Castle in the Clouds

Oh, boy.  I just finished reading this here book and, boy, was it painful!  So much so that there were several times I almost marked the book DNF; Did Not Finish, for those of you unfamiliar with the terminology.  Pure will power kept me going.  That and a refusal to let a book I was really struggling to understand defeat me. Pride.  It cometh before the fall, yes? Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard H. Thaler was recommended to me by an economics professor here at the university where I work.  It was one of many titles, actually, that he provided when I sent him a note in the middle of 2016 presidential election asking for books a newbie like myself would be able to grasp.  I explained to him that despite two degrees I had somehow managed to avoid taking a single economics course and had decided it was well past time for me to get a basic understanding of some general principles.  He sent back this list: ...

Ken and I have been talking about this for a few weeks now and I've made my decision. I am not going back to school in the Fall. I'm taking a break. Not quitting, mind you. Just taking a break. A much needed, well-deserved break. Remember my post about being burned out a week or so ago? Yeah. That's part of it. A big part. I've been in school for ten years. Almost eleven. I'm tired. Yet, I probably would have just taken this summer off and gone back in the Fall anyhow, but Ken thinks he wants to go on a bear hunt this year. This means he'd be gone for two weeks during the kids' football seasons. I'd have to either get out of class early in order to get them to practice on time, or I'd have to skip class altogether. Neither option really appeals to me. I don't like missing class. And, before you ask, there's really not an online class I need or want to take. So...I'm taking off Summer and Fall semesters. And I am so excited ...

I think I've mentioned before that I've set my oldest boy up with his very own blog. It's private and requires an invitation, so all worries about pedophile stalkers can be laid to rest. Worries about mom losing her mind should be taken out of the closet and given new life. That child! I know writing is hard for him. I know the ideas in his head never quite make it onto the paper how he wants it to. I get it. What I don't get is his total lack of concern over the matter. Last night's entry is a key example. I'm going to copy and paste from his blog for your reading...pleasure? Keep in mind, I've not made any changes to the text. This is exactly what appears on his blog. funny jouks ock nock whose there hands hands who hand off my cat! nock nock whos there there run run who run the dog is gaging onn us nock nock whos there bit bit who your dog bit me As you can see, the spelling is atrocious. Punctuation? Who needs it? I tried reading it aloud to him last nig...

I don't homeschool my children. Both boys attend the public schools in our hometown for a number of reasons. The most obvious and insurmountable fact is that both my husband and I work full-time outside the home. Doing homework in the evenings is a challenge; fitting in several constructive hours of schooling in the evenings would be impossible. Neither of us would have the patience for it. What if I didn't work full-time, though? Would I join the ranks of homeschooling parents everywhere? This is a question I've been asking myself a lot lately. A few years ago the answer would have been a resounding "No", but times have changed and so have I. Homeschooling no longer seems quite the tragic prison it once represented in my mind. Suddenly the benefits appear to outweigh the risks. As you likely know if you've been around here for any length of time, my oldest boy has a hard time in school. A very, very hard time. Although he's well-liked and seems well adjus...

While doing some research for a workshop I'm leading on Friday, I ran across this video on TeacherTube .