Economic Systems, the Free Market, and Trade

I don't expect anyone to follow my garbled lecture notes here! There is quite a lot left out. But I was pleased with the way this discussion went. It is interesting to consider the idea of a Utopia or a Zion society. It's been the goal of so many, and yet most of those people have been lacking the ONLY thing that makes such a society possible: a change in human nature. And that, of course, only comes through Jesus Christ, and through our own agency. It is literally impossible to compel this change in others! And it's impossible to purely self-will it. Only the combination of our own desire and Christ's mercy allows the mighty change of heart that makes Zion possible. Which is why any secular Utopia must ultimately fail.

Anyway, on to more political things. Economic Systems and Trade!

My first introduction to Karl Marx came through Monte Python, I'm pleased to say. And I've never forgotten it. All through AP European History and other classes, I would repeat to myself, "The struggle of class against class is a what struggle? A what struggle?" "A…political struggle." It helped me through many an exam. Here's the video.

This talk, about the difference between the United Order (a sort of communal society attempted in early Latter-day Saint history) and Socialism, is interesting. Anyone who says these two systems are basically the same is missing some vital information!

Here's an old, but good, video about how the stock market works. I love this old style of movies.

When you talk about investment, it's also a good time to read the Parable of the Talents from the Bible and discuss how we can invest and enlarge ourselves spiritually! This is a good discussion of the parable, as is this. And this. And this. I like pondering all the different applications one parable can have.

Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose" series was really influential a couple decades ago, I think (and is still very applicable). I love the guy. This video, about how the free market helps people around the world, is great.

Here's Thomas Sowell on income inequality, and here's another one on the same topic.

I, Pencil. This video is a classic about trade and how it enriches all of our lives.

And here's another take on the same subject: How to make a $1500 sandwich in only 6 months

The Morality of Capitalism. And another (the children really liked this one). Ooh! And this one too. (Nice shout-out to our man Adam Smith, too.)

I posted this on another page, but it fits here too: This article is fascinating. It relates to the free market, but also gives a good perspective on how grateful we should be for what we have. We are so abundantly rich compared to any other people on earth before!

And it's always great to hear Milton Friedman in his own words. Here he talks about a glaring problem with socialism: where are "the angels" who will carry it out?

Another look at some of the problems with socialism.

What is the best Minimum wage?

Another of these sort of old-fashioned movies that seems a bit funny now, but the principles in it are sound. Why socialism doesn't work.

What's all this talk about the "trade deficit"?

And yes, I do get into all these subjects with my children, and they love it! I don't know how normal that is; perhaps it's strange, but maybe because they're subjects I find fascinating, the children love to talk about economics and politics. "Tell us something else about whiny college students," they will say, hopefully, at the breakfast table. :)

Dipping Beeswax Candles with Children

This was another of our "daily-life-in-Civil-War-times" activities. Dipping candles is really fun. We weren't very well prepared for it because I didn't have a nice long, thin-but-not-too-thin glass contained to dip from. We tried a quart jar first, but I didn't have enough wax to fill it all the way, and then we used this old vase, which was too narrow and made the wax cool too quickly. I actually had bought a tall, thin drinking glass at the thrift store for this very purpose, but although it was on my receipt, it somehow never made it home with me. I must have left it at the checkout register. Grrr, I hate it when that happens! (It was only 50 cents and I didn't realize I didn't have it till a few days later, so it didn't seem worth going back for.)

We did have a lot of fun anyway, though, and the boys were SO proud of their beeswax candles. They looked great and burned very nicely too. We burned them at our end-of-unit celebration dinner.

Here are two good overviews of how to dip candles with children:
This one uses crayons for color
and this one leaves them off-white, like ours.

Making Hardtack and Battlefield Bandages

We found lots of information about "A Day in the Life of a Civil War Soldier," and one thing that came up again and again was how miserable the typical soldier's diet was. We decided to try making hardtack, which was one of their staple foods. To be really authentic we would have used weevil-infested flour, but we decided not to. :)

Hardtack is basically just a mixture of flour and water, baked until it's hard and crunchy. We mixed 3/4 cup of water with 2 cups of flour. We also added a teaspoon of salt (only the lucky soldiers would have had that). Then we pressed the dough into a pan and poked it all over with a fork.

After baking it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, we turned it over and baked it for about 20 more minutes. Then we let it cool.

Because we ate it fresh, our hardtack actually wasn't too bad. Hard and crunchy (see Abe trying to gnaw off a piece of it) but palatable. Sebby said he quite liked it. Abe said he'd rather have a banana split. :) I reminded the children that it would just get harder and harder the days after it was made.

Another activity we did was making bandages out of blankets and shirts. We talked about how often, there were no medical supplies nearby (or the medical supplies would run out with so many wounded), so soldiers would have to improvise bandages, tourniquets, etc., with whatever they had around. It's still a useful skill even today---once I fell and cut my knee open (to the bone---ew!) while running on the mountain, and my friend used her shirt to make a bandage while she ran ahead for help. 

Here are a couple of our attempts (Sebby's looks like a turban)

Finally, here are the three boys pretending to be prisoners of war in Andersonville prison camp. We read that it was so crowded that the soldiers had to sleep three to a bed, and if they wanted to turn over, one would call out, "All turn to the right!" or "All turn to the left!" so they could turn without falling off the bed. The boys thought that was really hilarious and immediately re-enacted it. :)

Hare Krishna Lotus Temple field trip

We've admired this Hare Krishna temple from afar for many years now, but I've never actually been inside it until now. It was a great place for a field trip---not least because of the friendly llamas, peacocks, and bunnies walking around outside!

Such a nice llama!

The white peacock was lovely, and the other one's blues and greens were so brilliant I almost couldn't believe he was a real bird!

The temple itself was also lovely, and interesting. A nice lady gave us a tour of the worship hall/shrine area. She wasn't, hmm, the most knowledgeable student of her religion, I suppose ("And this is Lord Shiva. He's the god of . . . well, I can't remember exactly, but I know he's, like, really good for women!") but she was very kind and she let us wander all around and look at everything. The place was totally deserted on a Monday morning, but there is a vegetarian buffet and gift shop downstairs, and our guide said they get 80,000 (!!!) people there for the Holi festival! I know I used to always see students wandering around BYU all colored from celebrating Holi, but I never wanted to brave the crowds myself.

She said they don't bathe and dress the statues every day here, but they do so regularly. We loved the flower garlands and the little offerings we saw.

Here is the whole space---very light and open. I loved the intricate relief designs (peacocks and flowers) in the dome, and the patterned floor.

Outside we saw this interesting little cart.

We liked the various little architectural details, like these wrought-iron peacocks over the doors

and these elegant carvings on the outer walls.

A nice elephant ("Baya-yama!" yelled Daisy, throwing her arms around his leg).

We availed ourselves of this little playground on the temple grounds. The children loved playing and watching the animals.

Another view of the temple

And this was taken later that night as we were driving home. It looks so pretty all lit up!

India Unit Schedule and Lesson Plan

We really loved learning about India. What a fascinating country! We would love to go there someday. I have a sari that my aunt and uncle brought back to me on one of their trips to India, so we took turns wrapping it and putting it on, with varying levels of success.

Malachi thought it was VERY funny to have a boy wear a sari.

Abe opted for a turban instead.

A couple links that didn't fit easily anywhere else:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=prQOdTmF8u0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DprQOdTmF8u0

Some Indian dancing we enjoyed

http://ourlifesimplified.com/kitchen/all-recipes/homemade-yogurt-in-a-crockpot/#axzz20tQHKBNL
We made yogurt a couple different times during the unit, after much consultation and help from some friends. It was really yummy. We are still perfecting our technique, but this recipe is one I'll use in the future (when I get a new crock pot . . . I realized my crock pot must be broken after it kept  the milk at 160 degrees for FOURTEEN  HOURS without ever getting hotter. So the stove method is faster for me at the moment).  Anyway, the yogurt made delicious lassi and it tasted awesome on our coconut dal. Which I should post the recipe to also, and I will link it here when I get it up.