Seems like about five years ago, but back in August of 2019 I shared that my youngest daughter, K-, had decided to attend a private online high school, Laurel Springs, rather than return to her public high school in Longmont, Colorado. You can read about our collective thought process here: And So It Begins: Online High School. We’re now six months into the adventure and she’s mostly moved smoothly into her second semester, there’s one…Read More
Though my youngest did great in 9th grade last year at the local public school, wrapping up the year with a darn impressive 3.93 GPA (way better than I did in high school, I’ll tell you that!), K- wasn’t enthused about going back for 10th grade. It wasn’t the social experience that was the obstacle as it is for many teen girls, but rather the ratio of solid and engaging academics vs busy work and…Read More
One of the great challenges of parenting is to educate your children about health and lifestyle choices. Like everyone else, children don’t want lectures, they want practical and realistic advice and guidance and accurate and pragmatic facts. Like it or not, they’re also going to ultimately make their own decisions, particularly as they hit the high school and then college years. My family is healthier than most in our lifestyle choices and eating habits, but…Read More
My son is a freshman in the dorms at Pitzer College, living the Southern California college life. This means he’s trying to figure out how to balance a lot of studying with a lot of socializing, outdoor activities and occasionally even some sleep in the tiny dorm room he shares with another young man. Living in the dorms also means while he has almost zero space for clothes, shoes and accessories, though he’s still interested…Read More
My youngest has made the big leap from a private school to public school for her high school years and it’s quite interesting. I went to public school throughout my own educational journey; I don’t think I even realized that there were alternatives! My ex, however, went to private school, a rather prestigious K-12 institution in Kansas City with lots of elite, wealthy families. Very different experiences, even through college: she went to a private…Read More
My youngest is on the local high school volleyball team and she’s doing great. I’m a proud Dad and show up for all their games, whether at home or to the further reaches of Colorado oforn away games. The volleyball season is pretty darn short, however, just a few months, then it’s over for the entire school year. Which is a bit odd, really, since games are always indoors so they could certainly play throughout…Read More
This month brings change with my children in a completely unprecedented manner: My oldest daughter will be starting up at Denver University (she transferred from Colorado State University, Fort Collins at the end of last school year), my son is starting college at Pitzer, far off in Southern California, and the youngest is heading to high school just a few miles from home. There’s a story in each of their journeys, of course, but what’s…Read More
I went to a public school throughout my childhood, K-12, though my ex was at a rather elite prep private school for her childhood. Two very different experiences. When our oldest began her own journey through schooling, we agreed that we’d like to do something different and enrolled her in a Waldorf School. Actually the Santa Cruz Waldorf School because at the time we were living in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Silicon Valley (and…Read More
When I went to school, life was uncomplicated: I went to the elementary school, then middle school, then high school based purely on where we lived. I was basically unaware of the other schools in our district other than some minimal rivalry between us in football which I didn’t give a plugged nickel about. This all worked fine because we lived in nice suburban areas in Southern California so I went to safe, well-staffed schools…Read More
It might not be a child’s favorite time of the year, but a surprising number of parents look forward to the resumption of school as the summer wanes. Myself included. I am a firm believer in the idea that children do best in a structured environment where they know what’s going on and what’s expected of them. The typical lack of activities during summer vacation makes it darn difficult to retain that structure, and as…Read More
A few days ago I did something I haven’t done for <cough> years: I attended a high school graduation. You’re likely thinking that my oldest, A-, is 20 so surely I attended her high school graduation, right? Turns out that though she spent many years at the same private school, she ended up deciding that an online program would serve her best for the last year of high school. The program was very good and…Read More
It’s possible I’ll now be up for a Father of the Year award based on the truly ecstatic reaction my 19yo daughter A- had yesterday when we met at the Apple Store and I bought her a brand new MacBook Pro for her college adventure. I know that there are plenty of my friends who now seek to be adopted so they too can enjoy the largesse of my apparent generosity! 🙂 What they don’t…Read More
It’s a bit hard for me to wrap my head around the concept, but the truth is staring me in the face, the calendar doesn’t lie and my oldest, A-, is heading off for college on Monday, a college that’s almost 1000 miles away from home. It’s been quite a journey for all of us to get here and in many ways she has borne the brunt of my divorce and the subsequent decade of living a…Read More
Like most parents, I figured that I was basically done with math, algebra, geometry and the like when I finally escaped college. Yeah, I’d need to occasionally calculate a discount or balance a checkbook ledger, but that’s what spreadsheets are for. Solving for ‘x’? Figuring out the slope of a differential? Calculating volume of a 3d equation? No real need for that in real life, eh? Until I got stuck with the role of tutor for…Read More
When Ford Motor Company approached me about a campaign tied to young adults buying their first car, I turned it into an interview with Greg Cerise, Ford Credit sales and marketing manager. here’s what we talked about… Q: College kids affording new cars? Is that even possible? Yes, it’s possible. It’s important to put as much research and effort into financing as you put into choosing a vehicle. There are ways to start building a…Read More
If you’re the parent of a high school senior this year, you likely have a freight train of soul-crushing bureaucratic busy-work heading your way, something that’ll test your patience and demonstrate just how much your child really likes you. It’s two words that fills the heart of every parent of older children with dread: College Applications. Indeed, if Dante were to revise The Inferno I’m convinced that he’d add a new circle, bureaucratic paperwork. You know what I mean,…Read More
I’m in a bit of a time warp because my youngest doesn’t start school for another week, while my older two are doing year round school now so haven’t really had a summer vacation to come back from. Still, it’s hard to ignore all the signs and I know that there are a lot of you that are breathing a sigh of relief that it is indeed back to school season. Finally. 🙂 After three…Read More
School let out for my children on Friday! Well, let’s have a slightly closer look at that statement, because actually, two of my three school-age children weren’t in school, per se, that day so the end of school was a bit more fuzzy. A-, my oldest at 18, is in an online school and she’s close, but not quite done with 12th grade. G-, my 15yo son, is taking a bit of a break from school…Read More
It’s a dilemma that every one of us in education is quite aware of: how do you measure success? Not just with an individual student, but across a class, a school, a city, even a state? I’m not a huge fan of standardized testing, but the reality is that it’s the best way to have a consistent yardstick to measure children across region, culture and socio-economic status. Done well, it can sidestep language, gender, sexual orientation, religion and…Read More
Sounds a bit like the beginning of a joke: A guy walks into a room full of teachers to talk about the Internet, privacy and cyber-bullying… but it’s the furthest thing from a joke I can think of, actually. A few days ago I was invited by my children’s school to address the faculty on these very topics and as it’s something I’m very concerned about, I was happy to participate in the discussion. What…Read More
I like college. In fact, I have a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from UCSD, a Masters in Education from Purdue University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Baltimore, Merrick School of Business. You can glean that from my LinkedIn profile, but what few people know is that I earned my MBA through the Merrick online program, completing the first year while we were wrapping up our life in California and…Read More