Learning

It is no secret that we unschool our kids.  We will make notes here (as time allows) about what the kids are learning.  We (mostly) won't mention names or ages, this is independent of learning.  Enjoy.

Cats

Came upstairs and he was laying on his bed, showed me a scratch on his belly.

Lesson learned:  Don't hold a cat and turn on a vacuum.

15 various scratches & puncture wounds.  Nothing too serious.  No blood.

Finance

Curiosity about a having a million dollars (or ten billion dollars).

General concept of letting someone (bank, etc...) hold your money and pay you.

How long would a thousand dollars last?  "3 days"
If you invested that and they paid you $30/month and you spent $30/month, how long would that last?  "forever"

Him:  "What if we purchased burgerville?  You & Mom could make fries while us kids took orders?"
Me:  "Well, I really wouldn't want to work at a fast food place if I was a billionaire, but that is a kind of investment - having something give you regular money rather than just spent it."

Emergency podcast download commencing...

This morning was one of those rare mornings when I ran out of podcasts on the drive into work.  Instead of doing the smart thing and enjoying the silence, music or even turning on NPR, I did the absolute worst thing:  turn on the news.

It was nice hearing the weather and traffic, but the headline story was just plain disturbing:

A new study today shows that we are paying more for health insurance.  Last year the average was $4,500.

What does "paying more" and "paid" have in common?  Absolutely nothing!  One is a difference and one is a value.  The only effect this has is to (at best) confuse people more about the news (if that's possible) and at worst lead people to assume its a very large number and freak out because they have no idea what they're paying now (which is probably more).

This rate is always increasing.  That's not news.  And the $4,500 is meaningless without context, so that's not news - so the whole headline is not news.  Fun!  And I thought this was a news station!  heh...cough...

If you're not entirely disillusioned (yeah, how's that possible!), here's a NYT article on the subject with a PROPER TITLE:  Health Care Costs Climb Moderately, Survey Says.

Excuse me while I go download some more podcasts.