My son wanted to read The Communist Manifesto, and I told him, “Just read a summary.”
He scowled.
“I majored in political history and I read very few books. You don’t have to read books.” Read more
One of the most difficult parts of divorce is that kids have to manage conflict between parents. Parents who don’t communicate well often don’t realize that they end up putting the burden of adult communication on their kids.
Kids are not equipped to deal with the stress of adult problems, but they end up feeling like they are the glue of the family and have no other choice. Psychologists simplify the phenomena by labeling The Four Ps: Read more
First of all, go go go Bernie!
My favorite part of the caucuses is the face-to-face part. You have to engage with your community in order to have your vote counted. I know people complain that Iowa shouldn’t have so much weight in the primaries, but I think the act of caucusing should have weight in the primaries. Read more
When I entered the workforce, Baby Boomers were in charge of everything, so I had all the accouterments of a job you planned to stay in until the day you turn 65. The Gen-Xers in the office designated our life insurance policies to Elizabeth Wurtzel and Mike D. Our workers compensation was so broad that it covered a broken heart, which meant dating co-workers was strictly forbidden. The company matched our retirement savings each month, and our CFO recited reminders like he was doing penance for the social security sins of his generation.
This is all to say I was never keen on all the assurances adults fawn over to create a stable life. Until I had kids. At that point, I asked my brother if I could leave my kids to him in case of death.
He said, “How much life insurance do you have?”
I bought a policy for as much as I could afford. The price starts getting really high per dollar once you get into a range where it looks like someone is about to kill you.
When I started homeschooling I told myself that if I died no one would keep doing it, but it’s okay. My kids will have bigger problems than school if their mom just died. But by the time the kids were in middle school, there was no way someone would get them back into school. Their lives were on track for other things. Everything they had worked for would be dislodged if I died and they had to go to school.
You can’t really pay someone to homeschool your kids. The value of a parent is not their teaching but how much they care. I realized that the most high-risk thing I was doing on a regular basis was driving 20 hours a week for cello lessons in Chicago. I totaled two brand new BMWs. My kids are experts on the temperament of an airbag. So I hired a driver. A driver is expensive but it’s cheap if you think of it as a substitute for life insurance.
I was thinking about this today. My kids are so old that if I died now they would probably keep doing exactly what they are doing. Someone who is not volunteering now would end up moving into the apartment with them. Probably their dad, actually. Things will be fine. Which is good, because I have moved onto other worries, like how even kids who get full scholarships to college end up needing a truckload of money.
When my older son was studying for AP US History (APUSH is what kids call it in memes) my younger son would learn with us if the material was interesting. So each day we watched a YouTube video and I spent way, way too much time trying to find good videos about topics on the test.
When I heard my nephew Simon is taking AP US as well I started saving the links my kids really liked. I meant to publish this list for Simon’s birthday. I almost forgot. It was last week.
Happy birthday, Simon! Good luck with AP US History!
And pro-tip from Aunt P: Start with the video about the War of 1812. That’s a good one!