Monthly Archives: September 2024

Please Give Your Children a Big Head Start

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Many moons ago, they came up with a program called “Head Start.” I don’t have a clue if it did any good or how much. However, the idea was to help underprivileged children get a leg up on education. As far as I can figure, they don’t seem to be doing better; maybe worse.

However, I can tell you how to give your children a real head start that you will be able to see very quickly. Many say that three is too young to teach a child how to read and write. The best way to give your child a leg up in school is to prove the experts wrong. By not teaching to read early, you give up the years that a child is best able to learn.

Besides, if you teach them, it will give the both of you an excellent chance to do some serious bonding. Reading a book together will be far better than watching TV together. Consider switching every paragraph. The parent reads one, the child reads one. In the end, your child will be grateful of the time you spend with him or her. Also, they will be thankful for the skill that they will carry with them all through their life… not just for learning, but also for enjoyment. This is especially true given the quality of entertainment on TV and in the movies these days.

I am sure there are those among you that say you would rather a professional do the teaching; someone who knows how. Well, apparently they don’t know how. Have you seen the recent statistics. Most kids by the end of the third grade can’t read at second grade levels. Besides, these are minimum. I suggest that your child should be reading at least third grade level by the end of the second grade.

And so it is that it starts with memory. It is that way with most stuff. Beyond that, it’s practice. practice. It is how we learn to speak, though we don’t realize it. If we do learn the words to speak and never practice, none of us would be good at speaking either. So we speak every day, getting better with practice. Hopefully, our parents correct us from time to time when we use the wrong word in the wrong place.

I would say I could write a book about it, but it would be little more than a pamphlet. It does not take a lot to teach a child to read. It mostly takes time patience with a lot of love tossed in for good measure.

To start with, there are two methods of teaching a child how to read. Some say that phonics is the best. Others will say, no. It slows their reading down. As in many cases, they are both right. However, both methods do require a little memory and drills at the front end.

Regardless of the method, the child must learn the alphabet and the name of every letter. Per se it is not important to know but rather it is an important tool for the teacher. It is also important to understand the concepts of vowels. To be sure, it is important to know them, but more, they should learn that vowels and only the vowels are pronounced with the mouth open. The sounds that the letter “A” makes cannot be properly pronounced unless the mouth is open. The sound itself comes from way back in the throat.

Now, consider that there are 26 letters in the English language. The vowels have 2 or even 3 sounds. “A” has 3 sounds. (aim, apple and amount) Two consonants have 2 sounds, “C” and “G.” For the most part the others have but one sound. If the child memorizes these thirty-some sounds, he/she is well on the way to learning how to read by phonics.

If the child learns the sounds of 3 letters a day, we are talking less than 10 days to conquer the entire alphabet. To be sure, there are a few curves, TH, CH, SH. And then there are the silent letters. That always adds a little fun to the process, but they can be easily overcome quickly. Children pick up that kind of stuff fast. I did. I never had to be told a second time about the silent “E.”

And so it is that a child armed with phonics can pretty much sound out the majority of the words in the English language. The hitch is that sounding out words can take time. It is why so many don’t like the phonics methods. If a person only learns phonics, they will likely never get above 200 words a minute, if that.

And so it is that recognition comes into play. When you realize the number of words in the standard sized college dictionary, it makes the recognition method unsurmountable, but it’s not.

Someone did the research and found that if a person was to just memorize the 100 most modt common words used in English, a person could read about 70-75 percent of the words in a common fiction novel.

So, while the student memorizes the letters and their sounds, in a second session, he also learns to recognize the 100 most common words. 5 a day. That takes 20 days. That means, if the student really works on the phonics for ten days and the appearance of words for 20 days, a three-year-old should be able to read at least a first grade level. That is not too much to expect from a three year old. A few flash cards and an hour a day should be more than enough.

By the way, consider what those 100 words are. Most have four letters or less. (a, the, an, he, she, it. them, they, him, etc.) If you want to find out what the 100 words are, you can google them. They are listed and you can easily make 100 flash cards for them. Most kids love flash cards.

If you go 1000 most common words, if my memory serves me right, a person can read nearly 90 percent of the words in a novel. Hence, we find that the recognition method, when used in conjunction with phonics, a three-year-older can learn a lot of reading, probably in a couple of months. After that, it’s practice. I’d say 1 to 2 hours a day. If it catches on, you might not have to make them read that long. You might reach a point where they want to read more. If it gets to that point, your child will outperform almost every kid in the first grade, and perhaps the second. When kids read a lot, they start learning a lot, many times not on purpose. Many times, they will start reading for the fun of learning. That reading can help them build confidence, which might lead to better public speaking. Now wouldn’t that be a good thing?

HOT DOG!

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It is not a mistake that people use the term to express that something good just happened. I mean, any kid, when something good happens, they will exclaim, “HOT DOG!”

However, let us go back to the source of the interjection. We need to face it. Hot dogs are one of a child’s favorite form of sustenance. I guess, in a way, that makes me one of the oldest ever kids. Love hot dogs in almost any form. Incidentally, drop that hot dog in corn meal and deep fry it, and it all gets more so. I mean, who in their right mind can resist a corn dog. Bad thing is, the Kristal’s nearby has stopped serving them. That is not fair.

When I was just a little lad, a hot dog was a hot dog. I could eat them plain; with mustard, ketchup and mustard. My favorite, which will offend some, the works which included mayonnaise. Immediately after posting this, I am sure there will be those who will want to raise their indignations. However, as much as I have a freedom of speech, I also have a freedom of how I eat hot dogs.

However, it is more, far more than that. I would guess there are close to a dozen ways of cooking them. When a kid at home, the way we cooked them, it usually just meant tossing them in boiling hot water for a while. However, they can be roasted over an open flame. I think that is my favorite. Then there are those machines with multiple rollers that cook them slow and very evenly. Yeah. I like that kind too.

My mouth waters as I think of it. There is the lazy man’s way. I cut them in half and heat them in a frying pan, fist insides then outside. If I can, I will put them on a bun. On the other hand, if all I have is sliced bread, I make a sandwich out of them. Not as good, but still good.

Did you know that you can heat them in a microwave very quickly. Maybe not the best tasting, but, you know, some of us kids get impatient. Incidentally, good for when you have a crowd of kids around. Let’s face it. Unlike us older kids, they aren’t so picky.

Then, I guess there have to be dozens of types of hot dogs. If you don’t believe me, just take a gander through them at your supermarket. There are beef, turkey, sausages of various types and the list goes on. Moreover, there are places that actually specialize in various hot dogs. There used to be one in Memphis, which the family and I went frequented. When we went to the mall, it was the first place we went. The four of us always looked forward to it. The problem was that we all ate so fast that they never lasted nearly long enough.

Now, you might wonder, just why it is I am writing this. I have this really strong longing for a couple of hot dogs, yes with mayonnaise and the works and we’ve run out of them. It will have to wait until the stores open, a little longer. As a kid, I can’t wait. You know. No kid can ever wait, you know.

Work

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After I posted my last post, I got to thinking. It reminded me about an old TV show. If my memory is wrong, you are welcome correct me. If I am right the series was The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis with Dwayne Hickman. In the show, Bob Denver plays a hippie, Maynard G. Krebs.

One of the on-going gags is that any time someone mentioned the word “work,” around Maynard, he went into a falsetto voice and repeated, “Work,” as if he were horribly afraid of it.

Then too there is the old joke about the hobo who was asked if he was afraid of work; to which he replied, “No sir. I can lie down next to it and sleep all day.”

As I say, I don’t like work, but I am not afraid of it. I did work all my life. I never drew one day of unemployment. I continued to work until I was in my seventies and I have continued to think of even go back at 76. It just is, right now, my job is taking care of my wife, which takes a lot of my time. It is difficult for me to leave her alone for extended times. So we subside on Social Security.

However, all else aside, any time I do work, I’d really prefer it be for a good reason. I would really like to be able to say I am truly accomplishing something. If I had the chance, I would teach people how to read. Every day, I hear the professional teachers give all kinds of excuses for failing to teach their students how to read. If they can’t do it, I would like the opportunity to try. My guess I can. My guess is, the teachers either don’t know how or don’t have the desire. Before a student reaches the 4th grade, it is the one most important thing a teacher can teach. If their students can’t read then they are failures.

Then again, they just might be like the old hobo. They can sit all day in those classrooms and never teach a thing.

I Don’t Like Work

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I really don’t like hard work. Physical work is no fun. It makes me tired. Frequently, it does no good. I mow the yard and in a few days, it is as if I never did. I trim hedges and in a short time, it is as if I did nothing. I wash my car and it gets dirty again. I have just about come to the conclusion that there is hardly any kind of work that isn’t reversable.

Well, there is one kind of work that can’t ever be wasted. The work that you put into raising your kids. Now that work is never wasted. If you do it right, it will always make you fulfilled.

I suppose, in a way, the same can be said about teaching. It is a shame so many teachers don’t feel that way these days. It is certainly a shame that that the teachers unions don’t feel that way. It is especially bad that those in the Department of Education do not feel that way. Certainly, those in the Department of Education cannot say they are proud of what they are doing, that is, unless their desire is to promote failure.

Daily writing prompt
In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?
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I Would Like to Ask Kamala One Question

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It should be in front of the whole world so that one and all could see her reply. The rule would be that she should have to reply without repeating my question back to me. Finally, there would be backing out. Once I ask my short and concise question, she would need to reply in two minutes or less.

It would not be asking much. Most true experts on the subject could provide a good accurate answer in twenty, maybe twenty-five seconds. She would not be allowed to cackle. She would be required to answer accurately and seriously.

She wants to outlaw assault weapons. I wonder if she could provide a real and concise description of an assault weapon. I mean, if we don’t get a definition from her, it would make it very easy for her to keep changing the meaning.

Does it have to be a rifle or does it include slings, as David used on Goliath. Is it only semi-automatic or does it include bolt and lever action. Does it mean only weapons with scopes. If I use a kitchen knife to assault someone, would that make all kitchen knives illegal thereafter.

The fact of the matter is, assault weapon is a very broad term. Truly the first weapon used in an assault was when Cain killed Able. If a person has the proper training, he can kill with his bear hands. It makes it possible to turn a very wide variety of things into assault weapons. It gives the prosecutor a very wide range for prosecuting.

Indeed, it is so wide of a meaning that the Supreme Court could and should disallow any such law because it is so broad. If she really wants to outlaw a gun, she should call it a gun, not an assault weapon. If she wants to outlaw semi-automatics, then she should specify semi-automatics. If she wants to outlaw AR-15s, then she should use the term AR-15s.

While we are on the subject, she said she has a gun. Has she been trained how to use and not use it? Has she been through any safety courses? Does she know not to shoot at someone until she is sure he is a threat? Has she practiced with it to the point of being able to hit what she aiming at.

The fact of the matter is, a gun in the hands of an untrained person is at least as dangerous as just about any weapon, assault or not. I’m guessing about 80% of the peace officers in this country can tell her that from firsthand experience. I have no reference. Just a guess.

Never Own Anything You Can’t Carry on Your Back

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One of the things my marine drill instructor said, “Never own anything you can’t carry on your back.” It might not be the best or most important thing to remember, but it is certainly worth a thought or two. It is interesting what all a person can collect during my 76 years. Most of it I don’t need. Much of it, I forgot I have. To be sure, at the time I acquired them, I must have needed them, or at least I thought I did.

Now my house is cluttered. I have a storage room full. And my attic is full. I have just about reached a point I can’t buy anything else unless I get rid of something. Actually, I have gotten rid of a lot. I get a stack and I throw away two things and keep one. And, somehow, my stack of things I will keep is bigger than the original stack. Now how in the world does that happen?

To be sure, to limit my possessions to that which I am able to carry is maybe a little too restrictive, but it is a good guide line. I think there is a lot to be said for those who live out of a travel trailer. That way, it is sort of self restricting. Even now as I sit here, I have from time-to-time considered selling the house and buy a trailer. The problem there is… how do I get rid of all the stuff, which I don’t really need.

Let me throw this one on for an extra. There was a mantra we were required to repeat a dozen or so times every day while I was in boot camp. “The road to hell is paved by the bleached bones of marines who did not plan ahead.” I don’t know about you, but I think there is some true wisdom in there, even if you were never a marine. I have found things never go as well when I lack the planning.

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
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Is That Anything Like a Cinnamon Roll?

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I was listening to an interview of Kamala’s husband. Naturally, he dodges questions pretty good too. I am sure both of them, if you ask them their favorite color, without hesitation they would reply plaid.

At any rate, the interviewer decided to close out one subject and go on to the next. He said, “Now concerning gender rolls,…

You will have to pardon me. Honest. The first thing that came to my mind was “Is that anything like a cinnamon roll?”

Okay. It was dumb. I am sure you’ll agree it was dumb. However, I am convinced it is far better than the answers they came up with. Besides, a little humor is good for all of us.

Two of the Meanest Things We Can Do to Our Children!

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First and foremost, if we let our children grow up without knowing the Jesus and the plan of salvation. What a horrid thing we will see one day if we find out one day that we failed them and they will never be in heaven with us. If we never teach them another thing, we need to introduce them to the Savior early and frequently. They need to have an excellent example and they need to learn the Bible as early as they can read and maybe a little sooner.

That actually leads us into the second. Turning our children over to schools that won’t teach. It is especially important that they be taught to read. Note, I didn’t say, learn how to read. Reading is a skill that needs to be practiced regularly as well as just learned.

To be sure, writing, math, science and history are very important too. But, you see, it all hinges on reading. It is far more important than ever before as even a mechanic has to know how to read.

And yet, we think we have done what we should when each day we turn our children over to glorified babysitters. Both of my sons were reading in the first grade, and actually pretty well. There is absolutely no reason that by the time a child finishes kindergarten should have any less than a 300 to 400 reading vocabulary. They need to read some each day. I should have had them read to me while I listened. Better for them. Better for me. It will help them feel better about themselves and it would have given me an idea of their progress. Almost as important, it would give us some time together.

At this time in their life, their little brains are start forming based on what they do. They might indeed just hate it, but it is very important. If they learn how to read early, they will learn how to write. Learning history is very important. And, of course, you learn history by reading. Science is important. And science is learned by reading.

Math and algebra. Well, that is a different story for a different post. However, that is important too. It too should be practiced and practiced. With practice comes accuracy and speed.

Getting back to the point. Our schools are run by the government, not by teachers. Our teachers belong to unions whose interest is not the students. They just want to make sure the teachers have jobs and that they are well paid. For some reason, they seem to have more control of the schools than the parents or even the government. Who came up with the idea of doing things that way?

And by the way, when it is suggested we go to private schools, who are the first ones to complain? The democrats and the education unions. Which by the way, are the two most guilty of the poor education our children receive.

My conclusion. Get the government and the unions out of our schools and we might have a good education system. Letting the government and unions teach our children is a horrid thing, start to finish.

Baffled

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Baffled is the Word

I had to think this one over for a long time.  I had a hard time to think of the right word.  I passed on several words, such as confused and perplexed.  It just is that those words just simply don’t work.

Let me go back to my high school days when Life Magazine just might have published one of the best articles they ever wrote.  Actually, it was a series.  Though reading has always been one of my least favorite things to do, I read the entire series, very carefully.  If I had the series in front of me today, I would read it again.

I actually think it would be good for every high school kid to read it, maybe an updated version.  It certainly didn’t hurt me at all to read it.  There was a wealth of info in that series.

I guess the one part that fascinated me the most was the part on the brain.

After I read it all, some parts rereading it, I came to a conclusion.  We know very little about the human body, me even less.  The article on the brain just absolutely baffled me.

They described all the workings.  They wrote about the nerve cells and synopsizes.  I read about the chemicals and how different parts of the brains did different things.  But the question always came back, “But how does it work?”

I think I can safely say that only God knows.  I suspect even the angles haven’t a clue.

I really, really wished I had been smarter.  I could have become a doctor.  I could have done many people a lot of good.  I really would have liked that.  However, truth be known, the doctors, with all the research and learning, don’t really know the human body and how it works.

They have only begun to break the surface.  In a way, that might be good.  Too much knowledge can be dangerous.  With the knowledge they have, look at what they are doing with it.

They are turning girls into boys and boys into girls, but not really.  They yet do not have that knowledge.  They just think they do.

My wife was very smart.  However, she never got by basic math.  Working with letters as numbers totally confused her.  She had to take a semester of algebra in order to become a respiratory therapist.  Before she retired, she was very good at it.  She was never a doctor; however, she had to learn a lot of the same things that doctors learn.

When she got her degree, she knew the name and location of every bone in human body.  Me, I know the basic ones but I could never in the world learn all the names of them.  She learned 100s of medicines, their names and their uses.  But algebra, she couldn’t get past the ABCs.

It is more common than many might think.  I have seen many who are so knowledgeable and skilled in one area, and they can’t seem to get past the basics in other subjects.

Very rarely, you might come across someone with knowledge in a wide variety of subjects.  I guess, to some degree, Benjamin Franklin was that way.  He was likely a person who could converse with just about any kind of specialist… at least in his day.

I suppose it might be a way to keep the brain from being overloaded.  Can you imagine someone that would be right at home at a dozen or different skills or specialties?  Just remaining current in the different fields would be taxing on the brain.

And so it is, baffling is the word I must use.  How do we learn all we know?  Then too, how is it that people can be so intelligent in some areas and so lacking in others.

And it was, a short time ago that I learned of some very intelligent people who are not backing Trump.  Some, indeed, are backing Kamala.  It is baffling.  I think Pence is likely a pretty smart guy.  He must know what will happen if Kamala gets in there behind the desk in the Oval Office.  Yet, he has refused to back Trump, or at the least stay silent.  It does make me wonder who, if anyone will he vote for, and why.  Hopefully, it is not because of his ego.

Then, the one that really surprises me: Oprah Winfrey.  Now I don’t know her personally.  I have never talked to her, nor have I spent a lot of time listening to her.  However, one cannot live in today’s society without knowing a thing or two about her.  I must admit that I have a great deal of respect for her.  She is brilliant.  She has a true love to help people.  I suspect she would help more folks if the government would just get out of the way.

I have heard her speak and I must say I have been impressed by the way she speaks on many subjects.  She has accumulated a great wealth.  It takes some understanding of economics to accumulate it and organize it.

So… I went into my word search.  I settled on the word, “baffled,” when I heard her solidly back Kamala for president.  The one thing that baffles me so much is, when you consider all the harm that Kamala has brought on this world, as well as her current boss, how in the world could Oprah back a person who is so obviously dishonest?  She must know of all the lies she told during the debate alone.

I tried to reason it out but I think it broke my reasoner.  I would say it confused me, but that wasn’t quite the word.  It goes far beyond my understanding.  She has access to more info than I do.  She has had the opportunity to speak with Kamala.  She knows her history and she knows what she will do if given the chance.

I’m not sure, but I think she has meant and spoke with Trump.  She has seen what good Trump did.  She saw what Old Joe did.  It would seem she is totally without the excuse of ignorance.  I can, understand, to some degree, a person being deceived by Kamala.  But I’ve got to say that Oprah Winfrey is going into this eyes wide open.  No ignorance.  No deceit.  It absolutely defies logic.

I can’t imagine it being some kind of financial agreement.  It is so, so difficult to bribe someone who has more money than she knows what to do with.  Still, it does not remove the possibility of some kind of agreement behind the scenes.

Truthfully, I don’t know.  As I said, it’s baffling.

The Kamala Campaign

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The campaign being run by Kamala can best be described as a mirage. It all looks real good but there’s no substance to it. She has not said anything she will do. At least to some degree, she has admitted that there are problems. Even at that, I don’t think she has a clue how bad those problems are.

I don’t think she has gone shopping since becoming vice president. I have to wonder if anyone has told her how badly the prices have gone up since Old Joe took over. I don’t think she has an idea of just how complex the Middle East is. Even at that, you ask her what she will do, she won’t provide an answer but say she knows the problems are bad and then go off on some tangent.

Nonetheless, you really want to find out what she thinks, forget it. She knows if she were to be honest with us, it would utterly destroy any remaining hopes she has to be elected. She thinks it is as poker. We aren’t supposed to know what cards she is holding… or what her thoughts might be.