Once a person turns 25, the most predictive factor in how successful they'll be at work is how well they're able to surround themselves with mentors. Which means that people need to develop the skill of getting mentors during their school years. Unfortunately, the best ways to learn these skills for getting a mentor are completely impossible to…

My kids each have their own laptops. And they have a desktop, because sometimes they need a Mac for what they want to do, and their laptops are PCs. They also have an iPhone. You may think this is extreme, but this electronics bonanza is a small price to pay so I can work during…

So many people tell me that they send their kids to school so they meet a wide range of people. The problem with that idea is that kids do not learn open-mindedness by going to school because school can't have a ratio of thirty independent thinkers to one teacher. It would be chaos. Here's how…

I was reading through a collection of articles defending conventional school, and I was stunned by this one, in Consider Magazine. Because it says that education is not about accumulating facts but accumulating habits. I was so happy to read this because it gave me a  new reason to homeschool.

It's hard to wake up every day and let my kids play video games as much as they want. I feel scared, like they will look back on their childhood and think it was full of missed opportunity or dull repetition. I have to spent hours reading about the benefits of video games and the…

Philip Roth just announced his retirement. I'm not a huge fan of Philip Roth. I gave myself a Ph.D in 20th century literature in my 20's, when, finally, no one was telling me what to read. I played volleyball during the day (it was my job) and I read a book every night.

Most of us were not raised to think kids can learn on their own. But even if you were raised to think kids can teach themselves, you will be shocked to hear about the kids in Ethiopia. MIT chose a remote, illiterate community to send some first-graders a box of iPads. Unopened. One person in…

The kids were really excited to go with us to vote today because they have watched approximately 40 campaign ads each day for months. If you live in a swing state, all YouTube ads are campaign ads. So the kids are conversant on a wide range of political topics. For example, “Mom, do we have…

One of the most empowering things you can do for your kids is teach them how to run a business. Entrepreneurship used to be high-risk and expensive, but in today's business environment, starting a company costs no money. And having the skills to do that creates a permanent safety net in an uncertain economy. Teach…

I made two investments in homeschooling this week. First, I bought Rosetta Stone Hebrew. I am worried that Hebrew is too hard for me to teach the kids. I've had two years of college Hebrew. I've also had five years of get-ready-for-bar-mitzvah-Hebrew that really add up to about one month of college Hebrew. I think…

After failing special ed math, I went on to launch three startups, securing funding for all three from investors. At this point, it's pretty clear to me that very young kids can run their own company. Certainly they can by age fourteen, but probably even younger. Did you ever read Berenstain Bears and the Trouble…

It's the start of the school year, which is when parents invariably ask me where we take music lessons. And if they should let their kid start. And what's it like. My answer is usually, "Yes, definitely your kid should play an instrument. If you are willing to drive yourself nuts with the practicing." Before…

For those of you who have not read the story of the courtship between me and my husband, it was sordid. I had just come from ten years in NYC preceeded by ten years in LA. He was still living on the far-from-everything farm he grew up on in Wisconsin. The culture clash was huge,…

We are by our patch of daylilies, next to the barn. And the boys are playing with sticks, while my husband and I watch. It is a perfect moment. One of those moments when I feel like maybe, just maybe, I can stop worrying if I'm a good enough parent. My son says, "Look! The…

I am receiving lots of emails about summer vacation and homeschooling. For example, the New Yorker cartoon (above) reflects how far behind school is in terms of teaching communication. But the emails that are really nagging at me right now are the people telling me that I should write about how kids who go to…

It's not that top universities are telling people directly to homeschool their kids. Instead, top schools are using a selection process that gives homeschooled kids a huge advantage. Here's why: 1. Good grades are a commodity, so they don't help in the admissions process.  Girls are doing so much better than boys in both standard…

Often, parents ask me how long my son has been skateboarding. This is parentspeak for, "I hope your kid is a lot older than he looks because I don't want to think my own kid is slow." I think the core parent worry is that their child is falling behind and the parent's job is…

Someone sent me a press release about "educational rap music." I knew right away the music would suck. People who write good music do not need to say that it’s educational. I mean, is Bach not educational? Is he just for idiots? What makes some music educational and some not? Stuff that needs to be…

A big part of my income comes from public speaking, and it's speaking season. So I took my six-year-old on the road. With his cello and his skateboard. Last week we were in Illinois, Florida, and California. People often say they can't homeschool because they have to work. Here's a snapshot of what it looks…

I took this picture when I was in New York City, in the middle of the week, at a totally cool place called Make Meaning. They have cakes that are ready-made, and they have totally cool things for decorating the cakes, including a spin-art setup, where the cake is on the spinner instead of the…