This is the first blog post in a series that will focus on resources the library and community have to help out parents with distance learning and homeschooling. The first resource I’ll be sharing are books from the library on various topics related to parents as teachers and learning for children of all ages.
Books
“The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child’s Education” by Ainsley Arment
Inspired by the spirit of Henry David Thoreau — ”All good things are wild and free” — mother of five Ainsley Arment founded Wild + Free. This growing online community of mothers and families want their children to receive a quality education at home by challenging their intellectual abilities and nurturing their sense of curiosity, joy and awe — the essence of a positive childhood. The homeschool approach of past generations is gone — including the stigma of socially awkward kids, conservative clothes and a classroom setting replicated in the home. The Wild + Free movement is focused on a love of nature, reading great books, pursuing interests and hobbies, making the entire world a classroom, and prolonging the wonder of childhood, an appealing philosophy that is unpacked in the pages of this book. “The Call of the Wild and Free” offers advice, information, and positive encouragement for parents considering homeschooling, those currently in the trenches looking for inspiration, as well as parents, educators and caregivers who want supplementary resources to enhance their kids’ traditional educations. Continue reading “Homeschooling and Distance Learning Resources: Books”
With travel restricted, sometimes the best way to explore is through the pages of a book! There are a lot of exciting places that you can explore without leaving the comfort of your home. Around the world, there are a seemingly endless number of locations valued for their beautiful landscapes, cultural traditions and rich history. Some of these places are recognized for their natural and cultural value, and are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. UNESCO stands for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. This organization is a world-wide group that is devoted to promoting [cultural diversity, safeguarding natural resources, and protecting culturally meaningful sites around the globe.
Since they were babies, my husband made Christmas ornaments significant for that year for our children out of polymer clay. I was always fascinated with the details of the ornaments, but found that clay hard to work with. That changed when I attended a workshop held by one of my colleagues on creating tiles with Sculpey clay — a polymer clay that is more pliable and easy to work with. There were examples shown of using the clay tiles to make boxes, picture frames and other decorative items. Continue reading “Take-Home Crafternoon Kit: Polymer Clay Tiles”
After a stressful trip to the grocery store, which has become a maze of confusing one-way aisles, what do you do to unwind? You’ve sprayed down all your groceries with disinfectant, taken your shower and put on your sweats. Time to fire up the old streaming service, am I right? Now comes the question: do you binge or do you comfort watch? Binge watching relies upon that human impulse to learn what happens next — you’re following story arcs, investing in characters and on the edge of your seat.
When you comfort-view, the pressure is off — you know what to expect already. Comfort watching immerses you in nostalgia for a time in your life, or in the familiar tropes of a beloved genre. Me, I like some good old-fashioned comfort T.V. Lately, the genre I’ve been craving is goofy old B-grade movies. The kind of campy sci-fi that makes me laugh at the loosely constructed plots, the terrible special effects and the sheer lunacy behind the premise of the script. I find it comforting that grown adults spent good money producing these preposterous films. Continue reading “Getting Campy on Kanopy”
In the midst of a pandemic, feeling connected is so important now more than ever. That is especially true for people who are acting as caregivers to friends, family, or loved ones. The role of caregiver can often be stressful, challenging, and exhausting, both mentally and physically. Since the library is unable offer our regular group meeting spaces, the Alzheimer’s Association is providing a number of free virtual education programs for the month of July and beyond. Continue reading “Virtual Education with the Alzheimer’s Association”
Rather than immerse myself in mythic, far-off lands, I preferred to keep my Summer Reading challenge close to home. Activities from this year’s program motivated me to explore the rich Black history in mid-Missouri. First embarking on the African-American Heritage Trail, I learned about local legends like Annie Fisher, the nationally-renowned “Biscuit Queen,” music venues like McKinney Hall that hosted jazz icons and the Sharp End Black business district, which was razed for urban renewal in the mid-twentieth century. Here you’ll find suggestions for completing the entire challenge while educating yourself about the fascinating heritage of Black folks in our city and state. Continue reading “Imagine Your Story: Legends of Local Black History”
The serendipity of finding books through browsing is one of the powerful features of libraries. You might think that browsing the shelves online is impossible, but I’m here to tell you it can be done right inside our DBRL catalog. The feature is called “Browse by Call Number,” but note that the feature is unfortunately missing for mobile users — it only works for browsing the catalog on a desktop computer or tablet. Continue reading “Catalog Tricks: Browsing the Shelves Online”
Try freezing food scraps to make a delicious broth once you’ve accumulated enough ingredients
Between the bountiful summer harvest and the COVID-19 pandemic keeping many of us at home, the time is ripe for minimizing food waste from our home kitchens. There are so many ways to get the most use out of our food, like using all of the edible parts of proteins and produce or stretching the shelf-life of items by dehydrating or pickling.
“Every last bit of vegetable and protein contains nutrition and flavor waiting to be savored”
– wisdom from The Soupmaker’s Kitchen
Today brings us into the home stretch of pollinator week. I trust that you have been outside all week, feverishly pollinating plants by hand. Hard work, isn’t it? It’s a lot easier when we let nature’s other creatures do that work, but we need to have enough of those creatures to pollinate the plants. Otherwise, there could be problems.
Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species and more than 1200 crops. 1 out of every three bites of food you eat is there because of pollinators, and pollinators add 217 billion dollars to the global economy. As if that wasn’t enough, they also support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilize soils, protect from severe weather, and support other wildlife. So, a problem for pollinators can easily become a problem for us.
The designation of a week in June as “National Pollinator Week” was a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. Some of the ways you can help are to utilize plants that support pollinators, support local beekeepers, practice conservation and be a responsible steward of the environment.
June 6 is the 76th anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Europe, otherwise known as D-Day or Operation Overlord. While the military invasion has been recounted ad-nauseum over the decades, what is far less well-known is how espionage and deception were perhaps just as crucial to the success of the operation. The British Secret Service, MI6, which ran nearly all of the espionage efforts, was an efficient enterprise run by genius spymasters. Their uncanny success was assisted even further by the fact that they had broken the German Enigma code and could intercept nearly all messages sent to German spies (See “Enigma: The Battle for the Code” for a thorough account of this breakthrough). Special agents involved in espionage ran the gamut. From mad fantasists to scions of old European aristocracy and ne’er-do-wells who could seduce, lie and cajole their gullible German handlers, they were a crop of outlandish and brilliant women and men who helped turn the tide of war. Continue reading “Books on Espionage and the Allied Invasion”
Today brings us into the home stretch of pollinator week. I trust that you have been outside all week, feverishly pollinating plants by hand. Hard work, isn’t it? It’s a lot easier when we let nature’s other creatures do that work, but we need to have enough of those creatures to pollinate the plants. Otherwise, there could be problems.