In hindsight I see that my path to homeschooling was largely a math problem. In the process of making my decision I didn't realize it was a mostly a math problem, but it was. Here's how it goes: 1. Good school districts are in expensive neighborhoods. I had in my head what a "good" school…

In grade school, I lived just past the limit for the school bus, so legally, and probably ethically, it was too far for a grade-schooler to walk. But I always walked. In middle school I missed the bus most mornings. My parents weren't around to drive me. It was far. I was very late very…

It's election day here in Wisconsin. We are voting to recall the governor. Or not. I have never voted for a Republican in my whole life. Governor Walker is tied closely to the NRA, he is anti-abortion, he is generally against everything I stand for. But you know what? I hope he wins. Because I…

I have received about ten emails from people who are outraged that the Obama administration is proposing that kids be banned from doing farm work. People who grew up on farms are posting comments all over the Internet about their farm nostalgia. And I get it. I understand that kids run wild on a farm…

My son had a friend sleep over the other night. He would be in first-grade, like my six-year-old, who, really, I should have held back a year because all the rich little boys in New York City are being held back a year, and I want my son to be able to compete with them….

The Washington Post announced that Sarah Wysocki has been fired. She got great reviews for her classroom performance. Kids liked her, her principal liked her. But the test scores of her students were not good enough. There is wide agreement that teaching to the test is a vapid way to educate kids. There is wide…

Most people I know are not homeschoolers. Most of them tell me they understand the benefits of homeschooling, but they are scared to do it. They tell me they feel more comfortable being active in their kids' school to make sure their kid gets a good education. But I want to tell all those people…

I am actually a very strong believer in public school. I believe we owe it to kids who are disadvantaged—in a whatever way that is—to help them get a good education and have a decent entry point into adulthood. I am also a strong believer that every kid can learn and every kid is smart…

There is a cognitive dissonance about public schools. Everyone knows public schools in the US are terrible, but everyone thinks their school is the exception. The reality is that your school would be the exception only if it teaches using project-based learning. Which it doesn't. The public schools that are exceptional are exceptional at teaching…

There will be days when I will forget how bad things were. It's like how people think their psychiatric meds are doing nothing, so they go off them. And then it's bad. I can already tell there's gonna be a time like that for homeschooling. The manic-depressives have to have a scrapbook of what went…

My six-year-old made it through three days of school. Before school started, when I could see that he wanted to go, I asked the school to test him, so the school would be very aware of how far ahead he is. For example, he tested at the end of second grade for math. On his…