Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Do you still have any common snense?
My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed until today I read his obituary.
Obituary - Common Sense
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by five stepbrothers; Me First, Who Cares, I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.
(extract author unknown)
Monday, October 22, 2007
great conversation starter...
This one is really cool - actually a lot of the videos at metacafe.com are cool for science and math.
Enjoy!
Do Try This At Home! Episode 3 - Defying Gravity - The most popular videos are here
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Is your child prepared?
We can only prepare them to ask good questions, find answers, evaluate those answers and ask better questions.
We can help them develop skills like decisiveness, curiosity, persistence, communication and literacy.
We can be an example of courage, integrity, compassion and faith.
With all that any career will open its doors wide for them. The data can be learned when they need it.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
education vs schooling!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
When should my child be reading?
There is no good reason why a child would naturally be reading at any specific age. They read when they are mature enough and motivated enough.
Children in the institutional system :) need to read by the time their peers do because they will be obviously out of step with the class if they don't. This is about "fitting in" and class control. This is not about your child's special strengths or what is best for him.
A blossom cannot be pulled open in order to encourage it to bloom. You will simply damage it. It will open in it's own good time.
Facilitating your child's education means understanding where they are and having resources to offer them to take the next step. It doesn't have anything to do with "forcing" the bloom.
Trust your child. They will eventually read. Just probably not on your schedule!
Monday, October 08, 2007
How much time does Tiger spend on his baseball skills? 0
He has specialised and become great at one thing - golf.
In facilitating our children's education we need to remember that their success in today's market, now depends on them becoming really good at one thing. Something they love. Something they can excel in. Something they can be the best in.
Exposure to everything available is great so that they can make an informed choice, but once they have chosen, focus is imperative.
Support your child's excellence!
Saturday, October 06, 2007
You can take comfort from the thought that
Even God's omnipotence did not extend
To His own children.
As I first heard Bill Cosby say:
After creating heaven and earth,
God created Adam and Eve.
And the first thing he said was
"DON'T!"
"Don't what?" Adam replied.
"Don't eat the forbidden fruit."God said.
"Forbidden fruit?
We have forbidden fruit?
Hey Eve..we have forbidden fruit !"
" No Way !"
"Yes way! "
"Do NOT eat the fruit ! " Said God.
"Why ?"
"Because I am your Father and I said so! "
God replied,
wondering why He hadn't stopped
Creation after making the elephants.
A few minutes later,
God saw His children having an apple break
And He was ticked!
"Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit ? "
God asked.
"Uh huh,"
Adam replied.
"Then why did you ? "
Said the Father.
"I don't know,"
Said Eve.
Having had it with the two of them,
God's punishment was that Adam and Eve
Should have children of their own.
Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.
If God cannot get his kids to behave,
why on earth would you expect to?
How to Build Loyalty to Suggestions, Ideas, and Offerings
By: By Steven Martin and Noah Goldstein
In one study, loyalty cards were handed out to three hundred customers of a local car wash. The customers were told that every time they bought a car wash, their loyalty card would be stamped. However, there were two types of cards. One type of card stated that eight stamps were required to receive a free car wash, and no stamps were attached to the card. The other kind of card stated that ten stamps were required to receive the free wash, but two stamps were already affixed to the card. This meant that both cards required eight purchases to receive the award, but the second group seemed well on its way to completing the card with 20% of the stamps needed for the free wash.
Afterwards, every time a customer came back for another wash, an employee affixed a stamp to the card and wrote down the date of purchase. After several months, when the researchers ended the program and looked at the data, their hypotheses had been confirmed: Whereas only 19% of customers in the eight-stamp group made enough visits to claim their free car wash, 34% of the ten-stamp, head start group did so. What’s more, the head start group took less time to complete their eighth purchase, taking an average of 2.9 fewer days between visits to the car wash.
According to Nunes and Dreze, reframing the program as one that’s been undertaken but incomplete rather than one that has not yet begun, meant that people feel more motivated to complete it. They also pointed to research showing that the closer people get towards completing a goal, the more effort they exert to achieve that goal. In support of this idea, the data revealed that the amount of time between visits decreased by about half a day on average with every additional car wash that was purchased.
Besides the obvious application of these findings to loyalty programs of all sorts, the results of this study indicate that when soliciting another person for help on anything, try to point out how that person has already taken steps toward the completion of that task.
For example, if you needed help on a project that’s similar to one that this person has worked on in the past, you could emphasize how, in essence, she is well on her way to overcoming the complexities involved in finishing the assignment. And if that’s not the case, but you’ve already done a fair amount of work on the project, you could underscore how the task is already almost 30% completed. In this way, your colleague is more likely to view the project as one that’s already under way but incomplete rather than one that she has to start from scratch.
Educators, teachers and parents can also benefit from such a strategy. Imagine that your child is being particularly stubborn about doing his homework and you felt compelled to try to offer incentives. If you decided to give him one weekend off from homework for every six weekends in which he does his homework, you might find that he would be especially motivated to comply if you started him off with “credit” for one weekend before your little program officially begins.
(Just a head's up here - there may be more useful ways to apply this to your homeschool than this suggestion. Work towards natural consequences - both good and bad rather than suggesting that learning needs to be rewarded. That is a sticky place that is hard to leave. My suggestion would be to have already completed the first one or two math questions on the page before passing it over to your child to finish or reading the first several lines out loud yourself and them giving it to to your child to complete etc.)
The message is clear: people will be more likely to stick with programs and tasks if you can first offer them some evidence of how they’ve already made progress toward completing them. If you use this strategy, like cars at a carwash, your influence will sparkle.
Source:
Nunes J. C., Dreze, X. (2006). The endowed progress effect: How artificial advancement increases effort.Journal of Consumer Research, 32, 504-512.
Are you breaking people?
In order to believe that people need help we must first believe they are "help-less"!
To believe they need to be fixed in some way, we must believe they are broken!
People are astonishingly obliging. They will live into your story.
Especially your children!
Make it a good story!
When people stop listening, stop talking.
Listening heals "psycho-sclerosis - hardening of the attitudes.
Listening is the opposite of knowing.
Listening teaches others from the inside-out.
Beautiful definition of listening - How I express myself through you.
Think about it.
Consider listening to your children!
Ideas from Greg Mooers book - Heart Virtues.
