Month: September 2008

Kiki’s Video Report

By / September 13, 2008 / 3 Comments

Kiki has a report due on Monday. It is a collaborative report that she is putting together with one of her very good friends. They have decided that rather than write a report, they will shoot a video. Fortunately this is one of the options that is allowed by the teacher. They spent two afternoons writing the script, then they’ve spent all day today shooting and editing video. I’ve been aiding the project by printing out pictures of national monuments to be used in this venture. Other than that I’ve been corralling the other kids out of the way and observing myself. The script is rather clever. They’ve managed to make The girls from Tokyo Mew Mew tour 12 historic sites across America. The Mew Mew girls were represented by dolls that were hand made by Kiki’s friend. The sites included Mount St. Helens built in our sandbox, a picture of the Washington Monument surrounded by a crowd of My Little Ponies, a Mario toy going down “Niagra Falls” (our slide), meeting Edward and Bella (depicted by Barbie and Ken) from the twilight series, and a re-enactment of the pilgrim landing at Plymouth Rock done with Hamtaros (complete with theme song.) The creative energy unleashed on this project is amazing. They’ve done far more work putting together this video than they would have done just writing a report. However they’ve had far more fun as well. I’m curious to see the final product.

First thing this morning

By / September 12, 2008 / 6 Comments

“Let’s go to Sam’s Club.” Howard said.
I looked up from my breakfast, startled by his statement. Go to Sam’s club together? But what about the children. I’d need a babysi…the children are all at school.
My stunned silence lasted only a moment as I wrapped my head around this new aspect of my life. I can now go to a store, on a whim, with Howard, and without first arranging babysitting.
“Sure. Let’s go.” I replied.
With a sense of playing hookie or sluffing school, Howard and I abandoned our business tasks to run off to the store together. We didn’t buy anything exciting, just groceries, but the trip was symbolic of this new phase of life that we are entering. Just being together was fun.

Watching them grow

By / September 11, 2008 / 2 Comments

Some days I really focus my full attention on the children. This is when I remember what fretting really feels like. With the kids in my full gaze, I suddenly see hundreds of things that I could be doing to help nurture them. I could be limiting video game/TV time more. I could be looking up cool science projects and doing them. I could be teaching the kids to cook. I could be requiring chores regularly. I could be taking them on more outings. I could be leading them in exercise so that their musculature develops before they’re done growing. And then there are all the things I could be doing for each individual child. My brain compiles these lists and I start looking at my calendar to see how I can fit it all in. The answer is that I can’t. Not only that, but also that I shouldn’t. One of the things my children need is the space to grow and develop into individuals. That would be impossible for them to accomplish if I am hovering over every developmental step to make sure it is done right.

Today’s hyper focus on the development of the children was precipitated by observing Link’s tumbling class. Link is not as physically advanced as his peers. He does not have the muscle strength or balance that most boys his age do. I drove home with my head full of plans to require him to practice physical skills and maybe look into occupational therapy.

Today’s reality check was precipitated by old family videos. Kiki needs to use the camera for a school project and I discovered an old tape inside it. The tape was five years old and brought back a flood of memories. I remembered what life was like back then. I remembered all the things I fretted about in the development of the children. Then I realized that not one of my five-years-ago fears has actually developed. All those things I fretted about and hovered over back then, are completely irrelevant today. Some of that is because I did some necessary assisting, but most of it is just that the kids grew up and grew out of whatever was concerning me.

Link is not as physically agile as his peers, but he is continuing to develop at a steady pace. He’s going to catch up, just as he did with speech. Meanwhile he’s far ahead of his peers in math capabilities, and in the ability to craft a complex game out of almost nothing. I do need to pay attention, but I don’t need to fret. Instead I need to trust in my son, for he is capable of amazing things.

Reading for 5th Grade boys, redux

By / September 10, 2008 / 29 Comments

When I wrote about Link’s struggles with reading, I did not expect the flood of suggestions and ideas that poured it. The next day I wrote about how Kiki dared Link to tackle an 800 page book (Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.) Since so many of you expressed interest, I feel that I should give an update. Jordan’s work proved to be too complex and slow-paced for Link. He’s abandoned the attempt. Instead I’ve switched him over to Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings. This is the first in a series that was recommended by several of you. I agree that it is a much simpler and more cheerful read than Jordan’s works. It is a better place for an 11 year old to start. We’re taking it slow and steady. I’m insisting that he read 10 pages per day. Hopefully within a week we’ll reach a point where Link is caught by the story and doesn’t want to stop after 10 pages. If not, well I have all those other lovely suggestions to try.

This made me realize that I want to have all those suggestions in one list rather than scattered across 40 comments on two blog entries. It also occurs to me that Link is probably not the only 11 year old boy in need of interesting books. I’m grouping the books according to rough categories to better target potential interests. The categories are very rough. Many of these books have elements of several categories. The list is heavy on Science Fiction and Fantasy, which is good for Link since that’s where his interests lie. First I’m going to get him to love reading. Then I’ll try to get him to broaden his interests. I’m providing links to amazon.com so that people can look up more information about the books. If you find a broken link let me know.

Outdoors/historical adventure
My Side of the Mountain
The Swiss Family Robinson
The Great Brain
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Rascal

Mystery
Hardy Boys books

Action adventure
Geronimo Stilton

Fantasy/Science Fiction
The Time Warp Trio
Freddy Pig
Warriors: Into the Wild
The Time Spies series
Star Wars
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
The Indian in the Cupboard
The Castle in the Attic
Redwall
The Hobbitt
The Chronicles of Narnia
Catseye
Space Family Stone
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
The Belgariad
Dragonriders of Pern

Humorous
Supernatural Rubber Chicken
Danny Dunn books

Other Resources
Book It
Favorite Books for Fifth Graders
Guys Read
Teacher Book Wizard

Wow. It took a lot longer to put that together than I expected. I’m going to bed now. If you made a suggestion and I missed putting it in the list, feel free to leave it in a comment below. Perhaps I’ll update the list again.

Reviews for Hold on to Your Horses

By / September 9, 2008 / 2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I contacted several book review blogs about Hold on to Your Horses. Mostly the responses were dead silence, but this week the book is featured in two lovely reviews.

Booking Mama
Booking Mama involved her son in the review process:

My four year old son absolutely loved the story and the pictures. In fact when I was reading the beginning of the book to him, he thought it was the funniest thing he ever heard — I’m talking big-time belly laughs! …the illustrations were incredibly colorful and very interesting to look at. Many of them were quite funny too — I think adults will adore the illustrations as much, if not more, than the children.

I’m really pleased because four-year olds are very honest about their opinions. I’m glad this one liked the book. Booking Mama says many other nice things as well. You can read the whole review over at Booking Mama.

The Friendly Book Nook
The Friendly Book Nook not only did a lovely review, but they offered me the chance to do a giveaway. To participate in the give away, you only need to comment on the review. To get three entries, you blog about the giveaway on your own blog and then leave a link in the comments. This format for a giveaway sounds like a wonderful idea for getting the word out. I may have to host one myself some day. The review is wonderful as well. The Friendly Book Nook has this to say about Hold on to Your Horses:

This is such an adorable book. As a teacher of 7 year old children I can definitely think of children who could benefit and relate to this book…the age range for this book is from 3 to 7. Children love horses and relating ideas to them is a great idea! I know some adults who could benefit from the theme of this book!

You can read the entire review and enter the give away over at The Friendly Book Nook.

My thanks go out to both review sites for such lovely reviews.

Wasps

By / September 8, 2008 / 3 Comments

It got to be Fall when I wasn’t looking. I know it isn’t really Fall yet, but I noticed a tree going red and the air is already cooling down. I’m not the only one who has noticedthe impending change of season. The wasps have noticed it as well. They’ve begun to disappear. Today I figured out where they all went. Apparently wasps hibernate in sheltered nooks. They like wood. My playset is made of wooden nooks. My neighbor pointed out three wasps in one of the nooks and so I found a spray can and went hunting. What I found made my skin crawl. Some of the nooks were filled to over flowing with clumps of wasps. It was so amazing that I took a picture. But I don’t want to creep out the unwary, so the picture is behind a cut. Peek if you wish.

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WaspsRead More »

Indiana Jones and the Birthday Party

By / September 7, 2008 / 14 Comments

This past year Link has decided that Indiana Jones is way cool. So it was no surprise that he wanted an Indiana Jones theme for his 11th birthday. He had a big party with friends last year, so this year I was ready for a quieter celebration. “Quieter” doesn’t necessarily mean “simpler.” The celebration started when I handed Link an Indiana Jones lego set and told him to construct it. Once constructed, this set adorned Link’s cake. While Link was distracted with the construction, I set about hiding all of his presents. Each gift was hidden with a little scroll giving the clue for finding the next gift. I burned all the edges of the clues so that they looked extra cool. The hunt started with Link receiving an Indiana Jones style hat. We then told him that he was Indiana and the rest of us were his helpers. Then we romped through the house and the yard in search of the “rock cliff” the “farthest end of the land where the vines grow tangled” and the place that “blasts heat and rumbles, tumbling its victims in circles.” That last one had the kids stumped for quite a while. Probably because they never do laundry. Kiki finally figured it out. It was a fun family activity for us all. Later this evening Howard will be cooking dutch oven pizza and we’ll eat cake.

Vandalism and choices

By / September 6, 2008 / 27 Comments

Last night the paint on my car was scratched with something sharp. This was done while my car was sitting in my driveway. It was not an accidental scrape. It is hard to accidentally scratch the F-bomb on the side of a vehicle. It is also hard to accidentally hash mark the hood so it looks similar to a game of tic tac toe. I suspect this vandalism is related to the fact that we recently locked our gate, thus forcing teens to hop the fence if they want to cut through our yard. We had to lock the gate so that my back yard neighbor’s toddler wouldn’t wander through the gate that was consistently left open. I even put up a sign apologizing for the necessity of locking the gate.

Now Howard and I are left with a choice. How do we act in response to the damage that was done to us? We know who tends to travel through our yard. Of the travelers we have ideas about who would do this kind of damage. But we have no proof. Innocent until proven guilty. And our suspicions could be wrong. Sometimes “nice” boys do really stupid things.

I’ve thought much today about the bishop in Les Miserables. The bishop took in Jean Val Jean and fed him. When Jean Val Jean responded by stealing the silver, the bishop did not punish him. Instead the bishop also gave Jean Val Jean the silver candlesticks. That act of kindness changed Jean Val Jean forever. I could act as the bishop did. I could return kindness for malice. A neighbor fixed the gate for me today. Now it will swing shut and latch instead of bouncing back open. This means I no longer need to lock the gate. But I have to wonder if rewarding vandalism with unimpeded passage through my yard teaches the wrong lesson. Perhaps in doing so, I am merely teaching a young and impressionable person that damaging property is an effective way to get what he wants. Perhaps the right answer is to lock the gate permanently and request that kids stop traipsing through my yard. The “one idiot ruined this for everyone” principle. But I don’t want to have to enforce that. I like good relations with my neighbors. I like most of the kids I see traipsing through my yard.

I have thought of calling the police, but that seems futile. They have much more important crimes to pursue and they’re unlikely to be able to find out who did it. I have thought of approaching the parents of the kids who generally travel my yard, not with the intention to accuse, but with a request that they help me seek the truth. But even worded carefully my request could be taken for an accusation. I don’t want to start a feud. I also do not want to start a witch hunt or a big neighborhood drama. And yet, I worry about the vandal if his damage passes without consequence. It is much better for children to learn consequences on small violations instead of large ones. On the other hand, perhaps a neighborhood drama is the only way this vandal will hear about the negative consequences of his act. Perhaps the witch hunt is necessary to create an awareness of guilt.

In the end my choices come down to who I want to be. Do I want to be a seeker of justice? Do I want to be a giver of mercy? Do I choose my actions because I fear the vandal might strike again if I anger him? Do I harbor anger, seeking vengeance and reparation for the damage that was done? I’ve figured out that vengeance does not interest me. I don’t need to punish. But somewhere out there is a boy who knows what he has done and either feels guilty or doesn’t even care. That boy needs to learn from this experience. He needs to learn why we do not damage the property of others just because we feel like it. I just wish I knew the best way to make sure that lesson gets learned.

Shipping 1000 packages Phase 1: Collection of orders

By / July 8, 2011 / 4 Comments

I’ve decided to document the process I go through while preparing to host a shipping event where over 1000 packages get mailed out in a single day. I’m doing it because I think it might be interesting to any other small businesses out there who may need to attempt something similar. I’m also doing it for my own record. Someday, when we can afford to have other people do the shipping for us, I want to be able to remember what it was like. Also there is the chance that for some future shipping event, I will be unavailable. Then this series of entries can serve as a starting point for someone else to manage the job.

So. Here goes.

Collection of orders:
Our store is managed by volusion.com. They’ve been very good to us and their customer support has been excellent. There are many other store options available, but we’ve been happy with volusion. Like any other piece of complex software, the store has some quirks. Prior to opening orders I spend a day making sure that all the products have been entered correctly. I run test orders to make sure that postage is being calculated correctly. This time we were offering t-shirts, posters, mousepads, and magnets at the same time as books. I had to make sure that the inventory tracking functions of the store were working properly so that we don’t sell more than we have of any particular item.

Then we open orders and I have a steady flow of email from customers needing help. This shows me the weak spots in the system. I answer questions and clarify product descriptions to make sure that other people don’t have to ask the same question. Helping customers is rewarding. I love being able to solve the problems with a few clicks of my mouse.

One of the challenges of a pre-order period is that some of the orders have to be held for shipment later. Other orders do not contain a pre-ordered item and need to be shipped right away. The disadvantage of our volusion store is that it is not set up to manage mass mailings. It can handle high volume, but it is optimized for people who expect to turn around and ship out orders immediately. The best way I’ve found to keep track of which orders need to go out now and which need to be mailed, is to print out the paper invoices. These invoices have to be printed anyway because they have to be included with the orders. Fortunately the store has a batch function that lets me print a stack of invoices all at once. So each morning I print out the orders that came in the day before. I go through the stack and pull out any of the orders that do not contain pre-ordered items. Those get shipped out the same day. The remainder of the invoices get put into my file box.

Each invoice has and order number on it. I keep them in numerical order, 200 sheets per hanging folder. This allows me to pull and modify invoices as customers make requests. If two orders are to be combined, those two invoices get clipped together with a paper clip. If a person is moving, but doesn’t have the new address, I put a post-it note on the invoice detailing the situation and put the invoice in the “special handling” folder. That “special handling” folder is for all the orders that have specific instructions or need special attention. I make extensive use of post-it notes to make sure that all the customer needs are clearly labeled on the invoices. This is necessary because my brain gets too frazzled to remember everything.

Once all the sketch edition orders have come in, I begin to sort. Sorting will be the topic for the next post. Phase 2 Sorting

Reading and rivalry

By / September 4, 2008 / 10 Comments

First off, thanks to everyone who commented on my last entry. I now have a list of books longer than my arm which I can try on Link. I’m sorry I can’t respond to all the comments individually, there were so many wonderful suggestions. Unfortunately I’m swamped just now with incoming book orders and customer support emails, oh and all that housework that I really should be doing. So one thank you is going to have to suffice for everyone. Thank you! Now I need to make a trip to the library and then I can toss books in front of Link and see which ones stick. ( It’s like the spaghetti test. You throw the spaghetti against the wall and if it sticks it is done. I’ve never actually gotten this test to work on spaghetti, but I’m optimistic about literacy.) I also decided to add an incentive plan to the project. (It’s like adding olive oil to the spaghetti. Sort of.) I told Link that if he could read a 100+ page book that had no pictures, then I would buy the family a pizza dinner. This prospect was greeted with excitement. The long term plan was for me to gradually increase the required page count necessary to earn pizza.

The plan was lovely, but then Link was telling Kiki about the plan. She grinned at him mischievously and said
“I have the perfect book for you!” Kiki then grabbed Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World and thumped it down in front of Link. The Eye of the World is over 800 pages long with very small print. It landed in front of Link like a brick. Kiki had recently been required to read over 1000 pages for a class assignment. I’d given her Eye of the World because I figured she could knock off most of those pages in one go. She loved it. She loved it so much that she spent her lawn mowing money to buy the next book in the series. She was joking when she handed it to Link, but she was serious when she said what a good book it was.
Link’s eyes got wide. Then he looked at me. I laughed and said
“Link, if you read all of that book. I won’t just buy you pizza, I’ll buy you a video game.”
Link’s eyes lit up. “Really?!” he said.
I looked at him and at the book. 800 pages of complex vocabulary and characters. If Link can wade his way through that, he will have earned a video game. I may regret those words, since I’m trying to get the kids to cut back on video game time, but I decided not to take them back.
“Yes really.” I answered.
Link snatched the book and ran off to read. So far he likes it. The prologue is in medias res and includes a madman, sword fighting, and big magic. We’ll see how he does when he gets to the more expository passages. So now I’m left to wonder if I’ve set him up to fail, or if I’ve caused more trouble for myself because Link will get bogged down in a story that is too difficult for him. That could make him more convinced that reading is hard. But there is the chance, the hope, that he too will fall in love with Robert Jordan’s story. If only I can get him to love a story enough to read it, the battle is over. The chance is slim, but it is there. We’ll see. I’m still going to make that trip to the library. I can get him to take breaks from reading for video game to read something easier for pizza.
Hopefully soon I will not have to bribe him to read text-only books. Hopefully he will break through his belief that reading is work. Then reading will become its own reward.