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Family

Ideas for Improving American Public Education

Guest Writers and Submissions Leave a Comment

American students receive a top quality education but there is room for improvement. The 2009 international test administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and called the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) showed that American students ranked 31st in Math, 23rd in Science, and 17th in Reading when compared to student test takers from 65 countries. The test requires critical thinking and reading comprehension because the questions in all three areas involve word problems about real situations. The mediocre results suggest that American students have opportunities to improve test scores. [Read more…] about Ideas for Improving American Public Education

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: America, College, Education, Kids, School, Teacher, United States, USA

10 New Year’s Resolutions Parents Would Like Kids to Make

Guest Writers and Submissions 1 Comment

Kids New Years Resolutions for 20131. When I say that I completed my homework I will be telling the truth.

2. I will keep my room clean without being forced to do so.

3. I will listen to the advice of my parents and understand that they know what is best for me.

4. I will not wait until the night before a school project is due and tell my parents that I need their help to complete. [Read more…] about 10 New Year’s Resolutions Parents Would Like Kids to Make

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Kids, New Years, Parents

Meet the Young Marines

Seth W. Leave a Comment

Emerald Empire Young Marines
Emerald Empire Young Marines in Veterans Day Parade

The Young Marines are a Drug Demand Reduction and leadership program supported by the United States Marine Corps. The Young Marines are sponsored by the Marine Corps League. Overall the Young Marine program teaches you leadership, responsibility, knowledge, respect, patience and how to live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

 

The Young Marines were founded in 1959 in Waterbury Connecticut. Now Young Marine units are found all over the United States and Internationally.

 

Some of the activities we do include camping, field training, parades, first aid, CPR, map, navigation, shelter building, survival, drug resistance training and a lot more.

 

The rank structure of the Young Marines is based on the rank structure of the United States Marine Corps. A young marines starts out as a Young Marine Recruit and on completion of basic training becomes a Young Marine Private. You can move through the ranks with the highest rank being Young Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant. There are also billited ranks of Young Marine First Sergeant and Young Marine Sergeant Major.

 

I just completed basic training and am now a Young Marine Private working towards my first advancement of Young Marine Private First Class. A Young Marine who earns the rank of Young Marine Sergeant will be promoted a pay grade upon graduation from United States Marine Corps boot camp.

 

In the Young Marines we can also earn awards, ribbons and medals for personal, achievement, service and qualification awards for things like personal achievement, courage, hunter safety, swimming, first aid, CPR, PT Score, sportsmanship, navigation, boating and a whole lot more.

 

On Veterans Day weekend our unit Emerald Empire Young Marines marched in the Albany, Oregon Veterans Day Parade and the Springfield, Oregon Veterans Day Parade. The parades were a lot of fun while marching, The kids and adults were really nice.

 

I have learned that you want to respect others and say sir, ma’am, miss or you will be doing a lot of pushups.

You get real good with shoe polish and how to shine your boots until you see the reflection of your face.

To learn more about the Young Marines visit YoungMarines.com

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: America, Government, Kids, Marines

Spring Break Fun

Seth W. 3 Comments

I am having a great spring break in Orlando, Florida and I hope all other kids have a sweet spring break too.

 

In Florida I went on an airboat ride. We went out on a swamp got covered with bugs but we saw an alligator and lots of neat colorful birds. After the airboat ride I got to hold a small alligator and it felt like leather on top. I learned that the top front part of their head will deflect a bullet.

 

I went to Busch Gardens and rode roller coasters. There was one called the SheiKra that went about 200 feet up and held you over a 90 degree drop for 4 seconds before dropping you off this 200 foot vertical drop. I got really wet when we went on the riverboat ride. The riverboat is fun but it wasn’t my favorite ride.

 

My favorite ride at Busch Gardens was Montu that was named after an Egyptian god of war. This is one of the world’s tallest and longest inverted coasters. On this ride you went up really high, did a lot of flips and curlicues so that a lot of the time you were upside down. It takes you out of a loop, into a curlicue and into an immelmann. An immelman is a loop and a twist where it takes you up high in the air and you come down in a different direction.

 

I went to Walt Disney World where I rode Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise and several others. I am not sure which one was my favorite but Big Thunder Mountain was fun.

 

At Epcot I really liked Tests Track. Test Track is a high-speed car simulation ride. If you go to Tests Track get in the single rider line because it is really fast and that day looked even faster than the Fastpass line.

 

We also went to 3 animal parks including Sea World, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Busch Gardens. My favorite of the animal’s parks was the one at Busch Gardens. As far as rides at animal parks the Montu at Busch Gardens and the Kraken at Sea World were my favorites. The Kraken is a ride is the highest, longest and fastest roller coaster in Orlando. You go up about 150 feet in the air and get turned over several times.

 

We also rented go-carts. My dad and grandpa had better go carts than me because you had to be 16 to have the fastest go-carts. I power slid around a corner and the go-cart broke down on me. Still, it was a blast and I rode over 10 miles on it. At the go-cart track they had alligators that I got to feed.

 

At the condo I did lots of swimming, something I don’t get to do in Oregon this time of year because I don’t have a pool and it’s too cold. In Florida it is hot and humid around 70 to 80 degrees and I got sun burnt but the heat still felt really good.

 

Next we are going to be going to the Kennedy Space center and then flying back home and it is back to school.

 

The night I get back from Florida I have my first Babe Ruth Baseball game of the season and can hardly wait to start playing baseball again.

 

 

I hope you haven’t allowed politics to ruin your spring break. Have lots of fun, don’t worry about politics or school just kick back and relax. That’s all, I just wanted to say hello to all of you.

 

OORAH for spring break

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Florida, Kids

School Science Fair

Seth W. Leave a Comment

I like my school because it is very laid back for the Science Fair and for the fair there is a lot of kids that have projects about weapons that we would usually get in trouble for if we just talked about them.

Most schools would throw a wild crying hissy fit about a project about guns or cannons and I think that kids should be allowed by their schools to have a project about weapons such as guns, cannons, bows, etc as long as it is not about killing humans.

In my opinion if you block a kid off from certain things they will think it is really bad and be scared of it or learn about it on their own and not get the proper instruction. I believe that schools and parents should allow kids to do projects about guns, bows, etc that is my opinion.

Specifically, one of the gun projects was the type of dent or a hole different guns would leave in different targets and the kid used a 38, BB gun, 22 and Airsoft gun. One of the bow projects was what type of arrowhead would do more damage to a deer. One of the cannon projects was mine and it was about what angle would launch a tennis ball the farthest or in simple terms distance over trajectory. Another bow project involved how angle affects distance. Another gun project was about how what you eat affects your aim with a bb gun.

Since I enjoy weapons it made the science really fun.

OoRah to my school for allowing us to discuss weapons.

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Guns, Kids, School

Christina Taylor Green 9-Year-Old Arizona Shooting Victim

Guest Writers and Submissions 1 Comment

Christina Taylor Green 9/11/2001 - 1/8/2011

Saturday January 8, 2011 was a terrible day for Tucson, Arizona and all of America. On this day a gunman shot Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 20 other people. Six died including a 9 year old child Christina Taylor Green an American kid with dreams and a promising future.

Christina Green was born on another tragic day September 11, 2001. She was born when her family was living in West Grove, Pennsylvania,  and was one of the 50 “Faces of Hope” representing babies from 50 states who were born on 9/11. Their images were printed in a book and the proceeds of this book were used to raise money for a 9/11 charity.

Christina’s mother Roxanna Green said about Christina, “From the very beginning, she was an amazing child,” “She was very bright, very mature, off the charts. She was the brightest thing that happened that day.” (9-11).

Christina was on the student council at her elementary school. On this day she attended the rally of Representative Giffords the local congresswoman as a means of seeing government in action. She was a kid that was learning about politics, a very good speaker and perhaps one of our many hopes among American kids that could be a future politician.

Christina was an A student who loved animals and wanted to be a veterinarian. She volunteered at a children’s charity. Her mother said, “She belonged to Kids Helping Kids charity and tried to help children less fortunate.”

Christina’s mother said, “She was an athlete, a good dancer, a good gymnast, a good swimmer,”  Christina loved baseball and was on her Little League team. Her father John Green, is a supervising scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. Her grandfather, Dallas Green, had been a manager for the Yankees and Mets and managed the Philadelphia Phillies to the 1980.

Her mother said on Fox News, “I’m so proud of her. I’m still proud of her today. I know that she’s going to do great things in heaven. She’s my angel.”

Christina will be missed among her friends, family and those of us that did not know her but now know more about her and what a great kid she was.

With sadness Kids Speak for America gives a big OoRah to Christina Green who served as an inspiration to so many kids and adults during her short but active life.

~Kids Speak for America Contributor~

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Kids, Kids Speak, Representative, Shooting

Have A Great 2011

Seth W. 1 Comment

This past year has been fun running Kids Speak for America and I look forward to the New Year.

I hope the new Republican Congress sticks to conservative values. If not Kids Speak for America will be just as hard on them in 2011 as it is on the liberals.

Happy New Year 2011 every body and OoRah to the troops!
Seth W.

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: America, Kids Speak, New Years, Troops

Are Kids Dumber Today Than in the Past?

Guest Writers and Submissions 3 Comments

It is often said that American kids are not as well educated as our kids were in the past. From both sides of the political aisle we are told that the modern educational system is failing us. There is broad disagreement on how to improve the situation. While some say we need to spend more money others say we are spending too much money. Money aside could there be another side to what is happening today?

Indeed there are studies that indicate that American students receive lower average test scores than do students in some other countries. These studies imply that today’s American children are not receiving as good an education as they did in the past. Some say that today’s student is “Dumber” than in the past. Others argue that while many kids do get it, many of them are too distracted by their I=pods, cell phones and whatever else is out there.

While one may find it difficult to argue with these studies there is another side that we need to examine. The reality is that kids today are wiser and more sophisticated than ever before and here are several reasons why.

Not too far in the past, students in kindergarten used to learn counting numbers and the alphabet but did not learn how to apply operations to the numbers or how to read words and sentences. The students learned how to count things and how to write their own name but math operations and reading were not taught until they were in the first grade.

In most schools today our kindergarten students are taught these first grade skills. They are taught how to add numbers together and are provided with games and other tools that teach them how to solve simple math problems. It seems amazing that tiny and adorable kindergartners are developing math skills that students in the past were not taught until a year later.

The same thing is happening with written language skills. Today’s kindergartners are not only taught how to write their own name but also how to write and read simple words. Further, the kindergartners are taught how to put together simple sentences, and as a fun project they learn to draw pictures, write sentences about their pictures, and put them together in a book form to take home to their amazed parents.

One of the tools used by kindergartners to learn simple math and word skills is the computer. The young students make regular trips to the school’s computer lab where they sign on to the computer with their name and a password and then navigate to a fun math program or an equally fun language program. The students are thrilled because the programs are presented in the form of games. The students think they are just playing games but really they are learning sophisticated math and language skills that students in the past did not learn until a later age.

Further, students in past generations learned fundamental math and language skills through rote memorization and recitation. Today’s young students learn the skills through the more sophisticated method of applying critical thinking and problem solving, which makes them much wiser and more sophisticated than students of a similar age in past generations.

Not only is the Elementary School curriculum today pushed to a younger student but the same is happening at the Middle School level and at the High School level. Students in past generations used to graduate from sixth grade to attend Junior High School as seventh, eighth, and ninth graders. In many schools today Middle School now encompasses sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Where students in the past would step up to the more sophisticated world of High School in the tenth grade. Now students in the ninth grade join the faster paced High School environment and curriculum.

For these reasons I disagree that our educational system is the failure that many would have us believe. I further disagree with placing labels such as “Dumber” on today’s students. Today’s student does go about learning things differently. In many ways they are actually  becoming wiser and more sophisticated at a younger age than did students in past generations. Everyday living requires more wisdom and sophistication today than in the past and the educational system has changed to meet the needs of today’s students. Perhaps a better way to classify students would be the motivated and the lazy!

~Anonymous Teacher~

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Education, Kids, School, Students, Teacher

Dumb and Dangerous or Just Dumb?

Guest Writers and Submissions 1 Comment

A man flying from Boston to Jamaica had his bag detonate when a baggage handler doing the “careful handling” of his bags dropped the bag igniting one primer which in turn set off the remainder of the ammo reloading primers in the bag. Whether or not this man gets charged with a criminal charge he should be charged with stupidity.

The moronic flyer now faces the possibility of up to 5 years in prison.  To point out just how moronic this was, packing primers in his bag regardless of how roughly handled would have been totally legal had this idiot declared to Boston security that the primers were in the bag. Another thing if the primers had been properly packed in the correct containers they should not have gone off.

The wrong thinking or non-thinking man is lucky that he did not drop the bag inside the terminal where the popping primers could have caused a panic or injury to many. Or perhaps they could have been set off near a fuel truck that was releasing fuel vapors causing more then just a pop and the baggage handlers soiled underwear.

We don’t need to comment on how our bags are obviously “well handled” since primers ignite on impact. The baggage handler must have been real careful with the bag. The fact that the bag cleared TSA security checks in Boston to have made it to Miami where the bag was dropped and popped says something. This makes me wonder with all the changes and added security checks why did something that is hazardous and was not being hidden make it through security.

This occurrence leaves me with questions about TSA security, baggage handlers, and the intelligence of people in general.

~Submitted by Seth’s Dad~

Filed Under: Family

3 Boys With Winning Attitudes Survive at Sea

Guest Writers and Submissions 1 Comment

the will to survive
The Will to Survive at Sea

Three boys lost at sea for 50 days were believed to be dead and found alive should give each of us hope. While the story is billed as a miracle it is really a story of 3 kids that had the willingness to survive along with the attitude to win. While many adults would have given up these boys did not. Their story of survival shows that when humans use their survival instinct they can survive in the worst of circumstances.

Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, both 15, and Edward Nasau, 14 wanted to visit a girl they had met that lived on another island. They had been drinking which they probably should not have been at their age. After consuming the alcohol they decide to get in a boat and start rowing to her island. Yes guys girls and alcohol can really get you in trouble.

The boys had been rowing in the Atafu Atoll in Tokelau , a remote sprinkling of islets about half-way between New Zealand and Hawaii when things got out of hand and they started floating further out to sea.

The boys used their brains and held it together by surviving on rainwater, the 20 coconuts they had taken on their journey, raw fish and a seagull that landed on their boat.

In the days just prior to their rescue it had not rained and the boys started sipping seawater. There 50 day fight for survival was worth it though for the crew of the New Zealand-based tuna vessel San Nikunau, found them adrift.

The boys were transferred to a Fiji naval patrol boat and taken to Suva, where they were checked at the navy base before being taken to hospital for a thorough examination. They were said to be dehydrated and sunburnt but otherwise showing no obvious ill-effects from seven weeks at sea.

Now back at home I am not sure if the ever did see the girl or even still have the desire to see her but she must have really been cute to make this ordeal worthwhile.

OoRah to Samuel Pelesa, Filo Filo and Edward Nasau for maintaining a winning attitude.

~submitted by a friend of Seth~

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Kids

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