Why?

I came home the other day to find the upstairs trash can on the kitchen table, and the kitchen trash can in it's correct location minus a trash bag. So, in all innocence I asked the question, (join in any time) "Why is the trash can on the table?"

She blushed looked me in the eye and said...
"You know the dumpster?"

I'm thinking to myself, hmmm... not seeing the connection yet.
"Yes, what about the dumpster?"

"Well, I dumped the trash and it fell in. So I had to fish it out."

Now, the dumpster is our trash bin and it's a good four foot tall. You can imagine the picture I'm getting right about now. "How did you fish it out?"

"I stood on the other bin and the recycle fell off, spilled all over the garage, and I fell into the dumpster. Then the lid fell on me."

Spock would be proud of me! Eyebrow raised, "Why did you stand on the dumpster? Why didn't you get help?"

"Well I didn't mean to knock the recycle over, it just(!) went everywhere, so I got all the paper picked up and the plastic and then I saw the cans under Dad's car, go figure. So I got them picked up and then I got the bucket and tried to reach the can in the dumpster but the bucket started cracking on me and tipped over and then the lid fell on me..."

Taking a slowwww... deeeppp breath.... "SO, why is the trash can on the table?"

"Cause after all that I was almost late getting to the bus and I still had to get the rest of the trash out. And the dumpster stinks."

With great restraint, I ask, "Would you please take the trash can off the table and put it away?"

"Sure!"

sigh. At least the ants are gone...

My Bunker Hill

I wish the answer fairy would arrive. I'd love to know what makes us pick the hills we decide to make our stand on. My nemesis, my great white whale, my Bunker Hill is the lunch box.

Now this should be a non issue. I know. In the grand scheme of things; twenty, thirty years from now the lunch box battle will be just a flea speck of memory, if at all.

But for some reason this where I have decided to make my stand. The lunch box comes home from school and promptly goes into the closet. Yes, that was written correctly. It comes home Monday through Friday and promptly goes into the front coat closet. Loaded with partially empty Tupperware, assorted detritus, and a melange of other items.

Come morning, I make my opening salvo. "Where is your lunch box?" The first battery returns fire, "I'll go get it." I maneuver into the next position, "Is that where it belongs?" Strategic reassessment and field repositioning, "What can I take for lunch?" Countered positioning, "What's in the fridge?" with and second round, "You better hurry you only have 15 minutes."

That equates to a step backward, for the next battery fires from down field, "I have all my homework done." I wheel the cannons right and return fire, "Great, finish packing and get your stuff into the car." The light charge enters the field, "Done. I'll go put this in the car."

In this moment I know I have been outmaneuvered again, but I have not yet conceded the field, yesterdays tupperware is piled in the sink where it will stay until the evening foray.

Come evening, I make a final swing left, "Clean up the tupperware. Where is your lunch box?" Heavy artillery, booms across the field. "I'm not done with my homework, and I have to take a shower tonight." I return fire, "Okay, get it done and get this tupperware cleaned up." Bam! The final round slams home without so much as a warning. The tupperware is rinsed and into the dishwasher, the shower is started and runs and runs and runs...

It isn't until the next dawn that it hits me. Yet again, the lunch box has become a petri dish and I am left standing on my hill. Yet again.

But today the cavalry arrived, only time will determine the outcome. The cavalry consisted of a few hundred small black ants. Busily cleaning up on Friday's lunch box all weekend.

War has it's gross factor. But when you're hunting that great white whale, you thank the stars, wait for the bus and then spray the Black Flag.

footprints

It's funny the memories that we pick and choose to keep along the way through life. Today was one of those days when I got a glimpse of the memories that Katie is holding.

Crayons. Shredded crayon actually. The undeniable, pure, unmitigated pleasure of shredding crayons.

To put this memory into perspective takes abit of a tale. Like most new parents, we were poor as church mice. Poor enough that a coloring book and box of crayons was considered a luxury. I wasn't being selfish, I made sure that Katie had her own box, but mine was that heavenly vision of perfection. 96 colors all new and perfect. Nothing compares to the smell of new crayons. Yep, it was the kid in the candy store effect, mine all mine.

So, my box was carefully put away, far from the reach of little hands; or so I thought. I still don't know how she knew where they were or how she managed to get into them. But like all the best laid plans of mice and men, there was a minor... derailment.

Katie had discovered the delight of stripping off the paper wrapper, madly coloring wild designs, shredding them into bits and pieces, creating new masterpieces along the way.

My poor crayons never stood a chance. I was devistated. My luxury gone. Evidentally, I made my point that day with Katie. Because it's been seven years now and she hasn't forgotten Mom's crayons.

Then again, she hasn't forgotten the pleasure of shredding crayons either.
I think it's time to buy her a new box.

Push IN rather than Pull out, an interesting thought

Why do Finland's schools get the best results?

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Finland's schools score consistently at the top of world rankings, yet the pupils have the fewest number of class hours in the developed world.

By Tom Burridge
BBC World News America, Helsinki


Last year more than 100 foreign delegations and governments visited Helsinki, hoping to learn the secret of their schools' success.

In 2006, Finland's pupils scored the highest average results in science and reading in the whole of the developed world. In the OECD's exams for 15 year-olds, known as PISA, they also came second in maths, beaten only by teenagers in South Korea.


Education in South Korea

In South Korea, the school day is long and pupil's have a much stricter study regime.


Watch John Sudworth's report on the drive to succeed in Seoul
This isn't a one-off: in previous PISA tests Finland also came out top.

The Finnish philosophy with education is that everyone has something to contribute and those who struggle in certain subjects should not be left behind.

A tactic used in virtually every lesson is the provision of an additional teacher who helps those who struggle in a particular subject. But the pupils are all kept in the same classroom, regardless of their ability in that particular subject.

Finland's Education Minister, Henna Virkkunen is proud of her country's record but her next goal is to target the brightest pupils.

''The Finnish system supports very much those pupils who have learning difficulties but we have to pay more attention also to those pupils who are very talented. Now we have started a pilot project about how to support those pupils who are very gifted in certain areas.''


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The BBC's Tom Burridge talks to Henna Virkkunen, the Minister of Education and Science in Finland.

Late learners

According to the OECD, Finnish children spend the fewest number of hours in the classroom in the developed world.

This reflects another important theme of Finnish education.



Children walk around in their socks at Torpparinmäki Comprehensive
Primary and secondary schooling is combined, so the pupils don't have to change schools at age 13. They avoid a potentially disruptive transition from one school to another.

Teacher Marjaana Arovaara-Heikkinen believes keeping the same pupils in her classroom for several years also makes her job a lot easier.

''I'm like growing up with my children, I see the problems they have when they are small. And now after five years, I still see and know what has happened in their youth, what are the best things they can do. I tell them I'm like their school mother.''

Children in Finland only start main school at age seven. The idea is that before then they learn best when they're playing and by the time they finally get to school they are keen to start learning.

Less is more


Education in the United States

"If education is expensive, try ignorance"


The US education secretary discusses the challenges facing the Obama administration
Finnish parents obviously claim some credit for the impressive school results. There is a culture of reading with the kids at home and families have regular contact with their children's teachers.

Teaching is a prestigious career in Finland. Teachers are highly valued and teaching standards are high.

The educational system's success in Finland seems to be part cultural. Pupils study in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

Finland also has low levels of immigration. So when pupils start school the majority have Finnish as their native language, eliminating an obstacle that other societies often face.

The system's success is built on the idea of less can be more. There is an emphasis on relaxed schools, free from political prescriptions. This combination, they believe, means that no child is left behind.

CBS Again, this time, that nasty word DIET

Fat Rats Starve Rather Than Eat Healthy Food

(CBS) Adding fuel to the idea that junk food is like crack, scientists at Scripps Florida say rats fed high-calorie junk food became addicted to the food and voluntarily starved when given healthy food instead of, say, cupcakes.

Repeat: The rats voluntarily starved instead of eating healthy food.

Scripps Florida scientists Paul Kenny and Paul Johnson tell the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that junk food changed the rats' brain chemistry in the same way that chronic cocaine use alters an addicts brain functions.

In the experiment, one group of rats was given healthy, nutritionally balanced food. A different group was given "unlimited access to the worst stuff Johnson could find at [the supermarket] Publix, including bacon, sausage, cheesecake, pound cake, Ding Dongs and frosting," reports the Sun-Sentinel.

The junk food group gained weight and became less active. "More surprisingly, the fat rats exhibited the sort of self-destructive behavior associated with human junkies. The rats would eat junk food even if they knew doing so would result in a mild but distinctly uncomfortable electrical shock to their feet," reports the Sun-Sentinel.

The scientists then replaced the unhealthy food with the healthy diet of the first gtoup of rats, and the fat rats refused to eat at all.

Junk food alters the brain's chemistry by releasing dopamine that would normally be released when having sex, snorting cocaine or eating a rich dessert, say the scientists. The junk food-addicted rats learned that the easiest way to experience pleasure was by eating high-calorie, high-fat food.

Kenny and Johnson hope the results of the study can help people learn to deal with food addictions.

"Food can be highly addictive," author of "The Maker's Diet" Jordan Rubin tells the Sun-Sentinel. "When people describe overeating and weight loss as a battle, this is why."

I lifted it from CBS News. Giftedness faces such a battle

.STORRS, Conn., March 26, 2010
Child Prodigy, 13, Claims UConn Age Bias
Youthful Sophomore Colin Carlson Tries to Legally Force University to Reverse Decision Denying Him Study Abroad
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Colin Carlson, left, speaks to fellow student, senior Alex DeFrancesco, before their Evolution of Green Plants class at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
. In this Tuesday, March 23, 2010 photo, Colin Carlson, 13, listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
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Colin Carlson, 13, left, and fellow student and friend Eileen Underwood, look at plants at the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Greenhouse at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., March 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
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Ten-Year-Old Prodigy Plays Carnegie Hall
(AP) Even at 13, Colin Carlson believes he's running out of time.

Colin is a sophomore at the University of Connecticut, seeking a bachelor's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and another in environmental studies. But he's been knocked off course by the university's rejection of his request to take a class that includes summer field work in South Africa.

He and his mother say university officials told them he is too young for the overseas course. So he's filed an age discrimination claim with the university and U.S. Department of Education, which is investigating.

"I'm losing time in my four-year plan for college," he said. "They're upsetting the framework of one of my majors."

Michael Kirk, a spokesman for UConn, would not comment on Colin's case. But he said that generally, safety is the university's first concern when travel is involved.

The university would not let Colin enroll, even after his mother, Jessica Offir, offered to release UConn from liability and accompany her son as a chaperone at her own expense, she and Colin said.

Colin was 2 or 3 when he began reading on his own, Offir said, and was up to "Harry Potter" by the time he was 4. An only child, he has faced trouble before because of his brainpower. His kindergarten teacher would not allow him to take books with him at nap time, and he was ridiculed by other children who fired math questions at him to entertain themselves, she said.

"You have no idea what kids like this experience," Offir said.

Colin skipped two grades in public school and began taking psychology, history and other courses at UConn when he was 9. He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn.

"I'm actually like any other student," he said. "The faculty and students have better things to do than worry about a 13-year-old holding his own."

Over the years, Colin, who said he is fascinated by natural ecosystems, has traveled extensively. He has gone sea kayaking off Nova Scotia and Ecuador, hiked in numerous national parks and, with his mother, has traveled across the U.S. by car.

"It's important to have a very wide world view," he said. "Biology is fundamentally about the diversity of life, with a focus across the planet."

Colin says the course in conservation work in South Africa would have been critical to his studies and the rejection has forced him to change his thesis plans.

He said that once he's completed his undergraduate studies, he wants a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology and a degree in environmental law for a career in conservation science. He intends to earn the two degrees by age 22.

Carl Schlichting, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who has taught Colin in two courses, said he is not only an outstanding student, but is unusually certain for a 13-year-old about where he is headed professionally.

"He has very strong ideas about what he wants to do," he said. "His self-confidence is very high. It's a very unusual package to see the intellect and confidence at that age."

To be eligible to study abroad, students may not be on university probation or academic probation and must have earned a grade point average of at least a "C" - no problem for Colin, who's an honor student with a near-perfect 3.9 GPA.

The study abroad office and faculty member leading the trip ultimately decide who may go, Kirk said.

Brian Whalen, president and chief executive officer of the Forum on Education Abroad, a nonprofit member association of 400 schools, agencies and other groups, said he has not heard of another case where a college student Colin's age had tried to study abroad. When accepted into a college or university, a student generally is assumed to have access to academic programs, he said.

Although Colin was barred from the South African field trip course, he will participate in a National Science Foundation-funded research group that also will take him to South Africa to study plant ecology.

Colin and his mother say they would be satisfied if the university ensures that the NSF-funded research trip and a seminar fulfill the academic requirements of the course he originally sought. They also have asked that $5,000 in stipend and expenses be reimbursed.

Their lawyer, Michael Agranoff, said he wants to negotiate a solution. He and a lawyer for the state have scheduled their first meeting Friday, he said.

Colin says he would prefer not to have to fight, but he has no choice.

"When people are drawing lines in the sand, you're going to have to cross them," he said. "I'm not going back."

© MMX, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Somethings

It's always ironic how just the right words fall into our hands at just the right moment. Just a bit of background information, I've been reading a wonderful book called, Guiding the Gifted Child, and I just finished the section on; Meltdown and Burnout.

Here around the house Katie has been flying through projects. She has so many projects pulling at her attention, and she is trying to finish all of them. The anticipated melt down finally arrived. Thankfully I understood how to help, some words to reassure Katie. "Not everything started is worth finishing."

What a wonderful concept.

What might start out as a wonderful idea, might turn out to be overwhelming, not worth our time, or a in truth a complete failure. But, that's okay! Knowing how and when to let go, is just as important as knowing when to persevere. Real wisdom is being able to discern the difference and follow the path that is right for you.