Well, I sold a bunch of books on Amazon meaning to make some extra money. But did you know that you can set it up so that instead of money you get an Amazon gift certificate? So guess what I've been getting instead of cash. BOOKS!
I'm not sure why I'm such a bookaholic. I just am. My favorite store on the planet is called Acres of Books, in Long Beach. When I was a little girl my dad used to let me go to downtown Long Beach to work with him. I'd spend a couple of hours doing his filing or whatever and then he'd give me $20 and send me to Acres of Books. It was two stories of used books, some of them going back to the stores opening in the 20s. The place was magic to me. I can still smell it. I can remember believing that somewhere in that place might be a book like in the Never Ending Story, or that book whose name I can't remember about the kids who find a book that only lets them read it one page at a time. Some sort of magical book that had been sitting there for fifty years waiting just for me.
The point is, I love books. And I've bought a BUNCH of them with my Amazon money. Some homeschooling books, some are just for me. I'd like to start a list of books that I read in 2008 with reviews. Hardly anyone is reading my site yet, so it's mostly just a list for me. I think I'll start with some that I've read in the past month or so.
What I'd really love to do is start an online book club for people who think like me. Books about the world and our country and the insane things that are going. Environmental issues, economic issues, educational issues. Anyone want to join me?
Showing posts with label College. Show all posts
Showing posts with label College. Show all posts
Friday, December 21, 2007
School
I just ordered my books for next semester. They have to be shipped and because I'm not Oprah, I can only afford to buy used books so I'm dependent on Amazon sellers shipping to me in a timely manner. So I order early, just in case.
I had a thought in the shower today. I want to start my own school. A sort of educational co-op where parents teach classes in subjects that interest them or that they are good at. So I might teach Spanish, history and writing. Someone else might teach math and biology. Someone else might teach guitar, auto shop, painting...whatever. Then our kids can sign up for the classes that interest them. It isn't necessary for the teacher to be an expert, just to have an interest and love of the subject. That'll be the had part to convince my prospective teachers of.
Charge $10 per class. So a one-time How To Make Cookies class would cost $10, but an ongoing Algebra class would cost $10 each time it met. And there could be free stuff, too. Like clubs. The $10 fee could be split between the school and the parent teaching the class. Or parents who agree to teach a class could receive free tuition for their own kids (I teach Spanish and Nick gets to learn how to change the oil in a car.)
If I charge a per-family monthly tuition, that would cover expenses and give me a salary. And maybe it would include a certain number of courses. Or maybe, $10 a class with a minimum number of classes necessary. I am not interested in a school where only the affluent can afford to send their children.
It's just a seed of an idea, but it excites me.
I had a thought in the shower today. I want to start my own school. A sort of educational co-op where parents teach classes in subjects that interest them or that they are good at. So I might teach Spanish, history and writing. Someone else might teach math and biology. Someone else might teach guitar, auto shop, painting...whatever. Then our kids can sign up for the classes that interest them. It isn't necessary for the teacher to be an expert, just to have an interest and love of the subject. That'll be the had part to convince my prospective teachers of.
Charge $10 per class. So a one-time How To Make Cookies class would cost $10, but an ongoing Algebra class would cost $10 each time it met. And there could be free stuff, too. Like clubs. The $10 fee could be split between the school and the parent teaching the class. Or parents who agree to teach a class could receive free tuition for their own kids (I teach Spanish and Nick gets to learn how to change the oil in a car.)
If I charge a per-family monthly tuition, that would cover expenses and give me a salary. And maybe it would include a certain number of courses. Or maybe, $10 a class with a minimum number of classes necessary. I am not interested in a school where only the affluent can afford to send their children.
It's just a seed of an idea, but it excites me.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Oh God, My Head
My dad is coming to visit this weekend. I'm so excited! The only thing I miss about living in Las Vegas is being close to my family. I'm not all that far now, but trust me when I tell you that four hours of driving in the dead of the desert without even a curve in the road to break it up is mind-numbing work.
I'm excited to see his wife, Nancy, too. They'll be married a year this December. She's a special needs teacher and I'm looking forward to talking to her and trying to get a good grip on whether to choose teaching or social work as my focus at school.
I was talking to my best friend Carol last night about this very topic. She has a way of really focusing me and pointing out the obvious that I'm missing. Her first reaction was to say "be a social worker" without even thinking it over. I already am a social worker, she said. My need to help people, to help them find solutions or better ways to do something, is compulsive. She should know. Her kids go to a fabulous charter school because I went out and found one when Adrienne was miserable in sixth grade and then I spent an entire year convincing her to put her kids there too because I knew they'd love it. They do.
Then I told her that I'd have to do six months of internship for the Department of Children and Family Services, and she changed her mind. She knows that I can't handle confrontation. I actually get sick to my stomach thinking about having to confront people about their maltreatment of their children. When I think about knocking on a door, clipboard in hand, anxiety kicks up and I immediately decide that I REALLY want to be a teacher. There are other jobs for a social worker, of course. I can work as a school social worker, at a hospital or prison, in juvenile justice, as a counselor or therapist. But to get my degree I need to give six months to DCFS, and I'm not sure I can. Also, none of those jobs are available in my tiny town.
I have until this summer to decide. I need to take a biology class, and there are different requirements for each major. The next social work class is only offered in fall and the biology class is a prerequisite. That biology class won't count toward an education degree and I'll have to take a different one if I go that route. I can't apply to the teacher program without having already taken that biology class.
I'm fine with being a teacher right up until I think about not being able to take the next social work class. I want to.
I'm fine with being a social worker, right up until I think about how much I'd enjoy actually teaching. I want to.
I'm reading this book about alternative education settings, and how to set up a charter school. May I'll start my own school that focuses on the things that are red-taped out of public schools. Like teaching children to love learning. Like appreciating that children will love learning if they are free to choose what they learn. Like treating all children, even those with special needs, with respect.
I think what I might end up doing is taking the social-work biology class so that I can take the next social work class--but continuing with my degree in education. I have the time to pursue the education I want, instead of rushing through taking as few classes as possible. My goal is to graduate by the time Nick does, which gives me four years plus a semester.
I'm excited to see his wife, Nancy, too. They'll be married a year this December. She's a special needs teacher and I'm looking forward to talking to her and trying to get a good grip on whether to choose teaching or social work as my focus at school.
I was talking to my best friend Carol last night about this very topic. She has a way of really focusing me and pointing out the obvious that I'm missing. Her first reaction was to say "be a social worker" without even thinking it over. I already am a social worker, she said. My need to help people, to help them find solutions or better ways to do something, is compulsive. She should know. Her kids go to a fabulous charter school because I went out and found one when Adrienne was miserable in sixth grade and then I spent an entire year convincing her to put her kids there too because I knew they'd love it. They do.
Then I told her that I'd have to do six months of internship for the Department of Children and Family Services, and she changed her mind. She knows that I can't handle confrontation. I actually get sick to my stomach thinking about having to confront people about their maltreatment of their children. When I think about knocking on a door, clipboard in hand, anxiety kicks up and I immediately decide that I REALLY want to be a teacher. There are other jobs for a social worker, of course. I can work as a school social worker, at a hospital or prison, in juvenile justice, as a counselor or therapist. But to get my degree I need to give six months to DCFS, and I'm not sure I can. Also, none of those jobs are available in my tiny town.
I have until this summer to decide. I need to take a biology class, and there are different requirements for each major. The next social work class is only offered in fall and the biology class is a prerequisite. That biology class won't count toward an education degree and I'll have to take a different one if I go that route. I can't apply to the teacher program without having already taken that biology class.
I'm fine with being a teacher right up until I think about not being able to take the next social work class. I want to.
I'm fine with being a social worker, right up until I think about how much I'd enjoy actually teaching. I want to.
I'm reading this book about alternative education settings, and how to set up a charter school. May I'll start my own school that focuses on the things that are red-taped out of public schools. Like teaching children to love learning. Like appreciating that children will love learning if they are free to choose what they learn. Like treating all children, even those with special needs, with respect.
I think what I might end up doing is taking the social-work biology class so that I can take the next social work class--but continuing with my degree in education. I have the time to pursue the education I want, instead of rushing through taking as few classes as possible. My goal is to graduate by the time Nick does, which gives me four years plus a semester.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Decisions
I spent the weekend participating in a Strategies for Substitute Teaching class. I also did some reading about Marva Collins.
Sometimes I think I'm like a raccoon who can't help but be hypnotized by shiny things. As soon as someone presents something to me in a way that connects, I want to do it. So now I'm sure I want to be a teacher. Tonight I have my social work class, during which I'll probably switch back to being just as sure that I want to be a social worker. And then sometime tonight, when I'm too tired to do anything about it, I'll remember that what I really want is to be a writer.
I've written a paper for my social work class about Jane Addams and the Hull House.
I would love to be Jane Addams when I grow up. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which she was awarded for her work with the poor in Chicago. Hull House, where she lived and worked until she died at a ripe old age, was a settlement house in a poor, immigrant-filled Chicago neighborhood. In the late 1880s Jane and her friend Ellen Starr leased an old abandoned mansion built by Charles Hull. They lived there, along with a rotating selection of students and people in helping careers. Jane and Ellen wanted to share their love of art and literature with the poor and believed that everyone deserved culture. Hull House had a kindergarten, day care for working mothers, job training, adult school, an art gallery, a book bindery, the first Little Theater in America, a residence for single mothers and a zillion other resources. It was flexible and changing.
The Hull House still helps tens of thousands of Chicago people every year, even though the mansion is now a museum. Every town should have a Hull House. A place where the poor are empowered instead of kicked when they're down.
See, now I want to be a social worker again. I'm so glad I have some time to decide. I know that I feel a strong pull toward working with people in poverty. I feel almost no desire to work at an upscale school full of middle-class kids. I'd much rather work in a school that really needs dedicated teachers. When we lived in Las Vegas, my kids teachers almost never stayed at the school more than a year because they constantly were moving into rich new schools in swanky neighborhoods. I don't want to be that teacher.
I'm also about 80 percent sure that I do not want to work for DCFS as a social worker. I get anxiety just thinking about knocking on someone's door with the purpose of investigating child abuse or neglect. I know it's a vital, necessary job. I'm so glad I'm not the one who has to do it. I will be though, when I do my internship, so I suppose we'll find out if I'm cut out for it. Maybe I'll love it.
Sometimes I think I'm like a raccoon who can't help but be hypnotized by shiny things. As soon as someone presents something to me in a way that connects, I want to do it. So now I'm sure I want to be a teacher. Tonight I have my social work class, during which I'll probably switch back to being just as sure that I want to be a social worker. And then sometime tonight, when I'm too tired to do anything about it, I'll remember that what I really want is to be a writer.
I've written a paper for my social work class about Jane Addams and the Hull House.
I would love to be Jane Addams when I grow up. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which she was awarded for her work with the poor in Chicago. Hull House, where she lived and worked until she died at a ripe old age, was a settlement house in a poor, immigrant-filled Chicago neighborhood. In the late 1880s Jane and her friend Ellen Starr leased an old abandoned mansion built by Charles Hull. They lived there, along with a rotating selection of students and people in helping careers. Jane and Ellen wanted to share their love of art and literature with the poor and believed that everyone deserved culture. Hull House had a kindergarten, day care for working mothers, job training, adult school, an art gallery, a book bindery, the first Little Theater in America, a residence for single mothers and a zillion other resources. It was flexible and changing.
The Hull House still helps tens of thousands of Chicago people every year, even though the mansion is now a museum. Every town should have a Hull House. A place where the poor are empowered instead of kicked when they're down.
See, now I want to be a social worker again. I'm so glad I have some time to decide. I know that I feel a strong pull toward working with people in poverty. I feel almost no desire to work at an upscale school full of middle-class kids. I'd much rather work in a school that really needs dedicated teachers. When we lived in Las Vegas, my kids teachers almost never stayed at the school more than a year because they constantly were moving into rich new schools in swanky neighborhoods. I don't want to be that teacher.
I'm also about 80 percent sure that I do not want to work for DCFS as a social worker. I get anxiety just thinking about knocking on someone's door with the purpose of investigating child abuse or neglect. I know it's a vital, necessary job. I'm so glad I'm not the one who has to do it. I will be though, when I do my internship, so I suppose we'll find out if I'm cut out for it. Maybe I'll love it.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Even writing it down makes me tired
I'm pretty sure that when I graduate and get a "real job," it's going to feel like a vacation.
Here was my day today:
Wake up at 5:45 a.m. Spend half an hour trying to become human. Get Adrienne up at 6:15, then spend the next 45 minutes running around like maniacs getting ready for school. Nick stayed home today.
Head over to the sheriff's office to be fingerprinted for my substitute license.
Get to school by 8 a.m. Tell the vice principal that I have to leave a little early to get Nick to the doctor for his sports physical. Take my student to her work study for an hour, come back and teach second hour. Talk to Kevin during lunch and realize that he can't come bring Nick to town for his appointment because the Dish Network dude is coming this afternoon. He's supposed to be there by noon, but has to come from Vegas and has called to say it'll be three before he gets to us. Tell my vice-principal that I have to leave earlier than I thought, all the while repressing some serious anxiety about sitting in her office in the first place. Since I'm there anyway, give my December 1 notice. (I'm afraid my student might not actually move, and I'm not spending $250 for a license that I'm not going to use.) Teach third period.
Leave school at 2:10 and drive home to get Nick. Kiss my baby and my husband, then head back to town. Spend at least 30 minutes getting Nick signed in, cursing under my breath about inter mural basketball and how is that different from PE anyway...mumble mumble grumble.
Meet Kevin in the parking lot of the clinic after he's picked up Adrienne who has had to wait for half an hour at school and is grumpy as all hell. Seems the boy she likes, whose mother is the school secretary, wasn't hanging around this afternoon. Boo. Kevin takes all three kids home.
Run like hell to my class at the college. Get there fifteen minutes late. I'm the only Ely student, the class is broadcast via internet. So I'm coming in late on live TV in classrooms in Elko and Pahrump and Winnamucca. Apologize profusely. Enjoy the class, it's one of the best I've taken (it's a short, four session course on substitute teaching strategies.)
Drive home, talking on the phone to Kevin most of the way about how Nick isn't cooperating with him and how Adrienne is still pissy and the baby is screaming in the background about something or the other.
Get home at about 7, make dinner. Talk to my dad about him and his wife coming to visit for Veteran's Day (his wife is a teacher.) Make arrangements for Adrienne to stay in town tomorrow morning, because her drama rehearsal runs from 10 a.m. to noon and my class goes from 10 to 2.
Eat dinner and get Ruby to sleep. Promise myself to spend all day Sunday with her. Swear to take her to the park if it's warm enough. Finally relax and watch Mr. Holland's Opus with Adrienne, which makes me bawl like a baby and decide I DEFINITELY want to be a teacher. (Until tomorrow, when something is likely to make me decide to be a social worker.)
I wanted to write today. I wanted to exercise. There just aren't enough hours. Never mind the beating myself up over my daily contribution to Global Warming and the fact that I need to read a novel for my history class by Sunday and I haven't even cracked the book.
I guess I can't do much about being busy. But I can write. Right now.
Here was my day today:
Wake up at 5:45 a.m. Spend half an hour trying to become human. Get Adrienne up at 6:15, then spend the next 45 minutes running around like maniacs getting ready for school. Nick stayed home today.
Head over to the sheriff's office to be fingerprinted for my substitute license.
Get to school by 8 a.m. Tell the vice principal that I have to leave a little early to get Nick to the doctor for his sports physical. Take my student to her work study for an hour, come back and teach second hour. Talk to Kevin during lunch and realize that he can't come bring Nick to town for his appointment because the Dish Network dude is coming this afternoon. He's supposed to be there by noon, but has to come from Vegas and has called to say it'll be three before he gets to us. Tell my vice-principal that I have to leave earlier than I thought, all the while repressing some serious anxiety about sitting in her office in the first place. Since I'm there anyway, give my December 1 notice. (I'm afraid my student might not actually move, and I'm not spending $250 for a license that I'm not going to use.) Teach third period.
Leave school at 2:10 and drive home to get Nick. Kiss my baby and my husband, then head back to town. Spend at least 30 minutes getting Nick signed in, cursing under my breath about inter mural basketball and how is that different from PE anyway...mumble mumble grumble.
Meet Kevin in the parking lot of the clinic after he's picked up Adrienne who has had to wait for half an hour at school and is grumpy as all hell. Seems the boy she likes, whose mother is the school secretary, wasn't hanging around this afternoon. Boo. Kevin takes all three kids home.
Run like hell to my class at the college. Get there fifteen minutes late. I'm the only Ely student, the class is broadcast via internet. So I'm coming in late on live TV in classrooms in Elko and Pahrump and Winnamucca. Apologize profusely. Enjoy the class, it's one of the best I've taken (it's a short, four session course on substitute teaching strategies.)
Drive home, talking on the phone to Kevin most of the way about how Nick isn't cooperating with him and how Adrienne is still pissy and the baby is screaming in the background about something or the other.
Get home at about 7, make dinner. Talk to my dad about him and his wife coming to visit for Veteran's Day (his wife is a teacher.) Make arrangements for Adrienne to stay in town tomorrow morning, because her drama rehearsal runs from 10 a.m. to noon and my class goes from 10 to 2.
Eat dinner and get Ruby to sleep. Promise myself to spend all day Sunday with her. Swear to take her to the park if it's warm enough. Finally relax and watch Mr. Holland's Opus with Adrienne, which makes me bawl like a baby and decide I DEFINITELY want to be a teacher. (Until tomorrow, when something is likely to make me decide to be a social worker.)
I wanted to write today. I wanted to exercise. There just aren't enough hours. Never mind the beating myself up over my daily contribution to Global Warming and the fact that I need to read a novel for my history class by Sunday and I haven't even cracked the book.
I guess I can't do much about being busy. But I can write. Right now.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Math Queen, She Has Arrived
I took my math placement test at the college yesterday afternoon.
I tested into Math 096. That's Intermediate Algebra, thank you very much. To you, that might not seem like a big thing. To me, it's amazing. Two months ago I tested into Math 091, which meant I would have to take three math classes before I could take the math class I need to graduate. Testing into Math 096 means I only need that class, and then I can take Math 120, which is the class I need. I am SO excited.
I also talked to the--I don't know her title. Adviser? Anyway, I talked to her about my major. I'm studying Social Work, but I keep feeling a pull toward special education. There is this certificate my school offers for people who have a bachelor's degree already and want to teach. There's about 30 credits, plus student teaching. I need 35 elective credits for my BSW, so I asked if I could use 30 of them for the required classes for that certificate. Turns out I can. The school doesn't have a set program for getting a special education certificate, but she's going to look into that for me. If the answer is yes, then I can take the 30 credits with my BSW, and after I graduate I'll only need to do my student teaching.
Did you all have a wonderful Halloween? We took the kids out to their grandparents house. Boy is trick-or-treating ever a different experience in a small town. Everyone knows everyone, there were zillions of kids out, every house was lit up. Ruby was dressed like a little dinosaur. I'll try to post pictures tonight.
I tested into Math 096. That's Intermediate Algebra, thank you very much. To you, that might not seem like a big thing. To me, it's amazing. Two months ago I tested into Math 091, which meant I would have to take three math classes before I could take the math class I need to graduate. Testing into Math 096 means I only need that class, and then I can take Math 120, which is the class I need. I am SO excited.
I also talked to the--I don't know her title. Adviser? Anyway, I talked to her about my major. I'm studying Social Work, but I keep feeling a pull toward special education. There is this certificate my school offers for people who have a bachelor's degree already and want to teach. There's about 30 credits, plus student teaching. I need 35 elective credits for my BSW, so I asked if I could use 30 of them for the required classes for that certificate. Turns out I can. The school doesn't have a set program for getting a special education certificate, but she's going to look into that for me. If the answer is yes, then I can take the 30 credits with my BSW, and after I graduate I'll only need to do my student teaching.
Did you all have a wonderful Halloween? We took the kids out to their grandparents house. Boy is trick-or-treating ever a different experience in a small town. Everyone knows everyone, there were zillions of kids out, every house was lit up. Ruby was dressed like a little dinosaur. I'll try to post pictures tonight.
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