So here’s the deal with PE. It was all wrong for the last hundred years. It focused on sports. And if you didn’t like sports, or were bad at sports, or didn’t look like you might have an athlete in you, you sat on the sides and waited for it to be over. Almost no one left PE in better shape or better spirits. Until a renegade PE teacher in Naperville, Illinois changed everything. He was upset that so many... Read more
What’s so special about Naperville, Illinois? Is it that their 8th graders scored sixth in the world in science and first in math on the famous Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study? That same year, the US as a whole ranked 18th and 19th respectively. That fact made national news in 2000 and would certainly qualify them as special. That same year, only three percent of Naperville’s sophomores were overweight. That’s stunning when you consider that 30 percent of... Read more
Sometimes I feel tired. Work, homeschool, family life, friends, church, neighbors. It can be a lot. But today I realized that I’ve got nothing but time. And peace. And quiet. At least compared to bees. A beehive makes our house look like a retirement home – for monks. You might think you know how amazing bees are, and maybe you do. But I didn’t. Even Jeff, who knew the basics, was amazed by what we saw on Tales from the... Read more
What do the following have in common? 11 six- to eight-year-olds, Gladiator helmets, double chocolate cupcakes, and clay weapons They were all part of Zach’s 8th birthday WEAPONRY party today. We went back to the MFA with our resident cool guy artist. He showed us blades from Africa, Samurai swords from Japan, Gladiator helmets from Rome, and a riding sword made by a friend of Paul Revere. Throughout it all, he asked and answered great questions and the kids were... Read more
I wrote yesterday about the boys’ inability to keep secrets. Their inability to keep anything to themselves means that I am VERY careful about what I say in front of them. I don’t debrief the party with Jeff on the way home in the car. I don’t have important phone conversations if they are within earshot. You get the idea. Which makes the whole issue of Santa Claus very difficult. We don’t do Santa Claus in our house. Our family... Read more
Today is my birthday. When I came down the stairs this morning, Zach was excited to give me my card and gift. (Ezra had gotten tired of waiting for me and was upstairs putting ridiculous amounts of wax in his hair because it was sticking up too much for his taste.) Zach thrust his card at me. This is the first year he hasn’t given me my card a day or two early, which I took to be a good... Read more
I like writing when I have a theme of some kind, and I haven’t been inspired lately. It’s hard to come up with five ideas per week. I know that I don’t like the entry when I can’t think of a title – it means that I haven’t really written about anything. So today, I’m writing two unrelated stories, and will submit potential titles at the end, hoping that a theme emerges. Story 1: We’ve been working a lot this... Read more
“Your parents faked their way through it. You fake your way through it. And you just hope they don’t turn out to be serial killers.” The source of this proverb? Modern Family on ABC. I may lose credibility with many of you by admitting that I love this show and that nearly ever week it makes me cry. But I can’t get enough of people (or TV characters) admitting that parenting is always humbling and occasionally humiliating. Today, after playing... Read more
Last year, Zachary and Ezra were at the Amigos, a bilingual school where their teachers spoke only Spanish one week and only English the next. It’s a remarkable school in many ways, and I wanted to keep up their Spanish this year so that they could back next year if we don’t keep homeschooling We hired a Spanish-speaking au pair to be with the boys when Jeff and I are working. I thought she would speak exclusively Spanish, but that... Read more
“I know what they’re going to do. Again!” Zach, Ezra, and I were taking a break from school yesterday so that Zach could have his third bowl of cereal in two hours. I can’t tell if he is going through a growth spurt or just wants to limit the time we have for school. In any case, he, Ezra, and I were talking about a trip that Zach and I are taking to visit friends, friends who have an eight-year-old... Read more
The Homeschool Chronicles
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