Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah......writer's block!!
Here is the blog I was working on during my time off of here. My brother and SIL are expecting, but they live across the U.S. from us, so my other SIL and I threw an online baby shower for her! Lots o' fun!
www.opdahlbabyshower.blogspot.com
It seems like forever since I've posted. Been extremely busy....my friend threw a surprise birthday party for her husband and my house was home base to hide everything and get ready....my daughter had her first dance recital and they won GOLD (way to go Sparklers!!!) Then there was Mother's Day and my father's birthday. I've also had a little something up my sleeve in the family which will be revealed on Wednesday (she tends to read this, so I've had to be quiet!).
I got a Wii Fit for Mother's Day....weighed myself in the a.m. (depressing) and then weighed myself in the evening and had gained 1.1 lb.....I can see it won't be my bestfriend anytime soon.
I have been doing a lot of reevaluation of life....trying to figure out where I'm headed, what is important, what isn't.....what makes me tick. My children have guided me this far, but they are growing up so quick and don't need me to handle every moment of their day anymore.
So, how do you go about finding yourself? Any suggestions?
According to the Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, he would like to see American school children go to school 11 months a year, 6 days per week in order to keep up with their foreign counterparts. I find many problems with this statement, as the fact that our foreign counterparts go to school longer in itself is a false statement. I also find it getting away from the true problem in our country, and that is the lack of good teachers, good quality curriculum and a base of education conformity across the nation.
Japanese students go to school year round, having three semesters, April 5-July 19 (off April 29-May 5; and in May they take a 3 to 4 day school trip, Sept 1 - Dec 24, Jan 8-Mar 25; which gives them approximately 10 scheduled weeks off (I am not sure if there are other days here and there off during their semesters). Over a decade ago, children went to school six days a week, but now they only go five days a week, except for the few that go to private schools which may be six days a week (less than 1% go to private school at the elementary level). Their day is approximately the same length as ours. Kindergarten as well as highschool are noncompulsory, but over 90% go to highschool and 40% go to college.........interesting? They also decreased the number of days children go to school from 6 to 5 because they found the children were too stressed out and had no individuality.
Chinese schools do go year round, but people say they go to school for a longer school day. In most places, especially in big cities, this is not true. Their day is typically 7:30-3:30, but they havea 2-hour lunch break. Some of the outlying provinces do go to school longer in order to get into universities as they find it much more difficult to get into universities than if they lived in the big cities.
I am not against year round school, but there is a difference between year round school and what you want to call the 11-month school year. It is my personal belief that the 2.5 months the children have off in the summer is too long as many children will lose some of their skills. Year-round school gives you about the same time off, with longer breaks inbetween semesters which allows for winter and spring vacations as well, plus a 4-6 week break in the summer depending on the format that is adopted.
I am not for a longer school day, as it is children cannot be children. I also don't think there is any need for it. The curriculum needs to be tailored to better fit our children's needs. I could easily trim off about half of the curriculum and insert more meaningful curriculum. As it is, learning about our country, our states, etc., isn't in our elementary curriculum, it is a voluntary program.
So Mr. Education Secretary, sit down, look at the real facts that our education system is failing because of funding, lack of education conformity, and lack of educational resources.
Sorry ladies! I won't be participating in Fun Monday. I took a little spill this morning - I'm fine, just sore - and I am going to take it easy today with the help of some legal pharmaceuticals!
So, I just have one thing to say:
I have no will power.....Whopper malted milk balls for breakfast!
A beautiful little baby boy who we were fostering. He was only two weeks old!! He has already left our home though and has gone to live in a wonderful preadoptive home!!
So, the house was empty again (well, besides by husband, three children, the dog, finches/canaries, and the squeaky-wheelin' hamster)! So my children pouted and we ended up with:
these three cute little ducklings.......
AND
these three hot chicks!!
Which means that I ended up spending the rest of my weekend building this:
which is still a work in progress!!
Any cures for sleepless nights and bad backs, send them my way ;)
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/history/111_HR_427.html?rev=38498
Please support this bill that has been referred to the House Committee on Financial Services stating the following:
Notify Americans Before Outsourcing Personal Information Act - Prohibits a business from transferring personally identifiable information of a U.S. citizen to any foreign affiliate or subcontractor in another country without providing notice to such citizen that the information may be transferred to such affiliate or subcontractor. Authorizes a private cause of action in a state court to enforce compliance with this Act.
If you go to the above site, on the right-hand side is a link to write your representative in Congress. It is an easy link, you just put in your state and zip code and it will direct you to their site to send an email. Please help support this bill. It is not only good to help protect your personal information from going overseas, but will help save my industry! Thanks! If you can, please help distribute.
Pics on my SURPRISE coming this afternoon!
