Kids and Sports

The importance of PE class in the schools have long been debated and continue to fight an uphill battle during these times of budget tightening. I would like to make a case "for" sports in school regardless of the costs. The two vital reasons are: self-confidence and physical fitness.

Self-confidence can be gained through feeling successful to some degree. It's all about personal goals and achieving your personal best. How many books have been written about the defeated teen who is humiliated over an incident in gym class by the more athletically superior "jocks". Being picked last, sitting on the bench, kicking the ball in the wrong goal are all aspects that some of us can relate to but are really unnecessary. Providing a variety of options is the key. How many adults like being told what exercise class they "have to" take at the local gym? It is simple people, kids are humans and like to have choices.

 

And options are out there. In a recent Sports Illustrated for Kids I came across an article about two schools in New York who are offering PE classes for kids, girls and boys alike, that is about learning how to ride a skateboard. There are those archaic held beliefs that skateboarding is for punks but I would challenge that assertion. Just look at any football or baseball player in the news lately. They could probably be classified as worse than punks...

Tony Hawk is now a 40 something father along with all the other skaters of days gone by who still skate! Wow, you could almost put skateboarding up there with golf as a sport that you can enjoy your entire life. Recently I took my sons, their cousins, and a friend to the local skate park. It was great. There were young guys there as well as the "old dudes" and they were all having fun. The boys spent about 3 hours there over the course of two days.

The beauty of some of these "fringe" sports such as BMX'ing, skateboarding,or golfing, is that they are individual sports to a certain extent but that still require that you "play" with others. It's about your personal best. Not about standing out in left field for 98% of the game not making a single play or on the bench for the entire basketball game. Let's empower our children to participate in activities that they enjoy and that they can continue to participate in throughout their lives.

The second basis for supporting PE classes in school is obviously to access the physical fitness component. Everyone needs more physical activity in this age of conveniences. Kids are no longer  allowed or encouraged to ride the 2 miles to go to the local store and buy their candy bar. They sit in the back seat and consume it. I remember riding to Evergreen Market which was only about 1 mile one way but it would get so windy at times that you literally had to walk your bike. It was a great workout. But in this day and age you can go to jail for child neglect if you put your child in danger by telling them that they could ride to the store - heaven forbid!

So, it is essential for us to provide opportunities for our children to explore different activities that will allow them to be as healthy as possible. If our kids can't be physically healthy they will have a more difficult time being healthy mentally and emotionally. This should be the last thing schools should consider cutting from the budget when everything else depends on it.

Should Kids Be Paid for Their Performance in School?

Throughout my time in grade school I tried to get good grades but good grades were never really the goal. In 4th grade when I first received letter grades, I was surprised that A's and B's were so easily earned. In 5th grade they tanked to include some "-'s" with those A's and B's because of the social issues; first love, mean girls, and mean teacher.

Then there was my ultimate achievement in 6th grade when we were given the assignment of writing a science report and told explicitly by our hard-ass male teacher that no one would receive an A+. Did I mention this was back in the day when it was still legal and appreciated by some parents that he was one of those teachers who had a thick wooden paddle, complete with holes drilled into it, hanging in his closet, always at the ready? In regards to telling us about the grade thing before hand, I guess he just wanted us to know that up front. Well, guess what? I did the impossible! I received a big A+ circled in red ink. Ahhh, I can see it now. It was a huge surprise but perhaps it was just some sort of psychological trick for underachievers to prove him wrong, but whatever. My paper was about, The Eye: The Human Camera, which was simply amazing and the best he'd ever seen - I'm sure of it (tongue in cheek).

So, then came middle school where I experienced the freedom of lockers, different teachers, and breaks! As a side note to this freedom came one of my non-babysitting jobs where I was selling powdered Jello/Kool-Aid mix for $5 bucks a bag. I had a couple of regular customers, which in hindsight, seems really weird. I guess it was a rich man's version of those dipstick candy packets. Maybe their parents didn't allow sugar at home but it proved fairly lucrative for awhile until the principal found out and ended that business venture. What was up with that? Sounds like I was selling dime bags (I think that's a drug reference).

Then there were the kids who didn't want to do their own work so I'd write their papers for them. At $10 a shot I was a money making machine. I would pause here to wonder where they got the money to spend like this...I think they got paid for their grades. Would it also sadden you to know that some of those very students who paid someone else to do their work are now teachers? I made the honor roll both years of middle school despite my side ventures and what was my payoff? My dad offered to get me a Big Mac. Not a lot of incentive, especially since I had always been on the honor roll. This form of bribery was in stark contrast to what was later offered to my younger brothers. I believe they were offered $100 for every 'A' they received. Surprisingly or not, they never earned that $100, much to my dad's chagrin.


Then I came across an article telling of an experiment in paying students for their performance in school. In this article it tells of many examples and situations in which one would hypothesis that this would be a proactive way to reinforce positive behavior. In the end millions of dollars in grant money was used to prove the failure of such an approach. Time after time, in school after school, student's achievement was measured before and after. It was shown to maybe hold steady for a short while but they would then drop dramatically in performance when the monetary incentive was removed. Duh!

Amazingly, the only group to increase their comprehension and maintain those results were 2nd graders who were paid $2 for every book they read. Their standardized test scores went up and they continued to do better even after the payment for books read had stopped. This tells me two things; gains from paying kids for grades are short-term and wanting to learn is based on an intrinsic motivation, not extrinsic. When adults decide what is expected of children and what they will give them as an award based on those expectations, the adults are maintaining the control.

Kids who are allowed to be curious and active in their learning will think and behave in a way that they create meaning from their experiences and be effective at what they value. The only scary part of that for some adults and the traditional school structure mindset is that in order to do this effectively means giving up some of that control. I don't think the adults in charge are ready for that. It's too bad. And, no, we don't pay our children for good grades.

Are You Waiting for Superman?

It's sad to think that parents feel that the only option for their children is a lottery...but hopefully this movie will bring to light everything that IS wrong with our current public educational system. Perhaps changes can be made but it's going to take some big guns to take back the education of our children and place it in the hands of people who care.

This is one movie that I am definitely planning on seeing.

Who's Looking Out for Your Children?

Parents in Morton, WA are speaking out against the rehiring of a teacher who plead guilty (albeit an Alford plea). One would think that the teacher’s union would see the folly in their support of such a criminal. Well, maybe they will once they consider the fact that the teacher called in sick the first day of school due to protestors outside of the school. Oh, did I mention that parents have been calling the school prior to the start of school in order to pull their kids from his class? Yeah, parents do care but there are still those in the teacher’s union who believe that parents are misguided and prejudiced when it comes to their children…duh! What do they expect and would they really want any less?


This point was driven home today as I listened to NPR on a little portable radio and had to resist the temptation to just throw it out the window in utter frustrations. What would cause me such distress you ask? Well, it started with the host discussing the LA Times article regarding an investigation of teacher performance data with the reporter who was involved in studying and writing about their findings. He broke it down and explained how the data was taken over a 7 year period in which they analyzed the data with a value added formula. This allowed them to see who were the effective teachers, the middle of the road teachers, and the ineffective teachers. You can guess which group was having the biggest issue with their findings.
 
Hallelujah! What a great way to evaluate and recognize the good and the bad, make changes, acknowledge the obvious, and improve the education of thousands of children. But hold on, the teacher’s unions are upset. Notice that the headline says “Teachers” are upset but read the article and it says “Teacher Unions” are upset…is anyone surprised? Not really and especially the teachers, the good ones at least.

NPR then brought on a representative from the teachers union to offer a counter point and one of her main reasons for these results being made public not being a good things was that it would allow parents to make decisions for their children in the school based on information. This in turn would give them the power to make informed decisions when requesting certain teachers over others. Again, what is the problem? She went on to explain that this is a problem because parents don’t see the big picture and are unable to recognize the needs of the schools, administration, and the district when placing kids each year. The one group not listed in her rundown of who matters was the children. I just thought to myself, “Keep digging lady!” As a parent who does homeschool their children, I believe she was making an excellent case for parents who do care about their children’s well-being and education …this is the definition of parent, in my mind! Why would anyone NOT want to homeschool their child after hearing this? Children, as individuals are not their (Teacher Union's) priority.

The Downside to Homeschooling...

While on vacation in Canada without the kids my husband and I saw this commercial. Let's just say we both thought it was wonderful and that for anyone who has children we think you will be able to find the humor in it while your kids just glare at you. Enjoy!

Apple Pie Recipe

You might consider the request to make an apple pie a simple one, but when you've seen this video, you will realize that it is not that easy. So, the other day when Nathan suggested that we make an apple pie, I suggested that we follow the directions as instructed by Carl Sagan and friends, and as a result, we needed to make the universe first. Even that was not as simple as it first appeared. I'm one of those people who refuses to read the directions first and then in the end does it wrong at least two different ways. It is only after these first two attempts that the directions even begin to make sense! Regardless of the difficulties involved, it was a delicious afternoon. Below the video is a photo of Nathan and his universe.

Google It!

Going Tribal

Yesterday morning we took a field trip to go see a matinee of Where the Wild Things Are. We all enjoyed it and towards the end as I was double pumping my fists because I had made it through without shedding any tears, they slammed me with a one-two punch. Ouch! But so touching...mom's are a sucker for this kind of thing. So, as I thought about how I would share this movie I thought it would be fun to play word association (I do take the liberty of using two words occasionally). Here we go!

Intro = Little Turd!
Max = Adorable
Behavior = Therapy
Cracks = Double Recracker
Chicken = Prothsesis
Bob = Terry
Billy Goat = Hilarious/Gay?
Location = Gorgeous
Carol = What?
Music = Fun

So there you have it. I hope it stirs your interest and you consider check it out. I will mention that the movie moves along smoothly on a superficial level but also supports a 'heavier' underlying storyline that the parents will pick up on. There are definitely intense scenes of potential peril for our little actor, a dog, and the monsters but I will assume that they had green screens and stunt men. I just had to take lots of deep breaths with wide eyes and enjoyed the movie on both levels.

First Day of School

Our school year is starting on Tuesday, September 8 and we will NOT be listening to the president's address to our nation's children.

Not Our Kids...

Watch the video, we homeschool, 'nuff said!