Avant Parenting Archives

  • Avant! Welcome to my parenting blog archives

    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    As you can see by the dates below, this blog is no longer being updated.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…

  • Back to homeschool

    Both homeschoolers and schoolers alike are often interested to find out how homeschoolers work within our cultural focus on a “school year” and “summer break.” For as many ways as homeschoolers do everything else, we all have different approaches, but here is ours. Until last year, I always had one kid in school. So summer…

  • The dreaded “check-in”

    When my kids were in preschool, we went through a routine that I bet is still going on in preschools across our nation. It’s the dreaded check-in. When I’d drop them off in the morning, their teacher would greet me with a smile and, “Just checking in to see how things are going this morning?”…

  • Teaching writing in the elementary years

    This is a transcript of a talk that I gave at the recent HSC Conference in Sacramento. Thanks to my great audience, I have edited the content so hopefully now it’s even more helpful. This talk was written with homeschoolers in mind. If your children are in school or will be in school, you’ll find…

  • Taking your gifted learner out of school

    I gave a workshop at the recent Homeschool Association of California Conference in Sacramento, and a few people suggested that I post it here for those who couldn’t attend. If you are the parent of a gifted learner and you’re thinking about taking him/her out of school, perhaps this will help you make an informed…

  • Against prescriptive parenting

    I’m spending the weekend with my tribe: a ragtag band of people who call themselves homeschoolers. We each have different reasons for choosing this path, and our kids are as different as kids can be. Some of us homeschool because we want our kids to go to college. Others homeschool to keep our kids away…