Wishing you a healthy and happy winter

Here's a story of synchronicity (or simply coincidence). On the second day of our current cold snap, I noticed how foolish many people are about keeping warm.  There seems to be some unwritten understanding that because we live in Queensland, the weather is warm.  Most of the time this is true, but when the temperature is 12 degrees celsius, clearly it is reasonably cold. And one should dress appropriately.  But this is how the townsfolk of my regional centre were dressing: jeans with T-shirt and thongs (that's flip-flops for the Americans, and jandals for the New Zealanders); shorts and singlets; bare feet.  And everyone was exclaiming about how cold it was! Madness!  And the same day, our local paper's lead story was about our hospitals' emergency departments having treated over 64,000 people in the past year.  Many of them for simple colds and coughs.

  I saw red. I was fuming. I almost wrote a smarmy letter to the editor. Our health system is overstretched as it is. A popular sport around here is telling horror stories about waiting times at the hospital, and the poor treatment people receive there. Maybe if people looked after themselves, all through the year, but especially in winter, the peak of the cold and flu season, the figures would not be so high, and the overworked, underpaid doctors and nurses at the hospital would be able to give better and more efficient help to those who genuinely need it.

I know I'm probably preaching to the converted. But it won't hurt any of us to do a quick mental check that we are doing our best to keep ourselves and our families healthy and happy this winter. I have had a quick surf to find some sites which may help:

• Wendy Blume from Vegie Smugglers has a guest post, 5 ways to keep kids healthy in winter at Body and Soul . 

And since cabin fever can sometimes be just as bad as real fever....

• Christie Burnett, at Childhood 101 has come up with a great list of ideas for keeping kids active when it is too cold to go outside.
• Here are some craft ideas for entertaining tweens and some other rainy day ideas for kids of all ages.
• Lists of the best books for teenage boys and girls
• American Library Association's (ALA) list of best contemporary young adult fiction (some of which looks great - I will have to have a closer look at this list!) And here is the list of the ALA's award winners including the Newbery and Caldecott medals.

What do you do to stay happy and healthy in winter? Have you found any gems or germs online?

625 - My favourite number!

Today I'm celebrating 625 visits to my blog. 625 is my lucky number, because it is 25 squared. My favourite numbers (for no reason) have always been 6,2 and 5. This has nothing to do with any sort of astrological or numerological system, I just like these numbers. I'm not advertising this post on facebook, I just wanted to share that little bit of trivia with my loyal readers or anyone who might come here by accident. Hello out there! I wish I could make you a virtual cuppa and bikkie to say thanks.

I recently took part in a survey about language use. It was being carried out as part of some PhD research. It was very interesting, looking at language acquisition and use of people from hearing and non-hearing households.  I had never really taken the time before to think about what it would be like to be a hearing person to have two deaf parents, and to have a sign language be one's first language, rather than a spoken language.  Some of the questions related to how much time one spends speaking to various people each day, and it struck me that so much of our 'conversation' these days is done by written words - texting, chatting online, email etc. In the past we would not have been able to contact people that way, or communicate with them so readily, but on the other hand we would have spent more time talking to the people who were actually near us. So here I am talking to you, when my children are in the next room, and I should perhaps be talking to them!

I think I'll sign off now.....

Procrastination -the explanation

After weeks and months of hibernation, a springlike quickening is innervating (enervating? there is a distinct difference), my blog. This is fuelled by:

1. My husband's amused and amusingly repetitive asking "So, how is your blog going? How long since your last post" (or perhaps he is saying Last Post - with capitals...).  I am notorious at starting things and not finishing them, which is good for something like a marriage, or a block of chocolate, but not so great for things like Masters degrees and law degrees.

2.  My husband's absence.  He is overseas at a conference at the moment, and I am missing him a lot.  I love him ridiculously much, and love just spending time with him when he is here, and tend to put off all but the most pressing (or most loudly whinging) tasks. Soppy I know!

3. What I should be doing: I have been on leave from teaching for so long now that in order to maintain my registration, I have to complete a Restart teaching course.  It is not difficult or onerous.  In fact, I am really enjoying it.  It is great to be talking to teachers about teaching again.  The course is really worthwhile, and I am learning a lot, because it has a strong emphasis on digital learning, and developing my skills with technology, as well as exploring all the systemic and curricular changes that have happened while I've been away.  Th problem is, the facilitators are extremely understanding about how busy the participants' lives can be, and so are very flexible with deadlines. This is not good for me.  I am a totally last minute person. This has a spontaneous upside, but is not very helpful in Real Life.

So there you have it.  I'm procrastinating. But I am really excited about how many people, maybe even some of them new, are visiting my blog.  It feels great to be writing for fun for a change.  I just need to go and finish this course and then I can write for fun without the nagging guilt! 

P.S. Another way I can tell I'm in procrstination mode: My house is presentable, and the ironing is almost up to date...how about you?

Knowledge per se....

Recently my husband and I had a fascinating conversation about music.  He loves music, and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music from about the last 50 years.  He is one of those people who can "name the song and band" after hearing just a bar or two of a song.  He can also tell who is singing a cover version.  On the other hand, I am often surprised to discover that music from an advertisement is actually from a real song....I really am hopeless when it comes to contemporary music.  I enjoy listening to it when he turns on the stereo, but I wouldn't think to do it myself.

I love listening to classical music, and foreign and indigenous singers whose lyrics I know I can't understand, so there's no need trying.  I played the french horn in our school orchestra - I am not naturally musical, but had a fabulous teacher. (French horn is a good instrument to play if you are not in fact very musical - you sit near the trumpets and trombones, who are usually quite musical or at least very confident and cocky, and they either drown you out or blend you in, so no one notices your mistakes). I loved playing in orchestras and bands.  Creating music with others is very fulfilling; a real pleasure.

As I was saying, I love classical music.  I loved learning about musical theory, history and the lives of the great composers.  It is a source of great sadness to me that I am not actually musical. I was one of only three students banned from our primary school choir membership of which was compulsory!

To cut a long story short, I know a lot about music, but can't actually 'do' music very well.  Nevertheless I am very grateful to all those who helped me learn, and who patiently covered for me in various bands and orchestras over the years.  And the fascinating conversation I had with my husband made it all worth while.

He asked me about scales, and how you can tell if a piece of music is in a particular key, and what the difference is between major and minor keys, and why we need sharps and flats. In other words, about three years of music theory condensed into a half hour conversation.  So I sat him down at the keyboard of our (digital) piano and showed him.  It was a really special feeling, firstly to actually know more about something than he does, but also to be able to teach him a little more about something he loves.  It was so refreshing (and sadly, unusual) to be having an in depth conversation that didn't revolve aroung the children or the household or work or finances.  Eventually our discussion led us to the internet, where we found sites that got right into the maths and physics of music and harmony, where we both learnt something new together.  And while we'll never have to rely on our understanding of musical theory for a crust, that time spent talking and sharing was for me so precious.

How often, at school or uni, have we sat in class thinking (or saying...) "Why do I have to do this? This is sooo totally irrelevant to me. I'm no good at this, why do I have to learn it?"  The fact is, we can never know when something we have learnt may come in handy, when we may be grateful to those who made us learn a language or an instrument or a sport or a skill. Even learning something at which we are hopeless gives us at least a greater appreciation of the efforts of those who excel.

For which of education's 'irrelevancies' are you grateful?

Halfway to Christmas

It's true enough - my daughter asked me today how long it is until Christmas.  She is desperate to start school, and she knows that she has to wait until "after Christmas".  It was at that point I realised that we are close enough to halfway there.   And this is my first post since January....and apparently blogs don't write themselves....so with all good intentions, I'll give the rusty writer's brain a shake and see how I go.

Frankly, Christmas can't come soon enough. Nor 2012. Last decade, for all that it was called the 'noughties', and for all the war and terrorism and horror that it contained, was really pretty benign to me and mine.  This year has been very different so far.  I am feeling very unsettled. It seems that stresses and tensions that are appearing in the natural world (and let's face it, it's got to the point where I think we are all wondering what new disaster each month will bring), are being mirrored by sad upheavals in our family. And as Forrest Gump would say "That's all I have to say about that". I know that blogs are supposed to be fora for opening one's heart and baring one's soul (messy!), but sometimes there is also a need to retreat, hermit-like.

The sum of innumerable privileges

It is coming to that busy Christmas end of year season here.  In Australia, the weather really heats up, the temperature rising in tandem with the excitement of children anticipating a period of surprises and treats.  For me, Christmas is always a period of reflection and evaluation, as the year draws to a close replete with images of new life welcomed in surprising and unconventional circumstances, ancient promises made and kept, and the tenuous vulnerability of life and relationships.  At this time of year, above all others, I am acutely aware of being the sum of innumerable privileges.

"Of those to whom much is given, much will be expected."  I don't know the origins of this expression, but it has been a theme in my family for as long as I can remember; the implication being that those with talent or intellectual or material wealth have an obligation to give of themselves, and to make the most of their opportunities to unselfish ends.  And this is something I strive for.  And yet how can I hope to give in accordance with the abundance of privilege I have? Privilege I did nothing to earn or achieve.

I was born in a time of peace in a stable democracy.  I am a part of the dominant culture, speaking the dominant language.  I grew up in a loving and supportive family with many excellent role-models.  I received easily, willingly and happily an outstanding education.  I was blessed to have outstanding teachers.  I attended university with a minimum of fuss, and at a reasonable cost.  My gender is, to all intents and purposes, irrelevant.  I have excellent health.  My children are healthy, happy and amazing.  My husband grows more impressive - in thoughtfulness, character and integrity.  The debt I owe to life, or humanity, or the future is humbling.

35 Gifts Your Children Will Never Forget | Becoming Minimalist

A nice reminder that the best and most important gifts are not given just once a year!
35 Gifts Your Children Will Never Forget Becoming Minimalist

Fathers' Day

Yesterday was Fathers' Day in Australia, and perhaps in other countries as well. Fathers' Day and Mothers' Day leave me a bit cold, to be honest.  I don't appreciate the way shops thrust their marketing down our throats, implying that we should demonstrate our love for our parents by buying expensive gifts.  It must also be a very hard day for people who have lost parents or children, or who have been unable to have children, or who are going through complicated divorces etc.  Indeed, these celebratory days may serve to alienate and exclude more people than they include!

But I digress! The point of this blog is not for me to rave on about social issues that make me feel vaguely nauseous.

My previous post sparked some discussion about homework and how it can be best made relevant, and of best use to families.  With this in mind, and in acknowledgement of yesterday being Fathers' Day, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a student a fortnight ago.

I have recently started doing some supply/casual/substitute teaching at a local highschool.  During a recent lesson, I noticed a girl quietly finishing off some work from another subject.  When I asked her about it, her face lit up and she proceeded to tell me enthusiastically about her science assignment.  As part of a unit about electricity, the year 9 class had been set a practical assignment to build something that included electical circuitry.  They had a number of optoions to choose from, including solar powered vehicles, burglar alarms etc.  The girl I was speaking to had chosen to build a dolls' house which had electric (LED) lights in each room which could be operated in various configurations with different switches.  Instead of taking the simple way out and just poking the LED lights through a cardboard box and cutting out windows and doors, the girl and her father had worked together to build a beautiful two-storey, wooden dolls' house.  It took them many hours of work, designing, cutting, sanding and assembling the house, not to mention the electrical wiring and circuitry.  And what a lasting monument to a solid father/daughter relationship!  At a stage of life when tradition has it that parents and children are least likely to get along, here was a homework assignment that helped to bring them together! I wonder of the teacher, when he or she set the assignment, had it in mind that it could provide such pleasure to a father and daughter.

(P.S. I realise that some readers' hackles will be raised by my positioning of the apostrophe in Fathers' Day, but I see it as a time to celebrate all fathers and father-figures; fathers as a class, not as individuals.)