Yowling Rant

[Alelou]

Yup, but we got fed fine. Who knows. People who know them well may have suspected how disorganized the day was going to be, and suspected it would only be crazier with the mom and sister moving at the same time. After moving as often as we have, though, we had no qualms about just wading in and taking things apart and packing stuff up. I can only hope they're not going insane looking for particular items today. I think little plastic Barbie shoes and hair elastics might have ended up in practically every box I packed because every time we moved a piece of furniture more showed up.

[Aikiweezie]

I injured my shoulder at a martial arts seminar this wekend. I missed the entire second day of training because my arm was in a sling. I have a Dr. appointment in an hour. I am hoping there's not any major damage, like a torn tendon. In the meantime, I'm off the mat for the time being. NOT HAPPY!

[Alelou]

Sorry!

[Distracted]

I injured my shoulder at a martial arts seminar this wekend. I missed the entire second day of training because my arm was in a sling. I have a Dr. appointment in an hour. I am hoping there's not any major damage, like a torn tendon. In the meantime, I'm off the mat for the time being. NOT HAPPY!

Shoulder injuries are a royal pain. My husband injured his right shoulder and it kept him from fencing for nearly a year. Be careful and let it heal before you go back!

[Aikiweezie]

I injured my shoulder at a martial arts seminar this wekend. I missed the entire second day of training because my arm was in a sling. I have a Dr. appointment in an hour. I am hoping there's not any major damage, like a torn tendon. In the meantime, I'm off the mat for the time being. NOT HAPPY!

Shoulder injuries are a royal pain. My husband injured his right shoulder and it kept him from fencing for nearly a year. Be careful and let it heal before you go back!

One of my friends/training partners tore a tendon in his shoulder and had to have surgery. Off the mat for a year, too!

I decided to go to my chiropractor/rehab center to get it checked out. (great practice, they treated my neck/back over the years) His verdict is that it is either a small tear or impingment. It's very inflamed and painful at the moment. We decided to proceed conservatively, treating it with ultrasound, ice, anti-inflamatories and rest first. If I don't respond in a couple of weeks I'll have an MRI. No training for me for a while. I had such a great experience at the seminar, too. BTW, it as the guy I've been having "issues" with who hurt me, although I know for a fact it was an accident. It DOES complicate things, though.

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/slide ... =snapfish/

That's me in the suit.

[Reanok]

Aikiweezie I'm sorry you injured your shoulder I know someone who suffered a shoulder injury from a bad fall and they had torn ligaments and problems which caused them to have surgery and physical therapy to regain use of their arm gain. I hope you won't have to have to surgery.

[Aikiweezie]

It's a little better. I just hope nothing in there is torn. And I'm hoping that I don't have to go to therapy for long because my insurance has decided that I have to pay $30 a visit.

[crystalswolf]

Sometimes I wonder why we live in GA. Two years ago they set in motion a new math curriculum for 8th graders going into 9th grade (guess where my daughter fits in). Last year we thought the material seemed a bit advanced for freshmen. Today we just saw an article on the online local newspaper that confirmed our concerns. The material jumps at least two years (Junior tutors had a hard time with the new Freshmen requirements), 1 out of 5 kids are failing their math classes, honor students are barely scraping by with Ds and are afraid to take the advanced classes, teachers are completely stressed out, and worst yet, my daughter hates math again! She says they have a new lesson just about every class.

Adding insult to injury, the state's "math program manager" says it'll just take time before students, teachers and parents become comfortable with the curriculum... does she mean when these kids graduate, if they ever do, the kids following will be used to it? Just throw away a couple of years worth of students, nothing big.

If they wanted to jump into such an accelerated curriculum, why did they have to do it with 9th graders? Why couldn't they start from kindergartners on up? If only my daughter would agree to homeschooling through HS but she likes the activities her school offers.

[Aquarius]

I'm glad I decided against secondary education. It's like one extreme or the other: No Child Left Behind lowered standards so badly across the board, and you *still* have less than 50% graduation rates in school systems like Detroit (Detroit is actually closer to 30%, I think, if I remember the last time it was on the news), and then you have stuff like this.

And to top it off, teachers get testy with parents if their kids aren't getting help at home. If I had kids, I'd probably be one of those parents getting nasty-grams for not helping my kid with math homework. I sucked at it to begin with; they make it worse by changing how they teach what little I *do* know. A few years ago a former coworker of mine was lamenting about how she couldn't even help her fourth grader with long division, because they changed how they teach kids how to do it and our generation's way was "wrong".

Reading would probably get to me, too. I'm a phonics girl, and I understand that they don't teach that any more...although I've had some teachers tell me they've gone back to it, because it actually works, so who knows.

[Aikiweezie]

I'm glad I decided against secondary education. It's like one extreme or the other: No Child Left Behind lowered standards so badly across the board, and you *still* have less than 50% graduation rates in school systems like Detroit (Detroit is actually closer to 30%, I think, if I remember the last time it was on the news), and then you have stuff like this.

And to top it off, teachers get testy with parents if their kids aren't getting help at home. If I had kids, I'd probably be one of those parents getting nasty-grams for not helping my kid with math homework. I sucked at it to begin with; they make it worse by changing how they teach what little I *do* know. A few years ago a former coworker of mine was lamenting about how she couldn't even help her fourth grader with long division, because they changed how they teach kids how to do it and our generation's way was "wrong".

Reading would probably get to me, too. I'm a phonics girl, and I understand that they don't teach that any more...although I've had some teachers tell me they've gone back to it, because it actually works, so who knows.

Chicago public schools have a 40% drop out rate. (And former schools chief Arne Duncan is now head of the department of education Yeah, that's a good idea..... ) That combined with the insane crime rate makes me glad every day that I don't live in the city.

My son is being taught phonics. I'm happy about that. That's also how I learned to read. He's already reading above grade level. I'm not a math person either - I DREAD the day he starts coming in with math homework. My husband was a math/statistics minor in college so he's good with it, but that was a loooooooong time ago and I'm sure he doesn't remember much that will be very helpful.

[Distracted]

When I do math homework with my youngest I have to read the book first to figure out what sort of "new math" they've come up with.

[crystalswolf]

Daughter's class had to read an entire 2 pg historical sermon together, discuss the bible and then give their interpretation of what God wants. Did I mention this is a public school and not even her history class? Not happy. Not happy at all!

[honeybee]

You should definitely complain if you think the lesson crossed the line. Certainly, most American lit classes have historical sermons on the syllabus, but in a public school their supposed to be viewed as historical documents that provide insight to the the thinking of the times and show how these beliefs informed the era's literature - especially since historical sermons don't resemble most people's contemporary beliefs, regardless of their religion.

But asking individual students about their religious beliefs as part of any kind of graded lesson is a big, big no-no in a public school.

[Alelou]

It is typical to teach some of the work of the preacher Jonathan Edwards (especially "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God") in an American Lit class. The teacher may have thought it was a way to get the students actively engaged with the material, but it sounds like she/he might have crossed a line there.

[aadarshinah]

agreed. Went to a private, Moravian boarding school and even then the only place we read any religous lit was in Religion class... which was, mercifily, only 2 semesters.