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July 26 It’s a Wrap by Leah Filzow Perez and Jay ArnoldReview of the Texas Legislative Session Successful Texas legislative session this year. PTA participated in lots of events. PTA members around the state participated in the process by several means: This session Texas PTA: reviewed 7000 bills total, they tracked 605 bills, 100 cards of support, oral testimony by PTA members (putting a face on an issue), distributed educational flyers and spoke to legislators throughout the session Success – Texas PTA Passed these Bills Sales tax holiday expansion - the sales tax holiday is expanded to include basic school supplies, fiscal note and impact of this on the state, a little economic relief booster seat bill –Texas becomes the 46th state to enact this type of statute, 8 years old or 4'9", this bill is about safety for our children CELL phone prohibition for driving teens – we need to raise experienced drivers, teens under 18 are banned from using cell phones to talk or text, Larry Phillips, John Corona, some wanted to dilute to hands free, role model good behavior, Vouchers – this session no voucher bill was voted favorably from any committee, however, a lot of controversy, sensitive issue with vouchers and special needs children, to get private programs public funds. Public funding, public schools… does such a strident anti-voucher stance make sense, so where do we stand as Texas PTA, because funding is so tight, subcommittees to work with special needs groups and with others with interest in this. Watch for plea for subcommittee to work on these issues Healthy Lifestyles as a member of the Partnership for a Healthy Texas. Texas PTA looked at whole child and included the arts as being necessary for a whole healthy child, to provide more ammo for the SHAC. PTAs need to think this way, so that we get involved in recess decisions, nutrition, arts, etc TX PTA website Healthy Lifestyles page http://www.txpta.org/programs/healthy-lifestyles/
Safety – Safe Routes to School Program, specialty license plate, fees support bicyclist safety, education and access to education and training 15 passenger and under all passengers must be wearing safety belts/restraints new purchased school vehicles with up to 15 seats must have seat belts School Finance – some unfunded mandates on schools were eliminated (look some of these up). Legislation was passed that seeks to return to a formula driven public school finance…talk to your legislator and tell him your concerns… School Accountability – HB3, read this stuff from TEA http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/HB3index.html Clean Buses, Clean Air – retrofit buses to reduce emissions, funds and information Statewide Smoke-Free Law Fails – smoke free workplace this is the second session to lobby for this, cigarette companies spend a lot of money, over 80 coauthers, Rodney Ellis and Myra Crowder, purely political problems such a hot button issue, getting a hearing set, next session this will be the session, grassroots city changes WHAT NOW
Assisting Locals with Financial Issues with Karin Slay Our job as councils and area is to support the locals, the councils, model what a PTA looks like. It is real impt for council meetings make sure you have a financial report, budget, amend the budget model good PTA financial methods. Lack of training is the number one reason that PTA's get in trouble. Serve as a resource for these PTAs Resources Texas PTA Handbook Treasurer Guide National PTA Money Matters - in back to school kit AIM Risk Management Guide - get this you should have it, especially if you use AIM for insurance Texas PTA website www.txpta.org Texas PTA director of finance - Alex Peterson Texas PTA Treasurer - Kathy Coffman Local unit bylaws and standing rules Treasurer training materials, workshop for principals use all of these resources direct locals to these Training be proactive communication and board trainings - you get more information from your locals, build a relationship. Officer and chair training in spring and fall, how do you get the locals to participate? Email, divide PTAs up and assign each President a mentor. One on one communcation, telephone next... Figure out a way to have personal relationships, mentors then would report to the President. Areas trainings...proactive make sure you don't forget the non-council units Regions : Training Teams State: SSL, convention, handbook Financial Red FlagsBANK Statements - have not been seen by the treasurer, president, signers on the account on a regular basis (please make sure that a nonsigner should be opening and reviewing the statements, give the nonsigner a copy of the itemized triplicate receipt form check against the statement) FINANCIAL reports not given at executive and general meetings! Beginning balance doesn't agree with last reported ending balance (make sure someone actually looks at the minutes from the last meeting) FINANCIAL reports do not show dposits, checks, or figures do not balance Money counted by only one person Missing checks or deposits checks made out to family members checks made out to cash, make to a person checks made out for the same amount each month two or more family members being signers on the bank account receipts not given for money received - use the triplicate itemized receipt form! receipts are missing from vouchers budget not approved by membership (not the board alone) attached to the minutes fundraising activities not approved by the membership - any income generating activity is a fundraiser amount of profit doesn't agree with amount in contract signed with fundraising company less money deposited for fundraiser than paid to company for the product received bills are received for items not in budget or apporved by membership, check carefully make sure that you check the front and back side of the check, print the front and back of your checks, the bank doesn't enforce the the two signature rule, use mailed statements if at all possible PTA board members profit monetarily from any fundraiser - can be a member though they can make fair market profit, they need to be the lowest bidder on the fundraiser, get three bids, all board members must sign conflict of interest , and people will answer shop, this is in the PTA bylaws! Children used to raise funds for PTA - we do not want the kids doing the fundraising, family friendly (fun walk, carnivals, fall festival) Audit report not given to the membership at the first meeting after the close of the fiscal year What to do if you suspect theft - Call Karin Slay (806-745-5428) or Kathy Coffman or State Office (Alex) Do not make accusations! (libel, slander) this is veyr important, do not accuse of theft, fraud or embezzlement. If you suspect someone of such activity do not comment or make accusations. You do this very carefully. Gather facts, documents and interviews Identify all accounts involved Contact the authorities for information Contact the insurance company - must file within a year of the theft AIMs requirement and a maximum! Make sure you have sufficient coverage. www.aim-companies.com, check with AIM and see if all your locals are covered helps protect them! Tips for Assisting Keep a log of all calls when and what you said, what they told you Look up the answer or contact Texas PTA Director of Finance or Treasurer, eliminates wrong answers, ensures accurate information, tell them where to kind the answer Quote printed materials - say the page number in treasurer's guide or handbook Refer people to materials again say page so and so in treasurer's guide Take good notes Ask questions to get the big picture, Follow protocol - does the President know, does the treasurer know, follow the chain councils and areas cannot collect the books of a local unit unless asked to do so be the Texas PTA president or her representative, cannot do their audit for them...you can provide guidance, assistance - the only exception is if Texas PTA President asks you to do it councils and areas cannot do an audit on a local unit! Always, always look up the answer to their questions State Review and Audits Local unit should do audit of books first, state will look at your audit three members of that PTA to request a state review a last resort money may not be the problem or the only problem council and or area leaders may be asked for assistance, you should be in the know about their issues Other Things to Consider Answer shopping, fishing for their answer document, document, document email is "in writing" and can be sent to others very easily, your tone is important training is of utmost importance, so important to offer training, give them food, divide and conquer and personal invitations to attend training, don't rely on emails, change timings to get them at trainings, do networking quarterly for each position Must take PTA jobs seriously - every one must take their PTA jobs seriously SALES TAX 990s caps are changing 2010-2011 LOCAL and Council Bylaws must dos should do records retention policy (required for non-profits) conflict of interest policy contracts approved by boards non-signer and bank statements treasurer duties itemized receipt form PTAS NOT NOT have AT cards HAve credit Cards Purchase gift cards with PTA funds - IRS workshop NO gift cards against Texas PTA policy Do online banking July 25 Male Involvement Means Being a Role Model with Chuck Saylor Chuck Saylors National PTA President PTA 90% Women Get more men involved by changing how we operate internally. Male Involvement Barriers - surveyed 1000 men who were not actively involved
What Men Can Do at home
What Men can do at School
What schools can do communicate with fathers expect their involvement provide information and training adjust school activity schedules create a friendly environment for the men What can employers do Let employees share their skills with school Let employees go to parent/teacher conference Let employees have a more flexible work schedule fatherhood and parenting education What Can PTA Do Use the National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement to Involve Dads Go on the IDEA bank of the National PTA website You membership ask should be personal, powerful and relevant to the men... sell it to the dad Everytime you join the PTA you are casting a vote for your school and your community Invite dads to attend meetings and events Encourage schools and teachers target and include men: from the survey make the meetings brief, keep business part of evening SHORT, stick to business, keep committee work in committees, feed the crowd, have a good program that takes most of the time of the meeting! have mini workshops so parents can choose one that applies to them... include the MORE alliance - men organized to raise engagement on PTA website there is a link for MORE groups for men
Stop Bullying Now, Bullying Among Children and Youth with Heather Ashwell-Hair Heather Ashwell-Hair Stop Bullying Now! http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/ PTA has adopted this set program.... A PARENT Education Program this is not a program for the kids HRSA Program...a ton of resources, there are kids programs on the site as well, they could do it on the computer while the parents are at a session for them. What is bullying... It is not conflict. Aggressive behavior, intentional, meant to harm, repeated over time. Involves an imbalance in power. Purposes of bullying Attention, recognition, prestige, acceptance, access to an item or activity, the bully lacks understanding of social, cultural, psychological or physical differences special needs kids bullying...I will search for website and add it in later How common is bullying?t More recent data...harder to track, cyber bullying (31% were bullied, 41% of older teens) Direct bullying
boys - direct girls - indirect look at ophelia project http://www.opheliaproject.org/main/index.htm , queen bees and wanna bes Children Who Bully have their own profile - get in trouble, have few real friends Children Who are Bullied low self esteem, high rates of depression, high absentee rate, more suicidal ideation, health consequences also (Fekkes, et. al. 2003) Safe School Initiative Report 2002- from Columbine like examples, these really are rare, worse case scenario... bully/victims are the ones who do these Columbine incidents hyperactive, quick-tempered, may be bullied, then turn around and bully the weaker, lonely, poor relations, Reporting of Bullying most often not reported, bc are afraid of no real resolution wich causes more bullying the older they get and if they are boys they are less likely to report bullying Kids Who Observe these kids have the real power 65% do nothing, these are the ones who can stop the bullying, intervene, be the hero, take the power away from the bully 38% do nothing 27% dont do anything, but I think I should help 35% I try to help him or her Silent Witness - from stop bullying now video (16 minute video) American Girl Movie - Chrissy (?) What Can Parents Do? set standards, be involved, teach social skills, teach respect, teach conflict resolution skills (model anger and how to deal with it), make sure they know the difference between assertive (firm and confident) and aggressive, encourage bystanders to act appropriately (this can change school climate, sometimes just takes one and then others step up and this dilutes the bullies power), parents should be advocates (everywhere) State Laws dealing with Bullying What Can Students Do? respond to bullies by a variety of different methods ignoring behavior, leave the situation, using social skills, practice do role playing, protect themselves emotionally and physically, ask the bully to stop then walk away, use humor to diffuse the situation, agree with the bully and walk away, do not react, do not cry in front of the bully, REPORT the bully What Can Witnesses and Bystanders Do request bully stop, seek help, support the victim, ask the bully privately to stop, refuse to support the behavior (don't laugh, don't spread gossip, stop the chain) Important Distinction Tattling - involves trying to get someone in trouble, Reporting - is trying to get someone out of trouble, it is physically or emotionally hurting someone Cyberbullying this is an epidemic (41-43%)bullying through communication technology to annoy, harass, intimidate or humiliate another person through cell phone - voice, text, photos through internet - IM, Chat posts, email, video, photos, social network sites, gaming sites etc cyberbullying is instant, permanent, duplicable, accessible, public, anonymous, legal issues (texas laws, penal codes, child pornography) very frightening once out there becomes permanent anonymous - get texts from unknowns Stop, Block and Tell Keep Records, Protect your password, minimize social networking and use "netiquette" yourself, use monitoring software, What are schools doing? Zero tolerance, awareness raising, reporting, tracking Common Misdirections things that dont work
What Does Work to Prevent? Change school climate, change what is normal, what is acceptable, what are the behavior norms requires a comprehensive, school-wide effort involving everyone Resource Kit, Communication Kits, PSAs Available on the website www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov Special Populations and PTA with Chris Lloyd Chris Lloyd, Texas PTA Region IV Vice President and Chuck Saylors National PTA President Overview of National's special populaiton initiatives...Chuck Saylors Developing a plan for establishing a community PTA for special needs parents, or some other vehicle to allow special needs parents to have a venue to work with each other, learn with each other. A place for these parent to come to learn how to untangle the 504 web. Also looking at helping the gifted parents too. Committee meeting in ten days in Orlando. Pam Meyercord is the chair of this committee, so we should share with her any ideas we might have to implement a program that would help the parents of special populations at both ends of the spectrum. csaylors@pta.org is you have an idea, a concern, a best practice... please share with Pam: pmeyercord@pta.org A parent needs to understand the basic steps that they need to follow to advocate for their child. PTA wants to help these parents. Define a recipe to help parents, but will be different for every state, especially for gifted children bc there are no federal mandates. Broad brush, then laser pointer... Vision : Making every child's potential a reality TxPTA Special Populations Portfolio statewide 9-10% of a school district is special needs and gifted Chris' Goals I will add in later... Meaningful workshops...is one of Chris' passions, meaningfull to these populations You are your child's biggest advocate. Get empowered... power is the ability to get things done, so need to gather the tools and knowledge together to have power. Know your rights... Councils and Locals could have a special needs chair... that could be helping to facilitate the empowerment, create opportunities for the parents to learn, have the resources, understand the policies, know the law. Remember to include your whole family in the process so that they all understand what is going on with the special needs child. Peer Buddies, HOPE Students (Plano, best practices), involve the parents of the normal buddies too... Special Populations Portfolio
Relationships are the key to success, do not burn bridges keep things positive as much as possible. Empower parents to be positive advocate. Again knowledge is power. Accountability by increasing your involvement and visibility with increase the schools accountability to you, and yours to the school, this works both ways Parent Education Possibilities
Chris Lloyd is so positive and passionate when presenting her workshops. It is always a joy to sit in her sessions. I always learn something and come away feeling like I handle advocacy better! Bucketology with Kyle Ward at Texas PTA Summer Seminar 2009 Kyle Ward Executive Director Texas PTA Based on the book How Full is Your Bucket. How this applies to PTA... People are buckets that need to be filled with positive interactions. People need to feel appreciated. People quit paid or unpaid jobs because they dont feel appreciated. Do a lot of recognition. IT is most appreciated and effective when it is individualized, specific and deserved. A personal note that singles out and praises someone's efforts is more effective. Make the praise you sing about someone be very specific and meaningful to that person. How do we handle the negative people in our groups. IT takes 5 positive interactions to overcome every one negative interaction. Increasing positive emotions could lengthen your life span by 10 years. Try to put people in situations in which they feel comfortable and can succeed. Kyle is a positive person. He wants to keep people happy. He is a relaxed presenter and interjects some funny comments. Laughter is always good, thank you Kyle! 5 strategies... 1. Prevent bucket dipping - dipping out positive interactions by being negative 2. Shine a light on what is right - if someone helps you fill your bucket then say thank you positive impact test questions to weigh whether you are a positive person 3. Make Best Friends 4. Give Unexpectedly people love surprise little treats or gifts 5. Reverse the Golden Rule - do unto others as they would have you do unto them, honor a persons comfort zone... A "drop" shaped paper on the table... as a leader come up with 5 ways every month to add drops to someone's bucket... I want to add drops to two people's buckets 1. send a personal note that with an inspirational quote 2. send them a copy of the book - how full is your bucket 3. call and invite them to drop off their children at my house, so that they can have a few minutes alone 4. invite them to have coffee 5. find out what each of these people really like as a special treat and drop it off at their house What do you do with dippers? How do you redirect them? Refocus their energies into other areas to maximize their good traits. You need to listen and address their concerns but if they are bullies you need to stay ahead of them, you should not give in to them. Vlalue everyone's opinions and make sure that they know, that you understand them. You can do this without giving in to people who have different opinions than you do, but you should listen to their concerns. Audience participation... five volunteers! finding a bucket drop for 5 different scenarios... July 21 "Snarky" RevisitedI was recently reminded of an incident that has bothered me more than I thought at the time. The reminder is not important, beyond the fact that it might tie into yesterday's posting. So, this is a therapeutic vent...don't really expect to find the answer... July 20 Friend, Unfriend, Maybe FriendOk... more friend dilemmas... Facebook again... So, I suppose one answer is to not post all my comments on facebook. But then when all these people find me on twitter I will have the same problem. To approve or disapprove someone just doesn't seem right in some ways. Maybe if there were different categories of friends, more categories to choose. Or a way of limiting exactly what of our content certain people have access to on a daily basis. That doesn't solve my issue for today. I have to decide...accept or ignore. Perhaps I just shouldn't care,be confident enough in my comments and postings that I don't care what other people think. But....for now I guess I'll have to decide Hmmmmmmmmmmmm Passing OnSome thoughts to send to a dear friend, whose husband, best friend and partner passed away. She is a strong Christian woman of great faith who is filled with love for others. I want her to know how much I love her. I want her to know that we are thinking about her. I hope that she knows that she can rely on us at this her time for need. Looking forward I know that you will miss him, we will too. In Daniel's memory, I hope that everyone will take an extra minute and hold their loved ones close to them and tell them they love them. July 13 Do Flight Attendants follow the US Obesity Trend?Yahoo Finance is reporting on a AP wire story http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Some-NWA-flight-attendants-apf-1099900293.html?x=0&.v=3 about Flight attendants that want the Delta red dresses to come in sizes bigger than 18. If the size of flight attendants follows the trends for all Americans then this request can be explained by the statistics listed below in question and answer form from the NIH website www.win.niddk.nih.gov. Below are some frequently asked questions and answers about overweight and obesity statistics. Data are based on NHANES 2001 to 2004. Unless otherwise specified, the figures given represent age-adjusted estimates. Age-adjusted estimates are used in order to account for the age variations among the groups being compared. Population numbers are based on estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. Q: How many adults age 20 and older are overweight or obese (BMI > 25)? A: About two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.[6] All adults: 133.6 million (66 percent) * The statistics presented here are based on the following definitions unless otherwise specified: healthy weight = BMI >18.5 to < 25; overweight = BMI > 25 to < 30; obesity = BMI > 30; and extreme obesity = BMI > 40. Q: How many adults age 20 and older are obese (BMI > 30)? A: Nearly one-third of U.S. adults are obese.[6] All adults: 63.6 million (31.4 percent) Q: How many adults age 20 and older are at a healthy weight (BMI > 18.5 through 24.9)? A: Less than one-third of U.S. adults are at a healthy weight.[6] All adults: 65.4 million (32.3 percent) Q: How has the prevalence of overweight and obesity in adults changed over the years? A: The prevalence has steadily increased over the years among both genders, all ages, all racial and ethnic groups, all educational levels, and all smoking levels.[7] From 1960 to 2004, the prevalence of overweight increased from 44.8 to 66 percent in U.S. adults age 20 to 74.[6] The prevalence of obesity during this same time period more than doubled among adults age 20 to 74 from 13.3 to 32.1 percent, with most of this rise occurring since 1980.[6] July 08 beating the rainZ and I headed to the neighborhood pool to swim. It was around 3 in the afternoon. The pool had been open for three hours and we were the first customers for the day. We loved being the solitary swimmers. We swam some laps, floated, played with the little purple ball and watched the sky. The scattered thunderstorms were scattering over Pearland. Black clouds building up slowly just to the west of us. Others came to the pool about 40 minutes into our swim. Unfortunately for them the clouds kept building. We heard the first rumblings of thunder and the wind picked up. We decided we had better make a dash for the house (we always walk to the pool). Our timing was perfect, we got back into the house, I walked into my bathroom and then the rain started! We beat the rain! July 06 appreciate an average day Appropriate appreciation of another average day. Alliteration is one of my favorite tools! Okay, how many people even have a favorite literary device or tool? I guess not too many. There are days that I look forward to with great anticipation, most of these are holidays or my birthday or wedding anniversary. These are days that we celebrate some deed from the past or the passing of time. Most days are much like the next or the day before and probably will look like tomorrow. What I would like to do is to start appreciating each of these days more, and find one thing to make memorable about that day. I don't know how I will go about this. It may be as simple as making sure I do my good turn each day and keeping a written record. Or reciting the Scout Law, which I have discussed at length in previous blogs and being careful to apply each one to my behavior for the day. Dreading a day before it starts, only sets one up for failure, so I want to stop doing that. I am going to look for the positive and try to stay positive. Maybe life will be a little bit easier if I can do this. Check back and I will let you know! July 05 National Youth Leadership Training Bay Area Council NYLT Staff development weekends did not prepare me for the events of the week. The weather was hot, humid and at the beginning of the week very full of mosquitos! We had 56 boys participating in a weeklong youth leadership training. They were from all over our council, although we had a heavy concentration from Northern Star District. An interesting group of boys, all different, all at NYLT for different reasons. Some had been pushed by their parents, some were there for their own reasons. The other staff members who had been on staff before had tried to describe some of the boys and their attitudes. There are always participants who are too cool to participate. They call them TCs. The staffers said that these guys often become a part of the group before the end of the week. I was a bit disbelieving but anxious to see how the week would go. All of our staff began to get into the dance of the day, and we worked as a team to make every presentation a stellar one. By the end of the week we had some really cool experiences, one in particular was especially touching. Every evening SPL Ryan M did a yell with the NYLT participants and then the staff to see who has more "spirit." Some of the participants were able to get more than half of the boys to leave their outpost hike camping spots and come and heckle us and do the yell to us. WOW, they had developed into a troop in 6 days. They thought we would be angry, but we weren't we were pleased that they could come together and act together! July 01 Wandering Mercer ArboretumOver the past few years, several people have told me good things about Mercer Arboretum in Humble. I was curious and wanting to take photos today so I looked up their website and decided that I would go and see it for myself. It is an awesome nature center and botanical garden. First order of business was to find a bathroom (bearing four children certainly is hard on the bladder). I arrived in time to follow several groups of day care kids in matching t-shirts around the botanical garden. In the first few minutes I saw a rat snake at least 3 feet long. He was desperately trying to get away from the kids. Following the kids for 15 minutes was enough! I decided to head over to the west side and follow trails. A bonus decision! There were no children on the west side; it was much more quiet, serene and shady. Not as many flowers to film, but a great variety of trees and some decaying wood with bracket fungus. I can't wait to go back and bring Zachary with me. He would have such a great time taking pictures with his camera. If you are curious to see some of the things that caught my eye; check out the following URL for my photo album http://picasaweb.google.com/Fay.Watson/MercerArboretum?feat=directlink June 25 raining, so I said it would be over in a half hour... I love being wrong sometimes! "We could go swimming," I said. "What about the thunderstorm building up over here?" was Em's reply. I didn't think it would be long, I predicted it would blow over in less than an half hour! So! Once again I am wrong. AND this instance makes me very happy. We need the rain desparately. It has been so dry here this year. More like the desert than coastal prairie. No swimming will take place for at least a half hour from now (the thunder keeps rumbling). Thank you to whoever arranged this wonderful rain storm on my birthday and just for me! June 24 Time at the Pool - Swimming or Not Swimming Pool Time! Everyone likes the idea of going to the pool, the thought is really popular on a hot day and lots of people actually visit our neighborhood pool. More children show up to take advantage of the pool than adults. Most people lay out in the sun, they sit and read books and magazines, they float while others cavort with their children. Amazing as it seems to me, I think this is true. What most people do not tend to do at the swimming pool is swim! Very few people actually swim, swim laps, swim deliberately from one end to another. I wonder why? June 22 Happy Father's Day to a Great Father Everyone has a father, my father was a good man. I am lucky enough to be married to a good man. He is a great father. He is supportive, loving and attentive to the needs of his family. There is rarely a time when he isn't thinking about what he can do for his family. My husband is perhaps a one in a million dad. He doesn't take time off for himself. He is always thinking about us. What makes a great dad? Well, in my opinion it is some of these traits I have just discussed in addition to some others. A role model that is hard working, sensitive and caring. A man that volunteers to do jobs that others won't do. A person who is selfless and giving. I could go on and on, but I don't think I need to. I just want to say... Happy Father's Day and I love you to David Watson! June 04 Enrichment School will soon be out for the summer! Our schedule will go lax and the children will lose some focus. I am planning some reading, hiking, and visits to some museums with the boys. I am sure we will find time to hang out at the pool too! Jon will be stretching his mind, studying for academic decathlon. Ross got a job at the local movie theater. Zachary will hopefully keep busy with swimming, reading and studying the French revolution with Jon. I know that the summer months will go quickly, I am just sorry that we don't have more scouting activities lined up. Once we settle on a new troop them perhaps that will change. For now, I want to make sure that we don't slip into an easy existence of no intellectual challenge. We all need that stimulation to keep our brains working at a high level. June 02 Time Management Our 11 year old has been playing a time management game all year long. He saves a bit of homework to do in the half an hour after he gets ready in the morning. This strategy has been working for most of the year. BUT he hasn't learned how to judge timing for bigger projects. So, he had a project to work on this six weeks. He claims that most of his classmates were copying and pasting definitions straight from websites. He was determined to read all of Edith Hamilton's Greek Mythology (he has read several other Greek Mythology anthologies as well in the last year) and write his own definitions. He thought what he had left could be accomplished in 2 hours. Alas! He was wrong. I think this is an important lesson for him to learn, 6 hours of work later he still hasn't finished it. He has almost completed 6th grade, so nothing earth shattering is going to occur if he gets a bad grade on this assignment. The most important thing that he is getting out of this asssignment is not knowledge about mythology. Instead he is learning an important time management lesson, he says that he has learned that he should start earlier and work on something like this when he knows there is extra time, for instance during all his playtime this past weekend. So, the mom and me is very proud of him. I'll keep you posted on his time management skills, because I am sure that next year will be filled with projects and assignments! June 01 Encouragement WorksTim Liston's sermon about encouragement helping to keep the Church rooted works for other groups also. When things aren't going well within a group, some encouragement and acknowledgement that things could be improved on would go a long way to making people feel better about the situation. Having a good attitude and leaving personal feelings and problems out of the group effort would go a long way to improving group efficiency and effectiveness. Adults have a hard time doing this and role modeling good behaviors. Some friends have asked about our disassociation with a certain group. I have been steadfast in not saying anything directly critical of the adults involved in our disagreement about my freedom of speech, or about the group as a whole. So, in the end my boys are affected, they are a casualty of my expressing my criticism of a certain event and its resolution in my private blog. There are several adults involved within this group who have chosen to be unfriendly, discourteous, and unkind. I refuse to stoop to their level. I will not mirror their behavior in public or private. Pastor Tim talked about reconciliation as a way to improve a group. I am a afraid in some cases reconciliation is never possible because not everyone is BIG enough to accept their own culpability and to work to improve their character. I know my weaknesses, I know where I erred, so I know that I can avoid being in this position in the future. I just hope that others aren't hurt by this group in the way that my family has been. |
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