When I was a kid my parents made me ride the bus to school. I hated it. Seriously. In fact, I rode the bus to school until I was able to get my driver’s license and drive to school. What is really telling is that I drove mom’s station wagon. Yeah, I was willing to …
Continue reading Do Your Kids A Favor And Make Them Ride The Busschool
My love affair with TED continues… Â I have written many blog posts here and on my personal blog about amazing and inspiring TED presentations. Â It is a wonderful way to expose yourself to people and concepts you might otherwise never encounter, as well as see really smart and passionate people share vision and views on …
Continue reading The “Hole In The Wall†and Child-Driven EducationLast week I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Jeff Pulver‘s 140 Characters Conference: Exploring The State of Now! There were nearly 170 speakers and panelists at this two day event, including celebrities, musicians, technologists, media personalities, educators, and more. Without question, one of the most popular and inspiring presentations was that of …
Continue reading An Education on Education: Chris Lehmann Talks “School 2.0” At #140ConfThanks to technology, our kids are growing up in an amazing time. Homework assignments that I would have had to use construction paper, crayons and Elmer’s Glue to complete are now being accomplished with laptops and PowerPoint.  Stacks of papers and notebooks have been replaced by files on key chain sized USB drives.  Those are just …
Continue reading How A Social Media Guru Helped My Son With His HomeworkThe circumstances of your life … how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home … That’s no excuse for not trying.
Continue reading President Obama’s speech to our children … so what’s the controversy all about?Yes, I am writing yet another “5 Tips” post. This is unintentionally becoming a series (coming soon: “5 Posts About 5 Tips….”) but let’s face it, “5 Tips” are at least half the work of a “Top 10” list, and almost as satisfying. So, without any further fatherly preamble, here are my… 5 Tips For …
Continue reading 5 Tips For Back To School Basics!Kids love days off from school.  Snow days, religious holidays, hurricane days, water main breaks, power outages… anything to cause them to miss class is a cause celebre for any child.  Admit it, even you “cut” school at least once in your educational career. I did.  We all have!  Sometimes it is even at a …
Continue reading It Is OK To Play Hookey (Sometimes…)Welcome to my regular Friday feature, Worst of the Week. As a white, suburbanite husband and dad of two kids, there’s a lot that can go wrong and this entry is all about how to fix it. I hope you enjoy it! Last week I blogged about our Elementary school closing. Since that time we …
Continue reading Worst of the Week: School Vote Delayed for Three MonthsWelcome to my regular Friday feature, Worst of the Week. As a white, suburbanite husband and dad of two kids, there’s a lot that can go wrong and this entry is all about how to fix it. I hope you enjoy it! I mentioned last week that Erin (6) was not motivated while participating in …
Continue reading Worst of the Week: Homework TimeThis week we experienced a moment of heart wrenching sorrow. Our third little one is heading to school next year. Already, as the Mums and Dads wait for the older kids to get out of school, she has a posse of friends. They play and carry on. She has a special friend, whose name I’ve …
Continue reading How Do You Deal With Rejection?Welcome to my regular Friday feature, Worst of the Week. As a white, suburbanite husband and dad of two kids, there’s a lot that can go wrong and this entry is all about how to fix it. I hope you enjoy it! Our family lives in a great subdivision. The neighbors give back your rakes, …
Continue reading Worst of the Week: Sons of AnarchyI love being a Dad. It’s given me so many opportunities that I would never of had if I stayed a bachelor. I’ll be touching on many of those hats here at Dad-o-Matic in the upcoming weeks and months but for now let’s start of with something that every single dad can do and that …
Continue reading Volunteer At SchoolWhen I was in grammar school, I didn’t know anyone with a life-threatening nut allergy. Today, it seems to have become a far more common occurrence, and different schools have different approaches to handling the kids with the allergies and the foods they’re allergic to. My son, who just started pre-K at a private parochial …
Continue reading Nuts!Every week, I go to the grocery store and my eyes glaze over as I roam through the food aisles looking for that perfect balance of what my daughter WILL eat and what she SHOULD eat. She’s actually quite good with fruits and vegetables, but buying these at the beginning of the week just guarantees …
Continue reading What are You Packing for Snacks