What Are Your Children Learning? During the 1960s and onwards, many TV stations such as New York’s WNEW-TV (channel 5), prefaced the 10 o’clock news with the phrase, “It’s 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?” As a child in the safe boundaries of my urban middle-class neighborhood, I assumed it was a...
Over the almost two decades that we actively homeschooled, there were many times that I questioned whether I was doing the right thing or adequately preparing my children for a successful future. Then, there were those radiant moments when I inwardly shouted, “YES!!!” I remember one such moment when I found a few of our...
Over the course of the festival of Sukkot, Jews who follow a Torah path make every effort to eat outdoors in a Sukkah (a temporary “hut” built to certain Biblical specifications). This year, my husband and I did not build a Sukkah of our own as we do most years. Instead, we are relying on...
Two weeks ago was our grandson’s first day of school. He isn’t a five-year-old starting kindergarten, but rather a fourteen-year-old beginning high school. As a homeschooler, he learned a great deal, but he never set foot in a formal school environment. His parents were not compelled to send him; one of his older brothers is...
Schools are opening. Or they are not. In many districts, parents simply don’t know what will happen. Meanwhile, we are being assaulted by articles telling us of the decades-long consequences that will affect different age groups if they do not get back in the classroom. College-aged students will see a lifelong lessening of earning power...
During this pandemic, many parents have been surprised to discover just how valuable family time is. Some discovered that their children made more academic progress by not going to traditional school. No matter what the benefits, however, many had to cope with kids who desperately missed their friends. This last problem might lead some parents...
My husband and I were discussing whether the production of pharmaceuticals and other vital commodities would move back to the United States from China. He brought up an angle that had eluded me. “We aren’t raising enough people with the education and ability to produce many of these things,” he said. “To make matters worse,...
A ‘Your Mother’s Guidance’ post by Rebecca Masinter Many of us are trying to figure out a new normal as we balance work from home and school at home. There is a struggle within us—which has priority: Work or home? School or home? Leviticus 12 begins with the laws of impurity and purity surrounding childbirth. ...
Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, an esteemed mentor of my husband’s and a revered teacher of thousands, once gave my husband an unusual blessing. He said, “May God protect you from those who believe they are acting for the sake of Heaven.” His eyes twinkled as he spoke, but there was deep sincerity behind his words. Those...
Now that families are settling into an isolation routine, I thought it worthwhile to distinguish between schooling at home and homeschooling. When my mother was small, she contracted polio. Over the course of her childhood, she spent many months at home recuperating from operations. During that time, the school district regularly sent a teacher to...
