What was I thinking? I have no time to post. And there is less internet access here than there was in China. So let me say as a wrap of the week… AWESOME. Monkeys and body surfing and beautiful scenery. Hearing my dad and Kathiana’s dad (Kathiana is our au pair) talking about their lives as cab drivers even though my dad and her dad do not speak one word of each other’s language. Finding out that my Dad worked... Read more
Have you been waiting for the next post? I almost never miss a post. I write Monday-Friday pretty much without fail. But we’re in Costa Rica, and internet access was not what I expected. So I missed a couple of posts. I’ll write tomorrow and Friday about how friggin’ incredible this country is. For now, though, let me share a little riff on waiting. Here are all of the things we have waited for in the last two days: Our... Read more
The Edelschick girls are notoriously bad spellers. My sister Brenda is the worst. When she was a kid, the only person who could read her notes and cards was my grandfather, who was probably the worst speller of all time – they had some kind of wheerd cunxun. I’m not as bad as Brenda, but I’m a really, really bad speller. And since I don’t like thinking of myself as being bad at anything that matters, I long ago decided... Read more
“That’s not fair!” I hear this refrain so often I’m thinking of tattooing it on the boys’ palms. That way they can just wave their hands in disgust whenever the world (meaning Jeff or I) deal them some cruel blow. Like going to school on a “snow day.” Or rewriting a paper with a bunch of mistakes. Or going to bed at seven o’clock. Or practicing piano while the brother plays with Bay Blades. Or having to wipe your own... Read more
The boys were squealing last night. “Snow day! Tomorrow’s a snow day!” I was a killjoy last night. “But we don’t need a snow day. The snow won’t keep us from getting to school, so we’re still having school tomorrow.” It was like I killed their puppy. The one I am too mean to let them get. Still, there was definitely something different about school today. There was a massive snowball fight. There was a neighbor boy who came over... Read more
I woke up this morning with a sense of dread about having to homeschool the boys. The same dread I felt the first week when I couldn’t bear to walk down the stairs to start the day. The reasons for all of this dread? I have too much to do at work. The boys have been rotten this week. And that article my Amy Chua is bouncing around in my head saying things like, “Why bother! If you don’t... Read more
This lady would definitely NOT approve of my version of homeschool these days. If she saw the boys spending hours making a Chinese warlord forte on Saturday, she would cringe. Shouldn’t I use that time to have them practice the piano, which we skipped three times last week? Or how about some reading? Neither of the boys read for more than an hour last week, in TOTAL. I am in many ways one of the lazy, indulgent Western parents she... Read more
I thought I’d end the week with this heartwarming story from our trip to the bookstore yesterday. Knowing that Zach is obsessed with all things sports these days — especially if those sports are played by someone in a Boston jersey — I directed his attention to a book about Babe Ruth. “Who’s he?” “One of the greatest baseball players who ever lived.” “Does he play for the Red Sox?” “Well, he did until they traded him to the Yankees.... Read more
If you live in Boston and you have a 1st through 4th grader, head to the Mapparium. This three-story, painted-glass globe — which you walk through on a bridge — depicts the world as it was in 1935. The boys stood in the middle of the globe wide-eyed and open-mouthed. I heard them “oohing” and “aahing” under their breath. At one point, I saw Zach shaking his head and mouthing, “Oh. My. Gosh.” There really isn’t much too it. It... Read more
I just want to give a shout out to Big Ben Franklin. He conceived of the idea of the first public library. Or at least he’s often credited with the idea. That’s good enough for this homeschool momma. I just love the public library. It took me a while to come around to it. I always loved the idea. But actually getting there, looking around shelves, getting home in the rain, and then remembering to return the books all... Read more
The Homeschool Chronicles
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