Thursday, January 22, 2009

Joseph is now back in public school

For the last year and a half, my wife has been homeschooling our kids. We started a couple of summers ago because we were in the process of selling our house and thought that homeschool would give us some continuity if we moved mid-semester. Well, for our oldest, it really hasn't panned out like we'd like it to. He's a year ahead in math or so, but he really hasn't been motivated in his other subjects. Our 9 year-old also has been feeling the lack of a social net that public school can provide. So, for now, the 14 year-old boy and the 9 year-old girl are in public schools, while the 11 year-old girl and the 7 year-old boy are still doing homeschool. Probably just until the next academic year. We have a high opinion of our school district and we aren't really afraid that we won't be passing along our own faith and values. So we're OK with it. Plus it will mean that Kim gets more time with the babies.
Well, for my oldest, it's a new universe in many ways. He's in 8th grade and knows several kids there from elementary school. He's in Athletics, which is a stretch for his 5'7", 115 lb self. Actual conversation I overheard yesterday between him and the 11 year-old girl.

Boy: Today we did the bench!
Girl: What's that?
Boy: Well, you lay down on it, and there's a bar, and you hold it in your hands and slowly let it down to your chest and then push it back up.
Girl: what's it for?
Boy: Well, you use it to build muscles. It weighs 45 pounds, and you can put weight on it if you want.

I just about fell over at that last comment, like the weights on the end of the bar are just optional.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Another poor excuse for a Ninja

Just when you thought there were enough Southerners who thought that they we just a few dojo lessons from being a true Ninja, another one crops up. This one in Florida. Of course, he was shown to be a Ninja wanna-be, he has twice tried to steal an ATM but failed. A Ninja would not have failed. Well, that and a Ninja wouldn't have been caught on camera, or had a beer belly.