whew! sorry, i wasn't keeping a word count :)

I may annoy some educators here (I know my sister-in-law, a middle school teacher, cringes when I go on a jag - but she never engages...). I highly respect teachers for the work-load they take on. I just wish their efforts weren't so restrained by public policy decisions of non-educators. The following are conclusions and claims from my experiences, not my main subect matter.

I'm of the opinion that some people don't do well in school because they are gifted intellectually in a way that teachers being educated into the modern education system are not prepared or willing to address. Nothing in recent memory has set education back more than the "No Child Left Behind" public policy. In the 70's great strides were being made in multiple intelligences and open classrooms were giving children's pent-up anxieties "room to think" in new directions. Now, teachers are mandated to homogeny - every child respresents a percentile rank by which school funding is acquired. It's conservative madness, blind to any who would excel to question the status quo. I get the most absent looks when I tell educators my children do not have a problem with authority, only that I have taught them that all who would claim it have no right to possess it absolutely if they use it unwisely - my children have been taught with a focus on compassion, to think objectively on their own contributing actions in any particular scenario on a daily basis as life happens. And, thank gooness I'm almost done with it and haven't gone to jail for, in just their vernacular, 'lack of parenting'. Three more years...

You might be saying about now, "she's an idiot" or "she's one of those crazy irrational parents out of touch with reality". I'm actually a very quiet, analytical type. A methodical but creative troubleshooter. If it's logical according to my experience and intuition then I will consider whatever it is in forming my opinion. I'm tooting my horn but it took me a long time make a note. I had a 156 IQ in 8th grade and I COULD NOT sit in school bored out of my mind - literally. It was a long time ago but I can still think my way out of a paper bag and I did go on to earn a Bachelors in Business Administration, suma cum laude, just because it stuck in my craw that I could train management but couldn't get paid as management. Our children have not had this rude awakening but if they do they will probably take care of it just fine if you continue to show them you have faith they can do whatever they set their mind to. And what is wrong with being self-made? It's a boon to a brand of self-esteem that can take you through even the lowest times.

I had to work at that time for family reasons. And even though my public school education took place in the 70's - a time kids think is 'the old days', there are a lot of families where the same pressures are filtering into their kids' psyches. The pressure to earn money to have 'things' is powerful for youngsters lacking long term sight. And then again, the ever increasing adjustment in poverty level income figures may still account for young wage earners contributing to their being clothed and fed. Combine this with extremely boring curriculums, bored teachers, having your hardest efforts as a student received as mediocrity with the potential to jeopardize the school's funding for talented and gifted programs or band uniforms and the choice for some is readily - work first, even if it means strained family relations and the vague concept of lower lifetime earnings.

As an aside, I have to qualify what I said and what my children know all too well. Talented and gifted programs, in my intimate experience, are filled with children with good grades and whose families are most active in school politics and not necessarily those with poor grades in standard classes but with extraordinary intellectual or tactile gifts or those with good grades whose parents are perceived as uncooperative. In the state of New Jersey, those children are 'sent to alternative placement' settings usually in a trades program off the school grounds and separate from inclusion in the school's ranking. I experienced this myself with my daughter, a gifted graphic artist who's math grades weren't good enough for her to receive a placement in an accelerated arts program. My son, gifted in math but who learned best when he was bouncing his knee or standing up when he was doing algebra in his head (a trick he learned because he hates to write and never could get an A without keeping a notebook (4 years, 3 school psychologists, 1 district psychiatrist, all mandatory appointments through the school, and no diagnosis of ADD or ADHD but every guidance counselor suggesting I try medication for his 'problems'). Several of my friends, and friends of friends throughout the state have had the same experience. There have been no programs at all in any grade for my daughter who is so musically gifted she can relate to any subject matter in terms of music. The only warning I will give here is not to rely on your local school district to recognize or aid you in maximizing your child's strengths. Homeschooling with high level community project involvement has equal college scholarship potential but superior character building potential.

2 of my children worked first and my 3rd is still in high school. My daughter is 26 and went to culinary school for a year but is married and having babies with plans to work with her husband in their own catering operation (for which she has already designed a menu and thoroughly feasible business plan), and my son at 18 is working with a general contractor who is teaching him and treating him very well in addition to paying him $500+per week. My son was so much like me he didn't finish high school and has promised he will follow me and get his GED. If he does decide to go to college or a trade certificate program he will excel at it because it's what he's prepared to do, not what he expects I want him to do. I've always encouraged them to find something that they are happy doing. That's the only time I really ever made a good living.

Now you all know where I'm 'coming from' in this forum. I've personally had some bad experiences that I wouldn't wish on any one else but I try to keep the rants to a minimum and never consider them relevant in full form for instruction based writings. I remain respectful, and a little in awe, of and to parents and children who attend public schools without incident. Every child is different, every parent's experience unique. And when it comes to learning and teaching I feel it must be approached from the view of empowerment of any student. The student must want to learn and long term retained learning only happens when the student is having fun, controls their own learning experience at their own pace, and can readily see the application and value of the subject matter in/to THEIR lives.

I'm vented. I'm revved to write after a long absence. Thank you. I had always hoped to pass on my love of learning and learner empowerment in this forum. Take what you can use, pitch the rest. Constructive criticism ALWAYS welcome and taken as such no matter what the apparent 'virtual' tone.

Jane, moderated. If it's not too much for you. Thank you for keeping this group going all this time. I'll always try to contribute from my experiences with 3 children, and of course, my personal experiences recently in college - I'll always focus on family friendly and plain, instructional-style language here.

I am sincerely happy you all found this useful. It's been a while since I wrote this while taking my college classes in 2006. I wrote it originally for others in my online classes who were posting troubles with statistics algebra.

I've re-read this and think I could clean it up and "verbally" clarify (absolutely! different learning styles rejoice) it even more in places. Like the part with fractions and calculators. It's not written clearly enough. It's easy to forget which number gets plugged in first and of course the wrong sequence divided will give a wrong answer.

It looks like gather has greatly improved since last I was on so I might even be able to include a scan or picture of my "Pie Chart" diagram for Multiplication & Division formulas. Very helpful to me in memorizing Power formulas similar to those mysterious calculations on the last page of your electric bill (my professor showed us this one and let us draw it on our hands for test taking - Bless dear Mr. Buckle's powerful soul).

Nipi Katz, you hit on it, most people loose focus when variables are present. And absolutely, if someone had related math to me in a more linguistic fashion, who knows what I could have done with it?

Kimberly, I'd love feedback on how this helps your daughter and if she finds any vague points I might clarify. Just keep encouraging her not to overcomplicate in her mind what can be broken down into more simple terms. And Patterns!! Both concrete and abstract wired kids can recognize patterns in the natural world, they are everywhere in mathematics. There's nothing like seeing the 'light go on' when a child recognizes a pattern!

These are medical problems unusual for normally functioning metabolisms. Thanks for the info., I wasn't aware people suffered so severely from these ailments. I still say the article's claim concerning 'most americans' is weak.

There was a recent case that hit the news only because it concerned the observance of religious rites. A girl was unable to consume the communion wafers in a Catholic church because they contained wheat gluten and she was deathly allergic. A substitute was available but the church claimed they were not sanctified (who knows what that's supposed to mean) and they claim she had not officially received communion when those were consumed. Only the deadly wheat wafers would do to honor Jesus' body in the sacrament. What an abuse of sacred symbolism. I would have titled the story "Ridiculous discrimination rears its head once more in the Catholic church".

In any case, thank you for informing us of this so that we may watch for our health issues with protein.

I'd want to see the basis for the claim for 'too much protein'. Are we bashing Big Macs again? Simple sugars are much more destructive than protein which is essential for muscle maintenance and brain function (right?). And Especially for women concerned with bone health who need suficient muscle to support the more fragile frame. I'm more worried about people on vegetarian diets (like my sister-in-law) who are very slim but without muscle tone and few options besides soy or nuts to get the 1gram of protein per pound of body weight needed for a healthy metabolism. If 25 grams of protein is a piece of meat the size of a deck of cards, and I am 150 lbs, I'd have to eat 5 small chicken cutlets a day to get the required amount! How many high fat nuts would I have to consume to get the same benefit? 5 Cans of tuna fish a day? The claim seems a little severe even with a balanced but gluttenous diet. Balancing body functions with complementary inputs is better. Wouldn't you think that if you consume high amounts of protein, as in low carb or muscle building diets, that you could dilute and 'flush' the ammonia from your system with water or other clear liquids while not losing muscle.

One could say cruel,
Of a poor man's life.
One could say cruel,
But look at his veiw.
One could say cruel,
But that's all he ever knew.
One could say cruel,
But what else could one Do.

"All through my younger years I was tormented... I hated... Now, looking back on it... I see that it has only made me into the strong person I am... I was fortunate that I had real friends to back me up."

Craig, my husband and I often reminisce about watching wrestling before there was cable. Besides 'b'-sci-fi and horror movies, it was the best thing on TV. I remember turning the (analog) dial to UHF and fussing with the antenna to 'tune' the snow so we could catch the outrageous body slamming. I actually remember Ernie Roth's face. Thanx for the pix.

thanx Eric. I have been clicking because I know this will help us stay on.

I guess the Great Northern Garlic Growers Co-op will have a tough time digging in in Minnesota. They might need to offer some blood money to protect their interests. A vampire's gotta have more than a few people who are 'twice shy'. Oh, this is ridiculous.

Nathan, click to 'join' the group. [Publish] an [article]. Click an 'X' in the box next to the group name then click 'publish'.

[ ] = menus on top (sorry, haven't seen you 'round - just fillin' you in : )

Now if I could only get over my fear of writing fiction...irrational.

Ah, Romani! That's it! Thanx for that link... Exactly. Very interesting.

Maurice, my husband & I just got the results from our participating the the National Geographic Genographic Project. My husband is decended from people who migrated to the areas surrounding the Hindu Kush (our last name is Kushnir!) or more precisely, the steppes that are now called Ukraine. He is 2nd generation American. The point is that a NG linguist is studying the origins of western lanuages and he isolates them as traveling along the line of my husband's lineage! Interestingly though, genetics reveals a large population in India (way south) speaking a language that shares roots with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ukraine etc. and other, more familiar, western tounges. I can't recall if it's Hindi. Do you think it might be?