We gave it our best shot this week – our first real week of home school. We strove to get work done, prove we could work on our own, and I looked for signs of autonomy in Katie. Alas, I am WAY too optimistic. Our consultant, Joy, we great about telling me public school kids … More Reflections: The First “Real” Week of Home School
Another school day, another day at a State Park. Our home school scheduled a river swim today and it was awesome! We have always loved Henry Cowell State Park. It’s in Felton and simply gorgeous. We typically go up for nature walks and to look for banana slugs. But today we went with friends to … More Outing: Home School River Rats Have a Blast!
To “do” home school via the district, we have to create an agreement that says what we will be doing in the next six weeks to keep Katie on track. So today we met with our consultant – a teacher – who helped us set goals, identify resources and get us moving forward. It was … More We Meet our Consultant and Write our Contract
Today was tough. I knew it was going to be rough – Katie would be tired from four days of over doing. I had plenty to do workwise and I thought I had set aside a few things to keep Katie busy. I was going to push it – our consultant said to take things … More Hard Day: Missing Friends and the Weird Guy at the Park
Tonight our home school hosted a bonfire at the beach and it was great. We brought marshmallows and a roasting stick and pigged down lots of toasty roasted marshmallows. We made some new friends and watched the pelicans and seagulls chase a school of fish up the coast.Then the sailboats started coming in as the … More Outing: Home School Bonfire at Twin Lakes
Today was a first for Katie. She had her first babysitting job. Okay – not really baby-sitting – it was “mommy’s helper” – but she was responsible for keeping Roark happy, engaged and safe while his mom and I worked. We used the babysitting as a home school opportunity and studied up on child care, … More A First! A Chance to Babysit! Awesome!
I had to spend the whole day at my client’s office today – from 9am to 7:30pm – and so I planned ahead. I asked mom if she’d take Katie on a field trip to the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose as a follow on to King Tut on Monday. Mom agreed, I printed out … More Field Trip: Gramma, Katie, GPS and the Rosicrucian Museum
Today was kind of the “first day of school” if there is such a thing for home school. We went over to the school for orientation – to figure out how things work, to get our personal “consultant” and to meet new families. Katie had a mind meld with one of the consultants and I … More Home School Orientation: So That’s Where All the Smart Women Went!
I had to get a lot of work done today. I had meetings and writing to get done, so Katie had her first show-some-initiative, do it yourself “work day” for home school. She started out working on her one page journal entry based on the visit to King Tut, but that rapidly degenerated into organizing … More First Home “Work Day”: Meaning Both of Us Worked!
Today was our first home school field trip. It was awesome. We did a lot of studying ahead – we rented a number of movies from Netflix (see list below) and it really helped us prepare for the event. We also spent time learning more about the culture from the book, Ancient Egypt Revealed. It … More Field Trip: King Tut at the De Young in San Francisco
Katie does not want to do home school. She is convinced she’s not going to have any friends and that spending time with me is going to totally suck. It’s been a long summer dealing with her anxiety about home school. Because we don’t know what to expect, she’s dreading it. Thank goodness, this week … More The Experiment Begins
Now that the elections in the U.S. are over, I am inspired by the culmination of what was a tedious, arduous, sometimes aggravating process. I am inspired because in the end, my daughter, who is nine, became engaged, excited and encouraged about the process and the result. In California, we had a number of important … More When Kids Rock the Vote: Tech Educates, Unifies
I have a secret. I am one of the luckiest people on earth. Not only do I have a great job as a partner at Listen2Youth, studying young people all over the world as they tell us about how they use technology, but I get to do it while living in Santa Cruz,California. Until now, … More Santa Cruz Style: When Does Social Networking Become Social Networking?!
Advice: The following blog contains mature content. At the Ypulse Mashup in July, two amazing people joined my table for lunch. I was hosting a discussion on using tech to build a brand and these two folks described their struggle. They actually have the “tech” part figured out. The problem is the brand. Or more … More Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby. And Disney. Have I Piqued Your Interest?
Last week I sat through three different sessions at the Ypulse National Mashup (a great event) where I heard from three different representatives from Disney: one from Disney Interactive, one from Disney Mobile and one from Disney Music. The Disney Music presentation was near the end of the conference and I left his talk feeling … More Is Disney Trying to Keep Parents Out of the Loop?