4 Lies we tell ourselves about screen time

Screen time is a scapegoat for people grappling with parenting problems of the Information Age. Our kids would be better off if we started taking personal responsibility for our parenting difficulties. But this shift requires us to rethink the meaning of screen time in our lives.

I think about this topic a lot, because we have unlimited screen time in our family, so I’m constantly evaluating and re-evaluating the research on screen time to make sure I still think it’s a good idea. Here are four lies we tell ourselves about screen time: Read more

/34 Comments

Hold teachers responsible for participating in the system

I’ve structured my kids lives to find the very best teachers for them and I have so much respect for the adults in my kids’ lives who know exactly what to do to help them grow into their best selves. Read more

/68 Comments

What new SAT reforms mean for the future of education

The SAT is doing away with the essay test, finally acknowledging what free market economy has proven over the last seven years: That the more you pay for SAT tutoring, the higher your score is. Yes, there are exceptions: The kid who was going to get a perfect score no matter what. But that kid didn’t even need the SAT, did she? Read more

/20 Comments

Overcome the bias against creativity

My husband sent an email to me this morning with a link to Noa Kagayama’s post Do We Have a Hidden Bias Against Creative People. My husband wrote: “This one was really good.  I don’t know if my son will be a happy productive adult, but I do think you are helping him have a chance. I think public school would slowly kill him.” Read more

/38 Comments

Teachers thwart children’s entrance into the real world

I get one or two interview requests every day. I say no to written interviews because if I’m going to write anything I want it to be for my site, not someone else’s. So I tell people I’ll do phone interviews. Then I try to schedule the phone interviews for crazy times like midnight on Tuesday nights when we are driving home from cello lessons. Read more

/37 Comments

I changed my blog title from homeschooling to education

I always feel like a responsible world citizen when I read an article from Al-Jazeera. I know whatever I read from there will come from a writer who has a different perspective on the world than the majority of writers who I read. Read more

/39 Comments

A totally great example of self-directed learning and a parent brave enough to follow

This is a guest post from Ilana Wiles. Parent’s magazine crowned her the Queen of Instagram. You can follow her @mommyshorts and she blogs at Mommy Shorts.

I started following @2sisters_angie a little over a year ago. Back then she was posting the typical stuff you see from moms on Instagram — pics of her daughter at the park, pics of her daughter eating breakfast and lots of photos of her daughter playing dress-up. Read more

/14 Comments

Kids learn best from life, not teachers

In therapy the other week, I was with my younger son, who doesn’t love therapy per se, but he loves an audience and therefore loves a therapist. He said his life is so hard and it’s so hard to live on a farm and go to the city and the only good day of the week is Saturday. When he is in cello classes all day long. Read more

/98 Comments

When is it too late to change my mind?

One of the scariest things about homeschooling is that you are deciding to put your kid on the road less traveled. Who knows if it’s a good road? We can see the standard path is bad, but it’s hard to know for sure that the alternative path will turn out better. Read more

/79 Comments

Trendspotting firm predicts surge in unschooling

If you’re on the fence about homeschooling, the first thing you worry about is curriculum. And then, it seems,  you write an email to me. Because I get two or three emails every day from people who ask me how I deal with curriculum. Read more

/75 Comments