Episodes

Welcome to Episode 93 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. Today’s guest, Tom Long, began performing as the Singing Santa in 1985 when he was 21 years old. He knew that first Christmas he had chosen the right avocation when a curly headed lad with big brown eyes said he wanted to hear Santa say, “Ho. Ho. Ho.” Throughout the years the Magic of Christmas and watching parents light up when their children sit in Santa’s lap have fueled Tom’s passion for performing as The Singing Santa. An invitat...

Founded in 2011 by Aaron Larsen as a way to honor his grandparents, GrandparentsAcademy.com is the world’s first and only online academy dedicated to helping grandparents grow meaningful relationships and rich legacies with their loved ones. Our resources, which include guides, videos and social posts, have reached millions of grandparents. Thousands have enrolled as students from all over the globe. To learn more, visit https://www.grandparentsacademy.com/ To register for the 2023 Grandparents ...

Mrs. Claus has a busy schedule, but she stopped by the Adventures with Grammy Podcast to let you know she is ready to bake cookies with your grandchildren, tuck them in with bedtime stories, and gather around the family room to tell stories and sing songs. We know Mrs. Claus as Debra Weller, our guest on Episode 54, who talked with us about the art of storytelling. Today she will help us count down the days to Christmas … less than 90 days away … and share with us a special story. Before we he...

Welcome to Episode 90 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. Today’s guest is Paul Entrekin. For most of his adult life, Paul’s feet have been off the ground and in the air flying from one destination to another — sometimes upside down — sometimes at warp speed. A retired US Marine, naval aviator and Delta Airline captain, Paul primarily is known today as an acrobatic pilot who owns and flies a Russian MIG 15 fighter jet in airshows across North America. The role he cherishes is grandpa. Toda...

Focusing on early childhood development is vital for children and for our society. Research has demonstrated facilitating low-stress/high-engagement environments at the earliest ages builds strong, confident learners, who as adults, make up the backbone of a successful society. America’s failure to make early childhood development one of our highest priorities is the reason our nation has shown a steady decline in numerous important areas relative to other countries. Today’s guest, Dr. Rick Alle...

Michelle Booth is the founder and CEO of Make Momentos, LLC, a tech startup whose mission is to offer adults an easy-to-use platform to create keepsake e-books for the children in their lives. Booth has been helping people tell their stories for more than 25 years. She has experience ghostwriting nonfiction manuscripts for a variety of clients including a former White House staffer in the Nixon and Ford administrations, prominent businesspeople and retirees wanting to preserve their stories for...

Russ Wrightson is a homeschooling dad of two boys ages 12 and 14. He says his boys are excited to learn from anything that crosses their paths, including videos, board games and a math book or two. To help facilitate a homeschooling atmosphere Russ considers healthy, he organized a local secular homeschool group he describes as a club. He also serves on the Board of Directors for VAhomeschoolers.org, an inclusive statewide organization that advocates and supports at the state level. https://ww...

Our guest today is Eddy Smits, a former professional clown, who hails from Belgium. He says authentic communication with children would heal society’s woes and enable children to grow into adults who could face any challenge and be effective world leaders. That statement reminded me of advice I received when my oldest child, Craig, was a toddler. A very wise person told me the qualities we admire in adults are not qualities we admire when children exhibit those same behaviors. That statement sto...

Welcome to Episode 85 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. I am your host, Carolyn Berry. Today’s guest is Jasmine Jimenez, the author of a new collection of children’s books based on true stories of her grandmother. Her first book, Eugenia Hunts for Gemstones, is available, and her second book, Eugenia and the Christmas Dress, is part of a Kickstarter program that needs to be funded by September 4. Jasmine lives in San Diego with her partner of almost 20 years. Together they are creating a f...

Carl Landau, the co-author of Pickleball for Dummies, says the sport has a world-wide, multigenerational following, with more than 5 million players and counting. Playing pickleball is fun way to meet fun-loving people and put an extra pep in your step … all in the name of having more energy for your grandchildren and even playing a game or two with them. What is pickleball? Carl says it looks a lot like tennis on a miniature court with much less running, which is great if your knees don’t lik...

There were about 3.7 million homeschool students in 2020-2021 in grades K-12 in the United States (roughly 6% to 7% of school-age children). There were about 2.5 million homeschool students in spring 2019 (or 3% to 4% of school-age children) [note 1]. The homeschool population had been growing at an estimated 2% to 8% per annum over the past several years, but it grew drastically from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021. The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school studen...

Welcome to Episode 82 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. I am your host, Carolyn Berry. Today’s episode is all about breastfeeding. Our guest is Dr. Amaka Nnamani, a pediatrician and the author of the children’s picture book titled Ziora’s Quest: Mommy’s Milk Rocks about breastfeeding written from the perspective of a 6-year-old little girl. Dr. Nnamani practices medicine in Hershey, PA. She is a passionate breastfeeding advocate. She is the Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinator for the PA Am...

Welcome to Episode 81 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. I am your host, Carolyn Berry. Today’s episode is all about bees — honey bees and how to keep them. Whether you live in the city or the country, beekeeping is an activity that many grandparents and grandchildren enjoy. Our guest today, Covey McConnell, will share information about why beekeeping is important, how to get started and how to stay safe. I have known Covey for many years. She went to school with my older son and his wife,...

Welcome to Episode 80 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. I am your host, Carolyn Berry. Sarah Beth Goncarova is today’s guest. She is an American writer, composer and visual artist known for poetry, children’s adventure novels, and writing for film and television. Her company, CLAY GROUSE KIDS, is a groundbreaking indie press and animation studio that specializes in creating books, read-aloud videos, and audiobooks that inspire creativity and curiosity. Its mission is to help all children,...

Visit https://adventureswithgrammypodcast.com to learn more about the podcast and how to be a guest. Join our newsletter mailing list by texting GRAMMY to 22828 to get started, or visit https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/ih6vkmJ/grammy To learn about Carolyn’s books, visit https://adventureswithgrammy.com/ To learn more about today’s guest, visit https://www.shirleyshowalter.com/ Born into a plain-dressing, plain-speaking Mennonite farm family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, today’s g...

Welcome to Episode 78 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. Today’s guest is Dr. Abigail Stephan. She earned her doctorate a few months ago from Clemson University after successfully defending her dissertation, Examining Intergenerational Relationships in the Family. I along with other listeners of this podcast contributed to her research. Abby will give us insight as to why the grandparent-grandchild must be intentional and have space to be spontaneous; why parents must provide opportunities ...

John Zeno Louizes is a third generation candymaker and the Head Honcho at Zeno’s Boardwalk Sweet Shop. He took over the family business in 2003 and has grown it to include four candy retail shops and three ice cream shops. The brick-and-mortar stores are in Florida, but a bustling online candy store means the confections are available nationwide. John, who began working at the store when he was 11, says, “My goal is to make sure we do the best candy making in the world and have fun doing so.” J...

Connie Inukai has reinvented herself three times. Act One was teaching technical writing at the University of Maryland and at Johns Hopkins University for almost four decades. Act Two found her writing books, caring for two young grandchildren, and inventing a product specifically for retirees. Currently in Act Three, Connie has created Write Your Selfie, a program to help people write their life stories with pictures. She says passion has no expiration date! And she is living proof that second...

When grandchildren are young, a sweet treat or new toy is enough to inspire their unconditional love. And then they become teenagers. Suddenly it’s not so easy anymore, for you or for them. Where Two Worlds Meet: A Guide to Connecting with Your Teenage Grandchildren is a new book that gives grandparents a roadmap to stay connected and deepen their relationships with their grandchildren. It is an action-focused guide to help grandparents understand life through their teenage grandchildren’s eyes....

Welcome to Episode 74 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. I am your host, Carolyn Berry. Today’s podcast is a different format from the usual guest interview. I, alone, will be speaking, and the topic is my views about gun control, specifically the guns used during school shootings. If you are a hard-right, gun-toting person who believes high-velocity guns and ammunition designed to inflict mass carnage on people should continue to be legal, this episode is not for you. Sadly, if the riddle...

Sign up for the Adventures with Grammy newsletter by clicking this link or by texting Grammy to 22828 to get started! To learn more about Adventures with Grammy and books by Carolyn Berry, visit https://adventureswithgrammy.com To leave feedback about the podcast and to suggest guests and topics, send an e-mail to carolyn@adventureswithgrammy.com Welcome to the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. I am your host, Carolyn Berry. My guest for Episode 73 is Greg Payne, the host of the Cool-Grandpa pod...

Sign up for the Adventures with Grammy newsletter by clicking this link or by texting Grammy to 22828 to get started! To learn more about Adventures with Grammy and books by Carolyn Berry, visit https://adventureswithgrammy.com To leave feedback about the podcast and to suggest guests and topics, send an e-mail to carolyn@adventureswithgrammy.com Welcome to the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. I am your host, Carolyn Berry. Episode 72 features Lily, a 13-year-old student who has dyslexia, and h...

Sign up for the Adventures with Grammy newsletter by clicking this link or by texting Grammy to 22828 to get started! To learn more about Adventures with Grammy and books by Carolyn Berry, visit https://adventureswithgrammy.com To leave feedback about the podcast and to suggest guests and topics, send an e-mail to carolyn@adventureswithgrammy.com Episode 71 is a rebroadcast of the January 12, 2022, episode of The Grand Life in which the host, Emily Morgan, interviewed me. There are not many pod...

Please take this survey! https://surveys.blubrry.com/adventureswithgrammy Sign up for the Adventures with Grammy newsletter by clicking this link or by texting Grammy to 22828 to get started! To learn more about Adventures with Grammy and books by Carolyn Berry, visit https://adventureswithgrammy.com To leave feedback about the podcast and to suggest guests and topics, send an e-mail to carolyn@adventureswithgrammy.com Episode 70 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast is a rebroadcast of Episode...