Well we've spent the last few weeks in a flu haze, but finally out of it (For now anyway! Damn this weather!) So haven't been doing a whole lot of structured work, but we've been doing things like snuggling up and watching the tv series Spartacus, which, though fairly historically dubious in many aspects (Roman history of the republic era is one of the subjects I'm studying) is quite entertaining. It's been so interesting watching them with N, as I've become aware of the educational value even in these. He's been in the room with me while I've watched some of my Roman history lectures and we watched a documentary on Spartacus some time ago, so he'll actually watch the tv series and pick it apart. It's fascinating how his brain works and how much information he soaks up when I don't even realise he's doing it. During each episode we discuss the inaccuracies and how life really was for people in the republican time vs the empire of Rome. He's becoming more and more confident in his own knowledge and it's just so wonderful to watch.
This week I've started him on the www.Coursera.org course of "Think again: How to reason and argue". He loves to argue his point and is very anal about correct use of language and the correct way to argue so I think he'll find this very valuable. He'll also get a certificate at the end of this university level course which I think will give him a sense of accomplishment and show him what he can actually do. He's done the first few lectures and quizzes and could reason the answers better than I could! Hopefully he gets a lot out of it and will want to do more, as I love these new MOOCs and would love for him to as well. (I'm also doing it, as well as their Preparation for Introductory Biology, and I've completed the Introduction to US food systems which I actually found fascinating and which taught me so much about sustainable food systems)
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