🐴 Weekly Roundup: How to build a 'self-managing family' (from a mom of 7)

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🎧 THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHT

HOW MEG THOMAS CREATED A SELF-RUNNING HOMESCHOOL (WITH 7 KIDS)

When Meg Thomas started homeschooling, she had five children under the age of six. Most parents would be in survival mode. Instead, she built something remarkable – a family culture where her children practically manage themselves.

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The morning of our interview, she ran 16 miles. How does a mom of seven maintain her identity, create independent learners, and still have time for herself?

Her secret isn't more curriculum or better scheduling – it's something far more powerful. And it starts with laundry day.

Listen to the full episode →

💡 DEEP DIVE

THE GHIBLIFICATION OF ALL THINGS

This week, your social media feeds likely featured someone you know transformed into a Miyazaki-inspired character – perhaps a grandparent reimagined as a gentle elder from My Neighbor Totoro, or a toddler rendered with those unmistakable oversized “Studio Ghibli” eyes. The "Ghiblification" phenomenon has spread with the velocity only possible with internet memes.

What makes this moment particularly interesting is the collision of two trends we covered this week: AI educational tools promising to revolutionize learning, and the sudden explosion of AI-generated art. The irony? The very artist whose style has become the internet's favorite AI plaything has been one of its most vocal critics.

This Ghiblification-spree raises questions for young people (and their parents) considering future careers and skills development. Should students still pursue animation when AI can generate characters in seconds? Is it worth learning how to form grammatical sentences when algorithms can write essays? The answer depends on whether we view these skills as merely a means to produce content or as disciplines that develop uniquely human capacities for attention, care, and meaning-making.

In 2017, a team of young animators proudly presented late animation legend Hayao Miyazaki with an AI program they had developed:

The program generated a disturbing zombie-like figure that crawled along the ground using its head instead of limbs. The young technologists were excited about the possibilities.

Miyazaki was not.

"I am utterly disgusted," the 76-year-old master filmmaker said. "I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."

When pressed by Miyazaki about their goal, one young animator explained, "We would like to build a machine that can draw pictures like humans do."

Miyazaki's response was grim: "I feel like we are nearing the end of times."

Since then, the technology has improved. Now, anyone with internet access can convert themselves into a Ghibli character with a single prompt. The new reality would likely horrify Miyazaki further, and yet here we are, enthusiastically "Ghiblifying" everything from family portraits to historical photographs to pets.

This raises thorny questions about copyright, artistic integrity, and the ethics of AI training data. Did ChatGPT "learn" to create Ghibli-style art by ingesting thousands of copyrighted Studio Ghibli images without permission? Almost certainly. Does this constitute a form of artistic theft, or is it merely the next evolution of influence and homage that has always characterized art history? The courts will eventually decide.

For parents and educators, the Ghiblification trend—and AI more broadly—presents both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, these tools can spark creativity and introduce children to artistic styles they might otherwise ignore.

Instead of Ghiblifying, you might consider Matisse-ifying, Van Goghing, or Rembranditicizing your family photos to introduce your kids to the trademark styles of these master artists.

On the other hand, these tools risk teaching that creation is merely about output rather than process—that creating art, writing, and even thinking are things machines can do for us rather than things we must ultimately learn to do ourselves.

What's easily forgotten in all this is the staggering human effort behind Miyazaki's original works. A typical Studio Ghibli film contains 60-70,000 hand-drawn frames, meticulously painted with watercolors. As Trung Phan recently highlighted, a mere 4-second clip from 'The Wind Rises' took one animator 15 months to complete. When the animator lamented that it was 'so short,' Miyazaki simply replied: 'But it was worth it.'

This level of dedication—putting 15 months into four seconds of beauty—represents something AI fundamentally cannot replicate: the human capacity to care deeply about creation. While algorithms can mimic styles, they cannot experience the satisfaction of pouring oneself into work that matters.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson here for education is that we must nurture the very qualities machines lack: curiosity, dedication, and the willingness to immerse ourselves in difficult work. The most meaningful application of AI might not be to replace human creativity but to inspire it—showing children artistic wonders, then giving them tools to create their own.

In the end, the "Ghiblification of everything" reveals not just our fascination with AI, but our enduring hunger for human touch in an increasingly automated world.

🔍 TRENDS WE’RE WATCHING

The Astonishing Math of Childhood: By the time your child turns 18, you've already spent 95% of all the time you'll ever spend with them.

The VAM Equation Reshaping Schools: The Value-Added Model is a statistical formula used to evaluate teachers based on student test scores. Developed in the 1970s and later embedded in policies like No Child Left Behind, this mathematical equation attempts to predict how students "should" perform, then judges teachers on whether students exceed these predictions. The problem? It treats children as standardized units, ignoring individual learning styles and circumstances. The result is a system where teaching to the test replaces genuine learning and exploration.

AI Tutors Moving from Theory to Reality: Marc Andreessen predicted back in 2023: "Every child will have an AI tutor that is infinitely patient, infinitely compassionate, infinitely knowledgeable." Some parents are reporting that tools like Synthesis Tutor are already delivering on this promise for young learners. (Check out our "AI Learning Companions" section below for specific tools worth exploring!)

When Learning "Disabilities" Become Superpowers: Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran says this about her dyslexia: "Everything I've done in my life has been one long attempt to show the world that I'm not stupid." What we often label as learning disabilities might actually be learning differences that create unique advantages, like drive, persistence, and grit.

🔨 TOOLS OF THE WEEK

The 4-Minute Math Explanation: Patrick J's lo-fi "Completing the Square" video has amassed 4.4 million views since 2008, with comments like "This 4-minute video made MORE sense than my professor's hour-long lecture." What makes this 16-year-old video so timeless? It breaks complex ideas into simple, repeatable steps that actually make sense.

Ghiblify Your Family Photos: ChatGPT's latest upgrade enables it to transform any picture into the magical style of Studio Ghibli animations. Upload a photo and ask it to "create image in the style of Studio Ghibli" to add a touch of whimsy to family memories.

Early College Through SNHU: Meg Thomas's teenage children leveraged OpenEd's partnership with Southern New Hampshire University to earn college credits during high school. "When other kids are graduating from high school, you get to put on your resume that you are a college graduate."

Linguistic Rules We Never Learned: Ever wondered why "little red ball" sounds right but "red little ball" sounds wrong? There's an order to adjectives that we follow instinctively: opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose. What other patterns might be operating in our minds without awareness?

🧠 AI LEARNING COMPANIONS WORTH EXPLORING

If you're interested in trying out AI tutoring with your children, here are some tools to consider:

• Khanmigo - Khan Academy's AI tutor adapts to individual learning styles, explains concepts, asks guiding questions, and recognizes when a student is stuck.

• Duolingo Max - Helps language learners practice conversations without judgment, explains grammar concepts, and provides instant feedback on pronunciation.

• Synthesis - Originally created for Elon Musk's Ad Astra school, uses AI to create simulation-based learning environments where children develop critical thinking through collaborative problem-solving.

• Socratic by Google - Provides step-by-step explanations for questions across a range of subjects.

• Osmo - Combines physical play with AI technology to create interactive learning experiences for younger children in math, spelling, and creative problem-solving.

• Numerade - AI-powered STEM learning platform offering video solutions to textbook problems and personalized study paths.

🤔 PARTING THOUGHT

LEARNING = SERIAL INCOMPETENCE

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Education systems often focus on compliance and memorization. But real learning is trying, failing, adjusting, and trying again until the struggle leads to mastery.

Embracing "serial incompetence" means seeing mistakes as essential stepping stones rather than something to be avoided.

You can read about swimming forever, but you'll never learn to swim until you get wet. The reading is preparation; the failing is learning.

That’s all for this week!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

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