I'm feeling old

Working in a public library means you remain aware of the school calendar. As the kids, teens and parents get ready for the start of a new school year you begin getting questions about grade level reading materials, study guides and homework assistance. The demands on kids to perform and the competition among parents and teachers to make sure kids are performing is shocking. In a time when our society is recognizing the need for life long learning, why are we sucking all of the fun out of learning for our children?

I'm just wrapping up my summer reading program. The kids that are still with the program are the kids who's parents are looking for their kids to enjoy reading and coming to the library. The kids that dropped out, often dropped out because the parents felt I wasn't being rigorous enough in my demands on the children. 'Where are the required reading lists and homework assignments?' Parents are shocked when I tell them that I'd be happy with their kid spending 15 minutes reading the cereal box, that I don't care what the child read as long as they did read. My goal is to keep the fun in reading for kids who are starting to look at reading as work.

We encourage adults to find jobs/careers that they enjoy, but we don't want our children to enjoy the 12/13 years they spend in school? How does that make sense?

Contemplation

I am a ponderer. I was never one of those people who could whip up an essay or report at the drop of a hat. I have always been the one who starts right away doing the research, gets pulled down a few rabbit holes along the way, then lets it 'sit'. If I'm in the middle of a project, and I am ALWAYS in the middle of something, you will find a pile or 2, (or 12 - sorry dear) of research materials, scraps of paper with thoughts, snippets, and links to other info, seemingly unrelated reading material and mail.

[The mail has nothing to do with the projects it just ends up there. Envelopes do make great bookmarks/note cards, you just need to make sure they're empty :-( ]

It is only the projects that have deadlines that ever get 'done.' I would rather do research than write. There is always more information to find, comparisons to make and perspectives to explore. I have a hard time saying something is complete, finished, done. Writings are only snap shots of something at a certain time, in a certain place, from a certain angle. You can never have the complete story.

I'd rather 'sit' with it, spouting thoughts ever once in a while, adding new info, and seeing what happens. Pondering/contemplation could be my hobbies.

Second Life

I have been involved in Second Life for over 3 years. I've come and gone several times. I seen some amazing and downright odd things. I've experienced some fantastic events and met some fabulous people. It  has reconnected me to my geek within. :-) It has allowed me to discuss things with giants in the fields of libraries, education and science. And to talk  with everyday people like me, who are exploring the online world and formulating our own ideas on where the technology is taking us.

Things change fast is 3 years. SL has gone from the bleeding edge, to middle of the road. If it weren't for the need for demanding computer capabilities it might have seen broader use. But the 'idea' has spawned many imitators and all together, these virtual worlds have seen tremendous curiosity from a wide variety of people.

Humans are creators by nature. We are always looking for reasons and opportunities to create. Whether it's cookies, a script or a space ship, we create. SL and it's imitators allow more of us opportunities to 'play' with our creating, to try, to succeed and to fail. And to try again or move on to something else. Playing is not something we get to do too much of once we're adults, so it's nice to have a spot to play and rejuvenate our creative abilities.

Yesterday it was announced that the Teen Grid, the Second Life for ages 13 to 17, would be closing. The 16 and 17 year olds will be moved onto the adult grid. Other details, like when this will take place and what will happen to inventory  and the younger set are not finalized yet. 

Maybe it's because I work with this age group in real life that I'm not as worried about it, in fact I'm looking forward to it. Having had the privilege of meeting and working with recent teen transfers from the Teen Grid I know their desire to DO and CREATE is enormous.The ones that make the transfer and STAY will be bringing their enthusiasm and creativity with them.

And then we'll all benefit.

The family that techs together

What picture comes to your mind if I told you that I'm in the kitchen at the table on my laptop, hubby is in the living room on his smartphone & watching TV, youngest son is in the addition on the family desk top watching anime  and eldest son is in his room on his desk top reading manga and listening to music? You'd probably picture everyone in a separate room with doors closed and no interaction between them. In many households that might be true, but not in this one.

We live in a small, one-floor, open plan house. Hubby would be in eyesight if he wasn't on the other side of the pantry cupboard. Youngest son is on the other side of the halfwall between the kitchen and the addition and is in line-of-sight of his dad. Eldest son keeps his door open so he can yell at me to come see something or ask questions. All of us can hear the TV show dad is watching, so you'll hear the occasional question or someone will drift in to watch if it sounds good. As we move around we check out what each other is doing, sharing and asking questions as we go. Someone is playing a video game? Come over and watch or better yet join in.

Technology is just a part of our lives but we have made the conscious decision to not allow it to isolate us from each other. I'm hoping that when the boys are out on their own that this same technology will be keeping us connected.

Making it work

Hubby and I went out for lunch today. We try to go out for breakfast or lunch every 2 weeks or so. It gives us some alone time without the continuous interruptions that seem to occur at home. As always we ran into someone we haven't seen in a while and did a quick catch-up.
The number of people we know on their second or third marriage, moving back with their parents (in their 40's!), giving up on their kids because they're too much work, is astounding. Makes me feel like a dinosaur for being happy to remain with my first husband, in our own house with our late-teen kids. Apparently it isn't fashionable to be family oriented or to work through problems rather than bail on them. If it weren't for the fact that I'm joined at the hip with technology, I'd think I was several generations out of step.

Lazy Saturday

Puttered around this morning getting some of the basics done, feeding the pets, starting laundry, starting the shopping list etc. I've caught up with youngest son's homeschool courses and mucked around with next week's schedule to accommodate some things that have come up. I've answered emails and caught up with some of my podcasts, RSS feeds and twitter. I've just had lunch and I'm ready for a nap. I should make a cup of tea, finish a few things for work, make the changes to this blog that I've been planning since I started, contact a friend about her upcoming Second Life project that she has asked me to help with, and do some tweeting about a few upcoming events. Of course I should finish laundry so eldest son has something to wear for work tonight too.

Naah - I think Tiger and I will go have a nap. The rest of it will wait.

Smoke

The air here is so smoky. All day I've had people ask if there was a fire nearby. To the best of our knowledge all of the smoke is coming from BC. With over 400 fires and the prevailing winds coming from that direction there is a lot of smoke to move. We ended up closing all of the windows at the library it keep the smoke out. Unfortunately that meant the library got hot.
One day, some day in the future, we WILL have a new library with air conditioning. I can't wait :-)

Back to Work

So after 5 days at home sick (over a long weekend with nice weather no less) I went back to work today. I never noticed how much talking I do at work until today. Every time I talked too long, I'd have a coughing fit. That didn't bode well for the summer reading program this afternoon so I had Cassidy do the story reading.
We didn't have a regular crowd, too much competition from the various sports camps etc., but the group that was there was wired! I don't think I've every had to speak so often about appropriate behaviour. Here's hoping I'm completely recovered for next week, or I'm in trouble.