When last we wrote about you, you were struggling with staying in business during Covid. How did you survive when so many others went bust? Any tips for other businesses? We had to stop our program for a few months and when we reopened there were mandates to conform to. Each teacher could only be in contact with 12 students a day, parents viewing classes had to be 6 feet apart and of course wouldn’t be in groups. This required a huge change from our group lessons and families watching their kids progress in skills. So, for the rest of the year we only offered private classes, only one parent…
-
-
Pilates Prep for Skiing
How does Pilates help with skiing?Pilates teaches and strengthens your body in many different positions. One important concept is “hip dissociation.” This is the ability to bend at your hips while keeping a neutral spine. Learning how to bend your hips, knees AND ankles will improve your dynamic control without transferring tension into the low back, knees and hips. Skiing is dynamic, so your spine needs to be mobile and strong in all positions, but strengthening in a neutral spine will teach you how to use your quadriceps and gluteals instead of your low back. Think of your legs like an accordion. The hips, knees and ankles should all fold…
-
No Power, No Problem
Matinee performances were planned for Dec. 10-11. At the last minute, when a power outage occurred on Saturday, a quick decision was made to add another performance at noon on Sunday and invite all of the Saturday guests to return for an early Sunday show. Audiences were wowed with the story of Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria, the hip-hip hippo, who are best of friends at New York’s Central Park Zoo. When Marty escaped, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited on a ship en route to Mother Africa in this musical adventure.
-
Independent School Open Houses
-
Transitioning from High School to College
In the media college is portrayed as the golden years of youth, celebrated as the best time in one’s life. Coming into college there are so many expectations, it’s a burning fire of both excitement and anxiety. For years I dreamed of the college application process, opening my letter to my dream school, UCLA, and starting out on the best four years of my life. I got that far, Now with the first quarter complete it’s still the hardest transition I’ve ever had. Although things are definitely not what my senior self expected, I’m slowly figuring it all out. Within the first few weeks of college everything that I once…
-
Out & About
-
Long-Time Journalist Reflects on Career
Local mom and well-known broadcast reporter, Amy Larson, sat at a roundtable discussion with a group of journalism students at Cabrillo College early December as they picked her brain regarding her colorful journalism career and the paths that she’d taken to get to where she is. “I guess I was 21 years old when I began my career,” said Larson, who is now 38. Larson started working at Watsonville’s Register-Pajaronian newspaper after graduating from Occidental College in L.A. with a degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs. “I took the job and ran with it,” she said. After one year of loving chasing stories, Larson decided to study journalism, so she…
-
The Future is Here
The power to control our species’ genetic future is awesome and terrifying. Deciding how to handle it may be the biggest challenge we have ever faced.— Jennifer A. Doudna, “A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution” Has there been a medical innovation in history that wasn’t met with some form of protest or resistance? No matter how much science teaching we add to our school systems, it still seems to just pass some people by. Vaccines have had their protesters since they were invented. I wonder about the process of teaching humans to mistrust science. How does that work? What are the moments, the…
-
Developing Positive Traits
It’s a new year, and time once again to celebrate all the parents and caregivers raising children and adolescents across our community. For the 11th year in a row, the County Board of Supervisors has partnered with First 5 Santa Cruz County to declare January 2023 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month, joining other California counties and the California legislature, which will pass a resolution declaring January 2023 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month across the state. Raising children and youth to become healthy, confident, capable individuals is the most important and rewarding job parents and caregivers have, but sometimes it’s also the hardest job. That’s why proven strategies and support from…
-
The Pandemic in the Classroom
As expected, students suffered academically during the COVID pandemic. While students are now back in the classrooms, math and reading scores plummeted in 2022. Compared to 2019, math dropped 8 points in eighth grade and 5 points in fifth grade across the nation. Scores dropped 3 points in reading for both grades. In California, fewer than half of the students (47%) passed the English language arts test, which was a 4 point drop from pre-pandemic 2018-2019. In math, only one third of the students passed, which was a 6% decline. Stanford, USC and the UC system say that this massive decline has never been seen before and that this is…
-
Growing Up in Santa Cruz Receives National Awards
Growing Up in Santa Cruz got some great news. We won four top awards in an international family magazine contest. As you readers know, printing a magazine or any news source is an uphill battle and getting some good news was a much-appreciated reward.The prizes came from the Parent Media Association, which represents family magazines around the world. We won for the best cover, the best calendar, the best humor column and public service for our series on the local hazards of the drug, Fentanyl. Here’s what the judges said: (Gold Medal) Special Series“Fentanyl Epidemic Hits Our Town”; Suki Wessling, Brad Kava, Sophie Veniel This collection of material springs from…
-
How did public schools help a student with ADHD?
Mother Jeanette Prather knew she faced an uphill battle getting help in school when her son was diagnosed with ADHD. This series documents her struggles and the help she received, and yes, it has a happy ending. You can read part 1 at growingupsc.com/how-to-help-your-child-with-adhd-in-school. I addressed the school issue with this knowledge by reaching out to Alternative Family Education (AFE), who confirmed they had a resource teacher available to work with Luke that year. With some desperate negotiations from his mainstream resource teacher, I decided to keep him in school. Shortly after that, he was invited to a 12-person cohort for students who really needed that help. This was fine…
-
Here Are Some Websites That Aren’t Junk Food
Sometimes I want to scream when I see my 6-year-old on the iPad. He watches some of these YouTube videos with people who sound like they are just screaming nonsense. But lately he’s found some educational games we can do together—and they are challenging for both of us. He’s better at some of them than me because he’s been brought up playing computer games. It turns out we play together and make a great team. Brain Test: Tricky Puzzles (poki.com)This one is my favorite, because every one of these tricky tests makes you look at things in a new way and they get harder as you advance. For example, on…
-
Phonics or Whole Language?
I started a private school for my daughters when the California reading curriculum implemented the “Whole Language” approach and stopped teaching phonics in 1994. I worried that as the pendulum swung to the extreme left, we would have a generation of students with reading and spelling problems – something I didn’t want for my girls. I tried to understand the “Reading Wars” and researched the benefits of each approach. The Whole Language method teaches children to read by recognizing a group of letters as an entire word. They don’t learn that individual letters make different sounds. Instead, young students memorize these sight words and put the words together in a…
-
“Madagascar Jr.” Comes to Mt. Madonna
At New York’s Central Park Zoo, Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria, the hip-hip hippo, are best of friends. When Marty escapes, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited on a ship en route to Mother Africa in the musical adventure “Madagascar Jr.,” a crack-a-lackin’ story of friendship and teamworkas embodied onstage by Mount Madonna School’s middle school cast. Performances are December 10 and 11 at 2:00pm at the Hawks’ Nest Theater at MMS. Tickets are available at mms-madagascar.brownpapertickets.com. Adult tickets are $15; $10 for 18 and under; all seats are reserved.
-
Standing Tall
Aside from sitting, standing is where we spend a considerable amount of time. As parents, we stand in line at the grocery store, watching our children’s sports, cleaning the house, etc. We find windows of time to exercise and take care of ourselves, but we spend a lot of time standing. As a mother of two I have found it essential to find ways to sneak strengthening moments into our day. Standing tall helps strengthen our core, relieve pressure in our joints and build confidence. As a Pilates teacher I advise clients that standing with healthy posture is as important as your workout. If we workout everyday, but spend the…
-
Hands-On Display Lets Kids Transform into Drop of Water
Visitors to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center can experience the cycle of a single drop of water when they take part in Water’s Extreme Journey, a hands-on, interactive maze designed by Minotaur Mazes now through the end of the year. Water’s Extreme Journey maze takes visitors on a wild role-playing adventure where they are transformed into a raindrop and challenged to stay clean. Visitors are sent on a journey through mountains, streams and even their own backyards, where everyday decisions impact their chance of staying clean and reaching a healthy ocean. The maze also will highlight water research happening at UC Santa Cruz and in the greater community, and encourage…
-
Teens Have Chance to Volunteer on Trails
Throughout January, Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship will host “Teens on Trails Month”, a series of free, youth-only trail work events across the county to get kids outside and involved in the magic of trail stewardship. SCMTS is a nonprofit trail stewardship behind popular trails in parks like Wilder and Pogonip, and their team has deep expertise in building and maintaining trails throughout the region. These Teens on Trails events will fill up fast. At each event, students will learn about native species and ecological functions, get involved in trail maintenance activities, and connect with SCMTS’ professional team to learn about career opportunities in the outdoors. They’ll also earn community…
-
What Kids Want for Christmas
-
November Coloring Winners
