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As you can see by the dates below, this blog is no longer being updated.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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A yearlong social science experiment
As I wrote last week, my daughter decided that this year she wanted to check out school. As homeschoolers, we were never completely out of the school world since we took part in a public homeschool program. But she really wanted to find out what schools are like, and she’s the sort of kid who…
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Unschooling School
This morning, like every other public school mom or dad in the neighborhood, I dropped my daughter off for the first day of sixth grade. You may think that I’m joking, or that I’m referring to our homeschool program. But no, it’s simpler than that: My daughter has decided to go back to school. Longtime…
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When little kids become big kids
It’s not something that happens on a specific day or with any identifiable milestones. You go along for years with “little” kids, who need at first to be cared for in every way: you feed them, bathe them, dress them, soothe them, talk to them, sing to them, teach them, and amuse them. Then as…
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Skyline to the Sea
Saturday my husband, son and I completed something I’ve wanted to do since moving to Santa Cruz County: We started up in Big Basin and hiked the Skyline to the Sea trail down to the ocean. It was a glorious day and we are now very tired. But I have the Santa Cruz Metro bus…
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Getting together with the tribe
As my daughter and I were preparing to attend our local homeschooling conference last weekend, she asked a very good question: “Why don’t school families have a fun conference to go to?” It was a little hard to answer. The immediate quip that came to mind—”because they’re boring?”—wasn’t fair to school parents, many of whom…