Kids put no effort into school because at school the teachers tell kids what to think about, which forces kids to stop being creative and curious and just focus on passing tests. As this opinion becomes more and more mainstream, more and more kids will stop wanting to try hard at school.
more…

I took the dog to Swarthmore. I didn’t initially. At first I told the boys we were each taking one backpack. And the cello, and the violin, and my laptop.
more…

I’m always curious about how my kids use technology. Part of it is my endless curiosity for what is coming in the future. And part is my interest in how we define education. But there’s also schadenfreude: I am so sick of Millennials telling me how stupid I am about technology. I’m just really relishing those first moments when Millennials feel old. So I look for them all the time.
more…

My older son told me he wants to learn history. He says he needs a normal education. Which means that he’s begun managing his own education since he knows I don’t think there is anything anyone SHOULD know. So fine, he disagrees. Fine.
more…

We are studying architecture this week. I can’t remember the last time both my kids studied the same thing at once. Well, I guess in the olden days, when they were 6 and 9 and played Minecraft all day, you could say they were studying the same thing. But it’s been a while.
more…

After six years of traveling for cello, my husband and I decided it was time to move.

Well, time for me and the kids to move. I still have no idea what my husband will do.
more…

I’ve been coaching this kid who is in college. I like him so much, so I agreed (for a fee, of course) to coach him for junior and senior year to make sure he gets a great job after college. The experience has been eye-opening.
more…

I was holding my life together for a while. I was managing my son’s cello life and my crazy startup work life and my older son and my marriage. I was sort of holding it all together.
more…

Massachusetts public schools are widely known to be the best in the country. This doesn’t mean that school is good. It means that Massachusetts keeps trying new things. But also it means that Massachusetts starts with the state with the highest percentage of people with advanced degrees. And the highest number of universities per capita, feeding bright-eyed, bushy-tailed undergrads into the system.
more…

Good grades were so easy for my dad because he has Asperger’s. He doesn’t remember anyone telling him to do his homework. He says some person told him it was the rule so he just followed it.
more…