The importance of discussing WHY you’re homeschooling your kids with them
Yesterday while I was tending to a plumbing problem my kids were doing their homeschooling. My older son was in my line of sight quietly reading in his bedroom. He looked up from Lord of the Flies to ask me when I read the book (he knew from a prior conversation that I’d read it). I said it was about three years ago, or maybe four. He asked why I didn’t read it in school. I called my eleven-year-old upstairs and said I had something to explain they should know. My kids have never been to school and they don’t really know how it all works, ranging from the daily goings on of the students and the big picture issues.
Some people get things and some people don’t: how do you explain privilege to your kids?
I’m curious: how do various offbeat parents explain privilege to your kids? Not the “you’ve lost your computer privileges for the day, young lady!” kind of privilege, but the kind of privilege we talk about in social justice work: advantages our society hands to people based on their (perceived or actual) identities and experiences.
Post-apocalyptic zombie-slaying family portrait session
Jessica at Bakan Photography recently worked a whole lotta bloody magic when she shot this zombie-slaying-themed family session. We first heard about this shoot from a reader (thanks, Katie!) and then we got an email directly from the mama of the family, photographer Jennifer Owen.
How my favorite Banned Book shaped my adolescence and adulthood
My point is that I love to read, and there’s something slightly extra delicious about knowing you’re reading a book that has been, or is currently being, challenged in some way. Since I know we’re nearly all bookworms in some form or fashion around the Empire, I thought it’d be fun if a few staffers picked our favorite Banned Book and talked about why it’s important to us. Without further ado… dig in!
A middle school teacher’s thoughts about teenagers and Banned Books Week
On top of using banned books as enticement to read, I find them an amazing conversation starter. In discussing why a book was banned, conversations about politics and societies and freedom of speech and value systems and personal freedom and religion and appropriateness spring up in classrooms where before there were only crickets. I always walk away from these conversations impressed by the thoughtfulness of adolescents.
No, that’s not my daughter: how being a sister prepared me for motherhood
Sometime in 8th grade I went to the store with my mom and my youngest sister, AJ. I remember people watching the three of us walking through the store with quizzical looks. They would look first at my mom, then to me, then to AJ, then back to me. Finally, as we made our way through the checkout, the cashier looked at me and said “Your daughter is so cute,” then back to my mother and finished “You are a lucky grandma!” I stared, my 14-year-old self feeling completely embarrassed and horrified, as my mom calmly answered, “Actually, I’m the mom. They are both mine.”
Alternative club ideas for your offbeat high schooler
I recently asked those of you who follow us on Facebook what kind of clubs you participated in high school — Newspaper is a pretty standard offering at a lot of schools, like Science Olympiad or something athletic. I was looking for the good stuff, the crazy shit that you guys made up as clubs when you were teens that you actually loved participating in.
Books explaining tattoos, piercings, and other body modification
My husband and I both have tattoos, and our son is just used to them. He likes fake tattoos (he gives them to himself and us with markers, and he also likes the rub-on kind), and is amused by our body decoration, but doesn’t really seem to care either way. I’m sure at some point he’ll ask why some people have tattoos, piercings, and so on and others don’t, so it’s cool to know these books exist.