Once you realize that school is a ridiculous place for your kids, you start looking for alternatives. Many people ask me what I think of Montessori as an alternative to public school. Read more
I don’t know why I’m even writing this post because it would never occur to me that democratic schools are even worth talking about. Like, we don’t talk about sending our kids to schools in war zones. We know it’s a dumb idea. And this is how I feel about democratic schools. Read more
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 don’t need to convince people to homeschool because people in my socioeconomic demographic mostly feel scared that they are not doing it. Most people are not big risk takers, but now, as homeschool grows in popularity, it’s hard to tell whether it’s more risky to leave kids in school or take kids out. Read more
As a society, how can we justify using our kids as educational guinea pigs for the next generation when there is no evidence that this experiment is even worthwhile? We just forced a whole generation of kids to squander their schools days to No Child Left Behind requirements. The experiment has been derided as largely a failure, yet we are still game to put another generation of kids through another educational experiment.. When will the cult of educational experimentation end, when will parents take their kids back home to learn on their own? Read more
When you start a blog you have no idea what it will become. I thought this would be a place where I try to figure out what to teach my kids. But really, you are not learning that here. You are probably learning about farm life. And video games. And a range of other stuff that is not curriculum.
My friend sent this photo to me. He was walking by the school and was struck by how much it looks like a prison. There are so many things that are so common in school that they are part of our social vernacular, but they are unique to the school system and prison system and nowhere else: Read more
There is a movement, among people who love the idea of locking kids up in school all day, to add deep reading to the national curriculum. Supposedly, kids don’t read well enough anymore. The Internet is making kids stupid. Or bad readers. Or lazy. Or all of the above. Read more
In Florida, an 18-year-old girl named Kaitlyn Hunt engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl. The parents of the younger girl are pressing charges of statutory rape. Hunt received an offer of a plea bargain that would have made her essentially unable to be with her sisters, who are underage. So she is fighting the case, and risking a 15-year prison sentence. Read more
I didn’t grow up on a farm. And it’s striking to me how much the seasons mark the passage of time.
This makes me think about how I marked the passage of time when I lived in the city and one of the first things that comes to mind is school graduation. It’s the end of a fall-winter progression. It’s the end of a cycle. And everyone graduates. Not for doing anything great. Just because. Read more