: person that will guide them through the material and answer
40:49
Speaker 1: those questions as they arise, and that and that's so
40:51
Speaker 1: important here too. And what ages do you work with?
40:55
Speaker 1: We work on kindergarten three through pre calculus. Our materials
40:59
Speaker 1: supply all of that, um and we so not only
41:02
Speaker 1: do we put together a comprehensive learning plan for all
41:06
Speaker 1: of our students, but we also do you know, homework
41:10
Speaker 1: support or even you know support on just like I said,
41:14
Speaker 1: the Kickstar program and just those topics they may have missed.
41:17
Speaker 1: So when they come during the school year, part of
41:20
Speaker 1: the time the Mathemaesian hours allocated to helping them with
41:24
Speaker 1: their homework and things like that. Awesome. So where do
41:27
Speaker 1: people find more information on you guys? So, like you mentioned,
41:31
Speaker 1: check us out at Mathemasium dot com. You can find
41:35
Speaker 1: out all about our program are at home program there. Um.
41:38
Speaker 1: We're also doing a series of what we call Mathenesium
41:41
Speaker 1: Schoolhouse episodes on Facebook. So if you check us out
41:45
Speaker 1: on our national Facebook page, we go live every day
41:48
Speaker 1: at eleven am money through Friday. That is so cool.
41:52
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us. Of course, thank
41:54
Speaker 1: you so much for having me. I'm so excited to
42:05
Speaker 1: welcome our next guest, Aequila Lion. She is a former
42:08
Speaker 1: principal and teacher and it's now at USC. I have
42:13
Speaker 1: so many quastions for you involving UM, kids, you know
42:19
Speaker 1: what the effects of not going back to school or
42:22
Speaker 1: going back to school? What your thoughts are on that? Well?
42:27
Speaker 1: I think that on one hand, it is important for
42:31
Speaker 1: our young people to go back to school, UM, but
42:35
Speaker 1: they have to be in a safe environment. I mean,
42:37
Speaker 1: I think for any real, meaningful, authentic, rigorous learning to
42:41
Speaker 1: take place, you know, students have to interact with each other,
42:45
Speaker 1: the environment, their teachers, and unless we have or our
42:50
Speaker 1: schools have the ability to truly you know, provide all
42:55
Speaker 1: the health and safety measures, UM, it may not be possible,
42:59
Speaker 1: which you know, I think is the reason why we
43:03
Speaker 1: may have to move to the digital platform. Do you
43:06
Speaker 1: think it affects by age how it's going to you know,
43:10
Speaker 1: a fact like do you think younger kids are more
43:12
Speaker 1: affected than older kids? Or what are your thoughts on that? Um? Well,
43:16
Speaker 1: I think it really depends on how teachers. So let's say, um,
43:21
Speaker 1: schools moved to online learning. UM, I think it really
43:25
Speaker 1: depends on how teachers engage their young people in the classroom, UM,
43:30
Speaker 1: in the virtual sense. UM. I think socialization is a
43:37
Speaker 1: really big part of education. UM. It's a part of
43:41
Speaker 1: just being in school, you know, playing, developing, you know,
43:44
Speaker 1: those interpersonal skills, but that can be mimicked on in
43:49
Speaker 1: an online environment regardless of the age. I think it
43:52
Speaker 1: really just depends on UM, if the teachers know how
43:56
Speaker 1: to do that, that they have the ability to do it,
44:00
Speaker 1: and that they have support. And if the kids are
44:03
Speaker 1: back in school, you know, obviously they're going to be
44:05
Speaker 1: wearing masks. Some kids are gonna have dividers, They're going
44:08
Speaker 1: to be in small groups. Maybe there's not outdoor play.
44:11
Speaker 1: Do you think that's going to take a toll on
44:12
Speaker 1: the kids? Absolutely? Absolutely. I think I mean a part
44:17
Speaker 1: of you know, running an effective classroom, a meaningful or
44:22
Speaker 1: a fun classroom right for students of all ages, is
44:26
Speaker 1: the interaction piece. It's the engagement piece. So if we
44:29
Speaker 1: have students that have masks on it, I mean, just
44:32
Speaker 1: in terms of language development for the younger ones in particular,
44:35
Speaker 1: that could be difficult. Um. You have students, maybe they
44:39
Speaker 1: are UM second English language learners that may need to
44:43
Speaker 1: see how a teacher UM talks and dictates, you know,
44:48
Speaker 1: reading his or her lips um facial expressions. So I
44:54
Speaker 1: mean I think that that that would be less ideal
44:59
Speaker 1: UM because it prevents that real true engagement that I
45:04
Speaker 1: think children and young people need. So what are some
45:07
Speaker 1: helpful ways for us to give our kids a little
45:12
Speaker 1: bit extra right now that they're not getting they're not
45:15
Speaker 1: able to get because there's no school right now, we're
45:19
Speaker 1: on summer break and there's not that social interaction piece
45:23
Speaker 1: that they're at least used to getting on Zoom. I know,
45:26
Speaker 1: you know, I suggested to my kids. I'm like, oh,
45:28
Speaker 1: look there's the Zoom camps that we can do, and
45:30
Speaker 1: they were like, no, Mom, we're good, but we're cool. Yes,
45:36
Speaker 1: that's how my children are too. UM. I think part
45:41
Speaker 1: of it, you know, I think a lot of it
45:44
Speaker 1: really rest on the schools and the teacher's shoulders. And
45:47
Speaker 1: I know that we as parents are partners in this because, um,
45:51
Speaker 1: they are home and you know, we're here to support them.
45:54
Speaker 1: So I would say if there's any um you know,
45:59
Speaker 1: just norm of things that you do at home, if
46:02
Speaker 1: they help you cook, clean, things like that can be
46:05
Speaker 1: turned into small learning opportunities for children. UM. I think
46:09
Speaker 1: if they have friends or peers um that can meet
46:14
Speaker 1: with them over Zoom. You can use things like flip grid,
46:18
Speaker 1: you know, where they can make videos and you know
46:21
Speaker 1: tag team um onto each other's videos I think, you know,
46:24
Speaker 1: those are the types of things that you know, we
46:26
Speaker 1: could use UM on top of you know, maybe the
46:30
Speaker 1: more traditional you know, reading music, dancing, you know, laughing
46:36
Speaker 1: and playing. I mean, I'm so impressed. I have a
46:41
Speaker 1: going into the third grade in eight year old and
46:45
Speaker 1: I'm just amazed as to how much he's learned just
46:48
Speaker 1: at home. I mean he took our boxes, UM, toilet paper,
46:54
Speaker 1: paper towels, and he was just building all these sports
46:57
Speaker 1: and you know, just giving them the space to play, right,
47:00
Speaker 1: especially the younger ones. UM play is a form of
47:04
Speaker 1: learning UM. And there are a lot of games online
47:08
Speaker 1: that I know, you know, we don't want our kids
47:11
Speaker 1: to play online all day long, but there there are
47:15
Speaker 1: a lot of educational benefits to those as well. Well.
47:18
Speaker 1: My kids are this is like a trend right now.
47:20
Speaker 1: I think. I don't know, some parents I don't think
47:22
Speaker 1: let their kids do it, but my kids, I think
47:24
Speaker 1: that we have. I have an older step daughter, she's eleven,
47:28
Speaker 1: so they're really into roadblocks. You heard of this, so
47:32
Speaker 1: then what happens now what we do is at four
47:35
Speaker 1: o'clock every day, like after we do all of our things,
47:38
Speaker 1: they have a roadblocks zoom and all of their friends
47:41
Speaker 1: get onto this one zoom all the different ages, and
47:44
Speaker 1: they like go to town and they have an hour
47:46
Speaker 1: of playing Roadblocks and they really look forward to it
47:48
Speaker 1: all day. They're like, we're still confirmed for four mom, right,
47:52
Speaker 1: you hooked up the zoom right. I'm like, yes, but
47:55
Speaker 1: like I don't mind it because I see them laughing
47:58
Speaker 1: and talking with their friends. Yes, and blocks has a
48:02
Speaker 1: there's an educational component to Roadblocks, so I mean, we
48:06
Speaker 1: can't underestimate, um those things. I mean, Plus then I
48:10
Speaker 1: get it for a little bit of bribery, because then
48:12
Speaker 1: I'm like, if in your church chart, if you listen,
48:16
Speaker 1: you get road bucks. Huh exactly. I've learned so much
48:22
Speaker 1: much for joining us today. I really appreciate it. Oh,
48:25
Speaker 1: you're welcome. Thank you guys for tuning in too, teddy
48:28
Speaker 1: te pod Uh. We are all in this together. I
48:32
Speaker 1: feel like I was on a spiritual journey today of
48:36
Speaker 1: the highs and lows, and thanks for coming along with me. Um,
48:40
Speaker 1: I learned so much. I hope you guys did as well,
48:43
Speaker 1: and UM I look forward to talking with you guys
48:45
Speaker 1: again soon. Make sure that you send in any requested
48:49
Speaker 1: topics UM to our email at Teddy T Pot at
48:53
Speaker 1: iHeart dot com or to Instagram at Teddy T Podcast.
48:57
Speaker 1: All right, thanks you guys, by thanks for listening. Subscribe
49:02
Speaker 1: to Teddy T Pot on I Heart Radio or wherever
49:05
Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts.