Nightingale

That one's cool.

Not a parent, but a former teacher and current math tutor... I think part of the pressure is coming from the fact that you're the person helping him. When he doesn't do as well as he wants to, he may be seeing it as letting you down, even though you tell him otherwise. You were the person who sat next to him and put in all the extra work, and when he doesn't do well, he may feel like the work you've done for him was wasted. If you've got a Sylvan around, that's a really good option. The other option is to call your local colleges and ask if they have a tutor list. Interview the tutors in person before choosing one, and ask about their educational experiences. This might sound strange, but pick a tutor who didn't do well in math in high school, but feels comfortable with it now. You don't want a tutor who found math easy, because they'll have trouble understanding why your kid doesn't get it and where he's going wrong. If the tutor is someone that just "gets" math, they often have a hard time working with a kid who doesn't get it. I tutor through a referral service (people call the office, and the office refers tutors to the person, so the tutors don't have to find clients... it's a LOT more expensive for the clients, tho), and I'm one of the most often requested tutors, mainly because I can understand where a kid is going wrong and why, because I made the same mistakes when I was in school, so I spot them very quickly, understand the thought processes behind the errors, and can correct them. While math isn't my favorite subject, it's my favorite subject to teach, because I can relate to the kids, and it seems to really help them when they see someone who failed Algebra II twice actually be able to get it and explain it. Also, it sounds like he's got a perfectionist personality, and that's something that might need to be addressed through counseling. It's really hard for someone who usually succeeds easily in academics to understand that it's okay to fail sometimes; it's okay not to be perfect. It's a tough thing to accept, and kids don't want to hear it from mom and dad, because they know mom and dad are trying to make them feel better, so they might not believe it.

Sky Logistics Panda Logistics I dunno... but the Logis/Logix thing is confusing to someone who doesn't know what it's short for.

Paypal sent. Wish I could send more. I don't know Tim, but he sounds like an amazing guy. Getting your stuff stolen while you're busy saving someone's life is just wrong!

Many states have "Romeo and Juliet" laws which allow for sex between a sixteen year old and anyone no more than three years older.

The whole point of being Libertarian is being able to disagree. Of course the platform doesn't represent the "feelings of the members" as you put it. That's not what being a libertarian is about. The point is that you have your feelings and I have mine, and as long as they're not hurting either of us, then the government should butt out. The only thing Libertarians actually agree on is that the government should butt out of things not involved in the safety of the population. Everything beyond that is a matter of individual choice. I'm agnostic and pro-choice, and there are many people like me in the LP. There are also many religious pro-lifers. However, they and I agree on the most important part of being libertarian: that we make our own decisions, and it is not the place of the government to choose for us.

From what I heard on the news, the holding was based on California's strong civil union laws which, according to the court, basically grant the same rights as a marriage. I disagree, but it was expected that the appellate court would uphold the status quo, and the case will end up in the California Supreme Court.

Especially considering the age of consent in Washington DC is 16, not 18.

True... but that would require the government to take the time for someone to construct a well written test, and to spend money to pay for it. That was pretty much my point. Right now, they're trying to do things cheaply and quickly rather than doing them right. Law schools can require LSAT because the future students pay for it.

Beautiful photo, Turtle! Congrats!

When I was studying California's test a few years back, I found that the biggest problem is that the test required fact and concept regurgitation rather than application. When teachers teach to the test, the kids end up with a lot of information but no clue how to connect it or apply it. The most important things schools can teach our children are critical thinking, logic skills, and research skills. None of that is tested. Testing critical thinking and logic on a test is very expensive and time consuming, because multiple choice scantron is probably not the most effective way to test those skills. Scantron, however, is the cheapest and fastest.

I'd rather pick up the tab for educating children than for people on welfare who can't get a job because they weren't educated properly.

He asked for an example of a structure of ELL that is effective. Edison Academy is only one of many. It stuck out in my mind because I visited there. There are plenty of bilingual education and ELL classes that are effective. We just usually hear about the bad ones. Tossing a child in an english-only class is not effective, because they fall behind in their subjects while they are acquiring the English vocabulary. Tossing a child in a primary language-only class and expecting them to somehow learn English when it isn't being taught to them doesn't work either. Bilingual education has proven to be more effective than English immersion when you look at fluency rates and comprehension. This is primarily because when reading and writing skills are strong, it translates from the primary language to the new language. When the language learning process is interrupted (for example, when someone immigrates in second grade and is told to drop the primary language completely and only use the secondary one now), what you often end up with is someone who can speak in both languages, but has very weak reading and writing skills in the secondary language, and virtually none in the primary language. The philosophy that Edison Academy is structured around can translate into other environments. Children are taught strong reading and writing skills in their primary language, and then those skills cross over into the secondary language naturally. When you learn a new language and already know how to read, you don't have the problem of trying to learn a language and learn basic reading skills at the same time. Reading skills are reading skills, no matter what language you're reading. Edison's test scores are awful in kindergarten through third grade, because the kids are primarily learning in Spanish. However, Edison's sixth grade test scores are well above most other schools in the area, because the methodology they're using is effective, and because they're a charter school, they can continue doing what works regardless of the low scores the first few years, and they don't need to resort to the stopgap measures that raise test scores but don't accomplish anything else.

What the government is doing is the equivalent of sending a dentist a patient with poor dental hygene habits and a sugar addiction, and then blaming the dentist because the patient has cavities. The dentist should have a responsibility to provide dental care and advice to the best of his ability within the circumstances, but he shouldn't have the issue of the government blaming him for the patient not having perfect teeth after only a year of dental care. Just like dentists, teachers have to work with what they're given. However, unlike dentists, teachers can't reject anyone with a history that is detrimental to the teacher's success rates.

I'm guessing that the funerals are going to be on private property, as the news said that the girls would be buried in a private amish community owned cemetary. Have them arrested for trespassing.

Edison Language Academy in Santa Monica, CA does an amazing job with bilingual education. It's a charter school and a true bilingual immersion program, where they start out with English speakers and Spanish speakers split 50/50. By the end of sixth grade, all students are fluent in both languages.

If they're testing English language skills, they should test in English. However, if they're testing math, they need to be certain that math is what they're testing. Example: If I gave you a math test with word problems written out in Swedish, I wouldn't be testing your knowledge of math; I'd be testing your knowledge of Swedish, because even if you do know how to do the math, you don't know what you're supposed to do because you don't understand the directions. If it's a science test, you may be able to explain Cell Theory very well, but if you can't do it in Swedish, the result will be the same as if you didn't understand Cell Theory at all. You do know Cell Theory. You just don't know how to tell me about it in Swedish. If they're going to test ELL kids, they need to be very careful about the tests. If done improperly, the tests will not accurately reflect the non-language related skills of the students, or the math/science/history scores of the school will be artificially lowered.

I've met Scalia, and from what he said about the constitution when I talked to him, I'm not sure even he would back this law. The catch is... the law prohibits judicial review of the detentions. So, if the people in charge of the prisoners follow this law and don't let the prisoners file the petitions in the first place, the supreme court might not ever see one of these cases to decide it. Our courts can only decide the cases presented to them. If the case never gets to court, the court can never decide.

I think it's more regressive than the patriot act. This bill allows suspension of habeas corpus for US CITIZENS! This is the scariest thing I've read in a long time. It gives the government the power to designate a US citizen as an "enemy combatant" and throw them into some prison and hold them there indefinitely. In other words, it gives our government the power to make people "disappear." I'm sure people will pop into this thread and say "but our government won't use it that way!" but history demonstrates quite clearly that when a government is given powers, the people in charge use those powers to their advantage. The phrase "absolute power corrupts absolutely" is quite accurate.

Maybe one of those little foam stress balls? You can squeeze it during class instead of clenching. Or hard candy. If your jaw hurts, you probably won't want something too chewy, but peppermint or butterscotch hard candy might remind you not to clench your teeth.

Go to your local drug store and get a mouth guard for nighttime. They're different than karate mouth guards in that they have more padding on the bottom edge, where you bite... a karate mouth guard will work in a pinch, but the other ones are better for teeth grinding. Anti-inflammatories and pain killers help in the short term, also. I grind my teeth when I'm stressed out also, and that's what helps me. Dr. Valdez suggested the mouthguard to me, and you know he's the best dentist in the world. =)

In the interest of roomie harmony, just wash it when you do your own laundry. You could make a fuss about it, but you've got to live with this person, so don't piss them off over something so minor.

I haven't seen much debate about what the pope thinks about abortion. I haven't seen much debate over Bush's personal perspectives. What I have seen is debate over how much the pope's and president's opinions should affect US law. US law is something we do have influence over. There really isn't a whole lot that's beyond our "sphere of influence." There's many different ways to influence people and issues. You can influence by voting (the most obvious), but you can also influence by just discussing and putting facts and ideas out on the table. At the very least, you reach other people with your words, and while you may not convince them, if they've taken the time to read what you've written, perhaps you've given them something to think about. Sometimes, just talking about issues can change the way the world sees those issues. There's been too much in the past that people have been afraid to talk about, and when people started talking, the world's perspective changed drastically.

I hate emotional arguing, but I love to debate. I like speaker's corner because it challenges me. It makes me think about my own viewpoints, reassess them, research them, and then, once again, accept or reject them. I've had speaker's corner change my mind about some issues. I've had it strengthen my opinions on other issues. However, whether or not it changes my mind, I always learn something new, whether it's a new fact or a new way of looking at old facts. It's pretty easy to ignore the overly emotional people who are just in there spouting "agree with me because I'm right, dammit!" with nothing other than that to back it up. For those people, I smile, roll my eyes, and move on, hoping that someday they'll learn that they're not going to change anyone's mind that way. So, I guess that overall, it's a good place to learn, hone my own debating skills, and be amused by people who are threatened by information that contradicts their own narrow worldview.

If there's a Cost Plus World Market around, ask the wine guys there for help. BevMo is another good place. Or, if there's a local wine cellar (check the phone book), go there first. I'm assuming his doctor has okayed drinking wine?