Rey's A Point http://rreynoso.com/blog writing about work, life, and what-not Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v= en hourly 1 5 Stupid Reasons Not To Home School (and Do Public School Instead) http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/5-stupid-reasons-not-to-home-school/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/5-stupid-reasons-not-to-home-school/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:51 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=901 In defensive discussions justifying my parental rights and educational choices for my children, I often find myself repeating my lists of reasons.  I have 10 solid reasons why we home-school, which I was going to post today, but then I had an internal struggle.

What if people (as they sometimes do) started offering some responses which tied into some incomprehensibly stupid reasons to opt out of home-schooling and send my kids to school? I mean, they’d see this post and think I was spring boarding off of their incomprehensibly stupid comments. I am therefore ethically required to post this first!

My second struggle is that this post can only exist if people understand my number one reason for home-schooling: I can’t afford private school. I really can’t. I’m trying to save for retirement and the college education of three kids; it’s impossible to pay private school tuition right now.

With conscience assuaged, and the number one reason listed to my reader (that’s you), all struggles are rested. I can unapologetically offer five undeniably and incomprehensibly stupid reasons to opt-out of home school and send kids to school:

  1. To get them to socialize. If you’re sending your kids to school to socialize then you’re sending them for the wrong reason. My kids are part of a library group, a soccer team, a group thing at the YMCA, a kids club at church and a Sunday school at another church. You can get them to socialize, but without a proper education, all you’ve taught them is which hands to grease.
  2. To let them learn how to struggle. This, unfortunately, has nothing to do with educational struggle but everything to do with societal struggles. What the person invariably means is “how to deal with bad teachers” or  ”how to deal with bullies” which are both two sides of the same coin. One set of bullies uses his fists; the other set of bullies uses his or her power. But I can’t see a morally justifiable reason to inflict bullying on anyone.  The lesson usually winds up being (1) become faster, (2) become stronger, (3) learn how to cheat the system. If those are the invaluable lessons, thanks…we’ll pass.
  3. Because I can’t handle it. Once again, the reason to send kids to school is to get them educated, not so that you have a public funded baby-sitting service. If you truly believe that the Public School is great education wise, by all means, send your kids. But if you’re sending them because you can’t handle it then you’re selling both your kids, and yourself, short.
  4. Because everyone else is doing it. If your main reason for sending your kids to public school is because you fear being scorned by friends and family, welcome to being a pushover to the whims of peer pressure. If you want to teach your kids not to submit to bullying, address this area before all others.
  5. To get them to preach the Gospel to fellow unbelievers. Or, in other words, being salt and light (Matthew 5).Just because you’re a Christian that has raised your children in that environment doesn’t mean that your Children are Christians. Even if they are Christians it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily strong Christians. More often than not, a kid sent to school to evangelize is going to wind up a product of whoever he is evangelizing; not vice versa.

Hopefully your mental facilities haven’t been irreparably damaged by suffering under such incomprehensibly stupid reasoning: good thing neither of us employs it. I do plan to make it up to you with my 10 reasons for opting for homeschooling over other forms of schooling.

]]> http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/5-stupid-reasons-not-to-home-school/feed/ 1 Prepackaged Town Halls? http://rreynoso.com/blog/links-n-junk/prepackaged-town-halls/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/links-n-junk/prepackaged-town-halls/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:29:00 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=892 Chip Reid and Helen Thomas against Robert Gibbs at the daily press briefing on the “tightly controlled” town hall meeting. Gibbs keeps saying “let’s have this discussion after the meeting.” Also look at how she grills George Bush and how he answers. Video after the jump.

Helen Thomas asking Obama a question

Helen Thomas a couple of years ago against George Bush:

]]> http://rreynoso.com/blog/links-n-junk/prepackaged-town-halls/feed/ 0 Taplet PC Dreamin’ http://rreynoso.com/blog/design/taplet-pc-dreamin/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/design/taplet-pc-dreamin/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:46:29 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=890 I’ve been flitting around tech stores trying out multi-touch capable laptops searching, hoping, for the perfect Multi-Functional All-Purpose Swiss Army Tech Tool. What I’m hoping is that this tool replaces my leather Bible, works as a note-taking tool, allows me to design anything from articles to websites on the run, and has the sheer work-horse power to create and display professional presentations. I dream of a Perfected Tablet PC.

But Tablet PC’s are just not there yet. They offer all the features that you can find on your standard multi-touch smart phone, but I’m not looking for a glorified phone or a laptop transformer—I’m looking for the Future of portable computing. So here’s where I’m thinking the market needs help:

  1. Soft-Keyboards. Star Trek’s projected keyboard (either light shooting down to the table or a keyboard on a tablet screen) sounds great…until it meets reality. Right now, a typist’s fingers work the keyboard unconsciously. The keys have a physical dimension: depth allowing the nerve endings to know that they’re resting in the middle of a key; a space separator so that if your finger alights between two keys, you automatically move them over; and an audible component telling you that your hand is working. Not so with soft-keyboards: there is no feel, no space and no ‘clackety-clack’. This means that you will constantly have to look at your fingers—unless it’s directly on a tablet screen in which case, half your screen (or all your screen with a ghosted image) will be your keyboard.
  2. Tools. Get a crayon. Draw anything. Does it suck? Now, with a new piece of paper, dip your finger into a something colorful (ink, paint, blood) and do the same thing. Crayon drawing doesn’t look too bad now, does it? There’s a reason why humans use tools—precision that is not immediately possible by pointing. It might have to do with the wide motions of the human wrist versus the minutiae of motion available with a handled tool (ie: pen, brush, pencil, etc.) but either way, it gets to the point of why a touch-screen tablet will still need some sort of input device every now and then.
  3. OS. Operating System programmers have to catch up with the idea of being used in a Multi-Touch environment. Admittedly, there are good signs: Apple’s iPhone OS, though completely focused on a smart phone mentality, has made a lot of progress in terms of Graphic User Interface (GUI); Windows Vistas OS is fully tablet pc ready with more enhancements coming in Windows 7; Linux offers kernels that make tablet-pc functionality applicable to the end-user. But the problem is that all of these OS’s still function like mouse and keyboard systems. So Vista, you click on the screen with your finger and a little mouse icon shows up that allows you to “right click”; iPhones can only properly be typed on with two fingers; linux requires tweaking. We should get more intuitive with this stuff.
  4. Software. Programmers also need to think about ways of gearing their software to using either a pen, fingers, and a keyboard seamlessly. Minority Report’s computers might be able to boot up and be waved about, but it’s the software that allows Tom Cruise to do all that cool stuff.
  5. Casing. Apple has done its fair share aesthetically speaking, but Always Innovating is thinking outside of the box case. With a magnetic case (so you can stick the thing on your fridge), a detachable keyboard, an internal USB port (so that you don’t have dongles hanging everywhere, but they’re placed inside the easy to remove bottom panel), and even the ability to reverse the screen so that you can display for others; Always Innovating knows the breadth of the Personal Computing role. We need that thinking applied to tablet PC’s offering an ergonomically viable, easy to carry, multi-use, pen-toting and durable casing. Consumer Tablet PC’s should evolve from only laptops or the realm of people who carry writing pads; they should be designed for usage in multiple environments: the doctor’s office to the construction site; the classroom to the bathroom; the subway to the airport; walking about inside your house to walking about in a sunny park.
  6. Hardware. Currently, netbooks are running on a different processor from your standard laptop so as to maintain a decent speed with less power thus generating less heat and longer on-battery run-times. But, some tablet PC’s should also have the workhorse power your standard dual to quad processor machine. Technologically, CPU’s have to move forward maintaining crunching power and embracing Netbook lower power requirements. Sure this good for the machine (and our burning laps) but it’s also good for energy conservation.
]]> http://rreynoso.com/blog/design/taplet-pc-dreamin/feed/ 0 Rant On Lawn http://rreynoso.com/blog/rants/rant-on-lawn/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/rants/rant-on-lawn/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:53:14 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=885
  • Mowing the lawn in the heat is awful, more so when the humidity feels like you’re walking through a storm but without the benefit of rain.
  • Mowing the lawn after several days of rain is obnoxious: not only is the grass ridiculously heavy so that your machine keeps stalling, but your feet get a nasty, hot, wet feeling.
  • Neighbors with dogs are great when they keep the dog in their yard, but for some reason my neighbors have decided to walk the dog on my lawn. When I peek at them coming out towards my lawn and I “coincidentally” go outside, they freeze-frame, turn around and walk elsewhere. But when I don’t get a chance to catch them, my mower discovers their unhappy deposits instead.
  • I distinctly remember enjoying mowing my own lawn. That was a little more than two years ago, less a child, less the new neighbors with the dog, and in April.
  • When I see Adam, I might have to punch him in the gut.
  • There is not enough water to recalibrate the dizziness that comes with the first two hours of mowing with a push mower.
  • It doesn’t look big, but a third of an acre is a lot to mow. Especially in the heat. While avoiding poop on the lawn.
  • I don’t think any of my neighbors enjoy it when I take off my shirt. I’ve wondered if the Dog is retribution for the bare bosom or vice versa.
  • In the past I’ve considered a lawn care contract. I refuse to pay for it though in light of identifying with Adam’s stupidity and sheer value of the dollar. In either case, I fear the day when aliens visit our planet and confuse either Dogs, or Our Lawns, for our leaders.
    • ]]>     http://rreynoso.com/blog/rants/rant-on-lawn/feed/ 9     Apple WWDC 2009 http://rreynoso.com/blog/design/apple-wwdc-2009/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/design/apple-wwdc-2009/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:08:21 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=877 No, I’m not there but I’m following the live feed on The Apple Blog and Gizmodo:

    • 15″ Macbook Pro, 7 hour battery life with an SD card slot ($1699).
    • 13″ MacBook now MacBookPro, with unibody, SD Card, 8GB of memory, up to 500GB or 256GB SSD drive with backlet keyboard and FW800. $1199
    • Uber model 17″ with 500GB HD, at $2499. Yup, still can’t buy a Macbook Pro.
    • New Safari does purdee things that are meh. Plugin crash that stops the plugin, not the browser.
    • Quicktime X rebuilt from the ground up. Big woop.
    • Snow Leopard (Leopard users: $29 single/$49 Family) running all major OSX apps in 64 bit coming out December (Windows 7 should be out October, in case you’re wondering).
    • Ms Exchange Support built into Mail, iCal and Address book. This was a Duh, no brainer. Should’ve had that long ago.
    • iPhone OS 3.0: 100 new features. cut/copy/paste across aps. Shake phone for undo. Landscape keyboard. MMS available but AT&T MMS later this summer (HA!) HTTP Streaming AV. Javascript performance boost. HTML 5. Form auto-fill.
    • iTunes rentals available for iPhone.
    • iPhone Tethering now available over USB or Bluetooth. AT&T doesn’t support it at launch (HA!)
    • Find My iPhone (new feature): your iPhone floats from the ether, or at least tells MobileMe ($99 per year) where it is. Your family and friends can also track you down with it. (SkyNet coming soon)
    • A bunch of boring iPhone Ap stuff. Some random announcment of 16gb 3GS iPhone ($199) and 32GB iphone 3GS  ($299) and the base 3G model remaining at $99.
    • No Camera on the front of the iPhone. bah.

    All in all, no big woop. Maybe some ups for OS3.0 but, with a jailbroken iTouch I’m not overly hyped.

    ]]>     http://rreynoso.com/blog/design/apple-wwdc-2009/feed/ 2     Your Body: A Poll http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/your-body-a-poll/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/your-body-a-poll/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:39:59 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=872

    ]]>     http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/your-body-a-poll/feed/ 0     Links N’ Junk: Spring Is In The Air http://rreynoso.com/blog/links-n-junk/links-n-junk-spring-is-in-the-air/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/links-n-junk/links-n-junk-spring-is-in-the-air/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:50:41 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=870
  • russia. American capitalism is gone with “a freeman’s whimper”. i don’t know what that means but it sounds bad.
  • gotham. five super powers you can have.
  • dc. sotomayor’s record on the SCOTUSBlog (HT: jeremy)
  • lawn. gorgeous desktop photos of the most hated weed.
  • art. mail art—I’m tempted but I think I only want to do this with people I know.
  • church. with the increase of home churches, I think we’re going to get more stories like this one.
  • economy. good-bye paper money? (ht: freakonomics)
  • future. brooklyn roof-top farm (ht: kottke)
  • life. help wanted: write the book of life.
  • ilife. iphone apps to get better ifotos.
  • tek. five best netbooks.
    • ]]>     http://rreynoso.com/blog/links-n-junk/links-n-junk-spring-is-in-the-air/feed/ 3     MCF’S Another Poll of Randomosity http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/mcfs-another-poll-of-randomosity/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/mcfs-another-poll-of-randomosity/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 14:15:33 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=865 MCF’s Questions and answers here and my answers after the jump.

    1) If you’ve seen Terminator Salvation, what was your favorite homage/reference to the previous films?
    I pretty much liked all of them. Guns and Roses had me smiling but I was blown away by another scene that I won’t say. in all honesty, the movie was done so well that most kids that see it Today don’t even realize they’re references to the previous movies. My teenage niece probably thought the G&R was noisy tripe to attract bad guys.

    2) If you had to lose one of your senses, which would you prefer?
    Smell probably. Or my Seventh Sense which is beyond my Sixth Sense and so MindBoggling that I can’t even name it.

    3) What’s that noise?
    Nothing good.

    4) Is it possible to be too polite?
    Yes. When Polite becomes Too Polite it is because it’s either masochistic or passive aggressive.

    5) Do you ever cancel out your own actions?
    Only when I leap back in time and accidentally change something that I must quickly change back before I either (a) erase myself from existence or (b) have every molecule in the multi-verse imploding at the speed of light.

    6) Do you have any sixes?
    No. Only Seven of Nine.

    7) If a man had a hat, and the hat was tan, what is the square root of 144?
    Depends. Is the man British or African.

    8) What is your least favorite color?
    Toss up between Purple and Green and Yellow.

    9) Does being confident make you cool?
    I don’t think so. I’m absurdly confident (and there’s pictures on Facebook to prove that my confidence knows no bounds) but that, unsurprisingly, kept me unCool. My High School and College dating track record can prove that.

    10) What’s the worst thing about the new Fall television schedule?
    Probably that Chuck and Heroes in the same time-slot bit. I’m looking forward to V though.

    ]]>     http://rreynoso.com/blog/sweet-nothings/mcfs-another-poll-of-randomosity/feed/ 0     Interview With Sy 2009 http://rreynoso.com/blog/kids/interview-with-sy-2009/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/kids/interview-with-sy-2009/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 12:00:15 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=861 This seems to be Kid week. We’ve done two interview with Josias (link here) and we figured we would do one this year, now that he’s in first grade.

    What is your favorite Song?
    Wizards of Winter.

    Sy how old are you?
    Seven…let’s just say eight because this year I will be eight.

    How old is Mommy?
    Thirty two?

    What is your favorite food?
    Same thing as Elayna said: Pizza and Pasta.

    What is your favorite musical Instrument?
    I’ll name you three. I like the regular guitar, the electric guitar and the violin.

    What is your favorite state?
    Um, two states I can pick: the only states I lived in. There’s some things I like about New York and some things I like about Pennsylvania.

    What do you like about New York?
    That there are a lot of up-down lights to lower the light [he's talking about dimmer switches] then we can make it like a show or a play. You get to see a lot of things when you go on trips: like an arch when we’re driving.

    What do you like about Pennsyvlania?
    It’s easy to take a trip to Grandma and Grandpa.

    What is your favorite color?
    Blue

    Who is your favorite Super Hero?
    I don’t have a favorit e Super Hero. I need to know about a bunch of them to know which is my favorite. I have to know all they do to figure it out. But you can ask me “what is your favorite Star Wars character.”

    Who is your favorite Star Wars Character?
    Um. Let me think of one. Um, I’ll pick…Luke Skywalker?

    What is your favorite TV Show?
    Too hard to pick but I will tell you what kind of character: Jedi Master.

    What is your favorite activity?
    Be crazy and play DS [as in Nintendo DS]

    What is your Least favorite activity?
    Wake up at 3am because I see shadows.

    What is something you do every day?
    School.

    What is your Favorite Toy?
    DS and buddies [Nintendo DS and Stuffed Animals]

    Who is your best friend?
    Elayna and Breydon [sister and brother]

    What is your favorite movie?
    Star Wars.

    If you could buy anything in any store you would buy…
    Electronic stuff, light bulbs, plastic, acid, batteries, thread, metal, something that is solid with blue to make a light saber.

    What do you want to be when you grow up?
    Jedi. Astronaut. Teacher. Learn how to fight so I can put information in the computer to control robots to protect us: they are body guards. A famous musician that plays music everyone loves.

    ]]>     http://rreynoso.com/blog/kids/interview-with-sy-2009/feed/ 2     Interview With Elayna 2009 http://rreynoso.com/blog/kids/interview-with-elayna-2009/ http://rreynoso.com/blog/kids/interview-with-elayna-2009/#comments Thu, 14 May 2009 12:00:46 +0000 Rey http://rreynoso.com/blog/?p=858 We did an interview with Elayna a year ago. Now that she’s reached the ripe age of 4, we figured to ask her some of the questions again.

    Elayna how old are you?
    four

    How old is Mommy?
    I don’t know.

    What is your favorite food?
    Pizza and Pasta and Spaghetti (truth about one, dead up lie with the latter)

    What is your favorite musical Instrument?
    Violin

    What is your favorite state?
    South America.

    Have you ever been to South America?
    No!

    How do you know you like it?
    Because…I don’t know. Because of the museum. The museums is fun.

    Who is your favorite Super Hero?
    Bat-Man

    What is your favorite song?
    Princess Leia’s Theme and Why Do Bird’s Suddenly Appear Every Time Elayna is Near.

    What is your favorite color?
    Pink.

    What is your favorite TV Show?
    Dora the Explorer

    What’s your favorite activity? What do you like to do, the most?
    Ride my bike and swing on the swings up high…

    What is your least favorite thing to do?
    Fight Darth Maul (said with a somber and battle worn face)

    What is something you do every day?
    When I go to bed at night I feel like there are ghosts in my bed….

    What is your favorite Toy?
    Trucks. (that’s a lie.)

    What is your favorite place to visit?
    Grandpa and Grandma’s house.

    Who is your Best Friend?
    Elika.

    What is your favorite movie?
    Peter Pan. (Not too sure she’s being honest here, either.)

    Tell me something you wish you could do
    Make copies like lines.

    What is your favorite book?
    Star Wars Book.

    If you could buy anything in a store, what would you buy?
    Carrots and lettuce.

    What do you want to be when you grow up?
    Dora the Explorer

    ]]>     http://rreynoso.com/blog/kids/interview-with-elayna-2009/feed/ 2