Oregon Education - The Early Years

  When I was in middle school, I had a poster that said "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten."  I liked that poster because it went on to list a multitude of things that you learn in kindergarten that carry you through the rest of life.  It is why these foundational years are so important.  However, in Oregon many kids never attend pre-school or kindergarten.

Here’s a summary of how Oregon is performing in education from the Education Week Magazine annual survey of education in America: From http://oregoncatalyst.com/1117-Oregon-Education-Among-Very-Worst-in-the-Nation.html

1. Oregon is the worst state in the nation for Kindergarten enrollment (rank 50).

5. Forty-seven states have early-learning standards — Oregon has none.

The first point shows the value that Oregonians place on formal education.  They are more likely to keep their kids home longer than any other state and if they do enroll them in kindergarten most districts only offer half-day programs.  The general belief that I have found in talking to other parents is that 5 and 6 year olds are too young for direct instruction and need free play time more than school at this age.

The fifth point shows that the idea of young children should be free to learn whatever, is not just what the parents think but is part of the educational culture.  The state has not set any guidelines for early education.  This creates a much wider range of skills, ability, and knowledge sets for children when they do enter school.   In fact Oregon law does not require a child to attend school until after they turn 7, which is the age most children start second grade.  The down playing of the importance of formal education during the years where most foundational skills are learned has long lasting implications throughout the education career of Oregon students.

    When students are not given a strong start to their educational careers, it isn't surprising that they don't finish well.  A report by the Oregonian states that Oregon has the worst graduation rate of any state in the nation, with only 69% of its students graduating on time.
http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/01/oregon_posts_worst_graduation.html

Oregon Education - A reflection of culture

     Oregon is known the beautiful parks, rivers and waterfalls.  There are very few places where you can find perfect snow ski-ing less than 3 hours from beautiful beaches.  Oregon is the only state in which all beaches are publicly owned.  Portland is on the list of the top 10 cities with the most parks (http://www.planetizen.com/node/63523).  Oregonians love being outdoors and take great pride in protecting the environment.  Naturally they want to pass on this love to their children.  For many families camping trips and days spent at the beach take precedence over school for their kids.
      On Feb. 6, 2014 the Oregonian reported:

Last school year, nearly one in five Oregon students missed at least 10 percent of the school year, an investigation by The Oregonian shows. Those roughly 100,000 students were absent 3½ weeks of school or more – in most cases without raising alarms at their school.

No other state has been shown to have a chronic absenteeism rate as bad as Oregon’s.

      Another thing Oregon is know for is the diverse culture and acceptance of people.  In Oregon, especially in the metro areas, you will see all sorts of people living and working together.  If you don't know what I mean, watch a few episodes of Portlandia.  The nonjudgmental culture is one of the things I really like about living here.  However, I believe it also indicates a culture of everyone for themselves which resists all forms of conformity, such as the current changes in public education.  With the introduction of Common Core, our country is moving towards having a standard curriculum taught nationwide.  Not only will this help assess how states are doing, but with a much more mobile society it will make the transitions of students from state to state much easier.  The idea of the government deciding what kids should learn and having all kids learning the same things in each grade across the country has ruffled a lot of feathers in Oregon.  I don't think most people understand why they hate the new curriculum, "it is too different," "it is too hard for kids," "the teachers don't like it," and "there is too much testing" are all complaints that I have heard.  I believe the real problem is that it goes against the core values and culture of Oregon.

    The education system in Oregon has come under a lot of scrutiny in the last few years as it has fallen from about the middle of the pack to the bottom in many areas.  Everyone wants to blame state funding, testing, curriculum and just about anything else but I think the problem lies much deeper.  One of the main purposes of public education at its conception was to convey a common culture for this great mixing pot of people.  I believe that the problems that are surfacing in the Oregon education system are a result of the basic culture of Oregonians.
     In my next few posts I am going to explore the relationship between Oregonian culture and the struggling educational system of the state.

Trouble in the Garden

Did you know that chickens like to eat plants or plants that produce human food are much tastier than weeds?  Everyone said that allowing chickens to roam would create havoc in the garden.  It just make sense.  However it is pre-garden season so there isn't much out there of value and if the chickens want to get the grass and weeds out before I start growing stuff, I really don't have a problem with that.  I had always planned to limit their access to the garden once we actually got to garden season, but it didn't take long for me to realize if I didn't do something now there wouldn't be much of a garden season.

I first came to this conclusion when I noticed spinach and kale rapidly disappearing from the garden box.  The spinach was planted mainly for the chickens since they could use it as a source of calcium.  I thought it was safe because after planting it I covered the garden box with bird netting to keep the chickens out.  However within days of germination, it was gone.  I have replanted it and used pvc pipe to create a tent like structure with the bird netting over the box.  Hopefully the sloped sides will have better luck deterring the chickens.

The strawberries didn't come to my attention until they started blooming.  Walking through my strawberry patch, you would expect to find nice bushy plants with little white flowers poking out.  Instead you see this:

Lots of white flowers and a few little leaves.  The flowers make the berries but it is the leaves that make the sugar that goes in the berries.  Definitely a problem.

I have now run out of bird netting.  The garden box, rhubarb, the green beans and most of the strawberries have been covered, but I am not completely confident that will be enough.  We still have the grapes, blueberries, and all the things that haven't yet been planted to consider.  There is always the original plan of only letting the chickens out for a few hours each evening, but they are so cute running around the yard it is hard to keep them in the pen.  Although I am sure as more of my garden is damaged the less cute they will become.

Starting Over

       The first question the kids had when we told them that Popcorn had to move to a farm was, "Can we get another chick?"  The problem is that my garage has not recovered from having our first set of chicks, so the idea of getting more is not a pleasant one.  The other problem is that you really can't just get one more chick.  Chickens are social creatures so one chick would not do well living in isolation until it was old enough to move outside.  The other problem with one chick is that chickens are protective of their flock and don't usually welcome outsiders into the group.  If you introduce one new chicken then all the other chickens pick on it and can end up killing it. Whereas, introducing a few chickens at a time divides the bullying between them and gives them all a better chance at eventually being accepted.
       Then there is the whole reason we got chickens to begin with: EGGS.  When it comes down to it three chickens just can't supply enough eggs for our family, so we "need" to replace Popcorn.  Last Saturday, Paul took the kids to the feed store and picked us up two new chicks; an Americanua and a Black Sex-Linked.  Hopefully both of these turn out to be hens because we really can't replace another with 2 chicks.

Hobbit and Nugget

A Rooster Emerges

Last week one of our chickens started crowing.  I did all sorts of research to figure out what was going on with this hen.  It is well known that hens cluck and roosters crow, but we had purchased four hens not three hens and a rooster.  Not to mention that all the books said that if you have a rooster you would know by 12 weeks, our chickens were 21 weeks old.  Also the crowing did not begin at sunrise but whenever the chicken wanted out of their coop to free range.
     Over the next six days, the crowing grew louder and more regular.  I also did more research and found that the crowing chicken actually had all the other characteristics of a rooster.  We live in an area where it is legal to have roosters. However, the coop is right under my bedroom window and we love our neighbors.  There was no denying that our little Popcorn was a rooster and would need a new home.

Popcorn at 2 days old

Popcorn at 3 weeks old

Popcorn and Omelet at 14 weeks old

Popcorn and Ninja at 22 weeks old

We contacted our friend Tyler who owns Heart 2 Heart Farms and asked if he could take Popcorn.  He told us to bring him out anytime but warned, "if they are mean, we eat them."  Luckily for Popcorn, he has been played with and handled by my kids since he hatched and there isn't a mean bone in him.  My husband took him out to the farm and as soon as Tyler took him from the box he traveled in, Popcorn snuggled up in his arms.  My husband said Tyler and all the farm hands were shocked at the sight of a cuddly rooster.  

      I know Popcorn will enjoy his new home.  I know my neighbors will enjoy being able to sleep past 6:30 each morning.  I also know it was surprisingly hard to give this beautiful rooster away.  Here is to teaching my kids that it is important to do what is right even when it isn't any fun.

Can You Believe the Gall?

     Last August I found myself in intense pain.  I was nauseous and my entire abdomen hurt.  The pain radiated around my right side and across my back.  My back hadn't hurt that much since I delivered my last child.  I spent an entire day curled up in my bed trying not to move while my kids fended for themselves.  When my husband, who has completed EMT training, came home he immediately determined it was my gallbladder and put me on a fat-free, gluten-free, unit-southern diet.
     The next day I went to the doctor, who ran blood tests, x-rays, and finally a sonogram, which confirmed what my husband said.  My gallbladder was in an all out rebellion.   The doctor referred us to a surgeon and we scheduled a consultation for the following week.  During that week, I was amazed at the number of people who had gallbladder stories.  It seems that most of my relatives and a good number of my friends are missing this little organ.
      I did a lot of research on the gallbladder and its purpose.  Although it is a organ you can live without it does serve a purpose in the digestive system.  What really surprised me though was that after about 4 days of being on a strict no fun diet, my symptoms were completely gone.  It seemed that the problem was that I had abused this little organ for too long by eating junk and it just needed a break.  So then I was faced with the question of did I need surgery or did I just need a break from my horrible diet.
     We kept the appointment with the surgeon to discuss the options.  It was a refreshing and insightful discussion.  The surgeon admitted that he had been wrestling with the benefits of this surgery.  He told us, "I took an oath to help people, but all taking out a gallbladder usually does is allow them to continue down an unhealthy path.  I am not sure that is helping them at all in the long run."  I, with the support of my husband, made the decision to keep my gallbladder and make changes to my diet.
     It is now April.  Three days ago I had a second gallbladder attack.  I will admit that my diet had dropped back to whatever the kids were eating or whatever I could grab quickly.  However it only took two days of having a salad for lunch to eliminate all the pain.  I could have my gallbladder removed and never worry about this.  For me (when I am not hurting) I kind of like the built in accountability.  I have never been great with will power and I think that may have been God's true purpose for this little organ.  As we get older we must take better care of ourselves and He knew that wouldn't be easy so he built in a little motivation - pain avoidance.
      As long as I can keep my gallbladder pain-free by eating a decently healthy diet, then I see no reason to have it removed.

Popcorn Experiment

 

    There has been a lot of debate in the family as to which of our chickens is the "Queen of the Flock".  Mrs. Cluckers has always had a tendency to go off on her own.  She was the first to abandon the box in the garage in favor of sleeping on the shelves of canned goods.  But does that make her the one the others follow or just a loner.  Popcorn is and has always been the largest of the flock, but how much of a factor is size in the pecking order of a flock?
    Today the kids decided to use popcorn to test our theories of the pecking order.  We may not have been entirely successful but we did learn a few things.  First, Mrs. Cluckers is definitely the "Queen of the Flock".  She will take food from any of the others and none of them try to take it from her, although they stay real close in case she drops it.  Second, Omelet is the bottom of the flock.  She only gets to eat popcorn if we hold the others back or sneak a piece to her.
    Where the other 2 fall is still a mystery.  Popcorn is so ADHD is it hard to know if she lost her piece because it was taken or she just set it down and forgot about it.  Ninja on the other hand is much faster than the others.  When she gets a piece she takes off running and none of the others can catch her.  When they give up the chase she eats her popcorn in peace.
      I do believe chickens are the most entertaining pets I have ever had.

Popcorn & Omelet