Confession

I've been remiss and ignored comments. I didn't mean to, but I did. So, I'm going to respond to comments here.


Tanya Brown said...
Welcome back home. Now I want to see photos of the sea monkeys! In the comic book ads of my youth, the father sea monkeys were always puffing cigars while they read the newspaper, while the mother sea monkeys wore half aprons and were tidying the habitat. Let's hope that things have become more progressive since then!

I don't have pictures yet, but they are going, so that's really cool. We need to get a proper tank for them. What we got was a SeaMonkey nursery that included a cute little plastic tank like container.

But, they have a website with all the cool things you can buy and lots of great pictures.


rani said...
Lovely choices - I like the first one best, personally. As noted, my gauge problem made my socks into slippers! I know you can recalculate a pattern to fit your gauge, but it seemed too complicated at the time.

I liked the first one best too. I don't have a picture of the completed project though. I need to get Mr. Gaia busy with the camera.

Rod said...
I am the parent who said no more to TAKS testing. My 8 year old child moved with us to the USA and we duly entered him in a Texas public school. We researched the available schools and picked one with a good academic record. Second mistake. The record was achieved by teaching to the test and ONLY teaching to the TAKS test. Our son endured months of heartache, frustration and abuse at the hands of an inflexible system and staff forced to hothouse students in a manner totally against their training and instincts. There was no allowance for his lack of familiarity with the US (what are pecks and bushels?), and no support available other than additional hours of test taking.He is now in a private school, which is against my egalitarian principles, but provides an educational environment better in so many ways that it was the only acceptable option.I am aware that this option is not available to all, but so many children must be suffering under this frankly abusive system that I am surprised that I don't hear many more voices raised in protest. If there is a flag to rally round, please tell me - I am very willing to support change for the advantage of our children.RB

Rob, I don't know of any grassroots efforts, yet. I've heard rumors about schools refusing to accept government money so they can get rid of TAKS testing. Right now, they're just unconfirmed reports, so far as I know. But it is an idea for schools. The problem is that most schools need that government money.

There are an awful lot of parents really bothered by this, but none of us have managed to coalesce into a group able to really effect change.