End Them, Don’t Mend Them | The Weekly Standard

Although I don't always agree with P.J. O'Rourke, I do enjoy his writing style.

Excerpt: America’s public schools have served their purpose. Free and compulsory education was good for a somewhat unpromising young nation. The country was half turnip-head hillbilly and half slum trash from foreign refuse heaps. Public schools were supposed to take this mob of no-account pea pickers and bumbling greaseballs and turn them into a half-bright national citizenry. It worked, causing six or eight generations of public school kids to rush home to their shanties or tenements shouting, “Everything’s up-to-date in Kansas City!” or “Mom, Dad, this is America, quit boiling cabbage!”

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End Them, Don’t Mend Them The Weekly Standard

The Engines of Our Ingenuity: Main Page

I just found this site with literally hundreds of radio programs that tell about the inventions and inventors of the past:

The Engines of Our Ingenuity is a radio program that tells the story of how our culture is formed by human creativity. Written and hosted by John Lienhard and other contributors, it is heard nationally on Public Radio and produced by KUHF-FM Houston. Among other features, this web site houses the transcripts for every episode heard since the show's inception in 1988.

The Engines of Our Ingenuity: Main Page

The Blog of Mr. Q!

Mr. Q. is an eighth grade science teacher, as well as the author of an elementary science curriculum especially for homeschoolers!  Mr. Q. also has a blog on which he features some very fun lessons every week!   These lessons have been revolving around something all kids like - food!  I've done them with my students and we have had a wonderful - and delicious - time of it.  The lessons are based on something kids might normally eat in the course of a week - like cereal, bacon, mustard - and what Mr. Q views as the four main concepts of science are applied to that particular food.  Very clever!  Here are the four concepts excerpted from the blog:

•Atoms: Everything is made of atoms.


•Density: The amount of atoms within every object is known as the density of the object.


•Diffusion: Areas with lots of atoms tend to move to areas with fewer atoms.


•Law of Conservation: Atoms cannot be created or destroyed, only rearranged
 
If you would like to start these lessons with your child, I recommend you go back and read THIS POST and then begin with the lesson on How to Teach Science During Breakfast.
 
Bon appetit!