Classroom-To-Go…or Stay-in
I intended to post this before the pandemic, but perhaps it will be more appreciated now that schools are closing and parents are looking for homeschooling ideas.
I will preface this by stating that I loved being in college and law school, sitting in class, and listening to intelligent professors explain and download knowledge upon me. The entertaining professors will be long remembered…the passion of Rick Hills when he talked about school desegregation; Yale Kamisar’s angry rants across the room when he lectured about how the Supreme Court continued to condone unfair police practices against minorities; and Catharine MacKinnon’s elegant and sophisticated facilitation of class discussion to ensure “free speech, fair speech and not forced speech” in the classroom. Even when I worked at UCI School of Law, I would sit in on Rick Hasen’s and Erwin Chemerinsky’s lectures out of sheer, blissful and geeked out joy. Being a listener, without the stress of taking perfect notes or worrying about a final exam, made it learning by leisure. And now I can continue to be a “Learner of Leisure” from the confines of my home, kitchen, daily stroll, and while I chauffeur my kids around. And, my kids enjoy it too! And sometimes they even search and find new podcasts on their own - a true reverse of the little yogi’s raising the older ones!
We LOVE taking our classrooms with us on-the-go, or now, during this important community effort to socially distance ourselves, in the confines of our home. There is so much to learn out there and podcasts make the learning experience incredibly enjoyable. We stay up to date, learn really interesting facts about the political and scientific world; get behind the scenes insight into major historical events; or listen to binge-worthy crime stories. There are so many things to learn about that I have either always wanted to learn more about or never even thought about.
I mean…Did you know that?
There was a mouse zombie apocalypse on Marion Island (and how humans caused it and tried to cure it)?
James Batson, the client, was the one who insisted that his attorney object to an all-white jury, which then led to the major Batson decision? Or that the Baker v. Carr SCOTUS case caused Justice Whittaker to have a nervous breakdown?
People who can’t tolerate gluten in the US are fine when they go to Europe and that the likely culprit of many auto-immune diseases is the glyphosate in our grains…among other things.
Vitamin D is actually a hormone and can help with not only immunity, but also mood?
Ronan Farrow, Mia Farrow’s and Woody Allen’s son, and one of the investigative journalists who broke the Harvey Weinstein story, was a real life Doogie Howzer?
You need to take timed release Vitamin C in order to latch on to collagen?
Regenerative farming and fixing our agricultural system could fix not only climate change but also our health care crisis?
The details of corporate battles like Nike v. Adidas and Snapchat v. Facebook are super juicy?
If you want to start your adventures or explore outside your current adventures in audio-learning, here are our families current favorites and recommendations. They may come in handy during the next few weeks of homeschooling as well!
Note: many podcasters use profanity. While it’s not something our family worries about (hearing vs. using profanity) we know everyone is different, so you may want to get a flavor of some of these before you jump into family listening. Many of them will provide a disclaimer at the beginning which is also helpful.
Our Top Favorite Podcasts
Family listening
Most episodes of The Daily by the New York Times. A great listen on the way to or from school. Our family listens to almost all the episodes together. The ones we don’t recommend for family listening are pretty obvious…Harvey Weinstein stories, Child Abuse…..
Business Wars: juicy and dramatic tales of the competition between companies like Snapchat and Facebook, Patagonia versus North Face, Amazon versus Walmart, Dunkin versus Starbucks, Nike and Adidas, Boeing and Airbus etc…..Very well produced and entertaining. Our families favorite was Patagonia and North Face, so maybe start with that one. It is has a lot of “feel good” vibes to it.
Overheard at National Geographic: Interesting and shorter podcasts that are perfect for your drives to school or activities with the kids. So many fun facts about the planet and all its inhabitants such as the zombie mouse apocalypse mentioned above or the Frozen Zoo, which is about how San Diego Zoo researchers are freezing the cells of endangered animals to study them and maybe even bring them back.
RadioLab was the kid’s gateway podcast and was recommended by my student Mark, who also has young children. Annika and Xander were immediately enraptured by their first episode, which was about the Judas goats on Galapagos. They have several scientific episodes, but I can only attest to the earlier ones. After writing this, I think I will have to revisit this oldie but goodie during the next few weeks.
brains on is fun. We listened to that a bunch last year. It’s great for kids under age 10. You hear kids’ voices as they are interviewed during the podcasts. Many of them are science related. In fact, I just opened it and there is a recent one from today about the corona virus and how germs are spread.
My favorites:
The Serial Podcast was my gateway drug. The story of Adnan Syed was fascinating and binge-worthy. I listened to all the episodes during my 2 hour commute years ago, and after a while I started to talk like Sarah Koenig. It inspired many podcast listeners, it’s a fascinating crime story even for non-lawyers. Spoiler alert and perhaps controversial opinion….he probably did it, but the evidence was not strong enough to actually convict him. I personally did not enjoy the second season, nor did I enjoy Shit Town which became popular right after Serial.
Radiolab presents More Perfect. I think I began to really love Jad Abumrad after this podcast. More Perfect has perfect sound effects, perfect backstories, and even an episode about perfect and no so perfect plaintiffs, called the “The Imperfect Plaintiff.” This podcast offers a look behind the scenes at several SCOTUS cases as well as the justices and their backstories. Mark turned me on to this one too and I binged on them over a matter of weeks. I could honestly listen to them again, they are so good. Many of these episodes are also child friendly, such as “Kittens Kick the Giggly Blue Robot all Summer”, “American Pendulum I and II” and “Sex Appeal” (which is mostly about RBG’s quest for gender equality as an appellate attorney at the ACLU.) More Perfect was by far my all time favorite podcast and I hope they come out with a new season soon. Amazing, even for non-lawyers.
The Dr. Gundry Podcast. A great education on mind, body, food with many tips on how to live a healthy, long life. You can watch them on youtube as well. I pick and choose as some of the topics aren’t directly applicable to my life or my family members. He also tends to talk pretty slow, so this one can often be played at 1.5 times the speed.
The Doctor’s Farmacy, formerly House Call. Informative discussions about how food is medicine, and how fixing our food and agricultural system could slow down climate change, positively impact the economy and improve the world’s health. Recently Dr. Hyman has had some non-food related interviewees such as Andy Russell, which is inspiring me to diversify my podcast and reading library so that I don’t create my own echo-chamber and get brain hacked. This episode features a long discussion on how political parties are especially controlling our minds and thoughts. It recommended a Netflix movie called The Great Hack, which I plan to watch this weekend.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard. I choose these episodes based on personal interest and who they are interviewing, and often my friend Emily’s recommendations. The episodes can become very long but again you can listen to many of them at 1.5 times speed and fast forward the commercials in 30 second increments. Dax and Monica both have a great rapport with each other and with their guests. You start to feel like you are hanging out on the couch with all of them as you listen. I highly recommend the episodes with Ronan Farrow and Dr. Gundry.
Jay’s favorites
The Peter Attia Drive. A realistic, in depth analysis of all things health and somethings not health. His episodes are deep and thoughtful. You will learn so much from him. He asks really great questions and his questions alone will make you smarter.
Against the Rules by Michael Lewis. Discussions about fairness in all areas of interest such as law, sports, financial markets and more.
The Tim Ferris Show. Jay loves this one and it’s on my list to start listening to very soon.
Do you have any favorite podcasts or specific episodes you loved? We are always looking for recommendations, especially for family listening, so please increase our library with a description and review of your favorites in the comments below. Let’s all make each other smarter!