VCE Time

I am proud of my daughters journey through the schools I have sent her to. She has always strived to do her best and has worked well at learning and building positive relationships with her peers and teachers. I haven't given her much assistance with her work and have never believed in motivating my children to study. 'Education is it's own reward.' is what I have chanted to them over the years. There have been no prizes or monetary values placed on doing well at school. There are no threats about doing poorly. It is after all, their own adventure into the world, they need to make mistakes so they can learn.

The imput I have had with both my children has been the occasional conversation when the frustration has built and they have fortunately chosen to discuss it with me rather than take extreme measures. The frustrations have usually come from teachers who don't care or don't know, or the typical dilema's with other students. There have been tough times and joyful times. I teach at the school they attended in junior secondary so it has been challenging for all of us at times. I do know the characters they are grappling with and not much could be hidden about actions they take.

Now she is doing her VCE exams and has prepared herself very well, throughout the year and now at the main event, she is taking responsibility to be the best she can be. I don't need the results to come in. I know she is a great success, and I am proud of her.

Tamboritha 06 - 1st trip

It's almost a week since I've got the moment or ten that it takes to write a post. I have been to Tamboritha and it was great. We rode horses up past Licola and walked, as well of spending lots of time laughing and eating and just being away from it all. It was great. I enjoyed sitting in the creek in this video, whilst the water rushed by, however much slower and lower than it has been in the past. It is dry up there. As we walked across the snow plains there was very little squelch that makes it a big challenge. I love it up there though.
It is so refreshing to be away from it all. We had heaps of laughs and challenges and always when I return to school, it is tough.

Sunday Stumble

No, I didn't go out last night and have a big one and stumble in this morning.
Yesterday I went to a school reunion type function,which was more a work responsibility than something I wanted to attend, and a person from 20 years ago recognised me and was quite shocked to see that I am now a respectable human being. Quite funny really.
Anyway.....you have to see this site that I stumbled on with 'StumbleUpon' today called 'Lords of the Logistic', It is an awesome site that has photo's of people doing amazing things. I recommend it to you so you can consider it next time you think you don't have enough room in your car, or something like that!
Stumbleupon is really my favourite timewaster at present. The sites referred are often really excellent and I find it the best way to find random new things.

The Winners of 2006 CBCA

When I read the honour books I wondered what could possibly be better and win the Children's Book Council Awards. I read 'The Story of Tom Brennan' by J.C.Burke recently and it was great. My son also enjoyed it and as a very dear friend of ours has become badly injured from an accident, we could both really relate to parts of the novel, that dealt with the aftermath of a tragic accident. It was almost therapeutic we both felt to read it and discuss it afterwards. The author has captured the numbness well. It is a frightening tale, yet I highly recommend it and feel it was well researched and written.

Sculptures at Botanical Garden, Ballarat

When I was at Ballarat on the weekend we visited the Botanical Gardens and I got lots of little clips of the sculptures and statues there. I was really saddened by the ones that had to be housed in the greenhouse building and had been vandalised. I don't understand why people would destroy public property that is so beautiful and a gift for everyone. This photo may need to be enlarged to read the history of the statues. I will be adding to the revver collection of Ballarat Sculptures so if you are interested check back.

Free Hugs by Patti Digh

37 Days, one of my favourite blogs, has an article on 'Free Hugs', it is a must read. Unless of course you saw it already on '60 Minutes' on Sunday night in Australia. It is a beautiful clip and it is easier to direct you to Patti's site than to search for it myself.
I'm tired tonight. Maybe I need a hug.

Ballarat Wedding

I spent the weekend in Ballarat. My brother was married on Friday there and we spent the weekend, since we were there. It was a great family occasion. I feel pretty blessed by my large extended family. I was chatting to my cousin and a brother at one stage of the night and we all agreed we were pretty lucky in the family department. Our family gets together and has a good time. The wedding was very beautiful and I was proud of my brother and his wife and the way they expressed their committment to each other with such love and pleasure.
I haven't been to Ballarat for a long time. In fact I think it was an excursion when I was doing my HSC (contemporary VCE or Year 12). I don't remember much about my previous visits and I enjoyed seeing Ballarat now. It had a spacious and gracious feel to it. The old houses are distinctive and individual and the streets are wide.
We enjoyed the place we stayed at and visited the Botanical Gardens on the Sunday before heading home. I will put some video's up on revver. I took mainly videos of the sculptures in the park.

Epic 2014

If you are interested in the future of media and or the history of the Internet, this little 8 minute clip Epic 2014, is a very interesting and thought provoking watch. I have always loved the 'future history'genre although I find it difficult to find material.

I remember in the late 80's I had this book called 'The Third Millennium:A History of the World:AD 2000-3000' by Brian Stableford and David Langford. I loved it and read it cover to cover. It inspired many ideas for me and some of the future I eagerly awaited, just as I did for the Internet to get how I knew it would. I remember being on Compuserve which was all American almost and I felt like a lone Aussie, plodding along looking for the diversity of a global community. Not that I didn't like learning about America and americans, but I knew one day it would be like it is now.

This little clip however has a much smaller scale than the Millennium of the book, but still food for thought and interesting.

Families feature in Latest YA reads

I finished reading Chasing Charlie Duskinby Cath Crowley last night. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I like her voice. It is real. She captures the anguish of teenagers well and their realities and realisations, without making it too 'adult'. It was also about grief and the loss of a parent as with Will by Maria Boyd. I loved her Gracie Faltrain character and recommend The Life and Times of Gracie Faltrain. Cath Crowley went to our school so I am always recommending her books to our kids. They are highly recommended by the students.

Lost Property by James Moloney was another book that was an honour book for the Childrens Book Council awards and it was great. My son (16)has also read it and he loved it too. James Moloney is getting better and better. I still love teaching 'A Bridge to Wisemans Cove' to my year 8's. I think Lost Property is definately as was 'No Worries' for older readers.
The thing I loved most about these two books is that they showed how important families are to young people. So often I hear that teenagers are only interested in their friends and that their families are no longer important to them. I know my own children spend a lot less time at home now they have become 'teenagers', but young people really value their families. I think that is the biggest lesson I have learnt or realisation I have had becoming a teacher.

Shoelaces & shoes

I found this great site : Ian's Shoelaces Site yesterday. I am lazy and stick to the over under lacing but as you can see if you go to this site, there are plenty of amazing combinations, 31 in fact.
I went shopping for shoes tonight. I have bought a new outfit for my brothers wedding and now I want new shoes to match. It's always the way with me with clothes. I don't really look at them or think about them for ages and then I have a big shop and I want lots of stuff. So I am currently looking at shoes and clothes. I have fallen in love with a new shop in Traralgon called Blue Illusion. They haven't got their website up yet, but when they do I'll let you know. It's gorgeous and sells clothes as well as accessories and decor items. I love it. It is definately my taste.

More random Chinese discoveries

This wonderful website has amazing photo's of other parts of the great wall. Just had to add it for those interested as I am.

China

I am really interested in China and all things chinese. I have just created a revver collection of video from China and have looked through lots of videos. Some of them are not to my taste, but I love the clips of the countryside and that show China as a place. I would love to walk that Great Wall one day. It is definately on my wish list too.
We are currently covering Imperial China in history with my year 7s and on Friday we were discussing foot binding. I felt so emotional about it. I had a past life 'recollection' once that involved foot binding so I guess that has made it more real for me.
I like to keep up with the articles on Newsvine about China also.

Monthly Stars for October

Yes, I love astrology. I particularly like this months Michael Lutin horoscope as it accurately reflects how I have been for a while now. It was kind of affirming to see it in writing. Check out the funny photos on the weekly stars whilst you are there. My sign, Sagittarius is particularly appropriate I think.
I think I noticed some angelic intervention at work today. It was interesting that we had this whole 'Angel' thing at the start, cynical as I am at times about the whole religion thing, there were many people today mentioning how things had worked out really well despite being totally mucked up. Ironic and seemingly angelic to me at the time.

Term 4, 2006 Kicks Off

I returned to school/work today. We had a lovely reflection centered around angels to begin our term today. That great movie, "Dogma", came to mind;-). It's funny really and probably not that appropriate, but when I am sitting in that space, it is the time I most identify as being a student myself. I was such a rebellious one when I sat in that space as a student. I wonder if the energy lingers and lures me into being that again. Perhaps I should avoid that back row. That is definately the spot where it happens.
It is my favourite term because it is warmer and easier to get up. The holidays I am looking forward to are going to be longer. We have all our lovely completion rituals and there are no parent-teacher interviews after these reports we will write.
There are lots of interuptions and fun things going on.
I have two year nine camps to go on this term and I love the year 9 camps. I love going to the high country and riding horses and living simply and getting to know others better. It is a very enjoyable way to work.

Port Albert

We returned today from Port Albert. It was a beautiful break for a week. The place we stayed in had a great view of the prom. We experienced a range of weather. The first afternoon we arrived it was blowing a gale and cold. Other days were clear and sunny.
I had been warned about sand flies, by my grandpa yet didn't experience them. He has been bitten badly by them at Port Albert and says nothing would make him go back there.
There was a bottle of oil containing lavender, tea tree and eucalyptus oil and a sign saying the sand flies were known to be around from October to March, we left today and they hadn't appeared yet.
I saw lots of beautiful birds and got some videos, which I will put on my revver site no doubt.
Port Albert is only an hour away and I haven't been there since I was a kid. I remember going with my best friend Jane's family for a BBQ one Sunday afternoon.
The port has undergone some development since then. It was a little fishing village and popular with fishermen mainly when I was growing up. I think that is still the main attraction there, but the waterfront property real estate development has also moved in and toned it up a bit.
I have to clean up and continue unpacking now. The downside of taking a trip.