I started out homeschooling with a curriculum plan in mind. I figured I’d teach my kids everything I like learning. That lasted for about three weeks. Then I became an unschooler. A militant unschooler. That lasted for about three years. Then I became a mom who is teaching to the test.
I know there are lots of parents out there who are facing what seems like an impossible task of having kids home for two weeks, without having a household set-up for that. I want you to know that first of all, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad parent.
This is a photo from the photographer who was at our house yesterday. Not that having a photographer at the house is unusual—we have one here every so often—but this one, Paulius Musteikis, was different. He was sent by a magazine publisher the first time, but he came back because I asked him to. Most photographers come […]
I’m reading a book about child prodigies because I’m fascinated by the mental health risks of having that label. I was first introduced to the negative impact of being labeled special when my grandma gave me The Drama of the Gifted Child.
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. The part of me that makes me so socially inept is the emotional piece. It would stand to reason that six years ago, when I adopted my son, life was laughing manically that […]
Remember how the AMA recommendations concerning screen time have been terrible? For example, the AMA treats TV and video games the same even though one is passive and one is active.
Once my unschooling son announced he wants to get a Ph.D. in biology I decided I had to get serious about making sure he can get into college. I had been hard-core about not teaching the kids to read (kids can teach themselves, really). And I read over and over again that there is no reason to […]
It’s clear that the most effective way to teach kids is to customize teaching to the way the kids learn, and to the interests the kids have.
This is a guest post by Lehla Eldridge. Her blog is Unschooling the Kids. Lehla’s family lives in Italy. Lehla’s girls are in the photo. I read to our daughters till they were eleven. I sat up at night, read books, tantalized them with stories. There was always that nagging feeling, that school-like gremlin of mine that would tap […]
So many people tell me they want to get paid to do what they love. But if you need to be paid to do it, you probably don’t really love it. People do what they love whether or not they get paid, which is why highly rewarding jobs don’t have rewarding salaries. This makes sense. […]