The Wiz: "Teach Your Children" Pt. 3

"Teach Your Children" #3: learning independently, who is in a band, spot the difference, and a logo with a life of its own.

As promised earlier, at the end of my post about the legendary punk band "Ramones" and their debut album:

Another installment of "Teach Your Children".

While I was researching the piece, our two daughters, aged nine and a half and seven and a half, first saw a parent sit down and dig through the internet. They become curious, ask questions and watch you move between Wikipedia entries, expand on subjects that interest you, and seek information elsewhere in that great internet ocean. A proper treasure hunt.

Along the way, they were delighted to discover that you can learn from YouTube too, and add video links to enrich the story.

Among other things, we learned about stage names, history, including the Jewish backgrounds of some band members, and other aspects of managing a band and producing an album.

You can bring in a little excitement with numbers, rankings and the band's or album's achievements.

After that little research session, on to the fun! Who does not enjoy spot the difference? We compared the band's iconic logo with the U.S. presidential seal. Both images are included for convenience. I had read about the logo in the linked article.

Along the way, we stopped to explain what a logo is, the 50 stars and U.S. states, what the eagle is holding and why, and how the band sold more T-shirts than albums, giving its logo a life of its own. Heaven help us, our older daughter even insisted on trying to read in English!

Give it a try. Perhaps you and your children will enjoy it. If you do, share your experience in the comments or elsewhere. Wishing you a peaceful and blessed Shabbat, dear friends!

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