No, Gift Day is going to be normal for them. iPods and such, I think. The extra added benefit of being in public school is the fact that they can also fall farther than they can under our constant scrutiny. For example, Mike decided to just stop doing much of his school work and homework, and we didn't hear about it for a full three weeks. Remember that this is a *public* school, so don't be shocked.
So now his grades have tanked. He gets 100's on his tests; he just didn't do the assigned work for a while. Was drawing pictures instead. It will probably also boot him out of the IB program entirely, which I would really like to happen because it means more bad things happening to my child due to his inaction when action was called for. This is something I just couldn't have hoped for while homeschooling, and it's one reason why I love love *LOVE* public school! It just sucks so incredibly much that it brings true real-world benefits to my children like this! Note that I am not in any way being sarcastic. My children have already had the benefits of homeschooling, so the poor conditions of these schools actually helps them while it hurts their classmates who have always been in the public school system. I made him redo every single assignment from the beginning, even though he wasn't going to get even half-credit for most of it. So he finished it all and handed it in, and yesterday I got his mid-term and it was a D. Lots of 100's, a handful of zeros and 50's, and a D for his reward. So I asked him, "So, you see the direct consequences of your actions?" "Yes." "You ever going to try and pull this shit again?" "No, never." "All right then. Good to see you've pulled your head out of your ass. Now give me a hug and go do your homework." So home privileges are pulled until his grades are back up to snuff under his own leadership. Quick to fall; long hard climb back to zero. By the way, we still homeschool a little on top of the useless motions they go through at public school. Sarah wanted to learn dissection, so we built her a little biolab and our company formed a "biological training department" to get around the regulations against acquiring and keeping preserved animals. She's going to dissect an earthworm, a frog, a starfish, a large grasshopper, and a crayfish. Same ones I did as a kid. Later on we'll do fetal pigs, cats, and dogs. She's going to photograph the different stages of the dissection with a digital camera, import and annotate them on her laptop, and write a report in Word that includes the photos. Then she's going to present them to her grandparents who are both doctors, so you know they'll love it (future doctor in the making). She then wants to learn chemistry, so after the first of the year she'll get a proper chemistry lab (very popular with homeschoolers) with formal experiments, and photograph and report on those, too. For her birthday next week she's getting the Mindstorms NXT Robotics set, which she'll add to the Mindstorms RIS 2.0 set that Mike used to have. I got some adapters that let the new set use the stuff from the old set. The new robotics software is built on LabVIEW, so she's going to learn a lot. Mike has a complete 3D animation setup with a 3D spatial mouse and Maya, Electric Image, Bryce, Poser, Shade, Swift 3D, Amorphium, etc. He wants to develop video games, both graphics and programming, so he has a lot of work in front of him. That's why I want him to fail so miserably when he decides to screw off for just a short while. Knowing firsthand what *doesn't* work helps keep them going in the right direction. So you see, they have all the opportunities a child would ever really need at this age. After that, it all comes down to self-discipline and drive. Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis President Productivity Enhancement -----Original Message----- From: Erika L. Walker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 12:59 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: Speling Be! I get a sense that a couple of kids in Norcross might have a coal mine in their stocking this year ... I'm sorry they took all that homeschooling for granted. I always thought it was the greatest thing for them, seeing how, first hand and in person, you all were as a family unit and all the stuff you guys did together AND all the trips and extra curricular activities they got to go to and do every week. Boy, I sure as would of made sure *I* appreciated it. Being homeschooled by Lisa and you would of definitely been my preferred method of learning.... but then again what do kids know? :) Can I come be your kid? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion 8 - Build next generation apps today, with easy PDF and Ajax features - download now http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/coldfusion/cf8_beta_whatsnew_052907.pdf Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:247237 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
