Avant Parenting Archives
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Avant! Welcome to my parenting blog archives
As you can see by the dates below, this blog is no longer being updated. However, there’s lots of good stuff here, much of it as true now as when it was written. Please feel free to browse, or follow these links: One last piece of parenting advice: Enjoy today even if it’s a rough…
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Lifelong Learning
Yesterday I wrote about what younger homeschoolers can accomplish in a short time, and then today into my inbox came a mention of this great project. A high school homeschooler is starting on a journey through the cuisines of all the countries in the world (presently 192, though I suppose that depends on who you…
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Self-Paced Learning
As I’ve noted before, there is one clear division between homeschoolers: those who chose it, often even before they had children, and those who ended up doing it out of necessity. Because I’m in the latter category, I seem to have an endless capacity for appreciation of the surprising ways in which homeschooling works. Yesterday…
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What is essential?
A teacher wrote to me with a question: What if you’ve done everything to help a kid who is bullying others, but he still does it? What if he seems so filled with anger that you’re worried about what he’ll be like when he’s sixteen? I wish I had the answers to that one. I…
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Taking Time
The last few days I’ve been doing the difficult job of making fundraising contacts for my son’s school. It’s usually not terribly easy to make these calls, even when local businesses are flush with cash. This year it’s painful. My son’s school has a yearly performance which features a program with ads from local sponsors.…
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Emotional Intelligence
One year there was a boy in my son’s class who was always bugging the other kids. He would break into conversations, touch kids in ways they didn’t like, and generally ignore the usual social conventions that kids follow. He was also a very large boy, which affects how people view him. It occurs to…