Essays by Alanna Gallo
From the Other Side
Essays from a former teacher on what school is actually doing to kids, and what you can do about it at home. A new essay every week.
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IMACS Math Review: How It’s Going for Two Kids Who Are Ahead in Math
Disclosure: IMACS is a brand partner. They’re covering tuition for my two youngest this fall in exchange for me telling you how…
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Conversations about school, screens and the childhood we’re trying to give our kids, for the car, the walk or the dishes.
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@thealannagallo
Short, straight-talking videos on the same ideas as the essays, plus a look at what our homeschool week actually looks like.
Latest essays
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The Birthday Industrial Complex: Why Kids Get Too Many Gifts
Somewhere along the way, without ever naming it directly, we started measuring love in Amazon boxes. Here’s how birthdays became consumer events,…
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Developmental Leaps: What’s Real, What’s an App, and What to Do With a Kid Who Fell Apart This Week
All four of my kids had developmental leaps you could set a clock by, and I’d still tell you to be careful…
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Play Schemas: What Your Toddler Is Actually Doing When She Does the Same Thing Fifty Times
My youngest once spent two hours on a tile floor in Costa Rica lining up colored pencils and sorting them by color,…
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Worldschooling: What It Is, and What Kids Actually Learn From It (It Isn’t the Ruins)
Four years, nine countries, and the thing my kids learned best doesn’t appear in any curriculum: how to live next to people…
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Charlotte Mason vs Montessori: What Each One Is For, and What a Secular Homeschool Can Take From Both
We’re a Montessori family, and our homeschool day looks more like Charlotte Mason’s than she’d probably be comfortable with. Short lessons. Real…
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Reggio Emilia vs Montessori vs Waldorf: What the Labels Mean, and Why They Can’t Tell You What You Need to Know
All four of my kids went to Montessori preschool, and I’d still tell you not to pick a school because of the…
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Sibling Relationships When Everyone Is Home All Day
Two of my kids fight at least once a week, and I have been working on their relationship, on purpose, for years,…
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Child-Led Learning: What It Is, What It Looks Like in My House, and Where It Goes Wrong
My son wanted to play more Dungeons & Dragons and nobody would be the Dungeon Master, so he built an app to…
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Music and Movement for Babies and Toddlers: Why It Matters More Than the Flashcards
Three of my four kids play an instrument, and I have never once paid for a lesson. Piano and guitar, all self-taught,…
One essay a week, in your inbox.
On what’s actually happening to childhood, and what you can do about it in your own house. No spam, and you can leave whenever you like.
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