The Frog Trouble Times is a newsletter featuring essays by me, and nature-focused lessons/tips/observations created by me and Beatrice, my witchy seveneightnine-year-old.
I probably should have started this newsletter in 2020, when we began at-home learning. I was still learning at-home learning then, figuring out my main objectives. These can be summed up as:
1. keeping my kids busy and reasonably content while getting my own work done.
2. feeling good about the time we spend together (I’ll say more about this, but a newsletter is a great tool for remembering stressful times with fondness).
I have added a third goal, as we inch closer to fire season and what’s predicted to be a more-active-than-usual Atlantic hurricane season:
3. figuring out what to say to my kids about climate change and other scary environmental problems.
I’m still learning, and I’m looking forward to learning from you. The FTT is a space for us to do that.
Why the Frog Trouble Times?
While we do have “frog trouble” (human activity is causing a massive amphibian die-off), the Frog Trouble Times takes its name from a newsletter Beatrice and I started after Harriet was born, which takes its name from the Sandra Boynton song “Frog Trouble.”
Beatrice’s newsletter has jokes, nature stories, and usually some reports about our cats.
The substack version of the Frog Trouble Times will also have jokes, nature stories, and maybe a cat update or two.
But more importantly, it will be a community for parents and kids to talk about what it means to live on the earth right now, in what is expected to be the hottest decade on record.
How do we talk about scary but inevitable climate events with elementary-age children? How can we engage our schools and communities in a way that is age-appropriate and impactful? How can climate change be a window into worldwide issues as well as the question of environmental justice?
The FTT is also about your home life. It’s a useful, easy resource for kids’ books, science and history learning, and projects. I’ll tell you about our projects, the minimal but useful tools we keep on hand for exploring and documenting our environment, and you can tell me about yours. Beatrice and I will also interview teachers, kids, and writers whose work engages young people with nature and the environment.
It’s a repository of good news and stories of kids making a difference—like Lilly Platt, a 12-year-old writer and environmental champion who started “Lilly’s Plastic Pickup” at the age of seven. Lilly has picked up close to 150,000 pieces of plastic so far, and through her writing and public speaking works to educate people about the impact of plastic on animals. Or Mari Copeny, who at age 8 convinced President Obama to visit her hometown of Flint, Michigan, to do something about the city’s contaminated water.
How often will you publish?
The FTT started by posting three times a week—a Sunday essay from me, an activity/lesson post on Tuesday, co-planned and co-written by me and Beatrice, and a Friday roundup of news, links, and conversation. Lately we have been publishing at a slower pace, but we are also working on our first published book.
How much does it cost?
Nothing for now! There will always be a free essay/links version, but in the future I will might open up a subscriber service to people who would like to be in tighter community with us, including the ability to ask questions and post and get encouraging feedback on your work. Subscriptions will raise money for environmental causes. Right now we’re considering The Coalition for Rainforest Nations and Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots, but we would love to hear suggestions. The full FTT will always be free to educators, parents who are students, and single parents.
How do I sign up?
It’s easy—register here for free!
What else can I do?
Tell your friends and family, send them a link to sign up!
