Category Archives: Activities to do with Children

Books on Character for Giving this Season

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:30 — 19.6MB)

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Today, we run a wonderful conversation with Carl Sommer, the owner of Advance Publishing, former public school teacher and Machine Shop owner. Such a wonderful memory of meeting Mr. Somer and his family! Amazing machine shop. Really great contribution in his writing and researching, coming out of being a NY public school teacher. Now, retired from business, he continues to run the publishing house and a TV show on Christian television. You will want to hear his story. Very encouraging.

You may also want to pick up some of his books. Here is the website for Advance: http://advancepublishing.com/ nThese books will be great for Christmas/Hanukah. They are exceptionally great for giving as gifts to public libraries and government schools — who need some replacement books, don’t you think? Each book demonstrates a character moral, but none is overtly religious. Mr. Sommer wrote them especially for elementary level public schools.

Where are the Pictures of the Pilgrims?

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:49 — 19.1MB)

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Where are the pictures of the pilgrims? How — and why! — has that history been erased. Let’s think about that today.
This is a rerun from 2020. Some of us who said things that weren’t always well received in 2020 can now legitimately toot our own horn. It is time for the recognition of discernment and wisdom.

Let’s sort our our curricular problems in education, just as we sort out method. Our children should not be hampered by the refusal to teach them facts. Or by the lack of wisdom in how to teach them.

Today, not just a diatribe but some good ideas for what to do with the children this Thanksgiving weekend.

Let’s also consider some gift giving — whether Christmas, or if in your house it is Hanukah. Books are always great. We have some.
Here is a wonderful article by Marshall Foster on Thanksgiving and the character of the nation and its original founders.

How to Tell What is True

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:48 — 17.8MB)

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We have been in a series on how to think better. However, this is the first episode of the older series on how to tell what is true. Wow! is this ever a timely topic. More than half the country is rejoicing that we saved democracy from communists, and another large percentage of the country is lamenting that Hitler and the facists have just taken over, with a promise to end democracy. One party wants to return to the rule of law and the other is afraid of lawfare and weaponized government. It would be hilariously laughable if it were not so deadly serious.

However, this ability to tell what is true is not just a widespread life skill need, but it is particularly a “LD” need. Students with learning disabilities seem to be slower at “reading between the lines” precisely because they are spending so much energy on decoding what those words in the line mean. They may be slower at gaining “social skills” precisely because they are spending so much time on academic work. Of course, it also may be true that there are brain healing, detoxing, and growing issues, which we addressed in the more recent series.

In any case, this topic, how to tell what is true, is a huge need for everyone. Teacher and educators need to work with students who are having problems in school to directly teach this. It is a shame, of course, that this is not in the normal public school curricula. Wonder why that is?

Anyway, hope this helps you. Please like, share, and tell your friends.

There is Falsehood, too. Teach Children About Sociopaths.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:00 — 25.1MB)

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There is Truth and there are also Lies – And worse: There are Liars

In our series on How to Think Better, we had an episode that was titled “There is Truth.” Well, there is also falsehood. There are also people who regularly lie.  Pyschologists diagnose some people “pychopaths” and/or “sociopaths” — people who not only lie regularly, but enjoy hurting others. It may be analyzed that these people are demon possessed.  Let’s consider the situation in a practical manner.

We must recognize and teach children about falsehood, lies, and sociopaths.

Why This Relates to the “Learning Disabled”

This dynamic is very important to recognize and teach our children about. Children, reared in good environment, can be quite shocked, and often after bad experiences, if they do not know that some people lie, and some of those situations can be dangerous. Students with “learning disabilities” are particularly at risk for these bad experiences. It has been famously said that “LD students have bully targets on their back.” I do not know why this is so. Is it because these students also have weaknesses at noticing social cues? Or is it that they are spending so much time on academics that they fail to develop such social skills?

Three Steps for Parents/Educators

How do we, as parents respond? First, inform ourselves, and think better ourselves. Do not be snookered. Secondly, teach our children directly that there is such a thing as a falsehood, there are liars, and there are LIARS who intend to hurt. Thirdly, we must train our children not just in social skills but in character — so they do not become THOSE PEOPLE.