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Multiplication Rock
Sep. 21st, 2006 02:22 pmIn the late 1970s, when children’s programming was all about making education fun, my Saturday morning cartoons used to be interrupted by not only commercials for McDonalds and Hotrods the like, but also with newsclips condensed for kids and, of course, School House Rock.
I loved School House Rock. I’m partly convinced that my entire generation learned to be slackers from watching “Lucky Number 7.” Plus, School House Rock saved me a whole bunch of memorization, particularly when it came to the preamble of the Constitution. I remember hearing my entire classroom humming that catchy little tune during a test. I also count by fives in a Southern accent thanks to School House Rock. And, when the School House Rock collection became available on video cassette, Shawn and I bought it. We watched it once for the nostalgia factor and then we forgot about it. (But, oh! What a nostalgia factor! Remember the Sufferage Song?? Very 70s, sisters!)
A couple of weeks ago, we switched Mason out of his nursery. He finally outgrew his toddler bed, and we bought him a brand new “Mission-style bunk bed,” (which incidentally is how he refers to it). This bunk bed is so massive that it didn’t fit into the old room, so we swapped out the TV room, repainted, and moved everything. During the big upheaval, we unearthed a number of video tapes. Among old episodes of “The Flash” we rediscovered School House Rock. Mason fell in love with them. I’m not fond of indulging Mason, who is three, in too much TV (we make an exception for Backyardigans because it runs on CBS without commercial interruption and it’s really very sweet). But it’s hard to say no when I hear my child begging for the multiplication tables. “Ima,” he says. “Can I please watch the math video?”
Uh, yeah. Go ahead. Watch as much as you want, I guess.
I loved School House Rock. I’m partly convinced that my entire generation learned to be slackers from watching “Lucky Number 7.” Plus, School House Rock saved me a whole bunch of memorization, particularly when it came to the preamble of the Constitution. I remember hearing my entire classroom humming that catchy little tune during a test. I also count by fives in a Southern accent thanks to School House Rock. And, when the School House Rock collection became available on video cassette, Shawn and I bought it. We watched it once for the nostalgia factor and then we forgot about it. (But, oh! What a nostalgia factor! Remember the Sufferage Song?? Very 70s, sisters!)
A couple of weeks ago, we switched Mason out of his nursery. He finally outgrew his toddler bed, and we bought him a brand new “Mission-style bunk bed,” (which incidentally is how he refers to it). This bunk bed is so massive that it didn’t fit into the old room, so we swapped out the TV room, repainted, and moved everything. During the big upheaval, we unearthed a number of video tapes. Among old episodes of “The Flash” we rediscovered School House Rock. Mason fell in love with them. I’m not fond of indulging Mason, who is three, in too much TV (we make an exception for Backyardigans because it runs on CBS without commercial interruption and it’s really very sweet). But it’s hard to say no when I hear my child begging for the multiplication tables. “Ima,” he says. “Can I please watch the math video?”
Uh, yeah. Go ahead. Watch as much as you want, I guess.
