In a previous post, I explained how it came to be that my son (S) enrolled in an online remote school in order to compress 7th and 8th grade into one school year. This was a locationally liberating step. I’ve
When you don’t have to “go to school”
Grade skipping
Skipping a grade appears to be advised against these days, and we found it in practice quite difficult to do. But our son (S) did so, and I’m sharing the experience in case it helps anyone else. Technically, S finished
What retirement is like for me
So what’s it like in retirement? Let me tell you. Every night is Friday night. And every day is Saturday. And that does not get old. I feel a bit of glee every night as I get into bed that
Why I retired
I quit Meta over almost three years ago, after being there for ~10 years. I deleted my LinkedIn the day after. That was it, I had decided to retire. About a year prior to quitting I found myself crying, howling
The Unexpected Joy of Homeschooling
If you’d told me a year ago that I would be listening to Debussy’s Clair de Lune with my eleven-year-old son’s head resting on my shoulder while we learn about music theory, I wouldn’t believe you. That we’d be laughing
Masks: an easy & fun microscope lab activity for kids
At the start of the school year we were lacking for science projects to do. There was one thing we had a ton of — masks: bandanas, cotton masks, synthetic, surgical masks… We also had a cheap little microscope, bought
Death beneath the surface
“For our mother Flora Park in loving memory.” So read, approximately, a small plaque on the backrest of a bench in the SF arboretum. “Aaw,” I thought, “How nice that she was loved.” And then, “How sad that they lost
Life as the meaning of life?
It took a couple of years, but I think I figured out a meaning of life, sufficient for my own. It is: live life and then make way for other life. I only started wondering about life’s meaning in earnest
Missed connections (thinking about my dad)
My dad and I sit in the same spot, on a terrace in front of a tiny cottage he and my mom built in Croatia, looking out at sunset after sunset. Only I sit here after his death, and he,
Old Wrinkly and the Internet
In the “How to Train Your Dragon” children’s book series, the hero, Hiccup, consults his grandfather, “Old Wrinkly,” when he encounters a problem, such as his friend getting sick with a mysterious illness, or not knowing the function of the