For those that don't live in Idaho or that I haven't vented to, probably don't know the lovely shambles our state superintendant is leaving public education in with his "plan" which has already been passed through the senate. Here is a quick run down:
-Larger class sizes
-As he's increased class sizes there will be less teachers
-More funding cuts
-School boards are no longer allowed to meet with unions to work on a contract for teachers
-Merit pay for teachers who meet his ridiculous new standards (really you should read them)
-Every high school student is to be given a new laptop (which he plans to buy from his sister's company in Virginia)
-All high school students will be required to take at least 5 credits of online classes (Which funding will be not given to the public schools but if the students fail the online class we have to tutor them through it or offer an alternative without funding)
- There is no tenure for teachers, and the process they used to have to follow to fire a teacher is no longer in place. A school district can fire any teacher from June 1st until October 1st if it feels that they don't need as many teachers as they hired.
The list goes on and on. It is extremely sad. It has been so sad to watch it go through because of the power of special interest groups and big business. (One of the biggest contributors are charter schools to his campaign.) Public school teachers are being left out high and dry. It is happening all over the United States. At this time I am actually considering going back to school and I have no desire to encourage young people to become teachers. It is so sad. Anyways today I watched students find their voice and watch them exercise the right to use it. Across the state of Idaho today students walked out of schools at 8:30 to attend rallies in support of public education. It was completely student initiated and led. Facebook and other social media sites were used to pass the message along. I have watched as high school students have gone to Boise and lobbied their representatives. As teachers we did have to pull them together and let them know that if they walked out it would be a truancy and the response was that if they didn't stand now when would they. A few of the student leaders spoke for the students and told us teachers that they were behind us and what was happening was wrong. I sat in homeroom and listened as 8th graders debated the issues. They were well informed and eloquent. We have an incredible group of young leaders rising. If only the older generation would listen.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Why I love my workplace
My principal is having knee surgery tomorrow and so today after school we had a surprise "Going Under the Knife" party. A few teachers were asked to bring treats and the office staff got a cake. (And a walker as a joke). The science staff got dressed up in the white lab coats, goggles, funny glasses, and face masks to be the doctors. They also came equipped with their own knives. Carol our 7th grade science teacher was holding a LARGE cooking knife. I have never laughed so hard at work. Everyone was joking and laughing. The food was wonderful. Having a wonderful staff makes my stressful job so much easier.
My Kids Make Me Smile
We went to Utah last weekend to spend a couple of days with my in laws as we hadn't been down since Christmas. It was really nice to visit with everyone. I had a long weekend due to President's Day and it was nice to get away. We headed home Monday morning praying for no snow. We had forgotten to put the car dvd players in the car and were hoping that the drive home would go as well as the drive down. (The kids slept 90% of the way down.) Neither of my kids were really sleepy though. I put on one of the Children's Songbook CD's that have all the primary songs on them. Emily is learning a lot of new songs now that she is in primary. I was reading to Landon out of my book when I hear Emily say, "Mommy listen me." I turn and hear her singing along to a song. She was singing, "Foyow the prophet. Foyow the prophet. He knows the way!" (Her double l's come out as a /y/.) She grinned and told me it was her favourite song. So I played it again. She wanted Landon and I to sing with her. We sang the next 10 songs with her. It was so fun to sing our favourite songs. Emily, at one point, had us all holding hands and singing. Collin was laughing and humming along to the songs with us. At times he did really well with the words. It was such a fun memory to have.
Emily was getting tired of her seat by the time we reached Inkom (20 minutes from home). She took out one of the giant toy jacks that she had gotten from her grandma and pretended it was a steering wheel. From the back of the car I hear her say, "Momma hurry and hit the button. Hurry Momma! We hit the rocks soon! We need to turn into a boat. Hit the button." All said very quickly and with a sense of urgency. I quickly hit a pretend button. It evidently wasn't enough because she kept talking about us hitting the rocks and dying. (Her new favourite topic is about dying.) Landon suggested we turn into a plane. She quickly agreed and I "hit" the button again. She told us that we were still heading for the rocks and momma needed to shoot the rocks. I pretended to shoot a gun out the window. She wa getting frantic telling me it wasn't enough. I offered to throw and bomb and she told me to hurry. By this point I am starting to giggle and Landon is trying to hold in a laugh. The bomb evidently didn't work and she told me to punch the rocks. I punched but again it wasn't enough we were still going to die. She told me to punch harder. I'm laughing so hard I'm crying and Landon is laughing hysterically. This time my punches did the job and she slumps back into her seat and says, "Good job Momma! You punched hard. You saved us. Good job Momma!" She even sounded like she'd been through a tough job and was out of breath. It has been a long time since I have laughed so hard. Seriously. I love my kids.
Emily was getting tired of her seat by the time we reached Inkom (20 minutes from home). She took out one of the giant toy jacks that she had gotten from her grandma and pretended it was a steering wheel. From the back of the car I hear her say, "Momma hurry and hit the button. Hurry Momma! We hit the rocks soon! We need to turn into a boat. Hit the button." All said very quickly and with a sense of urgency. I quickly hit a pretend button. It evidently wasn't enough because she kept talking about us hitting the rocks and dying. (Her new favourite topic is about dying.) Landon suggested we turn into a plane. She quickly agreed and I "hit" the button again. She told us that we were still heading for the rocks and momma needed to shoot the rocks. I pretended to shoot a gun out the window. She wa getting frantic telling me it wasn't enough. I offered to throw and bomb and she told me to hurry. By this point I am starting to giggle and Landon is trying to hold in a laugh. The bomb evidently didn't work and she told me to punch the rocks. I punched but again it wasn't enough we were still going to die. She told me to punch harder. I'm laughing so hard I'm crying and Landon is laughing hysterically. This time my punches did the job and she slumps back into her seat and says, "Good job Momma! You punched hard. You saved us. Good job Momma!" She even sounded like she'd been through a tough job and was out of breath. It has been a long time since I have laughed so hard. Seriously. I love my kids.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)
Again, so much fun. You can't help but smile when you watch this!
This is for you mom!
This is for you mom!
The Canadian Tenors & Celine Dion - Hallelujah
I just watched this and I think it made my day. I love listening to good tenors!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Healthy Body Image for our Children
I just read a really scary blog entry about children and dieting. It scares me that my daughter in the next year or so would start looking in the mirror and deciding if she is fat or not. How sad!? How scary that our world has come to this extreme. That as parents we haven't curbed this craziness. It was a wakeup call to me and I know that I will be changing things in my home. Please become aware of how you and others around you are affecting your children, before it is too late.
Here is what was written: (If you want to read the original click here)
"Since the last post showing the dieting battle many of us feel trapped in (when diets don’t even work) I have considered several possible topics for today. There are so many important, interrelated facets to this issue. . . Do I talk about the obesity scare? Do I write about the destructiveness of our media? Or how weight and food have become, strangely, not just about nutrition and health, but about one’s morality? Or perhaps I should discuss the fat prejudice among our culture? And then I knew.
This week I sat in a conference listening to a presentation about body image that revealed one of the most horrifying statistics I’ve heard on the subject. The presenter stated that “14% of 5-year-old girls diet.” I was stunned. I am stunned. I know our culture is unrealistic in its expectations—impossible even. I know we have an “obesity epidemic” on our hands. I know we have serious distortions about what it means to be healthy. . . . But dieting at 5 years old?!
For a long moment I was unable to focus on the presentation and instead thought of my own wonderful, brave, mischievous, innocent little 4-year-old daughter (turning 5 this April). I felt saddened by the world she is exposed to despite my attempts to shelter her. And then my thoughts turned to her twin brother who is similarly victimized by our world (as is his 17-year-old cousin who has indeed lost himself and his dreams to the world of body building and supplements).
5-year-olds are not afraid of being “fat” because of health concerns; they are afraid of being fat because they have already learned that this word is not only a description of one’s body but one’s character and worth. This is not something they intuitively believe—they learn it through observation of the media, peers, and adults who are supposed to protect them.
Take for instance the research that shows children (and adults) would rather lose an arm than be fat. And studies that show young girls are more afraid of being fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing both parents. These children are growing up to become young women who would rather be run over by a truck than be extremely fat and who are reporting they would rather be mean or stupid than fat.
42% of American 1st to 3rd grade girls surveyed want to be thinner than they are. (6 to 8 years old!) And one half of 9 to 10-year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet.
50% of 9-year-old girls diet.
80% of 10-year-old girls diet.
90% of high school girls diet regularly—while only 20% of them have BMI’s that might be viewed as concerning.
These are not girls who “need” to diet—remember, diets don’t even work. These are kids who have learned to be so afraid of being fat that being a normal or average weight isn’t even acceptable anymore. We wonder how this has happened to our children but fail to recognize we expect the same impossible standards for ourselves.
We have become so lost in the body-obsessed world that we are now leading our children down the same path of discouragement, depression, and self-loathing we are following while teaching them it is the way to happiness and love! We are so lost that we don’t recognize what is wrong with measuring our worth by the wrong scale. We don’t recognize how we make continual moral judgments about others based on their body shape. We don’t recognize the destructiveness of the messages we send when we have or pay for our children to have breast implants, tummy tucks, or plastic surgery. We fail to question the belief that we are worth more if we are smaller.
I understand that more Americans are obese than ever before. I understand that health risks are associated with obesity. But I do not believe continued emphasis on weight loss and dieting is the answer. There is a direct correlation between the amount of dieting one does and the amount of depression one experiences. Allowing disparaging remarks about your body or your children’s bodies is harmful. Children who are teased by peers are 36% more likely to consider suicide than their counterpart and children who are teased by peers and parents are 51% more likely to consider suicide.
Children are fed so full of this glamour and dieting propaganda that they need our help to sort through it.
I cannot nor should I keep my children in a bubble. I cannot keep them from the messages that bombard them. But I can teach them to think critically. I can arm them with truth. I can model self acceptance and I can create a safe haven—a place where they can talk and be heard, a place where they can question, scrutinize and still find acceptance.
You can too.
1. Encourage balanced eating of all types of foods in moderation; encourage eating in response to body hunger.
2. Get active as a family (not to lose weight but to use and enjoy your body—moderate exercise increases self-esteem and helps to lift depression).
3. Speak up when you hear family members making comments about a person’s body shape or weight—don’t allow this kind of talk in your home (even from grandparents).
4. Encourage and model critical thinking of messages we are exposed to.
5. Do not dismiss comments from your children about their bodies. Allow them to talk about it; ask questions; have conversations. Simply telling someone they “look great” or “don’t need to lose weight” will not change how they feel about themselves. But it will encourage them to stop talking to you about it.
6. Examine and if necessary, modify the appearance expectations you have about your own child.
7. Work toward openly loving and accepting your own body. In doing this, you will give your children permission to do the same. On the other hand, if you refuse to accept your own body, your children will receive the message that they must look a certain way to be loveable. Here's something to think about as well:
"You can't control or dictate the quantity of food your child eats, and you shouldn't try. You also can't control or dictate the kind of body your child develops, and you shouldn't try. What you can do, and it is a great deal, is set things up for your child so she, herself, can regulate her food intake as well as possible, and so she can develop a healthy body that is constitutionally right for her." Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense by Ellyn Satter
Janna Dean LCSW is a practicing therapist specializing in treating eating disorders and other addictions. She is the mother of two four-year-olds, loves camping and making cookies for her neighbors. Her neighbors really appreciate it. Cause they are good cookies. "
Here is what was written: (If you want to read the original click here)
"Since the last post showing the dieting battle many of us feel trapped in (when diets don’t even work) I have considered several possible topics for today. There are so many important, interrelated facets to this issue. . . Do I talk about the obesity scare? Do I write about the destructiveness of our media? Or how weight and food have become, strangely, not just about nutrition and health, but about one’s morality? Or perhaps I should discuss the fat prejudice among our culture? And then I knew.
This week I sat in a conference listening to a presentation about body image that revealed one of the most horrifying statistics I’ve heard on the subject. The presenter stated that “14% of 5-year-old girls diet.” I was stunned. I am stunned. I know our culture is unrealistic in its expectations—impossible even. I know we have an “obesity epidemic” on our hands. I know we have serious distortions about what it means to be healthy. . . . But dieting at 5 years old?!
For a long moment I was unable to focus on the presentation and instead thought of my own wonderful, brave, mischievous, innocent little 4-year-old daughter (turning 5 this April). I felt saddened by the world she is exposed to despite my attempts to shelter her. And then my thoughts turned to her twin brother who is similarly victimized by our world (as is his 17-year-old cousin who has indeed lost himself and his dreams to the world of body building and supplements).
5-year-olds are not afraid of being “fat” because of health concerns; they are afraid of being fat because they have already learned that this word is not only a description of one’s body but one’s character and worth. This is not something they intuitively believe—they learn it through observation of the media, peers, and adults who are supposed to protect them.
Take for instance the research that shows children (and adults) would rather lose an arm than be fat. And studies that show young girls are more afraid of being fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing both parents. These children are growing up to become young women who would rather be run over by a truck than be extremely fat and who are reporting they would rather be mean or stupid than fat.
42% of American 1st to 3rd grade girls surveyed want to be thinner than they are. (6 to 8 years old!) And one half of 9 to 10-year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet.
50% of 9-year-old girls diet.
80% of 10-year-old girls diet.
90% of high school girls diet regularly—while only 20% of them have BMI’s that might be viewed as concerning.
These are not girls who “need” to diet—remember, diets don’t even work. These are kids who have learned to be so afraid of being fat that being a normal or average weight isn’t even acceptable anymore. We wonder how this has happened to our children but fail to recognize we expect the same impossible standards for ourselves.
We have become so lost in the body-obsessed world that we are now leading our children down the same path of discouragement, depression, and self-loathing we are following while teaching them it is the way to happiness and love! We are so lost that we don’t recognize what is wrong with measuring our worth by the wrong scale. We don’t recognize how we make continual moral judgments about others based on their body shape. We don’t recognize the destructiveness of the messages we send when we have or pay for our children to have breast implants, tummy tucks, or plastic surgery. We fail to question the belief that we are worth more if we are smaller.
I understand that more Americans are obese than ever before. I understand that health risks are associated with obesity. But I do not believe continued emphasis on weight loss and dieting is the answer. There is a direct correlation between the amount of dieting one does and the amount of depression one experiences. Allowing disparaging remarks about your body or your children’s bodies is harmful. Children who are teased by peers are 36% more likely to consider suicide than their counterpart and children who are teased by peers and parents are 51% more likely to consider suicide.
Children are fed so full of this glamour and dieting propaganda that they need our help to sort through it.
I cannot nor should I keep my children in a bubble. I cannot keep them from the messages that bombard them. But I can teach them to think critically. I can arm them with truth. I can model self acceptance and I can create a safe haven—a place where they can talk and be heard, a place where they can question, scrutinize and still find acceptance.
You can too.
1. Encourage balanced eating of all types of foods in moderation; encourage eating in response to body hunger.
2. Get active as a family (not to lose weight but to use and enjoy your body—moderate exercise increases self-esteem and helps to lift depression).
3. Speak up when you hear family members making comments about a person’s body shape or weight—don’t allow this kind of talk in your home (even from grandparents).
4. Encourage and model critical thinking of messages we are exposed to.
5. Do not dismiss comments from your children about their bodies. Allow them to talk about it; ask questions; have conversations. Simply telling someone they “look great” or “don’t need to lose weight” will not change how they feel about themselves. But it will encourage them to stop talking to you about it.
6. Examine and if necessary, modify the appearance expectations you have about your own child.
7. Work toward openly loving and accepting your own body. In doing this, you will give your children permission to do the same. On the other hand, if you refuse to accept your own body, your children will receive the message that they must look a certain way to be loveable. Here's something to think about as well:
"You can't control or dictate the quantity of food your child eats, and you shouldn't try. You also can't control or dictate the kind of body your child develops, and you shouldn't try. What you can do, and it is a great deal, is set things up for your child so she, herself, can regulate her food intake as well as possible, and so she can develop a healthy body that is constitutionally right for her." Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense by Ellyn Satter
Janna Dean LCSW is a practicing therapist specializing in treating eating disorders and other addictions. She is the mother of two four-year-olds, loves camping and making cookies for her neighbors. Her neighbors really appreciate it. Cause they are good cookies. "
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