Pamela Beere Briggs was a writer and filmmaker who never forgot her joyful time in a Japanese kindergarten. It led her to believe that every child should have the opportunity to love learning. Reading, writing, and creating (films, stories, food & field-trips) were her favorite pursuits. She is one of the authors of The Schoolhouse Experiment: Reimagining School at Home and in the Classroom.
Ms. April’s Potted Plants
During quarantine, Natalie illustrated a story I, Pamela, wrote for learners of all ages. I had been thinking for a long time about the ways in which we can show children how to appreciate their own unique qualities by noticing and appreciating the beautiful and unique qualities of plants and flowers. I wrote a story
Easy and Delicious Kumquat Jam
We have a really happy Nagami Kumquat Tree that lives in a big pot on our patio. It provides beautiful tiny fruit every year in early summer. Bill recently harvested the abundant fruit. Kumquats are considered a super-fruit, filled with anti-oxidants. I thought I’d try making jam for the first time ever. I found the
Gardens and Benches Invite Community
Our front garden has been our creative and emotional oasis this past year, both for us and our neighbors. Our Free Little Library receives many visitors, who both borrow and donate books. Our rotating art gallery delights pedestrians, delivery people, and drivers who catch a glimpse and stop to look. The bucket of chalk has
I have just read a transcendent book…
When I read, I sometimes use a recent notecard a friend or family member has given me as my bookmark. While reading Lauren Belfer’s transcendent novel And After the Fire, I did just that. It makes me feel like I am reading with someone whose company I enjoy. As I neared the end of this
René Magritte in a Miniature Art Gallery
This past week, we saw a bicyclist come to a sudden stop when he noticed our miniature art gallery. He spent time looking at the art, the miniature people visiting the art gallery, and reading the description. A Fed Ex deliveryman did the same. A woman walking home with a bag of groceries stopped to
Miniature Art Gallery
In our front garden, we have opened a miniature art gallery. The art on the wall rotates. The people inside the gallery change regularly. From our windows we can see pedestrians stop and spend time looking inside. One person left a dollar bill — I think to say it was worth an admission price The
Journeys with Ursula K. Le Guin
It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end. On a cold and windy Sunday afternoon in 2015, Bill and I settled into our seats in UCLA’s Royce Hall to listen to Ursula K. Le Guin in conversation with Meryl Friedman from UCLA’s Center for
THE SCHOOLHOUSE EXPERIMENT: Reimagining School at Home and in the Classroom
We — Pamela, Beere Briggs, Bill McDonald and Natalie McDonald (along with public school teacher Judy Feuer-Walden) – have written a short book (136 pages) that we hope reassures, inspires and as Natalie would says works as a “a call to action” for all children’s right to a fulfilling and nurturing education. We tell our
My 2020 Book “Quilts”
I decided to gather up the books I’ve read this year and lay them out on our living room rug like a quilt. How beautiful it was to see the covers again (like meeting up with friends I haven’t seen in many weeks or months) and, in glimpsing each of them, remember the time I