November 17 2009 Meeting Notes

Career, Safety, Character, and Citizenship month

Brownies earned- “Careers” page 22/ Juniors are earning “Careers” page 12/ Dangerous Boys are earning “Citizenship” pin.

Brownies are earned- “Safety Sense” page 50 / Juniors are earning “First Aid” page 62 /

Dangerous Boys earned “Citizenship” pin.

Game Time- Character/ Career Bean Bag Toss (Fulfills a part of Badge Requirement).

*******Important to Note- that whichever “Character quality” you were given- it was given to you by God to use as your special gift to serve His purpose.  It is up to us to discover our gift from God and use it for His glory.

1 Peter 4:10-11- “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another.  Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.  Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it will all your strength and energy that God supplies.”

2 Timothy 1:6- “This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God fame you when I laid my hands on you.”

Preparation- Draw a large Circle shape target on poster board.  Divide the circle into pie slice shapes and label each section with a character quality, career choice, and biblical scripture reference.  Children line up and take turns tossing the bean bags.  Whichever they land on they can state any of the career choices that they are interested in.

Add any “character qualities” words, career choices that would go along with the character-quality and biblical references you would like.

Here are some ideas: may also be distinguished by color-coding the pie slices.

Compassion- John 6 and Jesus feeds the 5,000- Doctor, Teacher, Veterinarian, Greeting Card Writer, Nurse,

Respect/ Courage/ Faithfulness- Daniel 6 and the Lion’s Den- Minister, Paleontologist,

Responsibility/Kindness- Luke 10 and the Good Samaritan- Missionary, Lawyer

Courage/ Strength- see Daniel 6 and 1 Samuel 17- David and Goliath- Military Personnel, Fire Fighter, Police Officer, Bee Keeper, White-Water Rafter, Stunt Person, Storm Watcher or Chaser, Jet Pilot

Humble- John 13- Jesus washes the Disciples Feet and Philippians 2 Humble Yourself- Minister, Politician, Physical Therapist,  Organic Farmer, Nutritionist

Patience- Dog Trainer, Photographer, Cake Decorator, Song Writer, Screen Writer, Medical Researcher, Electrician, Roller Coaster Designer, Florist, Toy Designer, Sign Language Interpreter

Meticulous- God in Creation, Noah- Aerospace Engineer, Cryptographer, Fashion Designer, Architect, Software Engineer, Cartoon Animator, Website Developer

Talk to children about first aid kit that they have made and will come to each meeting in case of accidental injuries (Fulfills a part of badge requirement).

Went out front to listen to “special” guest speaker (Fulfills a part of Badge Requirement).

Guest Speaker- Police Officer from Portsmouth K9 unit

Showed children the fire safety escape route on the way out to meet the “Special” Guest Speaker (fulfills a part of badge requirement).

Made Fall Handprint Tree Place Mats

Biblical Story / Snack Time- Cheryl read  “Seeds, Lamps, and a Harvest” Mark 4 page 259 (Light on top of a hill).

Presented children with earned Recognitions

REMINDERS-

Discuss Field Trip Reminder date to Cold Stone Creamery on 11/21 from 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Reminder- we will not have another meeting until January (1^st Tuesday of the month).  Announce who the parent planning team is and ask for additional volunteers to help lead meeting.  Kelly is founder planner during January.  Christina is the parent volunteer to assist at January’s meeting.

I discovered my Jewish roots two years ago. No, not blood roots. I’m a good mixture of Dutch, Scotch and English – an all-American mutt. No, I’m talking about adoption.

Christianity so obviously grew out of Judaism, and the Bible talks about non-Jewish Christ-followers being “grafted” into the family. Since this discovery, I’ve taken an interest in what Jewish festivals teach about the Messiah, and have I ever stumbled onto some fun, memorable ways to teach my kids Christian doctrine! I started with Passover, which coincides with Easter, and which I’ll probably blog about at that time. Right now I’m taking on my second festival – Hanukkah!

As we get rolling on this in homeschool, I predict several more posts to follow. Soon!

Why is there so much controversy over what is taught in our public schools? A recent Google search for “textbook controversy” yielded 2,040,000 entries, and a search for “curriculum controversy” found 2,080,000. 

Currently there is controversy in California (again). This time it is not over which approach should be used to teach math, nor is it about how Hindu history is taught, both having apparently worn themselves out. This time it is over a second grade library book about two real male Chinstrap penguins that, like many other male penguins have done, hatched and raised a young penguin. On Amazon.com, this book has an overall reader rating of 4 out of 5 stars, with 77 ratings of 5, 16 ratings of 1, and 25 in between.

 “And Tango Makes Three,” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, does have the zookeeper state that “They must be in love.” And that’s where all the trouble starts. Some parents are upset that this book is included in reading material used in the mandatory curriculum designed to teach children concerning bullying, respect, and acceptance, including awareness and acceptance of alternate lifestyles. Having three people who are very dear to me who fit into the community of LGBT, I am very much in favor of anything that might help reduce the horrible abuse they are subject to, but I have many friends whom I respect in many ways, who do not agree.

A short while ago the news was full of the never-ending battle over the teaching of evolution in science and attempts to at least add creationism to the science curriculum.

Various special interest groups continuously advocate that more or better or no information about one topic or another should be taught. To find out what is wrong with American history textbooks, I heartily recommend that you read, “Lies My Teacher Told Me,” by James W. Loewen. 

In the article “The Textbook Controversy,” Charles Cummins, recognizing the ever changing face of history as it is taught, wrote,” In order to understand the debate over the portrayal of history in textbooks, one must first be clear on the influence of education, textbooks, history, and politics over nationalism…Bringing ‘official’ interpretations of the past to the student, ‘textbooks typically function as nationalist primers that selectively highlight elements of the past to limn an ‘official’ story and etch the lineages and myths of contemporary patriotism.’”

This controversy has been going on for a very long time, probably since the first public schools were built. Although, perhaps there was a time when citizens more readily accepted that the government knew what was best for them.

The reasons for controversy over curricula or books used in schools fall into several categories. The texts may have too much or too little “political correctness”: they may be perceived to be in conflict with certain religious beliefs; they may be politically or ideologically slanted (in history, nearly always, to some degree), or they may be factually incorrect. Ironically factually incorrect texts stir up relatively little complaint. Perhaps it is hard to get passionate about teaching facts correctly. Ocassionally, the question is actually about what is the best way to teach the subjct to students. I have never heard of much public controversy over what is the best way to teach to students with different learning needs, though, unfortunately.

Texts or teachings that are considered discriminatory may overlap several of the above. Differing beliefs, philosophies and views of scholars, the government, society at large, various different religious and special interest groups can trigger debate. 

Critic and poet Matthew Arnold in 1864 called for “disinterestedness,” or objectivity, in the search to “know the best that is known and thought in the world.” Unfortunately this may be impossible.

So, is controversy over what is taught in schools a bad thing? I would say it is not. It brings errors to light, makes people aware of different points of view and makes the public more aware of what is being taught in schools. Unfortunately, even when a democratic process is followed (or maybe because a democratic process is used), authoritative scholars and others are called in, or laws are invoked; there is no guarantee that the right decision will be made. Hopefully, logic will prevail, but it is not likely that the final decision will stand as eternal truth. And it will never be accepted by all.

My biggest concern is that students are not allowed to learn about and from the controversy as a part of their education. Textbooks, teachers and parents generally assure them that “all is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds,” so you really don’t need to think about it. In fact, if you just memorize what we tell you, you won’t have to think at all.

Of course, homeschoolers get to choose their own sources of information according to their own personal biases, and we all have them. The problem is that we often do this based on one or two limited criteria, and may end up unknowingly choosing pap or sadly inaccurate materials. When you throw in the fact that we try to choose material presented with just the right approach for the specific needs of our little learners, it gets even more complicated. Fortunately, we can supplement in any way we choose, to fill in the gaps. However, it is quite a challenge. That’s one reason why so many homeschoolers end up living in a library they call home.

How textbooks are written and published is a whole other depressing story.

So recently my mother-in-law confronted Hubby with the question of whether we would be enrolling Mini Riceball in public school for Kindergarten or not.  He told her flat out that we won’t despite her giving the opinion that we should “at least send her to Kindergarten and decide from there” he stuck with our original decision.  Now I’m one prone to anxiety and I’ve been filled with my own doubts and a few months ago I even considered giving up and just enrolling her in Kindergarten.  Now though I’ve found confidence I’m already thinking about summer and next fall school wise.  Homeschool is working out great so far for us and I’m of the opinion that you don’t fix something that’s not broken.  I think Mini Riceball is thriving and doing well.  Also I’m going to be talking to my grandmother’s nieghbor soon about maybe setting up a playdate with the kids she babysits.  Also the Gym Kids enrollment should be opening up soon.  I’m definitely not worried about her socializing, we already have our trips to the libarary and Storyville where she interacts with any of the kids that happen to be there and also the occasional trip to the Barnes and Noble train table.

Anyway I’m having less doubts the more we do and my worry is now switched to how to fill the summer without getting to far ahead and without spending a whole bunch on an enrichment course that she might not be interested in (There’s very few enrichment courses through Calvert for her grade level).  I’m sure I’ll have a few more people giving their opinion as the time to enroll for Kindergarten draws nearer.  I’ll just have to remember the good points and keep my confidence.

This poor blog has been a bit neglected the past couple of weeks, but my family has been well taken care of.  I am ready to get back into the swing of things and enjoy a Blessed December!

Here are some upcoming plans and posts. Tune back in everyday this week for lots of links & ideas!

~ Do you live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area? There are some fun holiday activities going on and I will have a list to share.

~ There are also some fun events going on in Bloggyworld!

~ We are going to make a Jesus Box this year.

~ We are spending the afternoon creating Christmas Countdown Calendars (so I can quit answering “How many more days until Christmas?”).

~ I have lots of Advent links to share. There are so many good ideas that I’m having a hard time narrowing down what I want to do this year!

~ I like to do Funschool in December. We will be studying the history behind the symbols of Christmas. Here are my Funschool Links from last year to keep you busy until I get the new links up.

~ Are you having a homemade Christmas this year? Money is tight for many of us. I will be sharing links for lots of ideas to make for all ages.  Things like: candy & treats, gifts in a jar, toys, and lots more!

~ And of course I will be sharing lots of money-saving *Jingles* !!

“Juergen and Rosemary Dudek of Archfeldt, Germany, were sentenced to 90 days in prison in July 2008 because they homeschool their children. Their sentence was overturned by an appeals court because of a legal error, and a new trial was ordered. Their new trial began November 16. German news reports indicate the judge appears disposed to seek a compromise. But prosecutor Herwig Mueller has vowed to appeal any sentence that does not include jail time for these parents, who have been in the spotlight for years because of their insistence on homeschooling. This was the same prosecutor who appealed the lower court sentence of only a fine, saying to the family, “You don’t have to worry about the fine because I will send you to jail,” begins the article. LINK: http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Germany/200911200.asp

HT: http://www.worldviewtimes.com/

December 4 – Last Alternate Day Schedule of Classes

December 10 – 4H Business Meeting & Christmas Party

December 15 -  Community Service Event (Serving Lunch to Prime Timers as First Assembly of God)

Have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.  Classes resume on January 29.  Also, don’t forget the January Hands on Science Fair on January 23.

About seven years ago I printed out  Fraction Manipulatives from donnayoung.org.  They were printed on cardstock, then colored, then laminated.

These are so wonderful to use.  I start with the 1/2 and how it makes a whole.  Then work our way down to the smaller fractions.  Each one is placed on the whole, to show how many pieces make a whole. 

With Pea #2, we worked on the 1/2 and 1/4 sizes.  She got the idea right away.  After the lesson, she wanted to play with the manipulatives, so I let her.  Later she came up to me and said, “MOM! Each piece can be made into a whole pie!”  lol

We are missing one slice she told me.  Personally, I think someone ate it.

This is our last year of using these manipulatives.  It makes me sad.

Had a busy few days. The heat has been just crazy. I think i have officially given up on trying to raise my own seedlings! About a third of the seeds i plant don’t even germinate, of those that do half of them die as young little new seedlings. Those that survive to be slightly older seedlings end up dying later on either cos their stem burns off or they seem to just disappear out of the garden!! (could birds be eating them!?!?!). So i think i am lucky to be getting about 1 in 10 survive (even less when you consider the whole box that Bundy dug up).

So i bought some basil and mint seedlings about a week ago, and then an eggplant and a capsicum on the weekend from the local markets. So far so good! LOL!

Had some corriander seeds that i have been meaning to pick off the bushes for a while. Finally bought the bush up on to the deck to do it. I was expecting a long seed picking but no, the boys actually started without me. I don’t think they realised they were being helpful and when i excitedly encouraged them to continue they quickly lost interest. bugger.

Been doing lots more with the Montessori and other homeschool stuff too over the last week now that we are settling in and getting a bit of a daily pattern going on. Jordy has been loving the blue triangles and spindles again. Doing lots of puzzles and counting and shape finding games that are lots of fun. I got the metal insets out of their boxes too and presented them for the first time and he LOVED them. Did some tracing but also played some pattern sequence matching games that he made up himself. fun.

Last night was the local community homeschool end of year concert and i had been invited to come along and meet everyone. The concert was just down the road from me in the town hall here and Jordy already knows some of the kids from Birth Circle so i figured we’d head over and have a look. My Gosh!!!

We had the best night. The homeschool kids were just bloody fantastic! A big range of ages (lots of kids around both Darcy and Jordy’s age which is nice but also kids from all ages right up to about 16) and a big range of skills. We saw bagpipe playing, ballet, shakespeare, kids sang, played guitar, did celtic dance, comedic verse, storytelling… the whole lot. Was so, so great to watch. All the kids sat on a bunch of cushions and blankets in front of the stage while waiting for their turn and so the boys sat in with them and watched the whole show just clapping and dancing along. Jordy kept asking me when it was his turn and was it his turn next and could he go up on stage and dance. In the end when everyone went up to take a bow he was invited up (which was so lovely cos he was just so darn excited) and he waved and smiled and posed for a photo. Was hilarious.

And funnily enough even apart from the several mums and kids that i knew already from the Birth Circle i ended up knowing three other families from totally different places/backgrounds that i did not know homeschooled so it turns out i already know half the group.

Can’t wait to catch up with them all again when more activities start in the new year.

Dari situsnya: Free primary (Infants and Juniors) resources and materials, from lesson plans to Flash presentations, welcome to Prosyst3ms. The materials presented here should prove useful to Muslim home-schoolers/ educators or even non-Muslims wishing to research the Islamic perspective of certain topics and issues.

http://www.prosyst3ms.co.uk/index.html

Dapat dari blog Umm An-Nu’man. (df)

On my “technology” page I told you about the free physics-based program called “Phun.” Dana has had so much fun with “Phun” and created some amazing stuff, so when he found out they had a “new and improved” commercial version, I finally broke down and bought it for him. It seems the physics graduate student who created “Phun” went to work in his advisor’s company to produce a marketable version called “Algodoo.” It has some new capabilities and has fired up Dana’s engineering creativity again. He has built numerous versions of elevators and vehicles that pick up, haul, and dump stuff. Now he is working on new versions of pumps using three-tooth gears instead of the vanes shown in the one on the “Technology” page. He says they pump more efficiently. First he made the “water” black and said it was ink. Now he is working on making variations of hot chocolate pumps. I understand that the next addition will be a spout to fill a cup from the reservoir. He has also created a water powered vehicle.

The self-directed discovery learning, problem solving and creativity encouraged by this program makes it a worthwhile investment for him. As he gets older, I expect the projects will become increasingly complex and probably have more direct relationship with the real world. But the fantasy creations also must work using the same principles and limitations (unless deliberately set differently) as real-life objects. So the basic knowledge gained through direct manipulation will carry over.

For more ideas, there are many, many free “phunlets” which can be downloaded to the program and used as-is or manipulated to suit. There is really nothing quite like it for the budding engineer type kid (or adult) who loves to invent and fool around building and experimenting with no mess or danger, and no cost for materials.

The kids started a bottle cap collection over the summer.  People are trashy around here, and we quickly accumulated a small trash can full.  Then the kids stopped because they didn’t know where else to store them.  They were counted from time to time but then mostly ignored.  I was ready to throw them out so I announced as a farewell we would make bottle cap collection graphs!  Rebecca made a bar graph today.  She’s planning a pictograph tomorrow.  Joshua took Rebecca’s graph figures and figured the probability of each kind of cap being chosen.

Rebecca’s was done on Microsoft Word.  It won’t let me take a screen shot of it to show you.  If you are really interested in seeing it, you can download the Word document by clicking on it’s link below (webgraph1).  I didn’t know what would happen when I inserted a Word document.  Pretty neat.  I just learned something new!

webgraph1



Joshua’s was done online at http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx

And the latest lapbook…from Homeschool Share…  http://www.homeschoolshare.com/eagles.php

Joshua and Rebecca each did pieces, and I gave them to Joshua to put on the big paper.  He, umm, did it very creatively.  We can’t really fold it though, so it became a poster.

Click to enlarge.

Rules for Radicals de Saul Alinsky este o carte care incita la revolta. Razboi intre clasele sociale. Este cartea de baza pe care presedintele Obama si-a construit cariera.

De exemplu, regula 12 arata cum Alinsky sfatuie care este metoda necesara pentru a obtine ceea ce vrei: alege-ti tinta, ingheat-o, personalizeaz-o, apoi polarizeaz-o”.

Daca proverbul “sintem ceea ce citim” este adevarat, atunci recomandarea sindicatului profesorilor ne arata cum vor sa devina profesorii lor.

Acest clip arata cum toate acestea se leaga: razboi spiritual, care incepe in scoli, cu copiii nostri.

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Nature study is a core part of the early years of Miss Mason’s epistemological approach. A walk to the park and a game of Pooh sticks is a wonderful way for children to learn. When it comes to seeing and appreciating the local wildlife however, my children are never going to make it as the next David Attenborough as the enthusiasm of the Mighty 2 Year Old gets the better of her and she keeps bellowing “LOOK!” which immediately causes the receiver of her cheerful and loud attention to make a dash for it.

On our trip to the park I went with the petition in my crip-scooter basket and I stopped people along the way and asked them to sign. It was worth a try I thought. Reports from my son who had a page in his place of work, was that lots of people wouldn’t sign because they didn’t understand the wording and there were a lot of teachers who go there who (to be honest to my surprise) were not willing to sign it either. I did note one teacher legging it when he thought he might be asked to sign it the other day.

Meanwhile home education continues. Ronan enjoyed the story writing activity Classics for Kids set this week and there was yet more Chinese being spoken around the house. Even Heleyna is picking it up! (I’m not. It’s too hard!)

In Geography the children cut out copies of South America and Africa and looked at how they used to fit together. They learned a bit more about plate tectonics and how the plates make mountains and earthquakes.

On Thursday their dad had a day off so not much formal stuff was done but he did sit with Ronan and Avila so they could read to him.

Then on Thursday evening we left Alex and his Beloved with Heleyna and the rest of us went off to watch Josh in panto. It was a production of Jack and the Bean Stalk in which Josh starred in the first half as the back end of Daisy the cow and had a strange script consisting of the word “Moo!” In the second half he played a wizard and was very funny indeed. The show was lots of fun and the audience were appreciative. It was lovely to see how much Avila enjoyed herself. I think she might want to follow in her biggest brother’s footsteps one day- if she doesn’t fulfil her present ambition to be a builder.

Then yesterday was our Home Education Open Art Display afternoon. This was the suggestion in the Artistics Pursuits course we are doing as a group. We had been to the museum and taken note of how things were displayed in the Art Gallery and then the children spent a lot of time mounting and putting up their work.

Not all of it was pictures on the wall-though the walls were duly covered with paintings, drawings, colourings, and photos; but we also had a little display of decorated Christmas cakes the children had done under the tutelage of “Hiona the Professional”.

While neighbours and friends came over to have a look at the children’s work Al came home early and we went off to hand in the petition. It’s in and done.

It occurred to us mums that there was quite a lot of work in display considering it was only from September. We realised that usually once a piece of work is finished it gets put in a box, or folder and we rarely, if ever, look at it again. Some pieces get put on the wall for a while, but this huge display of what the group has produced was quite an eye opener.

We have decided that we would like to do something like this at the end of each term. We would invite people in to see the work and maybe look at curricula and whatever other stuff might be of interest. It would be a good way for the children to see what they have achieved (oooh enjoy and achieve!-sorry, I’ll stop it now)and for us to perhaps lift some of the strange mystique around the whole idea of EHE. Or perhaps we just want any excuse for a bit of a party:)

More than a quarter of 11-year-olds left primary school this year without a decent grasp of English and maths, according to official league tables… One in five children in England effectively went backwards in the last four years of primary education. The Torygraph tells that:

The watchdog’s annual report said there was a “lack of focus” on basic English for slower pupils, limited opportunities for children to expand their vocabulary, infrequent use of open and challenging questions and little attention given to the skill of writing at length.

Inspectors insisted “few” schools effectively tackled the issue of problem-solving in maths.

Why? Because they’re too busy being taught faux-educational topics such as domestic violence; alcohol, drug and tobacco awareness; bullying; sex and relationship education; sexuality; personal finance; and body image.

And this is what they want to force home educating parents to teach to their children, despite the simple fact that:

most children who are home-schooled are better taught and have a wider education than those in the classroom subject to the dead hand of the regime that has let down so many pupils and left so many teachers demoralised. When the state system has failed, why would anyone try to replicate it?

Let us remember that many of these parents have taken their children out of school to escape the damaging impact of precisely this sort of bureaucratic meddling, which has destroyed their faith in the ability of the state system to deliver a high-quality education.

The (US based) Home School Legal Defense Association published an excellent refutation (English Home Education: Already In Proper Balance) of Graham Badman’s stitch-up report. A petition is also about to be submitted to Parliament, requesting “that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families either not to bring forward, or to withdraw, proposed legislative measures providing for tighter registration and monitoring of children educated at home in the absence of a thorough independent inquiry into the condition and future of elective home education in England; but instead to take the steps necessary to ensure that the existing Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities are properly implemented, learning from current best practice, in all local authorities in England.”

If you are so inclined, there are still a couple of days left to sign.

UPDATE: A couple of others discussing edumakayshun around the blogosphere: Underdogs bite upwards, RedMummy Rambles On.

The Shurley Homeschool Scope and Sequence outlines which concepts are taught in each level of the Shurley Homeschool Curriculum: Shurley Scope & Sequence

Switching to Shurley from another English Curriculum?  Trying to find the level that best suits your educational goals for the year?  A quick scan of the Shurley Homeschool Scope & Sequence can get you pointed in the right direction.  Color coded columns allow easy comparison between levels, and parents can see at a glance what will be taught in each course.  It’s also a handy resource for those who need to provide school officials with documentation of the course content for their homeschool curricula.

Image by bpende via Flickr

So from time to time, I look back at my bloggy beginnings, and I’m a bit in awe of the way things have taken shape over the last couple of years.  I wish I had a saved screenshot of Topsy-Techie in it’s humble first months…it would be a hoot to do a before & after shot here!

But I also occasionally look back to my goals for what I wanted to accomplish with my blog.  I happened to think a wanna-be techie mom, raising two geeklings – - one a techie-genius and the other a techie-addict – - was somewhat hilarious, and I hoped other people might find it to be so as well.  And then, of course, I wanted to share all the fun ways I had found to integrate technology into our day-to-day homeschool lives.

In some ways, I’ve really stuck to those original ideals.  My Friday’s Hardwired Homeschool Hints series, for instance, has been a way to share my favorite educational technology for homeschoolers on a weekly basis.  But in terms of other content, I’m usually all over the map.  Maybe that’s not a bad thing…it might possibly get REALLY boring to regale you with the tales of Uber’s latest programming conquests.

But today, I’m heading back to my roots.  Gonna fill you in on a little of the true geekiness that’s been going on around here in T-T land.

• Uber loves coffee.  He loves coffee shops even more.  Our town has its fair share of ones to choose from, and several are within walking distance of our house. So, Uber starts out many of his mornings by walking to a local coffee shop and chilling.  This morning when I asked him what he did while sipping his java, he matter-of-factly explained that he was working through some hexadecimal problems and figuring out how they could apply in real-life situations.  He then told me he had given the barista there his email in case she needed some tech support.  I didn’t bat an eye at any of this.
• H-T loves video games.  You would think I mean that he loves to play them, but trust me – - that is a secondary interest.  His first love is watching videos ABOUT video games online.  Ratings, reviews, cut scenes, and sometimes people actually just acting out the game as the game characters.  Scary thing is, I’m pretty sure H-T would be making these videos himself if he weren’t so pre-occupied with watching them.  It’s the weirdest pastime I’ve ever heard of.  And he can spend HOURS at it. 

The thing about raising two geeky teens that I find the MOST hilarious, though, is listening to them call each other to their respective rooms:

“Hey Uber!  Com’ere!  You’ve got to see this new video game trailer!!

“Hey H-T!  Com’-ere!  You are going to FLIP when you see this new Linux interface!

I consider myself fairly technologically savvy, and I assure you that this is all greek geek to me.  But I adore it.  It is a unique and unusual way to live…and I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

Well we didn’t do much with Thanksgiving.  We drew a hand turkey which only went slightly well.  Mini Riceball is not much into coloring right now, I just think she lacks confidence.  I didn’t rearrage much, we just took an activity from a future lesson.  Mini Riceball also helped set the table, since I saw we would be covering that soon.  She’s also had some practice with it before in the Storyville kitchen (there is a placement with everything printed where it should be placed).  I think we’ll finish out our talk of Pilgrims and just skip over the talk about Thanksgiving.  We have our Christmas tree up and we have so many books out from the library that we need to read through.  We have some Christmas books too.  Mini Riceball is very excited about Christmas and though I’m a bit stressed I am too.  I’m mostly stressed over getting the rest of the presents for family and about the last of Hubby’s presents getting her.  I ordered them a few weeks ago, and I finally got the cofirmation email a week ago and I keep checking the status only to find that they are still processing.  Disney Movie Club usually doesn’t take this long with shipping, usually it’s Disney Movie Rewards that takes forever.  Though the last thing I ordered from them came rather quickly.  They’ve had some really neat stuffed animals lately.  Also I need a get an ornament for Mini Riceball this year.  I’ve gotten her an ornament for every year.  I’m following the tradition Grandma had with me.  I think the Disney Store just lowered their prices on ornaments again, which is awesome because I want to get one of those ornaments for my Grandfather.  He loves Pooh and the one ornament is really cute, also he’s hard to buy for.  Though if the price is low enough I might just buy him a second thing as well.  My grandmother is equally hard to buy for and I still have to figure out what to get for her.  Mini Riceball will probably end up with either an ornament from the Disney Store or a Disney related Halmark ornament.  Every ornament so far is Disney related.  2005 is a Baby Minnie Christmas ball that says Baby’s First Christmas, 2006 is a singing Kermit ornament, 2007 is a Disney world photo frame ornament, 2008 is a Stitch ornament.

Nu este nici o surpriza, dar este bine cind adevarul este spus chiar de catre cei care ar trebui sa ne educe copiii.

Directorul sindicatului profesorilor recunoaste ca rolul principal al profesorilor nu este sa invete copiii, ci sa acapareze putere.

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“Despite what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power.

Daca esti un parinte cu copii in scolile publice, arata-ti impotrivirea prin scoaterea copiilor din scoli. Fara ei, profesorii nu vor mai avea nici o putere.