Author. Coach.
Speaker. Parent
Author
World Class: One Mother's Journey Halfway Around the Globe in Search of the Best Education for Her Children
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For parents, teachers, students, and legislators at schools, clubs, organizations, corporations, and conferences.
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To empower parents, students, and schools in their global commitment
Book NowAn Amazon Best-Seller! An eye-opening firsthand exploration of why Asian students are outpacing their American counterparts, and how to help our children excel in today’s competitive world.
@PamelaPaulNYT My home is a cacophony of zoom calls echoing from behind closed doors....
Read MoreAbsolutely heart wrenching. I am sick that this can even happen. ...
Read More“The long-term prospects for the [US] are more compromised by keeping children out of school for an extended period than they are by making people continue to delay getting their hair and nails done professionally” 💯 @mattyglesias @voxdotcom #ReopenSMART ...
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Family. We are their world. 87% of the Earth’s student population is home.🏡🌍
Collaboration across all levels is vital. There is no magic formula. We must work together to solve for our kids. 🤝
My advice to have a smart summer? Take action as a family. Explore practices outside your bubble: across the street🏘, town🏙, region🗺, highways 🛣, oceans 🌊and languages 🗣, for knowledge🧠, ideas💡, food 🍛, games ⛳️, films 🎥, books📚 and any and all practices to expand our worlds this summer. We are home, but we are not limited. 💫
LINK IN BIO to read my recent ParentEd newsletter for tips on the 8 Ways to Summer Smart 😎, plus the education news parents NEED to know! 🗞 Sign up for my bi-monthly newsletter on teruclavel.com #theworldclassroom
Family Rituals. Old and New... forever changed?
We unknowingly establish many: the local pizza joint, 🍕 summer trip to grandma’s 👵🏼, lazy days at the community pool 🏊🏻, beach bbq's 🏖🕶, unique farewells at the bus stop👩❤️👩, summer desserts 🍦...
Our kids memorialize institutions, experiences, and places throughout their childhood that become a lasting part of their identity. And they pass these on and practice them with their children, generation after generation.
Rye Playland has been one of those rituals for my family. Every summer, no matter where we are living full-time, we return. It's a figurative home for us. Nostalgia is powerful. I went there as a kid myself...I even mention my 6th grade birthday party at Rye Playland in World Class (see pg. 180 for a funny story 🚌🚌).
Swipe for a nostalgia trip 👉 Zoltar Machine in @tomhanks ’ movie, Big 🔮 and Victoria boogying with the balloon goon! 🎈🕺🏻
Some of these institutions may not survive Covid. New ones will be born. So as summer approaches and camps, fairs, festivals, vacations are canceled or possibly closed forever, be cognizant that your kids may experience a feeling of loss and withdrawal from the rituals of past years. 🪁
Now, this is an opportunity to regenerate and create new practices. 🌱
Address this with your kids and establish new and positive rituals moving forward. 🌞
Hard at work? (Too) close for comfort? 😂 The unexpected joys of a now NYC home office (room corner) — sitting catty corner with my daughter while she’s in Zoom school 💻💕 I have learned about Cinco de Mayo, transformation in drama, enslavement in African Kingdoms... and when I ask questions, I get, “Mama!” in response. 🤣 Swipe! 👇
Plus discovering new “private” locations for work (when I kinda get kicked out). Anyone else sitting on the floor? 🤷🏻♀️🛋
This year will be our first without summer in Japan. 🇯🇵 How I miss travel and the independence that it fosters in my kids. And prepping for solo domestic and international travel by age 6. The ultimate gift. 🗺
Photo 1: Victoria at age 5 carrying her own “stuff.” Family rule: “If you can’t carry it, don’t bring it.” 🧳
Photo 2: Having just turned 9, Charles in the bullet train (Shinkansen) leaving Tokyo station on his own to visit family in Osaka. 🚂
Photo 3: Mom and son trip. James at age 10 replete with full fishing gear, catching poisonous blow fish and the requisite sea sickness overboard throw up (that seems to really attract the fish 🤣). 🎣
Photo 4: Kids’ solo trans-pacific pic, ages 9 and 6. Big brother taking care or little sister for the 13-hour flight. 💺
Happy Mother’s Day! Pure Love and Gratitude to every mom everywhere. 💐 Here is 3 generations of mothers and daughters, and my second mother, Aunt Yukiko.
Through divorce, I know firsthand how we and our work are undervalued by society because there is no monetary reward. Yet we moms sacrifice everything for our children and for the greater good of this very society. 🤱🏻
I feel like *that* statistic. I gave up pursuing my career and supported my husband’s and followed him around the world for 14+ years while raising our family. And these are historically peak career building and earning years. Yet, our antiquated legal system still favors men. And I would argue that I had the far more important job — raising good kids and supporting the future of our shared humanity.👩👧👦👩👩👦👦👩👧👧👩👧
The baby borne from my journey is World Class and my commitment to empower every child with a top quality education. In effect, I made lemonade out of lemons. And I remain forever grateful for the commercial success of World Class that will, I hope, provide a platform from which I can continue to support the learning of all our children. 🍋
So, moms, please bask in your glory today and, hopefully, every single day. Demand it. 💪
I dedicated my book World Class to my Mother and children. My greatest educators. I love you. 💕 swipe to read 👉
Wow. Let’s take stock.🤗 Time flies. ⏱✈️ I hope we appreciate every moment❤️, especially now. 👉 Swipe left on the post to see us now, 10 years later...
A silver lining. Appreciating NYC’s stillness. Park Avenue without cars, traffic and with reduced air pollution. 🗽
A lesson for humanity. 🌏🌱☀️
Sound on! 🔊 Sometimes you just gotta let loose, laugh and make an a** of yourself. Doormen came out for applause 👏👏 They needed it too! 😂 Thankful for my thoughtful videographer 🍑🙈 inspired by @napalmquist and this gorgeous NYC 🌞 day! @thekillers #arewehumanorarewedancers #iamdefinitelyhuman
An ode to our special friend, Hanna, whom we adopted from a Hong Kong shelter 14 years ago today — she was about to be put down and was covered in ticks. 🐶 She has been a constant through 5 cities, 12 addresses, 3 dog quarantines in 12 years and now Covid. 🌍 Morning afternoon and night walks, constant vacuuming and Swiffer-ing (it’s shedding season 🧹), companionship. Thank you Hanna. ❤️
Walks with Hanna are different in these times. I now appreciate the Central Park marvels I never stopped to notice before. 🐦 A mother bird feeing her babies (that’s what I’m pointing at). The silver lining through all this.
And, now, I don’t just watch the Roomba to meditate, I watch Hanna watching the Roomba (swipe to see).👀🧘♀️
Taking in the silence. Covid-dictated exercise schedule 🌜🦉
I am converted. Now I am a runner in the early AM before sunrise or at sundown. 🏃🏻♀️ Park is relatively empty. This was my view last night. 🌃 ✨ Shoutout and huge gratitude to @andyspeer @onepeloton ...they are my newfound saviors 🙌🏼
Swipe for the full look... headgear with mask😷 👍
But to come home to no ice cream?! Did a second run to buy what was left... odd flavors...? Simple pleasures mean so much, now. 🍦🍦 #humblepie #simplepleasures
“How is Covid affecting you?” I asked my daughter. In truth, I learned. I am reminded how important it is to listen to our kids. What started as an activity to occupy our time was an important lesson for me.
We are at an inflection point. Developmentally and depending on family circumstance, each child’s journey will be different.
Please forgive the PJs, clumsiness, and TV remote microphone 😂
Recorded a while back but just released. Thank you @mimosaswithmoms 🥂 for allowing me to use your incredible platform to give a much deserved shoutout to our teachers! 👇 LINK IN BIO to listen to the full episode! 🎙
It is time to support and applaud our teachers. 👏🏽 Especially now. They have been thrust into an unimaginable, daunting, and even untenable role that requires flexibility, meeting demands of students and their families, learning new skills, and supporting both the academics and emotional needs of student.
On-line learning is revealing the true value of our teachers! Our kids receive a robust education at school which, as it turns out, requires an incredible amount of work to replicate at home. 💪🏽
On a profound level, what sustains our schools are its teachers. Nothing is more important in our school buildings than our teachers. 🍎
🎙Listen to my podcast with @mimosaswithmoms where we talk about encouraging and supporting the best and the brightest into what should be one of our most respectable professions. #thankyouteachers LINK IN BIO!