The woman sends home a list of math words, stripped of context, and defined with other words the kids probably don’t know. And my daughter has a much better vocabulary than most of her classmates, so if she has trouble understanding what is being said, I can only imagine the trouble other kids are having.
Tag: relationships
Begging To Be Enslaved
“Unmoored”? Being chained to an aggressive thief makes people feel steady and safe? Can a person like that even be considered a person? Human, yes. I can see that, but without apparent “personhood”. Pitiful.
Death Brings Value To Life
Death is the phenomenon that brings value and meaning to our lives. It is empowering and uplifting. It means nothing is permanent. It means nothing is truly ours. The impermanence of our existence highlights what truly matters.
Unschooled Kids Will Be Different
A concern I’ve heard regarding unschooled kids is that “they’ll be different”. What is meant by this is that they won’t have the same education, the same experiences, the same memories, the same cultural influences, yadda, yadda, yadda, as their “peers”. In my opinion, that’s just dandy.
A Message from the Calm to the Angry
Dear Angry Person, I can tell that you’re angry at me again. I think I understand your complaint, though I have trouble understanding why this specific issue is upsetting you on this specific day. But based on past experience, asking for clarification will only make you angrier, without helping me avoid your future anger. As usual, then, I plan to appease you.
Save Yourself the Trouble
Dishonesty is the highest form of disloyalty. Nothing is a greater offense to true loyalty than fake love. Have you been victimizing yourself or others by putting on a facade of fake love? Do you consistently behave in ways that are antithetical to your core values and highest priorities all in the name of “taking one for the team”?
Child Labor In School And Out
School-days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency. It doesn’t take a reasonably bright boy long to discover that most of what is rammed into him is nonsense, and that no one really cares very much whether he learns it or not.
Freeing Butterflies: A Grandmother’s Journey to Homeschooling Acceptance
“I’ve had it, Mom—the last straw has landed. I’m taking Shaun out of school this week and I’m going to have him learn at home. And I’m never going to send Patrick and Molly to school. And if Ian wants to homeschool, he can, too!” With those words, I let my mother know I’d taken the drastic step I’d been contemplating and researching for months.
Compassionate Connection: Attachment Parenting & Nonviolent Communication
How do we deal with a two-year-old when he grabs every toy his friend plays with? What do we say to a four-year-old who screams in rage when her baby brother cries? How do we talk with a ten-year-old about the chores he has left undone, again? What strategies will keep our teenager open with us – and safe? Nonviolent Communication (NVC), sometimes referred to as Compassionate Communication, offers a powerful approach for extending the values of attachment parenting beyond infancy. A process for connecting deeply with ourselves and others, and for creating social change, NVC has been used worldwide in intimate family settings as well as in organizations, schools, prisons, and war-torn countries.
Approaching Life with Beginner’s Mind
What is beginner’s mind? It’s dropping our expectations and preconceived ideas about something, and seeing things with an open mind, fresh eyes, just like a beginner. If you’ve ever learned something new, you can remember what that’s like: you’re probably confused, because you don’t know how to do whatever you’re learning, but you’re also looking at everything as if it’s brand new, perhaps with curiosity and wonder. That’s beginner’s mind.