Sorry We Were Late for Co-Op, But...
Sometimes you’ve got it all together. Sometimes you’re late for co-op. But there’s always a reason!
Sometimes you’ve got it all together. Sometimes you’re late for co-op. But there’s always a reason!
Sometimes you’ve got it all together. Sometimes you’re late for co-op — and it’s a good thing homeschoolers don’t have to write excuses because some of them would be … interesting.
We thought it was Tuesday.
Annie couldn’t find her Tardis socks, and she can’t wear her tutu without them.
Minecraft.
No one had matching shoes.
Someone tried to flush a harmonica.
We had to change the toner so Sarah could print her homework.
The car keys were being used as a chandelier in a Harry Potter Lego set.
George wanted to know where babies come from.
The kids couldn’t leave until we collected data to determine who has the longest tongue.
Jenny had the wrong socks. More precisely, she had 13 pairs of the wrong socks before we finally found the right ones.
All the clean underwear ended up being used in the dog’s pillow fort.
Aaron discovered the Trolley Problem.
The audiobook was at the most exciting part.
We were just going to drop off the overdue books, but there was book sale at the library.
My mother-in-law watched something on CNN about socialization and called to tell me about it.
The FAFSA made me cry.
Apparently only two of the kids made it to the car with their shoes on.
This was originally published in the fall 2017 issue of HSL.
Stuff We Like :: 12.14.18
Selfies before iPhones, schoolgirl maps, a hero's journey for girls, the oldest footprints in the Grand Canyon, and more.
Selfies before iPhones, schoolgirl maps, a hero's journey for girls, the oldest footprints in the Grand Canyon, and more.
School’s out for winter break — our Saturnalia party is today, and after that, it’s home sweet home until January! This is a short week, though, because getting through finals always takes some doing.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
The World War I Christmas truce makes a great unit study for the holidays.
From the archives: Homeschooling and patience and great games to play this winter break
You may be interested in: Last minute ideas to celebrate the winter solstice
LINKS I LIKED
Sewing + feminism + cheekiness + Regency England = my favorite selfie of all time
These 19th century maps drawn by schoolgirls are amazing. (Don’t they totally remind you of that part in Emily of New Moon where Rhoda traces her map on the window?)
Ahem: The Lady-Hero’s Journey
THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW BUT NOW I DO
Listening to some of our new batch of Congresswomen read the Preamble to the Constitution gets me all choked up.
The Grand Canyon’s oldest footprints are 310 million years old.
WHAT’S MAKING ME HAPPY
These bacon-fat gingersnaps, which sound insane but are addictively delicious
This magnificent sweater that I will be making for everybody
NPR’s Book Concierge (You know it’s a great selection when it has Julian Is a Mermaid AND Space Opera!)
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 12.7.18
Links, books, and more stuff that’s been inspiring my homeschool life this week.
In our big Enlightenment madness competition at Jason’s school this week, it came down to Swift (“A Modest Proposal”) versus Swift (Gulliver’s Travels), and it was so fun to listen to all the arguments about why Samuel Johnson Dictionary was more representative of the Enlightenment than Hogarth’s “A Harlot’s Progress” — and vice versa. It was the highlight of my week — well, that and the latkes.
What’s happening at home/school/life
It’s our giant mythology reading list!
Maggie has some tips to bring community service and project-based learning to your language arts classes. (It’s like the homeschool trifecta!)
From the archives: Celebrating Nelson Mandela and the lazy parent’s guide to holiday cheer
You may be interested in: Some of our favorite holiday readalouds
Links I liked
THIS. I have seen so many beloved magazines shut down over the past decades: Sassy, Mademoiselle, Gourmet, Blueprint, and now Glamour. And while I get it —the world changes and especially the media world — it feels even sadder not to give these magazines the real goodbye they deserve.
This is why I love philosophers: Is it ethical for Chidi (from The Good Place, which you should start watching now if you haven’t already!) to be so darn buff?
Relevant to my interests: Co-parenting with Lord Byron
Also relevant to my interests: The Victorian occultist accused of killing men with her mind
This made me laugh so hard.
Things I didn’t know but now I do
Apparently, it takes 1.71 days to poop out a Lego.
Smooth guardian frogs are really good dads.
What’s making me happy
The Art Institute of Chicago has made its archives open access, and they are AMAZING.
This “Honest Diversity in Tech Report.”
These awesome Hanukkah cards.
This Totoro hoodie. (I’m so excited to see my Ghibli lover’s face when she opens this!)
This game. (Check it out if you loved Sagrada; skip it if you can’t get into abstract games.)
These out-of-control snickerdoodles.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 11.20.18
The Squirrel Census is a thing and it's awesome, discovering an ancient Greek shipwreck, FBI writer profiles, in defense of puns, the witch capital of Norway, and more.
The Squirrel Census is a thing and it's awesome, discovering an ancient Greek shipwreck, FBI writer profiles, in defense of puns, the witch capital of Norway, and more.
The holidays are here — Hanukkah kicks off this weekend (even though we’re still working through the Thanksgiving leftovers), Jason’s birthday is next week, classes end the week after that, and then it’s all blissfully blank calendar pages through the middle of January. I am looking forward to reading Hannah Arendt with my best friend, recording the lectures for our Victorian semester, finally cleaning up my office, and spending lots and lots of time with my lovely little family. I hope you have much joy in the works, too.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
We have a great two-for-one subscription sale going through December 15!
Tips to help you organize your homeschool library. (There is a DIY version of the card catalog involved.)
Suzanne is always right about what I should read next.
From the fall issue: Aminata shares how her Waldorf-inspired morning routine has developed into her favorite part of the homeschool day.
one year ago: Shelli doesn’t teach geography — but her kids have learned it anyway
two years ago: Resources for studying the Supreme Court
three years ago: Rebecca reviewed a holiday curriculum for parents, designed to put the fun back in the season
four years ago: Homeschooling isn’t always easy — so why do we do it?
LINKS I LIKED
New item for my bucket list: Participate in the Central Park Squirrel Census
Relevant to my interests: The 100 Best Pens. (I do own the Schneider Slider Memo XB Medium, and it totally is the smoothest-writing pen that also isn’t smudgy I have ever tried, so I am excited to write my way through the rest of the top 10.)
How cool is this? A shipwreck of a Greek vessel dating back to 400 B.C.E. was found in the Black Sea. (Don’t these kinds of discoveries always make you wonder why you didn’t become an archeologist?)
Descriptions of writers included in FBI surveillance reports are sometimes weirdly accurate (and sometimes just weird.)
In defense of puns (I may have printed this off for my 11-year-old who is not appreciating my puns these days!)
THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW BUT NOW I DO
Vardo is the witch capital of Norway, and it’s much more disturbing than Salem.
However bad things may seem, the year 536 was worse.
WHAT’S MAKING ME HAPPY
The art projects my students made connecting two Enlightenment era literary works
My dog’s holiday sweater
My new cat socks (Now I’m not even mad at the dryer for eating all my other socks!)
Sufganiyot (You should make these even if you’re not celebrating Hanukkah this weekend! Most people make them with raspberry jam, which is great, but I always make one batch with red currant jelly because that is my favorite.)
It’s reading by the fire season! (We’re reading Good Omens so we can all watch the series together.)
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 11.8.18
Maps of imaginary worlds, whitewashing ancient statues, transgender people in the medieval world, and more stuff we like.
I feel measurably lighter at the end of this week than I did at the beginning. I have an editing fest ahead of me this weekend, but I am feeling up to the task!
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
Shelli reviews a middle grades fantasy with a great heroine protagonist.
one year ago: World history at the movies
two years ago: The Secret Keepers and The Secret of Goldenrod
three years ago: Mindful Homeschool: What are you afraid of?
four years ago: Raising children who love to write
LINKS I LIKED
Relevant to my interests: Literary maps of imaginary worlds
This is a great list of books to introduce Iranian culture to kids.
THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW BUT NOW I DO
Someone knit a map of space, and it’s amazing.
All those white marble Greek statues? They weren’t actually white at all.
The first comic strip may have been in Latin.
The easy answer is yes, of course, but the details are fascinating: Were there transgender people in the Middle Ages?
There’s a word for that stack of books I haven’t read yet.
WHAT’S MAKING ME HAPPY
This bookstore in Germany
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 10.26.18
Existentialism in children’s literature, climate change and vanished hikers in the Alps, the legacy of female spiritualists, what your favorite Shakespeare play says about you, and more stuff we like.
It finally feels like fall!
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
Sometimes in late October that back-to-school enthusiasm fades and break still seems too far away, and you just need a little extra inspiration. When that happens, these 8 little adjustments can make your everyday a little happier.
A homeschool morning meditation: I want to let today be just what it is, one moment at a time, accepting the bright parts and the hard parts as they come.
I think you know it’s going to be a good Library Chicken week when you’ve got Holmes/Stoker feminist steampunk detectives and harmonizing decapitated cadaver heads who need a little assistance from a 7th-grade lab assistant. (Don’t worry, I still found books to grumble about.)
one year ago: Shelli considers the differences in homeschooling 2nd grade the second time around
two years ago: Molly on the pleasures and challenges of grounded life
three years ago: Learn more about the wild life of Teddy Roosevelt
four years ago: Shelli thinks about the ways homeschooling has encouraged her to pursue her own learning goals
LINKS I LIKED
OK, I have always loved the Chronicles of Prydain more than other fantasy series, and I guess now I know why. It’s existentialist fantasy!
I would never teach a history class with just Howard Zinn — but I would never teach a U.S history class without him either. This is a lovely tribute to what makes his history work so relevant and important — maybe now more than ever.
I love this roundup of black folklore books — I’m bumping a couple of these to the top of my reading list.
Relevant to my interests: Holy Spirits: The Power and Legacy of America's Female Spiritualists (I could have also put this in the next section because I did not know this piece of Sojourner Truth’s story)
Doesn’t somebody want to road trip with me to Texas to see the Edward Carey exhibit at the Austin Central Library Gallery?
This was captivating: Climate change is melting glaciers in the Swiss Alps — and one woman’s long-missing parents were finally discovered because of it.
THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW BUT NOW I DO
How to tell how realistic a made-up language is
I am a person of extreme discernment and top-notch taste — or a sociopath. What does your favorite Shakespearean play say about you?
WHAT’S MAKING ME HAPPY
Finally catching up on a new season of The Great British Baking Show
Lunch with Suzanne on Mondays
My dog’s Halloween costume
Writing postcards to encourage voters
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 10.19.18
Our new favorite Halloween readaloud, the costs of social media, children’s books by famous authors, and more stuff we like.
I’ve always been a little bit of an overachiever. And while I complain about it sometimes, I’ve always been secretly glad that I’m good at balancing a lot of things at once. (I have posted about some of the ways I make my full-time job and full-time homeschooling balance in the past.) This year, though, I have reached my limits, and I have no balance at all. I’ve never been behind for long, and now I can’t seem to catch up. It’s pretty humbling, and it’s a good exercise in saying no and letting go of things that aren’t important, two things I am definitely not very good at. I’m embarrassed and frustrated — but I’m trying to model what I’d want my kids to do in the same situation. It’s not easy.
What’s happening at home/school/life
Sometimes, a new homeschooler sends me an email, and I email back, and our email turns into something like a friendship. It’s always lovely when this happens because one of the things that can happen in that first year of homeschooling, after the initial what-am-I-doing? wears off but before you’ve found your places and your people, homeschooling can be surprisingly lonely. I remember the people who reached out to me in those early, lonely days of my own homeschool life and how they felt like a lifeline. I love that I get to pay it forward a little bit with other people. (And I promise that it really does get better.)
This week: Amy’s Library Chicken game is more like Library Turtle, but it’s chugging along. (And hey, this week I got to early-vote while I was there!)
Last week: Maybe you need some ideas for your Halloween reading list
Last year: How to catch up when you’re academically behind
Two years ago: Tips for homeschooling through a move
Three years ago: When people say “homeschooling must be really hard”
Four years ago: Lisa’s salon school
Links I Liked
Nic Stone’s letter to her younger self made me weepy in all the best ways.
I get a lot of good stuff from social media, but I also lose a lot — the comparison here between social media and the witch’s candy house feels spot-on to me. I’m not sure I’m ready to pull the plug on Facebook, but I have been plugging in a lot less frequently, and I find that I’m a lot happier and more present in my everyday life.
These voter purges are terrifying. What is even happening?
Relevant to my interests: 10 little-known children’s books by famous authors
Now I want to go read everything by Margaret Cavendish.
Things I Didn’t Know But Now I Do
Dante Gabriel Rossetti had two pet wombats. He was so sad when one of them died that he wrote a poem (a nod to Thomas Moore):
I have never reared a young Wombat
To glad me with his pin-hole eye
But when he was most sweet and fat
And Tail-less; he was sure to die!The grassroots activism happening in the United States in 1868 was amazing. Why don’t we talk about that when we talk about Reconstruction?
In 1900, the Brooklyn Public Library Association proposed “to build a seaside rest home for those [female librarians] who had broken down in library service.”
Archaeologists have found a medieval board game that dates back to the 7th or 8th century C.E. (And you can still play it today.)
There is a female, Japanese Sherlock Holmes adaptation, and I AM SO IN.
What’s making me happy
An 18th century kid’s doodle of a chicken in pants from the margins of his math practice
The Figa: fig vodka, Earl Grey, and tangerine juice
These super-cute tumblers
Betrayal at the House on the Hill
Castle Hangnail — our new favorite Halloween readaloud
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 10.12.18
Children’s book protagonists grow up (with bonus Matilda!), lots of knitting, great Halloween readaloud ideas, and more stuff we like.
It’s so crazy to think that my daughter is a junior this year — we’re logging college visits, flagging schools in Colleges That Change Lives, and trying to make the most of every single minute. When we started homeschooling, she was in second grade, and I definitely didn’t think we’d keep doing it all through high school. Now I can’t imagine what else we would have done — this has been so exactly the right fit for her and for us. But I’m glad her brother is still several years behind her.
What’s Happening at home/school/life
Our nerdy Halloween costume Pinterest board, 5 spooky writing exercises for your little monsters
Amy’s Library Chicken score creeps up with middle grades horror, YA superhero romance, and some old-school comfort books.
one year ago: Is it possible to homeschool and be a working mom? Also: 6 curriculum shopping tips that will help you make the most of your budget
two years ago: Shelli’s daily routine. Plus: A citizen science project that’s all about bugs
three years ago: Studying the solar system. Also: The introvert’s guide to making homeschool friends
four years ago: How to talk about homeschooling so that people will listen
Links I Liked
I think this is part of why I’ve struggled so much with the last couple of weeks: The cruelty is intentional. It’s the point. And if that’s true — where do we go from there?
… Maybe to our favorite children’s book heroes, whose imagined futures seem happily bright. (Peter’s is so perfect!)
Similarly: Mara Wilson on Matilda at 30. They are both perfect, too. And of course Matilda would be a librarian! Don’t all librarians have super powers?
And finally: You may have already seen this Helm’s Deep battle scene made out of Legos, but it is too amazing not to share.
What’s making me happy
I wish I could write a thank-you letter to the my-size Dansko wearer who donates shoes to my local thrift shop because now I get to wear these.
The new Doctor Who
This shawl I’m knitting for part of a Twin Peaks themed birthday present
This sweater I’m knitting for my daughter in this yarn
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 10.5.18
New words for your favorite dictionary, an award for books that should have been recognized sooner (and a worthy winner!), ideas for your high school reading list, and more stuff we like.
The beginning of October always seems like it should be fall — but it never actually feels like fall in Atlanta. We may have to run away to the mountains for a little while this weekend.
What’s happening at home/school/life
It’s that time of year when we’re up to our ears in getting the fall issue done!
Rebecca loved Michael Clay Thompson grammar — it’s one of those programs that can really inspire a kid who loves words and language.
I’m filling in for Suzanne in Library Chicken, and while I lack her BookNerd style, I am hoping this will inspire me to make some happier reading choices. (More misses than hits for me this week!)
There have been some awesome Kindle deals lately. (My son was thrilled to snag a copy of Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab for his Kindle—now we can do dangerous experiments on the go.)
one year ago: Halloween always makes me want to reread The Dollhouse Murders. Plus: Shelli’s totally simple strategy to homeschool preschool
two years ago: Great books for developing an everyday writing habit. Plus: Why you should start a family walking habit
three years ago: Rebecca reviewed History Odyssey.
The Links I Liked
You’re registered to vote, right? It’s almost totally painless — and so important.
TL;DR , hangry, and bingeable are among the new words headed to a Merriam-Webster near you. (My spellcheck is definitely not ready.)
The Phoenix Award recognizes great books that missed out on awards when they were first published, which is such a brilliant idea. And this year’s winner — The Birchbark House — totally deserves the belated honor. Am I the only one who thinks it’s interesting this book is being recognized so soon after the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was renamed? I’m happy to have The Birchbark House shelved right beside Little House in the Big Woods in our homeschool room. For me, this is what feels right — not letting go of problematic books I loved but acknowledging their problems, identifying their context, and finding the voices that they leave out.
So many good ideas for your high school reading list. (Yes, please to Octavia Butler!)
Relevant to my interests: William Faulkner was a terrible postman.
What’s making me happy
The way my dog comes and sits on my lap while I am typing
The awesome Locke and Hobbes essays students using our curriculum have written this fall
Tofu bowls with kimchi fried rice from the restaurant on my way home
The Cat Returns, which is just the kind of weird animated movie we always love
Vertigo, which I get to nerd out over with my students this week
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 9.21.18
Philosophy at the movies, the privilege of evacuation, read a book and save the world, and more stuff we like.
I said, “If anything can save us, it’s philosophy,” as a joke yesterday, but I am starting to think that’s probably true.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
One of my favorite things in life is finding philosophy at the movies. (With bonus Heidegger!)
Shelli’s reviews of the Birchbark House series will make you want to read the whole thing. When you’re studying U.S history, and you wonder where is the Native American Little House — here you go.
one year ago: 5 Things to Try When Your Child Can Read, but Doesn’t
two years ago: Are you ready for Hobbit Day? (Second breakfast, here I come!)
three years ago: In the Autumn of Unschooling: Shifting Gears for High School
four years ago: Tracy’s kids are launched now, but her wisdom about homeschooling high school still inspires me
THE LINKS I LIKED
I saw so many posts expressing frustration about people who didn’t evacuate for Florence, and I’m always annoyed by that, too, when I see people in dangerous situations on the news. But this piece did a great job explaining why leaving isn’t always an option, and why being able to evacuate is a kind of privilege that — like most kinds of privilege — we don’t even know we have.
This is awesome: A comic book to help you get comfortable with correct pronouns. (I am all for using people’s proper pronouns, but I find that my good grammar habit and ingrained Southern manners sometimes pop up out of nowhere and throw me off. It is humbling, and I am committed to doing better.)
WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING
You know how sometimes you want to read a warm-and-fuzzy book about a nice family with lots of kids who live in a New York City brownstone and end up planting a secret garden in the vacant lot next door? Next time that reading urge strikes you, I can heartily recommend The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden (the sequel to equally warm-and-fuzzy The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street). We enjoyed it as a readaloud.
THINGS MAKING ME HAPPY
I got this candle for my birthday, and I can’t stop smiling about it.
I cheated on my beloved Moleskine with a new notebook, and I don’t regret it at all.
This end-of-summer salad
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 9.14.18
Librarians are always going to be the coolest people in a room, another reason to brave the Ikea parking lot, John Quincy Adams’s forgotten epic, calling out sexism in reading lists, and more stuff we like.
It’s my birthday, so have a drink tonight to celebrate with me!
what’s happening at home/school/life
Collecting resources for a DIY curriculum is easy. Figuring out how to organize and use them? Not so much. Maggie has a plan, though.
Learn more about libraries.
So many good books are on sale right now, it’s ridiculous, including The Glass Town Game, which Suzanne raved about last year. (I just started it!)
one year ago: Shelli’s strategies for planning daily lessons
two years ago: Molly sees the seeds she planted in her early homeschool years start to bloom.
three years ago: Shelli makes peace with homeschool messes.
the links I liked
Lauren Groff called out the sexism in The New York Times’ By the Book column, saying: “Something invisible and pernicious seems to be preventing even good literary men from either reaching for books with women’s names on the spines, or from summoning women’s books to mind when asked to list their influences. I wonder what such a thing could possibly be.” And she was right: When the columns were analyzed, male authors recommended books by male writers four times more often than they recommended books by women. (Women split their picks pretty evenly between men and women.)
Librarians are basically book-finding superheroes.
Did you know John Quincy Adams wrote an EPIC POEM set in 12th century Ireland? (Spoiler: It is NOT a literary masterpiece.)
Ikea has completed its transformation into the place I would be most likely to wait out a zombie apocalypse. (The gist: Now there are reading rooms — and you can take your book home with you if you’re not barricading against zombie attacks.)
We were just talking about this: Why do all U.S. cities feel the same now?
What I’m reading and watching
I loved Arcanos Unraveled, which was pretty much everything I loved about The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic plus knitting (!) and a not-terrible ending. Anya Winter is a hedge witch who teaches enchanted textiles at a magical college, and her fabric-based magic may be the only thing that can save the magical world from an evil plot. I was charmed.
My son recently discovered the Danny Dunn series (it’s a 1950s series that kicks off with Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint), and he’s been giggling his way through it. I think he’s partially charmed by how dated some parts of it are, but he also seems to genuinely enjoy the adventures of Danny, whose mom works as a housekeeper for the eccentric Professor Bullfinch. In every book, Danny manages to get into one of the professor’s high-tech inventions (and they’re awesomely 50s high-tech inventions), and problems ensue.
Next up: The Casual Vacancy. I’m always looking for a good old-fashioned mystery, so maybe this one will fit the bill.
Things making me happy
Nigella’s honey cake (for a sweet new year)
My new shoes (I found them at the thrift store for $15!)
The new season of The Good Place is coming!
This sentence diagramming poster
These knitted pencil toppers (I feel like my daughter would love them all!)
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 9.7.18
Privilege can be a good thing if you use it the right way, how do you find new music, how to take a real vacation, and more stuff we like.
Anybody else having trouble wrapping your head around the fact that it is September already? And also wearing new Nikes?
What’s happening at home/school/life
I have set up an online meeting for high school curriculum users that I hope will turn into a weekly thing. Our first session is Monday at 11 a.m. EST in the curriculum Facebook group, so if you are a curriculum user who hasn’t joined the group yet and you want to join the meeting — you can ask questions, get me to check something for you, clarify points, nerd out over the readings, etc. — shoot me a message, and I will add you to the group.
Did you see that we’ve brought back the Kindle Book deals from their long hiatus?
We published this a few years ago in the magazine and last year on the blog, but I still get excited when I read it: There are so many post-high school possibilities for homeschoolers, and college is just one of them.
The easiest way to inspire your kids to love learning is to be a learner yourself.
Fun fact: Aaron Burr introduced Dolley and James Madison, which just proves Suzanne’s theory that Burr was the kind of guy you’d want at your parties. (Just don’t lend him money!) Dolley Madison’s parties were office-defining for the President’s role, and she’s a fascinating figure to learn more about.
one year ago: How do you cope when life interrupts your homeschool?
two years ago: Still the best homeschool advice I ever go: Keep a joy journal
three years ago: What to read next if you loved The Mysterious Benedict Society
four years ago: Learning to let go of homeschool fears
The Links I Liked
I feel like I need to be reminded of this sometimes: We have the power to spend our privilege to address injustice.
I really enjoyed this: How do you find new music?
I hadn’t taken a real vacation in years, and I didn’t actually plan to take one this summer — but our beach house ended up having the world’s worst wi-fi, and there’s only so much work you can do for an online magazine when you can’t connect to the internet. I was convinced the world would fall apart because it took me a week to answer an email, but I came home to no emergencies, no angry emails, and no where-have-you-been drama. It was a good lesson for me — I am allowed to not be available sometimes. I’ve actually been inspired to try to implement a little of that no wi-fi spirit into my routine this fall — I’m setting office hours for students and logging off the computer by 9 p.m. every night. I’m sure I’ll fall back into work overload sometimes, but I hope I can hang on to the realization that my 24-7 availability to work is not a measure of my success. Which is all a very long-winded way of saying that I related a little too much to this piece about U.S.-ians and vacations.
Long and thinky, but totally worth the effort: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the Tyranny of Language
What I’m reading and watching
Jason’s school officially started back this week, so I’ve been all aflutter staying on top of the million little things that need to get done — change the toner! off-campus lunch permission slips! Latin grammar reviews! I haven’t had a lot of time to read and watch things, but I’m proud to say that I have gotten my children hooked on Mystery Science Theater, and we’re having so much fun watching it together.
Hectic times call for comfort reading, and I’ve discovered a new one for my soul-soothing shelf: The Story Book Girls by Christina Gowans Whyte ticks so many of my comfort reads boxes: big happy family on a budget, quirky neighbors, serious attention to dresses and dinner preparation, cozy musical evenings, etc. Don’t read it if you’re looking for lots of action or big adventure — save it for the times when someone else’s hat shopping seems like the most excitement you can handle, and I think you’ll find it’s pretty much perfect.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 8.31.18
The radical power of the bake sale, celebrating the legacy of Little Women, back-to-homeschool season, recent reads, and more stuff we like.
We’re back! You may have noticed that we took a few weeks off from regular blogging — honestly, I felt like I had kind of run out of things to say and needed a recharge. We have some fabulous blog contributors who write great stuff, but a lot of the day-to-day work falls (fairly enough) on my shoulders, and every once in a while, I think I just really need a break. I lounged on the beach, read lots of books, did a little bird watching, and have been banned from playing Scrabble with the rest of my family, so I think I got a pretty good one.
What’s happening at home/school/life
I have been really enjoying getting to know all the people who are using our high school curriculum. (And I apologize to the folks who have reached out about ordering it and can’t get it — because it’s kind of a passion project, I just don’t have the bandwidth to keep the curriculum store opened during academic year. You can get Years One and Two next summer, though!)
We are hard at work on the fall issue. Can you believe October is right around the corner?
Maggie wrote a great piece about looking beyond learning styles to explore the bigger picture of multiple intelligence in your homeschool.
In a sentimental mood, I republished an early “day in the life” of our homeschool. (It was our Hogwarts year!)
From the magazine: A six-step strategy to turn the homeschool you have into the homeschool you really want
And Shelli has a timely reminder that you are probably doing this whole homeschool thing better than you give yourself credit for.
The Links I Liked
I will read a Little Women think piece every time, but this one was particularly good: “The book is not so much a novel, in the Henry James sense of the term, as a sort of wad of themes and scenes and cultural wishes. It is more like the Mahabharata or the Old Testament than it is like a novel. And that makes it an extraordinary novel.”
Relevant to my life: 5 things to do when you feel overwhelmed by your workload
I am definitely a fan of the new, radical bake sale.
Related: Perhaps one of the recipes from the recently reissued suffragette cookbook would be a bake sale hit?
Idris Elba is signed on for the film adaptation of Ghetto Cowboy? TAKE MY MONEY.
If you have some time, this piece on how children’s picture books can disrupt existing language hierarchies is really interesting.
How to go back to a flip phone.
What I’m Reading and Watching
The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic might have been custom-created just for me (it’s about a PhD candidate in literature! Who finds herself in another world! Where she learns magic!), and there was so much I liked about it — but the end just killed it for me. Seriously, worst ending I’ve read in a long time.
I keep saying I’m going to stop reading postapocalyptic novels because I get enough of that in The New York Times these days, but I keep picking them up, and I am usually glad I did. Case in point: American War, which chronicles one girl’s life in the near future through the second American Civil War. It’s definitely dark, but if you can handle the weight of it, I think it’s a great read.
My daughter passed The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You my way with a sticky note informing me that this retelling of Much Ado About Nothing set in the super-nerdy world of a super-academic high school was “hilarious!” She was right.
The kids have gotten us all hooked on Gravity Falls, but we’re inching our way through it because there are only two seasons and anything that plays like a mash-up between Twin Peaks and Phineas and Ferb is worth savoring.
What’s Happening in Our Homeschool
Though we homeschool year-round, our official new school year starts after Labor Day. That means I get to buy school supplies, so I am in my happy place, surrounded by fountain pen cartridges, new Moleskines, sticky notes in every size and color, my favorite highlighters, and more.
This year, I have a junior and a brand-new 11-year-old. (I’m not even trying to figure out the grade for this kid right now — he’s all over the place!) Our year is definitely more structured, partly because I’ve got to be organized about managing our time now that I work outside of the house half the week and partly because we’re in heavy college planning mode with my 11th grader. It feels different — not bad, just really different from most of our previous years — and I am interested to see how it comes together.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 7.27.18
Martha Gellhorn is so much cooler than Hemingway, changing representations of women’s roles in pop culture, the handwriting of famous people, the last week of our curriculum sale, and more in this week’s edition of Stuff We Like.
Is it really almost August?
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
It's the last week of our high school curriculum sale! You know how you have an idea for a project, and it just keeps growing and growing? Yeah, that’s kind of what happened here. The full curriculum is clocking in at eleven volumes and nearly 2,000 pages, but I’m pretty pleased with how it came together.
This week in summer reading: What to read next if you need a little more magic in your life.
Looking for a science study? Rebecca reviews The Science of Climate Change, a science topic that feels particularly important these days.
one year ago: Suzanne celebrates the joys of summer reading. Plus: What to read next if you love Roald Dahl.
two years ago: How to make P.E. part of your homeschool. Also: What to read next if you loved the Warriors series.
three years ago: Your child doesn’t have to be a homeschool poster child. And: What to read next if you loved Harriet the Spy.
four years ago: You have all the time you need.
THE LINKS I LIKED
Martha Gellhorn is so cool, and this makes me want to take “Hills Like White Elephants” off my reading list and sub in some of her reporting.
More people should do this! Tracee Ellis Ross annoys everyone by asking if the housework part of her character’s script is actually part of the story and not just gratuitous wife-making-dinner.
I find roundups like this endlessly fascinating: The handwriting of famous people
I know I’m an old-fashioned editor at this point, but this kind of thing drives me crazy. Let’s be honest about what we're covering and why.
WHAT I’M THINKING ABOUT
I’ve been up to my ears this week editing the high school curriculum for its final print run. As I mentioned, it kind of outgrew me a little, so it’s been a particularly busy week—good-busy but definitely busy-busy. That’s about all I’ve got to talk about this week, though, which makes me a little boring.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 7.20.18
More problems for middle children, it’s time for a new world mythology, the polite protest myth, bringing back forgotten books, and more stuff we like.
Suzanne and I had so much fun at the SEA Homeschool convention last week! It was great to meet so many readers in real life, and you really have made us feel properly guilty about being Podcast Slackers.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
Suzanne raves about the new world of science-fiction and fantasy literature. (I am not super familiar with the old world, but some of these books are really great, so count me in.)
Why is homeschooling so lonely? This is a question I think we don’t ask often enough — it can be hard and isolating finding your way as a homeschool parent, and it’s even worse if you think you’re the only one who feels that way.
one year ago: Our 9th grade reading list. (I should do one for 10th grade.) Also: Nanette reviews the podcast adventure Eleanore Amplified and Suzanne’s reflections on a decade of homeschooling
two years ago: What to read next if you loved the Percy Jackson books. Plus: Busting myths about homeschooling high school and following where summer homeschooling leads you
three years ago: People still ask why we don’t have a print edition. Also: My best tip for organizing your high school homeschool
four years ago: Finding the beauty in chaos
THE LINKS I LIKED
I think I like this idea: We need a new mythology to tell the story of climate change.
Belt Revivals publishing company is bringing back forgotten books from Midwestern writers. (And there’s some William Dean Howells and Ida Tarbell in the queue.)
Are middle children going extinct?
What if we just gave money to people who need money?
It’s okay not to be polite about things like genocide: “Poor people, immigrants, black activists, and perhaps LGBT employees at a restaurant in Virginia are bludgeoned into silence by the constant cry for civility, made to hold still as injustices are visited upon them. Meanwhile, those with no real fear that they’ll ever wind up on the wrong side of the power dynamic in America can scold and hector.”
WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING
At the top of my stack is Be Prepared, recommended to me by @khanrott, who is my book twin! We like all the same books, so if she says it’s good, I am so in. (Plus the cover could be a drawing of me on a camping trip.) This plus lots of sunscreen and my pool recliner is pretty much the sum of my plans for Saturday afternoon.
I am having a hard time this summer. Politics is … hard. Realizing that my daughter is about to be a junior in high school is hard. Juggling too many big projects is hard. And I’m really struggling with trying to being kind and compassionate when other people are … not kind or compassionate. I find that books help, and I’ve been slow-reading books that are basically balm for the soul: Pablo Neruda’s Odes to Common Things, Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns, Audre Lord’s Sister Outsider.
The kids and I have been watching Gravity Falls together — they watched it on their own a while ago but picked it for our summer binge. It’s hilariously Twin Peaks-ish, which doesn’t seem like it should be a sentence.
WHAT I’M THINKING ABOUT
Academic stamina. I don’t know if that’s an official term, but it’s the best one I can think of to describe the ability to work through a long-term assignment, setting goals along the way, and wrapping up with a finished product that you’re genuinely proud of. As my daughter heads into 11th grade this fall, I want to be sure she is building these learning muscles. I see so many smart kids who just don’t have the ability to work through a project from beginning to end—I don’t want my daughter to coast on being smart and a good writer. I want her to really push to do the hard work to make a good paper excellent. I see many multi-step projects in our future this fall. Do you worry about academic stamina with your homeschoolers? What do you do to help them develop it?
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Stuff We Like :: 5.25.18
A remarkable charm bracelet, perceptions of “whiteness” in ancient Greece, possibly my new favorite headline ever, and more stuff we like.
The pool is finally open! I like that a lot.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
We launched our high school curriculum this week — it’s the liberal arts curriculum I helped create for Jason’s hybrid high school, so it’s all about critical thinking, reading, and writing. You can read all about it here.
Shelli muses on the difference a few years can make in your homeschool life.
Have you entered to win our homeschool planning package?
one year ago: The Power of Now: Or Why Maybe This Is the Summer to Start that Homeschool Co-Op
two years ago: At Home with the Editors: Amy’s 2nd Grade
three years ago: Q&A: How can I help my student focus?
THE LINKS I LIKED
Honestly, I’m sharing this just for the headline.
I found this essay subverting the notion of Greek “whiteness” fascinating, and I can’t wait to teach Homer again with this in mind.
This charm bracelet — and what it says about hope and art in dark times — really is remarkable.
The comfortable mythology of imperialism is complicated for the authors embraced by Western culture: “All of us on that world-literature list are basically safe, domesticated, just exotic enough to make our readers feel that they are liberal, not parochial or biased. That is, we are purveyors of comforting myths for a small segment of the dominant culture that would like to see itself as open-minded.”
WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING
I’m knitting Magical for my son’s Hanukkah sweater — I got a lot of flack from the kids about trying to sub hats for the usual holiday sweaters last year, so I am taking advantage of summer knitting time — and I am finally watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine while I work on it. Trust me: Suzanne is always right about television shows, and if she tells you to watch something, you should watch it.
We just started our third official Harry Potter readaloud. It was an accident — we just meant to read the first chapter because we were discussing what makes a great first chapter — but once you start, apparently you can’t stop. Oh well, there are worse ways to spend a summer!
11 Reasons We Love the Summer Issue of home/school/life (And You Will, Too!)
11) I had to teach my spellchecker some new words this issue, including nerdiest (as in, the nerdiest museum gift shop we can imagine); turny (as in, twisty-turny mysteries that will remind you of The Westing Game); mixtape (as in, literary songs you should download for your road trip mixtape now); and Pemberley (as in, the most Jane Austen fun you can have outside of Pemberley).
10) Outdoor art projects that you can start doing right now. Today. Really. What are you waiting for?
9) Shelli managed to round up some genuinely useful financial advice for real homeschooling families. If you are ever stressed out about the financial side of homeschooling, you will not want to miss this one.
8) Ideas for learning more about everything from the Creek Nation to the Civil Rights Act to the Panama Canal to the U.S. flag to ... well, you get the idea
7) Patricia's lovely, lovely (did I already say lovely?) column about all the questions homeschoolers ask. (I already have this one pinned up by my desk!)
6) You are not crazy for feeling lonely sometimes (or a lot) in your homeschool life. We have proof. And a little help.
4) You will want to immediately start planning your next road trip, whether you are in the mood to boldly go where science leads you or determined to dig into the past.
3) Marcy has figured out an inspired way to cheat on high school Latin. (It's not what you think!)
2) We tracked down a gadget so ingeniously brilliant that you will wonder how you ever lived without it.
1) It is the most excellent poolside, beachside, back porch, backyard, swingset reading we could put together.
(Subscriber copies are out today! Get your subscription here. Single-issue copies for the summer issue will be on sale soon.)
Peek Inside Our Spring Issue!
Take a sneak peek inside our first issue of home/school/life magazine.
Curious about the spring issue? You can get a little taste of what's inside with our preview. (If you want more, you can subscribe to get the full issue.)
Around the Web: Worth Reading
Mentoring a kid with big ideas that may be too big, why all high school classes should be electives, and more links we like.
This week we: published sneak peek at the cover for our premiere issue of home/school/life,, picked up some new Minecraft goodies, read a lovely little biography of Alice Roosevelt, who could arguably be called the first unschooler, cleaned up and refilled all our backyard bird feeders.
Project-Based Homeschooling || How to Mentor a Kid with Big (Possibly Unrealistic) Dreams Great post about giving kids the space to succeed and the freedom to fail
Washington Post || Why All High School Courses Should Be Elective I reread this when I was cleaning out my 2013 bookmarks, and it inspired me all over again
The Unschooler Experiment || Video Game Businessman Yes, Virginia, you can work for Nintendo even if you didn't go to high school
NBC News || First Americans May Have Been Stuck in Beringia for Millennia Fascinating
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
It's that time again! We've rounded up some great ways to celebrate your first day of the new homeschool year, whether you want to keep it simple at home or take a big adventure together.