Return from vacation

Maryka and I are back from our vacation. I resisted the temptation of doing homework, i.e. blogging about homework, while we were there. It was great to see Matt and Tessa again (it’s been too long), and we had a chance to go up to Vancouver and down to the Oregon coast.  The one sad part was having learned, shortly before the trip, that my college roommate, Eugene Wolfson, had recently died.  I was hoping to see him when I got to Oregon having not seen him in many years.  There is a lesson of importance here about keeping up with old friendships and not letting time pass. My heart goes out to Eugene’s family. I am sure that he is greatly missed.

I’ll pick up on homework commentary tomorrow. Although it will necessarily be my very next post, I plan shortly to address the question of dealing with homework on multiple levels – in one’s home, with the school, and in the community at large. The idea for this came to me after reading a negative review of my book on Amazon (by the way, if you have read the book and have feedback, I would appreciate it if you posted a review on Amazon). The author of that review raised a good point that was specific to his/her country and culture. The reality is that readers throughout the United States and throughout the world will be working with school districts and educational systems that represent a wide range of policies, practices, and beliefs.  One has to factor in the context of where one lives in making decisions about what is the best thing to do for you and your child. I consider the principles of psychology I raise to be universal even if the application is unique to the situation. I’ll get into this issue more in coming blog posts, but in the meantime, I’m recovering from jet lag. I’ll get back to tracking and commenting on homework news tomorrow.

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Dr. Kenneth Goldberg, is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Teachers, and Students, published by Wyndmoor Press.

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