We recently renovated the rec room in our basement. The transformation mostly consisted of several gallons of paint and some key new decor purchases. In the past, I would have been tasked with the paint job, but this time, we decided to make it a family affair. It was a great idea, mostly because I'd still be working on it — the bead board required four coats alone — but also because it gave us a shared sense of accomplishment and excitement for the finished product. The kids weren't token helpers, either. I managed the trim, but they were involved in everything else. Lucy is fourteen …
We are a homeschooling family. We never thought we would be. We just never thought much about it, frankly. But somehow, homeschooling found us, and it fits us. We love it. This is a scrapbook of our rule breaking, Adultitis fighting, homeschooling life.
We write under these disclaimers.
Why it Might Be Worth Trying Homeschooling this Year
Has the pandemic actually gotten you considering a jump to homeschooling (at least temporarily)? We are work-at-home parents of three kids who have been homeschooling for over a decade. Kim is also a former educator, and Jason has worked in school districts nationwide to support teachers and administrators for the past 15 years. Many people have lost confidence in how well the school system is able to serve their kids in the year ahead and are anxious over the uncertainty of what’s next. As such, we are hearing from tons of people who are suddenly considering the prospect of …
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Make Way for Greatness: What Our Kids Really Need
The ganache wasn’t very ganachey. A rose kept falling off. And it was a little lopsided. But that didn’t make the cake my kids made for my anniversary any less a work of art, or a gift of love.It started as their desire to do something nice for our twentieth wedding anniversary. Since we’ve been binge-watching Kids Baking Championship, we gave them a challenge. They had to design and bake a cake that represented both Mom and Dad (a worthy challenge considering Kim and I fall on opposite ends of the dessert spectrum). It also needed to be at least two layers and be made from scratch. We …
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How to Bigify Your Life
We didn’t see them at first, because they were the same size and color as the stones. But then some of those stones started moving. First one, then seven, then hundreds.We were vacationing in the Pacific Northwest, renting a home on Discovery Bay, and the rocky shoreline was covered with a thousand small tiny crabs.The kids were fascinated, by the crabs, and by the fact that the shoreline itself seemed to grow and shrink throughout the day. And it was, because even though it looked like one of the lakes we are accustomed to here in Wisconsin, the bay was connected to the nearby ocean, and the …
When Was Your Last Unscripted Adventure?
Nature and kids. It’s a magical combination. I treasure memories from my own childhood, ones like rolling down that huge hill at Allen Park next to the Illinois River, and climbing the tree in my front yard on Shady Lane, with grandiose plans to spend the whole afternoon there. These memories get richer with the years, don’t they? One of my deepest longings as a parent is to provide these magical moments for our kids. I’m finding that with all things in life, when I give, I end up receiving way more than I ever imagined possible. This little story illustrates the gift my kids gave …
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The Thing About Easy
Building a business from scratch isn’t easy. Neither is homeschooling one’s kids. Or traveling across the country with them in a small SUV and two suitcases. Which brings me to fireplaces. Our basement has had a gas fireplace, but it’s in a really weird spot in the lower level and we spend most of our family time upstairs, so we’ve only used it maybe twice in the 8 years that we’ve owned the home. After this summer’s basement renovation, Kim and I created a little sitting area in front of the fireplace in the hopes of making it more usable. We also decided to convert it to wood …
Wonder Aimlessly
Summer ain’t what it used to be. At the risk of sounding like a crotchety old man a few decades early, the summers of my youth were not packed wall-to-wall with extracurricular affairs. Yes, there was Little League, but the days were long enough to accommodate no small number of other “aimless” pursuits. Playing home run derby in the tennis court with my friends. Exploring the ravine near my house as a pint-sized Indiana Jones. Sorting and displaying my baseball cards, and then drawing my own. It was the opportunity to freely explore the things that fascinated me, without the prospect of …
6 Rules That Don’t Exist That Will Surprise Most Parents
We are inundated with rules that don’t exist. Not speed limits and tax laws, but the seemingly invisible norms, assumptions, and superstitions that we follow (often subconsciously) and which drive our lives. The more I write and talk about them, the more I uncover. And there is no shortage in the realm of education. My wife Kim and I homeschool. In the grand scheme of things, we’re in the shallow end of the pool; the oldest of our three children is only seven. But these past several years may have been the most important of all, because we’ve had to un-learn pretty much everything we knew …
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Laura Ingalls Wilder and My Broken Remote
I’ve recently been lamenting the fact that our TV's remote control is on the fritz. It’s not a battery issue, it’s just the power button that seems to be on strike. I’ve pegged my youngest daughter (the two-year-old) as the prime suspect for its early demise. Although I have no hard evidence, she is often seen secretly holding the remote, and the power button just so happens to be the only red button in a sea of black ones. I'm just saying. Regardless of the culprit, my frustration joins the chorus of a gazillion other parents who have crooned, “This is why we can’t have nice …
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Lessons from Lucy’s Pancake Stand
One of the great freedoms of homeschooling is the opportunity to create customized, comprehensive, teachable moments that align with our kids' interests and serve as relevant lessons for real life. Our daughter Lucy's recent Pancake Stand is one such example. Last year, Lucy ran a successful lemonade stand to help raise money for music lessons. With a new semester on the horizon, she was ready to take things to the next level. After making pancakes as part of a recent meal with friends, Lucy decided she might like to run a pancake stand. Who ever heard of a kid running a pancake …