One thing I really love about this “freeschooling” gig is that the further we get from having a road map, the more unexpected turns we make.

When Sarah was 5, and in Kindergarten, her teachers tried to be careful to give her just the “right amount” of challenge. I’ll never forget the day she came home, full of righteous indignation, and told me she’d been forbidden to choose the library book she wanted. All the kids in her class had been taken to the school library. After storytime, each child had been invited to choose a book.

“I walked over to the shelves and picked a book I wanted — it was a cool book on mice. But the librarian took it away from me. She said “That’s too hard for you” — and she pointed to a table covered with easy picture books — “those are the books for Kindergartners.”

I am loosely paraphrasing — but that is the gist of it. Sarah has a handful of stories like this from her elementary school years. She often had to sit through books and movies she found disturbing, because she was more sensitive than most of her peers, yet she was led away from books and games that were deemed “too hard” or “for big kids.”

Of course I’d never dream of taking an “advanced” book away from one of my kids, but I’m sure my preconceived expectations shape — and limit — the things I choose to strew in their paths. I suppose this will happen less and less often as I continue to gradually “deschool” myself.

I guess it helps that my present Kindergartner-in-Residence, Trishy, has two older siblings; she’s grown up with all this crap strewn around all these stimulating activities for older children. She often enjoys games, books, movies, and activities that are not scaled down to her age level.

Today, I spent the morning alone with Trishy. We ended up spending the whole morning playing Mastermind, which I thought was too hard for her.

It’s that old classic where one player, the “code-maker,” arranges colored pegs, in any order, in four holes. She has six colors to choose from.  The “code-breaker” makes an arrangement of four colored pegs on her side of the board. If she puts the right color in the right place, the “code-maker” puts a tiny red peg on the board. If it is the right color but in the wrong hole, she uses a tiny white peg. So for example, if you’re the “code-breaker” and your opponent puts one red peg and two white pegs on the board, you know you put one peg of the right color in the right place and two pegs of the right color in the wrong places. You just don’t know which colors are right. You keep going until you solve the puzzle or until you’ve used up ten turns.

It’s a very cool game, without a lot of fussy rules and strategies (I don’t seem to do well with that), that’s loaded with math and logic. There are various other versions of the same concept, and it’s easy to make a DIY version for free.

When Trishy asked me to play it, I was reluctant. I thought the teeny pegs would be a challenge for her fine motor skills (they weren’t). I figured she’d have trouble “getting” the deductive logic in the  game. I thought she’d get frustrated and want to quit. But with some coaching, she did quite well, picking up on most of the logical nuances of the game. And she wanted to play again and again and again.

Linda Silverman, in Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner wrote about “right-brained” learners, who tend to be perfectionistic and hard on themselves. She recommended a game called Pico Fermi Bagels (like Mastermind, but using numbers instead of colors) to highlight how useful mistakes can be.

This is my version of her approach –

Trishy puts in a combination of pink, white and yellow pegs. Usually she gets excited when I indicate that some of the colors she chose are “right” and disappointed when they’re “wrong.”

Me: Nothing — none of these are right. YAY! That is GREAT! You did a really good thing. Now you know that there are NO pinks, whites, or yellows in the answer! So what’s left? (It’s true — ruling out half the colors in the game gets you a LOT closer to the solution)

This reminds me a bit of Thomas Edison who famously said, after struggling through a thousand “failed” experiments, “”I have discovered a thousand things that don’t work.” Maybe if I strew some of these ideas, along the way, for Trishy, she won’t struggle so much with the painful perfectionism that has always hounded the older kids. I can hope.

Does anyone else have perfectionistic kids, who take it deeply to heart when they make mistakes? What are your favorite strategies for helping them?

This morning Trishy helped me wash the dishes. This basically means that it took twice as much time and water for me to wash the dishes — in my experience, around the time a kid gets to be a proficient helper, she loses interest in helping. But of course, that’s not the point.

After we finished the dishes, Trishy wanted to “do school.” So she chose some games and books.

We played the Dice-and-Money Game I mentioned in another post. We played Arctic Animals Concentration (there is a link to our Arctic Animal cards here) and Art Memo. These are both variations of the traditional Memory or Concentration games that kids have been playing for generations. You spread out a set of cards, face down. The cards contain different pictures, and each one has one exact duplicate. In her turn, each player flips over two cards. If they don’t match, she flips them back over, so they’re face down again, and her turn ends. If they match, she keeps the pair and takes another turn. The object is to nab the most matches. As we flip over cards, we’re kind of “reading” them aloud (“look — it’s The Veiled Lady“ or “Arctic Tern!”) So the game reinforces both visual and auditory memory, plus you pick up a little general knowledge along the way.

Then we read some picture books, and James joined in. The last book was about dinosaurs. When I went into the kitchen to fix lunch, I heard James and Trishy playing dinosaurs together. Apparently they’ve been raiding other dinosaurs’ lairs for eggs, because their bagels are “eggs.” (There was some mention of eating baby dinosaurs, too).

I LOVE the way James played with his little sister …when his buds aren’t around, of course. :-/

Some Stuff They’ve Being Doing Lately (With Brief Translations into Educationese)

Sarah has started taking horseback riding again. (P.E.) She’s been watching lots of movies, of course, and writing movie reviews on her blog. We watched  Atonement, based on an award-winning novel by Ian McEwen. It’s set in England and France during World War II. It’s excellent, but NOT light and happy. We also saw Death at a Funeral — sick, SICK humor, but I admit it, I was laughing. We enjoyed seeing Alan Tudyk, of Firefly fame — he’s even hotter with an English accent. He was also butt naked — and on the roof, no less. Sarah’s also been writing a paper on themes in The Odyssey for her English class. (Language Arts: Literature, Film Studies, & Writing; History)

I love the fact that she’s so passionate about movies and film reviews. It’s amazing when somebody finds her thing. She thinks she might be a professional reviewer someday. If she doesn’t — even if her thing turns out to be something else — it’s still just as awesome, of course.

I am curious to read about other kids who are on a similar trajectory. I keep googling things  like “Unschooled Movie Buff” — and I keep finding my own blogs. *Sigh*

James has started a new writing project, and we’ve started reading Sword Quest. (Language Arts: Writing & Reading/Literature) He’s been playing Need for Speed Underground 2 and Dungeon Siege 2. (Problem Solving) He just gave me a detailed account of his confrontation with some Minotaur-like thingies in Dungeon Siege. (Language Arts: Narration) He’s also been going to Homeschool P.E. It will be ending soon, but soccer and tactical laser tag are just starting up. Oy!

Math comes up when he’s contemplating video gaming purchases.

Overheard in the back of the van on the way back from Homeschool P.E. (loosely paraphrased) –

Aengus: The XBox subscription costs $8 a month … or there’s this thing where you can pay $50 for the whole year.

James: Let’s see … 12 times 8. 10 times 8 is 80, and 2 times 8 is 16. So 96 …

Ah … mathematical “word problems.” They’re not just for schooled kids anymore.

Little Man wants to save his allowances to buy an XBox 360. Hmmm … We’re talking about an investment of around $300. We presently have TWO game systems, plus partial custody of a third, and several computers. He is really only interested in one XBox game that’s not available on any of these other systems. And his best bud has an XBox 360, so he gets to play with it every week anyway. Good idea? :-/

Who cares? It’s his money.

I helped him look up how much an XBox 360 costs, and I encouraged him to work out how many months it will take him to save the money (at $40 per month). He estimated, and he’s thinking this could come to fruition around his birthday in September (he’s pretty close).

Right now he’s pondering the possibility of selling YuGiOh! cards online or finding someone with a job they’ll hire a 10-year-old to do. Hmmm … we’re a little too far off the beaten track for a lemonade stand. If anyone has any age appropriate fund-raising ideas, I’ll pass them along.

Trishy has been seriously interested in counting for a while. I see her incorporating it in her play, and she asks questions about numbers. She has also been intrigued by money. She’ll gather coins and ask “How much money is this?” or “What can I buy with this?” Now she’s started being fascinated with addition. So I introduced a few games — which I made up on the fly — that involve addition, along with the base ten system and money skills.

We played a simple dice-and-money game. I meant to play with two dice, but she decided to use four (one is a die within a die.)

Each player rolled the dice and won that number of pennies. Trishy seems to love adding a string of numbers together — a discovery she made while playing Rat-a-Tat-Cat (hat tip to my friend Piseco Mom.)

She adds by counting — she doesn’t yet put numbers together intuitively in her head. (For example, 2 + 4 is 2…3…4…5…6; she doesn’t “see” that 2 and 4 make 6.) Soon, it might be fun to introduce Cuisenaire Rods and Greg Tang as ways of looking at addition more dynamically — I’ll just see if it clicks. It will if it’s the right time. If not, I’ll resist the temptation to teach her.

While we played the Dice-and-Money game, we explored different kinds of coins, and how five pennies can be traded for a nickel, and so forth.

We also played a game I dubbed “Animal Restaurant.” The restaurant manager (the giraffe) said that ten animals could sit at each table. I wanted to see if we could get 100 animals seated in the restaurant.

We seated 49, then Trishy got tired of counting and just wanted to play with the toys. So we did.

I didn’t suspect that she’d really connected with the mathy part of the activity until this morning. She was sitting on her potty saying “How much is 10 and 10? … How much is 3 tens? … What about 4 tens?”

One of the most delightful, and supremely annoying, aspects of this age is the way the little ones (at least my kids) talk ALL the time. Everything they are thinking, absorbing, or learning is happening OUT LOUD. She’s always asking questions, chattering, or thinking aloud. The door to this stage of her development seems to be WIDE OPEN all the time. I am torn between wanting to savor every moment of it, before the door closes, and wanting to plug my ears like Odysseus’s men when they sailed past the Sirens. :-O

Anyway, it’s fun following the trail of breadcrumbs she leaves, so I know what kinds of developmental activities I might want to introduce. The beauty of the fact that she is not my FIRST child is that I no longer feel that guilt-ridden pressure — at least not so much. You know, the zeitgeist of early parenthood, which advertisers tap into and exploit with consummate skill. The urgency — what if I miss something important? What if there is a developmental window of opportunity staring me right in the face, and I’m looking the other way? I need to plan more activities, make new games, BUY more stuff. *LOL*

I’ve gotten over a lot of that. (Yup … I used to be even more obsessive than I am now) My older kids have taught me  — ARE teaching me (I’m still on a learning curve). They’re teaching me to trust their innate drive to use whatever tools are in their environment to experience and learn what they need at this stage. If I don’t introduce something important to Trishy, it doesn’t matter. She’ll explore it on her own anyway, through her play.

I’ve put together portfolios, of sorts, for the past year. But I decided it’s easier to go with the default option, submitting standardized test scores to the school board.

The kids and I are “reviewing” for the California Achievement Tests. Which means I’ve looked over the tests and I’m helping them learn the things they need to know. That sounds awful doesn’t it? I suppose I shouldn’t feel guilty about blatantly “teaching to the test,” since schoolteachers do it gratuitously, out of necessity. But it still feels wrong somehow. This born-again unschoolin’ mama is methodically drilling them on computation with decimals and where to place commas — to succeed at a test. It’s a bit like a temperance activist lolling on the couch with a shot glass and a bottle of tequila!

A long time ago, James and I did some weekly copywork. I don’t remember how long that lasted, but we quit because he found it onerous. I decided to let go of my need to teach him spelling and writing. When he is motivated to write, and wants to share his work, he’ll be ready to master mechanics.

But as part of CAT prep, we are working on capitalization and punctuation. Each day, I write a few lines on the board (e.g. james said i want to play call of duty now) and ask him to correct them. I’ve had to teach him how to properly punctuate sentences with quotations. Besides that, he seems to grasp punctuation intuitively. He knows where to put commas without — as far as I can remember — ever having been explicitly taught. Maybe it’s from reading print material, which he does occasionally, even though he prefers audiobooks. Maybe it’s just from listening to the cadence of language. There seems to be a natural pause, for example, here: “I took the dogs outside this morning, (pause to catch a breath) but they didn’t do to the bathroom.”

I am reminded a bit of the philosophy put forward by the KISS site. I read this years ago; I forget exactly what it said, but here’s the gist of it. Kids are intuitively using grammar from the time they learn to talk. The job of a grammar teacher is to work with what they already unconsciously know and make it conscious. I’m a writing teacher and I loved this.

When I asked James, “How do you know how to do all this stuff without anybody teaching you?” he said (of course) …

from reading Calvin and Hobbes ! (You knew he was going to say that, didn’t you?)

He’s also getting the math easily. He learned most of his multiplication and division facts, over a long period of time, through games. When we were doing “book math,” with some coaching from me, he developed his own mental methods of adding, subtracting and multiplying with “regrouping.” I wrote a bit about this here. He also uses these skills in “real life” when he has money to spend.

Perhaps because he developed these skills in his own way, he generalizes them very well. For example, I didn’t have to show him how to add or multiply with decimals — he immediately figured it out. He grasped fractions just as quickly.

So what’s up with this? Shouldn’t it be harder to cram a bunch of “fifth grade” math and grammar skills in one week, working just 15 minutes or so each day? Is the material in the CAT just ridiculously easy? Or did James absorb a bunch of book learnin’ when we were eclectically throwing marshmallows?

Or could it be (*gasp*) that learning basic skills is not THAT hard? You don’t REALLY need to spend 2 or 3 hours a day, 180 days a year, to learn the 3 R’s? If a kid is engaged in his own life, and with whatever he’s learning — and is learning in ways that fit his learning style — all he needs are a few tools and a little coaching or guidance along the way?

Nah … that couldn’t be it. After all our government, in its infinite wisdom, wouldn’t recommend extending the school day for no good reason.

Right now, James has taken a break from drawing undead creatures to have a long, spontaneous talk with me about the nature of reality: whether there’s life after death and whether there is proof for the existence of God. WOW! Well, y’know, his granddad is a philosopher. Sometimes these things, like alcoholism, skip a generation.

Apparently, James and Aengus have had some conversations about this stuff. I’m glad to know the guys are taking some time — between blowing things up in the virtual world — to ponder metaphysics. I believe in balance in all things.

My favorite James quote from this conversation: “I feel that churches are not exactly the greatest monuments to God. The greatest monuments to Him are forests … something that He created.”

I think my kids are SOOO cool!

The bulk of our “biology curriculum” — if you want to call it that — has always been exploring “living books”. I am amazed at how many good picture books there are to help kids learn about nature. There’s really an embarrassment of riches out there! My kids and I read them, if they’re interested, and this offers natural opportunities to talk about MANY things. We delve into defenses and other adaptations, ecosystems, habitats, and much more.

It seems that there have been a LOT of these books lying around the house lately, so I wanted to share some of our recent favorites and the discussions that germinated (Click on an image for a full review):

Gone Again Ptarmigan by Jonathan London, illustrated by Jon Van Zyle
I snagged this at the book fair, because I love Jonathan London’s living science books for kids, and because the artwork looked spectacular. Trishy and I have been talking about the Arctic since reading The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett, so this was a great read-aloud for her and me.

It’s my favorite kind of living nature book for little ones. The animal’s life unfolds as a story, with plenty of action and descriptive language. Through words and pictures, you see the ptarmigan escape predators. It shows the life cycle of willow ptarmigan (Arctic grouse) and predator/prey relationships. It illustrates camouflage and other defenses. You see how the ptarmigan’s feet are designed, like snowshoes, to help them cross the snow, and how the parents protect their young.

I also designed, printed and laminated a set of Arctic Animals Cards. We printed two copies of each one, and Trishy and I play Concentration with them.

How Animal Babies Stay Safe by Mary Ann Fraser (Let’s Read and Find Out About Science: Stage 1)
This series is a bit more didactic. The author tells you what animals do, instead of just showing you. However, they’re still nicely done, and the illustrations are terrific. This book explains the difference between animals who care for their young vs. hatchlings who must survive on instinct. It also explores how animal parents protect their babies and camouflage. Trishy and I enjoyed this book.

Goose and Duck by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont
Although this was written by prolific kids’ nature writer Jean Craighead George, strictly speaking, this isn’t a nature book. I included it because it offered natural opportunities to talk about imprinting and migration with Trishy. The illustrations and colorful and cute, and the story is fun.

Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beckie Prange
This is a collection of wonderful poems, in various poetic forms, delving into pond life. The wood cut illustrations are gorgeous. This is probably one of the BEST picture books I’ve ever seen.

When I sat down to read it to Trishy, she lost interest about halfway through. Maybe it was just too long, or perhaps she will enjoy it more in a year or so. However, her big brother came over as we were starting the book, and he was hooked! Here is a sample of the poems we read and discussions that sprouted.

1. “Listen for Me” — This is a poem about spring peepers. Trishy, James, and I talked about what amphibians are. James and I discussed hibernation and metabolism (because the metabolism slows down during hibernation) This led to a brief conversation about why exercise is important for weight loss and how we have a defense mechanism, that enabled many concentration camp victims to survive, in which the metabolism slows down dramatically when we are deprived of food.

2. “Spring Splashdown” — This is a poem about wood ducks. James and I talked about imprinting and Konrad Lorenz’s work. James pointed out that the possibility of baby ducks imprinting on humans is yet another way humans interfere with nature.

3. “Diving Beetle’s Food Sharing Rules” — We talked about how insects carry bubbles of air to enable them to breathe underwater.

4. “Fly, Dragonfly” — I talked to Trishy about exoskeletons and how insects shed their skin.

5. “In the Depths of the Summer Pond” — This poem explores food chains through repeating verses. Very cool!

6. “Aquatic Fashion” — This looks at caddis flies and metamorphosis.

7. “Into the Mud” — This talks about painted turtles and how they hibernate under the mud.

By the way, there is a very nice free unit study for this book over at Homeschool Share. Also, I designed, printed and laminated a set of Pond Critters Cards. We printed two copies of each one, so Trishy and I can play Concentration with them.

I recently bought Trishy a hands-on set for looking at the frog life cycle. Though she mostly serves them up on her toy dishes (tadpoles and frog eggs — YUM!) We also tried several times to raise tadpoles, but they never survived long. No matter. We’ll see plenty of tadpoles in the water this summer!

Monarch and Milkweed by Helen Frost and Leonid Gore
This was another book fair find. Monarch and Milkweed explores the life cycle of a monarch butterfly and a milkweed with poetic prose and unique, vibrant illustrations. Trishy and I talked about how caterpillars are born, migration, and why milkweed seeds are feathery (so they’ll travel in the wind — if all the new plants grew in one spot there wouldn’t be enough water to go around). We also discussed the fact that milkweed gives monarch butterflies a bitter taste — I explained how this protects them from predators.

I just discovered a great review of this book at Mother Reader (I don’t know Mother Reader, but judging from her blog title and tagline, she’s my kind of person. )

By the way, I also bought Trishy a field guide to butterflies. For some reason, this little tyke loves perusing field guides. When we were at Granddad’s house, she asked to keep his butterfly book. So now, she has her own.

Slap, Squeak and Scatter: How Animals Communicate by Steve Jenkins
James and I are big fans of all the Steve Jenkins books. They offer fascinating information along with his unique collaged illustrations. Beautiful!

Trishy and I read this book. I thought it might be a bit above her level, but she enjoyed it. My theory is that if the child enjoys the book, it fits. It gives fascinating information on ways animals communicate with each other. I learned a lot from reading it.

What are your favorite living science books?

Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson

Remember Woody Allen in Sleeper? C’mon … sure you do — remember the orgasmatron?

Miles, a health food store owner, has been awakened from a cryogenic sleep; he finds himself 200 years in the future. In one scene:

Scientist A: Has he asked for anything special?
Scientist B: Yes, why, for breakfast … he requested something called “wheat germ, organic honey, and tiger’s milk.”
Scientist A: Oh, yes. Those were charmed substances that some years ago were felt to contain life-preserving properties.
Scientist B: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or … hot fudge?
Scientist A: Those are thought to be unhealthy …

This quote opens Steven Johnson’s best-selling book, Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter. He challenges the orthodoxy that television, video games, and other forms of electronic entertainment are dumbing us down. In fact, he argues, these things are becoming more thought-provoking and challenging, raising certain forms of intelligence. This is driven by market demand, because the human brain is wired to seek out novelty and challenge. He dubbed this trend “The Sleeper Curve,” in honor of the Woody Allen flick.

This is the first book I read for my reading challenge. Adesa, who is one of my mom-mentors, whether she realizes it or not, recommended it. It was a good pick for me. As further evidence that God has a sense of humor, this hard-core bibliophile has two kids who don’t read much. One lives for video games, the other for movies. I figured it was time to challenge my assumption that these things are mental junk food, things to unwind with when when you’re not absorbed in more worthwhile pursuits, like reading and writing. After all, are writing and literature really more important, or are they just more important to me? Might diversions like video games actually be an instrumental part of their education?

copyright Gary Larson

One point Johnson makes persuasively, at the beginning of the book, is that reading is not necessarily “better” or “worse” than gaming and other electronic activities. They are both beneficial in important — and very different — ways. “Games are good at novelistic storytelling the way Michael Jordan was good at playing baseball. Both could probably make a living at it, but their world-class talents lie elsewhere.”

Reading involves “effort, concentration, attention, the ability to make sense of words, to follow narrative threads, to sculpt imagined worlds out of mere sentences on the page.” Gaming offers something different. Beyond its oft-touted potential for developing hand-eye coordination, they develop fluid problem-solving abilities, skills that can be generalized to many situations. According to Johnson:

Now I have no doubt that  playing today’s games does in fact improve your visual intelligence and your manual dexterity, but the virtues of gaming run far deeper than hand-eye coordination. When I read these ostensibly positive accounts of video games, they strike me as the equivalent of writing a story about the merits of great novels and focusing on how reading them can improve your spelling.

He goes on to analyze, in detail, how today’s video games are more challenging and enriching than older games. While Pac Man offered a limited range of options, a modern role playing game offers many opportunities for decision-making, each one linked to other choices in various ways. You have to focus on these, all the while keeping your eye on the bigger picture. One feature of these games is that the rules are not all revealed to you at the outset. You have to learn the rules as you go along, through exploring and experimenting.

When you set off to battle evil, you don’t know what quests you’ll take on, what challenges will present themselves, or what tools will be at your disposal. I gave a simple example in another post: James and I were about to wander into a room full of kobalds and bugbears, and he used some explosive barrels, that were strewn around the room, to defeat them. Sometimes these decisions are premeditated, and sometimes they’re made on the fly. Sometimes things change and you have to adapt your strategies. All the while, you’re working toward a larger objective, like fighting the Main Boss, that may be unknown to you at this time. You’re also ferreting out unexpected quirks in the game — “glitches” — that can help you. That’s dynamic thinking!

Johnson explains in detail why video games are becoming more complex and rich with opportunities for developing problem-solving skills. He also applies this logic to television, the internet, and — to a lesser extent, movies. Through careful analysis, he argues that today’s T.V. shows are much more challenging than the programs we grew up with. He suggests that this is driven by the demands of the market. While programs in the 70’s were designed for one viewing, today’s shows need to garner D.V.D. sales.  A show has to be interesting and thought-provoking enough to merit seeing more than once.

So today’s programs, such as West Wing, ER, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos, offer a complex array of characters and story lines, connected in various ways, and they often withhold information from viewers. Again, you don’t know all the rules at the outset. Dynamic thinking. He even offers a fairly cogent argument that “reality” shows help develop social cognition, because you study the nuances of communication and the complex relationships among the people onscreen. Hmmm.

While television is becoming more challenging, Johnson believes that movies are also becoming more complex, but to a smaller degree. He suggests that this is because films blossomed at an earlier time and because the two-hour format is more limiting. A television series can evoke information you saw five episodes, or even five years, ago. A filmmaker has a limited  period of time to work with.

In highlighting the fact that movies have become more thought-provoking, he cited The Lord of the Rings, comparing the complexities in the plot and characters to a simpler sci-fi hit: Star Wars. He believes today’s kids movies, such as Toy Story, Shrek, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo, offer more sophisticated storylines than their predecessors.

He also refers to a micro-genre of “fiendishly complex films … the mind-bender, a film designed specifically to disorient you, to mess with your head,” including:

• Being John Malkovich
• Pulp Fiction
• L.A. Confidential – I’ve seen this, but don’t remember it too well. Maybe I was covering my face because of the violence. I’m a weenie.
• The Usual Suspects
• Memento
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Run Lola Run
• Twelve Monkeys
• Adaptation
• Magnolia — I’ve seen this. I enjoyed most of it; parts of it just made me go huh?
• Big Fish

I included Johnson’s list of “mind benders” for movie buffs. Does anyone have suggestions on films to add to the list?

So are all these challenging amusements helping us make neural connections? Are they making us smarter? Johnson goes on to argue, citing the Flynn Effect, that we are getting smarter. At least certain kinds of intelligence are increasing among people near the middle of the bell curve. (The abilities of the most gifted segment of the population have not really changed). Specifically fluid intelligence is on the rise. Fluid intelligence includes abilities that are somewhat separate from our language skills. It involves problem solving, and is typically measured through tests of visual spatial reasoning. While these measures certainly have limitations, they touch on some of the dynamic thinking abilities that we use to navigate through life.

I felt Johnson’s point was well argued. His book was scholarly and detailed enough to have some weight, yet fun to read. I read most of it in one sitting. I am glad to have a counter-argument to the dire warnings about electronic entertainment many “experts” are handing us, and to have a few concrete tools to analyze what we’re learning from video games, the computer, films, and shows.

On the whole, it seems to be an argument for balance. Electronic activities should not push aside books, being out in nature, or active play. But they shouldn’t be marginalized either. This book can help guide you toward appreciating the value in all kinds of learning. For this reason, I think it would be particularly interesting to parents, especially unschoolers or homeschoolers.

I’ve started on my spring reading challenge — I’m deep into Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson. While browsing other participants’ lists this afternoon, I found so many other books I want to read, and don’t want to lose track of, that I’m starting a second list. I already have about 25 on my reading list for spring. We’ll dub this one “Books I Wanna Read Someday.”

Nonfiction:

1. How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman — Several people have recommended this book to me.

2. The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto — I started this and found it fascinating, but I never finished it.

3. Books by Lynne Truss — My daughter calls me The Grammar Nazi — how could I not read these books?

4.  The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

5. The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller

6. Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope by Jimmy Carter

7. Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry by Lenore Skenazy

Memoirs:

8. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

9. Stealing Buddha’s Dinner: A Memoir by Bich Minh Nguyen — A memoir by a woman who immigrated from Vietnam in the 70s; it looks at her girlhood and coming of age.

10. The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari

11. Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman – A travel memoir.

12. The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal by Lily Koppel

Graphic Novels:

13. Watchmen by Alan Moore

Fiction:

14. A Night at the Operation by Jeffrey Cohen & other books by this author — He writes mysteries and books about Asperger’s.

15. Monkey Town: The Summer of the Scopes Trial by Robert Kidd — A fictionalized account of the famous Scopes Trial for young adults.

16. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

17. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

18. The Shape of Mercy: A Novel by Susan Meissner — A historical novel about the Salem witch trials.

19. The Hunger Games by by Suzanne Collins — A dystopian novel for young adults; this seems to be getting rave reviews.

20. Coraline by Neil Gaiman — A sort of dark fantasy for kids; my older daughter is interested in the movie.

21. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer — A historical novel about World War II.

22. The Egyptologist: A Novel by Arthur Phillips — A thriller set in the 20’s

23. December by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop — A novel about a little girl who becomes unexplainably mute

24. The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman.

I saw this Reading Challenge from Callapidder Days at Piseco Mom’s place — I am REALLY intrigued by Piseco Mom’s reading selections. I couldn’t resist getting in on this one, so without further ado, here are my…

Reading Goals for Spring, 2009 (March 20 – June 20):

25 Books to Read this Spring

Books I’ve Read So Far (Links are to my reviews)

1.  Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson — Hat Tip to Adesa — Maybe all these T.V shows and video games AREN’T dumbing us down.

Books Still in the “To Be Read” Pile (Links are to online reviews; I haven’t read them yet. I’m saving them until after I’ve read the books)

2.  Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi — My friend Jen loaned me this book and assured me that once I get into it, I won’t be able to put it down. I love books that open windows into other cultures, and this one is also about female friendship and literature. What could be better?

3.  In a Patch of Fireweed: A Biologist’s Life in the Field by Bernd Heinrich — This has been on my shelf for almost a year, since it caught my eye on a list of living science books. It promises to give a glimpse into a naturalist’s work in post-World War II Europe.

4.  March by Geraldine Brooks — I was introduced to this author by JoVE, when she reviewed Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, a historical novel about 17th century England, which I read and loved. March takes place during the American Civil War, and focuses on the fictional father of the four March girls in Little Women. It won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize.

5.  The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly — I am a lover of murder mysteries, especially police procedurals. My mom turned me on, many years ago, to the Connelly’s Hieronymus Bosch series (yes, the detective is named after the medieval artist). I was thrilled to get the newest book in this series FREE through Paperback Swap. Great mystery series — not for the squeamish.

6.  Winter Study by Nevada Barr — My daughter bought me this novel by one of my favorite mystery writers. Each of Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon mysteries takes place in a national park. This one concerns a wolf conservation study in Isle Royale at Lake Superior.

7.  Angel Trumpet by Ann McMillan — I stumbled upon this historical fiction/mystery series through Paperback Swap. It takes place in Virginia during the Civil War. These books combine two of my favorite genres, and they are set in Virginia — how could I resist? I found the first book in the series, Dead March, very interesting. I learned more than I ever expected to know about how medical colleges obtained cadavers for study before legal means became available.

8.  Angels and Demons by Dan Brown — ‘Cuz Adesa recommended it. And she offered to take me to the movie when it comes out. Another mystery/suspense novel.

9.  The Known World by Edward P. Jones — This novel, winner of multiple awards, looks at slavery in 19th century Virginia. It won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize.

10.  A Widow for One Year by John Irving — Because it’s one of those books I’ve always meant to read. I hope I like it better than I liked The World According to Garp.

11.  The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell — Who WOULDN’T want to read about Jesuits in outer space? I learned about this book from JoVE; it looked too intriguing to pass up. It looks like a thought provoking, respectful look at the Catholic faith, as well as an interesting science fiction novel.

12.  The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist by Frans De Waal — This looks like it might be fascinating. From the Amazon review: “Our culture and dominant religion have tied human dignity and self-worth to our separation from nature and distinctness from other animals,” he writes, arguing that this dualism prevents us from recognizing how similar human and animal behavior can be.

13.  Chance or Purpose: Creation, Evolution and a Rational Faith by Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn — I saw this on one of Willa’s blogs, months ago, and have had it on my shelf for a while. It looks like an interesting discussion of creation and evolution by a Catholic theologian.

14.  Ever Since Darwin: Reflections on Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould — Essays on evolutionary biology.

15.  A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray — I picked this up at the Book Fair. A bright red sticker on this book promises “If you like Harry Potter, you’ll love this book!” In this one, the protagonist is a girl. Definitely worth a try! (There’s a movie coming out in 2010)

16.  Freefall by Anna Levine — This YA novel focuses on a young woman about to do service for the Israeli army.

17.  Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers by Brooke Allen — I think I learned about this book through Sara’s blog. I always wondered why there was so much emphasis placed on our nation being founded on staunch Christian values when I’d learned in college — and from my agnostic philosopher father — that most of the founding fathers were deists. This book looks intriguing.

18.  Math Power: How to Help Your Child Love Math, Even If You Don’t by Patricia C. Kenschaft– O.K. — you knew there had to be something about education on my list. This seems to be aimed at parents of schoolchildren, but many home educators talk about it.

19.  Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher — Because what wanna-be writer could resist this title?

20.  The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry — Because it’s time to read this wonderful book again.

21.  A Child’s History of England by Charles Dickens — I pored over by grandma’s antique copy of this book when I was about 13 and was fascinating with English history. I think it’s time to re-read it.

22. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt — ‘cuz Frannie recommended it.

23. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War by H. W. Crocker III — another one from Frannie

24. Burn Out by Marcia Muller — Hat Tip to VeggieMomof2 at Insanity, Table for 4

25. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin — Hat Tip to Jenny at Books, Just Books

Other Goals: I want to get back to read-alouds with the older kids. Reading aloud definitely doesn’t end when a child becomes a fluent reader. It just gets more interesting! The possibilities for discussion — about themes, character development, Big Ideas — expand as kids get older.

I bet you’re reading this post out of morbid curiosity, to see if I’m really going to tie these three topics together. I know you all just love the convoluted way my mind works.

James and I have been playing Dark Alliance: Baldur’s Gate together on our Whatchamacallit Games System. It’s a fantasy role playing game with fighters, elves, mages, and monsters. I have progressed — or regressed, depending on how you look at it — a long way from the mom who was fanatically opposed to violent video games! I am definitely not a gamer, and I decided to let James teach me one. I have found him to be a skilled and patient guide! It’s amazing how easily we forget that kids need to teach. A child doesn’t want to always be the younger, less skilled apprentice.

So far, two things have struck me about this video game. One is that there does seem to be fodder for learning than I’d expected. We have to find our way around in the sewers under the city, using simple maps. Actually he has to navigate — I just follow him. So he’s using visual-spatial reasoning — which I suck at, by the way. He’s using other kinds of problem-solving, as well. For example, there was a point in which we were about to enter a room full of kobolds and bugbears. James showed me how to push some flammable barrels against the door, stand WAY back, and obliterate all the critters in the next room. It seems to me that this is one route to developing dynamic thinking. Kids are using virtual worlds to learn how to survive, using whatever tools are in their environment, and they’re exploring different possible solutions while doing it. In another time and place, they’d be learning this naturally through life. I guess this is how we do it in our relatively sheltered and affluent world?

Another thing that struck me is that, when it comes to promoting poor body image in girls, Barbie doesn’t hold a candle to these fantasy RPGs! Every female character in the game flaunts herself in scanty attire (just the way I’d go dressed for battle, wouldn’t you?) There is not a millimeter of body fat anywhere on her, except for on her ample bosom. Not only are her breasts insanely enormous, but the laws of physics seem to be suspended in this virtual world, because these bad boys are NOT subject to laws of gravity!

It makes me laugh. I picture the adolescent boys — or, to be more exact, the 45-year-old men with the minds of pubescent boys — doing the artwork for these games. I do find it a bit disturbing, though. I’m not keeping James away from these games, but I do feel a need to highlight the absurdity of these feminine images in fantasy games (FANTASY being the operative word — not MY fantasy, mind you; it belongs to someone with a Y chromosome). James has no interest in breasts yet; he still thinks sex and romance are icky. But that day will come. I don’t preach about it; instead, I laugh at it. “Look at that!! You could use it as a bookshelf!” I want him to enjoy the game, but I don’t want to raise a son who thinks that a woman should look like Barbie with two-ton silicone implants.

The thing that fascinates me most about these RPGs is the way, following in the footsteps of J.R.R. Tolkien, they borrow characters from folklore throughout the world to populate a rich imaginary realm. I’d like to learn more about the stories behind these creatures.

Sometimes, when we’re gaming, I throw out a bit of trivia. For example, I told James that a kobold was originally a German demon, and it lent its name to the element cobalt. Like many elements, cobalt was discovered when processing mineral ores that were found in mines. Miners believed that demons and goblins lurked underground, so names for these creatures were given to several elements.

If y’all are ever in the Shenandoah Valley, come check it out.

In case anybody’s wondering, the Robert Sabuda pop-up books are for ME!