Common Core and the SEC

It's the fall and I'm watching SEC football. Everyone in the stands has on their team's apparel. They stand and scream their support for their team. Passion for the game and love for their team is evident on every brightly painted face. But at the end of the game there will only be one winner. In what could have life long consequences for the players of the game, the winning team will be elevated in the rankings and the loser will be demoted. Players may be benched or even injured. How sad that someone's life should be effected by one loss! Surely something needs to be done so that all the players are equally prepared for success. No team should be left behind another.

What if a system that prepares every SEC football player for lifelong blocking and tackling was developed? A system that focuses on making players successful as productive members of a team through decisive leadership and collective action. This new system would need to prepare each football player for success by changing the rules, encouraging innovation, learning from other sectors, and applying new principles to football.

To ensure all players are ready for SEC college football success, the Football Core State Standards (FCSS) need to be written! The FCSS will establish clear, consistent guidelines for what every football player should know and be able to do in Offense, Defense and Special Teams, from true freshman through end of eligibility. Each player will be NFL or semi-pro ready.

The standards will be drafted by experts and coaches from across the SEC and will be designed to ensure players are prepared for today’s rivalry games. The Football Core focus will be on developing the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytically correct skills players will need to be successful.

Every SEC school will be required to follow these standards.

It will not matter what college you attend. EVERY football program will follow the exact same standards. Alabama's college football program will follow the same standards as other SEC teams. They will not have a choice. The Volunteers, the Gators, the Wildcats.... all using the same playbook. Oh the JOY!

What? You don't like it? You like the struggle for excellence brought about by competition? It gives you a sense of pride to know that your school is superior to those Big Ten schools?

So why do you think this same idea will work for your children? Why is the removal of local control a better option? Why is painting every child with the same low standard acceptable?

It should not be!

Get involved. Attend school board meetings. Ask questions. Never settle for standard when your child is worth excellence! Fight for your child's education with the same passion that you cheer for your favorite team.

Horseback Riding

What do you do when you want to give your children the experience of the things you love, but you can not afford to?

How do you handle it when someone with the means to do so does show your children the things you love, with out you?

Are you thrilled? Are you jealous? Can you contain the pain while your children express their joy?

These are the moments for which you can not prepare. The children leave the house, their faces full of expectation. Hours later they return with stories that prove their expectations were exceeded. YEA! ...and ....sigh.

I wanted to be the one to show them. I wanted to be the one to see their joy. Am I happy they got to go? YES! Am I hurt that I did not get to go? YES!

How to reconcile the 2 seemingly contrary emotions, that is the question.

Overhaul

Hello, Everyone. Welcome to my blog!

Jeremiah Farm has been at this locale for a while, sitting nicely, waiting for my further attention. I blame facebook for drawing away my loyalties, but no more. Over the next few weeks this blog will be overhauled.

I enjoy etymology (the study of the origin of words) so I did a search of "overhaul". It means to "take apart in order to examine it and repair it if necessary," and this fits with my plans. Jeremiah Farm blog has already received a new look (may go through several more!) and it will be getting more attention as well. There are no plans to take away any of the previous posts, so read away, but there are plans to add some ads. No worries! The ads will be specific ads for all the "necessary" stuff for moms, especially home schooling moms.

While I struggle through my learning curve with the help of Genius Half (aka: my husband) please be patient.

Thank you!
Funny Half (aka: Me)

Confession, Christmas is a struggle for me.

I always thought Christmas would be the best time in the world, especially when I had children. The anticipation, the excitement, the cookies baking, the joy of the season.... I thought that stuff would be a given. But most times Christmas leaves me dreading this time of year.

I am claustrophobic. Not something I tell everyone but I don't like small, cramped spaces. What does this have to do with my dread of Christmas? The six of us live in a very small house. Very. Small. My children are the only grandchildren on my husband's (G) side of the family. Only. Grandchildren. Most of G's family lives within 5 miles of our tiny house. This is a recipe for, what in my mind is, a disaster....

Gifts everywhere!

Every year I pull the reins on the number of gifts and every year I am disregarded. So in expectation of what is to come I make the children go through their stuff and get rid of what they absolutely don't want. They understand and do this as best they can. Not wanting to be the mean parent I also go through my things as well. Every year I also ask the family to allow G and I to be able get the coolest stuff for our children, and every year we are "outdone", in size and expense. Buying our children those once in a lifetime gifts that every parent looks forward to buying their child. I am so thankful that we have such a giving family but the madness needs to stop!

Then there are is the bric-a-brac. For what ever reason it is thought that I like stuff. Useless stuff that serves no other purpose but to be decorative. The more of this stuff we have the smaller and smaller my space becomes!

I want to be cheerful. Really I do, but every now and then I need to go outside and just breathe. Outside, away from the clutter of things.

Mother's Day Hang Out

Big E and the geese! "MOM! It's gonna bite me!"

Below is a post about a parent losing a child but in it is some excellent advice. Words of wisdom, from someone who's gone through great loss, on how to act when someone you know suffers something similar.

A Mother Speaks Out on Losing a Child to Diabetes

A Mother Speaks Out on Losing a Child to Diabetes