Kasie, Jessica, and Melissa kicked off the show with this episode on teaching your kids how to think. Here are the show notes:
Episode 1: School of Free Thought
Main idea: Teach our children not what to think, but how to think
- Who we are:
- I’m Kasie, I’m in Columbia, and I’m a lecturer at the University of South Carolina. In my classroom, I frequently teach by “Socratic Method” which is asking questions to get the students to come to their own conclusions.
- I’m Jessica. I live in the Upstate of South Carolina, and I have two boys- Tank (pre-teen) and Cartwheel (elementary aged). I manage state operations for a division of a title insurance company that does property research for Real Estate Attorneys. I often train my employees using the same method, and I often use questions to help my employees work through concepts and difficult scenarios rather than just giving them an answer.
- Alex Thornton couldn’t be with us for the first episode.
- Melissa – Mother of 3 in the Lowcountry. 5th grade son in virtual school and 2 daughters (K & 2nd grade) at a magnet Montessori school. I am the Charleston County LP chair and also work from home as an ERP Systems Analyst.
- The purpose and scope of the podcast-
- Jess note: Sometimes complex discussions about how Libertarian ideology influences how we parent. Also, if we can show others (red and blue) that people with differing opinions can have honest and respectful conversations that is a bonus.
- What they can expect in each episode-
- Jess note: honest discussions about the various ways of raising children to be principled thinkers, and maybe some funny mom stories too. We are all Libertarian moms
- Today’s topic: School of Free Thought
- Beginning anecdote — Jessica’s story of her 8-year-old and the Tom Steyer ads
- Teaching by asking questions
- Melissa – The number one question I ask my kids is “Is {Topic at hand} the government’s business?”
- Helping with vocabulary — using synonyms, examples, and antonyms to help them understand complex ideas and unfamiliar words
- (Jessica doesn’t allow slang in conversation with adults)
- Why indoctrination is bad — teaching “what” to think creates zombie children who espouse ideas they don’t fully understand (i.e. racism, homophobia)
- Why learning “how” to reason something out could be a bad thing — they might disagree with you; are parents afraid their children will hold different beliefs? So what if they do?
- Jess notes: my dad and I do not agree politically. But he raised me by asking questions and discussing difficult topics and current events. Though he is politically far right, I know that he respects my opinions because he knows that I didn’t come to them without a great deal of thought.
- Melissa: As long as they can explain their reasoning to get to an opinion, they can hold any opinion they want.
- Why these are Libertarian ideas — if we haven’t covered that already, let’s put it into context for them. Staying with our Libertarian niche will earn more audience than straying from the advertised brand of parenting advice.
- Coming up on the next episode:
- School of Free Thought Part 2 takes on the pervasiveness of the duopoly’s lie and how our kids can be taught to recognize battles worth fighting.
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What’s your parenting style? Are you teaching your kids HOW to think? Are you worried they won’t think like you? Leave a comment and let us know.
Parenting Porcupines 