Online education

I recently saw a story that some college teachers are fearful of online education. Here are my thoughts from the corporate world.

Online education should worry teachers. It can disconnect the students not just from the campus life but from geographic concerns too.

People can take years to get a legitimate degree, while some online programs offer advanced degrees in a year or less.

Online "diploma mills" already impact the value of a degree, as people who have received or claimed an online degree are advanced quicker.

I know of cases where neither the existence of a degree nor credentials of the online university were checked.

One person got a promotion at a college using a degree based in part on "life experience".

Consider that Call Centers can be moved to lower cost states and counties with a sometimes significant loss in quality.

Some companies are willing to give up the quality to save money or offer 24/7 service, as long as customers acccept the lower quality.

As long as employers do not know to care about the quality of an on-line degree it should be expected that the cost will be primary factor.

The strengths of a traditional campus will generally be secondary for an older student, if quality isn't percieved as an important concern.

Cheaper and faster online degrees are probably not good for teachers at "brick and mortar" campuses.

Vocabulary Lesson's from Pete

Tera's  FaceBook Status

ME: You can't wear your monster gloves today because they were so dirty.
PETER: I was throwing mud at school yesterday.
ME: We do NOT throw mud at school.
PETER: I was *tossing* mud at school yesterday..

Nice use of alternative words, clearly showing he understands them. But still missing the point. Sometimes it's hard not to laugh, but other times it's like dealing with a lawyer.

Mr. mom, day 1

Step one: Lose track of the time and hit the snooze button on the "Wake up Diana alarm." I was up and in the kitchen, just not paying attention. So I got her up 10 minutes late so she missed the bus.

I had Diana wake Pete up so we could give her a ride to school, but on the plus side...

Peter woke up with a dry diaper! Such a big boy! Still not something he volunteers to do though, even for candy.

As Peter and I returned home, Pete decided that he wanted to go to the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City. I said we couldn't because we had to go home and let Duncan go pee pee on the potty outside like a big boy.

Pete said "he does Duncan bombs outside too."
D: "that is true"
P: "I want to get my little shovel  and scoop them all up. I an going to get a bag and scoop them all up and put them in the bag and throw them away!"
D: "You are too little, you need to wait a few years"
P: "But daddy, I am good at it."

I used the bread maker make pizza dough. I started it in the morning and set it do be done at 5 PM. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I got home to a yeasty soup. a little over 2 cups of flour later, it came out perfect! Peter helped me spread the dough and he helped Diana spread the cheese. We made 2 pizzas. We had enough open store sauce for one and are out of the homemade sauce, so we just did cheese on the other. Diana wanted to try bacon on it and she's helped out a lot the last few weeks so I got some. it worked very well.

Lost-one blue balloon

   Please contact me if you find a light blue helium balloon. It took off from home in chenango forks and was heading towards the school at about 5:30 pm 2/1.

   Pete and I did a little shopping at Price Chopper. A nice lady in the flower / balloon section offered Pete a balloon and even put a plastic weight on it. We finished shopping and went back to the van without any problems. We got home and I set the weight on the ground while I unbuckled Pete. He said where's my balloon? I turned to see it 15 feet off the ground and making good time. The weight still attached!* It hung up briefly on the phone wires, and then headed south. Bad daddy (my words, not his).

Peter was very sad. After taking him in to snuggle with mama, I helped the girls take the groceries in. Pete was still sad so I got a balloon out of birthday supplies and Pete was happy. Until he popped it 5 minutes later. Good thing I brought a couple.

This morning Pete told me the neighbor would bring his balloon back. I explained that it went over his house and didn't stop.

A little while later he told Tera and I that the falcons would bring his balloon back. We explained that falcons don't do balloon returns. He kind of stuck to that, but eventually decided the black birds (crows) would help.

On the way to daycare he decided that the balloon blew all the way to daycare and got sucked in through the brown pipe and Stacy and Kelly (his teachers from last semester) would have it. I tried to explain that the wind was blowing the wrong way, but he was sure.

We got there and outside his old room was a tan rain gutter, but no blue balloon. Pete forgot about the balloon once he got inside.

* we go up about 350 feet in elevation between the store and home. In theory a helium balloon WOULD be slightly more buoyant at the higher elevation, I have just never been in a situation where it was a noticeable effect. Bad daddy :-(

Fond memories of skating

After I picked up Pete we drove around the campus to miss a long light. Peter first asked to go pick up Mama from her office (but she had her car so we didn't). Peter then pointed to a building and said "Peter was there". I asked if he remembered what we did there. He said "I went on the ice with Diana and Mama and Daddy". I said very good Pete, that is where we went ice skating. Would you like to go again? He said "No. I fell down and didn't like it. I want to go there with my bike and melt the ice all up!" He talked quite a bit on the ride home about melting the ice so he could ride his bike at the BC Ice Center. Then he started talking about getting a trampoline at home so he could jump on it and bounce on it.

We might not have a little hockey player.

Is there any money in bouncing?

Cooking up a storm

4 days down.

Tera and I have been cooking every day this week. Rachel can't have iodized salt, egg yolks, seafood or soy (and chooses to not eat meat). That means we have to start from scratch. Pesto, egg white and avocado salad, eggplant, chili con corn, tortillas and spaghetti sauce. At least we can buy some brands of pasta. And use the bread maker!

It is a lot of work for Tera and I, but I can't imagine keeping up with it if we didn't have a dishwasher. We've run it every day.

Getting the giggles

2 things cracked me up the last couple days.

Duncan was outside, came in with wet feet, charging past me like he know I would want to check him for mud. About halfway through the living room he hit the brakes... and slid about 10 feet, just like in cartoons. Toward the end he started to try and run backwards, but kept sliding towards Peter's table. He fell with crash and came to a rest just before he hit the table. The crash brought Rachel up from her bedroom and Tera out from the kitchen. Tera and Rachel were trying to find the source of the clatter and I was laughing too hard to explain.

Tonight Pete took a late nap. I decided to try and take a nap also in case he decided to be up half the night. After a while Pete woke up, came in and climbed up on the bed. He started talking a mile a minute about something, but I was still to groggy to pick up any of what he said. I was still giggling when Tera came in. She laid down and he kept right on talking. No I could tell it was bits and pieces of a wild Kratts episode, but Pete was in the show. Evieva gave him something for his power pod, and "Look!" Jimmy Z was over there.

Fun times for a funny little boy.

Potty Training

As part of potty training, We bought some pull ups with a design that fades when it gets wet (form the inside).

Unfortunately, cheering when he still had the design and went on the potty didn't do the trick. So we added m&m's as a reward. It works better, but still not perfect. And Pete doesn't totally get it. As we put on a clean pull up after discovering a wet one, Pete looks down and exclaims excitedly "I still have my design! I get a piece of candy!"

Still have to dial in the task / reward system.

Snow!

Not everyone is happy, but winter may really be here.  This is the first real snow of the year, so it's getting an exclamation mark (sorry Tera). The roads weren't too bad, and I got the driveway and steps done in less than 30 minutes when I got home. Peter was ready to go sledding, but not in the dark. He will have to wait until tomorrow to try out the new cold weather gear.

Yep, that's Rachel

We went to the board of education meeting tonight. She (and others) were being recognized for awards they had received this year. Yay Rachel!

  She also got points from her social studies class for attending. Or course we left after the award presentation and didn't hear anything that would be useful to a high School student.

Spreadsheets stink

One of my monster spreadsheets started acting funny a few weeks ago. For no reason, the look up function I've used for years stopped working on random rows. I figured out another way to do the look up that worked. Today the whole spreadsheet stopped working, both ways. A friendly co-worker helped me get most of the rows working, but I still had to manually type about 50 rows of 5 columns. 1/2 the day shot. Whee.

Peter and Diana make Dinner

Peter really likes to help in the kitchen.  I think mostly because he gets to use the step ladder to reach the counter.

Last Friday Diana helped Peter punch out the pre-made dough and put the cheese on it too. Should have grabbed the camera, but I was busy keeping the cheese out of the boys mouth.

Yesterday Peter helped make pigs in a blanket. Lost almost a whole hot dog due to quick hands and Daddy not paying enough attention (it's OK, they were pre-cooked).

It's fun, but doesn't really save time.

Duncan on guard duty

The neighbor across the street has a yellow lab. Both take a "if I can see it,  it's mine" approach to land. Strangers and other dogs get barked at if they are in the road or even if they are on their own property across the street. So if both dogs are out they must bark at each other.

Duncan was out yesterday.  After a while he started to bark. Sure enough neighbor dog was out. We brought the dog back in. A minute later the guard dog is standing at the window barking at the dog across the road. We closed the curtains.  Ahh. Quiet. A few minutes later, he's barking again. We look around and just his head is poking through the curtains so he can see the dog and let him know who's boss. Such persistence is pretty good for a dog who won't go near new or moved furniture.

Wild Kratts

We've tried to keep Pete from spending too much time watching cartoons.

Diana introduced Peter to one of her favorite shows from when she was little. Wild Kratts is an educational and entertaining show. Peter is pretty hooked. He asked to watch daily, and he has his favorite episodes. Sometimes it seems too much, but the other morning he was telling me about how the birds carry bones up into the sky, and they drop the bones on the rocks so they can eat the little pieces (It a vulture of some sort). He then told me that a crocodile buries her eggs and the monitor lizzard tries to eat them. He also acted out the burying process with his back legs (think Downward dog yoga pose)

Too Cool for Halloween

This Picture was pretty cute. This "boots" are tall Toy Story slippers.

This one is better. Of course you can't here him singing Baa Baa Back Sheep, but he was doing it.

Peter and the trip to Saugerties

We left the house and Peter started pointing out the houses that were not train yards. It was all of them. He stopped when we got to the highway and there weren't houses.

We got some Wendy's about 1/3 of the way there. Pete and I split chicken tenders and fries. Pete started with tenders and after several we switched. After a while I asked for a french fry. Pete said No, because he was going to share with Grammy and Pappa. I said please, he said OK... when we get to Grammy and Pappa's. Tera tried to talk him into letting me have one. I even called them to get permission, but Pete stood strong. No sharing until we get to Grammy and Pappa's Or course he kept sneaking some himself until he accidentally dropped the box. Then we pointed out some houses that weren't train yards.

At some point he started calling Rachel Rachely. It was pretty cute.

Mama has cold feet

Tera's feet were cold. Rather than drag out the Snuggie she won in a Woot BOC, I just grabbed one of Peter's little blankets - the perfect size for the job.
Until Peter noticed it. Then he needed it for the big box her was playing in. As her took the blanket away, the following discussion happened:
Pete: "This is mine."
Tera: "Can Mama Use it?"
Pete: "I need it"
Tera: "But Mama's feet will get cold"
Pete (excitedly as he took the blanket): "Daddy can get you a blanket!"

He was so proud that he had solved her problem.

Tada!

A few days ago Pete found an old cell phone and found the button to turn it on. He raised his arms up and shouted Tada!

Today he was watching Wild Krats on YouTube. He wanted the snow feature (simulated snow flakes on screen) turned on. He took the mouse, pulled up the menu and paused it. I clicked the correct icon and Pete shouted "I got the snow on! Tada! I did a good job! "

Such a fun boy.

2011 in review, part 1

Tera said in her Facebook status that 2011 kind of sucked. Rachel asked why she said that. Tera pointed out that after a couple months of testing, numerous trips to Dr in Rochester and surgery we found out Rachel had (relatively mild) thyroid cancer.

Tera spent a couple multiple day trips to the hospital getting her gaul bladder out and a subsequent infection.

Winter hung on late and faded into a long, cold, wet and muddy spring.

A storm that caused vast flooding in our region also brought some water into the basement. We spent a lot of time and money getting the drainage and room fixed.

Well that's the low lights.