Letter to my children: On Inspiration, Electronic Distractions, and Boredom

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Dearest Beloveds,

Baba used to tell me when he was faced with a particular quagmire at work he would sleep on it. He would deliberately think of the issue before he fell asleep and, “9 times out of 10,” he would awaken with the solution in his mind.

This, my dearest children, is called inspiration. Sometimes it might take longer than a night. Sometimes it might take a few days. But, in my experience, it always happens. The key is giving the issue space.

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Letter to my children: Greased Pigs and Loud Yawns

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Dearest Beloveds,

We were a puppy pile in bed early on Saturday morning. Two of us were giggling and wrestling while the other two snuggled deep and soft in the expansive warmth. Your father extricated himself from tickling limbs and sat up. “Okay children, it is time to get dressed for breakfast. Who is ready?”

Dragon fired a response, “I am as ready as a greased pig!”

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Homeschool learnings: Snapshot and Math Curricula thoughts

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Homeschool learnings: Snapshot and Math Curricula thoughts

Homeschooling is an adventure. Every day looks different.

Bean and I had an appointment first thing in the morning in Poughkeepsie. On the way home we visited Eleanor Roosevelt’s home (Val-Kill - the only National Historic site honoring a First Lady). Unlike the imposing homes along the river (of FDR, the Vanderbilts. Astors, Livingstons, etc) the place feels people sized. The road wends to a small bridge where a collection of small building sit clustered on a small hill in the curve of the river.

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Letter to my children: Privilege and Poodle English

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Dearest Beloveds,

We are going to dive in right away with a quote from Vershawn Ashanti Young’s amazing article entitled Should Writer’s Use They Own English?:

Cultural critic Stanley Fish come talking bout - in his three-piece New York Times “What Should Colleges Teach?” suit - there only one way to speak and write to get ahead in the world, that writin teachers should “clear [they] mind of the orthodoxies that have taken hold in the composition world” (“Part 3”). He say don’t no student have a rite to they own language if that language them them “vulnerable to prejudice”;

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