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You are here: Home / Miscellaneous / It's Official—Joely's a Sponge

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

It's Official—Joely's a Sponge

Sponge

Little ones have big ears is an expression that mirrors the concept of learning while listening.

As part of our homeschooling schedule, we've been reading through The Fallacy Detective on Fridays, and the kids have thoroughly enjoyed it. The last section of the book covers propaganda, so we've been discussing specific aspects of propaganda for the last few weeks.

And Joely, my five year old, has been in the room each and every time.

So this Friday, I began our lesson by reviewing with Jaden and Jerah each type of propaganda that we've already discussed. I started by saying:

"Appeal to…"

And Jaden said, "Pity!"

"Appeal to…"

And Jerah said, "Fear!"

And I didn't get another word out of my mouth before I heard Joely shout, with perfectly enunciation, "Exigency!"

And she was right. Exigency* was one of the propaganda techniques we've recently discussed.

Now Joely wasn't able to explain what exigency actually meant, but the fact that she remembered the word and pronounced it correctly made it official.

Joely is a sponge. I am glad she is learning while listening to the lessons of her siblings.HoeHome

(*Exigency is the propaganda technique where one is encouraged to make a decision based on the urgency of the situation—such as "Time is running out—the sale ends at midnight!" or "If you don't do it now, you may never get another chance.")

 

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Comments

  1. Karen Joy says

    May 14, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    I've seen that book and almost bought it many times. We've talked about this sort of thing — propaganda — MANY times when watching TV commercials. Hmm… maybe I should buy the book.

    Anyways, this story totally made me grin, because it's one of those, "Only a homeschooler would…" kind of stories. You're just not going to find many elementary-aged kids able to use the word "exigency" properly. Even if she only has half a grasp of its meaning, it's more than I had, before I read this post!

    Reply
  2. Amy @ Cheeky Cocoa Beans says

    May 10, 2010 at 12:11 pm

    I love this! And I love that you have a record of it. 🙂 I was recently teaching my 7 year old son the order of the months of the year (using your resource, I believe), and I asked him, "What comes after March?" A little voice at my feet immediately said, "April!" It was my 4 year old daughter.
    .-= Amy @ Cheeky Cocoa Beans´s last blog ..Our Brand New Teen =-.

    Reply

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