Elementary Plants Rotation, Days 3 and 4: Roots!
Last week, I introduced our Plants Rotation (for advanced 1st and 4th graders) with two lessons covering the evolution of plants and life, in general. Days 3 and 4 were spent on the parts of the plant, particularly the ROOTS. Here is a pdf of my *Roots* PowerPoint presentation…
Coronavirus Homeschool Week 3: Plants, Days 1 and 2
This week, I am in charge of the 11AM-1PM interactive educational component of our Coronavirus Homeschool each day. The stormy skies of the last two weeks have made all 3 elementary-school kids itchy with cabin fever. After taking a water sample from my miniature backyard pond, I began our Plants rotation with the following 5-minute BBC video about the origin of complex cells and life…
Why is the News always Bad?
I had the radio on this morning when my 9-year-old walked into the kitchen. "Why is the news always about bad stuff?" he lamented (repeatedly). "We all know Coronavirus is taking over the world, and we're doing what we're supposed to do. Why do they have to make us think about it all the time?” For today, John Krasinski’s interview of Steve Carell on “Some Good News” helped.
Voice In My Head Today (#VIMH)
The Voice In My Head today materialized in Robert Waldinger’s wonderful TedTalk on Happiness…
Society Rewards Psychopaths
Psychopaths make up about 1 percent of the general population (sociopaths make up3-4%), yet at least 1 in 5 CEO’s are clinically psychopaths. Sadder still, the same proportion (~20%) of prison inmates are diagnosed as psychopaths…
How much is enough when it comes to animal medical care?
When my son and I got home, he found Kale laying in his comfy chair behind the house. I picked him up gently and held him on his back like a baby, like we always do. A circle of hair on his lower belly had been licked clean and among the wet curlicues was an open rip in the skin. The wound was clearly deep. I could see the rippling tissue moving like a clam underneath…
Voice in My Head Today (re Facebook)
The voice in my head as I sit down with my computer to (finally) catch up on my emails… Feel free to play it every time you reconnect to Facebook or Instagram ;-) .
My Video Game Addiction (Part 2)
… I ask these questions because I have begun to rationalize my PvZ (Plants versus Zombies) game playing even farther. I call it my “Sunflower Theory”…
My Video Game Addiction (Part 1)
Do you or anyone in your family play Plants versus Zombies on Xbox? If not, keep reading. If so, I have a couple questions for ya: Do you prefer to play as Plants or as Zombies? And which character is your favorite? Why am I asking you these questions? Because I am a PvZ addict…
Algae, Red Tide, and the Future of our Water (includes links to lesson plans)
Last Night's PBS News Hour story on the Red Tide that's killing millions of marine life off the southern Florida Coast is yet another harbinger of the dangerous stormwater neglect occurring in North Carolina and across America. Anyone who walks around my inner-city Durham neighborhood during a big rain event will quickly see how much our little municipality, alone, is contributing to the communal problem…
Looking for a GREAT documentary? Check out Wild Wild Country on Netflix
You HAVE to watch Wild Wild Country on Netflix. It's a multipart documentary regarding an Indian Buddhist leader named Baghwan Rajneesh, whose (largely American) followers planned and (literally) built an Ashram city (for upwards of 10,000 people) on 60,000 acres of ranch land they purchased in a tiny town in the middle of Oregon.
Teaching the World to Love Again
It's a lot harder to make a person happy than it is to make someone miserable…
Society Supports Sexual Harassment: Admission is First Step to Recovery
Of course I am appalled by any grown man hitting on a 14-year-old; but, hey, it happened to me repeatedly from the time I was twelve. I relinquished (I refuse to say 'lost') my virginity at 14. My best friend in middle school was sexually promiscuous, which everyone (including me) swept under the carpet or gossiped about. At least three of my high-school friends were severely hit on or actually had affairs with married men. Just 200 years ago…
Health Insurance Hostage
#HealthInsuranceHostage: Cut and paste or share if your or your spouse’s primary reason for staying in your current job is because of the health insurance coverage your company provides. Healthcare should not depend on where you work…
Why You Should Have a Pond
Pond installation can be back- and time-consuming work, and a long-lasting one like mine can cost over $1000.00 (liner, pump, filter, rocks). But it doesn't have to be this way. You can purchase inexpensive, small-pond kits, or you can build a pond out of a plastic toddler swimming pool simply by…
Money, Money, Money...
As a child, I wondered at the adults who spend most of their lives doing jobs they dislike so they can grow old and do next to nothing. Now that I’m an adult, I’m beginning to understand our addiction to money…
Protect and Improve Affordable Care Mental Health Coverage
It pains me to think of all the mentally ill persons languishing on our streets or in our prisons. So many are uniquely brilliant in ways we are only beginning to understand. What's more, the NRA and supporting politicians argue that we don't need better gun control, we need better treatment of mental illness. So it is completely irrational and incomprehensible to me how someone could be against gun control as well as against the treatment of mental health issues made possible by the Affordable Care Act…
The Power to Change
Click on the link below to see my recent post in the Durham News (News and Observer). I do believe it's time for a change. But meaningful change can only come from within…
“Eddie Moves Out”, Picture-Book Sequel to “Eddie the Electron”
If you're looking for an educational stocking stuffer this Christmas, please consider buying the first in the Eddie series if you haven't already done so. Whether you do it via *Eddie the Electron* or another avenue, the earlier you introduce your kids to science, the better for their (and our) futures…