I am going to summarize the findings presented in an incredible TED talk by Ali Carr-Chellman professor of education at Penn State. Like much of the education research coming out today, her conclusion makes it completely clear that parents should homeschool boys. But that's too controversial for her to say. So I'm saying it. Here's…

When I started homeschooling, I used workbooks. I got my kids through a whole grade level in about two months. But I found myself forcing my kids to learn stuff they were not interested in learning. The constant arguing killed me, and the lack of excitement over learning seemed like the opposite of what we…

So much of the discussion of school comes down to video games. Especially for boys. And here's why: in most cases, if you tell boys they can spend their time doing whatever they want, and they can learn whatever is interesting to them, they will learn a lot about video games.

What is the point of parenting if you don't get to force your own agenda? We start doing this early, by picking a mate. I picked smart, good looking, and Jewish. I didn't pick good social skills. Believe me, I would have, if I had understood their importance at the time. But one result of…

It's fall on the farm, which means the stack of wood is high enough to get us through the whole winter. My husband brings back chopped wood from our forest, and before he stacks it neatly into the pile, the kids build a fort. Or a kitten cage. Or a jumping pile for them and…

I write a ton about all the things that surprise me when my kids have unlimited screen time. I've been surprised that they learned to type, that they learned to spell, and they learned to make movies. Today I'm surprised that they learned about politics. We were driving in the car to the butcher and…

I think my son is a writer. Not the one who is the cellist. Writing is too solitary for him and the audience is too far removed. He's a performer. But the other son, he is a writer with a knack for non-fiction. He writes a journal every night, and he's as obsessive as I…

I get a lot of emails from people who want me to link to their stuff. You'd be surprised how much of it I click on. Just to see. I am always scared I'll miss something good. I often get emails from this place that specializes in making graphic representations of stuff. The company is…

Here's the update on my grand video game experiment: Unlimited video games has been great. If there is nothing my kids are supposed to be doing—feeding goats, practicing violin, taking a skateboard lesson—then they can play video games. I have not put limits on how much they play or what they play. I have even…

This is a picture of my perfect homeschool moment: We are in New York City, waiting for The Lion King to begin. My sons have never been to a Broadway show. They are mesmerized by the grandeur of the theater, and I am giddy with anticipation of seeing their faces light up when the show…

One of the biggest gripes about US students is that they have no sense of geography. I have a six-year-old who knows every state by it's shape, so I thought I'd tell you how he learned it: From video games. First, he was in the car one day searching for a new app on my…

After doing a lot of investigating about video games and their effect on kids, I realized that limiting kids playing video games has a much more deleterious impact on kids than letting them play video games unfettered by parent oversight. Here's why: 1. Game time is about respect. When you tell kids they can't do…

The biggest problem we have in our child-directed learning program is that my kids want to play video games all day. Well, that's not true. They'll choose eating over video games if they're hungry. And they'll choose to turn off their games to participate in activities they've chosen, like swimming or skateboarding. But the way…

This is a guest post by Lisa Nielsen. She’s in charge of technology and teacher training for the New York City public schools, and she is the author of  the book Teaching Generation Text. None of the opinions in this post reflect the views, opinions, or endorsement of her employer.  At their most basic level video games…