Tag: homeschooling
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Ditch the standards, embrace the love
A few years ago Psychology Today published an article about the Presidential Scholars program, which recognizes high school students who excel academically and artistically. The story focused on a study in which award recipients from the 1960’s offered advice for parents and educators. Their suggestions included the following: “I would encourage parents and teachers to treat…
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The future of education is here
Someone sent me an article by Marina Gorbis called The Future of Education Eliminates the Classroom, Because the World Is Your Class. Nice to know our family is living in the future – this idea of the world as your classroom has been a foundational principle for many homeschoolers for a long time. Beyond that,…
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Spock, Kirk, and the adolescent brain
A friend sent me an NPR piece about the adolescent brain’s constant struggle between the impulsiveness of the limbic system (think Captain Kirk), and the reason of the prefrontal cortex (that’s Mr. Spock). We all know about the wild side of teenagers, but apparently, it’s worse than we thought. It all starts around age 12, and…
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Flex time
Maybe you’ve read about grit, which education researcher Angela Lee Duckworth defines as “the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals.” Duckworth delivered a very popular TED talk revealing grit as the key to success in life. On the surface, it sounds good, but one of my favorite contrarians, Alfie Kohn, points…
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Kids and structure
In these times when structured programs and expert instruction are available for everything, people can come to believe that allowing kids an open schedule with plenty of free play will keep them from future success. How, they may ask, will kids be able to structure their lives if they just run around and play all the…
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Every day is play day
Did you know that today is Global School Play Day? It’s a good idea, I suppose. I mean, I understand why it was created. But it still strikes me as absurd. Register now to play! Take pictures so the world can see kids playing! Don’t forget the hashtag! There’s even an official #GSPD song with a rap…
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Bigotry is a drag
So a few years ago, my kids and some others founded the Boston Area Homeschoolers Gay-Straight Alliance, currently known as the Boston Area Homeschoolers Queer-Straight Alliance, or BAHS QSA. Right from the get go, they dealt with people feeling uncomfortable in their midst. Since then, they’ve hosted a couple of proms, several drop-in nights for…
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Satire on a snowy day
Here in New England, we’re in the midst of a blizzard, and I’m going through old files, where I found the following. About a dozen years ago, I was teaching a literature and writing class for homeschoolers, and we read Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” The students were invited to try their hand at satire…
A Potluck Life 