My grandma was a teacher with an open classroom and I went there when our school holidays did not coincide. Since her classroom was first through third grade I got to go there for a long time.

My son is friends with a girl who grew up in the foster care system. Her mother left when she was a toddler. Then her dad died of a drug overdose. In front of her. We have known her only a short time, since a family adopted her at age 15. She was at our […]

Primary and secondary school teaching was never meant to be a real profession. Women used to take these jobs until they got married. You can see this during Children’s Blizzard, which happened in the midwest during the 1800s. The Blizzard occurred unexpectedly during the school day. And hundreds of teachers had the nearly impossible job […]

Women went to work outside the home to create a more equitable society. But the more equitable a society is the more clearly women want labor divided by gender. Where are we today? In a study in 2022 women in a very selective college assumed that when they marry they will be responsible for the […]

There is still no treatment for social skills in school-aged kids that is approved by the FDA because there is no evidence that the treatments kid get in school make a difference long term. Schools provide interventions to kids who are annoying the teachers so they stop doing whatever is annoying.

When it comes to sensory input, change the environment rather than the person. That’s why I made a castle for myself to sleep in. Once I understood my sensory integration dysfunction, I noticed I adjust my environment for  sensory needs all the time, unconsciously — the castle is one of many places where I make sure […]

Extortion letter reveals the true  purpose of preschool

When you read research about preschool keep in mind the most of it is about very low-income kids. Preschool is not important for academic preparation or socialization. Preschool is important because it provides a nurturing environment where children can play while their parents are working.

It’s not too late to plan your kid’s Positive Childhood Experiences

There’s a test of positive childhood experiences to see how resilient a person is. How positive your childhood was impacts how resilient you’ll be as an adult. (I think this was developed to be a pick-me-up for people who scored poorly on the adverse childhood experience test, which I scored almost 100% on.)

My email to our chemistry tutor. Annotated.

After sending Y off to college, I did seven months of minding my own business, mostly, and letting them succeed or fail on their own. It was not easy. At Halloween, for example, they asked me if could help with a costume.

Staying home with kids is revolutionary

Kids need a primary caretaker during the first three years of their life. When a baby is unclear on who that primary person is the baby gets attachment disorder – which is a nice way of saying brain damage. Other than those three years, twin studies show there is not much you can do to […]

© 2023 Penelope Trunk