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When I started writing this homeschool blog I had no idea where it would lead. I just kept writing. It turns out that writing about my life on this blog has helped me feel much more connected to the rest of the world while I navigate my own life that sometimes feels like an isolated bubble. Also writing about my life has given me a way to keep a meaningful scrapbook of events (like up top, my son pulling out his own tooth) and ideas (like why it’s okay that we don’t have curricula, or do have curricula, or anything else I’m reading about). Read more

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It’s quantity time that matters, not quality time

I spent the weekend doing work in Chicago and now I’m at O’Hare and I’m not sure I should be here. I’m not sure I should travel so much for work.

The German woman next to me could not get the Internet on her phone. I used all the high school German I could remember, except Der Kartoffelsalat ist I’m Kühlschrank. Nothing worked, so I decided it would be ethical for me to download the Amazon mobile app onto her phone without asking. Read more

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What is a good outcome for unschooling?

I want my kids to be self-motivated. I want them to do what they need to do without me bugging them.The problem is that I don’t even know if I’m self-motivated enough to write this blog. For instance, where was my post last week? I tell myself I’m committed to posting five days a week and then sometimes—actually, a lot of times—I choose to do something else besides write. Read more

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Key to school reform is pitting kids against teachers

Imagine a company that cannot fire people for low performance. The company wouldn’t make money, right? And high performers wouldn’t want to work there because they’d have to be with low performers. Read more

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What Chinese people really think of US schools

We all know that kids in China outscore kids in the US on math and science tests. This gap exists between schools in China and the UK as well. And guess what the UK and US are doing to close the gap? Extending the school day. Read more

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The latest thing education reformers agree kids need that they can’t get in school

Finally everyone is admitting what high-end private schools have been saying for years: The most important indicator of future success in kids is grit. Even the Obama administration has joined the grit bandwagon. Educators define this as the ability to keep trying hard in the face of very bad odds. Read more

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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

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You should homeschool your student athlete

Public spending on high school athletics has grown extreme, exemplified by a public school in Allen, Texas that built a $60 million football stadium in 2011. Equipped with a three-dimensional scoreboard and an 18,000 seating capacity, this is not the most expensive in Texas, according to The Center for Education Policy and Development.  Read more

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The three possible goals for education

Logan LaPlante is a homeschooler and he gave a speech at TedX University of Nevada where he talks about the purpose of homeschooling. The first thing I notice about Logan is that he does not have the regular fear that kids have in a roomful of adults. And he has a surprising self-assuredness. These are the hard-t0-define, nonverbal cues that homeschoolers give off to announce they are not part of the school system. Read more

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Forget universal pre-K. Obama should launch a program to fund homeschooling

I wrote today about how Obama’s proposal for universal pre-K is stunningly out of touch with the realities of today’s society. It’s clear that most mothers do not want to work full-time when they have kids, and it’s clear that Obama is advocating school as a daycare system rather than an educational system. You can read the whole post here. Read more

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