I loved The Swiss Family Robinson as a kid. It was one of my favorite stories, along with Robinson Crusoe and the Little House books. I remember going to Disney World long before I read the book and wondering what the treehouse was all about, but I understood once I was old enough for the book. After reading this abridged edition, I realize that the cornucopia of flora and fauna on the island is utterly outlandish, but as a kid it seemed perfectly normal for an exotic …

I never thought I could describe myself as a ‘curmudgeon,’ but that’s how I’m feeling today. What’s got my back up? A New York Times editorial on a middle school talent show. Reading the article requires free registration, but I’ll save you the trouble with an excerpt:
They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust their chests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lap dancers without laps. They don’t smile much. Their faces are locked from grim exertion, from all …

I’ve been thinking a lot about community lately, thanks to two books I’m reading at the moment: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals . Subject-wise they are very different – the former is an indictment of education in America, the latter traces the origins of 4 meals, revealing a lot about agribusiness and nutrition in the process. Yet both books spend time extolling the virtues of community.
This morning we read some terrible news – our …

I’ve been pondering the old saying You learn something new every day, thanks to M and his seemingly insatiable curiosity. A routine tire change turned into a basic discussion of how a car works after he saw what was behind a tire and a computer cleaning turned into a (very, very) basic discussion of how a computer works.
M: Computers have brains?
Me: Yes. Well, they do things that we tell them to do. Or something.
While we have education constantly on our minds, we don’t try to find the …

It had been awhile since we’d taken any sort of field trip or had some Fun With Dad time, so I had my heart set on taking M to the Metropolitan Museum of Art last Thursday. It’s not as visceral as the Museum of Natural History for a child, but I felt that a few things would make it a worthwhile experience:

The Temple of Dendur, sarcophagi and other Egyptian art since M had shown some strong interest in Pyramids not too long ago
The various furnished American period rooms with …