The best of the week . . .
According to infalible me! Ha!
I’ve done more writing than reading this week, so this is a bit light, but here goes:
How children’s play is being sneakily redefined. I totally agree with this from Alfie Kohn:
1. Play is being redefined to include things that are clearly not free, imaginative play. 2. Younger and older children ought to have the chance to play together. 3. Play isn’t just for children. 4. The point of play is that it has no point. 5. Play isn’t the only alternative to “work.”
When congress does something so idiotic that the people who create internet memes take a break from ridiculing Edward Cullins and valorizing Chuck Norris to say “WTF?”, the people are not amused. US Congress Rules That Pizza is a Vegetable.
An old homeschool blogger buddy, Henry Cate at Why Homeschool shares an article on the surprising differences between elite achievers and others:
The average players are working just as many hours as the elite players (around 50 hours a week spent on music),
but they’re not dedicating these hours to the right type of work (spending almost 3 times less hours than the elites on crucial deliberate practice),
and furthermore, they spread this work haphazardly throughout the day. So even though they’re not doing more work than the elite players, they end up sleeping less and feeling more stressed. Not to mention that they remain worse at the violin.
Kids with high IQs more likely to become teens and adults who use drugs:
The results may seem surprising at first glance, but the researchers noted that they do fit some established patterns. “High-IQ individuals have also been shown to score highly on tests of stimulation seeking and openness to experience,” they wrote, and it could be that “illegal drugs are better at fulfilling a desire for novelty and stimulation.”
Hmmmm . . .
As I listened to this interview with Mattieu Richard, I kept saying, “yes! this man gets it.” After a while I started getting a bit irritated that a buddhist monk was sharing some amazing things with the world while we Christians support a cottage industry dedicated to convincing ourselves that the world is only 6000 years old.
Did you know that in Ezekial 16:17 God says that the hebrews had taken the wealth he gave them, made a jewel encrusted dildo with the gold and silver and pleasured themselves with it? In 1 Samuel 6, the neighbors of Isreal, who had stolen the ark of the covenant, made models of their tumors with gold and sent them, along with models of rats made of gold back to Isreal along with the Ark. Can you imagine? “That there piece of gold looks like a goiter I had once!” The bible is the most interesting book I own.
From Slate: Four Excellent Habits – The subtle skills that will give you a permanent edge:
Principle 1: Look for bright spotsPrinciple 2: Find the right gravityPrinciple 3: Maintain your bridgesPrinciple 4: Avoid following the herd
And finally, I have decided that my 12 year old son Collin is much easier to understand and get along with if you just accept that he’s a 16 year old and an 8 year old living in the same body. And the 16 year old doesn’t like being treated like an 8 year old.
If you blog and have something you’d like me to read and maybe (almost certainly!) include in my weekly list, email the link to me at ratrotter73@yahoo.com with “best of the week” in the subject line.
Principle 1: Look for bright spots