Tag: family
Useful Information Desember
by on Dec.04, 2009, under Uncategorized
Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my Personal Learning Network (PLN). As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!
Skeletal System Game – learn the bones
WannaLearn.com – “Over 350 categories of free, first-rate, family-safe online tutorials, guides and instructionally oriented Websites!”
Teaching With Contests – “The purpose of Teaching with Contests is to assist educators in finding contests that can be used in the classroom to motivate students. We are here for the student and the teacher not the promotion of products or company public relations. Our goal is to select contests and programs whose primary goal is education and secondarily business/product promotion.”
Digging Back in Time –“Students will follow other students in the field at a hearth site archaeological dig and complete an activity which will help them learn about the systematic science of archaeology.”
Everyone Has a Story – Students will work cooperatively to decide on a topic and investigate it through oral history interviews. Students will understand that everyone has a story.
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Kick a Ginger Day Horror
by on Nov.30, 2009, under Uncategorized
After reading Kick a Ginger Day: One Mom’s Horrifying Account and seeing news accounts on TV, I was also horrified. For some reason I couldn’t get it off my mind. Of course, this leads to a discussion of sorts with my husband over breakfast which really is more of a rant.
Apparently a group on Facebook who was inspired by a South Park episode encouraged kids to beat up others who had red hair and freckles. At one school a 12 year old boy was surrounded by a group of 15 others (some were even his classmates) like a pack of wild animals and attacked him. They took him down and kicked him repeatedly.
This is just more evidence on how what our children watch can influence them. There is so much violence and profanity on television now that I think our children are desensitized to it. They think it is so cool to do these kinds of things. Even worse, many of these shows are showing that the “bad guy” gets away with it.
I have watched an episode of South Park once and swore that I would never watch that again. But apparently enough people watch this so they get advertising and continue to broadcast. I was horrified with the disrespect these characters use to interact with others. How can parents allow their children to watch this garbage?
At first I thought that this type of stuff should be banned from the airwaves! Of course my husband disagreed (amazing that we got married since we don’t agree on a lot of things but I guess after 30 years of togetherness, I should be glad we agreed on the important things!). He felt that censorship is “big brother-ish.” When I calmed down, I had to agree but something needs to be done. Parents need to monitor what their children are watching. If people don’t watch certain programs, their ratings go down, advertisers won’t pay for advertising and these programs will go away.
What happened to those great family shows? They don’t seem to make them anymore. I remember my children watching Little House on the Prairie, Eight is Enough, Our House, and Touched By An Angel. Those were great wholesome shows that a family could watch together and even talk about. Even now I tend to watch the Hallmark channel a lot because those shows just make me feel good about the world and others.
I watch a lot of TV shows now that my children are grown up but I don’t think I would have watched these shows with them. There is so much violence and blood in shows like CSI, Law and Order SVU, NCIS, and other shows like this. I didn’t let my children see those horror movies that “everyone else” got to see. I didn’t let them watch TV shows that “everyone else” got to watch. Maybe I was a fuddy-duddy (do they still use that phrase?) but I felt it was my responsibility as a parent to set these limits.
I hope some of these parents with young children will start to wake up and realize that they have a responsibility. It is time to say no to these movies and shows. It’s time to tell our children no. They do not need to watch these shows and encourage their continuing influence. They do not need to do what “everyone else” does because, let’s face it, not “everyone else” really does it!
Okay, I will get off my soapbox now. I just got so upset with this story and it all boiled over. Now, tell me what do you think? Do you let your children watch these types of things? If so, convince me why I shouldn’t feel this way. I’m not sure you can but I’ll keep an open mind.
Original image: ‘Little Redheaded Boy at the Atlanta Zoo’
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93229003@N00/3431837959 by: Steven List
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Thanksgiving Blessings
by on Nov.26, 2009, under Uncategorized
Today is Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for this year. (cross posted on The Life of Loonyhiker)
· Husband (the center of my life!)
· Family (I feel the love!)
· Good Health (I feel good!)
· Money to pay my bills (being able to pay my bills lets me do other things without worrying)
· Ability to travel and mark places off our wish list (I love traveling to new places)
· My father who will turn 90 on December 7th (after his stroke 2 years ago, I didn’t think he would make it to this age)
· Learning Mandarin (learning to speak Chinese is something I always wished I could do)
· Online friends (I feel so connected with others rather than isolated)
· Meeting online friends in person (I find this fascinating)
· Ability to help others (it makes me feel useful)
· Writing my blogs which I thoroughly enjoy (sharing my life with others)
· Teaching graduate courses for Furman in the summer. (sharing with others about my teaching experience)
· Books (to help me when I want to escape the real world)
· Laptop and internet (so I can stay connected)
· TVs (which are on at home all of the time)
· Recipes (so I can learn to make new dishes)
· Sunshine (makes me smile!)
· Music (makes me feel happy)
· Ipod (to take my mind off my misery while I exercise)
· Cell phones (with Verizon I can call family members easily)
· Toyota Prius (which now has almost 100,000 miles on it!)
· Cameras (because I love taking pictures)
· Rain (especially since we experienced a drought)
· Flowers (they make me smile!)
· Hiking (I love to experience God’s world)
Original image: Thanksgiving Centerpiece http://www.flickr.com/photos/alasam/2071941952/ by alasam
