1/30/16 Everybody was . . .

     Here is a picture of TJ helping me pick weeds at Gram and Papa's house. See what a good job he's doing? That was our start to a busy and fun day. We checked off a few items off Papa's list. Next we all went to see the opening weekend of Kung Fu Panda 3. They have another hit. It gets to go down in the record books as the first movie that all six of our kids let Heidi and I sit through the whole thing. In addition to being funny it has a great message about learning to love and give to others. Definitely worth a watch. 

     For lunch we went over to Costco, one of our favorite places to eat. It allowed us to extend our visit a little bit longer and debrief about the movie. We also needed to work out the plan for an upcoming FHE in VDO. 

     After lunch I helped set up a keyboard at the church they were considering using for the musical number tomorrow. Heidi and I took the old couches to Good Will. I got to go to the temple. It was a good night for it. On the way home I used up the last of the frosty coupons from Kelly. Today was the last day we could use them. It was a nice day

1/29/16 Faculty Meeting Number 1

     I've heard some other teachers say "only at Heritage" will you have a Faculty meeting that starts with a lesson on agency that references religious principles. It was a very interesting discussion. Much of the meeting was devoted to the types of things you'd expect. We talked about the calendar. Some teachers were concerned about kids hanging out in their cars at lunch. The student body president spoke early on. The theme for the next dance sounded a little too much like slang for something inappropriate. He said that was unintentional but accepted full responsibility. I was impressed with his maturity facing a room full of people much older than himself. Later on I got to meet the rest of the math faculty. Teachers make great company. They are a good group. It's going to be fun working with them. We even ended being fed lunch. Not a bad deal. 

     This afternoon there was plenty of accounting work to do. His evening I started grading the exam. So far it's looking pretty good. 

1/28/16 Little Helpers and Heavenly Help

      Today I experienced no small amount of Heavenly and earthly help. I started the day early, about 4:30 am. I was worried about how well my students would do on the first exam. The exams aren't graded yet but so far the feedback from the students has all been positive. 

       This morning was day 2 in the computer lab for my seventh graders. These kids all failed the entrance exam and summer school. If they fail again they'll have to repeat the seventh grade. I keep learning new things that they should know by now but don't. Khan Academy is great for letting the kids learn at their own pace. Still, I need to figure out how to get them up to grade level by May. It will take Heavens help to do but I believe we will have it. 

       My pre calc kids were so quiet today it almost makes me want to give an exam every day. We did a short review and then the exam. The Popsicle sticks with names has been effective so far at getting kids who usually don't volunteer up to the board. It's really doing the work that helps you to learn. Maybe if they know they could get called up it will encourage them to come prepared. 

     This evening Heidi went to Roundtable right after dinner. The kids helped me clean up and take care of Peter. The picture above is of Rebecca blowing on Peter's tummy. He loved it. Sarah washed the dishes! David wiped the table and island. TJ helped move the chairs so we could sweep. He even started learning how to sweep. He also put silverware away. It was a team effort all around. I am grateful to Heavenly Father that we seem to be learning this drill. This has been very hard for us in the past and it's just now getting easier. One helpful change has been setting a ten minute timer for who gets to take care of Peter. The three oldest see this as more game than chore and before the timer all three would disappear and claim that they were watching Peter. Now that we have the timer there is much less of that. It also helps us realize how long we're taking. Right now it takes us 2 and a half turns with the timer. That feels a lot faster than the "forever" that it used to take. Where was Joseph in all of this? As far as I can tell, not spreading peanut butter all over anything. Last night he helped move chairs. At least tonight he wasn't slowing things down. He makes slow improvement over time and we try to praise him when he does. 

1/27/16 Hearing is Good

    Don't worry TJ is fine. He went with his mother to the tail end of David's scouting activity. He asked Heidi to take a picture of him "sleeping" on the elephant. Heidi was there to train the leaders on how to use Scoutbook. It helps the leaders save time remembering which things the boys have signed off. 

     This morning Michael Hallsted and I drove out to Scottsdale to meet with the good folks at Medcare. We're starting work on a new database for them. It was a good meeting. I think that we made good progress. 

     When I got back Heidi took TJ to see a hearing specialist to check out his ears. One of his ears is just fine the other is slightly less so. The Doctor thinks that the fluid causing pressure on that ear will clear itself up but he prescribed a treatment and wants to see TJ again in 3 months. TJ reports that just having the doctor stick stuff in his ears seems to have cleared things up some. Hopefully in three months we can report his hearing is back to normal. 

1/26/16 100 Days of School

     Today TJ's class celebrated the first 100 days of school. It's hard to believe it's going by so fast. TJ often reports that school is his favorite thing of the day. His assignment was to bring back a box with 100 things in it. Heidi helped him glue 100 fruit loops into the shape of the number 100 plus some other shapes. Today before dinner Heidi found Joseph eating the cereal out of the box. The conversation was priceless. Heidi "but all of those are coved in glue!". Joseph, "Not anymore". Oh, well I suppose that's why they make sure that glue is nontoxic. Surprisingly, he did eat a pretty good dinner. 

        On the teaching front. Things went fine in 2 classes and rough in one. In my second period class there are a couple of kids who won't show respect to the other kids by waiting to talk until called on. One girl got really mad at me when I called her out on it. It's frustrating since my other 2 classes have both gotten it and we've moved on. Two of my better students stayed back to suggest it was time to start knocking down people's citizenship grade. I ran it by another teacher at lunch and she reported that has worked for her in the past. My first thought is to write their name on the board as a warning and then start writing points off. It's not fair to the majority of the kids who are trying to pay attention to have to keep addressing the same couple of kids. 

       On a more positive note, I took my seventh grade class to the computer lab for the first time. Many of them have been struggling with concepts that should have been learned before now. We got the kids set up with a website called Khanacademy.org. It has videos and questions to work and helps the kids to learn at their pace. We had all the kids working on different things and I just walked around and helped. I can be added as a "coach". That allows me to see what students have been working on and where they are struggling. I'm hoping it will help the kids get up to level so that we can move on and learn new things. One student asked if we would be going to the lab in the future. When I said "probably yes" she cheered and I think some of the others did too. That was a positive experience. 

1/25/16 Hot Chocolate

     One thing that I have truly enjoyed since I started teaching is that there has been no time for dawdling. No time to sit around feeling sorry for myself or wondering what to do next. I have had to be organized and start on the next task as soon as I can and just keep moving. 

     That said, we have still made it a point to keep our appointments with family. That includes Family Home Evening. Tonight we went to a neighbor's house. Their kids have been doing a neighborhood hot cocoa stand (donations accepted) on Monday nights. This was to be the last one of the season. It reminded Heidi and I of a more cozy way to do a Lemonade stand. They had chairs set up and a portable fire pit. There were several of our friends from the neighborhood along with quite a few kids. I think that we all enjoyed the chocolate and the company. It feels good to know that we have such nice neighbors. 

1/24/16 It Should be Easier Than This

      That is what the new High Counselor over technology said to me tonight after the Elder Andersen fireside for the youth. This time it was not our turn to host. That task was given to the Red Mountain Institute. They did fine considering the resources they had. The sound was a little distorted at the beginning but they fixed it. The webcast tech worked pretty much as it should. We only lost sound a couple of time for a second or two. We've had to deal with far worse in the past. Overall I can't complain. I did have some tech issues to work through on my end. Mainly it had to do with down converting the signal from the computer so that it could be transmitted to the overflow rooms. Heidi and Bob Rhyne and David all helped. In the end we had it sorted before the broadcast started. The knots in my stomach are still unclenching. Heavenly Father once again blessed us. Things that needed to work did. 

     Earlier in the day I got to help with the tech for our ward. My computer has started acting flaky when I connect it to an external monitor or projector but it showed no signs of that today. That was a huge blessing. 

     This picture is from Rebecca's field trip to the Arizona State capital. Her friend Darby's mom took this picture of the two of them. You can tell that they had a good time.