The Blinking Cursor - Homeschool Blogger

New world!

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:02:00 -0600

I've moved.. you can now find me at my new blog fanTABZulous! it's here!

Perfect SAT Score...

Mon, 5 Feb 2007 20:23:00 -0600

Shreesh Prasad is the only Nevada state student to score a perfect on his test.

Silent lunch?

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 23:10:00 -0600

A Roman Catholic elementary school adopted a "silent" lunch policy after three recent choking incidents. Silent means the kids can whisper - but other than that they have to be silent. The school says it's because the lunch room could become very noisy and the teachers were unable to hear the child choking. I'm sorry, but this is plain ridiculous. Kids are quiet all day in school and in class. Lunch seems to be a natural time to engage in reasonable conversation. They are kids after all. Are there really not enough adults watching the kids that they can't see choking happen? Makes me appreciate being homeschooled more.

Are Boys the Weaker Sex?

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:59:00 -0600

Are Boys the Weaker Sex? Based on article by the same title in Reader�s Digest, February 2002 �We are experiencing a crisis of the boy next door,� according to Willima Pollack, a clinical psychology at Harvard Medical School and author of Real Boys (112). According to article there is a strange paradox between the aggressive tendencies in boys and their emotional sensitivity. The �crisis� comes from the lack on behalf of care-takers and parents to nurture their emotional lives. The article did cite there are differences in the way that girls and boys think, but sees this �crisis� effecting boys in their academic performance. According to the article boys are less likely to go on to college. �By 2007, universities are projected to enroll 6.9 million men compared with 9.2 million women.� This is not only true of boy�s college experience but, according to the article 2/3 of the students classified as having learning disabilities are male. After watching the video in class about the differences between boys and girls I was fascinated. I resonated a lot with what the video was talking about because I�ve worked with children for a good majority of my life. Currently I�m the director of Sparks, a youth club on Wednesday nights at Moody Memorial Church. I work with 5-8 year olds and could see the differences between the females in the class and the males. Many of boys in my class are naturally more aggressive and competitive. Not one week goes by where one of my male leaders have to figuratively �sit on� one of the boys. The girls, on the other hand, can be a handful, but they are more collective handfuls. When one decides to act up the rest will follow. Yet, as I�ve learned with working with inner city kids, the worst behaved kid is the one who has the most emotional need. Rick, one of my leader�s, told me the other day that when dealing with one of the boys (I�ll call him John) Rick started talking to him outside of the group. After awhile John shared things that were going on at home and school. Rick prayed with John and told him that he�d be praying for him during the week. When John came back the next week he gave Rick a big hug. All John needed was love and to know that it was okay to feel sad or happy. I would agree with this article that most boys need to have a good emotional base to work with. If they are constantly told to not be �sensitive� they�ll hold things in and become bitter. With many of the inner city high school students I work with at church on Sunday mornings I can tell that a lot of the boys are hurting, but they don�t know what to do with their emotions. The boys think they need to hold things in and be �a man�. And, as a result, they act tough, but inwardly are breaking. I also agree with both the article and the video that boys and girls are different emotionally. Yet, we are all the same in some senses. God has created us with our emotional makeup. Boys shouldn�t �get in touch with their feminine side� and girls don�t need to �find their inner strength�. Both need to be nurtured to understand that feelings are normal and true strength comes from figuring out how to use those feelings to help others.

You were homeschooled?

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 18:18:00 -0600

I was homeschooled from K-12th grade. I'm very proud of the fact, but it's not something that comes up with every person I know. Somehow, though, the topic of highschool memories comes up and I usually make some quip like, "my highschool football team won every game it ever played." When I get the bizaare stares I grin and say, "I was homeschooled." This usually meets with confused and bizaare stares. These turn to uncomfortable stares and people usually don't know what to say. I might has well have said I grew up in a cult or I'm a direct descendant of Jesus. It's amusing to me, but sad too. As time goes on, more and more people seem to embrace the idea of homeschooling as a part of culture. And yet, there's still that element of "freak" associated with being homeschooled. It's not something I mind horribly. In addition to being a homeschooler, I'm a bit of a geek, so "freak" is something I'm used to being labeled as. I'm not sure why though. Is it simply because I was taught by my parents rather than in a classroom of my peers? Do we judge people based on their abnormality to ourselves? It's strange, but I think it's more uncomfortableness than judgment that people have. When they find out they're not sure what to say. There's no common ground for conversation. The only real option they have is to ask questions or change the subject. I don't mind their uncomfortableness, I'm happy to be a real example of what a product of homeschooling looks like - rather than the sterotype. It does bother me sometimes, but in the end I'm proud of my past.

My new laptop!

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 01:46:00 -0600

I have a wonderful new MacBook - a black laptop - it matches nicely to my iPod. I'm very very happy. God was amazingly good to me because my company gave us an incentive bonus this year! I feel amazingly blessed.

Navigating Media for Parents

Mon, 8 Jan 2007 20:27:00 -0600

   “I had no idea!” Surprises are fun most of the time. A surprise birthday party, winning the lottery, your best friend’s engagement to the perfect guy – these are all good surprises. But there are also those “not-so-good” surprises. And all too often one of those occurs when parents actually see the video games, movies, TV shows and other media that their child is viewing. Making sure your child is only accessing age appropriate content can be very difficult for busy parents who aren’t active consumers of kids’ media; you simply can’t stay current with the “latest and greatest” attractions.

By the time their child is three years old, most parents are tired of hearing the catchy sing-song themes of his or her favorite TV show. So by the time that child is 8 or 9 it’s not uncommon for those same parents to have stopped monitoring that child’s media choices. And unfortunately, on those rare occasions when they do - when a parent watches a scene, hears a song lyric, or discovers web sites frequented by their kids, the response is the not-so-good version of “I had no idea”.

But you don’t have to wait for that dreadful surprise. There are ways for you to be proactive – to learn about what your kids may be viewing beforehand and avoid that terrible shock. The following links are a good starting place (but nothing replaces constantly “checking in” from time to time to see what your kids are up to).
CommonSensemedia.org    – A very comprehensive review site for movies, TV, games, music, websites and books. It not only includes the website’s reviews, it also allows users to add their own ratings. If you’re looking to find age appropriate material, there’s navigation to take you to materials specifically tagged as appropriate for particular ages.

ParentsTV.org - A nonprofit organization dedicated to educating parents about television. This guide is segmented by the day AND the entire week’s TV programming. It’s laid out to mimic TVGuide. It only contains the basic channels and prime time television – not the extended cable lineup. Some shows are not rated, but it’s still a helpful guide. You can also look up specific shows on the website if you have concerns. They also have reviews of video games here.

Parent Previews at Movies.Go.Com - - These reviews include a short snapshot of each movie based on Violence, Sexual Content, Language and Drugs/Alcohol. Movie reviews exist for movies in the theater, movies on DVD and “family-friendly” titles. There are also full movie reviews. They also have reviews of video games and music.

ScreenIt.com – this site is extremely comprehensive when it comes to their reviews of movies, DVDs and music. Be forewarned that major spoilers are within the reviews – you may find out more than you want to know if it’s a movie you’re considering seeing. While this can be annoying, the site does give parents a complete run down of any questionable content a film might contain. Navigation is by release date or by title, which is easier for parents looking for the “movie of the week” to watch.

PluggedIn.Com - this website is maintained by Focus on the Family and contains witty reviews of TV, movies and music. While the content is not as comprehensive as other sites it is condensed and fun to read.

KidsInMind.com - this site reviews movies and rates them based on sex/nudity, violence/gore and profanity. The reviews contain explanations of each scene on which they based their rating and the reviewer’s take on what the “message” of the movie is. Navigation is a bit more difficult on this site and there seems to be no clear cut archive to find specific titles.

These are just some of the more popular sites out there for parents to preview content their kids may want to watch (or already be watching). It’s another instance of the balance the Internet provides – it makes both good and bad content easy to access. The key is to learn how to use the Internet for good purposes and limit as much of the bad as you can. Not an easy task. But hopefully, this list will make that never-ending quest a little bit easier.

How Does..

Fri, 5 Jan 2007 17:44:00 -0600

How does a Homeschooler change a light bulb?

A: First, mom checks three books on electricity out of the library, then the kids make models of light bulbs, read a biography of Thomas Edison and do a skit based on his life.

Next, everyone studies the history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own candles.

Next, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change they'll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five dollar bill.

On the way home, a discussion develops over the history of money and also
Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five dollar bill.

Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed.

And there is light.

Vaccinations To Do or Not to Do....

Thu, 4 Jan 2007 18:28:00 -0600

This video is from the TV show House MD, the BEST argument I've seen in the whole vaccination debate.

Music is what music does...

Wed, 3 Jan 2007 19:52:00 -0600

This was a rather interesting article.

BOSTON Bye-bye, Bach. So long, Sousa. Lower-income kids across the country will soon be getting a free music education through hip-hop and other pop tunes they can relate to.

Boston's Berklee College of Music is reaching out to four other cities with a 15-year-old program that's made instrumental and vocal music accessible to underprivileged local children. Many of their public schools have dropped music classes because of budget problems and the need to prepare students for standardized tests.The school is getting help from Berklee alumni who will teach lessons, and from Apple Computer which will provide technology. Students learn their individual parts to popular songs, then play along with special computer mixes of tracks like "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley and "Mas Que Nada" (mash kay NAH'-duh) by Sergio Mendes with The Black Eyed Peas.

I've said over and over that I love music - I think this is a good jumping point to get kids interested in creating music, but I really hope it doesn't just stay there. There's nothing like learning the classics.... in my opinion. It is happier news than constantly hearing that schools are closing down their arts.