Saturday, February 3, 2024

Am I Too Late to Join this Game?

I recently stumbled upon a session by George Couros, the maestro behind "The Innovators Mindset" and a bunch of other fancy book titles. I first saw him in 2016, I think at ISTE. He was so inspiring, he was like the Gandalf of inspiration and I was interested to see if that is still true today. I wondered if I even still had anything to learn from him. But surprise, surprise, even in 2024, George is still dishing out nuggets of wisdom! I was so inspired that I found his podcast scrolled all the way back to the first episode which was released in 2016. It got me thinking... 



In 2011, I became a full-time teacher. I taught three grade levels in this brand-new start-up virtual charter school. We were going to be like the nationally known K12, but oh so very different. In my first year with the school, I taught preK-1st grade. How you ask? I am really not sure. Like every first-year teacher, I was flying by the seat of my pants. Unlike every first-year teacher, I was not certified to teach PreK-1st grades. I got my certification in 3-8th grades because I was sort of a dumb dumb and thought that would be the easiest path to teach. I was a high school dropout, so I knew if I couldn't even finish that work there was no way I would be able to teach it. But the founder of the school told me that if I wanted a job, I would teach those grade levels and that being in a charter didn't require a cert at all so the fact I had one in the first place was a plus. I did so much learning that first year. I was mid-word-wall when I realized I was saying C-a-r like a Bostonian because I was using the short A sound. I told the kids that wasn't right. I would go home, figure out why it wasn't right, and come back tomorrow and tell them where we went wrong. That whole first year, I had to teach myself the content sometime the night before I would go and present it to the class. You know, just casual superhero stuff. I just knew that I had to dedicate myself to the process. 

The next year was different. I wasn't in the same type of setup, that's a-whole-nother long story. I was running a small-ish co-op out of my home with 25 students spanning nearly every single grade level. You see the digital curriculum was to do the heavy lifting and I was there to fill the gaps. Except there were sooooo many gaps. And the progression of the digital curriculum was wonky. The skill might be for a 4th grader to plot a coordinate on a graph, but the math to get the coordinate was 5th or 6th-grade math. Teaching bass-ackwards was hard, but I was making it work. I truly was reaching these kids. I brought my concerns to the school and over the summer I helped build the out-of-the-box curriculum into an actual flowable product. Often times I was stealing lessons from a grade above or below to make it fit our state's standards. The problem was still that the digital curriculum was still sort of just a textbook. We were giving these animated textbooks to children and telling them to just move through it. 

If you read my past work you know that I am an asker of forgiveness, not a shouter of where I am going to deviate from a plan in place. I have sort of always hacked my way through life, so when I saw that it wasn't (all the way) working I decided to create some projects and writing assignments to supplement the curriculum. 

Now it's the 2013-2014 school year and this was the year I found Twitter. I started to get lit, and I had a burning desire to teach and teach other how to teach. I could see what I was doing was working. The kids were having fun. They were self-paced in the digital textbook but were learning through my wild antics as well. In this model if kids "like you" they can choose to stay with you year after year because we "teach" every grade level. Not only did I keep my students (up to 37 students now) from the previous year, but I was growing in popularity in my small-ish town. There was a waitlist to get on my roster so I asked my husband to join in on the fun. He tested and was certified to teach. Now we had 55 students coming to my home on a rotating schedule depending on grade level. I was on Twitter daily and nightly joining in conversations about teaching. Teach Like a Pirate had just come out by Dave Burgess. I was following his mentality around education. We had the OklaEd Twitter chat that at one time was the longest consecutively running weekly Twitter chat centered around education. I was a podcaster with a friend where we talked about EDU. I was a planner in this homegrown professional development movement called Edcamps. I was so ate up with EDU that I drove to Chicago and Stlouis to attend them. I felt like not only was I learning so much, but I started to gain some EduNotariety/followers around my ideas about mixing up the education system. And then, I focused so hard on climbing a ladder at my school that I stopped attending and stopped following the chats. I lost touch with my Twitter pals. I didn't lose my drive and passion for education it just shifted to a more professional world than the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants world. Maybe, I became lame. 

Flash forward. I started writing a book 4 years ago, but imposter syndrome decided to camp out in my brain, so finishing it became as elusive as Bigfoot. I have yet to finish it. It's close. I went to my first conference in like 8 years this year and the setup has not changed. In 8 years we are still doing it the same. The keynote was a unique snowflake out there teaching like a pirate, teaching and creating and the room hung on every single word. I was floored that I had been out of the conference game for nearly a decade and the keynote was the exception to the rule...still. So like the book get hot and cold to me. It seems NOTHING has changed in edu. Flashforward to the present...the purpose of this write-up. In the inaugural episode of his podcast, he says we have to tell our stories especially if the things we are doing are working with our students. I know they do still work because I am still implementing them and the students keep coming back for more, but an educators, have we had enough? We are post Covid now and the EDU world was thrown up and down and tossed all around from 2020-2022. Are educators done hearing about all of this or is it still a prime time to teach it? I feel like I still have a message to teach especially for teachers of students with ADHD and Dyslexia, but it's not like I have anything more than my anecdotal success.  None of my work is research-backed. I just have 13 years of success in my small world. Am I too late to be jumping on this train? I feel like it's still relevant. 

Do I still have a story to tell or are we all just burnt-out marshmallows at this point? Are there still educators out there looking for ways to reach their kids? I will tell you. The higher up you go in education the more it looks like doom and gloom and that everyone is over it all. So, I guess I am asking, Is that right? 



Saturday, January 28, 2023

My Nervous Breakdown...Check Yourself



Welcome to the wild world of nervous breakdowns!


Yep, I’m taking a short pause on writing about leadership and education to bring you this very important message on stress.

In case you're unfamiliar, a nervous breakdown is like a giant I-can't-take-it-anymore sign that your body and mind put up when things get too overwhelming. Only you don't know that that's what's going on.

It's a sign that something needs to change, and quick. The important thing is to understand that it's not something to be ashamed of, and that seeking professional help is essential in order to get back on track. So, let's dive in and learn how to handle this little curveball life has thrown our way!

When it comes to the symptoms of a nervous breakdown, your body is talking to you and is sending you a neon flashing sign that says, "HEY, SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT HERE." But you’re either too blind or too busy to realize it..

But don't worry. It's not always as dramatic as a screaming fit in the middle of the office (although that can happen too, lol, trust me). These symptoms can manifest themselves in various ways, both physically and emotionally.


For me, it started in April 2022 with weight loss. I dropped around 20 pounds over three or four months. My armpits and the bottoms of my feet would sweat incessantly and for the first month, I was throwing up…like, a lot and I had this weird feeling of vibrating from within.


After going to the doctor to have them run a complete blood count (CBC) to check for signs of cancer, and a thyroid test to check for hyper or hypothyroidism, the tests came back clean. So we began a battery of additional medical tests to find out what was “wrong” with me…because something was clearly wrong with me. Another more comprehensive thyroid check came back clean. The doctor asked if I had anxiety. No. Historically, I’m the most chill person I know. After a couple of weeks, a new symptom emerged and that was an excessive heart rate for no good reason. My resting heart rate is around 55-60 beats per minute. I could get up to go fold towels and my heart rate would rise to 120. I know what you are thinking, and, no, I do not run on a treadmill while folding towels. Not only was it fast, but I could feel it throughout my whole body. Another doctor’s visit for a referral to a cardiologist for an EKG. The heart doctor asked me to wear a chest monitor for 3-4 days, which I noted the 16 times this occurrence happened in that time…to which they said it was not outside of the normal range for women my age. So now we do an echocardiogram and a stress test…all of which I pass. There is NOTHING wrong with me.


A few months pass and I’m still experiencing “the weirdness.” By this time, I am not sleeping. I feel these weird heart things in the middle of the night. I am afraid to exercise because my heart rate goes so high moving from one room to another, getting on a treadmill or a bike seems out of the question. Now it's the fall of 2022, and I’ve had a panic attack now and a few others that I have warded off by breathing. I was talked through the first one by one of my team members…super embarrassing. We thought maybe I was going through menopause so we started checking hormone levels. I had a CT taken on my chest, abdomen, and pelvis looking for tumors.

For you readers, it might be pretty obvious what’s going on…for me, it still was not.

In December, I called the doctor again because by this time, people could see me physically trembling. We had an appointment set but then the day before that appointment they called and pushed my appointment back to January. I flipped out. THAT IS NOT NORMAL FOR ME!


Let’s back up here a bit. I work as a communications director for one of the largest schools in Oklahoma and here’s what was going on all at once:
  • In November 2021, my boss was let go and more than half my team was, too. We went from a department of 11 to a small team of five. Same workload as when we had 11.
  • The school was re-branding, which falls under me.
  • In the reorganization of the company that year, I had four bosses that ran things completely different from one another.
  • A consultant was brought in to “train” me but all she did was tell us we were right and then stole our ideas as hers.
  • The gubernatorial race was going on and both sides were using my school as a political football.
  • I felt as if I was not being trusted at work to do a job, which, by the way, I was nowhere near qualified for.
  • I began taking classes toward a second Master's program to learn the job I was currently doing…so that I could be trusted to do it.
  • My health was deteriorating and we were unable to find the cause


Yeah, none of this dawned on me while also going through it all, I was probably stressed out.

  • I was smiling.
  • I was super happy and incredibly blessed to have my life.
  • If you have read my past blogs you’ll see that I now consider myself wildly successful compared to my meager and super humble beginnings.
  • I loved a new challenge and I always rose to occasions.
  • I am an overcomer who doesn't play the victim very well at all.
  • I was fine!

That is until I wasn't.


One day my blood pressure bottomed out. I was sitting at 90/65. I semi-recovered but didn't feel like I could drive when I came around. The very next day I was in the hospital to get lab work done for more tests and another “episode” happened, my blood pressure was through the roof, and the lab called the ER to come to take me. We had a giant event (also falling under my purview) so I am taking Zoom meetings from my hospital bed. They sent me home with NOTHING wrong with me. For the third day in a row, I was in the shower and could not stand anymore. It was as if I was far inside myself. I could hear and I could not get up. My husband helped me to stand and get to bed where I lay paralyzed for three hours. Y’all, like I legit could not move.

During this time, Travis (the hubs) calls some buddies in the medical world and tells them all that’s going on. They said it sounded like the stress had finally gotten to me.

Stress.

We were about to head into a two-week break, but that was too far away. I took a week of PTO leading up to this break. I got set up in talk therapy. I bought a snake plant and some English Ivy for the bedroom. I bought a diffuser and some lavender oils to add because it was supposed to relieve stress, and my boss told everyone to leave me alone. 


These relievers worked. I couldn't believe it, but the stress in my life that I COULD NOT SEE was trying to kill me. 

So, there you have it, folks: a quick rundown of what a nervous breakdown can look like. The causes can be different for everyone and the levels of tolerance can obviously be different, too. You will be forced to handle it, though. Either you will recognize it and seek treatment, or you’ll experience some of what I endured above, or you can die. Unchecked stress is so bad. The most important thing to remember is that recovery takes time and patience. I have now been healing for about a month and a half, so don't be too hard on yourself, and do NOT expect it to change overnight. And remember, you're not alone in this. There are plenty of people out there who are going through the same thing. So, if you're feeling overwhelmed, don't be afraid to reach out for help. Whether it's a therapist, a support group, or just a friend, there's always someone who's willing to lend a listening ear. I am a huge fan of my village who, if I am being honest, was trying to tell me all along that it was stress. I just didn't know what stress felt like. 


Seek rest and stay healthy friends.


Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Finding the Right Mentor for You

Ya'll, starting out in the world of education nobody had more imposter syndrome than me. I had the degree and the certificates, but I was a high school dropout. How would anyone want to listen to me when I quit doing what I am asking them to do? So immediately I find the most read educators and start diving into their tip and tricks and styles and flare. I found Ron Clark, Geoffry Canada, and Mark Barnes to be incredibly helpful in shaping the type of educator I wanted to be like. As I switch interests and move "up" the ladder, I continue to search out individuals who will shape me into the me I want to become.

Finding a mentor can be a valuable step in achieving success in your career or personal life. A mentor is someone who has experience and knowledge in your field of interest and is willing to share it with you. They can provide guidance, advice, and support as you navigate the challenges and opportunities that come your way. Here are three simple steps to help you find a mentor who can help you reach your goals:


1. Define your goals: Before you begin looking for a mentor, it's important to know what you want to achieve. What are your career or personal goals? What do you want to learn from a mentor? Having a clear understanding of what you're looking for will make it easier to find the right person. Who do you admire that is already doing what you want to be doing?


2. Identify potential mentors: Start by making a list of people in your field of interest who have the experience and knowledge you're looking for. Look for people who have achieved success in their careers or personal lives, and who you admire and respect. When I was asked to find a mentor for my grad classes, I went to the person I wanted to pour into me not the first person available. I could have used my boss or my boss's boss, but I wanted to be a shark that was seen as an adorable stingray. I chose a shark to be my mentor. I also needed to know the person wouldn't just tell me what I want to hear, but be an unabashed truth-teller.


3. Reach out: Once you have a list of potential mentors, reach out to them. It can be scary for sure. Its easy to build up a list of reason they might say no to you, but honestly, they will likely be more than flattered that you want to learn from them. Explain to them what you're looking for, and why you think they would be a good mentor. Ask if they would be willing to meet with you to discuss your goals and how they can help. Once you have a mentor willing to meet with you, schedule a time and place that works for both of you. Be prepared for the meeting by having a list of questions ready and being on time.


A mentor-mentee relationship is built on trust and communication. Be honest and open with your mentor, and be willing to listen and learn. Keep in touch on a regular basis, and be willing to adjust the relationship as your goals and needs change. Remember to show appreciation for your mentor's time and advice. It could be a thank you note, a small gift or even a small token of appreciation.


By following these steps, you can find a mentor who can help you achieve your goals and reach your full potential. Remember that mentorship is a two-way street and that you should always be willing to give back to your mentor and help others in the same way.


Thursday, January 5, 2023

Staying Focused with ADHD

 As a student with ADHD, it can be challenging to stay organized and focused in school. However, there are a number of strategies that can be helpful in managing ADHD symptoms and improving academic performance.

A group of students at Epic Charter Schools was surveyed. Here are the six most commonly identified strategies that may be helpful for your student(s) with ADHD in managing their symptoms and improving their academic performance:


  1. Use a planner or schedule 

Having a consistent schedule and using a planner can help students with ADHD stay organized and on top of their responsibilities.


  1. Take breaks and practice self-care

This may include getting regular exercise, eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep.

 

  1. Use assistive technology 

There are many tools available to help students with ADHD stay organized and focused. These may include apps for tracking assignments, note-taking software and timer programs. Some favorites include Bionic Reader and the microphone tool in Google Docs.

 

  1. Find a support system 

It can be helpful to have a network of friends, family and your Epic teacher, all of whom can provide encouragement and assistance when needed.


  1. Seek professional help as needed 

If symptoms of ADHD are affecting a student's academic performance or overall well-being, it may be helpful to seek the help of a mental health professional. A therapist or counselor can help them develop coping strategies and work on skills such as time management and organization.


  1. Keep your comfy shoes on 

Yes, you heard that right. Wearing comfortable shoes can contribute to an overall sense of well-being and potentially can help with focus. While there is no scientific cause-and-effect relationship to this suggestion, enough people do it that it can be a great additional strategy for combating attentiveness and distraction.


Having ADHD should not stand in the way of our students and their goals. Whether your student wants to join the military, attend a college or university, enter the workforce directly, or take a gap year to travel before making any decisions, overcoming the pitfalls of ADHD will be necessary to finding their best version of success.  


Monday, November 28, 2022

5 Apps I Cannot Live Without

 5 Apps I Cannot Live Without


There is no doubt that apps keep us entertained, get more organized, and are there to generally make our lives easier. Recently I was asked what my 5 top used apps on my device…to which my answer was… which of my four devices? I use different devices for different jobs, but upon closer examination, I did notice there were a few that stood out as ambitechtrous. See what I did there? Now I am not planning to list my Gmail app which is probably the top app no matter the device I use. I imagine that anyone reading this probably doesn't need to be convinced to check their email or get an app to do so. I am also not listing my social media apps that are time suckers. Of course I have those and waste just as much time as the normal human in them. I am only listing the apps I use daily that are amplifiers of productivity.  


  1. Grammarly - Even as I write this post, it is working its magic. I only use the free version right now but have contemplated it a few times, getting the premium version. I have even gotten to the point of pulling out my credit card to purchase, but stop short when I remind myself how free and great the FREE version is. It shows me things like my streak, tone, and words per week, and it reminds me often that I like to use unique words like ambitechtrous. I write like I speak and that can become messy to read. Grammarly will reorganize my thoughts and make suggestions on how my readers would prefer to see a sentence. But more than anything, I know for a fact that I come off as bitchy in print. I used to add smiley faces to the end of emails when I had to be direct because my tone is atrocious. What Grammarly does is tell me how the message comes across before I send it. As a new to the role Director in the world of Communications, I love seeing that I have become a little more formal and confident in the messaging. If you are one of those members with a premium account, tell me, what am I missing? 



  1. Apple Podcast - I drive quite a bit for my job and with the kids in their sports activities. I could listen to the radio, which I used to do…mostly talk radio, or I can grow and expand my mind by listening to a few podcasts each week. There are 22 shows I rotate between, but I spend most of my time with Adam Grant, Tony Robbins, and James Altucher. I am not, nor do I ever imagine I will be the smartest person in the room, but these three give me golden nuggets of information to chew on each week and then disseminate into my conversations and lifestyle. More than several hand fulls of times each year I will stop an episode because I found a way to make it work AT MY WORK and had to write a proposal. Once, I even stopped an episode in mid-sentence because my thoughts were too powerful and racing, only to find upon resuming the episode, after writing out my thoughts, that Malcolm Gladwell had the same summation and idea. If I had just let him finish his thought I might have saved myself some work. I listen to podcasts daily while I am folding laundry, washing dishes, or hanging out at tennis practice. 


  1. Google Calendar -  I use Google as my main digital calendar. I have an analog calendar/agenda too where I take notes and doodle, but I would be nowhere without my calendar. Several of you are probably going to assume that this would be a gimme app like my Gmail app, but until I started really figuring out all it can do for me, it was not a commonly used app. Like I didn't know until a couple of years ago that I have ADHD with an emphasis on the attentiveness. Now, I hyper-schedule out my days. Sometimes by the 30 minutes and sometimes down to the 15 minutes. If I set my calendar to an hour for everything, I find myself finishing a task and then wasting time on Facebook, Insta, and TikTok or getting distracted from the task altogether because I had an hour to complete it. Yes, I am also a procrastinator, but I hear that goes hand and hand with the diagnosis. In my world, I can move in and out of that same task 3 times in a day in 15 min intervals and get it complete in 45 minutes versus the half day it would take without breaking it into smaller chunks and diversifying my time. This was a blog I read last year that changed the way I work and play. If I dont put it on my calendar…I miss it. If I put it on the calendar and its pretty…my world is more productive. 


  1. Bionic Reader - This app is super new to me but has already reduced the number of times I have closed out of an email on my phone to answer it later on the computer. I am on the move regularly and throughout the workday am not always at my desk. On top of ADHD, I found out I have dyslexia. Before this app, if an email “looked too long” on my phone screen I would mark it as unread and get to it later. Yes, I am an educator who also suffers from a lack of stamina in reading. If I pick out a book or article and I am super into it, reading isn't “hard”. However, not all of the reading I do each day is selected by me. My Superintendent or Deputy superintendent will regularly send articles to me to read and incorporate into our mold. With Bionic Reader, if these are long based on how they look on my phone, I will open the app paste the text and it will process it into text that allows the words to not only stay put on the screen, but because it looks more like this, I dont fatigue as easily and not only process the text for comprehension better, but it reduces the number of times I need to re-read the text. It's not ready for everything just yet. It hates my Google docs, but with copy and paste as a simple workaround, this app is growing on me.


  1. 5. Notes - There are hundreds of notes on my phone spanning over 11 years. I love that the cloud keeps my notes from phone to phone and that all 4 of my devices will allow me to pick up where I left off. Most of these notes are made at conferences or while listening to podcasts. I have 5 analog journals where I keep scraps of my genius, but while I am driving down the road it's hard to write a sonnet. ;-) Siri allows me to open notes and spew my word vomit. I do have to go back from time to time and try to remember what I was thinking when I wrote them, but in my 19 folders, I can assign my thoughts into categories and bring them back into the fold when I need them. Two of these folders are shared. I am planning a bachelorette party with a group from across the state in one of them and am planning the year of tennis with three other coaches in another. I love notes because I will think of a process to refine or something to research…or my favorite is listening to research on something completely unrelated to my fields of work but know it will be usable at some point in the future, so it goes into notes. The Notes app is essentially my 6th and digital journal. 



Now I have a ton of applications that I use daily, but if I didn't have these 5 life would be a LOT harder. Leave a comment if there are better versions of these apps and I am just stuck in a process and you can help me upgrade my productivity. If you also use one of these apps and it's life-changing for you too, let me know.


Sunday, May 3, 2020

Staying clear of the work-from-home-pitfalls

We all want students to learn what we teach. We really want it to stick. As educators during this "new normal" pandemic world of teaching and maintaining professional goals, the "hours of operation" have decimated work-life balance. I see so many people on my social media feeds posting about their day with kids hovering around and the hours being so much longer, and their work space being spread all over the place.
I get it. I have been working from home for almost 9 years now. My husband too. There are so many mistakes to work-life balance that I thought I would write a few down to keep others from the same time wasting traps I fell into.
Working into the evening goes both ways. It can be a blessing and a curse. I will often wake up at 5 AM during the work week to answer emails and I will also sneak in more at 9 or 10 PM as well, But I also get to walk to the mailbox holding hands with my husband...everyday. About 2 years ago we made a pact to do this simple 1 min task together. I also find time throughout the day with this trade-off to fold a load of laundry or empty the dishwasher. Placing a silver lining on the time exchange is necessary. BUT - here is the big BUT. The work will always be there. I was in a trap several years ago where I thought if I could just clear this inbox, or if I just mine the data tonight, then tomorrow will allow me to go into a deeper level of productivity. That is a lie. There will be more emails tomorrow and there will be more _______, insert whatever you thought you were getting ahead of.
There are also the immediate wins that we see people joke about. Like no commute, being able to wear pajamas to work, not wasting the time to slap on make-up or tie that tie, but there are lies that hide beneath these too. I learned very early on that not dressing for the day can still leave you empty at the end of it no matter how productive you thought you were. You can actually trick yourself into a sort of self loathing after some time. Dressing for the day sets the tone. Even if you enjoy jeans and a t-shirt, get up, shower and put them on. The commute time for me was always about growing myself. Whether a podcast, a book, or talk radio the drive time was quiet time spent on me. That time is harder to find now.
Taking time to plan your day will make a huge difference. There are many people that are to-do list adverse because we all know things come up and not getting to the last box or two are a real downer. Creating a to-do list each day can keep you from falling into the "what? It's-2-o'clock-and-I-havent-accomplished-anything" trap. To-do lists are good, but don't over fill it. If my kiddo comes to me mid-day, because they do and will, I want to be able to enjoy the art, game or thing they feel is important. I try to make sure that whatever time I am flexing for work, that it is a priority to keep my family time in place. Kids are only kids for so long. Insert the classic Cat's in the cradle, by Cat Stevens here.
The last pitfall I'll bring up of the work from home life is workspace. I have tried the bedroom, the living room, I even bought a she-shed to work out of. It boiled down to needing to decide on a space and make that space THE SPACE. Moving the office around the house gets taxing. You cant find a pen or sticky note. Having a private or confidential phone conversation will need to happen, so plan ahead when thinking about where to lay down your work roots in the home. TV will be a distraction. Kids playing will be a distraction. Food being readily available will be a distraction. Set boundaries with yourself when it comes to workspace and be strict enough that you can remain productive.
At the end of the day, this is where we are. Places will open again, but in my opinion enough companies were on the fence about moving this direction that a portion of the new normal will remain in tact. Will you be prepared?

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Quarantine Zine



Are you home? You should be...

Are you bored? Really, bored is a state of mine. 



I have seen so many things. All the "things" people have been doing to pass the time. You should have click on that link to see them too. If you do #5 send it to me and I will pass it through the webiverse.

In this time I have binge-watched the television show Alone. After watching I felt the need to walk into the wood in my backyard and build a teepee. I have refined a few skills in videography...I am no master of this skill, but I am trying to get better. I have written. I have finished a book and began another. I have finished a plan on the Bible app. I have downloaded an app to learn a new language. I found a way for our church to come together in worship during the first Sunday morning in isolation. Oh, and I still have a full-time job. Here is a pic of that teepee.




I am been super impressed at my own kids. They have spent most of this time outside. We run a one-room schoolhouse here at the house, so the idea of not having friends over every day hit them pretty hard at first. These girls hate summer break because they don't see their friends as often. They have built paper rockets, built roller coasters out of Legos...Here is a fun Lego challenge if you want to have some fun.



I also like to throw out fun Facebook posts to see how many fun ways to get people engaged. Some bring 100-200 comments like the best Coronavirus memes post...and others fell completely flat on their face, but produced some laughs like this picture. I asked everyone to find a pic of animals on the Googles and then recreate the pic.



Nothing...but that's ok. I am NOT bored.