Education Uncensored

I a not psychotic but I am excited that school has started. We function better in routine mode or in all out free-for-all mode. We have a hard time with some days we do things one way and other days we do it another. So, school starting back adds to the headache a little at first but then, once everyone is in a groove, it’s all good.

My second grader has homework now and I’m lucky that I can still help him. No, I’m not crazy, I can do math over second grade but you know, some of the things these kids have to do are amazing. If you need help for your kiddos, you can get Math help, Math problems, 3. Homework help and more by using the great resources at Tutornext. 

Once the kids get older and problems start to pop up that are over my head, not that I’m dumb or anything, (haha), but  when he needs Algebra help, I will be handing that one off to someone who can better explain the process than I can. The same goes for Calculus help and really, I made good grades in school but everyone runs into problems every now and again.  You can check the site out and even find Physics help if you need it.

I know that many schools haven’t even started yet. However, our little cherubs went back last week. I had grand plans for those days. Work, sleep, work, sleep, sleep some more, work…

As usual, that’s not how it all panned out. Instead, I got a nasty sinus infection and it has me beat to a pulp.  But I digress…obviously.

As many of you know, I’ve spoken out quite often about my dislike for homework. I am not however crazy, as some folks appear to think I am. I haven’t crossed the prospect of homework off the list of items that I want to wipe out completely, I simply ask for moderation mostly.

My overall goal is the responsibility of the involved players (the student, the teacher, the parent) is met without anyone being too dependent on the other. Did that make any sense at all?

But today, today I have an example of the kind of homework that I don’t mind watching my child do and should be used as an example of using homework for re-enforcement not teaching.  Now, I’ve been lucky for the most part and I know that. Walker catches on easily and I’m certain that makes it less painful for all of us.

But I digress…back to my point….

While I still do not plan to babysit my children while they do homework (and I honestly don’t think the teachers expect parents to), I have for you, the perfect example (or two, oops) of when, what and how the whole purpose of homework can be beneficial.

We (that’s my and Ditto Boy and well, Boy Genius too part of the time) are in second grade. We (that’s me and Boy Genius) were and still are a bit nervous about how the whole year will progress but what an awesome start we’ve had!!!!!!!!!

I could ramble on forever but here are a few facts..I call them facts because I believe them to be true, thus they are indeed facts…

• Homework has it’s place in a child’s life.
• Teachers should (and most do) teach during the day thus busy work is not needed.
• More than 10 minutes of homework per grade level is logical.

With that, I’m getting to my examples:

Example 1:

The homework for last night involved 15 spelling words. Fifteen words that he was familiar with when he arrived home. He couldn’t spell everyone of them, but it was more than obvious that he had heard the words numerous times through-out the day.

Thus, someone (his teacher I’m going to assume) did her job, she introduced my son to the words and obviously they had some discussion about how to spell them. I can’t be for sure, but I do know that my son did not come home blindly with a list of spelling words that he was clueless about.

Example two:

My second grader also came home with a list of vocabulary words. As soon as the words were mentioned, he spouted off definition. We went through them once, reinforced what he already knew and went on our merry way.

We moved on to Social Studies words and definitions which rendered the same ending. We had to help a bit with this one a little more but the words were

calendars, route, neighborhood, neighbors, community, city, suburb, town, transportation

and obviously some of them build on one another and can be confusing.

Nine words, that’s it. Yes, I know, it’s just week 2 but that is not my point here. My point here is this, I have offended many teachers in my time over my disregard for homework. However, as I’ve tried to explain time and time again, it isn’t homework I am opposed to my child doing, I just expect that he has been taught the information at school and homework is merely a method of reinforcement. Homework is for him to do, not me. I am not here to babysit him and over look his every move. It’s his homework and as long as it is reasonable, I have no intention of considering this “our homework” as I hear so many parents do.

In my sweet humble little opinion, how could you ask for more?  Teacher teaches, child learns, child uses a few minutes to reinforce what was learned, child plays, eats dinner, baths, goes to bed and the learning process kick starts one more time.

P.S. It is Day 2 here and as we talk about the social study words and vocabulary words, it is obvious these are well discussed during the day as Walker gives me examples that I know he would not otherwise even know about.

PSS He didn’t misspell any of his spelling words nor did he miss the definition of any of his social study or vocabulary words.

Teacher taught, kid learned, parent reinforced and we have the rest of the day to just chill and be kids…all of us, ha!

I didn’t even mention the math, so simple, no need for me to oversee it, just reminded him of the directions and the kid was on his way.  Awesome stuff wouldn’t you say?

Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom with your participation. Join now!

The Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward is charity blog meme, bloggers are able to raise $10 per blog post for Adopt-A-Classroom by writing a blog post or Facebook note and donating a virtual bag of school supplies . Elmer’s will donate $10 per each post written for Adopt-A-Classroom, up to $10,000.

HOW CAN YOU JOIN? It’s easy.

• Participate in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward by giving away a virtual bag of school supplies and creating a blog post or Facebook note with specific rules described below.
• Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom.
• You can give as many virtual bags as you want.
• The Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward will officially begin at 12 AM EST on July 22, 2010 and end at 12 PM EST on August 12, 2010. Blog posts submitted to us before or after that time period will not be counted.
• The blog post link has to be submitted in the comment section below for your participation to be counted.
• In addition copy and paste the following text into your blog post:

ELMER’S VIRTUAL BAG IT FORWARD RULES

• Copy and paste these rules into your blog post or Facebook note.
• Create a post giving a “virtual bag of school supplies” to other bloggers or write about your Back to School shopping trip at Walmart.
• Link back to the person who gave you a bag of school supplies.
• Let each person you are giving a virtual bag of school supplies know you have given them a bag.
• Leave your link in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward comment section. You can also find the official rules of this virtual #bagitforward program there.
• Elmer’s is donating $10 for each blog participating in the Virtual Bag It Forward Donation to Adopt-A-Classroom (up to total of $10,000 for blog posts written by August 12, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

Here is the photo you can use for your virtual bag or create your own!

Read more about Adopt-A-Classroom

This bag is for you Wayne

I wrote an article this morning regarding CNN’s coverage of the Craig’s List issue regarding pimping young girls. Quickly, I just want to say, it isn’t Craig’s place necessarily to do this, it is the responsibility of the people raising the people who turn to this type of behavior.

That leads me to what I want to discuss here. I’ll try to be brief but please understand how utterly disgusting this entire subject is to me. If I get out of hand, I’ll reign myself in and continue on another post. So, let’s get started.

I do want to also preface this story with the fact that I have a college degree. For that matter, I have a few college degrees including a graduate degree. And where does that leave me?  Well, I can guarantee you that neither of those pieces of paper have ever allowed me to make the kind of money these young girls on CNN are making by serving as call girls, prostitutes or whatever you want to call them.

Look at it this way, do you know what Pamela Anderson’s* claim to fame was?  If you don’t, I’ll let you Google it and find out. Do you know what Paris Hilton*, Nicole Ritchie* and Lindsey Lohan* did to become famous? Again, you can find that for yourself. What about Kim Kardashian*? See, I’m sure you know how at least one of those folks came to belong in the ranks of super-star celebrity status.

If not, check it out and come back.

As I had a conversation with someone on Monday who just happens to be a man but is equally disgusted by the whole issue as I am. The discussion started when I read about someone that I know who didn’t finish high school, got pregnant at 15, married and is now seen as a huge icon online. She is being pursued by various networks for promotion of their products. Another person with a bit of a different background, yet folks all over her for some reason or another that I have yet to understand.

With that, what I have to say is this, all of those people, the call girl, the prostitute, the two TV network ladies, all those celebrities, they make more money in one year that I’ve made in my lifetime. This is not one of those whiney why me post either.

This is point blank some truth here.

Later the conversation with my friend went like this…

me: oh yea, screw some piece of paper that says I am educated, heck, get another one that says I"m over-educated, geeez why bother

him: a college educated redneck I see?  well don’t forget, this is the age where Kim Kardashian gets paid $10,000 a tweet because she released a sex tape

me: stupid me, not filming any of that wild stuff, geez

him: LOL, ya could have been rich! tsk tsk tsk

me: crap no, I had my head in a book not a.. never mind

That’s how the conversation went and you know what is so sad about it, I bet that conversation is being had by hundreds of folks all over the place right now. A college education in 2010 is worthless. A piece of paper that says I studied for 4, 6, 8 or 12 years and I busted my butt to get this crappy piece of paper and now I’m $500,000 in debt means nothing.

What makes it even worse is this, if me, that person with 3 degrees and an astronomical amount of debt wanted to get rid of the debt quickly, I could have chosen two routes,

1.  I could have skipped the borrowing of money in student loans and moonlighted as a prostitute, call girl or put out some sex tapes of my self and paid my way through college without a hitch.

2.  I could say, forget about the paper, I have to get out of debt, so I’m going to go pimp, prostitute, make sex tapes, whatever I gotta do to get out of debt, then I’ll use my education.

Sadly, by the time I paid that debt off, my papers wouldn’t be worth anything.  Nothing! Even though the opportunity to make way more money by prostituting or making sex tapes would bring more money, those degrees don’t stay valid if you don’t use them.

You know, that brings me to this, just exactly which paper is more important right now, one that says, “I am a college graduate and I’m educated and I am willing to work because I had to work to get this degree in the first place” or a piece of paper that says, “I’m in the country legally but since I’m uneducated, the only way I have for earning money is to work for a pimp and prostitute myself out.”

I am so sorry if I offended you. But, as I warned you, this is not one of my favorite topics and I avoid it often. And, I may revisit it soon. But for now, I’m going to go take a nap because I’m completely hacked off.

* Look I made it easy to see what these folks did to make into the realm of  the celebrity life.

What happened to this guy?

Is this not the most awesome day ever!

If you haven’t completed your back to school shopping, let me make a few recommendations. I know you are dying to know my opinion anyway.

First of all, if you live in Alabama (like me), Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia…you need to go shop on this Tax Free Weekend.

This tax free shopping started this morning and goes through Sunday night at 11:59 PM.  Here are a few of the guidelines…

in North Carolina:

• clothing, footwear and school supplies under $100
• sports and recreation equipment under $50
• computers under $3,500
• computer equipment under $250

Other states have different guidelines along with other states having tax free sales at other times of the year, this is definitely one way to rack up some savings. For instance, in North Carolina, if you buy a new laptop computer for $1,000, you will save $75 this weekend that you would otherwise have paid in sales tax.

That’s $75 you can spend on anything else.  As for other states, their dates and guidelines, here’s a bit more

Alabama’s Tax Free Weekend: Aug. 6-8, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing under $100
* School supplies under $50
* Books under $30
* Computers/computer equipment under $750

Connecticut’s Tax Free Week: Aug. 15-21, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing under $300
* Shoes under $300

Florida’s Tax Free Weekend: August 13-15, 2010
Applies to:

* Books, clothing, and footwear ($50 or less)
* School supplies ($10 or less)

Iowa’s Tax Free Weekend: Aug. 6-7, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing under $100
* Shoes under $100

Louisiana’s Sales Tax Holiday: August 6-7, 2010
Applies to:

* Purchases under $2,500
* Excludes the purchase of taxable services, automobiles, and meals

Maryland’s Tax Free Week 2010:
The State of Maryland has a whole tax free shopping week in 2010, beginning on Aug. 8, 2010, and ending on Aug. 14, 2010.

Mississippi’s Tax Free Weekend: Jul 30-31, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing under $100
* Shoes under $100

Missouri’s Tax Free Weekend: Aug. 6-8, 2010 (not all cities)
Applies to:

* Clothing under $100
* School supplies under $50
* Computer software under $350
* Computers/computer equipment under $3,500

New Mexico’s Tax Free Weekend: Aug. 6-8, 2010
Applies to:

* All clothing and shoes under $100
* School supplies under $15
* Computers under $1,000
* Computer equipment under $500

New York Tax Free
Applies to:

* 365 day tax exemption on clothing and footwear under $110

Oklahoma’s Tax Free Weekend: August 6-8, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing and shoes
* Priced under $100

South Carolina’s Tax Free Weekend: Aug. 6-8, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing
* Accessories
* Footwear
* School supplies
* Computers
* Computer equipment

Tennessee’s Tax Free Weekend: Aug. 6-8, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing under $100
* School supplies under $100
* Computers under $1500

Texas’ Tax Free Weekend: Aug. 20-22, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing and footwear under $100
* Includes backpacks under $100 for elementary and secondary students
* Includes layaway items

Vermont’s Tax-Free Shopping Day: March 6, 2010
Applies to:

* The sale of personal property items costing less than $2,000
* Does not apply to food, beverages, or hotel rooms

Virginia’s Tax-Free Shopping Weekend: Aug. 6-8, 2010
Applies to:

* Clothing and footwear under $100
* School supplies under $20

West Virginia’s 2010 Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday: September 1-November 30, 2010
Apples to:

* Energy Star products
* Limited to items that cost $5,000 or less
* Must be purchased for noncommercial, home use only

Now, while you are out there, remember that Elmer’s Glue has a great project #bagitforward going if you want to take part in that as well.  Here is the virtual Bag it Forward bag and site where you can get the information you need.  I was able to buy supplies for a child at a school nearby and it felt really good.  Join in and don’t miss out on the tax free sales.

Here’s a photo of Jace and his bag along with the bag we donated…

Here’s what was inside his bags….

This is the crate of supplies we sent to the teachers as well…..

Yes, I was compensated for this particular shopping trip but true to form, when I get involved in educational projects, I end up spending all the funds on the giveaway. For this one, I used the money from Elmer’s Glue to purchase the items for the child and the supplies in the crate above for the teachers. I then bought both of my kids their supplies just as I normally would.  Obviously that’s not exactly how the program is designed to work but it sure makes us feel good.

Robin is putting together another one of her big Virtual Blog Hop bashes…..you don’t wanna miss out….just keep your eyes wide open, no party is complete without a good party!

I had no clue that Morton Salt made all kinds of other salt products.

And, if you check the widget out right here or in my sidebar, you can get yourself a handy little coupon for various Morton products.

Season-All is one of many products you can find at Morton and you can order online! Woohooo

Get yourself a coupon too, don’t forget!

I am reposting this from ages back as part of a discussion on Brett’s  Facebook that you can read for yourself and it all stemmed from this initial article.

Parenting Magazine

So tell me: There seems to be a growing consensus that kids need more recess and that there’s a lot to be gained when children are left to interact with each other in a non-structured setting. You disagree. What are your feelings on the topic?

My take:
While I do believe children learn best through play, you won’t see me advocating for recess anytime soon.  My own memories of recess bring nothing but horror.  When a group of people (and children included) congregate, they expect someone to lead them.  And, if children do not have a leader, they will do just as the rest of the world has done and they will elect one.  The outcome of that is either a playground bully or your child being the playground bully.  As I said, my memories are horrific.  They include bullies who worked by pushing me down, saying deplorable things to me and I even earned my first kiss from a boy on the playground in about the fifth grade.
And, let’s face it, none of us want our children to grow up feeling negatively about themselves in any way, the playground is just a breeding ground for meanness.

What do I propose?
As an over-weight woman, mother and former physical education teacher, I blame inadequate physical education for my disdain of exercise.  We were taught that if we misbehaved or otherwise acted out, we would have to do more exercises.  One exercise in particular that stands out in my mind was the old “leg lifts”.  This comprised of lying on our backs while raising our feet a few inches off the floor.  Every time someone talked, laughed or bellyached, we were awarded more of the dreaded leg lifts.  And, with that, I hate to exercise.

So What Then?
It is a proven fact that physical education teachers can accommodate both the desire for children to participate in activities led by a leader (the teacher, not a classmates) and the freedom to learn through reflective or free play if you will.  I can sit and write your teacher’s lesson plans all day long, but a good physical education teacher knows how to incorporate a student’s classroom studies into the world of physical education.  Complimenting the classroom teachers is really easy and makes the job of the physical education teacher much easier.  Easier than just turning the kids loose on the playground?  I think so.  In my experiences as an adult on the playground, I’ve seen the same bullying, the same cliques and the same electing of a leader without a notion of good or bad.
A good physical education teacher can and will find imaginative ways to teach the children fun and games and leave them with the ability to form imaginative stories all on their own.  I guess this could easier be explained with an example.  Here are only a few, tell me, after reading a few of these ideas  would you prefer your child be left to defend himself or herself from the playground bully or that encounter of whispers and even kisses on the playground.

K – 2nd grade:  The students can do their warm-up exercises by counting, saying their abc’s, their multiplication tables and more.  They can be split (by the teacher, not by some awful playground method of picking and choosing) and asked to run relays.  Incorporating their classmates to help them accomplish a goal while leaving them to their own devices of what kind of animal they might want to pretend to be.  The relays aren’t stopped when one line is finished first but instead after a length of time.  There is no clear winner, no group that stands out, it’s all about the individual.  My son’s school actually has paper numerical keyboards cut out and pasted on the bleachers.  The students run, skip, jump, crab walk, etc over to the paper keyboard and put in their lunch code.  The end result, creativity while learning an essential part of their day.

3rd – 5th:  A picture of the world appropriately placed in the gymnasium can be accented by separating the gym into sections (or Countries) and then putting activities at each station that compliment the study of a particular Country or Continent even.  The students move from Country to Country in a timed manner.  While this accommodates all the children, it leaves them to brainstorm and exercise their imaginations.

6th – 8th grade:  This is probably the trickiest and most difficult age.  Exercise starts to seem like work instead of fun and many many students will quit running and playing on the playground but when given the opportunity to learn through play, they still excel.  For this age, you could easily set up enough stations to accommodate many children in lifelong activities like badminton or table tennis.  Setting up multiple courts of badminton and then the students not only participate in the activity, they learn to keep score and the learn skills that can easily convert to a campground or even the front lawn.

But, what about the real imaginative play?
I can’t say that I feel that rewarding students for good behavior is the proper thing to do, it certainly seems to be the norm.  You aren’t necessarily rewarded for going to work every day, but moreover, you are probably disciplined if you do not.  While my son’s school partakes in many activities that I abhor, they do a great job in the gymnasium and on the playground.  This is the result of a hard-nose teacher who had worked her way through the system and would not budge on what is appropriate and what is not in her physical education class.  She actually rewarded her students for performing well four days a week by allowing them the opportunity to choose their activity on Friday.  I kind of look at that as a casual-dress on Friday kind of idea.  If it works and it is feasible, then at least give it a try.  The teacher still chooses the activities available for the students to participate in  (and can never bring out the well-known ball and bat syndrome that many teachers exercise) and can actually allow the children a general overall sense of decision making at the same time.

For me?
I”ll take the well known and finely researched techniques taught to me (and many others before me, or after if you will) in my study to obtain my degree as a physical education teacher.  I don’t want to think I took Kinesiology and Eexercise Physiology twice (cough cough)  just to get a job and then sit down and roll out a ball all day ever day.  Possibly this practice is why our physical education teachers aren’t valued like they should be in the first place.  So, don’t get me wrong,I believe that learning through play is an essential ingredient for success as we grow, I also know that there is no substitute for proper physical education.  And, no amount of time on the playground recess-style can meet the expectations that a crowd of children come to expect.

Parenting Magazine

WOWZA! You did warn me! And I appreciate all that you wrote here. What you say DOES make sense, but devil’s advocate: What about the all-important break from structured play that physicians, psychologists and other child experts say all human beings need in order to release stress and decompress? It seems that if the 30 minutes they would get to swing on the monkey bars and just, like, chill out and talk to friends and play jacks, etc., is spent listening to a teacher and following directions, that they’re not getting the chance to have a break. And if you’re comparing children to workers, then there is something to be said for standard union rules that dictate American workers get at least two 15 minute breaks during an eight hour workday, plus at least 30 minutes for lunch…

I knew I left the actual playground out of my thoughts but there is no reason why the playground, the money bars an the chilling out can’t happen.  But back to my casual-dress on Friday.

The teacher needs to be the leader directing the students to participate in various activities on playgrounds and if you have a good teacher, she most likely using the opportunity to inner-act with the children, give them pointers on how to improve strength so that when the time comes to test for the National Presidential Fitness Test they can do well.  And this is a goo time to enhance strength without anyone really noticing what one child in particular is doing.  Then, we test time comes, they are prepared.

On a similar note, one of the top rated children’s emergency visits are the result of a playground accident with multiple children and inadequate supervision, add to that the fact that swings are the number 1 emergency room visits.

What about the creative learning or the socializing?

Hopscotch, jumprope, hula hoops, all activites generally done in groups will allow the students to take part in this as well.
I think the bottom line here that kin of gets hidden in all my words is that physical education must be a teacher led class.  But, it also must fit the age and the studies of. the children.  I”m sure you learned from my previous email, I have one specific style that I favor. And, the reason for that is that it is adaptable and can be used every day with little planning.

And, what is that grand plan? Stations.  No matter what kind of activity you are putting out there for the children, you can always break the students up into groups, not cliques, the teacher chooses stations then when they’ve been assigned to a station they are left to their own devices with the toys to creative and build or jump and run, and believe it or not, I’m guilty of tossing out a ball on more than one occasion.

Assuming that this physical education teacher not be mean and hateful, but she must stern and strong.   She can offer the children all the learning through play that could possibly imaginable.   However, let me emphasize to that I am talking about good, structures physical education classes where  once all the ground rules are the structure is made a party of their lives.  Then, it gets easier and easier to incorporate the out-side stuff that people consider koooky.  Ribbon batons, pretending to be a marching band with only fly twirlers and we just wing or ribbon wild.  No routine, just the individual and the many places the child would like to go.

Parenting Magazine

So what you’re advocating is that there always be an adult supervising the play to avoid the unfortunate parts of recess, i.e. bullying, kids being left out of the group, kids getting hurt, etc.? And that that play come during a structured class, i.e., gym?

This is exactly what I believe the answer to this issue revolves around.  Educated Physical Education teachers doing the job they are trained to do and leaving recess for home or somewhere where children tend to gather in smaller groups and a parent can easily hear and help guide the ongoing activities.

And, with that, now you know why no one interviews me too often!