Education

When are the little kiddies going back to school. I swear most of the kids are going back to school before labor day. August 24th is the first day here.

I've been thinking a lot about education lately.--read more

I've been debating as to whether or not I should get my 2 year old nephew developmental software. I hear TV for kids under 2 is a no-no, but what's the consensus? Here's the link:--read more

Not really; I've subscribed to podcasts from those universities and a lot more at Productivity Hacks. It's put out a long list of free university lecture podcasts--some of them full courses. Obviously you're not going to get credit, but if you're wanting to brush up on, say, Oral Communication in Contemporary Society or Microeconomics, you're in luck for sure.

Amish school shooting today. Six killed, three children and one teacher among them.

I want to say something here to condemn this abomination or to express my condolences for this community and the communities of the schools affected by violence last week, but I feel frozen in horror.--read more

Hey, if you want a shot at winning one of two copies of The Complete Organic Pregnancy be sure to enter by the end of today.

--And on that note, some news pregnant girls may wish to skip: Premature births responsible for many more infant deaths than previously thought.

Scientists now say a third of infant deaths are due to premature births — a much larger percentage than previously thought. ...The revised statistic may lead to greater efforts to counsel pregnant women about taking care of themselves and avoiding actions that can lead to preterm births — such as smoking and drug use.

It also may help organizations lobbying for more research into why some women who follow medical advice still have preterm babies. The March of Dimes is advocating to expand federal research into preterm labor and delivery and the care and treatment of premature infants.

--Doing animal studies? Check out The Macaulay Library and its huge collection of animal pictures, videos and sound--some in surround sound!
It's the world's largest collection, and it's free.

--Maybe it's time to bring back Saturday morning cartoons and ditch the rest of the week's TV? Weekday TV watching hurts schoolwork, according to a new study. Weekend TV watching doesn't seem to matter.

For your entertainment today:

--Aaagh! Stop me now: Vintage iron-on transfers, hundreds of them! I collect "Aunt Martha" transfers, especially days of the week towel transfers. boy, this is going to be hard to avoid...

--I'm sure you've already heard, but in case you haven't: Bagged spinach linked to e-coli outbreak. If you have some, throw it out.

--Back to school help: Finding affordable tutoring. Great tips on finding help for your student, especially good if you're a homeschooling family. [hat tip]

This beautifully illustrated 6 page Japanese haiku is intend for Pre-K children who speak Chinese as a first language or English speaking children learning Chinese as a second language. A little mouse is enjoying a bright red cherry at a restaurant when he is washed away by a flash flood. He has only a drink umbrella to help him. Originally written and illustrated by me - Tansy O’Bryant as a bridge between Chinese speaking children and English speaking children. Chinese translation was provided by and Chinese student who was afraid to write because her characters where not perfect. It was esteeming for her to know that the act of not writing is far worse than a little “wobbly” writing. Helps children understand both the power of writing and the beauty of reading with Mouse Umbrella. --read more

I've been busy every evening and some days this week with the job hunt and school search. So far for the job hunt:

I've applied for a total of eleven positions, though I don't really count three of them, they were practice for me since I lack some of their "minimum qualifications". Doing those forced me to write a tight, concise resume and get a cover letter draft going, so I consider them to have served their purpose. A couple of the jobs look downright exciting. So far I've been focusing on jobs relating to PR and Development in schools, non profits, and hospitals and Marketing / PR Assistant or Coordinator positions in the for profit sector. Haven't been contacted yet for interviews, etc., it's too soon yet.--read more

My DD14 wants to be homeschooled this year. She will be a 9th grader. A friend recommended this school (connectionsacademy.com) and it is free over the internet. I wanted to know if anyone here has had any experiece with this type of homeschooling.--read more

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/education/26child.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&...

Sadly, this seems to be to only way schools can think of to bring our country up to par in these topics.--read more

Tricks of the Trade suggests old-fashioned interactive fiction games:

you know, the old-school kind where you enter in commands like

> get lantern
You now have the brass lantern.

> turn on lantern
The brass lantern is now lit.

They are considerably more enjoyable than traditional "typing tutorial" software or copying lines from a book. Best of all, most of the modern games are completely free, and many are so absorbing that you'll find yourself compulsively "practicing" you typing skills for hours.

I can speak to the truth of this, through a slightly different method. A young relative of ours came to live with us for a little bit before we had kids. The schools hadn't done her much good; she couldn't type, she couldn't spell, and she was 15.

We sat her down in front of a computer and said, here, this is Internet Relay Chat--IRC. These are people all over the world talking in real time through the computer. She became so engrossed that she taught herself to type, and studied spelling because she got teased in-channel for it.

Non-tutorial methods are quite often extremely effective, depending on the person; it's how I taught myself programming. I tried to do the tutorials, but I didn't give a rat's hinder about a catalog for my CD "library." (Is that a guy thing? Because it's been the #1 tutorial whenever I've tried to learn a language.) Every time I've learned a new programming language it's because I've really wanted to do a particular task. Just keep that in mind if you're working with a recalcitrant kid. Whatever it is you're studying, try finding a real-world application--even if the world is virtual.

Stellarium runs on MacOSX, Linux and Windows. It's still in beta but is so cool it's worth a crash or two. It gives you a realistic night sky for your coordinates--which means that if you have a laptop you can actually take your computer outside and use Stellarium to locate objects in the sky and tell you what you're seeing.--read more

OK, I hope it's clear that title is tongue in cheek!

First grade continues to be a challenge. Our meeting with the teacher was not great -- despite all my efforts the teacher was mostly defensive, and told us "Sometimes kids say they are bored when it's hard for them."--read more

Think what you will about Waldorf Education, but I will always be profoundly thankful, deeply touched, and soul-enriched by my experiences in my daughter's Waldorf-initiative Kindergarten.

Today the teacher celebrated Annora's birthday in class (her BDay is on Sat.). She said if I wanted to I could come and be there for it. So I brought some knitting and ended up sitting in awe as I watched our amazing teacher create one of those golden, halycon moments of childhood that you look back upon with wonder and quiet joy.--read more

Guys, we've only been back to school a week and I am stressing. Looks like they've eliminated gifted/talented for the early grades at my school because of deep budget cuts. And when I look at the curriculum for 1st grade -- ouch! --read more

I hope this link works. I stumbled upon it and found it interesting and wanted to share.

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Features/Columns/?article=knowmain

Jana

Anyone interested in his books????

The Legend of Luke
Martin the Warrior
Marlfox
Mariel of Redwall
Pearls of Lutra
Mossflower

and several others........show to be about a 5th to 7th grade reader.--read more

I've come to blog. I've come to vent. I am going to try to debate myself. I always lose at this.

We have our children in public for the reason that we believe (our belief) very much, that we will NOT put them in a plastic bubble til they are 18, then release them into the big bad world. I fight myself daily, wanting to put them in that bubble. --read more

I'll warn you -- I'm writing all this for my own benefit! I just want to save my memories of today, Sophie's first day of school.

One thing I probably won't forget: After we finished taking sweet little photos under the apple tree in the back yard -- first day outfit: white blouse under pink sweater vest, short pleated plaid skirt, white knee socks, brown Mary Janes -- we were ready to head for school. Luckily I had built in some extra time, hoping to take photos in front of the school building.--read more

hmm, i just selected every single category that has to do with my life, but perhaps that was overdoing it. Yet all these subjects came up today:

Teens, Education, Homeschooling: my homeschooler is trying to crash a class at the local public high school, and although we have every right as "taxpayers" for her to attend, all the b.s. that goes along with their bureaucracy makes you have second thoughts! She thinks it's so funny that the teacher admonishes the kids to be quiet and keep their hands to themselves, stay in their chairs, etc. She's been going to independent classes and community college classes for a year now, and no one ever talks like that. Yet this class is supposed to be this really creative interdisciplinary math class that people vie to get into... had to do an "audition" like it was a broadway show! Maybe it will turn out to be inventive and cool... right now she's just mesmerized by the social scene. They also gave her three hours of homework last night...what on earth? If they spent more time in class doing math instead of worrying about the baby stuff...--read more

well hello all hope this all finds you doing well.I read some of your post and am glad to hear of Jamies baby girl and of Dannas adoption moving along.I hope your son is in your arms soon!It was good to see post from Susannah and many of you others that I think of often.--read more

http://www.usd469.net/~bts/_sgt/m2_1.htm
This is our local school district. Our "free" local schooling is going to cost some money!
Various fees included:
Textbook rental fees ranging from $30 to $55 per student depending on grade--read more

Does anyone have any suggestions how I would go about learning Html?
I would rather have websites as opposed to books, But anything that would help would be much appreciated.

"Clean up on aisle 5," would be a reason for a tax increase. Sure, it's a ridiculous concept, but then again, I'--read more

Brief background synopsis: Daycare Kid told me a few weeks ago that he has no books at home. I'm horrified and pretty much act as if it's an act of child abuse (which it may very well be). My dd and I went and found some books to give to him and he took them home.--read more

These are excuse notes from parents (including original spelling) collected by schools from all over the country.

My son is under a doctors care and should not take P.E. today. Please execute him --read more