The ONLY thing that the conventional compulsory, drop-off school approach to education has over individualized, *outside the system* learning is a modicum of imposed self-discipline. What I mean by that is, well, an early morning bus on one's doorstep and mandatory attendance and classes at least force each day to start early and, theoretically anyway, [...]
I recently met a veteran, expensive ($150 per hour) NYC-based SAT tutor and he told me, "I don't care what anyone says, as a tutor you CAN'T get anything done in an hour..." He elaborated and said that he only does sessions of a minimum of 1.5 hours because, "...it's only in that last half-hour [...]
Wow, right? One of the cool things about mental math is that it's easy to practice. Recently I've taken to asking him to square numbers while I'm driving in the car. Of course another cool thing....is the outrageous MIND EXPANSION it cultivates. Now go buy or borrow the book and get started! Also....if you want [...]
There were over 300 kids, who are educated *outside the system* in New York City, at this year's Central Park picnic. Last year there were substantially less. And I heard the other day that *filing* (to opt out of NYC government schools) was up a full 10% from 2011. Okay, these numbers might not seem [...]
The other night my wife and I dropped our kids off at their grandmother's at 6:45pm....so we could go out to dinner. Now our kids are NEVER without books to read or academic assignments to do. In fact we take this *precaution* most especially when it's a babysitting situation. Why? Well it does make the [...]
I strongly believe that parents ought to invest or put effort into their children when they are very, very young BECAUSE this is where all the payoff lies. The heights children ultimately ascend to are predominantly a function of initial *launch angle* and *escape velocity*. Today I had to see a tutoring client (SAT math) [...]
Wikipedia defines gamification thusly: Gamification is the use of game design techniques, game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts. Typically gamification applies to non-game applications and processes, in order to encourage people to adopt them, or to influence how they are used. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to [...]
It certainly means different things to different parents. For some, it's simply a matter of buying bigger clothes, a new lunchbox, and perhaps some notebooks and writing implements. However for those parents who have taken complete charge of their children's education....September can entail a whole lot more than a trip to the mall. Now our [...]
One of the things my wife and I find ourselves continually doing is - describing to others what exactly it is we do on a daily basis, in terms of educating our own children. For example, yesterday... While it's mid-August and there are summer activities aplenty here on Long Island, we still manage to do [...]
From a recent New Yorker article: In 2004, Carolina Izquierdo, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, spent several months with the Matsigenka, a tribe of about twelve thousand people who live in the Peruvian Amazon. The Matsigenka hunt for monkeys and parrots, grow yucca and bananas, and build houses that [...]
