This afternoon the kids and I (Anna) decided to try sledding behind King. After some initial testing I decided he didn’t care about the sled behind him and since the kids didn’t have the strength to hold on I tied the ropes to the sled. Probably not the safest venture but the ropes were tied on with very breakable baling twine. The kids had a blast!!! They wore their helmets as did I of course. Next we need some plastic skis and a tow rope…
One advantage of living next to state forest is the kids have a lot of places to play. After lunch today we sent them to play. They had told us they were working on shleters. Ok. Then they came back to the house to get rugs or towels for bedding in the shelter. We let them take a wagon of hay. Eventually we went to see what they were building for shelter.
I am not against public schools. Our kids attend public schools. However, I am concerned that the country feels the problem with schools can be fixed by simple standardizing the testing, and therefore, standardizing the curriculum. Maybe, the problem with school is the system is not educating students. Allow me to explain.
Alex is 10 years old and attends 5th grade at Griswold Middle School. We are very pleased with the Griswold system compared to some we have been in previously. I sat down with Alex to analyze his schedule and figure out how much time he actually spends learning at school (I’m not saying Alex was 100% accurate in the relaying of the time usage, but you will understand the point). Alex gets on the bus around 6:30. Class starts at 7:30, but teaching doesn’t begin until 8. The first half hour is to help with homework from the previous night – Alex reads at his desk. Throughout the day, he spends time in Language Arts, Math, Science, History, etc, but not every subject is covered every day due to the rotational nature of the schedule at the school. He also has lunch, band, PE, art (or other rotating “specials”) and recess. School is over just after 2 and Alex gets home at 3. So, for 8.5 hours of time invested every day, how much education is involved? When we talked through the details of the day, I added up the time Alex is actually sitting in a desk for a standard class. Then I applied a 75% effectiveness to the time (which basically assumes 75% of the time in a desk is spent learning – maybe generous, but I knew it wasn’t 100%). I found out one of his class periods is actually divided by the lunch/recess time. So he spends about 8 minutes before lunch and then another 24 minutes after lunch on a subject. 32 minutes split in 2 sessions. Looks good on paper when you add up the time spent on the subject, but I question the value of the time for teaching a group of 5th graders. Bottom line, less than 3 hours a day. Less than 3 hours of learning for an 8.5 hour investment.
There will be snow today, so the schools are closing early. Alex still got on the bus around 6:30. Class starts at 7:30, but teaching doesn’t begin until 8. School will be out at 11 and Alex will get home around 12. So, today, it is a 5.5 hour investment but he will only get about 1.5 hours of legitimate class time.
I’m not saying things like band, PE, and art are not important, but if you want to understand why kids in the US are falling behind, it is because the country continues to dilute the value of the time spent at school. It is a widely known scam that half days used for teacher development and such are preferred because they still count towards the mandatory 180 day total required to complete the year. Again, looks good on paper, but not really effective for teaching (in my opinion). What if schools were about education instead of common core or legislative number of days?
As is the tradition, the girls had to do some bareback riding in the snow. Vicki loves to ride bareback in the winter because it keeps her warmer. Vicki decided to try out Dakota, Alex’s new pony, while Amanda rode Huey. This was Vicki’s first bareback ride on Dakota and it went well. Both girls had a good time and no one fell off.
Alex and I will be doing a trail ride in the snow after lunch.
Last year, Alex and Vicki expressed some interest in shooting as part of Tetrathlon. Tetrathlon is a Pony Club competition that includes swimming, running, jumping (the only portion that involves a horse), and pellet pistol shooting. I introduced them to shooting, but we didn’t make much progress.
This year, I decided to build a target range in our basement since we had enough room.
I started by using some old dividers to create a lane down one area. Then I used some plywood to create a backer so the pellets and bb’s are not hitting the cement walls. Finally, I added a new light to illuminate the targets.
Alex and I finished this evening and have it a test run. The plywood is bouncing the bb’s back towards the shooter. However, the pellets have enough force to embed in the wood. I am going to look for some high density foam to stop the bb’s from bouncing.
The table is adjustable in height which works well for the kids right now. We are currently spring at 20 feet, but have enough room to make it an actual 10m range, which is the competitive distance for tetrathlon.
Now, each evening after dinner, we can go downstairs for a few minutes of target practice!
On your next family vacation, pay to send 1 large dog crate in the cargo space of the airplane. It is cheaper than buy all those seats.
Vicki loves to bake. I fact, in the past 8 days, she has baked and decorated 2 batches of cupcakes and 2 birthday cakes. Today, she worked with Grandma to bake a cake for Grandma’s birthday, and then she got to do the decorations.
This morning we processed 8 roosters being raised for meat. And tonight we will eat the one Vicki named Butter. She was very excited to finally eat a leg that she had been watching grow since May.
This weekend, Alex and I have been camping with his Arrow of Light den and members of Troop 20 from Griswold. After we moved, I gave Alex the choice of finishing with his old den, moving to the local Pack, or dropping out of scouts. He chose to move to the new Pack so he would know more boys at school and when he continued into the Troop. So, we are camping at the Camporee this weekend.
Of note, we have a basic grey chuck box with us. It doesn’t stand out compared to many that are around other sites, but this one has a panther painted on the lid. My father, Alex’s grandfather, built that chuck box when he was in the panther patrol almost 50 years ago. And so, the tradition continues. Thanks Dad.
It’s not too hard to convince the girls to ride. Tonight Vicki decided to try out Calli while Amanda rides Huey. Don’t all 7 year old girls ride 16.2hh 6 year old Thoroughbreds?
Of course, neither girl can give enough leg to make their mount trot without the help of a lunge whip from Mom.