Sandra Dodd

Trivia! Some people are interesting and fun and can synthesize exciting connections, seemingly out of the air, but it’s really coming our of the many stories, images, songs and facts in their heads.

-=-So though it’s hard and unnatural, try to see value in what does NOT make money. Quality of life. Improvement of thought and awareness. Factoids and skills that will connect to other things for life, creating a fuller, richer access to other ideas and information.-=-

I wrote that in another topic, but I wanted to bring two links for people who might be newer to this, or who haven’t seen them for a while, and might see them differently now with older kids and more experience.

To Get More Jokes:

http://sandradodd.com/connections/jokes

To Be Fascinating at Cocktail Parties:

http://sandradodd.com/connections/cocktail

I wrote them ten years ago, but they’re still true and my kids and I all have ten MORE years’ of collected bits and bobs of what will never be on a test, but that makes life more interesting.

Sandra

Cass Kotrba

-=- Trivia! Some people are interesting and fun and can synthesize exciting connections, seemingly out of the air, but it’s really coming our of the many stories, images, songs and facts in their heads. -=-

And this, from the recent "educational expenses" thread -=-its difficult if not impossible to accurately determine what is educational-=-

Part of Sandra's response: -=- And as the parents are better at unschooling because they see their children blossoming and growing, they should, ideally, be willing to spend more money with less angst, on a wider range of things. -=-

As I was reading the earlier thread about "educational expenses" I was thinking how the same logic that applies to that subject also applies to other things, such as media.  It is easy to  feel good and see the benefit of watching something that's obviously "educational", like a documentary, but it's often much more difficult for parents to see the benefit of movies, shows or games were the "educational value" is less obvious.  Many people think that Barbie movies, for example, give girls the wrong message and are a waste of time.  A closer look reveals all kinds of interesting, inspiring and wonderful things about the movies.  That topic has been discussed here in the past.  Some of that is saved at this link and there is more in the archives:  http://sandradodd.com/barbie

My son, age 11, has started to accumulate a vast store of information and bits of trivia.  He likes to collect information.  He collects it everywhere he goes & with everything he does.  Every video game he plays, tv show or You Tube video he watches contains information - and he drinks it in. There have been so many times that he'll spout out an interesting tidbit of information or have knowledge about something unexpected that surprises me.  Sometimes I ask him "how do you know that?" out of curiousity.  Roughly half the time his answer is "from Family Guy". 

Family Guy, if you aren't familiar, is an animated show with adult themes.  What I mean by that is they talk about a whole range of topics including sex, drugs and relationships.  It's aim is to be funny and it definitely pushes the envelope of what is socially acceptable to talk about.  When my kids first started watching it I was nervous.  Some of the content made me squeamish to watch with them.  I wondered if it was a good idea for them to be exposed to some of the ideas at their relatively young ages.

Two things stand out to me about it in hindsight.  The stuff they weren't ready to understand went right over their heads.  And - the show is incredibly honest and my kids have learned so much from it. Once I decided to get over my squeamishness and watch it with them I started to see how vast, varied and chock full of information each episode is. 

I think it's important for me to be around to help them understand and process the information.  But I don't think it's something I need to protect them from seeing, if it's something they want to watch.

Now they are starting to move toward shows like "The Big Bang Theory", which is about a bunch of science nerds.  I like that show but I don't think that watching that show is superior to watching South Park or inferior to watching Mysteries at the Museum or something like that.

My point is, you never know where learning will come from so it's best to keep an open mind about all different sources of information.  As the Grateful Dead say "Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."  

-Cass

Sarah Thompson

Sometimes someone will ask me what my sons are playing on (Samsung Galaxy tab3/4, 7inch). Then they will say, "are there good educational apps." I like this question because I get to say, "It's ALL educational!" which often gets a smile and a thoughtful nod. The propaganda about computers and tablets and tv is pervasive, people repeat it without analysis. When I say, "I'm an advocate for gaming/youtubes/movies for kids who enjoy them, actually, because I see so much passion, joy, and growth," sometimes folks really step back and get interested the idea.

Sarah