Monthly Archives: November 2011

The latest fad in high end, high cost education is….?

Hey, you know what’s a great toy?   Blocks.   Just wooden blocks of all shapes and sizes. What, you knew that already? Did you know that many kids really like to play with them?   That some kids can come up with … Continue reading

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Peter Gray on Why Kids Protest Going to School, & some other great stuff

I found out about Peter Gray’s article from some of my new friends on Twitter.  Twitter has put me in touch with a much larger homeschooling/unschooling community than ever before.   For a long time I kind of groaned when anyone … Continue reading

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Seeing what stereotypes can’t hide

I’m sitting in the cafe at Barnes & Noble right now, preparing to start writing todays’ post.   Directly in front of me is a young man (I’m guessing he’s a Junior in High School) who is spending his lunch hour … Continue reading

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Hanging with history – Guthrie style

Arlo Guthrie would probably brush off any mention of his music being a part of the fabric of America as an exaggeration.   He would defer to his father Woody’s influence, or that of his friend Pete Seeger.   And while I … Continue reading

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Carnegie Hall & Arlo Guthrie

It’s that time of year again.   Tonight Maya and I are headed to that cathedral of great music, Carnegie Hall.  There is a scene in the movie “Music of the Heart” where Meryl Streep’s character is welcomed to Carnegie Hall … Continue reading

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Real life experience trumps school….again

As I was getting caught up on the NY Times (3 days’ worth that had found their way to the couch where I write in the evenings) I came across this article in yesterdays’ Home section about 19 year old … Continue reading

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I had a lot of stuff I thought about writing tonight – Thanksgiving as a tradition and all the ways it is celebrated, but after a day full of food and friends, I find my brain just wants to rest. … Continue reading

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Life choices and Breaking Dawn

Yes, you read that correctly.  Breaking Dawn.  As in the 4th installment in the Twilight franchise.   Breaking Dawn is the book (and the film) in which the lead characters Edward and Bella marry and while on their honeymoon Bella gets … Continue reading

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Unschooling is not a methodology

One of the problems in discussing unschooling with people is that they expect it to be a ‘method by which we educate our children’.   And such an expectation is not unreasonable, because the idea that children can grow and learn … Continue reading

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Blame it on Mercury

Ok, so I now have an explanation for why my friends have been flaking out, my Nook seems to have disappeared into thin air (seriously – like it was part of a magic trick in my apartment; there one minute, … Continue reading

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