The back-to-school routine is something that consumes all of September because it’s such a drastic change for the family. The Humane Society reports that family members are so overly stressed during this process that family pets also become stressed. Read more
I’m fascinated with call centers. This started when I was in my 20s, running a software call center. I was in marketing, but I saw that there was no one really running the call center. So I told the CEO I could run the call center. I promised him I could decrease customer service costs 20% in three months. I handed him a list of ten ways I thought I could decrease costs. Read more
Remember when the biggest issue of kids going online was that someone would find out where they live and kidnap them? When my kids first started using Minecraft message boards, I told them a million times, “Don’t tell people where you live.” Read more
This post is sponsored by Graphic Stock. I agreed to publish photos from their collection and tell you to go to their site. The company specializes in creative images. So naturally I was drawn to the images of school art projects. Read more
The greatest thing about Boston Magazine’s cover article on homeschooling is that it says stuff we already know, but it says the stuff in a mainstream publication, about mainstream parents:
Every homeschool parent wishes for self-confidence. There is always the time when someone challenges you or your child in public: “How are you learning math?” Or there is the time your child is unhappy and you worry it’s because of your choices. And there are those times when you realize your child hasn’t learned something that you always expected they would know by now. (Confession: Just yesterday I discovered that my ten-year-old son can’t spell his last name.) Read more
Last week I published a post on LinkedIn about how people decide how many hours to work. The arc of the post will not surprise you: I worked long hours, I regretted the time I missed with my kids, I cut back on work, then I started homeschooling. It’s the story of connecting with my kids, more than anything. To me, it’s a nice story. Read more
This is a guest post from Sarah Faulkner. She is a homeschooling mom in Washington state. She has five kids, ages 13, 11, 9, 5, and 2.
Yesterday my son came into the house, crying. He had been swinging from the tree fort when he fell on his arm. I didn’t think it was broken since he could move his arm. I have had many kids with broken body parts, and he didn’t fit the bill: no swelling, no bruising, no disfigurement. Read more
This is a picture of my son on his first day of school after we moved to the farm. I like looking at old pictures of the boys because I have the feeling I had at the time of the picture. And the feeling I have is sort of a breathlessness. Which is what I felt after I worked so hard to get him to school, with what he needs for school, at the right time for school, and then he is gone…
I look at this picture and I can’t believe that I didn’t start homeschooling sooner. I missed so much time with him. One of the reasons I write this blog is because I can’t make up for the time I missed, sending my kids away every day. But I can help another family avoid doing the same thing that I did.
And you guys do that with me. Thank you.
I have linked to a million articles about why rich kids grow up to be rich and poor kids grow up to be poor. If you want a nice summary of that data, check out this article in the Atlantic. The big takeaway is that the reason rich kids grow up to be rich is that they don’t have debt. Read more