Archive for the ‘ Parents ’ Category

Increased Tuition Increases Some More

If you were maybe sticking your head in the sand and hoping to wait this economic slump out by pretending it’s not happening, then don’t read these denial-crushing articles. The New York Times is reporting that college students (and/or their ‘rents) are paying more for less. Excellent. College students are covering more of what it [ READ MORE ]

Home-Schooling Grows

At one time in the not-so-distant past, home-schooling was an option chosen mostly by parents who wanted their kids out of the mainstream education system for religious or moral reasons. As either a sign that parents these days are much more involved with their kids’ education, or that the education system in this country is [ READ MORE ]

Happy Inauguration Day

If you live under a rock and weren’t aware, President Barack H. Obama was sworn into office today. The cafeteria and gymnasium of my daughter’s elementary school were filled with students, parents, siblings, teachers and staff, all watching the inauguration on the big screen. I took it as a really good sign that a school [ READ MORE ]

Penguin Games

Scrabble teaches kids how to argue convincingly that their totally made-up word is real. Poker teaches kids that good luck and better lying wins the most cash. Monopoly teaches kids about capitalism and that to win you must crush everyone in your path so as to acquire and control as much of the world as [ READ MORE ]

Nicely Put

Kevin Carey over at The Quick and the Ed had this nicely put thought regarding the Obamas and their choice to enroll their girls in a private school: Presuming all goes well and I’m not bumped for someone more photogenic and/or an international crisis of some kind, I’ll be on CNN’s The Situation Room today [ READ MORE ]

Monumental Tasks

The idea of attacking something monumental is usually so overwhelming, none of us wants to even begin. When staring a blank dissertation or thesis in the face, most mortals would happily volunteer to do Sherpa duty for a climber up Mt. Everest. Or chew glass. Or shove ice picks under our fingernails. Pretty much anything [ READ MORE ]

Blue Schools and Time Machines

image credit: jesse newman for TIME Here’s another entry for my List of Reasons Why I’m Justifiably Pissed About the Lack Of Time Machines: the Blue Man Group started an elementary school. And if you know anything about elementary school, then you’ll be up on the pertinent info regarding age restrictions for enrolled students. I [ READ MORE ]

Play Doh-Smeared Credentials

While I understand the need every parent has—on a weird, biological level—to do as much for their child as is feasible in order that said kid’s life path can be as smooth and highly elevated as is everly possible, I have never been able to be anywhere near fine with the insane pressure and bizarre [ READ MORE ]

Snow Day Productivity

Sometimes you have to just give up on getting any real work done. This was excruciatingly true yesterday and today, when Seattle had some “snow days,” (I use the term loosely). Seattle is a city with little or no annual snowfall, which means there’s not much by way of snow removal equipment. Also, Seattle is [ READ MORE ]

Find Your Happy Place

I’m curious as to whether it’s the kids or the parents who need to be convinced to have elementary school students enroll at the “no-stress,” alternative Christa McAuliffe School in Cupertino, CA. The nearby Faria Elementary, a more traditional, all-standardized-tests-included school, has people lined up to enroll. But the no-pressure “research magnet school” where the [ READ MORE ]