Unschooling NYC

Last year I wrote an article for the NYCHEA newsletter in which I talked about ‘one size fits all’, ‘need to know’ schooling and curricula, and how silly it is to expect everyone to fit into the same mold.   At one point I mentioned a guy who makes his living setting up those elaborate domino mazes and gets paid very, very well to do it, just so everyone can have the pleasure of watching all the dominoes fall.   Can you imagine what the teachers might have said to him in school?   Things like, ‘if all you want to do is … Read more

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all thirty feet tall.
–Larry Wilde

Growing up on a farm in Indiana, we always had an artificial tree at Christmas.  Which seems a little odd looking back, but of course at the time I thought nothing of it.   I loved the tree we put up every year, and enjoyed laying with my head underneath, looking up through the branches at the lights.

Now that I live in the city, somewhat ironically,  we have a live tree every Christmas.   A day or two before … Read more

Most of our friends ice skate.  They take lessons in the mornings at the Bryant Park rink, and for a while we’ve been asked and encouraged by those same friends to join in.  But as is the case with most things, both Maya and Ben work on their own schedules.  No amount of exhortation or tales of the great fun had by all will influence them.  They’ll do it when they are ready, and on their own terms.

Today we met our friend Anna, who is only in town for a few days before heading back to the hills (she … Read more

Today we spent some time at Riverside Park after the kids’ art class.  It was our usual crew of 4 girls and then Ben and his friend Andrew.   The area they play in has it all – a huge outcropping of granite, trees with branches low enough to climb, a fairly large hill and a sort of grassy, bushy area in which to run and hide.  (That’s where they found the bat a couple of weeks ago.)   One of the other Mom’s commented that when they lived in suburbia before moving to the city, the kids never played in this … Read more

For a lot of people, Arlo Guthrie may only be known as Woody Guthrie’s son.   Some may recognize the name of his most famous song, “Alice’s Restaurant” and think of him as a 60’s hippie; a writer of outlandish protest songs who in his younger years was on the wrong side of the law more than once for his use of ‘recreational substances’.   If you fall into this category, you might not recognize the man sitting on stage at Carnegie Hall last night, surrounded by his kids and backed by a full symphony orchestra.   For a guy whose first memory … Read more

If you have kids, or have spent any time in the children’s section of any bookstore in the last few years, you are no stranger to the “Need to Know” series of books, usually found in the ‘education’ section.   What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know,  What Your First Grader Needs to Know, etc.   I used to own both of these books, having bought them when Maya was still a baby, when I knew I wanted to homeschool but hadn’t a clue how that would manifest.    In the introduction to these books, the editors talk about the importance of … Read more

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday.  Because it is held on a Thursday, it  feels more like a 4 day occasion, what with many companies closing on Friday as well.   I also love it because it is for everyone.   It doesn’t matter if your family has been in the States for one generation or for ten;  it doesn’t matter what religion you follow, if any.   It might be the perfect tradition if it weren’t for the the fact that the real story of how it started conveniently leaves out the part where the white Europeans repay the native’s kindness by … Read more

It’s quiet outside (for New York).   Amazing how the traffic sounds die down until they are almost gone when a holiday approaches.   Earlier there was gridlock all over the city as people headed out to wherever they are spending Thanksgiving.   Our Thanksgiving weekend is almost always spent here in the city, sometimes with just the four of us, and sometimes with friends.   This year we will be heading out to eat uptown with our friends the Spositos, which I am greatly looking forward to.    I’m bringing the pumpkin pie and dinner rolls.   (Both ‘baked in a moderate oven’ for those … Read more

This afternoon we met up with friends at one of those ‘paint your own pottery’ places.   This one was originally called, “Our Name is Mud”,  but later the company split and “Our Name is Mud” became retail only.  The ‘paint your own’ side of things was renamed “Make”.   (Which I always thought was a huge step down as far as store names go.)   Now they have changed again, expanding their product line to offer jewelry, candles and greeting cards, and renaming themselves “Make Meaning”.   Hmm.    The thing is, I don’t have a problem with this place as such.  Every now … Read more

When I went on the Times website to the article that was the subject of yesterday’s entry, it had received 439 comments from on line readers.   My curiosity piqued, I read through them all.  (Thankfully many of them were short!)  Out of the 439 comments, only my own and two others pointed out that compulsory schooling might have more to do with kids’ inattention than the technology they are using.    Not one other person mentioned Vishal Singh’s trailer about unschooling, although quite a few mentioned the videos taken at Woodside by the Times reporters.    There were a few that sarcastically … Read more