Teaching Ideas From Cheaper by the DozenDeEllen StowellThis book made me laugh and think all at the same time. I absolutely loved the conviction of the parents for teaching their own children. I thought my husband was accepting when I put huge pieces of paper up on the walls and drew out pictures of things we were going to learn, but to paint the walls??? The mother was very gracious to allow her home to be used in this manner. I imagine it was a fun time living in their home! I also loved that he didn’t back down on letting the littlest children learn along with the big ones. How amazing it was to hear of the little ones shouting out answers to the multiplication problems they had learned at the dinner table. I loved that he used that “wasted time” to his advantage. The father was never short of anything to say to his children and his passion often spread. When they were learning about sailing, I was reminded of Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus. He made the experience so real! To an outsider, he may have been looked upon as being a bit crazy, but to his children, he was taking them on an adventure! I loved when they all jumped off the ship and swam to shore leaving him behind and only then realizing that he could sail that ship all on his own, but instead had made it a learning experience for them.I think am going to try something similar to his method for teaching my children foreign languages. I’m going to look for Spanish learning CDs/downloads and play them for our children when they are playing in the playroom. I will have to listen as well and we will all learn together! I think it is important to learn another language, and often I wish that I had taken the time to learn Spanish as it would be helpful quite often where we live.I thought about the trust the mother had for the father that she was willing to let him try his “efficiency” methods out on her family. Even when they were babies, he tried to get them to swim and do other things. However, I also loved that she had the wisdom to take them back when he had gone too far or his “trial” had failed. I thought it was great that he was caught cooing to the baby in the middle of the night. He had learned that babies (and children) simply aren’t efficient. Rather you must try different methods of teaching until you find the one that works. Yet, he was able to teach them efficiency methods of getting housework and other chores done. I loved that he had the older children bond to the youngest ones. I’ve often heard that big families have such a “generation gap” in them that the oldest don’t know the youngest very well. I find it interesting that he closed up that generation gap by making the oldest responsible for the little ones. At first I didn’t agree and felt it wasn’t their job, however after I heard of the tight bond all of the children had, I felt perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.I thought the end to be very interesting as we find out why he felt he needed to have the older children help out. I was quite shocked to learn of his heart condition. I loved that he did not go down without a fight and without using every minute to the fullest with the children he loved so much. While we do things a little differently in our home, we can definitely learn much from this family as we strive to give our children the best opportunities in learning and the best education that we possibly can.
The Weasleys in the world of Harry Potter could very well have been inspired by the real-world Gilbreth family, the subject of the memoir Cheaper by the Dozen. They're both large, boisterous, red-headed families run by characters the likes of which we're unlikely to see in our own lifetimes. The Gilbreths, however, number fourteen rather than a mere nine, and while the matrons of the houses may reflect each other, the patrons are remarkably dissimilar.Frank Gilbreth, Sr., portly father and professional efficiency expert, is certainly the true subject of this book, for while the foreword claims that "this book is about the Gilbreth family before Dad died," nothing seems to have determined the size and shape of the family so much as Frank did. Born in 1868, Frank's purpose in life seemed to be to teach everyone else in world how to do what they do better. From breaking speed records as a brick-layer to corporate and industrial management and assembly consulting to working for the military during World War I, Frank analyzed systems, broke them down into units of human activity (later eponymously called "Therbligs"), and rendered them more efficient by studying the individual motions and making changes to cut out waste.He even applied it to his family. He instructed his children in the speediest soaping techniques in the bath. He assigned management responsibility of his children between his children. He taught them astronomy, Morse code, multiplication tables and touch typing with new and simple methods. He and Lillian, his wife, established a family council to govern the fourteen-person household.Taking place largely in the two decades after the turn of the 20th century, this is truly a remarkable story and a quick read. You'll think again about how you might raise kids, and you'll want to have an enormous family. You'll find you're more curious about the world, the way it works, and who this guy and his family were, the last of whom just died in the past few years. Don't be confused by the title or the cover, however: this book is far different (and better) than the movie.Do I recommend it? Yes, to anyone who is curious or wants to be more curious.Would I teach it? I was about to say no, but then I realized that I'm teaching it to a student I'm tutoring. It's a summer reading book for his school's sixth grade. I'm almost 30, and I loved it.Lasting impression: I leave this book with two thoughts: 1) how impressive Frank and Lillie were in their creativity, motivation, love and stamina, and 2) how instinctive and effective Frank was as a teacher.
What do You think about Cheaper By The Dozen (2002)?
Family life, background story of pioneering the field of efficiency enhancing motion studies of Frank & Lillian Gilbreth. Lillian Moller Gilbreth was an inventor, author, industrial engineer, industrial psychologist, and mother of twelve children. A pioneer in ergonomics, Gilbreth patented many kitchen appliances including an electric food mixer, shelves inside refrigerator doors, and the famous trash can with a foot-pedal lid-opener. Lillian Gilbreth is best known for her work to help workers in industry with her classic Time & Motion Studies, which supported work simplification and industrial efficiency. Lillian Gilbreth was one of the first scientists to recognized the effects of stress and lack of sleep on the worker. After the death of her husband Frank Gilbreth with whom she had co-authored many of the worker studies and were partners in the management consulting firm of Gilbreth, Inc., Lillian Gilbreth continued her work and turned her attention to the household worker and increasing the efficiency of kitchen appliances. Lillian Gilbreth was an industrial engineer for General Electric and worked on improving kitchen designs. Gilbreth interviewed over 4,000 women to design the proper height for stoves, sinks, and other kitchen fixtures. In 1966, she became the fist women to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering. What is Ergonomics? Ergonomics is essentially fitting the workplace to the worker. It involves the application of knowledge about human capacities and limitations to the design of workplaces, jobs, tasks, tools, equipment, and the environment. The goal of ergonomics in the workplace is to prevent injuries and illnesses (work-related musculoskeletal disorders or WMDs) by reducing or eliminating worker exposure to occupational hazards. These hazards include: Awkward postures Repetition Force Mechanical compression Duration Vibration Temperature extremes
—Hyon
I read this book many times when I was in Junior High (aka Middle School) and loved it. I also enjoyed its follow-up, Belles on Their Toes, which follows the clan after the death of the patriarch.Cheaper by the Dozen follows a couple as they meet, marry and start a family, blithely assuming that it will be fine to have a dozen children, because "everything is cheaper by the dozen". It isn't but they don't learn that until later. There are many hard times for the family, with stern father presiding over meals and requiring that his children, even the daughters, learn reading and math. I say even the daughters since in those days all a daughter needed was to be able to do enough math to land a man who was well off. The main character, Frank Gilbreth, breezes into life, not through life, working to make things good for his children and his wife. A wonderful book, and on the reading list at many schools.
—Doris
HILARIOUS. An AWESOME story. Anyone who has a family, or wants to have a family, will love this book. Especially people with a lot of kids in their family (my mom) or very eccentric dads (me). This is the true story of a family of twelve children, whose father is a motion study expert and believes that what applies to workers in a factory also applies to children at home, and vice versa. Mykle and I are reading this together right now, and we cannot turn a page without him busting up laughing.The only thing I hate about this book is the cover on my copy, which is a picture from the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen" starring Steve Martin. I HATE this because the movie and the book are completely separate stories, and the image of one should NOT be used to endorse the other; the one and ONLY thing that the family in the movie has in common with the family in the book is that they have twelve children. That is IT. The rest of the movie is 100% Hollywood, and it SUCKS. I would gladly trade my like-new copy of this book for a run-down older version with yellowing pages.
—Sarah Law
