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A Better Way to Homeschool

What if we focus on character

  • Middle School Math (Without Algebra!)
  • Skip Algebra, for now
    • We Skipped Middle School Algebra and Still Raised a Mathematician
    • Hands-On Math That Actually Prepares Kids for Algebra
    • Touchable Math for Middle School: Why Hands-On Learning Still Matters for Tweens
    • Middle School Math Is Broken — And I’m Done Pretending It’s Fine
    • How to Choose a Math Curriculum for Middle School (Without Losing Your Mind)
    • Middle School Without Algebra Is Possible (and Preferred)
    • Rushing Algebra Doesn’t Create Engineers — It Creates Anxiety
    • Math Grows Best in Safe Soil: How to Stop Middle School Math Tears and Build Confidence Instead
    • When My “Skip Algebra” Rule Met Its Match

What Did you Learn from the Ox and Toothpaste?

March 30, 2020 By Bekki Leave a Comment This content may contain affiliate links.

First, recite the story you just learned.

Table of Contents (Because we all skim—no shame here.) Peek Inside
1 You just learned how to memorize boring information in an interesting way!
2 It’s fantastic!

Can you remember that list of words?

  • Fire Hydrant
  • Balloons
  • Batteries
  • barrel
  • surf board
  • diamond
  • knight
  • ox
  • toothpaste
  • neon sign

Great job!

You just learned how to memorize boring information in an interesting way!

I didn’t invent this story up. I gleaned it from Chapter 13 of Jim Kwik’s Book Limitless.

Imagine taking a list of uninteresting things memorizing it without much effort.

If you can recite that weird little story, you can also recite the first TEN ELEMENTS of the periodic table of elements!

Each of those words from the list is a memory trigger to help you remember.

  • Hydrogen- Fire Hydrant
  • Helium-Balloons
  • Lithium-Batteries
  • Beryllium- barrel (exaggerate how you say barrel)
  • Boron- surf board (Board… stretch that to bor…on)
  • Carbon- diamonds come from carbon!
  • Nitrogen-knight
  • Oxygen-ox
  • Florine-toothpaste (not fluoride, florine)
  • Neon- neon sign

Mind blown!

As my sons and I study meta-learning, or how you learn, they are becoming more and more suspicious. LOL.

It’s fantastic!

Teaching kids how to learn… It takes some clever effort. But seriously.

Are you ever gonna be able to unsee the knight licking off the side of the ox?

Me neither. It’s why I’ll never forget that nitrogen and oxygen are next to each other on the chart.

Limitless, by Jim Kwik– Worth every penny!


What should we teach our kids?

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