Unschooling NYC

My chosen topic for tonight’s blog was derailed by news of the abduction and subsequent murder of Leiby Kletzky.    Leiby, as I’m sure you all know by now, was 8 years old and walking home from his day camp alone.  He’d practiced the route with his parents, but nonetheless got lost and asked a stranger for help.

When I first heard the news, I knew nothing other than an 8 year old boy had been abducted while walking home alone, and was murdered.    It is the type of news that makes every parent’s heart clench in agony and fear – … Read more

I was talking to a friend of mine today about Maya and Ben’s experiences with other children at the pool in Indiana, and she had a lot to say about the matter, having been raised in a rural area of southern New Jersey.  (Yes, there are rural areas in New Jersey – the nickname “The Garden State” is not some sort of twisted joke.)

As to the unfriendly, aggressive nature of the kids’ encounters at the Ceraland pool, her take on it was that the kids who go to that pool are probably there every day all summer.  She’s right … Read more

Everything about today was refreshing except the temperature, which topped out at almost 100 degrees.   But none of us cared, because there were no belligerent customer service people to deal with and instead, as Maya said, “It was a day of awesome-ness!”

Why awesome?   Probably depends on who you ask in the family, but for me it had partially to do with the fact that for the first time since around June 26th or so, we had nowhere we had to be, no driving to do or running around to different activities.   The kids had Spanish class at 10:30, during … Read more

It started with a trip to New Jersey – never a good sign – to the Honda Dealer I’ve been using since my beloved Potamkin Honda closed their Manhattan dealership 18 months ago.     The same Honda Dealer (Hudson Honda, in case you’re wondering) who six months ago sold and installed brand new Goodyear tires on my Honda Pilot.   The same Honda Dealer who, on June 27th, told me that there was nothing wrong with the brakes on my Pilot, even though I described the sound I heard each time I hit the brakes – a sound like something rubbing intermittently.… Read more

Last night I was watching parts of the movie “Cold Mountain”.    If you are unfamiliar with the story, it takes place during the Civil War and is set, primarily, in a place called Cold Mountain, North Carolina.    Ada Monroe and her father come to Cold Mountain just before North Carolina secedes.   He is the new preacher.   She is his daughter – a ‘real’ lady from Charleston.   The war begins and she and her father set their slaves free, leaving no one to work their farm.   All the young men, including one with whom Ada has fallen in love, are off … Read more

Back in New York, and fully functional after 9 1/2 hours of sleep!   So nice to be in our apartment again, to be unpacked, have clean laundry and fresh groceries.   Ahhhh.

We always enjoy our trips to my family in Indiana, especially in summer when the kids can play outside on the farm and spend hours at the beautiful public pool, but as soon as we are back in the city, as Maya says, “I can breathe again.”

My kids are very thankful for their family and time in the country, but it is interesting that as they get older … Read more

The next time we go to Indiana (and we had a great time, spending our days poolside for the most part), I must remember one very important fact.  DO NOT drive home on a Friday!!!    Normally I plan our return trip on a Tuesday or a Thursday, because these are definitely the days with the least traffic.   Don’t know why, exactly.   But we’d never driven back on a Friday.

Until now.

Big, big, big mistake.

I now know what being in hell feels like.  It feels like you will NEVER GET TO YOUR DESTINATION!   Ever.

The first problem, which has … Read more

Today we made our semi-annual trip out to Nashville, Indiana.    Nashville is basically a community of artists and artisans set in the hills of Brown County, approximately 15 miles west of Columbus.   They do a booming business in the Fall when people come from all over to look at, photograph and paint the autumn foliage, and summer weekends are fairly busy as well.

Main Street, Nashville IN

We, however, go for one reason.   To shop at JB Good’s, or as we call it, “the Life is Good store”.   Every six months for the last 5 or 6 years we drive … Read more

There’s been a lot written recently about our obsession with keeping our children away from anything that might be risky.   We try to protect them from the world, and in the process they learn to be fearful, creatively stunted people.   Lenore Skenazy’s blog entry from today talks about this subject, and I recommend you click over and read it.

I wanted to talk  about risk from our personal experience today at Ceraland pool.    Ben knows how to swim, but has always been fearful of being in deep water, even though we’ve told him that all he has to do is … Read more

We almost always spend the 4th of July here in Indiana.   The few times we’ve missed it, it was because I was traveling in Europe with my friends & the kids.  Some people have asked why we leave New York, which has arguably the best fireworks display anywhere, instead of traveling later in the month to Indiana, where the fireworks are ok, but certainly not on par with the massive display over the Hudson river.

Two reasons.

First, the display over the Hudson attracts hundreds of thousands of people, and years ago when I did spend the 4th in New … Read more