March 2011

host yourself a history fair!

March 30, 2011

I know I’ve written a few times about the history fair our homeschool group hosts each spring. (Last year I wrote about Lulu’s One Hundred Years Of Food project.) This year I thought I’d describe in more detail how we structure the event, in case any of you might like to try something similar with […]

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if hephaestus had duct tape…

March 23, 2011

…he might not have needed that forge. [flickr]5554739920[/flickr] This is Mr. T’s costume for our homeschool history fair. (More on the fair coming soon.)  Like any good fan of The Iliad, T wanted his own hoplite armor. Like any good bricoleurs, we figured we could make it. We started talking duct tape, and suddenly I […]

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you don’t have to shut up and sit down

March 16, 2011

[flickr]5236760069[/flickr] “Jeff’s friend and colleague Linda Fisher likes to joke that we spend the first few years of a child’s life teaching him how to walk and talk, and the rest of his life telling him to shut up and sit down. This strikes us as the way schools also work. We spend tremendous energy […]

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inspiration, in the most unlikely places

March 10, 2011

[flickr]5515507568[/flickr] Back in those video games posts (part 1 and part 2), I wrote about how games, and popular culture in general, can engage kids with literacy. Boys, especially, who often don’t find writing compelling. In classrooms, boys are often discouraged from writing about popular culture, especially if their work contains violence. (If you want […]

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atwitter: nyc edition

March 3, 2011

In which Lulu and I go visit H in New York City, and get worked up about all sorts of things. [flickr]5492291186[/flickr] the washington square arch. Washington Square is such a haven in the middle of the city. Now I’ve seen the arch in every season but fall. H’s new dorm is right on the […]

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