tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:15:54 +0000readingKindlechildrenPBSSusan Savage-RumbaughbooksbonobosLeVar BurtonFeltronNCLBparentinggrade-level standardsViral LearningGreat Ape TrustlibrariespublishingStanzahomeschoolersiPhonehomeschooling booksebook readersjunior highschoolsReading RainbowhomeschoolingAmazon Kindleunschoolingscience fictionBradburystatisticslearningTEDSony ReaderStatistical Abstract of the United Statesprodigiesbudget constraintsLooking back on the homeschooling life from the vantage of a parent who's finished with it all--or is she? Are we really done with homeschooling once our kids are grown and gone? Take a look with Mary Griffith, author of <i>The Homeschooling Handbook</i>, <i> The Unschooling Handbook</i>, and the just-released <i> Viral Learning: Reflections on the Homeschooling Life.</i>http://virallearning.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)Blogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-4842041689882563698Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:35:00 +00002010-11-17T23:30:14.759-08:00I'm moving!Essentially, I'm consolidating my blogging on a new site at:marygriff.wordpress.comI'll be leaving this blog as is for the time being.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/q7PnbSa4kIg/im-moving.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2010/03/im-moving.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-3688633945920862121Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:52:00 +00002010-03-09T14:13:09.294-08:00homeschooling booksViral LearningKindlepublishingMy daughters have always told me I was weird. I think I proved them right this weekend. Sick with the weirdest and most ferocious cold I've had in years--no sniffles, but sinusy headache and a dry, wracking cough--did I curl up with the dog under a blanket for a nap, only emerging for occasional doses of hot tea?No, of course I didn't. Instead, I indulged a sudden whim of unknown origin and http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/aRlsNoPUNhQ/things-to-do-when-youre-sick.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2010/03/things-to-do-when-youre-sick.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-5696520277090226325Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:34:00 +00002009-09-27T08:34:59.094-07:00Interesting piece in the New York Times this morning--The School Issue - Preschool - Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control? It's yet another in that long series of discoveries by researchers that kids learn better in ways that unschoolers have advocated for decades.Researchers are coming to believe that impulse control and behavioral skills are more important than IQ, but they're http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/vqbOZ5frIdc/duh-research-strikes-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/09/duh-research-strikes-again.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-7061567092559741655Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:11:00 +00002009-09-15T12:29:43.230-07:00Nice little article from Alfie Kohn in yesterday's New York Times ("When a Parent’s ‘I Love You’ Means ‘Do as I Say’") about the potential baleful effect of positive reinforcement:Conditional parenting isn’t limited to old-school authoritarians. Some people who wouldn’t dream of spanking choose instead to discipline their young children by forcibly isolating them, a tactic we prefer to call “timehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/_-RC7boh5CM/super-duh-more-from-deci.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/09/super-duh-more-from-deci.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-8158796309627839033Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:13:00 +00002009-09-12T14:13:35.060-07:00Nifty little bit over at Wired (Clive Thompson on the New Literacy) on what the Stanford Study of Writing is showing about the effects of technology and the Internet on the ways people write.Turns out all that fretting and moaning about Twitter and Facebook and texting destroying our kids' ability to write is all wrong. All that modern technology is creating a population that not only writes http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/iFx3NvYp_QE/oh-noes-not-so-much.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/09/oh-noes-not-so-much.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-4962009750543430497Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:16:00 +00002009-08-29T08:17:27.091-07:00LeVar BurtonlearningReading RainbowPBSchildrenreadingWhen my kids were little, they wanted to grow up to be LeVar Burton.Actually, that's not quite right. They didn't want to BE LeVar Burton--they just wanted his job.They weren't alone, though. I wanted his job, too.We all thought there couldn't be any more fun or more interesting job in the world than to be the host of Reading Rainbow.So it was a shock this morning when I woke to NPR telling me http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/mzQEeCUNR1U/see-you-next-time-someday.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)3http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/08/see-you-next-time-someday.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-420472590836768135Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:17:00 +00002009-01-30T11:17:43.765-08:00For my collection of "duh" research, that is.This one's not really a new study but a summary of current thought on the importance of free play--not organized sports, not music lessons, but real FREE play--in child development.The Serious Need for Play: Scientific AmericanI knew this already. It's sad that so many people now see real play as wasting time.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/phA3-T8IDk0/heres-another-one.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/heres-another-one.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-988844021229147762Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:30:00 +00002009-01-21T20:57:03.162-08:00booksreadingIn progress:Andrew J. Bacevich, The Limits of Power: The End of American ExceptionalismMaya Frost, The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education (This one's an uncorrected proof of a book scheduled for release in May.)Shashi Tharoor, India: From Midnight to the Millenium and Beyondand occasional browsing excursions through the replica http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/_O4T_O9PVq0/what-im-reading-this-month.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-im-reading-this-month.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-880039314899760761Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:05:00 +00002009-01-16T18:53:07.635-08:00statisticsStatistical Abstract of the United StatesFeltronFor the past few years, I've had fun downloading and browsing through the Statistical Abstract of the United States, published annually by the Census Bureau. This week I finally got around to downloading the 2009 edition (published in October), which is 30 sections and 6 appendices full of all sorts of goodies, like:—There were 240,800 blepharoplasties performed in 2007 (mine, to repair a ptosis,http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/-t7A74os8m0/stats-and-more-stats.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/stats-and-more-stats.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-5298736367123132464Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:49:00 +00002009-01-14T03:18:33.182-08:00ebook readersSony ReaderiPhoneAmazon KindleStanzaLike most book people, I can get effusive about the rituals of reading books, about the feel of a nicely bound book, about the smell of the paper and the binding. Many book people—and I used to think I was firmly among this group—find the very idea of electronic book readers appalling. They can't imagine that any ebook reader, no matter how wonderful, could ever satisfactorily replace Real http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/27OsB4aLTDo/my-bookshelves-may-be-doomed.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-bookshelves-may-be-doomed.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-2544919237409833447Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:09:00 +00002009-01-12T10:18:43.892-08:00NCLBlearninggrade-level standardsI'm still irked by that quote from Bush I posted about last time:"How can you possibly determine whether a child can read at grade level if you don't test?" I was annoyed at the idea that the typical odious multiple-choice-fill-in-the-bubble-standardized test is the only way to determine whether someone can read. My brain kept repeating, "Have them read to you" over and over, like that irritatinghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/gZTNp4_HevM/and-another-thing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/and-another-thing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-2032816551942875285Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:43:00 +00002009-01-09T10:55:53.272-08:00There was a nice little piece in today's Washington Post all about Bush's little legacy-building excursion to Philadelphia yesterday, this time to tout the success of the odious No Child Left Behind Act.It's got a summary of the good that proponents say the act has done (established accountability and standards, narrowed test score gaps with minority students) and the damage critics have noted (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/IJAd7Zd5Ztg/aauuuggghhhhhhh.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/aauuuggghhhhhhh.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-8395137627020964351Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:10:00 +00002009-01-07T20:28:21.208-08:00One of the themes I wrote about in Viral Learning was how so many areas I was interested in seemed to converge in a few basic ideas. You name it—politics, education, cognitive psychology—somehow I kept seeing the same processes at work.It's happening again.Over the past few years I've been trying to exercise more, partly to avoid the cardiac disease rampant in my family but mostly just to feel http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/TBxgmKtF6DE/analogies-parallels.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)2http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/analogies-parallels.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-6755943884715712439Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:03:00 +00002009-01-05T17:39:48.608-08:00junior highBradburyreadingscience fictionA dailyKos diary last week got me thinking about books that made an impression on me when I was young.The writer was a junior high teacher who was dismayed by the lack of awareness among students and asked readers which books had had an impact on us when we were twelve or thirteen. I read a lot as a kid, probably two or three books a week in addition to school assignments, but it took me a while http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/KOaLID6YTIo/creating-viewpoint.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/creating-viewpoint.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-611277294455028575Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:27:00 +00002009-01-02T10:55:31.457-08:00budget constraintsschoolslearninghomeschoolingTough times ahead for schools.It's not like times haven't been tough for pretty much as long as I can remember, what with NCLB and various other "reform" movements, not to mention Prop 13 here in California. Even when I was a kid, schools never had it easy—in my own K-12 experience, there were only three school years I wasn't in a split class, in a school with double sessions, or bused across http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/_wkyk1Dqty8/crisisopportunity.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2009/01/crisisopportunity.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-4097781398408105695Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:50:00 +00002008-12-31T11:08:07.036-08:00bonobosGreat Ape TrustunschoolingTEDSusan Savage-RumbaughI've been catching up on my huge backlog of TedTalks and recently watched Susan Savage-Rumbaugh's "Apes that write, start fires, and play Pac-Man," a fascinating look at her work with bonobos.She contends that culture, rather than genetics, determines much of the intelligence and skill of humans and other primates (though this part is still controversial). What her group has done in their http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/HsiSfHEhTAQ/learning-from-other-primates.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2008/12/learning-from-other-primates.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-2569417895765289058Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:45:00 +00002008-09-17T14:52:23.248-07:00In honor of the day and the election season and the significance of this particular general election, one of my favorite bits of prose:We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/tbwLsVk-aMg/constitution-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2008/09/constitution-day.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-7791041226799533585Mon, 12 May 2008 01:25:00 +00002008-09-17T14:45:46.165-07:00I guess there really was some interest in my little PR booklet: since I uploaded the revised version to my Lulu storefront last month, nearly 1,000 copies have been downloaded. That's more than the original printing way back when.Of course, it probably helps that the new version is free.UPDATE (9/17/08): Downloads now are nearly 2,200.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/29S-xXr7Dho/homeschooling-image-redux.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)2http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2008/05/homeschooling-image-redux.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-5977497231170448761Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:31:00 +00002008-04-06T14:49:28.480-07:00Twelve years ago, I published a little booklet called The Homeschooling Image: Public Relations Basics, aimed at giving homeschool support groups advice about promoting homeschooling. I sold a few hundred copies and eventually gave all my stock to the National Home Education Network (NHEN).Over the past few years, I've had many requests for it again and earlier this year I finally got around to http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/sISz_ThC8FM/homeschooling-image.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2008/04/homeschooling-image.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-1106523915275031927Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:28:00 +00002008-03-25T14:42:37.950-07:00It was inevitable, I suppose.You get a nasty little surprise like In re Rachel and the opportunists start making themselves opportunities.First come the credentialed teachers, offering to protect poor defenseless homeschoolers from any legal ambiguities Rachel might cause—for only $100 a month. (That would've been pretty much our whole book budget when we were still homeschooling. I'd stick with http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/Cqaj8wnSqsk/eek-theyre-creeping-out-from-under.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2008/03/eek-theyre-creeping-out-from-under.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-7730154607409002770Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:58:00 +00002008-03-19T20:05:33.386-07:00A friend forwarded me an email announcement by an unschooling mother of four that she intends to start "training and certifying unschooling leaders." I can't help but think that someone who uses "unschooling," "training," "certifying," and "leader" in the same sentence in this way doesn't quite grasp the concept of unschooling in the first place. Of course, since her oldest child is only eight, http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/_afNeuW7Cck/oh-good-grief.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2008/03/oh-good-grief.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-8332603395964360661Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:48:00 +00002008-03-23T15:19:46.317-07:00Sigh.There’s a little too much hysteria floating around these days about the In re Rachel L. opinion that a California appellate court released on February 28. (For a summary of what it’s all about and what’s being done about it, visit the Homeschool Association of California (HSC) website, which has frequent news updates linked from their front page.)There’s some discussion about what the http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/WvNsMwqSOD8/caceat-emptor.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)5http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2008/03/caceat-emptor.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-6750601937927791274Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:09:00 +00002008-01-01T12:26:24.032-08:00bookshomeschoolinglibrarieshomeschoolersAdrienne Furness, who writes the Homeschooling and Libraries blog (where among her more useful stuff, she posted a five-part interview with me in September 2006), has a book out this month called Helping Homeschoolers in the Library.From the book's description:This practical guidebook seeks to bridge the gap between librarians and homeschoolers in these two ways: who are homeschoolers and how canhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/QY2LUVxjFU4/for-your-favorite-librarians.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2008/01/for-your-favorite-librarians.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-3882856548959433064Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:19:00 +00002007-11-27T17:16:50.300-08:00parentingprodigieshomeschoolingAt least once at every conference I speak at, some mom or other will start off a question with "Well, my kids aren't prodigies or anything—they're just normal kids . . . ." Most of the time I just let it go in order to get to the point of her question, which usually doesn't have anything to do with prodigies, but it always bothers me.Partly, it's that apologetic tone, as though there's something http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/RxLubdZDiFo/prodigies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2007/11/prodigies.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614624.post-4774264815783932598Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:18:00 +00002007-11-05T15:58:33.880-08:00Some fascinating ideas in this interview with Alvin Toffler:You've been writing about our educational system for decades. What's the most pressing need in public education right now?Shut down the public education system.andDo I have all the answers for how to replace it? No. But it seems to me that before we can get serious about creating an appropriate education system for the world that's http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ViralLearning/~3/8DJF2IOii34/future-school-reshaping-learning-from.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mary Griffith)0http://virallearning.blogspot.com/2007/10/future-school-reshaping-learning-from.html