Education Uncensored

I had a quaint conversation with a group of women today at baseball.  I don’t think I fit in there too much.  There’s several groups of women, but no real way of labeling them, as if I would do that here, but anyway, I kind of just choose a different group to sit with each practice.

I’m like that and always have been.  Just a little nomad. 

Where was I going with this? 

Oh yea, the women were discussing "their homework" and by "their homework", I mean their child’s homework in which they had taken great pride in exchanging tales of who did the most homework, how an assignment was to be done and the like.  The entire conversation was about "our homework". 

And then, I opened my mouth. 

And words just spill out…where is that filter that’s suppose to keep me from getting punched in the face?

I’ve never been one of the popular kids and right now, I’m probably the target of some demon words.

Indeed, I spoke up.  Basically I asked why the child’s homework was "their homework" and indicated that I would not be doing my son’s homework.  Not my homework, it’s his.  And, if it’s ridiculous, he won’t be doing it either.

And, the war was one.

One mother attempted to explain to me that she had watched her son and analyzed his skills and the type of learner that she believed him to be.  And, in doing so, she determined that he needed to do homework, more homework than his not-so-much-of-a-believer-in-homework-teacher sends home.

Side note here…sorry, these children are all in the same teachers class and it is one of the very very few in the entire school that is not big on homework.  This mother was advocating that her son needed more homework.

Unfortunately, that filter that should reside somewhere between my brain and my lips went missing. 

I listened. 

I asked if her son had any medical issues that might make it difficult for him to focus (ADD and can you say offended..she informed me right quick that not only had he not been tested, she would not have him tested).  Now, I know the kid, I don’t think that he has any issues at all, I was just asking to be sure.  And, I just wondered what she was basing her decisions on.

With that, I explained that doing homework might make his grades better in the moment, six weeks grades as they are done here, but in the long term, he probably wasn’t profiting from her parent-imposed homework.  She informed me that indeed, after watching how he learned, she determined that the long term was exactly why he needed to do the homework.

And, that filter, man I hate it when it breaks down. 

I was forced to ask

"So, have you watched, observed or analyzed how he learns when he doesn’t do the homework?"

The subject was changed by an innocent bystander…..and possibly that bystander was just enough to wake the filter in my brain up because I didn’t say anything further.  So, of course, now I’m asking you.

If you have watched, observed, analyzed, whatever you want to call it (you being generally you) and you have determined that your child learns best when he/she has a substantial amount of homework, have you tried the watching, observing, analyzing of the same kid when he doesn’t do that homework and instead he goes outside and runs and rips and gets rid of extra energy? 

I’m curious, is there as more to be learned sitting down at a table doing flashcards and the like to learn something such as multiplication tables than if the child is outside, throwing rocks in the pond, two by two and that’s four…four and four more and that’s…8…….5 rocks in, 5 rocks in, 5 rocks in, that’s 5 rocks in three times and that makes….ahem…15.  Yes, indeed it does.

So, with that, I’m curious and I certainly am not trying to be combative nor was I tonight at the ball field, but if you have made the decision that your child needs to do a substantial amount of homework (and in some cases more than the teacher assigns), have you tried not doing it to see what happens?

And, I’ll save this for tomorrow but, when did a kid go to school and come home with homework for "us" to do. 

I dun gone ‘n gut my edukatin ‘n thar ain’t no need ‘n me dooing it agin.  Now is thar?

Seriously, that’s tomorrow’s rant, I do not send him to school to bring work home for me to do.  What do you think? 

I know, beating the dead horse here aren’t I?

Yes, yes, I wrote a fairly comedy relief type post (or 2) on Mom~E~Centric, From Poopy Diapers to Jock Straps and Hot Mamas and I followed it with a post entitled That Post about a Hot Mama and then, I couldn’t leave well enough alone when CBS misspelled a word in their captioning.  That’s at Dadgumit CBS learn to spell.

Now, some fun, as if those posts weren’t fun enough.

My kid…with his black under-eye to block the sun!

And catching…..is he cute or what?

Oh yea and he bats too!

Ok, I’m not trying to get all religious on you guys here and I certainly wouldn’t say that to be offensive, however, if your kid is in a public school and either of the following events occurred on campus, what would you do?  What if they both happened on the same dadgum campus?  Then what?

1.  Teen boy is doused with gasoline and set on fire at Deerfield Beach, Florida school.

2.  Teen is in a medically-induced coma following a brutal beating at the hands of a classmate at Deefield Beach, Florida school

Let’s get real here people.  Both of those events occurred at a Broward County School, more specifically a Deerfield Beach school.  Have we come to this?  Are we in such a place with our education system that the first tragedy had to even happen to get anyone’s attention?  And, are we in a place where the first incident wasn’t enough to force people to perk up and listen?  Did we need two horrible horrible accidents in one school?

What now?

You all know I am very much a big proponent of educating your child in the best way possible.  For me, it’s public schools, for you?  Maybe it’s homeschooling, a private school or any variation of the three.

But, tell me please, what in the heck is going on here?  Why?  How?  Who?

Something was seriously wrong and no one even noticed.  Turned their heads, snubbed their noses and walked away.

I refuse to believe that there were no warning signs in either one of this situations.

I do not believe for one minute that no one had a clue that this *might* happen.

No, I won’t believe that.

And, I say to you, it takes a village to raise a child and if there is a child in your village who appears to be in harms way, please, I’m begging you, please please please, step up to the plate and do something about it.

Don’t just walk away.

Do something and do it now!

Ok, forgive me for stepping on toes here, but you know, I don’t always speak with the popular crowd.  But………..

I receive numerous emails every day asking me to help raise money for the tragedy in Haitian.  Now, you see, I used the word tragedy because indeed, it is a tragedy and I’m not so narrow minded that I can’t see that.  However, when we have tragedies in our country that need and deserve funding, it’s difficult for me to jump on the let’s-help-other-countries in their time of need bandwagon. 

I know, I know, I can see fire rising in some of your eyes already.  But, let’s take this to a more personal level.  Take the following scenario for instance:

Family A:  This family lives next door to you.   This family lives near you because they are family.  And, the only worker bee in the family just lost his/her job.  They are in need of food mostly as it hasn’t been long since he/she lost his/her job but they also know that if he doesn’t find a job within a month, they will be looking at possibly losing their home.  They need assistance of some kind.  And you have the ability to help them.

Family B:  This family lives in another state.  Their home was destroyed in natural disaster (tornado, flood, etc).  They are in need of assistance and thus far various agencies are asking for aid of all kind for this family. 

Who are you most likely to lend a hand to?  Why?  Well, I don’t mean to sound like I don’t care, but if a member of my family is in need and I know there needs and I know the reliability of the facts regarding their need (not saying that the agencies providing information about the other family aren’t reliable, but being realistic, what you can see with your own eyes usually means more than what you see on television), then that’s the family that I’m going to lend a hand to.  Then, if I have any other resources, I will definitely lend a hand to Family B.

Now, take that broad scale again.  Why are we allowing the children in the United States to go hungry, without medical attention and/or insurance and why do we allow them to receive a less than honorable education?  Instead, we are sending funds to another country.  I know, I know, it’s mean and narrow minded some of you will say.  But the fact is, we have people in our country who are homeless and hungry.  We have families without jobs.  Moreover, we have elderly people who can’t afford medical care (ahem, my mom has cancer and this time next week, she will be without insurance) and every time I turn around, someone is asking me to lend a hand to people in another country.

Surely you understand now why I don’t forward the messages requesting me (and you) to help the people in another country.  Yes, I know, the circumstances there are worse there than they are here, right, right…but you know what, they were worse there before the disaster than they were here before the disaster. 

So, just because someone suffers a loss doesn’t always mean we need to jump up and try to help them when we’ve managed to leave our own folks out in the cold the whole time.  Just because they have now suffered a natural disaster doesn’t mean that they are suffering any more than some of the folks in our country who have experienced a natural disaster (or even a personal one). 

One of the most important lessons I had to learn as a mother was if I didn’t take care of myself, I couldn’t take care of my children, husband and mother.  And, if we as a country can’t take care of our own people, why are we trying to take care of others? 

Make sense to anyone besides me?

Hershey’s has joined the Children’s Miracle Network and will be donating $10 for the first 500 posts that take part in this Easter Basket Blog Hop.

Check out #betterbasket for more great information.  Hershey is also allowing me the chance to give baskets to children and I have made my choices and will get picture of my baskets asap!

The Blog Hop and get that $5,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network. Here’s how it works:

• Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
• Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
• Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
• Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
• Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
• Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.

So, here’s my virtual basket and I’m giving it to my buddy Janette, I can’t wait to see who she passes her basket to!

Ok, so I’m not really a music maven at all.  But, I do listen to the radio but I may be stuck in a little late 70’s and early 80’s funk to hear my husband tell it but the fact is, right now, kids music is something gets played around here more often than much else. 

That doesn’t mean I don’t dig some of the most popular music.  I’ve done reviews of tons of music lately and I’ve enjoyed trying out the various music styles.  So, what about you? 

What or who do you consider to be part of the popular crowd when it comes to music?

• SPA WEEK® Spring 2010 April 12-18! Indulge yourself, love yourself and let them love you!
• Spaweek.com (http://spaweek.com) is a there for you to find the best places for massages, facials, body scrubs, waxes, slimming wraps, pedicures, haircuts, Botox, eyelash extensions, Velashape, Vajazzling

Around the world, getting pampered one way or another, here’s a list of a few places to try:

• 65 Min Gentlemans Choice Facial with Grooming of Brows, Ears and Nose

N2Skin
1201 Villa Place, Suite 203
Nashville, TN 37212
615.322.9697
http://www.n2-skin.com/

• 80 Min 24K Gold Facial with Lunch at Martier Café

Spa Martier
1012 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10022
212.977.9306
http://www.spamartierny.com

• 2 Hour Calmquest™ Meditation Session

Agave The Arizona Spa at the Westin Kierland Resort
6902 East Greenway Parkway
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
480.624.1500
http://www.kierlandresort.com

• 80 Min Plant Essence Aroma Bath Rituals Followed by Full Body Massage

The Woodhouse Day Spa of Franklin
1175 Meridian Boulevard, #100
Franklin, TN 37067
615.764.0004
http://www.franklin.woodhousespas.com/

• Acoustic Wave Therapy (AWT) for Cellulite Reduction

Advanced Laser and Medical Spa of Rye
262 Purchase Street
Rye, NY 10580
914.921.2506
http://www.medicalspaofrye.com/

• 90 Min Traditional Thai Massage with Foot Reflexology

Thai Sabai Traditional Thai Massage
5261 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323.485.2800
http://www.thaisabai.com/

• 45 Min Blueberry Antioxidant Body Scrub and Detoxifying Mud Wrap

WELL Spa at the Platinum Hotel
211 E. Flamingo Road
Las Vegas, NV 89169
702.365.5000
http://www.theplatinumhotel.com/well-spa/

Web Page Provides Multiple Informational Links

Now that the 2010 Census is fast approaching, media throughout the state of Alabama is doing all it can to encourage state residents to fill out and return their census forms starting April 1. Alabama Public Television (APT) is taking that encouragement a step further by helping Alabama’s children learn why it’s crucial for everyone in the state to be counted.

Parents who want to help their children understand the process, teachers who would like to incorporate census information in their curriculum and any Alabama resident interested in learning more about the census can visit APT’s Census Resource page at www.aptplus.org/aptplus/census 24 hours a day to get the census information they need. The page contains 85 separate Web links with everything from the history of the U.S. Census and maps, to a sample census questionnaire and fun quizzes. Nineteen of those links are targeted to schools, 39 are for classroom teachers, and 22 are specifically for the student. (Some links contain information available in multiple languages.) There are even coloring books for our state’s youngest residents.

In 2000, an estimated 53,000 Alabama residents were not counted in the U.S. Census, meaning that funding for government services did not accurately reflect Alabama’s true population. Data collected in this year’s census will affect the day-to-day lives of Alabama residents until 2020. It determines the number of seats our state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and impacts the federal dollars we receive. The census is vital to ensuring that Alabama communities have the resources to provide adequately for growth, changing values and interests of their residents.

For many high school seniors, now is the time that decisions are made.  Many already know where they are headed next fall, what they will be studying and who they will be sharing facilities with when it comes to a bedroom or dorm room. 

If you aren’t one of those who has already nailed on that down and you are the look out for someone to share expenses with, you can be too careful.  Easy Roommate is a great site to help you weed through the folks who are trying to make the same decisions that you are. 

For me, I’m still trying to figure out why my first grader has so much homework and why I’m expected to do part of it?

I’m just a wee bit bitter right now ya’ll, sorry!

I spoke about my son’s behavior at school in terms of his fear of the repercussions that he would face from me and/or his father for getting in trouble at school.  In case you missed that horror, I talk a lot  NEWS! FLASH! Right?

But, I never got in trouble at school for talking or misbehaving.  And my reason was that I simply did what I was suppose to do and possibly the fear of what my father who was a teacher might do if I was constantly being reprimanded at school. 

And, I also mentioned that I have no clue why own son isn’t afraid of what his father and I might do if he continues to misbehave but hopefully, this last go ’round we made a mark.  I was even a bit concerned we might have been too tough considering the disrupting of his schedule to go to Disney and the like.

Either way, my little yes ma’am, no ma’am, smiley face cherub has been in full effect for the last 7 school days and hopefully, just by some stroke of luck, he got it. 

I know that many parents have much bigger issues with their children, their learning, their behavior even.  But, for us, this is a big deal.  It isn’t necessarily that he is getting in trouble for talking, it’s the general idea that he is bulking authority by not following the rules and conforming.

And now, just as I think we might be on the road to accomplishing that task, I’m faced with a odd thought.  Do I really want my kid to be a conformist?

Bah, does this parenting gig ever get any easier?