Unschooling NYC

My Maya is 11.   She got 29 Happy Birthday message on Facebook today,  got several e-cards,  had a party with friends, got many great gifts, went out to dinner….   And tonight was Manhattan-henge!   Which means that today only, the sunrise and sunset align exactly with the East-West cross streets in Manhattan.    A rather lesser claim to fame than Stonehenge, but that’s ok.  We have other claims to fame.

Needless to say, there is one happy and tired girl in my house tonight.   And one happy and tired Mama as well.    Watching Maya and Ben and friends spend 6 hours running … Read more

11 years ago today I was in hour 46 of a 56 hour labor that would culminate in the birth of our first child, who everyone said was a boy.  (Not because of the ultrasound, which I didn’t have, but because of the way I was carrying).    With me at the birthing center that day was Joshua, of course, along with various nurses and midwives and my dearest friend Tina, who had flown in from Germany to be with me.   Tina is a doctor, and started her career working in Ob-Gyn.  (She has since switched to urology – she said … Read more

It’s the Memorial Day weekend, and a lot of people have left the city on mini vacations.   We are having ours here, just the way we like it.

Today the plan was for me to sew up the flags and sashes the kids intend to use while playing Capture the Flag on Maya’s birthday (different colored flags and coordinated sashes for each team.)   I did finish the flags, but an unexpected call from our friends the Manns meant I’ll be finishing the sashes tomorrow.  But it was worth it.  We headed over to the River Walk at 72nd St, meeting … Read more

When I originally subscribed to the magazine “Entertainment Weekly” it was primarily because Stephen King wrote a regular column for them titled “The Pop of King”.  (Clever)   I’ve never read any of King’s novels all the way through – they scare me too much, but I always loved his column.   (And I’ve read his memoir “On Writing” which is fabulous.)    He is no longer a full time contributor to the magazine, but this week, in EW’s annual summer kick off issue, he wrote  “My Summer Reading List”, and I have decided that this summer I am going to read all … Read more

The other night Ben came out at around 10:30pm to tell me he was ready to go to sleep, which is part of his usual nightly routine.   After he tells me, we go to his room, I situate the curtains just so, then turn off his light and give him a snuggle.    On this particular night, I was watching something on line which I had paused in order to go say good-night to him, so after a minute of snuggling I said, “I have to go now.”   He didn’t miss a bit but answered with a smile, “You don’t have… Read more

In case you weren’t around back when I wrote the entry about my favorite films, which started at 10 and then expanded into a whopping 100 (which I didn’t publish in my blog but did send to a friend, complete with notes on why those films made the list), then you should know that I am something of a movie geek.   I have a weird ability to remember even the most obscurest facts about films and am never so happy as when I can sit around and listen to someone talk about the process of film-making.   Yes, I am one … Read more

Is there an imminent election that I have somehow failed to be aware of?   The flurry of articles in The Times over the last few days about school testing and legislation would suggest as much, but it’s May….?

Most people agree that standardized testing tells us little about a child’s actual intelligence or level of knowledge.   So by all means, let’s introduce MORE testing.   Maybe, if 10 standardized tests a year don’t do the trick, then 20 will!   But wait – no, this is different.   How’s this for a twist?  Kids in NYC schools will take the tests, but the … Read more

Today was all about giving and being thankful.   We had a great comment from Alison at Global Giving (see comments) regarding my post yesterday and The Donators, made even better by the fact that she tweeted about them later in the day to 25,000 of GG’s followers on Twitter.  Which prompted me to get an account (@greenmangoes)  and Maya to open one for their group (@thedonators).   They’ve already had emails with inquiries as to how to contribute to their current campaign for Heifer International, so in that regard – great day!

However, news of yet more devastating tornadoes in Missouri … Read more

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Maya and some friends had started a group called The Donators.    Ben is involved as well, and when it started, they decided they would each contribute $5 a month and then after three months they would donate the money they’d saved to a charity.   They started in February and at the end of April they donated $90 to Global Giving’s Japan Tsunami Relief effort.

Now they are expanding their focus.   In case you’re new to this blog, my Maya loves organizing (people, not her room) and running meetings and such.   This has … Read more

We woke up and the sun was shining today!!   After a week of almost constant rain, it was a great relief to see blue sky.  (And I know our rain pales in comparison with what much of the Midwest has been dealing with this Spring, but nonetheless…)   We had originally planned to take part in Lenore Skenazy’s “Take Your Kids to the Park and Leave Them There”  day, but Maya was invited to an early screening of Kung Fu Panda 2 with her friend Greta,  and Ben’s friends all have early baseball, so instead Ben and I headed to Central … Read more