Monthly Archives: December 2010

Thank you Lenore Skenazy!

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Amy

For those of you who aren’t familiar with her, Lenore Skenazy became the most hated Mom in America a few years ago because she let her then 9 year old son ride the New York City subway by himself.   Mind … Continue reading →

Posted in Parenting, Safety | 1 Comment

Can someone please remove ‘gifted’ from the lexicon?

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Amy

Did you know that there is a National Association for Gifted Children?  I didn’t, but there is.   I started searching around today for some information about the effectiveness of these Gifted and Talented programs (which I didn’t find) and came … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Homeschooling, Learning, Unschooling | 17 Comments

Gifted and Talented – but only if you have connections

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Amy

A few days ago I mentioned sitting with a couple of mothers from our building at our holiday party and hearing about the Gifted and Talented programs available in NYC public schools.  I didn’t go into a full description of … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, School | 2 Comments

Loud music, Thunderstorms and Laughter

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Amy

I read somewhere that practitioners of Feng Shui advise playing your favorite music very loudly for a few minutes every week or two to clear a room, apartment or house of any negative energy that may have collected.  Dancing while … Continue reading →

Posted in Parenting, Unschooling | Comments Off

Blogging and Process

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Amy

Blogging can be kind of a weird thing.  Sometimes very personal.  Sometimes too much so.   I read Heather Armstrong’s blog at Dooce.com, which is often very funny and often extremely personal.  As she has said, if you’re looking for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Homeschooling, Learning, Parenting, Unschooling | Comments Off

Too Much Information = Momentary Panic

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Amy

Many of the entries I write are made up of topics which are the result of reading articles or books on educational methods and beliefs, and then contrasting it to what I see around me in the homeschool/unschool community.    This … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Learning, Unschooling | 1 Comment

Some miscellaneous thoughts

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Amy

To start, I must clarify something I said in yesterday’s entry.  I do not believe that ALL doctors are arrogant with a God complex.   Didn’t mean to ruffle feathers – there are many wonderful conscientious doctors out there.  I’m sure … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, School, Unschooling | 1 Comment

Not a doctor, but then again…?

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Amy

The headline on my Yahoo homepage this morning read:  “Pilot duped AMA with fake M.D. claim”.   I don’t normally read more than the headlines (too depressing) but this one hooked me.  The first three paragraphs read as follows: “He seemed … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Learning, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

To what purpose ‘higher education’?

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Amy

I am no education expert.  I’m not sure there really is such a thing.  More and more I am convinced that most schools and institutions of so-called ‘higher education’  are reactionary instead of visionary.  They focus on teaching based on … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Learning | 1 Comment

Into school, and out again

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Amy

Since Maya and Ben have never been to school, and my own school experiences are a shocking number of years ago, my knowledge of the current school culture comes mostly from reading about it, hearing the parents of schooled children … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Homeschooling, School | Comments Off