There are a lot of reasons that I love homeschooling, but not having to be afraid that my kids will get shot by a crazed gunman at their school should not be one of them. I don’t understand how this keeps happening, and nothing changes.
What’s happening at home/school/life?
Suzanne has some reading suggestions for those midwinter days when you just want to wallow in the cold, dreary, grayness of it all.
Plan a Black History Month field trip — or an anytime field trip! — to one of these great museums.
Our readaloud of the week may clue you in to our weekend plans.
One year ago: We tracked down biographies of some awesome women for Black History Month. (Also: tips for grading essays in your homeschool and how an earlier bedtime can boost your homeschool happiness.)
Two years ago: Rebecca reviewed a critical thinking curriculum that’s great for improving family dinner conversation.
Three years ago: Why boredom is an important part of learning
Four years ago: This magazine would not even exist without the wonderful Shelli.
The links I liked
Teaching kids about slavery is the worst. It’s horrible. It’s sad. It’s the end of a certain kind of innocence that it hurts to destroy. But not teaching kids about slavery is even worse.
I am a little late with this one, but these suggestions for intelligently navigating Christine’s situation in Phantom are too funny not to share.
Death by underwire, or all the ways clothes have killed women through history. (I am never not going to read a piece about killer fashion.)
This one’s for all my fellow rule followers! “The little worriers of the world need heroes, too.”
Why is pop culture obsessed with the battle between good and evil?
What I’m reading and watching
I am reading Oliver Twist with my AP Lit students and East of Eden with my Honors Lit students, and the result is happy reading but a very heavy bag.
I also read this weird little novella by Seanan McGuire (she writes the Wayward Children series, which I thoroughly enjoyed) called Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day. It’s a ghost story, and I loved the way it managed to be both prosaic and dreamy at the same time. Ultimately, it felt more like a short story than a novel (or even a novella), but I liked this particular take on the classic ghost story.
We are having so much fun watching the Olympics! My son and I have also been doing some loosely related reading, including Olympig (which is fun and funny — and, I just realized, by the author of Roller Girl!), Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics, and The Magic Treehouse Hour of the Olympics (with the companion nonfiction book), and I read The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games, which I can highly recommend if you are interested in the Greek roots of the modern games.
What’s happening in our homeschool
We usually take a break during the Olympics, so we have been enjoying watching the action and playing a lot of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games in between events. (We were also inspired to break out our Flag Frenzy! game, which we haven’t played in ages.)
Friends versus “friends,” the link between prairie dresses and colonization, slow cooking trumps quick hands, adventures in medieval poop, and more stuff we like.
The not-so-true Instagram reality, new words for cold days, find your Dewey Decimal personality, let’s stop hustling for a minute, and more stuff we like.
Celebrating Edward Gorey, how many books could you read in a year, a Golden Compass adaptation that I can’t wait for, trying the murderer of Edwin Drood, and more stuff we like.
Existential therapy, quitting email, fortune cookie literature, the best way to take notes, and more stuff we like.
Let’s not magically tidy our books off the shelves, the problem (ahem) with women political candidates, W.E.B. Du Bois and the modern infographic, and more stuff we like.
How to be a learning model in your homeschool, easing back into homeschooling after a long break, the joys of Scholastic book fairs, ants on medical leave, the rise of small bookstores, glitter, and more stuff we life.
Feminist versions of space exploration, the best movie musicals, delightfully weird literary cookbooks, how world orders end, holiday reading, and more stuff we like.
Links, books, and more stuff that’s inspiring our everyday homeschool life right now.
Links, books, and more stuff that’s inspiring our everyday homeschool life right now.
Links, books, and more stuff that’s been inspiring my homeschool life this week.
Links, books, and more stuff that’s been inspiring my homeschool life this week.
Maps of imaginary worlds, whitewashing ancient statues, transgender people in the medieval world, and more stuff we like.
Existentialism in children’s literature, climate change and vanished hikers in the Alps, the legacy of female spiritualists, what your favorite Shakespeare play says about you, and more stuff we like.
Our new favorite Halloween readaloud, the costs of social media, children’s books by famous authors, and more stuff we like.
Children’s book protagonists grow up (with bonus Matilda!), lots of knitting, great Halloween readaloud ideas, and more stuff we like.
New words for your favorite dictionary, an award for books that should have been recognized sooner (and a worthy winner!), ideas for your high school reading list, and more stuff we like.
Why is college so expensive, feminist myth retellings, considering the future of biography, and more stuff we like.
Philosophy at the movies, the privilege of evacuation, read a book and save the world, and more stuff we like.
Librarians are always going to be the coolest people in a room, another reason to brave the Ikea parking lot, John Quincy Adams’s forgotten epic, calling out sexism in reading lists, and more stuff we like.
RIP, Mars Rover; renegade nuns; my new favorite tip for recognizing passive voice; my neighborhood 50 million years ago; and more stuff we like.