Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Ever wonder why your child's enthusiasm for learning seems to burn out? Maybe he's just been splashed with a metaphorical bucket of cold water. Join Home School Legal Defense Association Chairman and General Counsel Mike Farris as he talks with the author of Ignite the Fire! Terri Camp about avoiding those educational fire extinguishers, today on Home School Heartbeat.

Michael Farris:
Terri, what do you see as potential educational "fire extinguishers" that parents need to avoid?


Terri Camp:
Well, whether it's television, video games, or computer usage, the massive doses of information desensitize a child's mind. And after this dulling effect, children just lose the ability to appreciate the struggle and the triumph of seeking out information on their own. Encyclopedias, books, and maps become boring because they don't move, dance, or sing for them. And as the children grow, they get used to that information being fed to them in such an active media, and I think that really steals the joy of the active pursuit of learning. So the biggest danger, actually, may be that children learn to be dependent on someone else's talented presentations rather than taking charge of their own quest for knowledge. So, really, television, video games, any of that stuff that is just constant—that really is an educational fire extinguisher.


Mike:
Terri, thanks for being with us on this program.


Terri:
Thank you, Mike.


Mike:
Listeners, you can visit Terri's website, http://www.ignitethefire.com, and get some encouragement from her new book, Ignite the Fire!