I just finished reading an interesting article in this week’s Time Magazine, titled the Reason for Recess by Alice Park that states that children who are more physically active may do better in school. I remember Rebecca explaining that to me just a month ago.
Researchers in the Netherlands reported children who get more exercise either on their own or at school, tend to have higher GPAs and better scores on standardized tests. In a review of 14 studies where researchers looked at academic performance and physical activities, the students who moved more in school achieved better grades in basic subjects like math, English and reading
According to the Centers for Disease Control Prevention students need at least 1 hour of physical activity to remain healthy; only 18% of high school students met this requirement and 23% had not exercised at all.
It's so funny because conventional thought is that P.E.may be taking away time from study time. Administrators thought that since standardized test grades have been falling, it was time to take the kids off the playground and devote that time to the classroom. Physical activity can improve blood flow to the brain, fueling memory, attention and creativity which is very essential to learning. Exercise releases hormones that can improve mood and suppress stress. I would tell my daughter about these findings but it would depress her because she doesn't have any control over the school curriculum. The kids are not just exercising their bodies; they are exercising their minds.
I don't see any State Board of Education taking these findings and putting them to use but our adversaries will. We just need to go back to the basics, insert a little technology instead of throwing up our hands and saying “It can't be done."
81 comments:
Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and I was in Primary and Elementary Schools, we had a P. E. class, and we had recess after lunch for about 45 minutes. (We also had a library class and a music class.) In Jr. High, we had P. E. and we still free time after lunch.
My children, now 31 and 29 only had P. E. for a couple of years and really never had a recess.
I think because we had the opportunity to run off some energy and were allowed some opportunity to 'visit' we were better behaved in the classroom. And because the classroom was better behaved, we all made better grades. We had the talkers (I was one!), but we disn't have bad behaviors. I don't remember my classmates having ADHD, either.
It was a terrible mistake when the schools replaced physical activity with soda and snacks. Tehy should have never done it.
I remember getting my only "A" in P.E...:-)
Seriously,why isn't anyone bringing up this small matter to those in charge?They can easily remove Thomas Jefferson from our textbooks and opted to strike the word "democratic" from references to the U.S. form of government, replacing it with the term "constitutional republic." Texas textbooks will contain references to "laws of nature and nature's God" in passages that discuss major political ideas. But recess is too radical.If it wasn't for Mississippi,we would be dead last in education.
Uh, duh, Mike!
There is no P. E. or recess section on the the TAAS, TAKS, STAARS, whatever test!
I heard that 1 out of every 76 adults suffer from a mental disorder due to prescription medication but we aren't doing anything about it...Those old schools used paint made from lead,so it's not like our generation had all the answers.
The buildings were also insulated with asbestos!
However, without doing some research, I wonder how much of that may be due to the continued use of illicit drugs and alcohol?
I don't think ADHD or ADD is even a reality outside of a public school setting. I think kids NEED to move "too much." There shouldn't be desks in classrooms until Junior High. That's my opinion. LOL
My son wakes up and goes jogging for several miles. He did that while we were in San Antonio and he did that this morning after his first night on campus. When he was young, he would have to shoot baskets while we "did school." His brain got going while he was moving.
It's one of the reasons I didn't put him in school. He was smart. He was also very active. The kind of active where baby-sitters would tell me, "Don't ever bring him back!"
It was his personality.
My brother was also labeled as ADHD. He is about to start working on his Masters in Performance Guitar.
I just think that smart healthy kids are more active. It's natural to be active. It's unnatural to expect children to sit.
Yes, studies show that after physical activity, children are able to focus more. We NEED to move! It's a human thing. Too bad that it's also a human thing to want to control others, even when that control works against your own goals.
I could have worded that better.
My oldest just moved away. We helped him move into his apartment at TAMU-CC yesterday. I have emotions that range from "ok, I didn't mean for you to really move out" to "yeah, I have a school-room now!" I would blog about it, but it's HIS story.
I guess it's my story too. ?
Mike, I love it when you write about educational things. =D
EA
That's a good question and I assume you are referring to the 60s "Make love not war" era...:-)
No Rebecca,I just open thee door and you and EA provide the knowledge and expertise.
BTW my oldest went through withdrawal three times as my grandchildren went off to college.It gets easier' especially with cell phones and Facebook (if he friends you) two of my grandchildren refuse to friend my daughter..:-)
I can't say I know the feeling 'my three children graduated from U of H here in Victoria......I sense the pride every time you write about him ,so I think you have the makings of a great blog.
I graduated from UH-V. =D
My oldest son told me that I wasn't allowed to comment on his Facebook. So, he friended me, but there are some conditions. =P
We all went out to eat last night before we left him alone in Corpus. Before we ordered our food my son said, "Mom, if you read my latest update on Facebook, I just want to warn you that it's a joke." I looked at his Facebook later and it said, "All moved into my Tamucc Camden apartment. Now I get to experiment with alcohol, drugs, and girls!"
I didn't post anything.
I have to admit that I woke up this morning and checked his Facebook page to make sure he was ok. He was, because he had already updated his status.
His roommate hasn't moved in, so he is in his apartment all alone, for now.
I want to go up there and visit ASAP, and I'm starting to wonder if I am going to see HIM or the campus! My God it's beautiful!
Rebecca! He's not on the other side of the world! I graduated from TAMUCC--first class December 1990. Go Ilanders! But drove back and forth every day. I loved the campus-it is beautiful and the whole deal was wonderful. He will like it, and he will have to take wind surfing for one of his P.E. credits.
And yes, Rebecca, your identity has changed somewhat. You are now the mother of an away college student, and I think that a blog ever so often for sure! Do it!
Rebecca,I'm glad you didn't take my words out of context because I'm the last person that knows what a mother goes through...:-) Us men are tuff guys..lol
Aww Rebecca, your first little bird has flown the nest. He will be ok, but time does fly doesn't it?
About the PE in school topic, is the presidential fitness award even around anymore?
Everyone I went to school with tried their best and were proud if they earned it.
I remember the Presidential Fitness Prg. from my children's era I'm sure because old Ike wasn't too big on fitness unless it involved a golf course...:-)
Funny you should bring that up because I purposely left the part of the article that mentioned Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program but you can imagine 'it never got off the ground.
Ike?, He may have started the program, but in my school days it was Johnson and Nixon we received the award from.
IMO,EVEN IF politics weren't involved, Mrs. Obama s initiative would have failed.
Kids these days don't view the world the same way, unless they are involved in sport. Physical fitness has taken a back seat.
Why sweat when you can set in air conditioning all day doing whatever?
I remember the presidential fitness award. Of course, it was a once a year physical fitness TEST (pull ups and running) that we took, right? I think I was in school during Reagan and Bush. I don't remember any such test during high school and early elementary grades.
In elementary school, we did have "fun days" at the end of each year. I loved those!
I also remember that in elementary school we had a lunch break and an ice cream break. Our lunch break was long enough to form teams and play kickball! That was another activity that I loved.
Oh! Mike, I read that free play is very good for the developing brain. That big long lunch break, where my peers and I would form teams and play kickball, with almost no adult guidance, which meant we kids had to make up the rules as we went along and keep a score that everyone agreed on... was very good for us!
Rebecca, I will never forget the kickball and softball games at good old William Offer Elementary school with no teacher supervision, those were good times.
The Presidential Fitness stuff was started by Eisenhower in '56. Kennedy changed the name in '63. Johnson continued the program and hardly any changes have been made until the Obama administration.
Legion, now we are starting to hear about how our children are over-scheduled with adult created and supervised activities. There's hardly any "free" play - not just in school, but even after the kids get home.
1956 ,I was 11 Years old but does excessive fire drills and hiding under our desks to protect us from a Russian nuke,count as exercise?I remeber the softball,basketball and vollyball but it didn't do me any good...Maybe I needed to double my exercise...:-). I can only imagine if I wasn't exposed to any exercise...:-(
That wasn't true in Tanglewood. My oldest son is still friends with the neighborhood kids from Tanglewood Street.
Yikes, Mike! That's a lot of stress. D=
No stress ,just a way to get out of the classroom but the hiding under our desk became a joke.
I wasn't quite old enough for the bomb drills, but I can remember being scared spitless about the threat from the Bay of Pigs incident. I had a neighbor who was always talking about us getting bombed. He had no idea he was scaring the daylights out of me. Folks were talking about building bomb shelters.
We did the neighborhood things, too. Roller skating, riding bikes, stuff like that. The summers were the best when it stayed light until lalmost 10 o'clock.
We got out of class because of a bomb threat when I was in high school. You are right, Mike. We were more excited to be out of class than we were scared. At least, I was. I even remember what I was wearing that day! LOL
We knew all the kids from several blocks away....We were the Blue Ridge {oops forgot Name of mascot} and played the Crestwood whatever,in baseball and football...We were all honorary family members in our neighborhood..Everyday was an adventure.
I do remember the Cuban missile crisis ...We were all sweating bullets for those 13 days.
It took 10 years for everyone to admit that "No child left behind " was a complete joke.
I guess I can stop teasing my daughter about the program...Every time she would tells us of her students having a difficult time learning simple tasks like telling time or counting change ,I would jokingly remind her of "No child left behind."
What it took was getting Bush out of office!
I am watching the Debate and Perry is an idiot. Mittens is feisty tonight. Nootie is wanting to explain the santity of marriage to us and Rick Santorum just said there are no classes in America according to republicans!
What hypocrites!!
[sorry--off topic]
Rick Perry wants to send the troops back to Iraq!
I don't know why the others did not attack Romney,a stab now and but that's it....They stared by ganging on Ron Paul but then they went back to what we have hearing for the last 16 debate.....No taxes,No regulation,and reduce capital gains and taxes on corporations.
Over at the VA forum you can Learn some interesting things like
Digalitlper's dark skin wife does not like Michelle Obama and Gary's one Mexican friend says Mexican's will take over the U.S....These guys did not get any exercise because they are brain dead...Do they know how stupid they sound?
We have hit our low point when their statements are so elementary that's like picking on children if you challenge them.
That's our forum today but I guess it keeps the cash register ringing.
Feel free to change the subject because we are all smart enough to discuss different topics and get back on topic if we choose.
Then you are going to LOVE that idiot GetSmart's latest effort. I'm not sure who he is exactly talking TO, but if it is BigJ, I sincerely hope Bigj have the willpower to ignore him and not make a response. It's a fluff piece, but he does believe himself to be very clever.
(It could be you, it could be me...I don't know)
His descriptions of those bloggers he's 'caught' are like reading descriptions of himself! What a boob!
Well,Getsmart's fish story lured in one admirer,Tophat(Andy) "The best blog ever"....lol The self loving Getsmart got his ego stroked for writing a lengthy incoherent blog similar to what Kenneth used to write. remember kenneth had his admirers.
Whatever you think of BigJ,he names names and he doesn't try to skirt the issue.
Getsmart is also trying to get back at me because he went into my blog(says it was a mistake) and I admonished him for it because he wants to dominate the forum with his nonsense.He will continue because doesn't respect for others and he will never understand that his selfishness does not allow others to have their blogs viewed for more than a few hours. He wants to dominate the conversation with his opinions and then whine when he is critized.
Proof read ..proof read...proof read.
Sorry for my mistakes but you are smart enough to get the meaning.
It was a great debate this morning...I think Huntsman was the clear winner because he hit the candidates for the polarization we are in today...he keeps repeating the trust factor. I may be wrong.
They went after Romney today....
Mike - you said "Feel free to change the subject because we are all smart enough to discuss different topics and get back on topic if we choose"
Exactly! Thank you thank you thank you for going straight to the heart of the matter as to why our little circle's blogs here on Google are so much better AND more intelligent than those on the VicAd (especially the ones by VA staff). Ooooops.....there I go again, bashing the VA.
I did want to put my 2 cents in on the original topic, recess [and I bet y'all can follow me just fine here because that's the kind of intelligent folk that follow these blogs :)]
I agree with just about everything that has been said. The equation has always been the same throughout the history of time: more calories in than calories out (burned) = weight gain. There is no way around this simplest of concepts. Of course, children (and adults) are eating so much more junk food these days, and LOTS of it, than my or your generation did. In addition, as you have pointed out, they do not exercise near as much as we did. Hence, the obesity problem is a near-epidemic for this generation now having to struggle their way to adulthood. Bad habits take root early, and sitting in front of the boob tube or video game will never burn the calories the way free play outside does. Take recess away, the only time some children may be forced to spend time outdoors engaged in free play, and you have the makings of a disaster. No wonder we are seeing record numbers of obese children with hypertension, diabetes, etc. You wouldn't believe the age some of this starts at, and it always makes me sad when a young one comes in, severly overweight, with a diagnosis of diabetes or (geez, I can't believe we're even seeing this) hypercholestrolemia and hyperlipidemia. These were previously only adult maladies (I'm talking Type II, not type I diabetes; type II was once called adult-onset, but not so much anymore). These kids' health is being torpedoed at an early age, and bad habits are formed for a lifetime. It is projected that this newest generation may have a shorter lifespan than their parents and grandparents, a first for this nation. We are regressing here, and it is all of us who will pay the price one way or another.
You know I could go on and on about it, but long story short, I firmly believe AT THE VERY LEAST kids should have recess AT EVERY GRADE LEVEL through elementary, then P.E. until they graduate high school. More nutritious school lunches (and the schools are heading in the right direction on this), etc. Those 6-8 hours children spend in school may be the only structured, healthy environment they experience all day for some of them. YAY for the presidential fitness testing and YAY for recess and P.E. And I have to confess, I hated both when I was in school, because I simply sucked at all things athletic (except gymnastic, outside of school). But it kept my little butt active and I burned calories. When I got home, mom would always make me go out to play, ride my bike, etc. There was no sitting in front of the television and eating potato chips.
My, how things have changed.
Excellent, timely, and IMPORTANT blog, Mike.
Sugar--I think we can all agree on your comment. That is how it is.
What is different is that there are no P. E. classes (I don't believe) for elementary school. That starts in Jr. High and then is connected, often to sports teams. I may be wrong. But by Jr. High--bad habits are formed.
Second, when we were kids, if you had cable available (we didn't in my small town) the most kids programming you got was Captain Gus and the cartoons for 30 MINUTES each day after school. We had Romper Room and Captain Kangaroo each morning. Now my grandkids have access (if they would be allowed) to 30 hours of kids' programming, on three or four children's channels a day! (I know there are only 24 hours in a day, but I am trying to make a point here...)
Parents are busier than ever, by choice, and not, and the path of least resistance is what it is--easiest.
When parents put their kids in afterschool programs, they can feel like Rebecca mentioned--overbooking their kids. The difficulty is finding the right balance.
I was about to comment on Get's blog, after TopHat, "I think it stinks." But, I would have taken the bait. LOL
I'm embarrassed at what "conservatives" are morphing in to. It makes me think that you have to be a liberal to be moderate.
As usual, I get the feeling that a label has been hijacked.
OK.
Thanks Sugar
After being diagnosed as a Type II diabetic some 25 years ago,I have been reading every thing in sight about this crippling disease... (if you let it) so I take what you posted to heart....I learned that our craven for sugar escalated after our soldiers came back from WWII..They brought back the European recepes and then our instructer to showed us a graph of our sugar usage prior to 1945 to today..We opened immagration policy to favor Europeans and our more active farmers moved to the city because they wanted to be closer to their manufacturing jobs; developing a bad pattern.....I was a little skeptic because the early settlers ate things like pure molasses,bacon and other heart stopping food but they worked hard and used up the sugar...For example my last job was labor intensive when I first started but we kept pushing those jobs to contractors and eventually eliminated them with technology....WE became physically unfit and a weekend softball event always resulted in a lot of injuries.,so our company started frowning on our participation.
I just read that prior to entering the military, a large numbers of enlistees are way out of shape.....
My point,we need to restart recess at a very early age because bad habits are hard to break.
EA
I remember captain Gus,Lone Ranger,Roy Rodgers and the Mickey Mouse Club but we only saw those shows when it was raining... by choice....It was never too cold or too hot because we preferrred to be outside.
Rebecca
I 'll accept your 'hijacked" but I call it temporarily compromised.
Those people don't represent conservatives;they represent themselves.
It's like I don't think anyone represents the Catholic views but I think maryann does the best job and she leaves links ,so others can make up their own mind.
Captain Gus? I don't remember that one, but I remember Captain Kangaroo and Mr Green Jeans.
We use to have the atomic bomb drills at William Offer, that must have been in 64 and 65, a left over from the Cuban Missile crisis.
The top of a desk and your head between your knees is really going to protect you from a nuclear bomb right? lol
What not to many people realize, is that since Foster Field use to be the SAC western command HQs, is that Victoria,up until at least 1968,was a first strike target if nuclear war broke out.
I just looked it up because I can't trust my memory these days but in the late 50s there was a Captain Gus on Kens TV out of San Antonio.
Yes Old Captain kangaroo but I think I was too old for him to be a favorite.
Thanks,I didn't know the importance of Foster Field in those days...I don't remember how long my step dad worked there but I used to think it was a training base.
I know the entire Gulf Coast region is a primary target today,because thats the location of our natural petroleum reserves and numerous petrochemical plants.
I just remember that when we came to Victoria to see my grandparents, we would get to watch Captain Gus. Tela-Tena was the cable company. We didn't have cable in Refugio. It was like 3:30in the afternoon. Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room were like at 7 or 7:30 in the morning. We did get those in Refugio. I remember Captain Kangaroo was CBS. Romper Room may have been PBS. I guess Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room were for the little kids at home. There wasn't public school kindergarten then, either.
Did we get Howdy Doody on Saturday afternoons? I can't recall. But I remember watching Sky King and his niece Penny. I loved Sky King!
Sky King now you're talking,I remember Howdy Doody being something to make fun of...We used to call the dorks "Howdy Doody."
We had an old circular black and white TV but if you were an elitist yuor parents owned a Curtis Mathes TV...lol
lol, the round tvs, we had one in a big ol' cabinet...my dad gutted it and now it's the liquor cabinet. Still a impressive looking piece of furniture tho.
I remember the exact date we got a color tv, well sort of.
The first tv program we watched on it was the last episode of the Fugitive, David Janesen was the lead actor if I remember right, anyway the neighbors came over to watch. It was kind of a big deal back then. lol
Oh, I remember watching Perry Mason on the round tv, that must have been close to when we bought the portable Zenith black and white tv.
Legion you are such a youngster..:-)
My stepdad's favorite show was Life of Riley,Danny Thomas and of course later it was Gun Smoke....Ed Sullivan,Jack Benny,Red Skelton, and My Little Margie were also favorites.
dang Legion you are better than a hypnotist'you have jogged my memory...lol
Perry Mason is a long time favorite and it was unAmerican not to like that show...:-)
I remember Dukes of Hazard, Hawaii 5-O, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Dallas, Buck Rogers in the 21st Century, and Battle Star Galactica...
I remember the Mickey Mouse Club song, "Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me. M I C K E Y M O U S E..." The theme song would make me RUN to the television.
Actually, I still have a Mickey Mouse hat. I think I have a Mickey Mouse album!
...speaking of Mickey Mouse. ;) ;) ;)
Legion went to school with one of my cousins, so I know roughly how old he is. He has a mind like a steel trap! That guy can remember anything! Rebecca is not old enough to have memory lapses yet!
Yes, Ed Sullivan--I remember my older sister and her best friend screaming at the TV when the Beatles we on the Ed Sullivan Show. Life of Riley, Jack Benny, I Love Lucy and the Little Rascals!
I loved the Little Rascals. I remember Darla's father had this nasaly whine for a voice and called birthdays 'Natal Anniversaries'. I also remember the show where a bunch midgets acted like babies and stole all the old ladies' jewelry. And the "I HATE GIRLS" club started by Spanky!
Oh, my gosh, this could go on forever!
I DO have memory lapses (mostly because we lived out in the country and didn't always have cable). Legion is the one who set me straight on some nostalgia, if I remember correctly.
I remember watching Mickey Mouse at my grandmother's (D-mom's) in San Antonio and Little House on the Prairie at my great-grandmother's who lived in Victoria. My great-grandmother, La-La, forced me to watch Little House on the Prairie, instead of Peanuts, and I am glad. I remember that they used to give the Little House on the Prairie books away at grocery stores? or did she buy me one of the books while checking out? Don't know for sure, but I have a memory of her buying one for me.
EA
I bet you are the family historian,the one that can places all the pieces together.
Legion has an outstanding memory.
Rebecca mentioned my all time favorite ..Dallas,..we went to Plano,TX to see the house where it was filmed.As I remember it was a working ranch when they weren't filming. We saw the horses in the pasture but the house looked a lot smaller than it did on TV.
You guys are doing wonders for my memory,I remember a puppet show preceding the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show.
My friends and I watched the Mickey Mouse Show for one reason and one reason only...
Annette funicello
How about The Flying Nun and Gidget? I always thought that The Flying Nun was silly, but I remember watching Gidget at someone else's house.
(I was born in 1970, but I had a cousin who was five years older and two aunts who were ten years older.)
Rocky & Bullwinkle and Gumby & Pokey!
I remember those character because one of my aunts collected the figurines. You remember the rubber around the wire that you could bend?
Ok. I'll stop. This conversation reminded me of the little girl, Tina, who lived behind my grandmother when my grandmother lived in San Antonio. I found her on Facebook and sent her a message. That will freak her out.
Mike, is this a record for your Google blogs? This will make 60 comments, and over 29,000 page views? Congratulations!!!! WOOWWW!!!!
You mentioned Raymond Burr and I think I read in this latest TV Guide a fellow recalling that he came to visit troops around Christmas time,I think with USO/Bob Hope group to either Korea or Vietnam around 1960. This man recalled that Mr. Burr sat in the mess tent like a regular guy with a notepad and pencil, and took down EVERY single GI's folk's address and phone number and any message they wanted to give their families. He did this for hours, and the fellow said that to the best of his knowledge, when Mr. Burr made it to the states, he called or wrote every single one of those families and passed along their holiday greetings/messages on behalf of the soldiers. What a class act!
Ohmigoodness don't get me started on these shows! I do remember a very cheesy one that I absolutely loved as a girl, probably because I was just DIFFERENT, I guess, and want to see if anyone else recalls it. I think it was on channel 39 in Houston, home of crappy cheap reruns, haha! It was a Japanese import by the name of Ultraman, pretty awful, it was dubbed and all. This normal meek looking Japanese dude would turn into "Ultraman" when his country needed help, usually in response to some alien invasion, or silly nonsense like that. I am sure he wore a silver unitard, at least, I imagined it to be silver, as all we had was black and white!
I don't know why I remember that show like I do, I just liked the monster/alien of the week, and I thought the guy was cute! This would have been very early 70s, but could have possibly been from the 60s and showed as reruns. I'm gonna have to google it and see what I find!
One last note: I may have told y'all this before (talk about the memory being the second thing to go, I forgot what the first was....HAHAHA!)....there is a wonderful magazine I have subscribed to called "Reminisce" that is fabulous! Just good memories like these here, it is reader-written by folks in the baby-boomer and depression generations, beautiful old pictures, etc. I feel I travel back in time when I sit down to read one, and they are chock-full of stuff. It takes me a couple of good days, with steady reading to read one cover-to-cover, and I always do. You can go to www.reminisce.com and take a look online as well. I hope y'all enjoy. It is one subscription where I definitely feel I get my money's worth.
Have a good week, y'all. This has been so fun!
Thank you very much Sugar, I'm gleaming in pride; I know I'm just like the old Jack Paar, not a lot of talent but I have some wonderful guests. I'm going to do my best impersonation of Dr. Phil and say that we all got tired of the constant bickering and collectively went back to simpler times when we didn't have a lot of choices but we still had some good times.
I didn't know that about Raymond Burr, thanks for sharing. You Houstonians watched some weird shows..:-) Remember that this is the town that banned NYPD Blue not knowing we could watch the show via cable out of San Antonio.
Sugar, I DO remember Ultraman. Here is a link to wikipedia and a picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraman
I think, as kids, we weren't bombarded with hundreds of channels so we watched whatever was on.
Now, I don't watch an actual show, I spend my time seeing what all is on. Two cycles through the channels and the line-up is sure to change!
I'm thinking Netflix would fix that.
Also, because of limited selection, we watched those programs WITH our parents.
Sorry to hog your blog, Mike! But, I just wanted to suggest a movie that my family enjoyed: "Midnight in Paris" (2001) starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams. It was all about nostalgia and how each generation looks longingly to their own "golden age." It starts off pretty slow, but if you love art and music and Paris, there are little jewels throughout the whole movie.
Rebecca
It's impossible for a worthy poster to hog a blog.
I like Owen Wilson and I'll write down the name of the movie so I don't forget.,thanks.
I also want to thank Sugar for the recommendation of www.reminisce.com
My wife is gonna think I'm a genius..:-)
While I disagree with the talent portion of the statement, I love the Jack Paar quote.
I love Owen Wilson, too, and I will check out the movie also, Rebecca.
And I agree with Sugar! Fantaastic numbers, Mike! Wooooo Hooooo!
Thanks EA
Kudos to EA,Sugar and Riverboat,they would have made excellent trial lawyers, proof readers,professors and detectives with their attention to detail...VA reporters should thank their lucky stars that they are not supervising their material..:-)
Oh, but we are...even though some of us are incapable of proofing our own work for typos...8^(.
I just read that due to budget cuts, Texas schoolchildren will probably never see another museum, arts center or the performing arts...Let's see: no recess or arts and they wonder why applications for home schooling and private schools are increasing. We keep battling with Mississippi for last place.
As Charlie Sheen would say,
W I N N I N G ! ! !
lol....Great comeback.
We have a lot winners on the forum if you put it that way.
I've told you we practice delayed academics here? We pretty much unschool until junior high and then we are still pretty relaxed throughout high school. What is interesting is that they aren't that far "behind" where they should be and it only takes a few weeks to "catch up" when we finally start the formal learning. That's alarming to me. I've learned that when a child is mature and ready they can easily take in 10 years of information in a few months. It's easy when you think about how much they learn without being taught.
I never taught my children to read. They learned by being read to. Two learned later than what would be expected of children in school, but they still learned with almost no instruction.
My early reader was reading before the instructional materials arrived in the mail. I never got a chance to teach him.
I think we teach at kids too much and too early. That's my whole educational philosophy and one I don't like to admit on VicAd. But, it's one I live.
They pick up information so much more quickly when they are ready to learn it and especially when they need to learn it for something they want to do. In schools, we don't have the patience to teach according to development or interest. We focus on chronological age instead. We have no patience so we push too early and I think we cause learning blocks in children.
That's my rant...
No. I need to correct myself. In school we aren't allowed the patience! I know teachers would much rather teach to each child without worrying about being judged by that child's delays etc.
I think I know what you mean..A couple of friends had sons who were C students throughout high school until their senior year of HS...They both thought they were off the hook as far as paying for the high tuition fees but something snapped and the boys started making high marks...It continued and one boy was accepted to NYU Law and the other to UT Law...It cost my friends an arm and a leg but they are getting repaid since one is a corporate lawyer in NY and the other has a small 3 member firm...Question: Can a person develop that late in age or was it because something caused them to want to learn more?
Is there such a thing as a late bloomer?
Am I anywhere near to what you are describing?
The frontal lobe of the brain (where the thinking and decision making and such resides) doesn't fully develope until around age 27. Yeah, late bloomers...
Mike, I am very curious as to what caused those students to get internally motivated and driven after not being motivated for so long.
There was a Catholic couple who moved through the area who were retired in their thirties. The husband had hated high school and went to night school and graduated two years early. He studied for and took some of those Microsoft tests. He scored so well that he was "head hunted" (his wife's terminology) by Microsoft. He installed computers in schools and eventually started his own company and sold it.
I wonder what ignites that internal fire that causes a person to ignore all of society's preconceived ideas of what needs to be done in order to be a success, like get a college degree, so that that person can do something even greater.
(that was worded horribly)
Rebecca
I agree.... Bill Gates,Michael Dell,Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are great examples...The only thing common they have is "successful parents."..i guess genes cannot be discounted.
I think it is a combination of things.
A child has to have parents that make him believe there are no limits to what he can do.
A child needs to be encouraged when they are experimenting with 'what they want to be when they grow up'.
A child needs to be afforded the opportunity to make mistakes, and then to fix them.
A child needs to have the experience of that one teacher who hangs the moon for him. If they have more--lucky them!
I was privileged to have three such teachers in my education career, and not surprisingly, all three were English teachers--A. P. Daley in Jr. High, Barbara Moeller at Victoria College and Robb Jackson at TAMUCC. (your son needs to take every English he needs from Robb. He is the BEST!)
Motivation comes from within, and is dependent upon the cues and signals the person is receiving.
Not being afraid to make mistakes and not being afraid to fail. I bet that is something important, too, to be able to learn from mistakes instead of being shamed by them.
I bet that happens when children have parents who aren't too harsh on them, and like you said, create an atmosphere where mistakes can be learned from, instead of feared.
Amen, Rebecca!
Rebecca
We were raised in a "negative reinforcement" enviroment with a double whammy of enforcement (school and home)but us baby boomers are children of the " greatest generation.".... I don't want that for my grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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