Do you ever feel like you are the one parent who is doing it all wrong? I was just reading about Hothouse Kids and the trouble with “giftedness” in our quest to be special. What is the deal with superstar (Hothouse) kids and their parents? Why do we compare ourselves, and our children, to them?

I don’t get it. I see these kids on TV and I am totally fascinated for the entire time they are on stage. They are talented and funny and gifted and fearless and charming and determined and, most importantly, four or five years old! But when I look around at all the kids I know who are that age, I don’t see any prospects of that. 

Posted in balance, choices, family, helping others, homeschool, love No Comments »

I never thought I would choose to homeschool my son

Ever since I left my career to stay home with my baby, I assumed it would be temporary — just until he started school. Then, I figured, I would have time to work, go back to school, or write the great American novel.

There are a million reasons why parents choose to homeschool (or not), but in our case the reason was mostly medical. Just before he was due to start Kinder, my son had a somewhat routine (if there is such a thing) surgery that went… let’s just say, awry. (You can read more about it in Overcoming Challenges.) With the surgeon’s blessing we still enrolled him in school, but as he suffered more complications, and later needed a repair surgery, titanium screws, and a halo, we opted to keep him home.

Posted in family, homeschool 33 Comments »

One of the things I like about homeschooling my son is that many of his most memorable lessons are completely unplanned.  The reason I mention this is, even if you don’t homeschool your kids, I think it is important to pay attention to the little learning opportunities in ordinary experiences.  Kids may learn a lot from books and teachers, but the lessons they are likely to remember are the ones they enjoy.

When I started blogging, I hadn’t decided if I would write about homeschool or about bigger life issues.  This was one of the posts I had written about homeschooling, but I think it is worth sharing here as well.

These were my five favorite unplanned lessons:

Posted in family, homeschool, present moment 7 Comments »