Unschooling NYC

This is my high school Chemistry notebook from my Senior year.  My Mom found it somewhere and had it out when we arrived in Indiana on Monday evening.   I have been looking through it, alternately shaking my head and laughing.  Shaking my head because the notebook is filled with equations, none of which I remember.   Shaking my head because of notes like this one:

Boyles Law?  Had to look it up on line.

The notebook is interspersed with angsty teen poetry – one comparing myself to snow (“I haven’t snowed in years” being one of the more memorable lines) and … Read more

At the risk of seeming inconstant, I am going to amend what I said in my last post regarding having no leaders in the unschooling community.   The reason for this amendment is that I am reading Seth Godin’s book “Tribes”, and he describes how leadership is no longer synonymous with “management” (which is how most people still think of it).   It is in fact a good and necessary thing for groups of people who would like to institute some kind of change in the world.  He says:

Leadership…is about creating change that you believe in.  My thesaurus says the best

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I see the unschooling community as a sort of loose confederation, wherein each family is its’ own state, operating however suits their own family dynamic best within the realm of unschooling.   Or, if you prefer, we are all variations on a theme.   There is no one ‘right’ way to be unschoolers, although I would venture to say anything that includes coercive learning or a lack of freedom could safely be called ‘wrong’ when it comes to unschooling/life learning.

I’ve been doing a little research to see who are the people in the unschooling community that are the best known – … Read more

A lot is going on, but the short version is that we are preparing to leave for Indiana for the holidays and I am doing a lot of research and reading.   Those two things are not in any way related, but are keeping me busy.

There are some changes in the works for this blog, which is going to split into two separate sites in the near future.  One for personal anecdotes and stories and whatever ramblings I may feel like expressing, and one that focuses solely on learning, life learning, education, etc.   I’ll definitely be letting you know when … Read more

I read a blog post this evening wherein the writer – a homeschooling Mom who seems to want to be as sarcastic and funny as Dooce but who, in this case at least, just came off as mean – said she hates blog posts where parents talk about how great things worked out for their grown kids who were homeschooled; or blog posts from grown homeschoolers talking about how great they and their lives are because they were homeschooled.     She would prefer we be a little less self-congratulatory and little more critical of our own process.  She thinks that a … Read more

The NYCHEA Craft Fair is everyone’s favorite of the monthly meetings, as always evidenced by the massive turnout.  The kids make stuff and bring it to sell.   They barter, they haggle and they have a great time.   At least three tables were also raising money for various charities, and the very, very best part?   All these kids are so supportive of everyone’s work.  Doesn’t matter how rudimentary or unpolished it might be, it gets raves from the buyers.

Enjoy.

The Mayas & their wares

This is Leo who was selling books of his own short stories!

The knitting table. These

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When Maya was five years old, she asked for a microscope for Christmas, along with many other things.  (American girl doll, bicycle, & a bunch of stuff I don’t remember.)   We ‘farmed’ the microscope out to my brother and his wife, who always invited guests for Christmas lunch & to open presents.   So this meant morning gifts from us and Santa at my parent’s house, then lunch and more gifts at my brother’s house in the afternoon.

Christmas morning Maya raced out, and in typical kid fashion, ripped open presents helter skelter, shrieking and ooh-ing and aah-ing over her gifts.   … Read more

Here’s a list of actual headlines from the NYTimes over the past few weeks, dealing with education or schools or teaching:

“Are suspensions an effective method of disciplining students?”

“Profits & Questions at Online Charter Schools”

“Pay Data Sought for For Profit Colleges”

“Longer Standardized Tests are Planned, Displeasing Some School Leaders”

“12 With Low State Test Scores are put on School Closing List”

“New York’s Math Scores Dip on U.S. Student Tests, Diverging from Trend in Other Big Cities”

“Florida Budget adds to School Spending”

Then there are the Times Education blogs.   One, written by Michael Winerip, purports to … Read more

The Bad Mama Blues can be triggered by many things.   In my case those things are often articles or blog posts expounding on the many ways that parents need to be involved in their child’s activities, engaging them and guiding them, providing support and….whatever.

More and more often I find these articles through Twitter, reminding me that I’ve spent far more time on Twitter on a given day than I have ‘guiding’ my children in any meaningful way.

Add that to a recent evening spent hobnobbing with actors & celebrity photographers and you have the perfect recipe for a large … Read more

Joshua & I took friends to see “Moneyball” tonight.  In case you haven’t seen it, the movie is based on the true story of the Oakland Athletics, who, with the lowest payroll in major league baseball, put together a playoff-worthy team using a method devised by a man named Bill James.   This method basically threw out a hundred years of ‘how things were done’ in baseball scouting and recruiting, and replaced it with a system that calculated baseball players’ statistics down to one vital thing:  runs scored.

And of course, most of baseball hated it.    When it worked & Oakland … Read more