Apr, 07, 2008 6:19 PM by David Vandergrift
It's always funny to me when someone asks me where I am from.
Every time someone asks me I have to either decide to rqattle off the
laundry list if towns, states, and countries where I've lived, or I just
pcik one and stick with it. So some poepl in this would see me as
hailing from the enitre world, and others see me as the kid from
albequerqe or that guy from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Now that I am
in college I don't get that question nearly as much as 'what high
schools did you go to. That again is quite a hard question
for me to answer because in all honesty I went to so many different schools
that my senior year was the only year I didn't go to more than
one school. To some poepl this may sound a bit crazy and like I came
from a broken home or some strange traveling carnival background.
Though both guesses are wrong, the latter is a little closer to the
reality that was my childhood. My parents were both traveling musicians
and believed in home schooling. So we spent most of my childhood living
on the road. When we would stop in to a town and stay for any longer
than a day or tw I would ask to go to school. There we would stay,
still living in our bus at the campgrounds or on the common grounds,
until they found a gig or a festival to play at somewhere else and it
was back to homeschooling
for my sisters and I. Like I said, this isn't the craziest
background to come from, but it was still a circus at all times. I
never remembered living in a house of our own until I was a senior in
high school. The only reason we settled down was because I told my
parents I wanted to go to college and my choice schools woulnd't
consider me if I was totally homeschooled. So they took our quite
sizeable life savings and got a house right outside of Philly where my
dad is originally from. Now it's four years after we moved and with my
youngest sister leaving for college, the bus is starting to get restless
in the yard.
Mar, 23, 2008 11:15 PM by David Vandergrift
High School Diploma- Homeschooling VS GED
Understanding the basics of home schooling
There is no single appropriate method of home
schooling. One of the greatest benefits of acquiring education at
home is its tremendous flexibility. Every family is free to select
subjects and projects that go well with their requirements. They can
pick their preferences in programs, techniques, supplies and educational
philosophies. There must be an elementary understanding of these and
other matters basic to home education. This will empower parents to make
a selection that will ensure success.
Serious thought should be given to choices in
teaching and learning techniques, student's improvement stages,
potencies and limitations. In addition to all this, the tutor's
knowledge, practice and assurance should be taken into account. The
family's supply of time and money as well as the number of children has
to be dealt with.
In reality there is no single method to home
school or a single finest course for everybody. No matter what your
personal situation, there are several ways that can make home schooling
a good thing for your family.
There are cases where at times home schooling is to a
large extent more favored than the conventional schools. This happens in
circumstances where students are not competent enough to go to
conventional classroom surroundings for some reason or the other.
General reasons are having troubles with societal inability,
psychological aptitude and sentimental behavior. There are numerous
things that need to be taken account of prior to placing your child in a
home school.
Check out the advantages and disadvantages:
Prior to adopting home schooling, it is vital that you go through each
and every feature of home schooling.
You could start by counting the benefits as well as the drawbacks not
just for the child but for the entire family as well.
Bear in mind that home schooling does not simply have
an effect on the child being discussed. It will be chaotic and in
particular, the parents get affected, as they have to double up as the
educator. The family also has to get geared up for the accountability of
trailing along an organized program, amidst routine.
Would home schooling be the
greatest choice for your child: There are a lot of people who
have displayed the efficiency of home schooling by offering education to
the youth. However, there are a number of things the children have to
give up as well.
The approach is not frequently suggested for children
who are just beginning to build up their communication and community
skills. This is because they might mainly fail to benefit from a lot of
budding objectives. However, if it is seriously believed that home
schooling is the greatest option, it is fine to highlight the
deficiency of the community element. This can be done by way of numerous
actions that aptly represent the child to other individuals.
Receiving the correct program: It is
important to ensure that the adopted home schooling program syllabus is
the same as that being taught by the traditional schools around. For
this reason it is essential to highlight the subject matter that the
child will be learning at home, in addition to the ability he or she is
targeted to build up.
A Diploma Or A GED?
Deciding whether or not to stay in school and finish
your diploma or to drop out and take your GED
can be a rough choice. There are a number of reasons you may choose
either, but before you make that essential decision, it is best to get
all of the facts about both options.
The eligibility for a GED is determined by your
particular state. You will need to do a bit of research to decide of you
fit your state's criteria. Moreover, you cannot be enrolled in a high
school to take the GED. You also cannot have graduated from a high
school. You have to be over the age of sixteen before you can even
consider the GED as an option. A GED will only be awarded to you if you
pass a number of tests within five different academic subject areas. You
must score at least a sixty percent on each individual test before you
will be considered to have a passing grade. Chances are good that you
will have to spend some time studying to get your GED.
The exams take a total of seven hours, and you may need some preparation
to help you prepare for the test.
The laws regarding high
school diplomas also vary from state to state. Most states, though,
require that you spend one to four years in a high school environment.
There is no minimum age requirement, but most states say you have to
earn your diploma before you reach twenty-one years of age. The
curriculum varies from district to district, as do the course
requirements. You will have to complete the work that your district
requires. You will also have to complete the appropriate attendance
requirements.
Deciding on a GED or a high school diploma is an
individual decision. Study the facts carefully before making your
decision.
About DETC
The Distance Education and Training Council is a
non-profit [501 c 6] educational association located in Washington, D.C.
The
Council was founded in 1926 to promote sound educational standards and
ethical business practices within the correspondence field. The
independent nine-member Accrediting Commission of the DETC was
established in 1955; shortly thereafter it gained the approval of the
U.S. Department of Education as the "nationally recognized accrediting
agency" under terms of Public Law. The Council for Higher Education
Accreditation (CHEA) also recognizes the Accrediting Commission.
With
its 80-plus years of history and its highly refined and federally
recognized accreditation program, DETC offers distance learning
institutions the most current, relevant and practical services for the
21st Century.
GED,
from an Accredited
High School Program. The School was founded in 1981 and is located
in beautiful Orange Park, Florida. We highly encourage you and your
family to tour our site. You will immediately recognize that we are not
just one of the hundreds of online courses being marketed on the
internet today. Since we observe a year-round calendar, students may
begin and complete coursework and grade levels at their own pace and in
the comfort of their own home or wherever their travels may take them.
Mar, 21, 2008 6:18 PM by David Vandergrift
A mailman has a pretty cool job. I am not talking about the men
and women who walk around to deliver mail. That is a challenging job
because of weather conditions. I would hate to have to travel by foot in
the rain and snow. And, then, you have to take into account that for at
least half of the year it is either really, really cold outside or it is
unbearably hot. This job would get old very quickly. Instead, I am
focusing more on the people who get to drive mail trucks in the United
States. To begin with, let me state the obvious. These people have air
conditioning and get to drive between houses and mailboxes rather than
walk. Clearly, they do not get the same exercise, but they stay dry and
comfortable. However, there is something else that makes the driving
mailman have a unique job. His or her job presents something distinctive
that many people probably overlook and do not even recognize as rare.
These people working for the U.S. Postal Service get to steer their mail
trucks from the right hand side. Unlike people in some countries
overseas who drive on opposite sides of the road than in America, the
mailmen here in this country still drive on the correct sides of the
street. I would assume it is difficult and strange at first to drive a
mail truck all day and then to go home and drive your used
left hand drive that is parked outside the front of your
house. It would not surprise me that a mailman
driving occasionally is not thinking and gets in the wrong
side of his or her personal left
hand drive car. After a long day, driving a vehicle from the
right side, it only seems plausible to get confused once in a while.
There probably is training that a mailman has to attend before receiving
his or her certification. It makes perfect sense that it would present a
set of challenges to continuously interchange between the mail
truck and the used
lhd at home. It becomes habit to drive a certain way because
people become accustomed to what they are exposed to with the greatest
frequency.
Mar, 21, 2008 6:07 PM by David Vandergrift
My little sister is getting her driver's license in Florida. She is
going to be on the road with all those little old ladies down there. I am
scared and excited for her all at once. She already got her Florida
learners permit. I took her on her 15th birthday for that. I
have to say I am a pretty cool big brother. We went down to the DMV
while I was there for break, now THAT is a cool brother. Who
wants to spend their school time off at the DMV? I can't think of too many
more annoying places to be, except perhaps behind those little old ladies
driving in Florida.
So now she is turning 16, and I cannot be
there to take her for her test. I'm sure she doesn't care, I just thought
it would be a cool thing to be there for her. I quizzed her over the phone
with questions out of the Florida
Drivers Handbook, she knows them all.
But can she parallel
park? That was the tough one, right? Shoot, I did it for the test, but I
still have a hard time, it's not the kind of thing that comes up very
often. She is nervous and says she doesn't know if she'll be able to do
parallel park or not. She took a course at the Florida
Traffic School even, she said she was so embarrassed when she
drove past a boy she has a crush on and she is in this dorkmobile with the
student driver signs all over it.
I am reassuring her she will pass,
everyone passes right? Well apparently, 2 of her friends had to take it
twice. So either the test has gotten hard since I took it, or she is
hanging around with some real idiots. If you fail it, you can go to Florida
online traffic school, do their course, and take a written test
online.
I personally think 16 is too young to drive, I think it should
be 18. Of course, I did not think this until I picture my sister out there
on the road cuttin' off blue-hairs in Florida. But 16 just seems SO YOUNG.
If we had better mass transit in
this country, it would not matter, but to ask a person to wait until they
are 18, it is really difficult, we have jobs, we have a social life, we
need to get around and can't be 17 years old with our parents driving us
around.