Our house is deathly quiet, almost too quiet. Two hours ago our two sons, Don and Jeff, along with Zachary and Ezra, hopped into Don’s rental car and zipped off to the Reno airport to catch their flights home. Jeff and his boys had come to California for a wedding, and his brother Don met us here in Lake Tahoe (elevation 6300′) five days later. While they were here, our house was a regular beehive of activity, and a pretty... Read more
I used to work sixty to seventy hours a week. It was no big deal. I liked working. I liked being in the building before everyone else. Schools, even alternative schools that rent out three floors of a mid-town office building when the roof of their 19th-century schoolhouse caves in, are places of incredible promise at 6:30 am. The floors are clean and the coffee is fresh. Yesterday’s papers are graded and today’s lesson plans haven’t yet failed to deliver... Read more
“We played Aggravation,” Zach reported tonight from California. “Have you ever played, Mom?” “I played every day with my Grandma when I visited her. It was one of her favorite games.” “Can you get it for us?” “You can save up your money and buy it yourself.” “Do you know where we can get it?” “Yup.” “Target?” From the background I can hear Ezra’s assessment of Target as the go-to store for game shopping: “Oh yeah, you’ll find it there.... Read more
I’ve heard some vegetarians say that people should not be allowed to eat anything they are not willing to kill themselves. That would be the end of my carnivorous ways, which is of course their point. But I wonder if there are loopholes for people who can get their kids to kill stuff. Because if so, I’m pretty sure that I would be able to eat everything from squirrels to elephants, and lizards to bunny rabbits. I used to worry... Read more
Have you heard the buzz about a new book called “Go The F*** To Sleep?” Adults, it seems, are divided. Is the book hilarious satire meant to comfort parents who are at their wits end trying to get their little ones to sleep? Or is it another sign of our society’s profane attitude toward even children? As anyone who’s spent any significant time with me can attest, I’m not offended by coarse language. And the book made me laugh when... Read more
A few years back, Nancy and I went back and forth about a piece I was going to post on SixSeeds.tv, of which she was the primary content editor. We were arguing about what to call it when my kids and I brought food to homeless people in our neighborhood. I wanted to call it justice; she wanted to call it charity. It was maddening, neither of us able to really understand where the other person was coming from. Or... Read more
When Zach was a baby, I had an overwhelming desire to lick him. I nearly always resisted, but it was a powerful urge. Like a mother cat, I wanted to groom the hairs on his sweet-smelling head. But it was more than that too. Something that’s hard to describe. On the first day of pre-school, I snuck back to the school after an hour to peek in the windows. My friends wouldn’t let me, but I’m pretty sure I sent... Read more
Cool pic, huh? Not sure what it is? Then you’re not from California. And you weren’t raised by Jeff. This shot is from the the seventh basket on the Bijou Disc Golf Course, one of SIX Frisbee golf courses in South Lake Tahoe. The boys and Jeff left for California yesterday. They are spending a week with Grandma and Grandpa at Lake Tahoe, where Jeff spent summers camping with his family and where his parents now live. Like Jeff, Frisbee... Read more
“It’s book club, tonight! It’s book club, tonight!” Their excitement could not be contained. Ezra kept checking in to make sure I had all of the activities planned. And Zach kept spontaneously hugging me throughout the day, thanking me for hosting book group at our house. Of course, his gratefulness would have been easier to understand if he’d ever been to a book club. I don’t know if it was the idea of being in club that so excited them.... Read more
I was feeling all Becky Home-Ecky tonight. The chili was simmering, the house was clean, and I was helping Zach make whipped cream for our fruit parfaits. I was also channeling some Caroline Ingalls as I looked out the window lovingly at Pa, who was helping Ezra tend to the bees in the backyard. Our very own Little House on the Charles. We had the first day in months without nasty bickering between the boys or disrespectful behavior toward us.... Read more
The Homeschool Chronicles
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