I wrote this about a dozen years ago, when my youngest kids were just becoming teenagers. While “edupreneurs” and the like looking to tap into homeschoolers as a market have created huge changes in the homeschooling landscape, the slow homeschooling our family and so many others enjoyed is still an available option. Slow homeschooling prioritizes… Read More Back to Homeschool
It’s been a while since I’ve written here. The homeschooling times have left me feeling like I don’t have much to contribute. Discussions and posts in the homeschooling groups I’ve been a part of for years are overrun with questions about what curriculum to use while staying home during COVID, arguments about masks and vaccines,… Read More The inspirational return of Youthquake Theater
Are homeschoolers prepared for life? That was the sweeping question addressed at the May 20 installment of “Post-Pandemic Future of Homeschooling,” a web conference presented by Harvard Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government. I have a standing appointment on Thursdays when sessions are held, so I only tuned in for the second… Read More Are homeschoolers prepared for life?
It’s been several weeks since I’ve written here. Finding something meaningful to say about the current “explosion” of homeschooling has eluded me. I’ve never seen more homeschooling-related articles, social media posts, and interest on a daily basis than I have during the past year. I’ve never seen more confusion, either. We all know why, of… Read More Homeschooling: A Question of Definition
I’m definitely late to the party, but I’ve finally read Tara Westover’s memoir “Educated.” I’d been avoiding it for a few reasons. One, the tiresome narrative of extreme-homeschooling-experience-with-autocratic-father seems to dominate most popular mainstream books and movies about homeschooling. Two, friends who know me well warned me that the story contained a sadistic, abusive older… Read More Review: Tara Westover’s “Educated”
It was inevitable. Now that families have been holed up for weeks at home, some parents are finding that doing school at home is a slog. As a result, we’re beginning to see stories about parents deciding to ditch the curriculum, and the stress that goes with it, in favor of a more relaxed approach.… Read More Evolving into slow homeschooling
I always peruse the news for stories about homeschooling and unschooling, but in the past two weeks I’ve given up that practice. Never before has there been such an explosion of articles. Except they’re not about homeschooling, or unschooling, at all. What do parents do with their kids now that they’re home all day? How… Read More No, everyone is not homeschooling now
Recently I read an article that addressed sacrifices homeschooling parents must make. I appreciated the author’s thoughts and the honestly conveyed experiences she described, but I found that many of the sacrifices she wrote about are things I would not have thought to describe that way. That, in turn, got me thinking about the whole… Read More Homeschooling: choice or sacrifice?
The other night I went to a fantastic concert by a jazz orchestra and an Ethiopian vocalist. I, along with hundreds of audience members, enjoyed every moment of it. As I looked around the mass of concertgoers I noticed, as I often do, the dearth of children in attendance. I counted at least three under… Read More Making kids welcome in the world
Imagination is a key component of being human. It enhances creativity, empathy, and happiness. As anyone who’s observed children knows, pretending and imagining are activities kids engage in naturally and with gusto. Unfortunately, adults sometimes come along and squash it. I was reminded of this by a new article by Dakota Antelman titled “A Young… Read More Let the play times roll
A Potluck Life 