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Beginner’s Mind
I’ve thought a lot about the things I hope to teach my granddaughter, but the truth is I will probably learn more from her than she will ever learn from me. Seeing the world through her little eyes has already opened mine. There is concept in Zen Buddhism called beginner’s mind. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions about a given subject or idea, just as a beginner would. It is meant to counter the closed-mindedness that can occur when one thinks of themselves as an expert. A person can become so used to doing things in a certain way that they do not…
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Editor’s Note
There were a few qualities I sought out when I was looking for my ideal place in which to live—It had to have excellent schools, lots of culture, proximity to nature at its best and idealistic people who cared about helping the world. I found it right here in this county of almost 280,000 people. In decades of living in Santa Cruz, I’ve never been bored and I’m always appreciative of the fact that tourists pay fortunes and travel hundreds and thousands of miles to enjoy what I wake up to every day.I had to live over the hill for work for too long and it was torture. Yeah, the…
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About the Cover
The two students pictured, a sixth grader and a first grader, are participating in one of Spring Hill School’s buddy activities. Having a buddy helps younger students feel secure and looked out for as they learn from a role model, while older students learn from leading by example and exercising compassion. Spring Hill School is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year! Since 1977, this kindergarten through sixth grade school has cultivated engaged and inspired learners. We foster a community of students and families who create a supportive environment through inclusion, compassion, and embracing diverse perspectives. Through a versatile curriculum and a Design Thinking approach, Spring Hill keeps pace with each…
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Schools Help Find Solution for Child with ADHD
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 here and part 2 here. Short of forfeiting or strongly amending Luke’s Individualized Education Plan plan, my search was not being met with much success. He was on the waitlist of every charter school in the area, with principals and directors of programs expressing empathy towards our situation but also explaining that their hands are tied. “There are too many kids in this district with IEPs now. We just…
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Private Schools: How to Decide
With heightened awareness of the impact of stereotypes and biases in our world, I considered the labeling in this publication of private schools as ‘a posher place to educate children’ as an opportunity to provide another perspective about fee-based schools. I get it: “posh” is an easy name to call a private (or independent) school. With an annual tuition—what families often look at first—I’ve heard the misperception many times. The thing about labeling however is that it affects expectations—of people, places, experiences, everything. I bristled momentarily at the description because it fails to uphold the central idea of education– learning. My perspective comes from personal and professional experience with both…
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Medi-Cal Coverage – Doulas & Donor Milk
Doula care in California is a covered Medi-Cal service as of January 1, 2023Details are still being worked out, so it is unclear exactly when local doulas will be authorized to accept Medi-Cal payments. There is paperwork to be filed and hoops to be jumped through before the program is fully off and running, but the gears are turning. The Medi-Cal Doula care will include emotional and physical support, provided during pregnancy, labor, birth, and the postpartum period. These preventive services simply need to be recommended by a doctor, midwife or other licensed member of the healing arts. Once recommended, the doula would be authorized to provide:• one initial visit•…
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What is Your New Year’s Resolution?
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Coloring Contest
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Coloring Contest Winners
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Coach Still Making a Splash in Community
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…
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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…
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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.
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Independent School Open Houses
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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…
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Out & About
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
