The Space Shuttle

Starboy is Space-Shuttle crazy lately, ever since we saw it parade through the streets in the middle of the night.

So we trekked to the California Science Center to check it out. We got in free, but I think now the tickets are $2.

Actual tires from the shuttle.

It was fun, although I would love to see what the inside of the ship really looks like, beyond photos. I wish you could go through it.

The science center had some other exhibits, but honestly it wasn't well organized and didn't seem that impressive to us. And they relied a lot on videos to tell about exhibits, rather than letting kids experience them. Although there was a lot of hands-on stuff for the really little kids.

We had a great day!

Reading Roundup 2013.05.10

Here are some things I looked at this week....

Cyberparenting and the Risk of TMI, NYT Motherlode (May 3, 2013)


Female Purity is Bullshit, Jezebel (May 8ish, 2013)
"This entire 'conversation' is just an effort to rig a system in which men get to determine female worthlessness no matter the input."


5 Things to do when you feel your temper rising, Aha Parenting (April 24, 2013)
"You notice what you're feeling, you breathe your way through it, and you DO nothing.
When our temper rises, we all feel an urgent need to DO something, anything. But that's our emergency response system operating. And parenting, despite how it feels, is not usually an emergency. "

Structure: Why kids need Routines, Aha Parenting (May 13ihs, 2013)
Structure and routines teach kids how to constructively control themselves and their environments. 

I love this Rita Pierson video on what teaching really is about.

It's Screen Free Week!

It's Screen Free Week! See what you can do this week that doesn't plug in!

Reading Roundup 2013.04.26

Another big reading week. Enjoy!



Watching Movies with the kids is a mixed bag, New York Times, (Apr. 19, 2013)
Still another reason why Starboy doesn't watch TV or movies.


Do e-readers inhibit reading comprehension? Salon (Apr. 14, 2013)


Standardized test questions kids have to answer that don't even count, Washington Post (Apr. 23, 2013)


How my job went from great to infuriating, Washington Post (Apr. 21, 2013)

New Standardized tests feature plugs for commercial products, Washington Post (Apr. 20, 2013)
It was only a matter of time. Bastards.

NCTE Position on machine scoring of standardized tests, National Council of Teachers of English (Apr. 2013)
Hint: They don't like the idea.

5 Benefits of Sportscasting your Child's Struggles, Janet Lansbury (Apr. 25, 2013)
Lovely article. H/T to The Thumbstumbler

10 Things that are More Important than Discipline, Positive Parents (Jul. 19, 2011)
In case you need one more "do this" article on parenting.

What pro-spanking research misses, The Attached Family, (Oct. 2, 2012)
""Spanking kids does not deter behavior. Like beating a dog, it just makes them mean. "



The Curse of Fertilizer, National Geographic (May 2013)

Commuting Wild Dogs on the Subway, The Sun, (Jan 12, 2011)
Totally random.

Vivian Maier documentary in the works, Messy Nessy Chic (Feb. 18, 2013)

Reading Roundup 2013.04.19

Big wordy week! Here are a few things that caught my eye. Happy reading!

In Time of Tragedy, Look to Yourself First, Bonnie Harris Connective Parenting (Apr. 16, 2013)
Really great article about refusing to let fear overtake your parenting in these sometimes disturbing times.

What if Everybody Understood Child Development?, Huffington Post (via Not Just Cute)
(Apr. 5, 2013)
"Most people, I imagine, would be surprised to learn that understanding child development is not one of the standard requirements to become a teacher. Or maybe not. Maybe most people, including those who decide what teachers need to know, are unaware of the incontestable connection between how children develop (not just cognitively but also socially, emotionally, and physically)and how they learn."

Lessons in Domestic Diplomacy, New York Times (Apr. 12, 2013)
How to argue more effectively, with less drama

Good Teachers are a Flaw in the System, Teacher Tom (April 15, 2013)
"How does anyone expect teachers to work under these conditions?"

Six Vintage-inspired Animations on Critical Thinking (Brain Pickings)
Great graphics

How Nature Makes Kids Calmer, Healthier, Smarter, Aha Parenting (Apr. 15, 2013)

Exercise, friendships, and puzzles beat back dimentia, NPR (Apr. 15, 2103)


My So-Called 'Post-Feminist' Life in Arts and Letters, The Nation (Apr. 29, 2013)
Hat tip to Scott Lewis Photography
"...Nearly every review refers to me as a stay-at-home mom. One such article is entitled "Battlefield Barbie," which calls me a "soccer-mom-in-training." ....The general consensus is that the book is good, but I suck. ...Talkasks if I'm worried I'll be labeled a slut. I object to both the word and the question; the journalist prints them anyway.Brill's Content and The Women's Review of Books insinuate that I brought on my own rape and various other crimes that I experienced at the hands of men—armed robbery, a knockout blow to the skull from a crack addict.Salon resorts to slut-shaming and libel. New York thinks I'm an insult to feminism for having left a promising career behind."

Reading Roundup - 2013.04.05

Here are a few articles that caught my eye this week:



Introverted kids need to learn to speak up at school, The Atlantic (Feb. 7, 2013)
I totally agree with this—with the caveat that scaffolding and support is offered to teach speaking up, rather than demanding it.

Family Inc., Wall Street Journal (Feb. 10, 2013)
Run your family like a business, with a mission statement. Sorry I'm not sure if the link will work.

What does an iPad do to a child's mind? New York Times (March 31, 2013)

The opposite of play isn't work, Teacher Tom, (Apr. 5, 2013)
Discussing the effort of the de-professionalization of teachers

Parents talking about their own drug use to children could be detrimental, EurekaAlert (Feb. 22, 2013)
via Attachment Parenting International

Atlanta test cheating: tip of the iceberg? Washington Post Answer Sheet (Apr. 1, 2013)

If you don't support breastfeeding in public, you don't support breastfeeding, Huffington Post (Apr. 1, 2013)

The new kindergarten: Kids write 'informative' reports, Washington Post Answer Sheet (Apr. 3, 2013)

Is organic milk healthy? Homemade Mommy (Dec. 4, 2012)

Today's quote, via Literate Kids on Facebook:
"The problems many children have are actually generated by too much time spent in environments in which children are expected to "behave." When a restricted environment isn't balanced out by an hour or more a day when children can run hard, laugh hard, wrestle, be daring, and engage in spontaneous play, the strain shows in their behavior." —Patty Wipfler, Hand in Hand Parenting

Our own Spaceman Spiff

The jetpak propulsion tank design was Starboy's, offered in specific detail, with a few materials modifications from Mommy. It may or may not resemble the model given to us by meerkats. We'll never reveal those international trade secrets.

 The tank apparently is water-powered. And diesel.

 The propeller, which must be at the top, not the bottom, is what makes it go.

 He's a meerkat astronaut. As if you didn't know.

Starboy-the-meerkat-astronaut was genuinely disappointed when his jetpak would not fly him over the house. "Why isn't it going?!"

He demanded "real buttons" as a means of solution and troubleshooting. We have an old remote for this purpose (Techman's helicopter that goes with it is broken), but Starboy insisted that this obviously dysfunctional device was what was causing the flight issue. I suggested a change of venue.

The meerkat astronaut put on his protective speed suit (which, curiously, was not made of space-age felt as previously described, but did meet the color qualifications described in the interview) and we installed an additional jetpak tank on his space vehicle.

Despite living a stone's throw from JPL, we honestly don't talk about space much at home, with the exception of the Space Shuttle, but even then, not in great detail. Not for any reason. Just hasn't really come up. During a visit to our storage locker, I mistakenly offered Starboy some Tintin books to look at on his own, forgetting about the stereotypes, racism, guns and other big-kid stuff that's the backbone of the series (ca. 1954). Ugh. We quietly disappeared them after an abridged reading, which had resulted in Starboy tearing around the house shouting "blistering blue barnacles!" like a maniac, at bedtime.

This must be his source of inspiration. I wonder if he'll remember the story when he sees it again....in sixth grade.

Look out, John Glenn. You're going to have to read books on the side, to keep up.

Reading Roundup 2013.03.29

Light online reading this week.

For financial literacy, it's never too early, Atlanta Journal and Constitution (March 25, 2013)

Is there danger in play, or more in its absence? Not Just Cute (March 20, 2013)
A really interesting read about play, why it's important, and also how its substitutes are damaging.

Reading Roundup 2013.03.22

Not a lot of great reads in the last few weeks, but here are a few I thought were interesting.

6 Ways to help children cope with frustration, Everyday Family (March 6, 2013)

Reading, Writing, Video Games, New York Times Opinion, (March 15, 2013)
"A 2012 report by the New Media Consortium identified "game-based learning" as one of the major trends affecting education in the next five years." Ugh.

Minecraft spawns classroom lessons, Washington Post (March 14, 2013)
"Mr. Lanphier said the reason that we're using this is because it's an accurate way to build things without just having to write down all this stuff," [one student] said.

The Family Stories that Bind Us, New York Times (March 15, 2013)
"Children who have the most self-confidence have what's called a strong "intergenerational self." They know they belong to something bigger than themselves....The bottom line: If you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family's positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come."

Should machines be used to grade student writing? Inside Higher Ed (March 15, 2013)
So not only is your child going to spend more than ten hours on this one state test, which will be administered on computers that your school does not have funding to maintain, but also this information —which is supposed to gauge roughly where your student is in his learning—is going to be used in some states as a graduation requirement, but will be graded by machine.

We can do better for our students, and we must.

I am not your wife, sister or daughter, The Belle Jar (March 18, 2013)
"This device....is reductive as hell. It defines women by their relationships to other people, rather than as people themselves. It says that women are only important when they are married to, have given birth to, or have been fathered by other people. It says that women are only important because of who they belong to."


Some really great parenting reminders, all by Aletha Solter, who founded the Aware Parenting Institute. You may have seen her work in Mothering magazine:
Why do Children Misbehave?
Twenty Alternatives to Punishment
The Disadvantages of Time Out
Weekly Family Meetings for Conflict Resolution

Reading Roundup 2013.03.08

Mud and Sticks and Real Paint, Teacher Tom (March 2, 2103)
On: why TV/i-gadget time should be limited for small children

The Rhythm of the Home spring edition is up!

In a fast moving world, we could all do with a roll of 36, Vince Laforet (Mar. 7, 2013)

Reading Roundup 12.14.12

Some things I found interesting this week:

They Know What You're Shopping For, Wall State Journal (Dec. 10, 2010)

America's next education 'crisis' — and who benefits, Washington Post Answer Sheet (Dec. 11, 2010)

How the Media Missed Jenni Rivera, Part Two, LA Observed, (Dec. 13, 2012)
and related links

Jenni Rivera had ovaries of Steel, Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly (Dec. 13, 2012)

Space Shuttle on the move

Starboy wasn't too happy about being wakened at 3am but he brightened instantly when he found out we were going to see the Space Shuttle! We layered him up in fleece long johns and a down jacket.

We chose an LAPD-approved parking lot location to watch the shuttle come up Westchester Blvd. towards La Tijera, then back into a shopping center parking lot. Later today it will continue its journey to the California Science Center, arriving tomorrow night.

 Lots of fans turned out.

We had a front row spot—we thought we'd geniously arrived just 30 minutes before the shuttle would come through, but it was a good 90 minutes late. We were warm and comfortable, but it wouldn't have been bad to have gotten another hour's worth of sleep....

The shuttle's wingspan grazed many trees along the way and tree trimmers drove the route to make last-minute trims as it came through.

The parking lot filled up behind us as we watched. Everyone was so excited!

Reading Roundup 2012-09-17

Here are some things I've been reading this week.

Is Technology Sapping Children's Creativity? Washington Post Answer Sheet (Sept. 13, 2012)

How the Finnish School System outshines US Education, Stanford University News (Jan. 20, 2012)
The Finnish school system might sound like a restless American schoolchild's daydream: school hours cut in half, little homework, no standardized tests, 50-minute recess and free lunch. But the Finns' unconventional approach to education has vaulted Finland to the upper echelon of countries in overall academic performance, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

True Sharing Can't Be Taught, The Attached Family, (Aug. 22, 2012) (Registration Required)
When educational television tries to teach young children to share, it's helpful for parent to know how the desire to share really develops in children....Sharing isn't something that is learned. True sharing comes from feelings of caring, together with the ability to think about the 'yes' and 'no' feelings of sharing. In other words, when you care about someone, you will want to share with him.

Get in some Gelatin, The Nutrition Coach (Apr. 1, 2012)

Make your own (healthy) Jell-o, The Little Gnomes Home (Aug. 21, 2012)

Fermentation guru seeks out new (and old) flavors, New York Times, (Sept. 17, 2012)

5 Ways the Modern World Makes You Easy to Stalk, Cracked (Sept. 13, 2012)
Big Brother is watching you. Only it's not big brother. It's anyone.

7 Ways to make your work easy to fact check, Poynter (Sept. 17, 2012)

Reading Roundup

10 Steps for tired Mamas to get the break they need, without TV, Rhythm of the Home (Fall 2012)

Great story about Nature Tables, Tinkerlab (Sept. 10, 2010)

Pocket Playground, Life At the Zoo (Aug. 30, 2012). Keep eight items in your bag, and you'll have access to 50 activities to keep your kid calm while waiting in line, on the airplane, etc.

How to write a Twitter bio that'll make you stand out as a journalist, Poynter (Sept. 7, 2012). Note: I barely understand Twitter and hashtagging, I don't even have a handle. My prospects of ever working again are likely doomed.

An interview with Lori Pickert, Rhythm of the Home blog (Aug. 31, 2012). With links to her blog and other Reggio Emilia bloggers
"I owned a small private school from 2000-2007. I have no background in education- I’m an autodidact all the way. So to open my own school, I had to spend a year doing extensive research....I spent the next eight years experimenting with those ideas....It was a wonderful experience....By the time I closed my school, I was working as an educational consultant, training teachers, giving workshops, and speaking at conferences. I really love sharing these ideas."


On striking and unions, Teacher X (Sept. 9, 2012)

"Chicago is founded on the hard daily struggle of working people. It is the birth of the labor movement—not a movement just for wages and benefits, but a movement that stopped child labor so that each of the kids in CPS schools could attend school instead of working. It was a movement that stopped the practice of working conditions so unsafe that consumers were eating the actual workers who fell into the mix while they were making hot dogs. It was a movement that fought so that workers could have some tiny measure of time with our families rather than spending all waking hours working for the enrichment of their bosses."

Why Men Fail, New York Times (Sept. 10, 2012)
"To succeed today, you have to be able to sit still and focus attention in school at an early age. You have to be emotionally sensitive and aware of context. You have to communicate smoothly. For genetic and cultural reasons, many men stink at these tasks."

Reading Roundup

Here are some things I've been reading lately.

• Silicon Valley says Step Away from the Device (July 23, 2012 / NYT). "The concern, voiced in conferences and in recent interviews with many top executives of technology companies, is that the lure of constant stimulation — the pervasive demand of pings, rings and updates — is creating a profound physical craving that can hurt productivity and personal interactions."

• "Overparenting lite" is a healthier way to go than "toxic overparenting," Madeline Levine says in the NYT opinion story Raising Successful Children (Aug. 4, 2012).

• Preschool Children Who can Pay Attention More Likely to Finish College (Science Daily, Aug. 6, 2012)

• Tinkerlab posted some great reads to spark your family's creativity.

• Audiobooks.com is a "Netflix" for audio books, written up in MacWorld a long while back.

And, file under "more alarmist food news" (AKA: Oh God, what can't we eat NOW?!):

• "Organic" is profit-making so of course large companies are grabbing pieces of it as fast as their hands can stuff their pockets. They're calling it "Big Organic," and there's a race to approve non-organic ingredients as okay for foods labeled as "organic." Read the (gross, but not surprising) story "Has Organic been Oversized?" (July 7, 2012) from the NYT here.

• Some olive oil is not olive oil (NYT). I'm late to this story, but thoroughly fed up with the deception in food labeling that we permit in our country. Related stories from non-news sources here and here—I haven't checked the research background of those related sites.

• Agave is not good for you, according to the Real Food Forager. Old news, new writeup.

• Starbucks has a lot of complicated, non-organic, processed, ingredients in its food, according to 100daysofrealfood.com. A LOT. The Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake reportedly has 75 ingredients. Michael Pollan wouldn't recommend it, I'd guess.

Reading Roundup

I've been catching up on my reading. Here are a few things I found interesting.


Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show
by Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times, Feb. 9, 2012


Tutoring Surges With Fight for Middle School Spots
by Anna M. Phillips, New York Times, Apr. 15, 2012
The gifted kids start doing so well on the tests that they have to re-tool the tests. What a great way for a kid to spend a Saturday: Bubbling in!


Treadmills in the Classroom improve concentration
The Launch Education Blog, Apr. 29, 2011
A special education school installs treadmills and exercise bikes in the math classroom. Stunning results. But what's really stunning, in my opinion, is public education's eagerness to do away with recess.


From Creeping to Leaping the Kindergarten Year—A Montessori Parent's Perspective
by Sarah Richards, MariaMontessori.com, Apr. 26, 2012
A mom explains why she chose Montessori school for her daughter, over public school methods.

Future Schools
educationnext.org
Oh geez, a first grader spending 90 minutes in a computer lab! It's like a factory! In the propaganda, it needs to be photographed black-and-white and jerky, like the movie Metropolis.

And...."customized education" looks like....a call center? If this is what Starboy was facing then I actually would have to seriously consider homeschooling, or a private school. It's bad enough that adults have entire days like this, but students?!


Quality Homework—A Smart Idea
by Annie Murphy Paul, New York Times, Sept. 10, 2011

Data fire extinguished

Well, it was not without harrowing moments, but Techman installed a new hard drive into my machine and used the latest backup I had, so I'm partying like it's January, 2012.

He also set up an additional wireless backup system that I cannot unplug. He was able to do this without any smart remarks, whatsoever. Which was very kind of him. I would be lost without him. To the nth degree.

I didn't used to be the kind of person who needed to be saved from herself. I guess I am slacking in my Type A tendencies. I wonder where the rest of that energy is going? It's sure not being spent on housecleaning....

Data Disaster

Ironically, on the eve of the National Day of Unplugging, my hard drive utterly croaked and is completely dead in the water.

Conveniently, I hadn't backed up in...oh...months. So, lots has gone missing. And never mind the two hours I spent just before it happened creating a database of education links for the charter school that's trying to get off the ground. And I can't even bellyache about any of it since I didn't ensure that Time Machine could do its backup. I had been warned.

Techman says he can't make any of his extraordinary tips and tricks even recognize the disk, so we might not be able to recover any of it. If you know of any superhuman Mac data recovery resources, feel free to recommend in the comments below.

Coming up: Reports on re-establishing rhythm in the home, if not Waldorf-style, then back-up-every-Friday style.

Why blocks are better than iPads

Yesterday I posted about a discussion on my email Mommy List, about whether or not the Feminist Pig should buy an iPad for her two-year-old son. Despite creating a ridiculously robust and rich environment for her child at home with her partner, my guess is that she felt she could further his education and understanding with a technological boost. Because More is Better, right?

Let's put the expense aside, or the idea that the $500 could be put to use feeding and building community, or accruing interest in a college fund. What's wrong with a little technology, here and there? Isn't it like having just a taste of cake, or just one cookie? Just a teeensy weeensy little dinner mint?

Well, as adults, our brains have finished their major growth. This wraps up around age 25. (Did you catch that? That experimentation in college maybe did cost you a few brain cells.) A little Cow Clicker isn't going to be as dangerous as it would be for a preschooler or toddler, whose brain is frenetically building neural roads for future commerce.

Before first grade, children learn by touching, feeling, experiencing and moving. Building with blocks, as the New York Times noted today builds excellent skills for problem-solving and processing previous experiences. Computers also don't allow children to develop their own rules about turn-taking, time spent, or being nice. These rules, called "executive functioning" skills, are a key predictor in academic and professional success.

Parenting and Technology are Complicated

photo ©Apple

First, let me point out the irony of blogging about screen-free parenting. It's a bit like "jumbo shrimp," or "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room!"

But this is where we are in 2011. Telling everyone about recycling on an expensive gadget that will end up in a landfill in short order. For example. Offering so many choices, that it's changing the landscape of our society, as Barry Schwartz wrote about choice-making here, as Gabriel Kahane talked about creative loss (at the end of the interview with Audie Cornish) here, as John Tierney wrote about decision fatigue here as Richard Louv wrote about here. And more, of course.

I participate in a Mommy listserv of at least 2000 local moms. It started as a breastfeeding support group, which over the years has morphed into a chat room of topics from babies to new apartments to great hostess gifts. Last week, someone posted: What's the best tablet I should put on my two-year-old darling's Christmas list? iPad, or can I save a few bucks on something else?

Come on, seriously?! An iPad for your two-year-old? Because his iPhone is boring him? Because his big-screen TV won't fit in the car? Because he needs to be online at all times to maintain his high score in Angry Birds?