Unschooling NYC

Yesterday, on our way home from Brighton Beach, Maya, out of the blue, says, “I love my life.  I get to do different things every day.  Not like kids in school who have to get up, go to school, come home, eat dinner, do homework, go to bed.  Repeat.”    Great, right?    Then, before she goes to sleep, she tells me what a fun day she had.  This happens almost every day.  “I had a really fun day today, Mama” are words I hear a lot.    So why did I wake up this morning feeling like I wanted to bite someone’s … Read more

Today we spent a great, but very hot, afternoon out at the River Run Playground in Riverside Park at 83rd St.  Maya and Ben got to see some of their friends who have been away for most of the summer, and a good time was had by all.  Actually, I say we were in the playground, but most of the day was spent just outside the playground, in an area that features some dense foliage and high granite rocks.  Heaven on earth for kids, in other words.   The sidewalk that skirts the area starts up at the entrance to the … Read more

A few days ago I wrote about the Preschool Depression article in the Sunday Times Magazine, and today the Times ran a story called, “Reading, Writing,  Headaches” all about how when kids go back to school many of them begin to experience severe headaches, how it’s a growing problem that often goes undiagnosed because people either think they’re making it up or don’t believe young people can experience migraine headaches.   They then proceed to go on at length about the possible causes;  fatigue from having to get up early again after a summer of sleeping late, not enough water or … Read more

The photo you see above is Ben on our indoor swing.  My parents gave it to the kids as a Christmas present two years ago, and they love it.  It works in all weather, and recently Ben has learned how to jump out of it…   He was not quite 5 years old when we got it, and at one point while he was swinging I looked over and said, “Ben, it makes me nervous when you swing that high.”  To which he responded, “Then don’t watch me!”      And of course he was right, and since then we have all enjoyed … Read more

I had a completely different entry planned for today, and then I came home and picked up the New York Times Magazine (we get the paper delivered on the weekends, so the magazine, normally part of the Sunday edition, comes on Saturday).   The cover story was about female tennis players, but in the list of other articles contained in this issue was a headline that demanded immediate attention:  “Is Your Preschooler Depressed? “  Excuse me?   I read it twice to make sure I wasn’t mistaken.  Nope.  It did in fact say ‘is your preschooler depressed’.   So I turned to the … Read more

Aside from people who stand in line at McDonalds for ten minutes, and then, upon reaching the counter, stare up at the menu with wonder and say, “Umm, let me see…”, my biggest pet peeve is cashiers who don’t know how to make change.   (Actually, that’s not true.  My biggest pet peeve is people who are constantly late and can’t be bothered to pick up the phone and let you know they’ll be late, but that’s another blog entry entirely.)

The latest incident happened at our local Rite Aid drugstore.  I don’t remember what I was buying, but the total … Read more

One of the most oft repeated questions I get as an unschooling Mom, besides “What do you do all day?”  is , “Don’t you get tired of being with your kids all the time?”    Sandra Dodd, in one of her website entries, talked about this, saying that the amount of hours in the day spent with your children grows proportionately less as they get older.  When they are infants and toddlers, almost all your time is spent with them, but as they grow older, opportunities arise for a few hours spent away, either in a class of some sort (we … Read more

Ben loves Playmobil.   LOVES it!  He took the photo you see above.  It is a Roman fortress (in case you couldn’t tell).   Recently he spent a bunch of his saved up money to buy 37 Roman Playmobil soldiers.   It was a big decision, but since they’ve arrived there have been many fights to the death in the arena, either against gladiators or lions, as well as the capturing of prisoners, who are then brought to this fortress and made to fight their way out, if they can.   Most of them, needless to say, are so outnumbered they don’t make it, … Read more

My first exposure to homeschooled children came several years before Joshua & I had kids of our own.    We’d made friends with a couple who had three children who were homeschooled, and the first time we were invited to their apartment, I was struck by how socially adept the kids were.  Yes, that’s right, adept.  They moved and spoke with ease among adults and children alike, no matter what their age.    Since then, I have found that this was not an isolated incident, so much so that I can’t quite figure out where the stereotype of the socially inept homeschooler … Read more

Have you ever tried to listen someone talk about a topic in which you are completely uninterested?  At best, you get through it without yawning, and hope that they don’t ask any questions.   If they do, you are in trouble because more than likely you can’t remember anything they’ve said, even though the words left their mouth minutes or even seconds before.

Interest is a vital ingredient to remembering/learning.  A few weeks ago, Time Magazine ran a cover story called The Case Against Summer Vacation. The author argued that summer vacation is an antiquated relic of our agrarian past, in … Read more