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News Advertiser
MAY 20, 2020
www.NewsAdvertiser.com
Valerie Lowes Discusses Online Learning Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent Valerie Lowes is a mother to three children, and she’s been helping her children with online learning since the schools closed down because of COVID-19. Valerie said online learning is going fine for her family. “It is definitely a challenge in the way of getting used to it and not having that face to face with the teacher. For myself, trying to help the kids learn and trying to understand the technology, which some days is better than others, is definitely different than when I went to school. But it also definitely makes it interesting. Also, the teachers have been really
great, they have been meeting with the kids during office hours where you can e-mail them or chat with them to try and figure out things. The advantages are the kids are getting a different way of learning, and technology is the way things are going now. This will help them prep for university classes. It is also giving us a bit more family time. We do not always have to worry about homework right when they get home from school; we can go for a bike ride because we are working on online learning all day. Then I can enhance learning this way by being there for them right now. We are also trying to teach them more life
skills that they will need such as baking, going for bike rides, and teaching them woodworking. We cater to our children’s interests by finding things they like doing. For a social life, we have been doing face time with friends and family, going for walks and seeing them across their driveway and talking to them that way,” said Valerie.“ Her parting words, “Everyone do your part, stay safe and we will get through this.”
Eco Shopping is good for Small Businesses Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent
Shopping at local small businesses helps people save money while it can be beneficial to the environment in several ways. The obvious way is people can walk or bike to a local business. This saves money and time from having to travel to a city. In turn, traveling less also aids in environment stewardship because it reduces air pollution and cuts back on greenhouse gas emissions. Sometimes, you
help out local farmers this way. As well, if you support your local businesses, they will be able to hire enough employees and local residents will not have to drive out of town to obtain employment. Also, people seldom consider when you buy items online, as well as, not helping out local businesses; you put stress on the environment by having extra items needing to be shipped out while if you buy from a local business, they usually already have the product in stock. If you buy groceries from a local business, food waste is reduced which is also good for the eco-system. Hence, all things considered, it’s wise to shop at all the small businesses your community offers and take a step in making a good environment for yourself and future generations.
