I sent this email out on April 12, 2020.

 

Well.  It’s been a while.  I sure hope you all are well.

A few days ago, I received this email:

Yep I’ll 

I’ve recently joined the email list for your email list (Tip of the Week). And I wanted to ask: Are you still sending out the Tip of the Week? 

I’ve read some of the past ones on your site and loved them.

I responded with a promise:

I need to.  I stopped about 6 months ago… and, I am not really sure why.  

Thanks for the reminder.  I’d like to get back to it.  So, I will.  🙂

Soooo… here I am again.

Here’s the thing.  I feel a bit responsible for the Coronavirus.  After all, I teach Latin.  Corona comes from crown, and virus comes from poison.

If you are stuck at home, now is a great time to level up.  I know you have heard that from every other email guru out there, but I thought I’d show you a few practical ways to get started.

You could go to Harvard.  Many of their courses are online for free.  Check this page out: https://online-learning.harvard.edu/catalog/free

When this is all over, and your friends ask how you spent your time, you could say, “Oh, you know.  The usual.  Took a couple of classes at Harvard.”  Might be worth it just to be able to say that.

You probably already know this, but you can read (and listen to) lots of free books from the public library.  Just download this app and add your library card number and start listening: https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/

As for me, I love learning.   I would love to do both.  However, I am currently spending about 6 hours a day researching words for Word Up: Volume 2.  So, if you want to learn a lot of words while watching me act like an idiot, you don’t have to wait too long.  We should be done filming this summer sometime.  

If you have no idea what I am talking about, just go here: Word Up: The Vocab Show.

 

Just so you know.  

After the shutdowns, everyone started homeschooling and all teachers became online teachers.  

Immediately, I began noticing problems in my own online classes.  Slower speeds.  Terrible audio.  And, so on.  

There was one exception.  I hate to even let the secret out.  My early morning classes worked, and continue to work just fine.  

After several weeks of trying to solve the problem, with no luck, I simply moved some of my classes to the mornings.