Category: Uncategorized
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Captain Fantastic’s kids don’t need school, and neither do yours
Not to beat a dead horse, but last week I went to see the movie “Captain Fantastic” again. Readers of this blog know how I felt about it the first time. So why would I see it again? The movie was being shown in my community as part of a film and discussion series on issues…
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Pass the zucchini, please
My husband is the gardener in our house. He gets assists from the kids, but mostly the garden is his baby. My involvement is limited to picking and using what he grows. Every year is different. I still remember fondly the year of arugula, when we were swimming in the bold, spicy green (arugula pesto,…
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Testing, testing, testing
Yesterday I read a nice essay about a homeschooling mom’s experience testing her kid. In her state, annual testing is required for homeschoolers. Since they’d taken an unschooling approach with their son, where he’d land was anyone’s guess. My guess would have been that he’d do just fine, and that’s exactly what happened. Even while…
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What is an autodidact?
Recently a friend told me about a conversation she had with a great musician, a person she hoped to study with. The musician, my friend told me, advised her to spend time listening to artists she admires. My son did that when, as a teenager, he spent hours absorbing videos and recordings by his mandolin…
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Back to homeschool
Originally posted on A Potluck Life: It’s the middle of August, and summer is winding down. September looms, and with it the beginning of the school year. Just what does “back to school” mean for homeschoolers? There isn’t one answer to that question. All homeschooling families are different. And one of the great benefits of…
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Put the ‘home’ back in ‘homeschooling’
Recently I read an advice piece for homeschoolers. Sign your child up to attend a learning center or free school for a few days a week, it said, so as to provide a “home base” for your child’s homeschooling experience. I admit I was taken aback. For me and most of the homeschooling families I…
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Unschooling for life
I recently heard from a mom whose husband is on the fence about unschooling because of math. He’s a math whiz whose introduction to the subject came from school, not home. He worries that unschooling won’t offer his kids what they need to develop strong interest and proficiency in mathematics, and they’ll lose the opportunity…
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Revisiting ‘Growing Without Schooling’
Today, I spent my morning on Memory Lane. In the process of going through stuff, I gathered a pile of old Growing Without Schooling magazines dating from about 1991 to 2001. Oh, what a delight to skim through them and recognize the names of so many contributors, see pictures of dear friends and their children…
A Potluck Life 