Education Uncensored

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!

Let me explain, in case you’ve missed the big news and…well, if you’ve missed me at all….

I was fortunate enough to be part of a program with Elmer’s Glue and a project know as Bag It Forward (#bagitforward).  If you wanna see the Whrrl story about my shopping adventures or misadventures in some cases, that will be live here on my blog now.  If you want to see it before then, you can see it on Whrrl where my ID there is "jareason".

Now, if you recall, last year I did a program with Adopt-A-Classroom and while this is different, this also benefits those in need that are registered there.

Here is the official information you need..

his Back to School season, Elmer’s is celebrating it’s every day low pricing on back to school supplies at Walmart by partnering with Adopt-A-Classroom to help make a difference in classrooms across the country.   Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom with your participation.

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

HOW CAN YOU JOIN? It’s easy.

• Participate in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward and by giving away a virtual bag of school supplies and creating a blog post 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 in your post, but only one post per URL is counted towards the donation. You can post at multiple URLs.
• 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 for.
• 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 in your blog post:

ELMER’S VIRTUAL BAG IT FORWARD RULES

• Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
• Create a blog 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 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.

I’m sending my Virtual Bag of goodies to Mary Jane who is a kindergarten teacher, giving her all, each and every day and enjoying what she can do for the community!

Surely it is not secret that my fashion sense is way out of whack. I honestly think that a t-shirt and athletic shorts make a great combination.  If you have a better sense of fashion than I do, you may qualify for WAshington internships or summer fashion internships.

If you are impressive enough in those situations, you may qualify for an
internship paid Sydney which could eventually turn your career into a much bigger career opportunity than you ever thought possible. The choice are yours and the opportunities are large.

Just watch and make sure you keep all your sights on your goal and hopefully you can find a way to get yourself in a position to be the next big designer.

A college education is not cheap. The benefits of that graduates are awarded though are almost always worth the difficulties that many have to get into college and pay the bills at the same time. Depending on where you want to go to school, your previous academic history and your needs, college scholarships are available to help foot the bills.

If you have struggled academically but are ready to get back on track, you can apply for college grants in order to help get yourself back on track. The grants may give you the opportunity to get your grades up so you qualify for scholarships later. Another form of help available to those who qualify are minority scholarships.

If you qualify for any of these, you can get yourself into school and make your life easier in the long run. It takes dedication and work but in the end it should all work out to your benefit.

I worked in the world of sports for a long time even after I quit playing. It was more than just a side of the sports world that I didn’t like, it was one I lived in frequently. I worked for a doctor who didn’t use TENS Units, but did use various other methods of Muscle Stimulators for Pain Relief and Rehabilitation.

I don’t know if I could tell you the exact kind of equipment she had but I do know that I learned to use it and I saw various athletes as well as labor workers find relief in this form of rehab. If you have chronic pain, you can probably get a bit of relief from a  LG-TEC Dual Combo TENS Unit and Muscle Stimulator since it gives you the benefits of pain relief and a muscle relaxer at the same time. If you are unsure what you need to fit your pain and problem, you can check with the online customer blog. Hopefully you can get the relief you deserve.

The process of learning never stops. And if you have a child who is in a situation where they are struggling, you will want to help them along.  However, the rate at which kids move into higher learning this days is amazing. So, if you find yourself with a child who is making his/her way through Algebra 1 but is struggling, you can get Algebra 1 help  and even find the Algebra 1 answers so you can better help your children.

If you find that things seem to be out of your control, you can find various tutoring sites both online and off to help you. If you are that parent who needs to help your child and need to find the resources for Algebra 2, you should be able to find someone at TutorVista  to help you along the way.