We are most likely to read emails that we receive on Wednesday. Monday we have too many, and we need to catch up. By Wednesday we are caught up and by Thursday we are already trying to get everything finished so we can leave early on Friday. Read more
I read a lot about how to give praise to children because so many child prodigies grow up to be disappointed, depressed low achievers. A lot of that sadness is a result of people telling the kid over and over again how great they are. It robs the child of incentive to do the hard work required for anything substantial, but also, it gives the kid no sense of control over their lives — they did not earn that greatness, they were born with it. So they feel that they have no ability to earn greatness, they just have to wait for it. Read more
I took a bunch of photos waiting for the doctor to tell my son that he’s fine. (The kids are always fine until I don’t take them to the doctor and then they are deathly ill and I’m a bad mom. But that’s another post.) Melissa cropped the picture so that I look at it and forget that my son is leaning on me. He looks just fun and happy and I’m there to hear his laughs, but it’s not how I expected to be in the picture. This is exactly how I feel about homeschool: I’m there, and it’s fun, but it’s not at all how I expected to be in the picture. Read more
If you can afford to deal with your kids in the summer, then you can afford to homeschool. The collective vision we have for our kids in the summer is swimming and reading and exploring with sweaty faces and dirty feet. This is, of course, free. And requires only that an adult be there for a refill on lemonade or a skinned knee. Read more
My oldest son has autism. So do I, which means I have very little empathy —common with autism—but I have a lot of empathy for him not wanting to be in social situations, because I don’t want to be there either.
This video, from HelloFlo is the most exciting, inspiring thing I’ve ever seen about getting your period. I just loved it.
I showed it to my sons because I thought: wow, this is the best sex ed class ever. I wanted to buy every girl I know a package from HelloFlo—but I think it’s probably better from a parent. Read more
When the US Air Force was designing fighter plane cockpits, they discovered that having the controls in the perfect spot made a big difference in terms of life and death. However, Todd Rose in his TED talk titled The Myth of Average, explains that designing for the perfect position was tricky because there is no useful average dimensions of a man. Each pilot is different. Read more
Five years ago, I was in the throes of my last startup, Brazen Careerist. During that time we were always running out of money, and I was always traveling to raise money.
At one meeting in the Washington, DC area, there were five guys in a room, and I did my pitch. I told them about the history of the company, why the future looks good, what the plan was – I’m very good at pitching. In fact, some people would say that my problem is that I’m way better at pitching a company than running a company. Read more
We go to the pet store a lot, to play with the ferrets. My son is always trying to convince me to get one. We have had them. There was a time in my life when I traveling every week giving $15,000 speeches, and since I was never home so I tried to solve every problem with money. Read more
I am so excited to read that Albert Wenger, from Union Square Ventures is going to homeschool his kids. His firm invested in Twitter, Tumblr and Kickstarter and they are known for their ability to peg trends with a stroke of genius. So I am thrilled to read that Wenger’s wife, Susan Danzinger, announced that she is planning to hire guides for their kids, who are 13, 13, and 11. Read more