[EDUTAINMENT] - Frontier House - I thought this was a neat idea when I first heard about it. Place three modern families in the kind of situation that a frontier family would face in the lat 1800's and see how they do. It beats Survivor, in my book. PBS's Fontier House begins tonight with the training that they put the folks through so that they would be prepared with some of the foreknowledge that a 19th century family would have had embarking on such an adventure.

If you're like me, you've wondered whether life would be happier if it were simpler. Our world is full of so much noise and distraction, what if we could return to a less complex time? I think it's wrong to idealize the past. When I think of the things we would be without were my family to have existed in that time, I know we would have had serious hardship including most probably the loss of at least one child. Also, "happiness" is not something that people consider much when they are chopping wood and chasing chickens around all the time. Our luxury affords us the opportunity to think about being happy.

That's not to say there aren't things we may have forgotten about those times that would enhance our lives if only we could relearn them. Hard work, reflection, tine to think, appreciating the good things in life (sometimes the small things) while you have time - these are all valuable lessons. What did the Frontier House families learn?