WEll I just got back from the dentist today.....didnt have a great experiance-seams they did alot more than I was expecting in regards to my bridge....sigh....numb and in pain...yet again......thank goodness we have a slow weekend....I doubt Ill be in the mood for much else.....
Man-I just LOVE how a trip to the dentist can just screw up your whole week-luv it.......ugh!
We decided to not go to a reunion this weekend.......but I guess its okay now considering the circumstances...Im to be popping pain pills every 4 hrs-yeah....cant wait till the numb wheres off-thats when its going to get real fun....
But some good news-Flamingo found out, when some neighbor kids came over to play yesterday, that the little girl next door got switched to another class for next year and now they will have the same teacher. They were both so happy and gave each other high fives and went off hand in hand...LOLOLOL:)
Monkey Boy and Flamingo have a play date with them again after lunch today. Its nice to have neighborhood friends....especially when there are so few neighbors-LOLOLOL
Dh and I decided to try out a new church on Sunday. It looks really friendly and has alot of ministries for the kids and newbies etc. Vacation Bible School starts at the end of August with Calvary. So a couple of things still planned before school starts..but mostly low key ard here-and thats fine with me :)
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Perfect Homeschooling Mom????......
Okay-Im perusing all my materials and online sights again...now thst school is coming up. Our K12 supplies are here-just missing Science-its on the way.....
I stumbled upon this and thought it was a keeper....:)
The "Perfect" Homeschool Mom?
By Jennifer Shaffer
The "Perfect" Home-School Mom?
Who is the "perfect" home-school mom? Where and how does she live? Is her husband the "perfect" home-school father who always makes the right choices? What are her children like? What kind of house does she live in? Is it always clean and well organized?
The "perfect" home-school mom is one who lifts her eyes to the Lord, the source of her help (Psalm 121). She desires to have a closer relationship to the Lord, to be a Godly woman with a heart of thanksgiving in all things, to be a better helpmeet to her husband, and to be a loving mother to her children.
The "perfect" home-school mom may be somewhat (or extraordinarily!) disorganized, but still has the humbleness of mind to say, "I'm having a problem with a certain area of organization. Does anyone have any suggestions which may help me?"
The "perfect" home-school mom is one who goes through trials -- difficult trials, fiery trials -- and cries out to the Lord in the midst of them. "Then she cried to the Lord in her trouble, and He saved her from her distress. He brought her out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away her chains. Let her give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds to women" (Psalm 107:13-15 paraphrased).
The "perfect" home-school mom is one who is sometimes running, sometimes walking, and sometimes faltering, but who continues to run the race set before her with trust and perseverance of faith. She may become irritated, frustrated, or overwhelmed, but she continues to pray, to seek, and to overcome in the strength of the Lord. The "perfect" home-school mom is one who loves the Lord and her family and will give up many luxuries of time, energy, and money to show that love is a daily way of life. She is human; but she knows Whose she is and "Who is able to keep that which she has committed to Him against that day" (II Timothy 1:12.).
The "perfect" home-school mom sees the endless making of meals, the washing of clothes, shopping, cleaning house, and lesson preparation week after week and month after month as work to give back to the Lord with thanksgiving (Col. 3:17). She understands that these chores are not just something to be finished so that she can "get on with life" or "get to the fun things" (a lie of the enemy that our responsibilities are drudgery). Instead, her work builds relationships and character into herself and her dear children as well as developing skills.
The "perfect" home-school mom doesn't get depressed when she realizes that she will have to prepare at least 15,000 more meals in her lifetime. She teaches her family by example to rejoice in serving and to be attentive to details.
The "perfect" home-school mom talks to the Lord about her husband's weaknesses and talks to her husband about his good qualities.
The "perfect" home-school mom realizes she is weak, but knows Who is strong. She learns to rest in the everlasting love of the Lord and knows that it is Him, the Maker of heaven and earth, who will give her His strength, His grace, and His wisdom to press on.
The "perfect" heart is not one that does everything right, but one that holds back nothing (not even her inadequacies) from the Lord (Psalm 51).
The "perfect" home-school mom has seen the Lord intervene in the mediocrity of daily living, taking an ordinary day and making it extraordinary.
Will the "perfect" home-school mom please stand up? Couldn't we all stand?
Don't we fit the criteria? Yes! We are "perfect" home-school moms, not because we are able, but because we know that we are unable apart from God's holy grace, and He is able.
Circumstances vary from family to family, but the promises of God and His Word never change. They continue, from generation to generation, to be a source of great joy and peace for those who have been called to His Kingdom.
"I will run the course set out in Thy commandments, for they gladden the heart." (Psalm 119:32)
-- by Naida Gomes.
I stumbled upon this and thought it was a keeper....:)
The "Perfect" Homeschool Mom?
By Jennifer Shaffer
The "Perfect" Home-School Mom?
Who is the "perfect" home-school mom? Where and how does she live? Is her husband the "perfect" home-school father who always makes the right choices? What are her children like? What kind of house does she live in? Is it always clean and well organized?
The "perfect" home-school mom is one who lifts her eyes to the Lord, the source of her help (Psalm 121). She desires to have a closer relationship to the Lord, to be a Godly woman with a heart of thanksgiving in all things, to be a better helpmeet to her husband, and to be a loving mother to her children.
The "perfect" home-school mom may be somewhat (or extraordinarily!) disorganized, but still has the humbleness of mind to say, "I'm having a problem with a certain area of organization. Does anyone have any suggestions which may help me?"
The "perfect" home-school mom is one who goes through trials -- difficult trials, fiery trials -- and cries out to the Lord in the midst of them. "Then she cried to the Lord in her trouble, and He saved her from her distress. He brought her out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away her chains. Let her give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds to women" (Psalm 107:13-15 paraphrased).
The "perfect" home-school mom is one who is sometimes running, sometimes walking, and sometimes faltering, but who continues to run the race set before her with trust and perseverance of faith. She may become irritated, frustrated, or overwhelmed, but she continues to pray, to seek, and to overcome in the strength of the Lord. The "perfect" home-school mom is one who loves the Lord and her family and will give up many luxuries of time, energy, and money to show that love is a daily way of life. She is human; but she knows Whose she is and "Who is able to keep that which she has committed to Him against that day" (II Timothy 1:12.).
The "perfect" home-school mom sees the endless making of meals, the washing of clothes, shopping, cleaning house, and lesson preparation week after week and month after month as work to give back to the Lord with thanksgiving (Col. 3:17). She understands that these chores are not just something to be finished so that she can "get on with life" or "get to the fun things" (a lie of the enemy that our responsibilities are drudgery). Instead, her work builds relationships and character into herself and her dear children as well as developing skills.
The "perfect" home-school mom doesn't get depressed when she realizes that she will have to prepare at least 15,000 more meals in her lifetime. She teaches her family by example to rejoice in serving and to be attentive to details.
The "perfect" home-school mom talks to the Lord about her husband's weaknesses and talks to her husband about his good qualities.
The "perfect" home-school mom realizes she is weak, but knows Who is strong. She learns to rest in the everlasting love of the Lord and knows that it is Him, the Maker of heaven and earth, who will give her His strength, His grace, and His wisdom to press on.
The "perfect" heart is not one that does everything right, but one that holds back nothing (not even her inadequacies) from the Lord (Psalm 51).
The "perfect" home-school mom has seen the Lord intervene in the mediocrity of daily living, taking an ordinary day and making it extraordinary.
Will the "perfect" home-school mom please stand up? Couldn't we all stand?
Don't we fit the criteria? Yes! We are "perfect" home-school moms, not because we are able, but because we know that we are unable apart from God's holy grace, and He is able.
Circumstances vary from family to family, but the promises of God and His Word never change. They continue, from generation to generation, to be a source of great joy and peace for those who have been called to His Kingdom.
"I will run the course set out in Thy commandments, for they gladden the heart." (Psalm 119:32)
-- by Naida Gomes.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
School Vouchers -VERY good read...
The Uses of Vouchers
School choice can help special-ed students and keep the Catholic-school option alive in the inner city.
Keeping Promises
Jay P. Greene
In 1975, Congress passed legislation giving students with disabilities the right to an appropriate education at public expense. But having a right is only as good as your ability to enforce it. In New York City and elsewhere, public schools regularly delay and frustrate disabled students seeking appropriate services—everything from tutoring to speech therapy to treatment of severe disabilities—making their federally protected right all but meaningless. Rather than compelling families with disabled children to contend with obstinate public school systems, we should give them the option of purchasing the services they need for their children from a private provider. That is, we should give them special-ed vouchers—good for the same amount of money that we already spend on them in the public school system—that they could then use to pay for private school. Not only would this bring better services to disabled New York students; it could also save the public money.
Many parents of disabled students have a lot of trouble ensuring that public schools give their kids an appropriate education. The parents have to know what they’re entitled to, and most do not. They must negotiate services from the local schools—but the schools are experienced in these negotiations, while the parents generally aren’t, so the schools often get away with minimizing their responsibilities. And even if parents win at the negotiating table, getting the schools actually to deliver on their promises is enormously difficult.
In the end, the only way to compel schools to keep their promises is for parents to engage in ongoing legal battles with the same people who take care of their kids each school day. Most parents have neither the resources nor the stomach to do that. Schools, on the other hand, see little downside in promising few services and delivering fewer. The worst that can happen is that courts will step in and order them to do what they were originally supposed to do; there are no punitive damages in special ed. Research by Perry Zirkel at Lehigh University also shows that courts tend to sympathize with school districts and that schools win most legal challenges from parents. And since children age, delays work to the schools’ advantage.
For all these reasons, most parents of disabled kids simply resign themselves to whatever the schools deliver—or fail to deliver. In New York City, according to an audit by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, more than two-thirds of all students newly assigned to special education during the 2006–07 school year had to wait more than 60 days to enter a program. Roughly one-third of all eligible students fail to receive the services to which the schools have decided they’re entitled. And there’s no guarantee, of course, that these services will be any good.
If students believe that what the public schools have to offer is inadequate, why not give them the option of finding those services in the market? Every student identified as disabled could get a voucher worth no more money than the public schools would spend to educate that child (with more severely disabled students receiving more generous vouchers). Students could then use the vouchers to attend private school if they wanted. No one would have to use the vouchers, and students choosing to remain in public schools would retain all the rights they already have there. Disabled students would simply gain a mechanism—a market mechanism—to help them make their rights a reality.
And at a time of budget pressure, special-ed vouchers could end up saving taxpayers money, in two ways. First, if a private school’s tuition for a disabled child were lower than the value of the child’s voucher, then the total amount of the voucher wouldn’t need to be spent. Given the tendency of private schools to operate more efficiently than public schools, this outcome would likely be common. In Florida, for instance, where a special-ed voucher program is already operating, the average cost of a voucher for disabled students is $7,206—far below what taxpayers spend for the average special-ed student in public school.
Second, vouchers reduce the public schools’ tendency to move ever more students into special education, including many who aren’t in fact disabled but are disruptive or just struggling academically. Part of the schools’ motivation in expanding the special-ed ranks is to bring in additional subsidies from the state and federal governments—subsidies that the schools then tend to squander instead of spending on the required services. But schools may think twice about overidentifying disabilities for financial reasons if, every time they do so, they risk losing students and all their funding to private schools. An analysis that I have done with the Manhattan Institute’s Marcus Winters shows that Florida public schools have indeed become somewhat more reluctant to classify students as disabled with the increased availability of vouchers.
Special-ed voucher programs already exist not only in Florida but in Georgia, Ohio, and Utah as well. And the Florida program is working well, according to evaluations that I have helped conduct. Florida students are likelier to receive appropriate services in private school. The voucher program serves a representative distribution of disabled students, so that students with more severe disabilities, as well as students from low-income or minority backgrounds, can find what they need in private schools, just as their more advantaged counterparts can. (Students can also attend public schools other than their local ones with the vouchers, but few do.) Parents with voucher kids report being very satisfied with the program, adding that their children are less likely to find themselves bullied for their disabilities. Finally, the public schools feel some competitive pressure to improve their own services for disabled students, even as they become more restrained in categorizing students as disabled. In fact, Winters and I found that achievement levels for disabled students remaining in the public schools improved significantly when those students had more options to leave.
Because children with disabilities have a federal right to an appropriate education, parents in New York can already go to court to demand a publicly funded spot in a private school if the public schools fail to provide adequate services. At the moment, though, very few New York City students are in that situation: about 1,900, roughly 1 percent of all disabled students and less than 0.2 percent of the more than 1 million students in the city. The kids tend to be from the city’s most sophisticated, wealthy, and combative families.
Special-ed vouchers, then, would democratize an option currently enjoyed by an elite few. They would improve access to services for the disabled, reduce costs for taxpayers, and ease conflict between schools and parents of disabled students. It’s an idea that New York should pursue.
Jay P. Greene is the endowed professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is the author of Education Myths.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hmmm...interesting-here where we live the voucher program was rejected because of the Teacher Unions...go figure.....this article says that Utah has a special program-I dont know abt it I guess...Hmmm....
School choice can help special-ed students and keep the Catholic-school option alive in the inner city.
Keeping Promises
Jay P. Greene
In 1975, Congress passed legislation giving students with disabilities the right to an appropriate education at public expense. But having a right is only as good as your ability to enforce it. In New York City and elsewhere, public schools regularly delay and frustrate disabled students seeking appropriate services—everything from tutoring to speech therapy to treatment of severe disabilities—making their federally protected right all but meaningless. Rather than compelling families with disabled children to contend with obstinate public school systems, we should give them the option of purchasing the services they need for their children from a private provider. That is, we should give them special-ed vouchers—good for the same amount of money that we already spend on them in the public school system—that they could then use to pay for private school. Not only would this bring better services to disabled New York students; it could also save the public money.
Many parents of disabled students have a lot of trouble ensuring that public schools give their kids an appropriate education. The parents have to know what they’re entitled to, and most do not. They must negotiate services from the local schools—but the schools are experienced in these negotiations, while the parents generally aren’t, so the schools often get away with minimizing their responsibilities. And even if parents win at the negotiating table, getting the schools actually to deliver on their promises is enormously difficult.
In the end, the only way to compel schools to keep their promises is for parents to engage in ongoing legal battles with the same people who take care of their kids each school day. Most parents have neither the resources nor the stomach to do that. Schools, on the other hand, see little downside in promising few services and delivering fewer. The worst that can happen is that courts will step in and order them to do what they were originally supposed to do; there are no punitive damages in special ed. Research by Perry Zirkel at Lehigh University also shows that courts tend to sympathize with school districts and that schools win most legal challenges from parents. And since children age, delays work to the schools’ advantage.
For all these reasons, most parents of disabled kids simply resign themselves to whatever the schools deliver—or fail to deliver. In New York City, according to an audit by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, more than two-thirds of all students newly assigned to special education during the 2006–07 school year had to wait more than 60 days to enter a program. Roughly one-third of all eligible students fail to receive the services to which the schools have decided they’re entitled. And there’s no guarantee, of course, that these services will be any good.
If students believe that what the public schools have to offer is inadequate, why not give them the option of finding those services in the market? Every student identified as disabled could get a voucher worth no more money than the public schools would spend to educate that child (with more severely disabled students receiving more generous vouchers). Students could then use the vouchers to attend private school if they wanted. No one would have to use the vouchers, and students choosing to remain in public schools would retain all the rights they already have there. Disabled students would simply gain a mechanism—a market mechanism—to help them make their rights a reality.
And at a time of budget pressure, special-ed vouchers could end up saving taxpayers money, in two ways. First, if a private school’s tuition for a disabled child were lower than the value of the child’s voucher, then the total amount of the voucher wouldn’t need to be spent. Given the tendency of private schools to operate more efficiently than public schools, this outcome would likely be common. In Florida, for instance, where a special-ed voucher program is already operating, the average cost of a voucher for disabled students is $7,206—far below what taxpayers spend for the average special-ed student in public school.
Second, vouchers reduce the public schools’ tendency to move ever more students into special education, including many who aren’t in fact disabled but are disruptive or just struggling academically. Part of the schools’ motivation in expanding the special-ed ranks is to bring in additional subsidies from the state and federal governments—subsidies that the schools then tend to squander instead of spending on the required services. But schools may think twice about overidentifying disabilities for financial reasons if, every time they do so, they risk losing students and all their funding to private schools. An analysis that I have done with the Manhattan Institute’s Marcus Winters shows that Florida public schools have indeed become somewhat more reluctant to classify students as disabled with the increased availability of vouchers.
Special-ed voucher programs already exist not only in Florida but in Georgia, Ohio, and Utah as well. And the Florida program is working well, according to evaluations that I have helped conduct. Florida students are likelier to receive appropriate services in private school. The voucher program serves a representative distribution of disabled students, so that students with more severe disabilities, as well as students from low-income or minority backgrounds, can find what they need in private schools, just as their more advantaged counterparts can. (Students can also attend public schools other than their local ones with the vouchers, but few do.) Parents with voucher kids report being very satisfied with the program, adding that their children are less likely to find themselves bullied for their disabilities. Finally, the public schools feel some competitive pressure to improve their own services for disabled students, even as they become more restrained in categorizing students as disabled. In fact, Winters and I found that achievement levels for disabled students remaining in the public schools improved significantly when those students had more options to leave.
Because children with disabilities have a federal right to an appropriate education, parents in New York can already go to court to demand a publicly funded spot in a private school if the public schools fail to provide adequate services. At the moment, though, very few New York City students are in that situation: about 1,900, roughly 1 percent of all disabled students and less than 0.2 percent of the more than 1 million students in the city. The kids tend to be from the city’s most sophisticated, wealthy, and combative families.
Special-ed vouchers, then, would democratize an option currently enjoyed by an elite few. They would improve access to services for the disabled, reduce costs for taxpayers, and ease conflict between schools and parents of disabled students. It’s an idea that New York should pursue.
Jay P. Greene is the endowed professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is the author of Education Myths.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hmmm...interesting-here where we live the voucher program was rejected because of the Teacher Unions...go figure.....this article says that Utah has a special program-I dont know abt it I guess...Hmmm....
Monday, July 27, 2009
We're Back........
.....and I have a mt of clothes to be folded to show for it....sigh...still.....I have finally done the last batch of laundry though-so thats done-just needs to be folded-which I cant stand to do...ugh...
We had a FANTASTIC time and we are allll aching to go back up in the mts...man they are being missed ard here.....
But it was nice to slip into a nice comfy bed and not have to be woken up to Monkey Boy telling me he needed to visit the trees every morning at 7:30......yigh-yigh...LOLOL
Country smells are very nice-but NOTHING compares to the mt air and pines...ahhh... I took loads of pics..so Ive just get to download them and Ill have them up here in a few...
The dry ice kept really well -all the meals turned out fantastic and there is nothing like going to bed at night with a tummy full of smores-NUMMMMM! :P
So it was a fantastic time-Fantastic!!!!
It only rained in the way early morning and just drizzled...so it was so very pleasant the entire time. We went on hicks and trails, and fished and swam. Played tuns of ball games and sang by the campfire. We actually found one of the geocaches too!!!! That was really neat-like a treasure hunt-and we found it!!!
Now we are all back and showerd-LOLOLOL, and fixin to have family reunions this weekend and next...cant wait!!!:)
Ive also been busy getting Stingers K12 supplies organized along with Flamingos and Monkey Boys for PS....I cant wait to start school again with Stinger. This year Im going to try and get him to be more independant, pulling out his Math book and turning to a certain page etc, instead of guiding him as I have done in the past.He also is required to read 4 novels this year-so Ive been trying to figure out from their list which ones would suit him best....so many new things-we will see how it goes...I have a very good feeling though that things will work out beautifully :)
Monkey Boy will be gone all day now for 1st grade-Im not looking forward to that...:(My baby-is growing up-and I get to hate it all over again...sigh...yeah....
We had a FANTASTIC time and we are allll aching to go back up in the mts...man they are being missed ard here.....
But it was nice to slip into a nice comfy bed and not have to be woken up to Monkey Boy telling me he needed to visit the trees every morning at 7:30......yigh-yigh...LOLOL
Country smells are very nice-but NOTHING compares to the mt air and pines...ahhh... I took loads of pics..so Ive just get to download them and Ill have them up here in a few...
The dry ice kept really well -all the meals turned out fantastic and there is nothing like going to bed at night with a tummy full of smores-NUMMMMM! :P
So it was a fantastic time-Fantastic!!!!
It only rained in the way early morning and just drizzled...so it was so very pleasant the entire time. We went on hicks and trails, and fished and swam. Played tuns of ball games and sang by the campfire. We actually found one of the geocaches too!!!! That was really neat-like a treasure hunt-and we found it!!!
Now we are all back and showerd-LOLOLOL, and fixin to have family reunions this weekend and next...cant wait!!!:)
Ive also been busy getting Stingers K12 supplies organized along with Flamingos and Monkey Boys for PS....I cant wait to start school again with Stinger. This year Im going to try and get him to be more independant, pulling out his Math book and turning to a certain page etc, instead of guiding him as I have done in the past.He also is required to read 4 novels this year-so Ive been trying to figure out from their list which ones would suit him best....so many new things-we will see how it goes...I have a very good feeling though that things will work out beautifully :)
Monkey Boy will be gone all day now for 1st grade-Im not looking forward to that...:(My baby-is growing up-and I get to hate it all over again...sigh...yeah....
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Camp Packing......
Our Menus :)For Future reference-LOLOLOL, and to get it straight in my mind...LOLOL;P
All meals will be cooked with propane stove or coals and then a fire at night :)
All meats are cooked then double ziplocked frozen before we leave which will be a nice easy prep at campsight :)
2 coolers-1 dry ice for meats and other cooler for cold drinks
1st day-b:home
l:home/or sand. at campsight
d:hobo dinner(cube steak/potatoes/cr mush soup/lipton packet)
fire:smores
2nd day-b:catalop/sausage mcmuffins/tang
l:tacos
d:teriyaki chick(marinate before leave and cook and bring xtra sauce)/rice
fire:apple pie on stick(roast over coals, when skin done-peel, roll in cin/sugar, roast agn-Num :)
3rd day-b:hamsteaks/potatoes/tang
l:grilled cheese/chips
d:barb sand/potatoes
fire:smores
4th day-b:bacon sand w/cheese/tang
l:chili-dogs/chips
d:pork chops/rice
fire:bannana boats-NUM
5th day-b:ham steaks/eng muffins/tang
l:tacos
d:french dip sand with swiss/potatoes
fire:smores
6th day-b:potatoes/bacon/melon/tang
l:sandwiches/chips
back home.......:(
Busy...Busy.....
Well I havent been updating as I should be. Ive been busy getting ready for our camping trip. WHOOT!!!!!-CANT WAIT!!!!!
Loads of campers here in Utah and loads of ideas from all my camping friends-so Ive been compiling recipies and cooking all my meat and freezing so it will be simple when we get there.Thanks Lisa girl!!!!!!!!!!
Dh bought the kids each their own fishing poles and their own tackle boxes-they are soo proud of them and they've been play fishing ard the house-LOLOLOL I think we will pass on the worms thsi year and just do a velvetta thing-per Granmaw thats a sure winner ard here :)The kids will all want to try out their plastic worms and things that came with their tackle boxes Im sure also. I was always so jealous of my Dads tackle box growing up-he had such cool things in there...now the kids have their own-LOLOLOL
Ive also been exploring some fun things to do and I stumbled upon "GEOCACHING" pronounced geo-cashing. Its like going on a treasure hunt and there are 3 located ard Tonys Grove-so we will be taking some fun hikes trying to find the boxes that have been placed there-cool-eh? Some are more difficult to find that others-so we shall see-it sounds way fun though-eh?
I guess the idea is to us a GPS deal, but you can do it by googling too-so thats what we will do-it gets kinda tricky though in the mts/woods-LOLOLOL
So you use a GPS or google map and try and find boxes with fun things inside that others have placed all ard the world. You use clues and things just like a treasure hunt. You replace what is in the box with something you think someone else would like, and sign your name and update on the sight when you get back.
So thats a new adventure we plan on exploring while we are camping up there......The kids are getting way into it-so hopefully we find ...something....at any rate it should be loads of fun whether we find the boxes or not! I LOVE hiking!!!:)
We are finishing up the Tball/Softball season. Monkey Boy got his trophy last week-he is sooooo proud of it and takes it down off the shelf and looks at it at least 2 times a day. Flamingos last game is the night we get back-so we will go to that even though we all will be pooped, but its trophy night so we dont want to miss it....might be just me and Flamingo though...we shall see.
Ill post pics of everything in a few.....:)
Loads of campers here in Utah and loads of ideas from all my camping friends-so Ive been compiling recipies and cooking all my meat and freezing so it will be simple when we get there.Thanks Lisa girl!!!!!!!!!!
Dh bought the kids each their own fishing poles and their own tackle boxes-they are soo proud of them and they've been play fishing ard the house-LOLOLOL I think we will pass on the worms thsi year and just do a velvetta thing-per Granmaw thats a sure winner ard here :)The kids will all want to try out their plastic worms and things that came with their tackle boxes Im sure also. I was always so jealous of my Dads tackle box growing up-he had such cool things in there...now the kids have their own-LOLOLOL
Ive also been exploring some fun things to do and I stumbled upon "GEOCACHING" pronounced geo-cashing. Its like going on a treasure hunt and there are 3 located ard Tonys Grove-so we will be taking some fun hikes trying to find the boxes that have been placed there-cool-eh? Some are more difficult to find that others-so we shall see-it sounds way fun though-eh?
I guess the idea is to us a GPS deal, but you can do it by googling too-so thats what we will do-it gets kinda tricky though in the mts/woods-LOLOLOL
So you use a GPS or google map and try and find boxes with fun things inside that others have placed all ard the world. You use clues and things just like a treasure hunt. You replace what is in the box with something you think someone else would like, and sign your name and update on the sight when you get back.
So thats a new adventure we plan on exploring while we are camping up there......The kids are getting way into it-so hopefully we find ...something....at any rate it should be loads of fun whether we find the boxes or not! I LOVE hiking!!!:)
We are finishing up the Tball/Softball season. Monkey Boy got his trophy last week-he is sooooo proud of it and takes it down off the shelf and looks at it at least 2 times a day. Flamingos last game is the night we get back-so we will go to that even though we all will be pooped, but its trophy night so we dont want to miss it....might be just me and Flamingo though...we shall see.
Ill post pics of everything in a few.....:)
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Our Little "Houdini"
Look at what our little stinker did today. Dont ask me how he did it-but he twisted himself all ard the pole then hopped over-ugh...what a stinker-LOLOLOL
Guess the grass is really greener over here on the other side of the fence-LOLOLOL
A Tribute To Our Fallen Friends In the Sky....
Such a sad day we had thsi past weekend :(
We had a BIG wind storm and we went outside to play ball and we found 5 baby birds that had fallen out of their nest. One was still opening its mouth but wasnt making any sound and we were too late for the others.....:( I thought that maybee we could help the one that was still moving...but it took its final breaths and closed its eyes. Poor Flamingo was just in tears.....so much like me as a kid when our baby birds would fall out of their nests in Oklahoma :(I would try so hard to get them better, but it never worked out.
We got a little box and nestled them nicely inside and burried them out back. Flamingo made a little wooden cross that marks the spot below the tree. She was battling back tears -not having much sucess with thsi I might add-but it looked really nice and she picked out a very nice spot fro them.
Aftre we were done both Monkey Boy and Flamingo wanted to go inside and make some birds out of paper. This made them both feel somewhat better I think.....so sad though-I think all the babies fell out of the nest-poor Momma bird too-we saw her watching us and Flamingo said we had to treat them nicely as Momma was watching...:)So we did our best. We made a pact that whenever there is a wind storm we will go out right after to make sure any birds that fell out are okay from now on....
Monday, July 06, 2009
Wall Street Journal article on Rest/Sec...cont..
Federal Ban Sought On Student Restraint
By ROBERT TOMSHO
Educators' use of restraint holds and other methods to subdue students they deem disruptive has been blamed for injury or death of many students in recent years. Now groups are pushing for a federal ban on certain tactics.
[The Old Quiet Room, no longer in use, at Ashland Middle School in Ashland, Wis. Places such as this have been used to control students.] Karen Hollish/Daily Press
The Old Quiet Room, no longer in use, at Ashland Middle School in Ashland, Wis. Places such as this have been used to control students.
Properly done, restraint involves using precise holds, often with the hands or arms, to subdue and calm someone. Students in such circumstances -- many of which have learning disabilities such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -- also are sometimes put in so-called seclusion rooms.
Although there are no nationwide data on the use of such measures, they have attracted greater attention in recent years as more students with behavioral disabilities are being educated in mainstream schools where there is greater public scrutiny and many educators have little related training. Although some situations have been the result of threatening behavior by such students in classrooms or hallways, researchers say many incidents don't appear to have involved children who were aggressive.
In a report last month, the Government Accountability Office said it found hundreds of allegations of school-related "death and abuse" since 1990, the vast majority involving children with disabilities. The cases included a Florida teacher's aide who gagged and duct-taped children as young as 6 for misbehaving and a 14-year-old in Texas who refused to stay seated in class and died after a 230-pound teacher tried to restrain him by lying on top of him on the floor. In Texas alone, the GAO said more than 4,200 students were restrained nearly 19,000 times during the 2007-08 school year.
In January, a report by the National Disability Rights Network, a system of federally mandated legal-advocacy organizations, detailed dozens of similar cases. Such groups have been in the forefront of the debate because children with disabilities are so often involved.
Some want a federal ban on tactics such as restraints of prone students that can imperil breathing. "We think they have to be tightly controlled at the federal level," said Barbara Trader, executive director of Tash, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.
But Bruce Hunter, associate executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, said it is sometimes an educator's duty to try to restrain a student. "You can't sit and call the cops and watch," he said.
The federal government already regulates the use of restraint and seclusion in hospitals and other facilities that it helps to fund. In psychiatric hospitals, for instance, only licensed medical personnel can order that a patient be restrained or put into a locked room.
But there are no related federal laws covering schools, and state regulations -- where they exist -- vary widely. According to the GAO, seven states restrict the use of restraints but not seclusion; 19 states have no restraint or seclusion laws. "The one place where our kids spend the most time is the place where they have the least protection," says Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, a legal-advocacy group.
In Washington, the effort to limit the use of such techniques is being championed by Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. In January, the California Democrat called for the GAO review, and last month his committee held hearings. What was discovered, he said in an interview, is a system "in which children are unnecessarily dying and being harmed."
In testimony before Congress in May, Education Secretary Arne Duncan called such findings "disturbing" and said he is instructing chief school officers in all 50 states to detail their plans for keeping students safe. Several dozen advocacy groups subsequently discussed the issue in a meeting with White House staff.
Phyllis Musumeci, founder of a group called Florida Families Against Restraint and Seclusion, said federal oversight is critical. "These are children, not apples and oranges," said Ms. Musumeci, who says her son was restrained 89 times during a 14-month period in middle school. "We need to all be working off the same law."
The scope of any possible federal law is still uncertain. Mr. Miller and others involved in the discussions say they would like it to be crafted so that states are primarily responsible for developing and enforcing policies. One possible model is a bill Mr. Miller sponsored last year that was focused on preventing child abuse at residential treatment facilities. It would require states to develop such policies involving those settings and establish a federal system for evaluating reports of abuse. The House has passed the bill but it has yet to be taken up in the Senate.
Write to Robert Tomsho at rob.tomsho@wsj.com
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ack...okay bottom line-we CANT be having STATES in charge here......thats how all these problems started.....States have NO overseer-so they will STILL write what they need to , then do what they WANT....ugh.......what is wrong with these PEOPLE!!!!!!
So yet again....PS are STILL unsafe for our kids.....HOMESCHOOL them!!!!!
By ROBERT TOMSHO
Educators' use of restraint holds and other methods to subdue students they deem disruptive has been blamed for injury or death of many students in recent years. Now groups are pushing for a federal ban on certain tactics.
[The Old Quiet Room, no longer in use, at Ashland Middle School in Ashland, Wis. Places such as this have been used to control students.] Karen Hollish/Daily Press
The Old Quiet Room, no longer in use, at Ashland Middle School in Ashland, Wis. Places such as this have been used to control students.
Properly done, restraint involves using precise holds, often with the hands or arms, to subdue and calm someone. Students in such circumstances -- many of which have learning disabilities such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -- also are sometimes put in so-called seclusion rooms.
Although there are no nationwide data on the use of such measures, they have attracted greater attention in recent years as more students with behavioral disabilities are being educated in mainstream schools where there is greater public scrutiny and many educators have little related training. Although some situations have been the result of threatening behavior by such students in classrooms or hallways, researchers say many incidents don't appear to have involved children who were aggressive.
In a report last month, the Government Accountability Office said it found hundreds of allegations of school-related "death and abuse" since 1990, the vast majority involving children with disabilities. The cases included a Florida teacher's aide who gagged and duct-taped children as young as 6 for misbehaving and a 14-year-old in Texas who refused to stay seated in class and died after a 230-pound teacher tried to restrain him by lying on top of him on the floor. In Texas alone, the GAO said more than 4,200 students were restrained nearly 19,000 times during the 2007-08 school year.
In January, a report by the National Disability Rights Network, a system of federally mandated legal-advocacy organizations, detailed dozens of similar cases. Such groups have been in the forefront of the debate because children with disabilities are so often involved.
Some want a federal ban on tactics such as restraints of prone students that can imperil breathing. "We think they have to be tightly controlled at the federal level," said Barbara Trader, executive director of Tash, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.
But Bruce Hunter, associate executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, said it is sometimes an educator's duty to try to restrain a student. "You can't sit and call the cops and watch," he said.
The federal government already regulates the use of restraint and seclusion in hospitals and other facilities that it helps to fund. In psychiatric hospitals, for instance, only licensed medical personnel can order that a patient be restrained or put into a locked room.
But there are no related federal laws covering schools, and state regulations -- where they exist -- vary widely. According to the GAO, seven states restrict the use of restraints but not seclusion; 19 states have no restraint or seclusion laws. "The one place where our kids spend the most time is the place where they have the least protection," says Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, a legal-advocacy group.
In Washington, the effort to limit the use of such techniques is being championed by Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. In January, the California Democrat called for the GAO review, and last month his committee held hearings. What was discovered, he said in an interview, is a system "in which children are unnecessarily dying and being harmed."
In testimony before Congress in May, Education Secretary Arne Duncan called such findings "disturbing" and said he is instructing chief school officers in all 50 states to detail their plans for keeping students safe. Several dozen advocacy groups subsequently discussed the issue in a meeting with White House staff.
Phyllis Musumeci, founder of a group called Florida Families Against Restraint and Seclusion, said federal oversight is critical. "These are children, not apples and oranges," said Ms. Musumeci, who says her son was restrained 89 times during a 14-month period in middle school. "We need to all be working off the same law."
The scope of any possible federal law is still uncertain. Mr. Miller and others involved in the discussions say they would like it to be crafted so that states are primarily responsible for developing and enforcing policies. One possible model is a bill Mr. Miller sponsored last year that was focused on preventing child abuse at residential treatment facilities. It would require states to develop such policies involving those settings and establish a federal system for evaluating reports of abuse. The House has passed the bill but it has yet to be taken up in the Senate.
Write to Robert Tomsho at rob.tomsho@wsj.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ack...okay bottom line-we CANT be having STATES in charge here......thats how all these problems started.....States have NO overseer-so they will STILL write what they need to , then do what they WANT....ugh.......what is wrong with these PEOPLE!!!!!!
So yet again....PS are STILL unsafe for our kids.....HOMESCHOOL them!!!!!
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