There is not gravity on the moon. You can flot up in the rocket. The gravity can lif you.
It is not strong gravity. The moon have a slick gravity. Gravity is not hot air. Astonots …

A funny thing happened on the way to the White House.
As he “researched” information for his first-ever report – one page on a historical site, with a picture from which he could create a drawing …

Used to be I thought the weirdest story assignment I’d ever tackled was in seventh grade, when the teacher told us to write about what life would be like inside a ping-pong ball.
That was before …

A few weeks into spelling tests and I was tired of dancing, though at least it burned off the calories from the fruit-snack math.
Even worse: Big Guy was a little bored with the homework boogie, …

Parental advisory: The following trick incorporates two great evils I usually avoid at all costs – corn syrup and artificial dye. It’s an awful, awful idea. Except it happens to work.
It’s hardly an original idea …

It’s a statement as obvious – at least, it is to anyone whose kid has been in kindergarten for more than a few days – as it is unfair: “To help the kid do better …

Six and a half months into kindergarten, it turns out that I’ve had Big Guy on the wrong approach to homework the whole time.
That’s what Best Buddy says, and if Best Buddy says it must …

Big Guy had big news Friday that he couldn’t wait to share the second Boots and I came to pick him up.
He told other parents on the way home. He told cousins and aunts and …

Don’t tell Big Guy’s teacher, but I tossed the “suggested homework” list shortly after it walked through the door at the end of the semester.
Halfway through kindergarten, I’m officially sick of homework even though I …

As of this moment, I will cease and desist griping about the amount of homework Big Guy is assigned.
OK, except for the occasional gripe about its busy-work nature. And I’ll sometimes whine that its focus …

It’s an honor Big Guy has coveted for a week, and that’s an eternity when you’re 5. He’s even been handicapping his chances.
“Xx was Friend of the Week last week,” he said. “We have the …

A kindergartener’s homework assignment unearths deep maternal insecurities. She can’t draw if you spot her a ruler, and he needs help illustrating a book.

“Whoever created Big Guy’s homework sheet for tonight needs to be drawn and quartered.
Strike that: That’s not sufficient torture. Whoever created Big Guy’s homework sheet for tonight should be forced to sit at the kitchen …

I seized up in sickened horror the second I saw the sweetie in the flowery pink dress holding a mom’s hand outside Big Guy’s classroom. The gold sequins on her frock mocked me as they flashed in the morning sun, her bright smile taunting.

Dear God, it’s only Tuesday. How could that kid have finished the week’s homework assignment already? It’s not even due until Friday.

A cacophony of guilt roared in my head. Slacker mom! Why didn’t you jump on it the first night? How could you even think of letting Big Guy color his own manilla folder gingerbread man when this mom had lovingly cut a fabric triangle to fashion a dress? Don’t you love your kids? Don’t you want his first homework assignment to look as cool as his classmate’s.

I

Big Guy roared through the door with a fire up his fanny, barreling past me to the bookcase. He picked the biggest volume he could find — a 13-book Dr. Seuss compilation — and lugging it to the living room.

“”Mom, I almost forgot. We have to do a reading lesson every day now — teacher says.”"

His next words, though, wiped the Chester Cheetah grin off my face. “”I have to learn to read so they’ll give me a book.”"

Uh-oh. Four days of kindergarten under his belt and the school system already had corrupted him with one of my pet peeves: The bribe.

I readily admit I’m a bit — no, a lot — sanctimonious on this point. No one bribes me to do my job every day — the state of the newspaper business of