[clover]

My youngest sister is homeschooled with three or four other kids... they are about high-school-sophomore level. I'm kicking around the idea of teaching some kind of oil depletion/current events/relocalization unit to them (a one- or two-day, one-off kind of thing). I'd like to start with a brief intro to the concept, some brainstorming of things they've noticed around them, some scenario-building, and then end with things they can do personally.

They live in Flint, Michigan, so info relating to GM and already economically depressed communities would be relevant. They're also Seventh-Day Adventist, so doomerish scenarios will not easily freak them out. Do you folks know of any PO teacher curriculums, or material that would be useful for this?

[Ibon]

I am also giving an introduction to Peak Oil as a talk in a Seattle public Middle-High school next Wednesday and have been trying to put together some ideas for this so I would also appreciate any suggestions that people may have on ways to reach children with this topic. Fortunately the teacher who invited me to her class is peak oil aware and is showing End Of Suburbia at the end of next week.

She is also reading to the class an illustrated book in a comic book format called, "Addicted to War; Why the U.S. can't kick militarism" by Joel Andreas. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/190259 ... e&n=283155

This book doesn't directly address peak oil but does touch on the importance of oil in the US military presence in the middle east. I do reccommend this as a teaching age for home schoolers.

The trick here is to get across the big picture without overwelming the kids with statistics and of course focussing on solutions that include the need of conservation and adapting to their future of less energy.

[Primate]

I have been given the OK to teach a Peak Oil unit (about 4-6 weeks) to a seminar of high school seniors next fall. This is a high-powered, private college preparatory school. I'm considering using Heinberg's "The Party's Over" as my text, although I have not yet read "Powerdown." (Any thoughts between the two?). Already "The End of Suburbia" has been making the rounds in our upper school science classes and it surely will be the subject of discussion next fall.

My two best friends are petroleum geologists, and they are willing to provide guest lectures on oil and gas exploration. As a geophysicist for Shell Oil, one of our "parents" may give us a tour of their seismic division.

I am a prehistoric archaeologist by training, but have been teaching secondary school science for nearly twenty years. I recently pulled a copy of Marvin Harris' (the great anthropologist and cultural materialist) "Cannibals and Kings" off my bookshelf. I note that in his last chapter he cites the work of Hubbert, and this book was written in 1977. I highly recommend this book to all you peak oilers out there.

Living here in New Orleans, it's hard to get our minds off Katrina. Who needs more doomerosity! But maybe we're pre-adapted to this type of thinking.