Accidental Education

It's no secret that one of my favorite ways to learn is self-education, but it's usually very purposeful and admittedly even biased to what interests me or what I feel I need to know at the moment. I mentioned on the last post that my nephew fell behind in science, so each day this week, we've been picking 3 of the 12 missing assignments to do until they're done by Thursday night. We're halfway done at this point.

Science has always been one of my favorite subjects and I was in AP science even when I repeatedly failed the others. My own grade school education was spotty at best, but let's save that for another day. Revisiting it from my nephew's 7th grade level has been anything but boring. His assignments require us to read an article in his Science World magazines and write an 8 sentence summary. He's interested in science, but like most kids these days, has little to no interest in handwritten assignments. A well-spoken kid with great ideas, just no interest in writing. Lucky for him (you can see where this is going), that happens to be a strong suit for his aunt.

It wasn't just helping him summarize that appealed to me though and I found the topics of the articles pretty fascinating myself: revolutionary treatments in cancer, the technology of running shoes, wildlife anomalies, and the wave of ridiculous theories (flat earth, climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, etc.) These are well-written articles that use scientific facts, not a bias, complete with cited sources and the encouragement to do your own research on reputable sites, including how to spot a reputable site. That last one was especially interesting since it pointed out concepts like confirmation bias, psychological manipulation, weasel wording (where 'thinking' and 'feeling' are worded to convince the reader that because it's built with the tools used forming logic, it must be true!). Tools that make for great fiction, mind you, but are poor choices for non-fiction.

So I caught myself reading about treatments and shoe materials and before I knew it, it was opening me up to current events I could get behind. These things weren't laced with agendas and the articles always encourage you not to just blindly believe but to seek out and sort opinion from facts and actual events. Refreshing to see that at least children are being shown concepts that adults are struggling with.

Don't get me wrong here-- I've never believed that children are some magical creature that make us better and teach us the 'true meaning' of love. Most humans are built with bonding hormones that create this convincing feeling and a lot of parents try to force this idea on others. I never wanted to give birth or have my own children, but I've always found a kindred spirit in children and even in people much older than myself. My grandma used to worry that she was cramping my style because I hung out with her whenever she called, no questions asked. Not at all. I do believe strongly, but without proof, that the very young and those advanced in age do have a sort of ability to decide things more efficiently. Children are more open to new information (and to change their minds) while older people have gathered enough wool to make a pretty impressive coat. Or enough ingredients to make a rich stew. Are you cold or hungry? Because my grandma always fixes that.

Intentional education can cause that comfortable sink into your own cushy biases, so I saw this accidental absorption of knowledge to be an advantage, even in a rather unwanted situation. Neither of us are cheered by the prospect of the extra hour or two of make-up work each day, but it's given us the opportunity to exchange ideas and I can't say it hasn't helped me look at better ways to shorten my tomes into neatly packaged little blurbs.

That being said, you don't need to be raising a little one to stumble on this sort of thing. I would encourage people to maybe subscribe to a science magazine or some other unbiased theme, something outside of the bubble, and maybe tuck it under your bathroom sink instead of dragging your phone in every time. Sit down and dig through articles you weren't specifically looking for and learn something new. Beats reading shampoo bottles too.

I'll leave this at that and throw in a quick update. I've currently queued up all but the last two books of the series and only because the covers aren't done yet. They probably won't be done this week either since the homework and preparation for the 5K/Cinco de Mayo weekend also factor in.  Tomorrow night, I'm taking the boys to their school's Earth Night, where the Cincinnati Zoo is bringing some surprises for the kids. I might get a few small pieces done, but next week is looking better for finishing those and getting them formatted for the publishing queue. You ought to know by now that I'd rather be busy than bored, so I don't mind postponing the usual grind for more learning opportunities. So-- the calendar is still tight, no worries there. The last two entries are slated for June 29 and July 11. Over two months away, so I'm overachieving at this point anyway.

Really, I look forward to having time to write again. I've tumbled over some great ideas for UnSung in the hiatus and should fly right in once I can. It's been an exciting first year as an author (my first anniversary comes up August 7th), slow or not, but I definitely own that I am a slacker in marketing. It's been my priority to get my library going and I've certainly kept to that goal. The first book is still at .99. I was a 'baby' when I wrote it, so it only gets better, I assure you. If you haven't already, give it a try and let me know what you think. Feedback is another thing I slack off on. In case you missed the name of my blog, I have my own ways of doing things.

I'm off for now. This day went quick but I've knocked out a few things so I'm satisfied.