Best of 2020

 Sharon's Best Novels

(1) Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz and Ada Calhoun

(2) The Road by Cormac McCarthy

(3) The Goldfinch  by Donna Tartt

(4) Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer

(5) Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Sharon's Best Nonfiction

Demoralized: Why Teachers Leave the Profession They Love and How They Can Stay by Doris A. Santoro

David's Book - The Vexations by Caitlin Horrocks

Books Read Aloud by Our Entire Family - Little House in the Big Woods and The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder 

Book Read Aloud by David to Mateo - The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Books Read Aloud by Sharon to Mateo - Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers

Book Read by Sharon and Alexi - Solving for M by Jennifer Swender, A King in Hiding by Fahim Mohammad and Animal Farm by George Orwell

Book Read by Sharon, Alexi and Mateo - What Was Ellis Island? by Patricia Brennan Demuth

Our Favorite At Home Grown-Up Movies

(1) Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
(2) The Two Popes

(3) Contagion

(4) Joker

(5) Central Park Five

(6) Knives Out

(7) The Farewell
(8) Motherless Brooklyn

(9) The Incredible Lightness of Being

(10) Bombshell

(11) Winter in Wartime

(12) Crown Heights

(13) 13th 

(14) Snowpiercer

(15) The Family Stone 

Our Favorite At Home Family Movies

(1) Fantasia

(2) Coraline

(3) The Imitation Game

(4) Secret Life of Pets 2

(5) Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Returns

(6) A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

(7) Garfield Thanksgiving

(8) A Charlie Brown Christmas

(9) Rudolph

(10) Star Wars (Episode I - VI)

Best New Year Activity 

Our family went to the Intrepid, based on Mateo's recommendation.  In all his years living in NYC, David never before visited the Intrepid and was so excited to visit a museum he had wanted to go to ever since he was a little boy.

Best Baking 

Sharon, Alexi & Mateo baked a different elaborate cake every month from Martha Stewart Living:

January - Martha's Meyer Lemon Anniversary Cake

February - Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

March - Cardamom Streusel Coffee Cake

April - Spring Shower Almond Petits Fours

May - Teatime Coconut Layer Cake

June - Cocoa Buttermilk Cake

July - Berry Pound Cakes with Whipped Cream Ribbons

August - Peaches and Cream Ice Cream Cake

September - "Bake Sale Cookie" Cupcakes

October - Darkest Chocolate Crêpe Cake

November - Apple Pie Cake and "Pumpkin Pie" Cheesecake

December - Snow Capped Fruitcake

Best NYC Film Festival - NYC International Children's Film Festival

Favorite People/Places/Publications to follow on Twitter

1. MORE-UFT - @MOREcaucusUFT

2. DOE - @DOECorruption

3. PRESS NYC - @safeschoolsny

Best Art Exhibits/Museum Show - Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates @ The Shed

Best Broadway Musicals - The Lion King & Wicked

Best Broadway Play - A Soldier's Play

Best History Museums - Ellis Island and Fraunces Tavern Museum

Best Museum for Kids - MoMath

Best Museum for Families - SPYSCAPE

Best Kid Event - Sloomoo Institute (Alexi and Mateo got covered in SLIME!)

Best Yoga  - 30 Day Yoga Challenge with Alyssa of Mind Body Soul Yoga (RIP MBS yoga studio)

Best Family Cycling  - Palisades in New Jersey to see fall foliage

Best NYC Park - Central Park (private soccer classes there every week for Alexi and Mateo)

Best Concert/Live Musical Events - Moon Hooch & Adam Neely & Sungazer @ The Bowery Ballroom

Best Family Member Performance -  David playing oboe and recorders in the "100 Days of Practice" social media challenge

Best TV Series - The Americans

Best Math Event - Sharon presenting (virtually) at the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education Conference

Best Press Event - Sharon speaking on a panel on colleges going test optional at the Education Writers Association Racial Reckonings Virtual Seminar

Best Math for America Event - Sharon presenting her talk "101 Days" at the virtual Master Teachers on Teaching (MT^2) Event

Best Travel Destination - Surry, Maine

Best Halloween Event - Socially Distanced Trick or Treating in Dumont

Best Vegetarian Restaurant - Seasoned Vegan

Best Restaurant - Thai Basil in Ithaca (only restaurant where we ate indoors as a family all year)

Best Pick-Your-Own Fruit - Alstede Farm for strawberries, raspberries and apples

Best Holiday Event - Decorating our Nordmann Fir Christmas tree at home with holiday Sonos tunes playing

Best Christmas Surprise - two adopted kittens Cocoa and Cookie (aka Covid Cats) arriving a few days before Christmas

Best View of NYC - Washington Heights outside our window when we were participating in the citywide clap for essential workers each night at 7 pm while sheltering-in-place in our apartment during the coronavirus pandemic

Top 5 Reasons to Love New York City:

(1)  HOME - Living in the midst of a pandemic meant we spent most weekdays and weekends in our NYC pre-war apartment instead of out at lessons, games, concerts, museums and movies.  We love being all together at home.

(2) MUSIC -  This year the music we heard came from within our own apartment.  Piano music fills our home early every morning and every evening, and oboe or recorder music waffles throughout our rooms late at night.  David posted a practice or performance video on Instagram for 100 consecutive days as part of the "100 Days of Practice" Challenge.  We also supported the arts by making donations and listening to "live" concerts on Zoom and Youtube.   

(3) PARKS -  David bikes with Mateo and Alexi to Central Park every weekend for a private soccer classes with SMS friends.  Alexi and Mateo had lots of fun this summer playing soccer in J. Hood Wright Park, at the newly installed NYCFC mini-soccer field.  Sharon walks around Bennett Park while Mateo and Alexi play soccer there.  Summer mornings Sharon spent walking around Fort Tryon Park or biking in Riverside Park.  

(4) CYCLING - We stopped taking subways and buses, and now travel everywhere outside our neighborhood by bike.  Sharon and Alexi bike to the Inwood Greenmarket on Saturdays, David rides Citibike to go shopping or pick up special meals from UWS restaurants, and Mateo learned how to ride a bike this year(!)

(5) VIRTUAL SCHOOLS - Alexi and Mateo have been attending virtual school since mid-March, and Sharon has been teaching remotely from the living room since then also.  Remote school, unlike what you hear about in the media, can be incredibly successful - why would we ever return to "normal"?