You know the startup world is dead when stay-at-home parents are closer to the bleeding edge than founders. While we have conversations on this blog about how to transform people’s perceptions of what school is, I constantly receive pitches from tech companies reinforcing old ideas of school.
When they were younger my kids would say, “Mom, you’re not wearing a bra.” I’d say, “I know. Women can choose to wear bras or not wear bras. It’s my choice.” When the boys got older they’d say, “Mom, you’re not wearing a bra. It’s gross.” I’d say, “My body is not gross. And I […]
I had never heard this term before. I was looking for research about practicing (which I do a lot) and one coach who helps athletes, Leah Lagos, had resources for physiologically gifted kids. She recommends that parents of PGC (because there’s an acronym for everything) pay careful attention to the child’s overwhelming emotions. Parents should use […]
We have spent the week in Princeton because I realized – in the nick of time – that the chemistry tutor we had for the whole year knew nothing about AP tests. The chemistry AP went fine, if you don’t count all my screaming and my slow slip into alcoholism. So I decided to keep […]
As a family we’ve been isolated from the community feeling that test takers get when everyone experiences the pressure at the same time. This round of AP tests was our first time. I found myself having similar experiences to other homeschooling moms and my son found himself having similar experiences to kids on Reddit.
Have I written here yet about my favorite day of homeschooling? Because if I have, delete that post from memory, because today is my new favorite day. My son is taking the AP chemistry test in Germantown, PA. It’s 45 minutes from where we live because public schools won’t let my son participate in their […]
If there is chemistry PTSD then I have it. The tutor I hired for my son to get through the AP test has the same calm, soothing voice of my high school chemistry teacher.
We live across the street from Swarthmore college, which I thought would be amazing, but most things at the university are not open to the community. Still, I walk past the art gallery each week to see if there’s anything new, I always check fliers to find interesting things for the kids. Which the kids […]
My kids are old enough to have opinions on our socioeconomic status, and they don’t care that cello lessons and SAT tutors are accoutrements of the upper middle class. They see we live in a very small two-bedroom apartment. I tell them our apartment is nicer than some peoples’ houses. “We have Limoges china! We […]
Boy cellist going through puberty: “Mom! Listen! I woke up today and my voice was a B-flat!” The deeper my son’s voice goes, the more hours a day he practices. And the more hours he practices, the more I worry about what he’ll do in a world where no one pays to hear a cellist […]