🐴 Great writers think first

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💡 THOUGHT

THINKING BEFORE WRITING

We love this gem from a friend-of-the-pod – neuroscience prof-turned-homeschool-mom, Dr. Claire Honeycutt. 

In a similar vein, David McCullough once said, "Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard."

Want to hear more from Dr. Honeycutt? Listen to her full podcast episode: "What neuroscience can teach us about homeschooling" for more insights on developing exceptional thinkers and writers.

📊 TREND

DIGITAL DESPAIR: THE GREAT INVERSION

The happiness curve has flipped. Historically, well-being traced a U-shape through life—high in youth, low in midlife, rising again in old age. Now it peaks in retirement and bottoms out in adolescence.

Dartmouth economist David Blanchflower's research reveals this inversion coinciding with the smartphone revolution. Between 2003 and 2022, young women with 4+ hours of daily screen time exploded from 8% to 61%. Simultaneously, daily mental distress tripled from 1993 levels.

The tech-happiness paradox creates a design challenge for educational freedom. We champion technological access while witnessing its apparent capacity to dismantle psychological well-being.

As a parent in the open education space, how are you balancing digital literacy with mental wellness? Have you found that personalized learning approaches help counteract screen fatigue or digital overwhelm in your children?

Read the full article at the 74 Million.

🔨 TOOL

CLASSIC TALES AUDIOBOOKS: WHERE SHERLOCK MEETS TARZAN

We spotted him across the convention hall at StoryCon—a bearded guy wearing a t-shirt proudly announcing "I voiced Dean Koontz's latest book." Naturally, we had to investigate this walking advertisement. One business card exchange later, and we discovered our new literary obsession.

BJ Harrison's Classic Tales Audiobooks is like comfort food for literature lovers—except instead of mac and cheese, you get Sherlock Holmes solving mysteries in pitch-perfect British accents.

With a collection that would make your local librarian jealous:

• Sherlock Holmes squaring off against gentleman thief Arsène Lupin

• Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan swinging through the literary jungle

• H. Rider Haggard's adventurers discovering lost civilizations

• And yes, the delightfully sinister Dr. Fu-Manchu

Harrison somehow manages 71 different accents across 800+ audiobooks—from posh British aristocrats to gruff American detectives.

In an age of excess screen time, audiobooks offer a perfect digital detox.

That’s all for today! See you tomorrow.

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

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