In my last post, there was a quote from a media article in which the First Lady takes credit for rising academic scores — despite no data that I could find. It’s those low-fat USDA lunches with the hearthealthywholegrains and vegetables, ya see. Never mind that kids are throwing the vegetables in the trash.
My girls eat their vegetables, but that’s because we slather them (the vegetables, not the girls) in butter and other yummy fats. Pretty much everything they eat includes yummy fats. Yummy fats are good for the brain.
So pardon another post full of shameless bragging, but we just received their report cards, which include their scores on the national standardized tests. They both got straight A’s in school and scored in the high 90s in all subjects on the standardized tests — except for science, where they both scored 100. (Sara was a little disappointed about her 97 in math. She scored 100 last time.)
Yes, their capacity to learn is largely genetic. But I believe their high-fat, whole-foods diet is also allowing their brains and intellectual abilities to grow to their inborn potential. I also believe the good diet helps them to concentrate and stay focused.
Alana did quite well in math but would like to increase her speed on timed tests, so I built her a little flash-card program I figured I may as well share with any Fat Head readers who have kids in elementary school. When you fire it up, there’s a setup screen:
The little tyke can choose to work with one number — all sixes, for example — and then see the cards in order, or in random order. Or she can choose to see all possible cards within a range — everything from 1 x 1 to 10 x 10 in random order, for example. Younger kids can choose a lower range of numbers. It works pretty much the same way for practicing division.
Clicking the button on the right displays the answer. Clicking it again displays the next card. Pressing the ENTER key is the same as clicking the button, so the wee one can just keep pressing ENTER to work through all the cards.
Anyway, if you’d like to try the program for your future math whiz, right-click this link and choose Save As … (or whatever your browser calls it). Unzip the folder and run the InstallFlashCards.msi file on your PC. (Sorry, no Mac or tablet version.)
If you download it and like it, feel free to show your appreciation by clicking the donate button below. That will put $5 in the Fat Head tip jar.
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https://twitter.com/PALEO_HULK/statuses/303713067961810944
Sara doesn’t like zucchini. I’ll put some butter on her and see if that changes her mind.
I recommend Wainer’s “Medical Illuminations” which makes the point that the medical literature would be improved by figures instead of tables and generally discusses statistics and associations. It shows that academic performance went way down when prayer was abolished in schools but started to go back up when Elvis died.
“But I believe their high-fat, whole-foods diet is also allowing their brains and intellectual abilities to grow to their inborn potential.”
Totally agree with this. Seems I remember reading when Weston A. Price visited different cultures around the world they had specific diets for their pregnant women and for the kids also.
I believe low fat is making our children “dumb”.
And making it more difficult for them concentrate.
That’s not going to work with Common Core because they don’t do traditional math anymore.
I’ve seen those goofball calculation charts. Naturally, the government decided more complicated = better.
https://twitter.com/PALEO_HULK/statuses/303713067961810944
Sara doesn’t like zucchini. I’ll put some butter on her and see if that changes her mind.
That’s the standard approach. If that doesn’t work, try bacon and bacon fat.
butter & bacon (on veg) tips work for adults too. XD
I recommend Wainer’s “Medical Illuminations” which makes the point that the medical literature would be improved by figures instead of tables and generally discusses statistics and associations. It shows that academic performance went way down when prayer was abolished in schools but started to go back up when Elvis died.
Maybe we can target some rock stars for elimination. It’s for the kids, you see.
Spurious Correlations – http://www.tylervigen.com/
“But I believe their high-fat, whole-foods diet is also allowing their brains and intellectual abilities to grow to their inborn potential.”
Totally agree with this. Seems I remember reading when Weston A. Price visited different cultures around the world they had specific diets for their pregnant women and for the kids also.
I believe low fat is making our children “dumb”.
And making it more difficult for them concentrate.
Huh? My father threatened me with a hiding if I couldn’t recite each different times table by the time he got back from work each day over a 2 week period. I learned one per day.
Times are a changin’ 😉
Not the incentive I’d choose as a father, but I presumed you learned the tables.
That’s not going to work with Common Core because they don’t do traditional math anymore.
I’ve seen those goofball calculation charts. Naturally, the government decided more complicated = better.
Huh? My father threatened me with a hiding if I couldn’t recite each different times table by the time he got back from work each day over a 2 week period. I learned one per day.
Times are a changin’ 😉
Not the incentive I’d choose as a father, but I presumed you learned the tables.
You know, that flashcard thing wouldn’t be too hard as a pure-javascript (or one of the transpilers) client-side app. If I wasn’t already crazy-busy this weekend, I could probably whip something up.
You know, that flashcard thing wouldn’t be too hard as a pure-javascript (or one of the transpilers) client-side app. If I wasn’t already crazy-busy this weekend, I could probably whip something up.
Tom, you may have deluded yourself into think that slathering your children’s food in butter has increased their mental abilities but I’m a bit more skeptical. I am glad you dug yourself out from low-carb fantasy land and started feeding your family carbohydrates again though.
Yeah, you got me there with your superior wisdom. All those traditional cultures where people saved the fats and fattiest foods for kids because they believed growing brains need fat — they didn’t know what they were doing. If only they’d had you to straighten them out, they would have wised up by the time Dr. Price visited them.
I never stopped feeding my family carbohydrates. We have never placed a limit on how much fruit or how many servings of sweet potato, squash, etc., our girls consume.
Tom, you may have deluded yourself into think that slathering your children’s food in butter has increased their mental abilities but I’m a bit more skeptical. I am glad you dug yourself out from low-carb fantasy land and started feeding your family carbohydrates again though.
Yeah, you got me there with your superior wisdom. All those traditional cultures where people saved the fats and fattiest foods for kids because they believed growing brains need fat — they didn’t know what they were doing. If only they’d had you to straighten them out, they would have wised up by the time Dr. Price visited them.
I never stopped feeding my family carbohydrates. We have never placed a limit on how much fruit or how many servings of sweet potato, squash, etc., our girls consume.
yes my son and DiL make sure their kids get plenty of good fats too – Kerrygold butter being at the top of their list! Along with organic whole milk (no skim or low-fat milk for those kids), cheese, meats. They do eat a lot of rice (my DiL is Chinese) and my grandson loves his slathered with lots of butter! Okay, his parents are not intellectual slouches (I think you and my son have a lot in common politically) and my DiL does lots of enrichment things with them – but my grandson soaks it up like a sponge. I think his brain is very well nourished. Even though he will only be starting pre-K in the fall he already knows plenty of things that are on first and second grade, and maybe higher, curricula. I love his comments when we are out riding in my car, as we were the other day, racing a big thunderstorm heading our way. “Up ahead we still see cumulus clouds, but over that way they are all cumulo-nimbus”. LOL, not too bad for a 4-year-old.
Not bad at all.
yes my son and DiL make sure their kids get plenty of good fats too – Kerrygold butter being at the top of their list! Along with organic whole milk (no skim or low-fat milk for those kids), cheese, meats. They do eat a lot of rice (my DiL is Chinese) and my grandson loves his slathered with lots of butter! Okay, his parents are not intellectual slouches (I think you and my son have a lot in common politically) and my DiL does lots of enrichment things with them – but my grandson soaks it up like a sponge. I think his brain is very well nourished. Even though he will only be starting pre-K in the fall he already knows plenty of things that are on first and second grade, and maybe higher, curricula. I love his comments when we are out riding in my car, as we were the other day, racing a big thunderstorm heading our way. “Up ahead we still see cumulus clouds, but over that way they are all cumulo-nimbus”. LOL, not too bad for a 4-year-old.
Not bad at all.
That little program might be great for my son. We used to use one on the internet, but I think yours gives even more control over the problem set. And the internet one was timed, which caused too much anxiety for my oldest. What language is your program written in?
VB.NET.
That little program might be great for my son. We used to use one on the internet, but I think yours gives even more control over the problem set. And the internet one was timed, which caused too much anxiety for my oldest. What language is your program written in?
VB.NET.