I'm a laissez-faire teacher, which is something out-of-control teachers say to make themselves feel better. The truth is, I'm more comfortable allowing my students to talk, so long as I can get them to say, with some degree of accuracy, what I was going to say anyway. Today we did a little self discovery. I …
Tag: homeschooling
I Wish I Could Be…
Imagine this. My six-year-old wearing his fuzzy pj's makes this imperious proclamation: "I wish I could be public schooled so I wouldn't have to walk all the way to the kitchen to get my rods." Those rods, to which he referred, were little color-coded blocks that enabled him to learn his fractions and multiplication tables …
5000 Words Poetry Lesson, 10-13 Year-Olds
I nearly jump out of my seat when students come up with bold, fresh images that sound like something out of open mic night. A year ago I decided to teach them simile. "A cat is like a kitten," someone offered. Now I have them churning out similes like: disappointment tastes like rocks. Fourteen tweens gather …
H is for Homeschooling
H has to stand for homeschooling because we've been doing this gig for seventeen years. When we got on the homeschool road it was legal, but it was something only weirdos did. For us it was a grand experiment and had all the attendant insecurity of such. Now homeschooling is like breathing. The year we …
G is for Gabe
Gabe. At 11 he's already a gentleman. I've lost him behind a held-open door thinking he's coming. A Wendy's double burger with cheese, mustard, pickles, and lettuce will make his day. He could easily stuff down a Wendy's triple, if he could just dislocate his jaw like a python. Gabe will share his last Swedish …
The Raw Homeschool Mom, My eBook
One of my goals last summer was to publish an eBook. I did it this summer-- better late than never. Were I not the perfectionist I am, it wouldn't have been all that monumental a task, but I am the queen of revisions. I read and re-read, suddenly hating this or that, spending hours and hours …
My Son: Into The Lion Habitat
Though most homeschool moms won't admit it, we have an unspoken code, a knowing nod, a fierce pride, and some definite do's and don'ts in the secret-circle. Homeschool moms share a marinesque kinship, forged through days of homeschool bootcamp, homeschool bleedout, homeschool hell-on-earth, homeschool soul-ripping, faith-stabbing, self-questioning, sanity-questioning homeschool days where we despaired of getting …
From Your Mom: A Letter to Homeschool Students
Before we embark on another homeschool year, I want to clear up a couple of misunderstandings we had last year. Truth is, some school days I felt like a gladiator. You probably did too. Let's start fresh, and agree on the following... shall we? 1. Mom is not the enemy. Most homeschool students unconsciously operate …
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Smoking The Core
Did you know I'm a principal? It's true, according to the Ohio Department of Education. By way of explanation, there are two ways to legally home educate in Ohio. One of them is to become your own school, so to speak. We mavericks are called 08 schools: non-chartered, non-tax supported schools, which are granted autonomy …
Excellent, Not Perfect
My greatest challenge: teaching my children. I began more than ten years ago with the crushing pack of my children's education pressing down on my shoulders, and it has become a burden light and wonderful to carry. There are some days when the weight again seems unbearable and any mistake whispers the lie: "You're …
KL Griffiths 