gdp's Comments

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 03:20:21 +0000

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 03:20:05 +0000

thanks, libby. i am glad he's my kid. :)

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 03:19:39 +0000

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 03:19:28 +0000

we talked tonight about how glad he is that he is not in school, and how he had started to hate school because he felt like he couldn't totally be himself there. it's not the whole reason we decided to do it, but it was a big factor - i had the sense that it would get more difficult down the road.

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 03:17:42 +0000

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 03:17:28 +0000

thanks, meri. :) it's hard to know where the line is. i've never wanted him to feel like i wanted to hide any part of him, but i also don't want to put him out on display.

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Thu, 10 Jul 2014 21:48:38 +0000

thanks, kate!

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Thu, 10 Jul 2014 21:48:06 +0000

Yeah, I don't think his sexuality is really even something he's thinking about yet. When we've talked about it, he says he is not gay, but since he hangs out with almost exclusively girls, it doesn't surprise me that he would assume he'd want to end up dating one. I think it might be a while before we're tackling that issue. :)

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Thu, 10 Jul 2014 21:32:02 +0000

Thanks, Ingrid. Definitely the hardest part about this is trying to be as supportive as possible and helping him to feel good about who he is without trying to push him in any particular direction. My instict is to want to settle on what exactly we're dealing with so we can move forward through that, but that's not always how it goes. I will watch the TED talk - thank you!

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Wed, 9 Jul 2014 02:11:38 +0000

you know, columbus is actually a pretty awesome place to be. we have a huge LGBTQ community and tons of resources here. i am grateful we live in a relatively progressive city!

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Wed, 9 Jul 2014 02:10:38 +0000

thank you, lauren!!

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Wed, 9 Jul 2014 02:10:25 +0000

yes. and this is one of the reasons i want to share this. i think it\\\'s good for people to see what we are going through and how we are handling it, because maybe someone else who is reading will give more thought to this stuff with their own kids. one thing i am realizing is that fisher is a rule follower and wants to please and i sometimes have to encourage him to speak up and be honest about how he\\\'s feeling because he will hold back if he thinks i won\\\'t be happy about something - like telling me he\\\'s full instead of being honest about not liking dinner. honestly, i am thinking about gender in ways i never have before and it is quite interesting (and a little maddening).

ThatPatti : A New Frontier

Wed, 9 Jul 2014 02:05:30 +0000

thank you, nancy. :)

ThatPatti : Paying Attention to Screen Time

Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:11:45 +0000

yes...i think long periods of play are important for mastery...you just can't get very far with anything if you're only allowed to work on it for an hour at a time! i think most people don't consider this kind of thing "work" though, which is where i think a lot of the screen time "problem" comes in.

ThatPatti : Paying Attention to Screen Time

Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:10:30 +0000

ThatPatti : Paying Attention to Screen Time

Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:10:20 +0000

ThatPatti : Week 17, Friday aka "Technology: Fear Not"

Sun, 15 Dec 2013 17:25:40 +0000

Nope, not surprised at all! :D

ThatPatti : Week 17, Monday

Fri, 13 Dec 2013 19:55:33 +0000

Well, that would have made a lot more sense! :)

ThatPatti : Week 17, Friday aka "Technology: Fear Not"

Fri, 13 Dec 2013 19:20:22 +0000

You know I love it when you agree with me, K. :D

ThatPatti : Week 16, Tuesday

Wed, 4 Dec 2013 19:37:47 +0000

Right, and this is kind of a common frustration for me with much of the info on education I have come across - some of what I've read has been so valuable for me and I think is valuable for ALL parents, but it has such an anti-school bias that I'm hesitant to share it in any way because I am not interested in alienating people who send their kids to school. I don't have a dog in that fight - we're all just doing what works best for us. I absolutely think there are people with kids in public school who parent like "rich people". But I guess her blog isn't really for non-homeschoolers, and sometimes I feel like her anti-school bias is part "big money blogger" schtick. Not that I don't think she agrees with everything she writes, but it's definitely polarizing and I would imagine that probably = lots of readers. I find her writing really compelling, and her posts really interesting but I'd probably hate reading most of what she writes if I had kids in school. Just like I'd hate reading a website that talked about why homeschoolers are ruining their children. She posts about other stuff, too - I probably should have just linked to her main site. I like this post, and it has nothing to do with homeschooling: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/12/18/bad-care... :)