Field Trip

Took my oldest on a field trip today - Denver City and County Courts. We were able to watch about an hour of traffic court. I was surprised, but no major cases running on Friday afternoon. I guess that makes sense.

It was interesting, and peaked her interest in knowing more about the courts, and government in general.

Can Economics be Fun?

A very important subject, one which I think gets short shrift in modern curricula, and one which is increasingly important, is basic economics. Many people roll their glazed eyes at the thought of subjecting themselves (or their kids) to some boring economics lecture or book.

If you are younger than I (and many are) you may not know of Free to Choose, a wonderful book by Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman. Dr. Friedman helps explain in clear language what markets are and how interactions between the players in markets affects all that we do.



Even better than the book is the PBS series that the book spawned. Better in that Dr. Friedman relays in a short video the basic principles of a chapter of his book, not by lecturing, but by traveling the world and demonstrating examples of those principles. Then the action shifts to a university setting, where an audience watches Dr. Friedman debate the merits of his arguments with a variety of opposing views. My wife and I used to watch this as often as possible when it first appeared in 1980.

I was thrilled to learn that The Idea Channel has the DVD set available for purchase, and also has streaming video of each segment on line at no charge! Please, take the time to view one or two if you haven't already seen this tremendous series. It is well worth the time, and is an easy way to impart basic economic principles to your students.

Disaster Averted

The sad crying of my little girl. Momma's voice: "Go show Daddy, maybe he can help." A disaster in the making...

On our recent vacation we forgot our camera. Rather than spend $10 - $15 each on a couple of disposables (plus $15+ per roll for developing and printing) I drove 40 miles to the nearest WalMart to buy an inexpensive digital camera.



I know, this is a link to Amazon, not WalMart, but this is the camera. And what a treat! This was a gift to our youngest, who was a bit jealous that big sister has a camera, Mommy has a camera, Daddy has a camera.... Well, big sister was given a camera for our second trip to China, so she got to take pictures of her new baby sister. This was updated to a Nikon digital camera within a few years. I think it is time baby sister gets her own camera - an inexpensive one, as she is like a bull in a china shop at times.

As I said, a treat. She documented our entire trip (and her inventory of the stuffed animals that came along), and was kind enough to let Momma use it from time to time. She got some great pictures.

But when we got home, we did not download the pictures to our computer hard drive. And at some point, when baby girl was trying to delete one picture, she deleted the entire flash drive. The absolute grief she displayed was something I had never seen from her before. Time for Daddy to put on his Superman cape and fly into action!

Actually, I did a relatively quick search and found a freeware solution to our problem. Free for individual users, easy to use, this software allowed us to recover all the deleted files. What a blessing! And we have one happy girl now.

The Sun - a great series of images

For astronomy buffs, this series of images are remarkable. It shows your students the sun using a variety of imaging technologies. Well worth a look.

Shorpy is a tremendous site featuring historical photographs. Click on the image above to take you to the site. The images are available as high definition .jpeg files, and you can even order prints if you like. This is a classroom in West Virginia, circa 1921. Want your kids to get a feel for school days back when? Are they reading the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, or the Fairchild series by Rebecca Caudill? Here's what it looked like - bare feet and all!

The Homeschool Blues

Bah-da-da-dum
Baby ain't got no motivation,
Bah-da-da-dum
She ain't got no drive at all,
Bah-da-da-dum
She's avoiding her schoolwork,
ya know,
She's gonna drive me up a wall, ohhh...

Don't you know I got it, Honey,
Yeah, I got the homeschool blues... ohh, yeah,
When the kids are goofin' off, y'all,
and I'm feeling lower than my shoes.
-Homeschool Blues, by "Big Daddy" Bell

Been fighting with the girls lately - no fisticuffs, of course (they'd take me in a New York minute), but just one, long argument trying to get them motivated to do their work. We are resorting to a stricter schedule of courses, which has worked so far (one day into the plan). My philosophy had been to allow them freedom in structuring their day and their interests, as long as the core subjects have been covered. It seems that they need more structure than that provided, so I am working to find a balance. We'll see how it goes.

The Curta Calculator

For kids interested in mechanical devices, for kids interested in history and how dire circumstances can still bring remarkable innovation, for kids wondering how calculators worked before the era of solid-state circuitry...

the Curta! Follow this link for some remarkable links on a page dedicated to this calculator. Scroll past the posters to find the good stuff.

This is a remarkable piece of machinery (I have a bias toward Old World design and craftsmanship), and the story behind it is amazing.

The short version is this: Curt Herzstark was born in Austria, the son of a man in the business of manufacturing calculators. He learned the trade and became a skilled craftsman - which likely saved his life. After the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938, his life changed dramatically - the more so after he was sent to Buchenwald. His ability to work on precision calculators was of value to the war effort, and when it was learned he was working on a portable four-function calculator, he was provided the means to continue and complete that work - to be a gift to the Fuhrer after the war.

At any rate, a remarkable man, and a remarkable story - and a remarkable design. Well, I'm off to eBay to try and find one (if I can afford it).