Shala K. Howell's Blog, page 11
April 24, 2020
What The Thirteen-Year-Old has been reading while we #stayathome
We’ve been tucked away in our house for about a month now, and reading has broken out with a vengeance. Here’s a sampling of the books The Thirteen-Year-Old has been reading to pass the time.
Rogue Princess by B. R. Myers
[image error]
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Year Published: 2020
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Book Summary: Rogue Princess
“A princess fleeing an arranged marriage teams up with a snarky commoner to foil a rebel plot in B. R. Myers’ Rogue Princess, a gender-swapped sci-fi YA retelling of Cinderella.”
From the book description on Goodreads
What The Thirteen-Year-Old thinks of Rogue Princess (so far)
Although The Thirteen-Year-Old likes the book well enough to have me include it on this list for Caterpickles, she wants me to start the mini-review with a caveat. She hasn’t finished it yet.
So far she says, she likes the setting and the fact that politics is central to the story. “It’s set in a very interesting world with politics, which is not the kind of thing you usually find in sci-fi for kids. Most sci-fi I’ve read before focuses on criminals and space bandits and politics doesn’t really come into it.”
Randoms by David Liss
[image error]
Genre: Middle Grade Sci-Fi
Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Year Published: 2015
Format: ebook
Source: Own Copy
Book Summary: Randoms
“A science fiction superfan finds himself on his very own space adventure when he’s randomly selected to join an alien confederacy in this hilarious middle grade debut novel.”
From the book description on Goodreads
What The Thirteen-Year-Old thinks of Randoms
Like many of us, The Thirteen-Year-Old is rereading old favorites as a way to deal with anxiety in this uncertain time. Randoms is a book she finds herself returning to time and again when she needs something to take her mind off things.
When I asked her why she chose it to read again, she said, “Randoms is another one that sort of has politics, but it’s also set in a very interesting world. It’s one of the few novels I’ve read that can successfully pull off a romance. Also, I just learned there are two more books in the series to read over quarantine, so I picked it up again so I could read the next two.”
The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M. T. Andersen and Eugene Yelchin
[image error]
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Year Published: 2018
Format: Print
Source: Library
Book Summary: The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
“Subverting convention, award-winning creators M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin pair up for an anarchic, outlandish, and deeply political saga of warring elf and goblin kingdoms.”
From the book description on Goodreads
What The Thirteen-Year-Old thinks of The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
Before we get to that, The Thirteen-Year-Old wants me to tell you a little bit about how the book is structured. Part of it is told in really detailed pictures shown from the point of view of Brangwain Spurge, an elfin emissary and historian sent to spy on the goblin kingdom in Bonecruel Mountains. The text is written from the point of view of Werfel, the goblin ambassador and archivist tasked with both ensuring Spurge has a wonderful time on his visit to the goblin kingdom and informing on Spurge’s movements to the goblin secret police.
When I asked her what she liked about it, she said, “Everything Werfel does to make Spurge feel at home backfires horribly. For example, Werfel takes Spurge to a dinner party with fancy goblins. The goblins try to accommodate Spurge by making food that imitates elfin food. But what Spurge takes from this is that goblin high fashion is simply whatever they can copy from the elves. Meanwhile, Werfel cannot understand what his elf guest is getting up to or why he was so completely horrified by the dinner.”
Meteor Men by Jeff Parker, Sandy Jarrell, and Kevin Volo
[image error]
Genre: Middle Grade Sci-Fi
Publisher: Oni Press
Year Published: 2014
Format: Graphic Novel
Source: Library
Book Summary: Meteor Men
“On a summer night, Alden Baylor sits in a field watching the largest meteor shower in human history. What begins as teenage adventure becomes something more – the celestial event brings travelers who will change the world completely, and Alden discovers a connection to one of them. How does a young man who had to grow up fast handle the invasion of his planet? Can Alden keep humanity from oblivion? From writer Jeff Parker (Aquaman, Hulk) and artist Sandy Jarrell (Batman ’66) comes this story of adolescence, friendship, and hard decisions.”
From the book description on Goodreads
What The Thirteen-Year-Old thinks of Meteor Men
When I asked her whether she’d recommend it, she paused and said, “Maybe? It’s a good book, but it’s very sad, and that makes it a tough read for quarantine.”
Number of books remaining on my own Currently Reading list: 40, down from 45
Related Links
Reading Goals 2020 (Caterpickles)More book reviews on Caterpickles
April 22, 2020
Wordless Wednesday: Poppies!
I had stopped doing Wordless Wednesdays back in January, but I decided to resume them during the pandemic. I don’t know about you, but looking at pretty pictures gives me a moment of peace, and I could sure use a moment of peace at least once a week.
[image error]A field off a bike trail somewhere in Northern California. (Photo: Michael Howell)
I hope you and yours are still doing as well as can be expected.
Related Links:
More Wordless Wednesdays on Caterpickles
April 15, 2020
Caterpickles Central Update
Today is the 33rd day since we began sheltering-in-place. Not that I’m counting any more. I had to dig out my calendar to figure that out. (That said, the fact that I had to use my calendar to sort it out reflects an erosion in my ability to keep track of time that I find mildly disturbing.)
I’m sorry it’s been so quiet here on Caterpickles lately. We have been fine, all things considered. I have just been experimenting with various routines in an attempt to adjust to our new normal.
Most of the time I had planned to spend writing this past month has been diverted to cleaning up the debris generated by all of us eating, working, and entertaining ourselves 24/7 within the confines of the house. These days I feel lucky to be able to carve out time for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood.
If I’m leaning into anything right now, it’s the idea that this is a great time to teach The Thirteen-Year-Old life skills, like how to manage her own school work, clean her own bathroom, wash her own clothes, change her own sheets, and vacuum the chairs she likes to snack in.
[image error]From my walk this morning. I love all the flowering trees. I just wish they didn’t rely so much on pollen. My allergies this spring have been … exciting. (Photo: Shala Howell)
Still, if there’s one thing that 2020 has taught me so far, it’s that life can be unexpectedly short, and I’d better be happy with the way I spend my days while I still have days to spend.
How I spend my time now is necessarily very different from what I thought it would be as recently as March 8. But different doesn’t always have to mean worse.
We are phenomenally lucky in that we have a stable home with a backyard, Michael’s job translates well to remote work, and The Thirteen-Year-Old is old enough to help out around the house and manage her own schoolwork without constant supervision from me. These are profound advantages, and I literally thank the Lord for them every single day.
Still, my daughter’s school has already announced that they won’t reopen until next fall. Even if the rest of the state opens up in May, my daughter will still be home with me. My default plan of writing while she’s at school is obviously not going to be viable again for months. Which means that I need to figure out how to architect my different so that it isn’t secretly worse.
I’m also looking for ways I can do more to help others who are struggling right now
I’m just a regular person, so these aren’t going to be grand gestures. They are going to be regular person-sized activities, like turning our annual donations to the local food bank into monthly events, ordering takeout once a week to support our local restaurants, ordering new books from our local independent bookstore instead of Amazon, sanitizing books I would otherwise donate or sell to used bookstores and slipping them into Little Free Libraries around our neighborhood, and setting time aside once a month to post reviews on Amazon and Goodreads for any books I’ve read lately which currently have fewer than 50 reviews (it is hard to overstate how important it is for relatively unknown authors to get reader reviews, especially now when going to book signings, conferences, and speaking events is just not an option, and the news/social media is essentially all COVID-19 all the time).
I’m even planning to finally send out all those holiday cards I’ve been sitting on, because I couldn’t bring myself to announce to the world that my mother-in-law died last year (as if not announcing it in a holiday letter would somehow make it less true). Still, USPS is projected to run out of money by June, and if I’m going to join the legions of Americans buying a ton of stamps to support it, I might as well use those stamps to mail some belated greeting cards. Maybe I’ll even go so far as to figure out how to use the USPS Click-n-Ship service to mail packages from my home, and send my sister that blanket I made for her before the shelter-in-place order is lifted.
[image error]I was so pleased with how my sister’s blanket turned out that I used the same pattern to make this one in an attempt to use up some of the ridiculous amounts of cream and brown yarn I had stashed in my yarn bin. Only 5 more inches to go. (Photo: Shala Howell)
Anyway, that’s the sort of thing I’ve been up to.
I’d love to hear how you’ve been doing, especially if you are one of the folks out there quarantining alone. Leave a comment, find me on Twitter (@shalahowell), or send me an email to let me know how you are.
Until we chat again, I hope you and your loved ones stay well.
March 31, 2020
What happens now?
We are on [Some Large Number of Days] of The Howells All Being Home At Once, and [Some Other Number of Days] of Santa Clara County Residents All Huddled Up Together in Their Separate Spaces.
The good news is that early indications are that sheltering-in-place is helping to keep the numbers down in California. Still, we have a few more weeks to go before the numbers of hospitalizations and cases from people exposed before the shelter-in-place went into effect stop climbing. My fingers are crossed, and our car safely tucked in our driveway.
In other news, I’ve been doing some thinking lately about how to continue Caterpickles during this pandemic. Looking at the stats on how y’all use the site, you still seem very interested in learning things like how do I reset my storm glass, how many colors of corn there are, and (heaven help us) what else pops balloons.
So, since there are tons of spots out there for you to find hard news and troubling facts about the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m going to return to answering the sometimes bizarre and often entertaining questions my daughter asks, reviewing books, and telling you the occasional story about funny things my family says/does.
I’ll be honest, it feels strange to be writing about such relatively trivial things in a time like this, so I’d love to hear from you.
How can Caterpickles be helpful to you right now?
Today’s Project:
The Caterpickles Educational Resource pages
[image error]Today, I did this. (Screenshot: Shala Howell)
I made a big push today and published the various resources I’ve been collecting for parents who want to supplement their kids’ science, math, history, and reading, while schools are closed. I also posted a list of virtual field trip ideas for folks who miss going to art museums, natural history museums, operas, and zoos.
Check it out, and let me know if you find something I’ve missed. I’ll be honest. I am most interested in finding activities that can be somewhat self-directed / self-entertaining. I don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to work a day job here.
Today’s tidbit of humor
My funny t-shirt collection has been getting quite a workout lately. Every time she sees me in this shirt, The Thirteen-Year-Old collapses into helpless giggles. It’s not great for her ability to focus, but it does improve my mood.
[image error]I just hope the T-Rex doesn’t use that thing to touch his face. (Photo: Shala Howell)
Before you go… Drop a line and let me know how Caterpickles can be helpful to you during this time.
Related Links:
More Pandemic Diary entries on Caterpickles Educational Resources on Caterpickles
Educational Resources – General Studies
General Studies (websites that offer a range of classes in multiple subject areas, including science, math, history, and the arts)Offline resources are flagged
The All-Important Disclaimer: I have not personally vetted all of these resources. There just isn’t enough time right now to do that. So if something looks interesting to you, be sure to check it out first to make sure it will work for you and your child.
General Studies
Khan Academy
Khan Academy offers virtual classes on a wide range of topics, including science, math, history, and grammar for kids at all grade levels. Registration is required, but courses are available for free.
Visit Khan Academy
Great Courses Online via Kanopy Streaming Service
Just like many libraries offer access to free ebooks and audiobooks, some public libraries also offer free access to movies, documentaries, and the Great Courses lecture series through the Kanopy Streaming Service. If your library is one of them, register your library card with Kanopy to start streaming.
Visit Kanopy to see if these services are available through your library
Workman Publishing’s Everything You Need to Know to Ace [Subject] Series
(Offline Activity)
At my daughter’s fifth grade Scholastic book fair, I was fretting about middle school, so picked up several books in the Everything You Need to Know to Ace [Science, Math, World History, English, American History] in One Big Fat Notebook series. We haven’t read them from cover to cover yet, but they’ve been handy backup references. I can easily imagine them playing a larger role in our new Educate at Home phase, especially since my daughter seems to enjoy dipping into them now and then on her own.
American History
Homeschooling Association of California
(Requires Zoom and/or Facebook)
The Homeschooling Association of California is planning to offer free Homeschooling 101 sessions on April 1 and April 29 through their Facebook page.
Visit the Homeschooling Association of California’s Facebook page
Scholastic’s Learn At Home Website
(Website)
Scholastic has assembled a web page full of classes and other activites to keep kids learning during this unprecedented time of worldwide school closures. Activities and classes are sorted by grade, and are available for Pre-K through Grade 9.
Visit the Scholastic Learn at Home website
COVID-19 Homeschooling Resources from The Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors
(Website)
The Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors website is a collaborative effort of dozens of writers who produce some of our favorite books for middle schoolers. These authors have created a new COVID-19 section on their website where they regularly post new resources, activities, and lesson plans for parents who find themselves suddenly serving as the primary educator for their kids on its website.
Scan the options available to you on the Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors
Classes taught by teachers on local TV
(TV/Offline)
USA Today recently reported that Los Angeles and other local school districts are experimenting with public access television as a way to broadcast lessons to students affected by school closures. Teachers in the Boston and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania school districts are also curating PBS content for students.
Read the USA Today article to see if this might be an option for you
Find a resource I’ve missed?
I’ll add more resources as I find them, but this list will be much better with your input too. You’re inevitably going to come across things I’d miss. If you do, please let me know about them, either by dropping a comment below or finding me on Twitter (@shalahowell).
Also, although I hope this won’t happen, I could easily add something to this list that either doesn’t exist anymore or really shouldn’t be on here. If you see something like that, please let me know.
Thank you and good luck!
Educational Resources – Reading and other book-related activities
Free ebook & audiobook collectionsRead-alongsLots of ideas for book-related activities you and your kids can do at homeOffline resources are flagged
The All-Important Disclaimer: I have not personally vetted all of these resources. There just isn’t enough time right now to do that. So if something looks interesting to you, be sure to check it out first to make sure it will work for you and your child.
Free ebook and audiobook collections
JLG@Home from the Junior Library Guild
The Junior Library Guild is offering free access to their JLG Digital Platform to students and teachers affected by their community’s school closures and social distancing rules. The platform includes curated collections of ebooks and audiobooks for elementary, middle school, and high school readers. (Thanks for the tip, Amy R.!)
Learn more about JLG@Home.
New York City Public Library
Readers in New York City can download any of the New York City Public Library’s 300,000 ebooks for free using the SimplyE app.
Learn more about the SimplyE service
Not in New York City but want to access free ebooks and audiobooks anyway?
Many public libraries offer access to their collections through smartphone applications like Libby and Overdrive. In most cases, you will need a library card to access the collection. Check your local library’s website to see what is available in your area.
Book-Related Activities
PenguinClassroom
PenguinClassroom continues a wide range of discussion guides, activities, state-by-state recommended reading lists, virtual author/book talks, and more to engage readers of all school ages.
Teachers, Librarians, and Booksellers — Penguin recently announced that they are temporarily granting you permission to use their titles in your virtual classrooms, to create a virtual story-time or read-along experiences for your students affected by the school closures. They do ask that you notify them via email when you use one of their titles.
Explore the resources available to you through PenguinClassroomRead Penguin’s announcement and review the reporting requirements
Kate Messner’s Online Resource Library
Kate Messner, author of more than three dozen kids’ books is compiling/has compiled an online library of resources for kids, families, teachers, and librarians to help support learning during the COVID-19 outbreak. Resources include a kid-friendly comic explaining why things have been closing unexpectedly this spring, first chapter and picture book read-alouds from various authors, and lessons in drawing and writing.
View Kate Messner’s ever-expanding Read, Wonder, & Learn library
Take an Online Writing Workshop from Lindsay Currie
Lindsay Currie, author of The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street, has posted a free online writing workshop for 3rd – 7th graders interested in writing their own spooky stories.
Visit Lindsay Currie’s Spooky 101 Toolbox
Write a First-hand Historical Account of the Pandemic
(Instructions are online, but activities can be done offline.)
Beth Vrabel, author of The Newspaper Club, has suggestions for encouraging your child to document their experiences during the pandemic as if they were a journalist.
“What is your family doing to prepare? How is your community coming together? Write. It. Down.”
Middle School Reading Guides by Beth Vrabel
(Instructions are online, but activities can be done offline.)
In case you are looking for a more traditional middle school reading guide, Beth Vrabel has also posted a series of study guides for parents and educators to use in conjunction with her middle grade books, including The Newspaper Club and Pack of Dorks.
Review Beth Vrabel’s guides
Have your kids make a book trailer
If you want to feel better about letting your kids read whatever they want during this time, you can have them pick a book and create a book trailer for it.
How to help your middle schooler create a book trailer
Mo Willems’ Lunch Doodles
Mo Willems invites your child to join him at 1 p.m. ET every day to draw, doodle, and explore new ways of telling stories. Episodes are archived and available through the Kennedy Center website.
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems
Seussville
A website filled with activities, games, and videos based on the Dr. Seuss picture books.
Visit Seussville
Read-alongs
Storyline Online
A library of videos of various actors reading picture books for kids.
Visit Storyline Online
Storytime with First Lady Donna Edwards
Donna Edwards, the First Lady of the state of Louisiana, is hosting live read-alongs on her Facebook page on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11 a.m. Central Time. So far, she appears to be archiving the readings on her Facebook page for folks who missed the live feed.
Donna Edwards’ Facebook page
Kate Messner’s Ranger In Time Read-along
Kate Messner is busily working her way through an online read of her Ranger In Time: Rescue on the Oregon Trail book.
Find past chapters and join her for live readings here
Audible.com’s free streaming collection of stories for kids
Audible has made a ton of children’s stories available for free streaming through its website. The collection includes old favorites like Beatrix Potter and Winnie the Pooh, as well as newer tales from Ransom Riggs and Obert Skye. (Multiple languages are available.)
Browse the audiobook collection here
Find a resource I’ve missed?
I’ll add more resources as I find them, but this list will be much better with your input too. You’re inevitably going to come across things I’d miss. If you do, please let me know about them, either by dropping a comment below or finding me on Twitter (@shalahowell).
Also, although I hope this won’t happen, I could easily add something to this list that either doesn’t exist anymore or really shouldn’t be on here. If you see something like that, please let me know.
Thank you and good luck!
Educational Resources – Social Studies, History, and Art
Social Studies / History resourcesHistory/Social Studies related activitiesArt resourcesField tripsOffline resources are flagged
The All-Important Disclaimer: I have not personally vetted all of these resources. There just isn’t enough time right now to do that. So if something looks interesting to you, be sure to check it out first to make sure it will work for you and your child.
Social Studies / History
Workman Publishing’s Everything You Need to Know to Ace American History In One Big Fat Notebook
(Offline Activity)
From the book cover: “Everything You Need to Ace American History . . . covers Native Americans to the war in Iraq. There are units on Colonial America; the Revolutionary War and the founding of a new nation; Jefferson and the expansion west; the Civil War and Reconstruction; and all of the notable events of the 20th century—World Wars, the Depression, the Civil Rights movement, and much more.”
Buy through IndieBound
The Memory Palace
(Podcast)
The Thirteen-Year-Old’s English teacher told us about a wonderful history resource this week, the Memory Palace. Created by Nate DiMeo in 2008 and named a finalist for the Peabody Award in 2016, each episode of the Memory Palace podcast focuses on a brief moment of history. The stories are told with such emotional resonance and crisp detail that for the space of each episode, listeners are transported to that place in time. There’s no need to listen to the episodes in order. You can find a list of Nate’s favorites here. My daughter’s English teacher particularly recommends The House of Lowe and Dinner at Jefferson’s.
“If you like historical fiction, you will love this. Even if history is not your favorite thing, give it a listen. You might get hooked.”
– The Thirteen-Year-Old’s English teacher
Check out the Memory Palace
Ten Great Nonfiction Books for Middle Schoolers (Caterpickles)
(Offline Resource)
Remember when I made that list of non-fiction books for middle schoolers? Turns out books like March, The Notorious RBG, and Illegal have even more to offer us right now than I had originally anticipated. Obviously, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but I’ve included it as a reminder to us to scour our own collection of nonfiction books to see what unexpected goodies we might have lying around.
Related Activities
Document your #Shelter-in-Place experience
(Offline Activity)
Beth Vrabel, author of The Newspaper Club, offers this suggestion for an easy, offline activity for kids (and their parents) during this period of school closings, social distancing, and sheltering-in-place.
[image error]Tweet from Beth Vrabel, outlining the project.
This first tweet covers the basic idea, but in a series of follow-on tweets, Vrabel suggests a series of important guidelines for parents, including allowing this project to be optional, not requiring kids to show parents every entry, and making time to help kids turn their pandemic diaries into a proper newsletter, if they want.
Read Beth Vrabel’s project guidelinesAn alternative suggestion for sci-fi buffs via Sara Marie Reine (@SMReine) — have your kids write as if they were on the International Space Station or visiting Mars.
Art
Watch an expert art conservator restore paintings
Take a free virtual art class with Ann McMillan
Mondays at 1 p.m. from March 30 through April 20, artist Ann McMillan will offer a free virtual art class. Classes are recorded live, and the recordings will be available after class ends.
Join Ann McMillan’s virtual art classes
Dav Pilkey at Home
Dav Pilkey, author of Captain Underpants, is hosting a series of drawing classes to help entertain kids at home. New activities and videos are posted every Friday.
Check out Dav Pilkey at Home
Yes, you can still have field trips!
Lots of natural history museums have started to highlight the digital archives, virtual tours, and activities available on their websites. Visit the website of your favorite natural history museum or use my partial list to get started.
Find a resource I’ve missed?
I’ll add more resources as I find them, but this list will be much better with your input too. You’re inevitably going to come across things I’d miss. If you do, please let me know about them, either by dropping a comment below or finding me on Twitter (@shalahowell).
Also, although I hope this won’t happen, I could easily add something to this list that either doesn’t exist anymore or really shouldn’t be on here. If you see something like that, please let me know.
Thank you and good luck!
Educational Resources – Social Studies and History
Social Studies / History resourcesRelated activitiesField tripsOffline resources are flagged
The All-Important Disclaimer: I have not personally vetted all of these resources. There just isn’t enough time right now to do that. So if something looks interesting to you, be sure to check it out first to make sure it will work for you and your child.
Social Studies / History
Workman Publishing’s Everything You Need to Know to Ace American History In One Big Fat Notebook
(Offline Activity)
From the book cover: “Everything You Need to Ace American History . . . covers Native Americans to the war in Iraq. There are units on Colonial America; the Revolutionary War and the founding of a new nation; Jefferson and the expansion west; the Civil War and Reconstruction; and all of the notable events of the 20th century—World Wars, the Depression, the Civil Rights movement, and much more.”
Buy through IndieBound
The Memory Palace
(Podcast)
The Thirteen-Year-Old’s English teacher told us about a wonderful history resource this week, the Memory Palace. Created by Nate DiMeo in 2008 and named a finalist for the Peabody Award in 2016, each episode of the Memory Palace podcast focuses on a brief moment of history. The stories are told with such emotional resonance and crisp detail that for the space of each episode, listeners are transported to that place in time. There’s no need to listen to the episodes in order. You can find a list of Nate’s favorites here. My daughter’s English teacher particularly recommends The House of Lowe and Dinner at Jefferson’s.
“If you like historical fiction, you will love this. Even if history is not your favorite thing, give it a listen. You might get hooked.”
– The Thirteen-Year-Old’s English teacher
Check out the Memory Palace
Ten Great Nonfiction Books for Middle Schoolers (Caterpickles)
(Offline Resource)
Remember when I made that list of non-fiction books for middle schoolers? Turns out books like March, The Notorious RBG, and Illegal have even more to offer us right now than I had originally anticipated. Obviously, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but I’ve included it as a reminder to us to scour our own collection of nonfiction books to see what unexpected goodies we might have lying around.
Related Activities
Document your #Shelter-in-Place experience
(Offline Activity)
Beth Vrabel, author of The Newspaper Club, offers this suggestion for an easy, offline activity for kids (and their parents) during this period of school closings, social distancing, and sheltering-in-place.
[image error]Tweet from Beth Vrabel, outlining the project.
This first tweet covers the basic idea, but in a series of follow-on tweets, Vrabel suggests a series of important guidelines for parents, including allowing this project to be optional, not requiring kids to show parents every entry, and making time to help kids turn their pandemic diaries into a proper newsletter, if they want.
Read Beth Vrabel’s project guidelinesAn alternative suggestion for sci-fi buffs via Sara Marie Reine (@SMReine) — have your kids write as if they were on the International Space Station or visiting Mars.
Yes, you can still have field trips!
Lots of natural history museums have started to highlight the digital archives, virtual tours, and activities available on their websites. Visit the website of your favorite natural history museum or use my partial list to get started.
Find a resource I’ve missed?
I’ll add more resources as I find them, but this list will be much better with your input too. You’re inevitably going to come across things I’d miss. If you do, please let me know about them, either by dropping a comment below or finding me on Twitter (@shalahowell).
Also, although I hope this won’t happen, I could easily add something to this list that either doesn’t exist anymore or really shouldn’t be on here. If you see something like that, please let me know.
Thank you and good luck!
Miss going outside? – Take a virtual field trip
Theaters and opera houses offering live-streamed performancesArt museums with virtual tours and/or digital archives of their collectionDon’t forget about public art!Science and Natural History Museums with activities for kids and parents to do at homeZoos with live-cams on specific animals
The All-Important Disclaimer: I have not personally vetted all of these resources. There just isn’t enough time right now to do that. So if something looks interesting to you, be sure to check it out first to make sure it will work for you and your child.
Catch a virtual performance
Several world-famous theatres and opera houses are offering free live-stream performances. Here are just a few:
The Kennedy Center is offering a variety of live performances and on-demand videos at Kennedy Center @ HomeThe Metropolitan Opera is live-streaming a different opera every nightAs is the Vienna State Opera And the Staatsoper Unter Den Linden
Browse the world’s best art collections
Art museums worldwide are also generously sharing video tours of some of their best / most famous pieces. Here are just a few:
Google Arts and Culture (a medley of interesting things, ranging from 7 Awesome Facts about Dinosaurs to a list of Italian Historical Sites you can explore from home)The British National Museum in London, UKThe Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia (website in Russian)The Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy (a digital archive of various art works) The Louvre in Paris, France (requires Flash)The Museo de Prado in Madrid, SpainThe Met in New York City, USA (link takes you to the Met’s Digital Digest, which summarizes its online offerings)The MoMA in New York City, USA The Guggenheim (New York, Venice, Bilbao, and Abu Dhabi)
In fact, so many art museums are doing some version of this, I bet your local favorite is as well.
Don’t forget about public art!
Assuming your town still allows you to go outside for exercise, remember to keep an eye out for public art. Looking at public art with your kids is a great way to get them outside for a little exercise while observing all appropriate physical distancing protocols.
Need a place to start? I’ve got a small collection of public art posts on Caterpickles. Skim through them to get some ideas on where the public art might be hiding in your area.Need some conversation starters? I have a book out on how parents (even non-artistic ones) can talk about public art with their kids. Find What’s That, Mom? on IndieBound or Amazon
Visit world class science / natural history museums
The Smithsonian in Washington, DCNASA’s online gallery of short videos about space stuffThe Field Museum in Chicago, IL The Boston Museum of Science in Boston, MA
Again, every museum I’ve checked so far has some sort of online content on offer. So if you aren’t as interested in the ones I’ve listed here, it’s probably worth visiting your personal favorite’s website to see what’s there.
Miss going to the zoo?
The Smithsonian National Zoo has a set of webcams trained on its pandas, lions, elephants, and mole rats. The San Diego Zoo has live cams trained on its penguins, polar bears, apes, koalas, butterflies, tigers, condors, elephants, baboons, and burrowing owls. EarthCam has a selection of live streams from zoo around the worldStill not satisfied? The Verge has published this list of soothing animal cams to watch out of the side of your eye while you’re working at home.
Miss your own zoo? Visit its website and see if they’ve put up a live cam on some of your favorites.
Find a resource I’ve missed?
I’ll add more resources as I find them, but this list will be much better with your input too. You’re inevitably going to come across things I’d miss. If you do, please let me know about them, either by dropping a comment below or finding me on Twitter (@shalahowell).
Also, although I hope this won’t happen, I could easily add something to this list that either doesn’t exist anymore or really shouldn’t be on here. If you see something like that, please let me know.
Thank you and good luck!
March 26, 2020
“Why do Silicon Valley companies have such large stockpiles of masks?”
We are on Day 14 of The Howells All Being Home At Once. It’s been a few days since I’ve had a chance to update Caterpickles. I hope that you and your families are as well as can be expected. We are hanging in there.
Today’s question: “Why do Silicon Valley companies keep such large stockpiles of masks?”
This week, Apple, Facebook, Tesla, IBM, and Salesforce have all announced plans to donate millions of masks to hospitals nationwide. Thanks to my diligent monitoring of the hotbed of crackpot conspiracy theory otherwise known as The Twitter, I have learned that people who live outside the Bay Area find it somewhat strange, if not outright nefarious, that these companies had any stockpiles to begin with.
So, is this a nefarious plot to weaken U.S. healthcare in a time of crisis?
Not necessarily.
One of the most surprising things about moving here was how bad the air quality regularly is during wildfire season. One year it got so bad, I had to cancel my mom’s Thanksgiving visit.
After a few especially bad wildfire years, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHA) Board recently started requiring companies to maintain a stash of face masks and other respiratory equipment to protect their workers.
Here’s an excerpt from the 2019 regulation:
“Where it’s reasonable to anticipate employee exposure to wild fire smoke, employers are required to provide employees with respirators for voluntary use in accordance with section 5144 when the current AQI for PM 2.5 is 151 or higher but less than 500. Use of respirators becomes mandatory when the current AQI for PM2.5 exceeds 500. Reference section 5141.1.”
Source: Standards Presentation to California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, Title 8, Division 1, Section 4, Subchapter 7: General Industry Safety Orders, Group 16: Control of Hazardous Substances, Article 107: Dusts, Fumes, Mists, Vapors and Gases, Section §5141.1: Protection from Wildfire Smoke.
The Bay Area has several days per year that meet the standard for providing protection under these regulations.
So it’s definitely possible, that these California regulations are the reason Silicon Valley companies have stockpiles of N95 masks and other respiratory equipment on hand. Hopefully, you will hear about more companies sharing their stash in the near future.
Apple only has 25,000 employees in the Bay Area, though. Why does Apple have 10 million masks?
This is leading to great confusion and conspiracy-spinning online. It’s worth pointing out here that it’s not clear whether Apple already had 10 million masks in its own stockpile or if it’s simply going to pressure its own suppliers to provide 10 million masks to U.S. hospitals as quickly as possible. It would help if Apple would clarify this, but for the moment they are remaining coy.
Your mileage may vary, but I’m too busy to add another conspiracy theory to my list of crazy things to monitor today, so I’m choosing to believe that Apple has a good reason to have whatever number of masks it has available to donate and is working with suppliers to obtain the rest.
Now that Silicon Valley’s on the case, can we all relax about PPE shortages?
Ha! No.
Ten million masks just from Apple’s suppliers sounds like a huge number. But is it really?
According to the American Hospital Association, there are 6,156 hospitals in the U.S. today. If Apple were to distribute its 10 million masks equally across each of those hospitals, each hospital would receive approximately 1,627 masks.
That’s just a drop in the bucket for hospitals at the heart of the COVID-19 outbreak. For context, an internal memo from New York City’s Presbyterian Hospital states that while the hospital normally uses only 4,000 masks a day, hospital administrators expect healthcare workers to use 40,000 – 70,000 masks every day during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Let’s say that on average Presbyterian Hospital workers end up using 55,000 a day. The 1,627 masks from Apple would last less than an hour.
If Apple were to send all 10 million masks to Presbyterian Hospital, those masks would last six months. Six months sounds great, until you remember that’s just one hospital, and the United States has 6,156 of them, all competing for scarce PPE resources.
To get a sense of the scale of the need, I visited Project N95’s website. Project N95 is an online clearinghouse that works with government agencies to match institutions in need of masks, ventilators, gowns, and other essential medical equipment with potential donors and suppliers. Currently, Project N95 has received more than 2000 requests from institutions for more than 110 million pieces of PPE. Presumably those 2000 requests are just a portion of the actual need.
Am I glad to see Silicon Valley companies, non-government organizations, and private citizens stepping up to help source masks and other much needed medical equipment?
Absolutely. Every little bit helps. Keep it up, y’all!
But for me, it’s also one more datapoint underscoring just how badly the U.S. needs a coordinated federal response to this pandemic.
Sources for this section
Tim Cook says Apple is sourcing 10 million masks from its supply chain (Forbes.com)Masks donated by Facebook for health workers were stockpiled after wildfire regulations (CNBC) Why we shouldn’t rely on Silicon Valley for face masks (Vox.com)Internal memos by chief surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital revealed new details about the coming threat (ABC News)Fast facts in U.S. Hospitals 2020 (American Hospital Association)Project N95
Today’s pandemic project
But soft! What leaf through yonder soil breaks?
[image error]I’m so sorry, Shakespeare. (Photo: Shala Howell)
Today’s tidbit of Twitter humor
[image error]Hopefully that duck’s mask is not medical grade. (Tweet: @libbycwatson)
Education update
The rollout of the Education Resources has been a bit slower than hoped, however, I did post a preliminary list of Science and Math Resources this week. The Reading page is taking forever, because libraries, YA, MG, and picture book authors are really stepping up to help parents. There are a ton of resources out there, and just listing what I already know about is taking a long time.
As for our home-education attempts, there was a minor dust-up over Excessive Mommyo Nagging this week, so I have modified our process yet again. I now use Google Sheet’s Assignment Tracker template to list my daughter’s weekly assignments. I share that list each week with The Thirteen-Year-Old and her father. The Thirteen-Year-Old selects what she wants to work on each day, and updates the list as she completes the things on it. As long as Michael and I see sufficient progress on the list (and that progress reflected in Schoology), we are letting her work at her own pace.
[image error]The Assignment Tracker in Google Sheets in action. Michael and The Thirteen-Year-Old think I made this on my own, but really I just took Google Sheets’ existing template and added in my own data. (Photo: Shala Howell)
How about you? How are you holding up?
Related Links:
More Pandemic Diary entries on Caterpickles Educational Resources on Caterpickles
