The Short Bus...For Parents!

What do y'all think about summer camp - all-day camp, for 1 week, for the princely sum of $175?

Oh wait, that's just for the "busing". Camp in the NYC-area is essentially $100 a day, $500 a week PLUS the $175 for the bus if needed. So it pushes $700.

PER KID!

Have three kids and the summer "babysitting" is 2k per week, for 7 or 8 weeks.

We've done more camp this year than ever before.

First they both did a 2-day chess camp.

Then they did a week of VBS (Vacation Bible School). That was only 3 hours per day and was free. (We donated $200 nonetheless).

Then I sent my son to a week of chess (and soccer) camp run by a Russian grandmaster (only 23 kids). He liked it so much I sent him for a second week. (Plus our normal chess coach has been unavailable. He teaches all summer at the famed USDAN camp (costs $800 per week) on Long Island.

My daughter did a large, multi-sport camp for one of those weeks. It was at best, "okay".

This week she is doing art camp for $475 (9 am to 3 pm). It's not really a camp but rather a small class 2-5 kids at a local studio.

My son was SUPPOSED to be doing Cub Scout camp this week starting today. We were there at 7:25 am waiting for the bus with another family....only the bus never came!

So I got a raw deal out of that. I had not only my son all day today, but also the other family's boy instead of the day-off I was supposed to enjoy! Incidentally, this Scout camp is pretty good. It's all day at the Reservation, and only costs $350 for the week including the bus. My son absolutely loves it; he's outside all day long; so we pretty much have to send him.

The short bus?

For the most part that's what camp busing looks like. All summer long there are these little buses zipping all over the streets. In the morning and then again at the end of the day. The prestigious expensive camps will have their names on signs in the bus windows. Some even have all the kids' names written on the windows. Whatever.

I believe that most of these camps suck. The summer is ideally for free time and most of these poor kids have already been overscheduled and harried all year long.

These camps are glorified, expensive babysitting. They are staffed by 19 year kids for crying out loud.

But if both parents are working....camp is of course a necessary evil.

On the other hand, there are PLENTY of parents that are home all day long who do nothing (order out, have maids, etc.) and still ship their kids off to camp all summer long.

Camp was not such a big thing when I was a deprived child (think "Angela's Ashes"!) growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts. My siblings and I, when we got older, did maybe 1 or at the most 2 weeks of summer camp. And I don't remember it being so prevalent up in Boston when we lived there from 2005-2010. But then again my kids were much younger and I may have just not noticed it.

For sure though, camp is huge here in New York.

While waiting at a major intersection this morning for the Cub Scout bus...

I counted no less than 100 other short buses that went by!

On the 100th one and 40 minutes past the scheduled pick-up time, one I decided to cut my losses and take the kids home.

Cookie Flop!

So my wife goes to a *cookie swap* last night.

Great, right? She'll come home with all sorts of delicious cookies.

But it turns out most of them stunk.

Why is that?

According to my wife, "....there were just too many WORKING moms."

Women Ruined Schools?

A few years ago some dimwitted Harvard (Graduate School of Education) broad told me - out at a bar in Brooklyn - that the schools weren't doing well because of *rich people*.

She said that if only those wealthy bastards would keep their kids in government schools then magically Big Education would be a success.

It is amazing how to the neo-Commi's everything can conveniently be blamed on the rich. Certainly if the setting was 1930s Germany this young lady and her ilk would've been scapegoating the Jews.

But to shift topics...

Most people agree that the school system fell apart (whatever that means) gradually beginning around 1950.

So why did it stop working?

Is it because the textbooks became *revisionist*? Because the welfare state was growing? Because of teachers' unions? Because of moral decay and rising divorce rates? Or, like dimwit said, because of private schools stealing the best students?

How about this theory which I'm sure many people have never heard:

Schools worked back in the day because the smartest, most competent women in America became teachers.

Understand that 60+ years ago females didn't go to law school, med school, or slave away for corporate America. But today they do.

Consider my wife. She majored in Elementary Education and Economics at Boston College. She student-taught 5th grade during college but opted to become a stock broker upon graduation. There was no way she, "...was going to deal with all that bull$hit in schools."

Only a Moron would think that one day in the future our best women (and men) will return to teach at government schools.

They just could never raise salaries high enough to entice highly competent people - not in the numbers they would need to make a difference anyway.

Essentially, when it did *work* the school system was subsidized by male chauvinism.

So in that sense it was never really a natural success - a point all these tinkering *reformers* (charter school and voucher advocates, et al) would do well to consider.

One Crazy Homeschooling Broad

Okay my cousin - no, not the latent invert - just sent me a blog post to read titled:

Career Ruin: Homeschooling.

Click the link and check it out.

I don't know that this woman is crazy but she comes off as such anyway.

I mean - she's a purported homeschooling advocate and yet she paints homeschooling as a *career ruin*???

Perhaps she's one of those manipulators who chooses provocative headlines simply to get more hits and more of a reaction a la Tim Ferriss?

Well it works. There are a whopping 250 comments on that post as of now. (And she has an enviable 60k subscribers too. Why?)

Okay I just realized that I linked to this fulminating chick before - in a post where she slams wonder-kid Tim Ferris. How's that for irony?

I just read a couple more of her screaming posts and think I've got her figured out. She's what this gambling, drug-addicted, 3-toothed, South Philly golf jabroni of mine referred to back in the mid-90s as a *Hillary*. (To me he once said, "I'll bet you've got a whole lot of dem dare[sic] Hillary's at UPenn...")

In her divorce (surprised?) post, Penelope self-diagnoses and agrees:

Anyway, during the time between crying and deciding that I'm the queen of resiliency, I stumbled across this information about my Myers Briggs type: ENTJ. There are sixteen personality types. ENTJs make up 4% of the general population and 80% of the population of executives.


Here's the news about ENTJs in a marriage:


"Gender issues are especially significant for ENTJ females. As a type, their arrogant, confrontational manner and need for control can appear to be quite 'unwomanly' to others. Of course, the problem intensifies for the ENTJ female when dealing with men. Their demanding, objective, competent, and independent nature is not particularly endearing to most men."

People tell me all the time they admire the *sacrifice* my wife and I make to educate our children outside the system. I don't really respond to this but if I did I would say, "YOU are the one making the sacrifice, not us."

Will homeschooling ruin your career? Sure, in many ways it will derail and retard climbing the ladder of work success.

But you'll GAIN so much more: a stronger family, better education, better socialization(!), etc....winters in sunny Florida!

I'm not entirely sure why Penelope Trunk homeschools her kids. I have my formidable hunches but would have to read some more for corroboration.

I just don't think I can bear any more of her grating vitriol at this time...

Alright one more....check out this crass post of hers.

The Next Strata Of Craziness

My left hand is killing me right now. I thought I felt a slight pain in it this afternoon but went to hit range balls anyway. I was having a bad session so I may have hit an extra hundred or so in a fit of frustration.

I've been playing golf and working hard on my game for over 20 years now. But if I develop say a chronic wrist or hand problem or perhaps suffer a gruesome injury there obviously I'll be done with golf and all that work and progress will in many ways be for naught.

These are sobering thoughts that beg the question - am I in fact using my time on this doomed planet wisely?

I met a guy yesterday who just moved to Queens from essentially fly-over country. He and his beautiful wife came to start a church here in New York. They have no money really, no other work lined up, they've two of their own and two adopted foster kids whom they homeschool,...

I asked and he said sincerely, "God will provide..."

Say what you will about this guy but he's got real balls and there are plenty of other brave souls out there doing what to the vast majority of us seems unfathomable. In fact I'm on my third reading in the past year(!) of The 4-Hour Workweek and I'm paying particular attention to the heroic stories of Morons who quit the grind and followed their passions.

Meanwhile I spend my scant free time smacking around meaningless little white balls - albeit further and straighter these days.

The more I ruminate upon it, the more I'm tempted to quit golf green-light my wife's desire to quit her lucrative yet dehumanizing Wall Street job.

It's probably time to man-up and see what we're made of. After all she and the kids (me too!) would be better off with her home than with a little more rapidly depreciating dollars in the bank.

Would such an overt act of financial self-destruction be crazy? Most certainly....but no more outlandish than say homeschooling my kids!

Again, check out that book if you haven't already. I'll say it again - I'M ON MY THIRD RE-READ IN A YEAR! It would be too weak to call it, among many other labels, a self-help book. More accurately it's a treatise on modern day *self-propulsion*.

This guy, Bill Rockwell, advanced very far in the 1997 World Putting Championship - beating numerous tour pros!

Water-Fetching Kids

A couple of weeks ago I got home (back to the condo rental) with a carload of groceries.

I actually got my kids to help me carry stuff up the flight of stairs, multiple trips of *help* at that.

I can't tell y'all how great that felt. For years (6=!) I've been responsible for EVERY SINGLE ITEM THAT NEEDED TO BE TOTED TO AND FROM: the diaper bag, cooler, library books, wet paint artwork, half-consumed drinks, wet towels, sleeping kids, baby carriers, shopping bags, etc. I only have 5 freakin' arms!

They're still kinda small - they can't open the heavy, sticky doors yet. They aren't aware or obedient enough to avoid puddles, ice, and mud before walking into my immaculate house. They aren't trustworthy enough to open car doors (my son, on his Mom's watch, dinged a BMW or something!)....and heck, my daughter can't even unbuckle her car-seat belt completely yet.

Most of y'all have *corporate* BS to deal with (diversity training, boss a$$-kissing, dress standards, contemptible colleagues...), well, this type domestic tedium has been my personal analogue.

Henceforth I'm very much looking forward to only carrying a *fraction* of the groceries in.

And I can't wait until they can make their own beds, do their own laundry, and prepare their own meals!

I know the kids' road to self-sufficiency is brutally long and slow...

BUT I started them early. The following clip of the Prince is from 4.25 years ago:

Paying Cash

Recently my kids started a late-morning homeschool karate class. The instructor offered his services at about half of his normal cost. And why wouldn't he or anyone else that peddles mostly to kids who are otherwise pent up in government schools all day?

But still, when it came time to pay him, I deliberately gave him cash (instead of a check or credit card).

Paying cash is not only practical because it can net you a discount in many cases, I submit that it's also the nice/moral thing to do; and this particular sensei is a most likable dude.

The income tax is nothing short of pure slavery.   Think about it.  Big Government has a claim, enforceable by jail(!), on a significant percentage of everyone's *harvest*.

My new policy is to pay cash WHENEVER IT'S FEASIBLE. I'll do what I can to charitably pass *tax breaks* on to other slaves.

Plus, cash payments for plumbers, restaurateurs, daycare providers(!), and Latin tutors like the guy pictured above....they can go, collectively, a long way towards keeping the price of services down.

Stop Whining About Your Commute!

Channel surfing late last night I caught a little of Al Gore's color TV channel:

It was pretty crazy watching these kids, some only 6 years old, board 18 mph-traveling ferry boats on the Amazon River to sell their wares. Heck, if our kids merely *run* at the pool the lifeguards go ape$hit.

Just now on the website I came across another episode. This a full 21 minute clip that shows precisely how El Salvadorans make the 2,500 mile Texas border-jumping journey:

The Inmates Suffer A Wet Furlough

While it was a bit hot this past July, altogether it has been a fabulous summer. The sun has been out for the past 2.5 months - almost every single day.  (My nipples are beautifully bronzed at the moment!)

Unfortunately, this is the week that most *wage slaves* and *school slaves* go on vacation. Everyone, EVERYONE in these parts is vacationing somewhere this week with camping and beach-going being the most popular activities.  July was booked with summer camp and school starts next week for many.

But this week the weather is looking to be horrible - colder and rainy - and that really sucks for those who only enjoy limited *lifestyle freedom*.

Homeschool and self-employ!

While my wife is still a wage slave in the Wall Street skim biz racket....she's always enjoyed considerable flexibility to work when she wants.  Except that since a vast majority of her co-workers and higher-ups do in fact take the last two weeks of August off....it's a complete waste of time for her to go to work because almost everything has been put on hold.

So she (and I) are essentially forced into a family-vacation type of trip at the same time as the slave population.

We spent, collectively, a few hours trying to figure out which of the two weeks to take off AND what to do with it.  Guess what, there's nothing at all either of us want to do!

With all the warm weather, we've already been to the beach and swam in the pool a bazillion times this summer.  Camping this year has no appeal as it would require too much effort - plus Mrs. C-Nut is a real tenderfoot!  We've been out to the Hamptons a bunch of times so far; and we've been on the road, not only with our complicated, staggered move 3 months ago and my two trips south (Philly and Wildwood, NJ), but also just last week with the 4 hour drive up to and down from my parents' house.

One idea my wife had was to drive out to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania and then hit some attractions in Lancaster and Philly on the way back.  But my kids are too short to ride most of the crap, I don't feel like getting in the car again, and some of the stuff, like Dutch Wonderland and the Sight & Sound Theatre are priced like rip-offs. We'd also have to pay for hotels, eating out, etc.

This is where one has to be careful. We could very easily end up spending $1,000 on a vacation that we don't want or need at all.

It's precisely like buying an overpriced house, a car, religiously dumping money in mutual funds, or liquidating your life savings/home equity to send your ill-bred kids to a worthless college.

You should be constantly wary of doing something or going into hock for something just because everyone else does - most especially those big ticket items!

Recycling Will Put Food On The Table...

Take-Your-Kid-To-Work Day Loses Steam

CHICAGO—More than a decade after it began, take-your-kid-to-work day appears to be losing steam. Now it's keep-your-kid-in-school.

Thursday marked the 17th year for Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day. But some school districts sent strongly worded letters or e-mails to parents explaining that taking a child to work would put the youngster's education at risk.

Though many kids still accompany a parent to work, some employers say the event increasingly conflicts with high-stakes standardized testing in schools. And this year, it was overshadowed by Earth Day, which celebrated its 40th anniversary on Thursday.

In Phoenix, the superintendent sent out a letter telling students that missing time from school, even one day, means "his or her learning achievement suffers."

Though many kids still accompany a parent to work, some employers say the event increasingly conflicts with high-stakes standardized testing in schools. And this year, it was overshadowed by Earth Day, which celebrated its 40th anniversary on Thursday.

In Texas -- at Dell Inc. in Austin and Southern Methodist University in Dallas -- most of the focus was on Earth Day, not Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

Hah!

I find that last line pretty ironic. At Dell Computer?

A young Michael Dell was working his tale off from age 10 up. He started out making tens of thousands selling newspaper subscriptions to newlyweds. Then he was madly dissecting and rebuilding computers before dropping out of useless college to start his multi-billion dollar international business. I sincerely doubt he'd deprecate a child skipping school to visit a real-world workplace for a single day. And I sincerely doubt he was focusing his energy, back in the day, on acid-rain or nuclear arms protests - or whatever the nonsense of his specific youth was.

Thanks to my Grumpy golf buddy for this link!

Outliers - A Must Read

I read the 285 pages in less than 24 hours - a period that included packing, 5 hours in the car, and unpacking for my holiday excursion to Southampton, NY. For sure, the pages are small and it's an easy read....but how much more of an endorsement could I put forth?

The book is well reasoned, well sourced, and thoroughly coherent. I had heard criticisms before I read it, but just didn't find any obvious ones within the text. The implications of Gladwell's *theory* should have a profound effect on anyone who fancies themselves ambitious.

AND, importantly for my family, I believe the book has profound relevance for homeschoolers - even though Gladwell apparently knows nothing about our *world*.