The last time I wore a cap and gown and endured a graduation ceremony was in May of 1993 to accept an associate’s degree in liberal arts. It was a ruthless calculation on my part. I wanted to spend the summer in Argentina. My grandparents would give me a check as a graduation gift if […]
Math Lessons
I remember starting on my parenting journey, meeting a high school freshman who, her parents assured me, was “gifted.” She was already studying calc II (and yet she couldn’t make her own breakfast). In my youth I was an AP math student, and a math tutor in college, and I presumed my own children would […]
Algebra Tears
This morning, I’m crying over the algebra textbooks. Not for the usual reasons folks cry over algebra. My hands press into them, as though by pushing down, I can hold her here. Like this. With me. Always. The reality that I’m letting go of my oldest child now shadows my days constantly, even though she […]
For the Love of Learning
“And she home-schools!” This is the tag line I’ve most often heard attributed to my list of accomplishments when people are favorably introducing me or my work. Some folks mention the farm, some mention the books and essays, some mention the letters behind my name, and others mention the fact that I make the best […]
Doing well. (?).
“Shannon, please, I would like to have a conversation with you.” Nazgul calls to me from farther back on the path, then hastens to catch up, her slip-on shoes sliding on the slick trail. The airlines have lost her luggage, and this is the 10th day she has had to make do with insufficient clothing […]
Puppies & Kids
Three walks between 3:45 and 5am and still she pees on the rug behind my desk. The newest member of our household is a six-week-old border collie-blue healer cross. Her name is Kit, and daily she reminds me that I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. And yet she’s the third dog in […]
FLUSHED: When parenting dogma goes down the toilet
Bob and I took the girls backpacking in the Adirondacks this week, so I didn’t get a chance to write a post. That said, my brother and his wife are expecting their first baby later this fall, and as a result I’ve been thinking a lot about this story I wrote back in the spring […]
The Perseids
I was seventeen when I discovered the shooting stars. I was so enthralled that my best friends from high school, Jonathan and Louigi, fellow band geeks, came up to the farm. We spent an August night in our sleeping bags on the hillside behind the barn, watching the Perseids, trying to think of ways […]
The Luxury of Necessity
I approached the start of this year’s homeschool season with reservation. Over the course of the summer, Bob and I seem to have each adopted yet another full-time job with the new cafe. Mondays and Tuesdays were supposed to be our days off, but they went toward receiving orders, bookkeeping, training, and catching up on […]