What do Serena Williams, Russell Wilson, The Arizona Cardinals, Kobe Bryant and Jameis Winston all have in common? They have all been trained by Ryan Flaherty, who’s now the senior director of Performance at Nike. Ryan’s known in the industry for dramatically improving athletes speed, but he’s also sought out for his guidance on injury […]
productivity
Giving Kids Autonomy
The definition of autonomous is “having the freedom to act independently”. For most kids, college is the first time they are living independently on their own. I have written about and shared other articles and books emphasizing the importance of learning practical skills like money management, laundry, grocery shopping, and mailing letters, but what about […]
Routine & Consistency
I celebrated my birthday last week in Tahoe with famiy and friends and I’m not going to lie, reentry was a challenge when Monday rolled around. Monday is usually my day to set goals for the week, reset, and prioritize my to-do list. However, this week I found myself procrastinating (yes I watched Lady Gaga […]
Lessons learned from Marie Kondo
I have joined the Marie Kondo wave of tidying up just like everyone else and spent the beginning of 2019 bingeing her new Netflix show. There is beauty in the houses that are magically made over in the course of a 40 minute show (while in reality the families being featured are toiling away […]
Goodreads Best Books of 2018
Goodreads released their annual readers’ choice awards today. One of their categories is YA fiction and there are so many great books on their list, I wanted to share some of my favorites here. Becky Albertalli, who wrote Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda has two books on the list, the #1 YA readers’ choice is Leah […]
Back to basics…the benefits of using a planner
We are entering one of the busiest times of the year for our students and their families. Between academic commitments, extracurriculars and end of the year exams, projects (and SATs for our juniors!), things are well…chaotic. I wanted to share a gentle reminder for the benefits of using a written planner. Many of our students […]
Lessons from Ira Glass
This American Life might be one of my favorite podcasts/radio journalism formats of all time. I am dating myself, but I remember listening to NPR and timing drives so I could catch the show when it aired. It’s a weekly public radio program and podcast; each week they choose a theme and put together different […]
Say what? Listen to your kids
I had the pleasure of attending the Challenge Success event at Stanford a few weeks ago. If you are not familiar with Challenge Success, they are doing groundbreaking work in the areas of student support and success at the high school level. They work with schools, students and families to come up with strategies for […]
Calling all artists
Do you have an interest in art? These competitions for high schoolers are a great way to get recognition for hard work, show demonstrated interest in art and also have scholarship money tied to them. We often hear students protest competing because they don’t think they’ll win. But, there is a benefit to submitting work […]
Supporting the Quiet Student
I attended a great parent ed event last week at a local high school with Heidi Kasevich, who runs the Quiet Schools Network. The focus of the lecture was how we can support quiet, or introverted students. Our society has a strong cultural dynamic around an extroverted ideal. Susan Cain writes about this […]