I'm not exactly the go greener type.

I believe in recycling and making do with older stuff, like my ratty tennies that I wear until they fall off my feet--much to my wife's chagrin. I plant trees in my backyard and we grow squash quite successfully. But "going green" feels political, and I don't like politics. But care for this little blue ball on which we live? Save some money? Be good to others? Absolutely.

And that's why I'm so excited about one of my birthday presents from my wife: A titanium spork.

Spork

I got to use it for the first time today at lunch, and it works like a charm.

That's why I'm going to share with you how Sonlight is like my spork.

Just as I can now reuse my spork every day instead of getting out a new plastic one, every single Sonlight curriculum package is reusable with multiple children. Not only can you use Sonlight with multiple children in a single year, but you can also reuse the program years later with another child who wasn't ready for it when you first purchased it.

That's the beauty of Sonlight's Cores: You can reuse--and thereby recycle--your school materials. How do we do it?

Read.

Wonderful books, lesson plans, extra notes, a complete (yet flexible) schedule...

Perhaps it's time to trade in the plastic forks of education--worksheets--for the titanium sporks of Sonlight. And if you don't "go green" for yourself, think of the children! <smile>

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

I learned in the World of Warcraft

My mom recently said something interesting about the future of education. While watching the new Star Trek film, she noticed Spock was standing in front of a large glass screen with formulas all over it. "It looked cool," she admitted, "but how is it any different from a worksheet? Are fancier/electronic worksheets all we have to look forward to? I don't think so."

I'm part of a team here at Sonlight trying to figure out what the future of education should be (and I don't think it should be more busy work). My wife and I chat about it now and again. She's really big into the virtual worlds/gaming side of life. She also has a degree in education and teaches classes in Second Life. So her thoughts are really valuable. She said to me this morning, "It's hard to see how the current educational model will ever be toppled. And can we really learn in a completely virtual world?"

"Sure," I said. "Absolutely. Just look at World of Warcraft." Those who play will consistently, and excitedly, share what they've learned about:

• Geography: My best friend knows more about the continents and locations of WoW than he does our world. Of course, for as huge as WoW is, it's smaller than this world.
• History: One of our friends can tell you the back story of any object, character, place, or event that you encounter.
• Religion/Philosophy/Politics: My friends could tell you all about the motivations for the different factions, what they believe and why, and how that is affecting the current political tensions in the world.
• Math: The "stats" system in WoW (how much this cloak will protect you from an ice breathing dragon) is a complex set of variables and definitions that rival any Algebra problem I've encountered.
• Reading: Comprehension skills are necessary to understand a quest objective and where you need to go.
• Writing/typing: If you hope to ever get help, you must be able to clearly communicate your requests or directions to your team members.
• Coordinates/maps: While not built into the game, you can easily add a coordinate grid. Plus, you must become familiar with navigating a map if you hope to get anywhere in the game.
• Science: Within the professions you can learn, you will quickly discover how things interact and what is required to produce your desired result: Smelting tin, for example.
• Working in Groups: While you can play the game by yourself, if you hope to accomplish major tasks you must learn to work together.
• Management Skills: Leading a group or a guild requires you to practice and hone your management abilities far better, I would argue, than a seminar because this involves real people with real backgrounds, feelings, desires and ambitions.
• Literature: Okay, so it's not War and Peace. Of course, I've never read War and Peace. But the quest text is often a story of loss, opportunity, revenge, need, or love.
• Craft Time: The gaming community is filled with people who pour hundreds of hours into making fan art (movies, pictures, costumes, stories) and custom content (like The Sims), and WoW is no exception. It's insane, really.
• Programing: You learn simple coding as you make macros that make your virtual life easier.
• But what about Socialization? Yep. You have that as well. And it's "good" socialization too because you are interacting with people of all ages from all walks of life from all over the globe.

And there's more.

"So what," you ask? "That stuff doesn't matter. It's all fake."

That's true. But it's not pointless. Here is a model that makes learning fun, natural, and desirable. It inspires and engrosses. And while not for everyone, even learning fake languages like Tolkien's Elvish or Klingon are wonderful ways to expand your understanding of linguistics. And fiction, as Sonlight consistently demonstrates, is a fantastic way to learn about our world.

Does this mean Warcraft is the future of education?

Probably not. But the virtual world opens many doors in ways that move us way beyond a fancy, electronic worksheet or digital ink book.

And an online learning opportunity may soon make homeschooling a norm.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

We were part of a homeschooling co-op group for a year or two back in the day. We did arts and crafts and other things that groups of kids do. My sister created a clay penguin which caused some hubbub when it appeared on page 5 of Sonlight's 2008 catalog and people couldn't tell what it was.

Clay Penguin

Me?

I tried to make an eagle and was horribly frustrated when I couldn't pull it off using nothing more than a coat hanger and toothpicks to fashion the clay.

I've always been an overachiever with perfectionists tendencies. ...not an ideal combination for things like art.

And how do you console a child who has bitten off way more than he can chew and yet is devastated that his work of art isn't turning out anything like the picture and is in tears because the clay isn't doing what he wants?

I don't know because I was inconsolable at the time.

And while I haven't had to deal with someone else's inconsolable child yet, there have been times when I've wondered what I should do. Prime example:

We were talking about sin in Sunday School and I asked the kids to list off a few. The typical ones showed up: Lying, murder, stealing. I tried to make it a little more personal by reminding them that disobeying their parents or being mean to their sibling were also sins. After the lesson, one of the girls came up and told me she had thought of another sin and asked if she could write it down on the whiteboard. I let her, and she put down "drinking."

Okay... that's up for debate, but getting drunk is something we should avoid, so I let it stand. And if her parents have told her that drinking is a sin, I'm not going to disparage them.

But after class, another girl quietly approached me. She looked forlorn and distraught. In a quiet voice she asked, "May I erase that?"

My guess? At least one of her parents enjoys an alcoholic beverage now and again. Perhaps one of them even gets drunk. But whatever the case, this hit far too close to home. What's more: It wasn't helping anything.

I encouraged her to erase the offending item and watched with a twinge of pain as she vigorously removed the word.

I don't remember if she had tears in her eyes at the time. But I do now.

Homeschooling gives us an incredible opportunity to teach our children. But I'm also thankful for the opportunities to teach other people's kids because it reminds me of how many different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences we come from. It reminds me to be more cautious in my judgments, careful in my statements, and thankful that I will--by God's grace--have children of my own soon.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

The really great bloggers get hundreds of comments on every post they write. Insights, wisdom and praise gush forth from their rapt¹ audience.

I am not a really great blogger.

But every once in a while a post of mine will be flooded with responses. Yesterday's was one such post.

Just about everyone wanted to talk about the birds and bees. Which surprised me, but it shouldn't 've. Because while I know what's going on in the back of my mind when I write something, no one else does. And so my friends read my post and thought, 'Luke needs some advice on telling someone about babies!' Or, perhaps, what I wrote reminded you of something from your past that you decided to share.

Which is great.

But I actually included the birds and bees bit because I thought it was an easily recognizable situation that could introduce the idea of full disclosure. And I was thinking about full disclosure because of the next bit of information we'll be sending out about the OneVerse project.

All that to say: I was amused at how a post that was, in my mind, about something else entirely, ended up being the hottest post of the week. And along with a smile, I also got to feel like a pretty good blogger for a day despite my struggle to communicate clearly. <smile>

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

1. Now I'm confused: Is it rapt or wrapt?

...the birds and the bees

I never asked my parents where babies came from.

Somehow, before I ever realized this was a question worth considering, I had heard something from a friend that--while utterly confusing and ultimately completely incorrect--provided the answer.

Thus, I have no history to draw upon if my children were ever to ask me. But my plan is to calmly, oh, so very calmly, explain the process as scientifically and accurately as possible (while dropping enough subtle hints as to the appropriate and most beneficial social situations in which this is recommended to make a lasting impression). But I can't give them all the details. Full disclosure is simply not possible. Nor, I think, advised.

But I like giving tons of information, especially if it's a topic I'm interested in. I love laying it all out and explaining everything. In short, short and simple answers are simply too short and simply boring.

Full disclosure is impossible, however. There's just too much information, too much knowledge, too many competing views, too many options. Couple that with a desire to encourage people to act upon what they've learned, and you end up with a rather jumbled mess.

Yesterday I read a web guru who stated, emphatically, that in order to be considered an expert you must give simplistic, emphatic answers to questions. The masses, he assured me, only want simplistic. If you're too nuanced nobody'll care. You'll never reach widespread fame if you dabble in the grays. Black and white is the secret to success.

I don't think I believe him.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you now that I'm not going to fully disclose anything in this post.

Rather, I'll tell you that we're planning on disclosing more about the Sonlight | OneVerse project soon.

So sign up and tell your friends!

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

P.S. I realize that I didn't really mention ethics in this post. I was thinking about it so I left the title as is. Plus, it's cool. If you wanted an ethics talk, share your thoughts below and we'll get a conversation going. But this post is long as it is...

P.P.S. If you don't like my word plays, please let me know. I've been told that such things can be annoying and unhelpful, rather than fun and enjoyable. What say you?