Archive by Author

The Funniest Pet Costumes

Posted 10 August 2010 | By | Categories: Holiday | 10 Comments

   know, I’m posting this in August.  They’re still funny.  The thing that makes pet costumes so hilarious is that the dogs (or other pets) have no idea what you’ve just done to them or why.  Here you are going through all this effort, and the dog must be thinking “I don’t get it.”  Of course [...]

Beating up the Weakling

Posted 09 August 2010 | By | Categories: Behavior | 13 Comments

   Non conformity is one reason some kids get picked on.  Like I talked about yesterday, peer pressure causes school kids to try their best to act and look the same as one another.  The kids spend so much time worrying about looking like their neighbor that education takes a back seat.  But, the question [...]

Peer Pressure: The Only Cure is Self Confidence

Posted 08 August 2010 | By | Categories: Behavior | 10 Comments

     Peer pressure is part of growing up and it’s hard to avoid.  While writing yesterday’s article about school supplies and excessive branding I reflected on some of the things peer pressure demanded of me as a kid.  What was cool when you were a kid?  What things, if seen with (or without), would make [...]

Back to School: Where are the Pencils?

Posted 07 August 2010 | By | Categories: General Interest | 16 Comments

I got the Target Welcome Back to School flier in the mail a few days ago.  It’s loaded, presumably, with offers on all the things my kids will need to be successful students.  I thought to myself “It looks thick.  I wonder what sorts of things public school kids need these days.”  This morning, because The [...]

Coloring Sheets #5

Posted 06 August 2010 | By | Categories: Coloring sheets | 2 Comments

    We’re getting some requests for coloring sheets!  This week Angie requested a unicorn, and my friend Mitzi requested some blank faces and bodies for coloring (but Mely only got the faces in this week).  Thanks guys!  The coloring idea is starting to get fun, and we’re making great progress on our e-book.  Like always, [...]

Katherine A. Scheri: Internet Troll Extraordinaire!

Posted 05 August 2010 | By | Categories: General Interest | 20 Comments

        “… You are a joke my friend.  You don’t have the intelligence or the backbone to admit that you are a hack.  You cannot defend your comments because they are indefensible.  You have only confirmed with your censorship that you are a jellyfish…I know when I am dealing with a complete moron and hopefully [...]

Everything you Ever Wanted to Know about Galileo

Posted 04 August 2010 | By | Categories: Education | 2 Comments

Quality on-line resources are slowly making libraries obsolete.  Don’t worry though.  It won’t happen anytime soon; libraries are still a far superior option.  The internet, or course, hasn’t always been so useful.  Sure, it’s been good for buying things and connecting with friends; but finding reliable scholarly information has always been a stumbling block for [...]

Reading is More than the Utterance of Sounds

Posted 03 August 2010 | By | Categories: Education | 11 Comments

The first step in a child’s journey to literacy is to make the basic letter sounds.  Later they shape sounds into words and sentences.  We’ve been through all of that, struggle and reward, and we’re proud that that portion of our journey is over.  Neil, now 7, is ready to open the next gate and [...]

In a Perfect World

Posted 02 August 2010 | By | Categories: Fun Stuff | 8 Comments

Yesterday’s article was a bit serious.  Today I’ll balance that with something wistful.           In a perfect world there would be no murder, kids would respect their parents, nobody would starve to death and everybody would have a pet unicorn.  When I think of how the world could be improved, I do think of those [...]

The 7 Deadly Sins: Fabricated Nonsense

Posted 01 August 2010 | By | Categories: Behavior | 9 Comments

     A lot of people think the 7 Deadly Sins are written indelibly in the Bible.  Well they aren’t; they came from the mind of a 4th century Greek monk named Evagrius of Pontus.  Evagrius even came up with the notion of ranking the sins in order of seriousness: gluttony, fornication avarice, sadness, anger, listlessness, vainglory, and pride.  [...]

Reborn Babies: Pandering to a Mental Disorder

Posted 31 July 2010 | By | Categories: General Interest | 155 Comments

    Some people are not content with normal dolls.  Some people want dolls that are as close to the real thing as possible without actually being a real baby.  To be more precise, they would probably prefer a real baby but settle for a realistic looking doll as the next best thing.  The dolls in question are called [...]