Homeschooling
Homeschooling on one income: the practical economics
The math of homeschooling on one income is more workable than people assume and harder than the social-media version suggests. The honest line items, in order.
Homeschooling
Chromebooks vs. iPads in K-12: where each one actually wins
The K-12 device wars settled into a partial truce. Chromebooks dominate by unit count; iPads still win in specific contexts. A guide to mixed deployments.
Udemy vs. Skillshare vs. LinkedIn Learning: where each one wins
Three online course marketplaces serve different audiences and use cases. A practical comparison for picking the right platform for what you actually want to learn.
Topics
EdTech & Classroom Tools
Honest reviews of the apps, platforms, AI tools, and devices teachers are asked to adopt. We assess what genuinely helps students think, what just keeps them busy, and what's heavily marketed without earning its place.
“Chromebooks vs. iPads in K-12: where each one actually wins”
25 posts
Digital Literacy & Media
Reading, writing, and thinking in a media environment that wasn't built in students' interest. We cover information literacy, source evaluation, attention, and what it means to be a careful reader and a credible writer online.
“Teaching media literacy in an algorithm-shaped attention environment”
25 posts
Schools & Policy
What happens to teaching when policy meets practice. We write about school systems, assessment regimes, district decisions, and the quiet politics that shape what's possible inside the classroom.
“The UnCommon Core”
20 posts
Teaching & Pedagogy
How real classrooms work, lesson by lesson. We write about instructional design, classroom practice, and the small craft decisions that shape what students actually learn, separating durable pedagogy from passing fashion.
“The first ten days: what new teachers should actually focus on”
18 posts
Professional Development
Notes on how teachers actually grow. We cover conferences worth attending, PD that doesn't waste a Saturday, and the case for treating educators as career-long learners rather than topped-off skill sets.
“ISTE 2010: Easy…Not Free”
16 posts
Online Learning
MOOCs, course platforms, bootcamps, and the rest of the open-web learning economy. We cover where online courses deliver, where they don't, and how adults are actually picking up new skills outside traditional classrooms.
“Udemy vs. Skillshare vs. LinkedIn Learning: where each one wins”
9 posts
Recent writing
EdTech & Classroom Tools
Web 2.0 as “Cultural and Intellectual Catastrophe”
Andrew Keen at the Britannica blog writes something so diametrically opposed to our own take on things that it’s startling and, frankly, amazing on some level (as well as ironic). We do agree with one thing: this is a critically serious debate about Web 2.0, education, and the future of our information economy.
Teaching & Pedagogy
Learning from our Kids…Doll Web Sites
Reflecting on our daughter’s fascination with doll web sites, we think about “social networking with training wheels,” the commercial aspects of kids’ virtual worlds, and how much time children should spend navigating online spaces alongside their offline play.
EdTech & Classroom Tools
Fun With Google Naming…Oy
From the “Sometimes This All Scares Us” Department comes this item about parents Google-testing baby names to make sure their child wouldn’t be born unsearchable. Our kids are going to be so, so unclickable…
Schools & Policy
One Laptop Per Child Begins…$14 Billion on Easter
Chris points to pictures of Nigerian students at the first school to receive laptops in the One Laptop Per Child program, sparking thoughts about global access, inequity in US schools, and what it will take for society to prioritize meaningful opportunities for all children.
Digital Literacy & Media
“A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs”–NY Times
The front page of today’s New York Times features a story about the attempts of Tim O’Reilly and Jimmy Wales to create a set…
EdTech & Classroom Tools
Make Your Own Google Maps…Too Cool!
Ok, so check it out, dawg… here’s an example of what you can do with the new “My Maps” feature from Google. Go on…go look.
Digital Literacy & Media
Over 2 Million Views
Karl’s “Did You Know?” video has gone viral with over two million views, sparking powerful reactions in schools and helping set the stage for a much bigger conversation about education and learning.
Teaching & Pedagogy
Stuck
We’re blog stuck, wrestling with whether “school” itself limits how we think about learning, especially as education increasingly moves beyond physical classrooms.