Get out of your comfort level

Taking risks

Why do children learn faster than adults? Many people say it is because they don't have so many obstacles to get in the way of learning. It is hard for anyone to learn a new thing if they don't change what they have been doing. If you keep doing what you have done in the past then how can you learn something new? In other countries they have children start to learn English at a young age and starting at 6th grade they have they students learn how to write in English and learn the grammar. They give grammar tests.
They give spelling tests.

Jousting

 They test students and grade them on the mechanics of English. The children spend 6 years studying English and taking English tests, but never learn English ... just learn how to take tests. They come to the USA and still want to do the same here as they do in their country. They spend five hours a day in a classroom studying how to pass a test in their class. After class they go home where they live with someone that speaks their native language and watch tv in their native language and go to stores with people that speak their native language.

Broadsword fighting

When I ask how I can help them they tell me I can teach them grammar. I ask how that will help and they say that is what is needed to learn English. I ask if they want to go to the Renaissance Faire with me and they say no because they much study and they have never been to a Renaissance Faire before. I tell they they need to do something they haven't done before and they say it isn't comfortable for them. I ask them how that comfort thing is working for them. They acknowledge that they haven't been successful yet, but they need to know more grammar!

Thai maiden

If you keep doing the same thing then how will you improve? If you want to improve your chess game you should play with someone more difficult. If you want to improve your English you need to take a risk and try something new. If you want to learn to drive then quit driving in a circle around the parking lot and drive on the freeway. Do something that makes you uncomfortable and do it until you feel comfortable doing it. Then change it up and find something that is not easy and do it until it is easy. Life is always changing. If it doesn't change then it gets boring and you quit growing. LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE, live it!!

Swords on horseback!

Life CAN'T be put on hold

Sarah at 8

It's 5am on a Saturday morning and I can't sleep. In four hours my youngest daughter moves into the dorms to start her Freshman year of college! She should be the one awake at 5am, not me. I guess sometimes I get too emotional for my own good. As I write this tears are forming in my eyes, aaahhhhhhhhh!! You know they say you shouldn't love one child more than the others and I really believe that. You don't love them more, you just love them differently and it keeps changing depending on the situation and which one needs you at the moment.

Youngest daughter

Sarah is my third daughter and she has been different than the other two. When the first two were in elementary school we lived in Korea and I worked 12 hours a day. My oldest two daughters didn't speak English when they were young and I didn't speak Korean so we couldn't communicate well. We came back to the USA when Sarah was 3 so English was easy for her to pick up. I got divorced when Sarah was 5 so she can't even remember when I lived in the house. Me living 10 minutes away is all she ever knew. When she was young her mom would shield her from me. I was never invited to her school events and I never knew when she had sporting events. It was like her mom allowed me to be involved her her sister's lives, but didn't allow me to see Sarah often. I still have stories about Sarah in the younger years, but not as many as her sisters.

Sarah at 7

When Sarah started 4th grade her mom was in Korea so I got to be in her life more. I can remember the first parent-teacher conference I went to, Sarah sleeping at my house for a month and other little things like that most father's experience. After that I was as involved in her life as I was the other two. I took her to softball games, picked her up from school, helped her do homework, and celebrated special events with her. It was very interesting when the middle daughter, Jayne, came to me and said, "Dad, if you think I'm smart then you should see how smart Sarah is!" I hadn't known Jayne was smart, but it surprised me that one sibling would brag about another to their father.

Sarah (15) and Lindsey (22)

The oldest went off to college when Sarah was 11 and the middle when off to college when Sarah was still in middle school so Sarah was with me one on one since then. I stayed very involved in her life even though she didn't live with me. She and I went on many trips around California together. She spent many nights at my house. She stayed very close to her mom and sisters, but she and I had a special bond. Everyone that knows me knows I talk about Sarah a lot. They know about the other two daughters, but they hear more about Sarah and I doing things together. (here are the tears again) We even share tears together!

16th birthday

I once took all three girls to a movie and Sarah sat next to me. Sarah knows how much I cry in movies, even kid's movies, and during the movie she whispered to me, "Dad, quit crying." I wiped the tears from my eyes and whispered back, "How did you know I was crying in this dark theater?" She giggled and said, "Because I was crying too!" I guess that is when I knew Sarah and I had a special bond. During high school Sarah played volleyball and softball. She was very involved in the school leadership and was always a school elected official. She headed some important positions and even represented her school in Girl's State.

I tried to be there whenever I could. Most of the time she knew I was there, but sometimes she didn't. I wanted to know if she was the same when she didn't know I was around as she was when she knew I was around. She always makes me proud to say she is my daughter. She has been the center of my life for over 10 years and now she is moving away and won't be around so much. I won't desert her and she will always know that I love her and will be there when she needs me. But, she will know she is on her own and I won't be there to make decisions for her and won't know everything she does. She is a good kid and a very nice person. She has her faults, but can correct them when she needs to.

I know she will be successful in college and life. I will always wonder if I could have done something different to help her when she was younger ... but none of that matters or can be changed. Sarah is an individual and Sarah is GREAT! I will be there when she needs me, but only if she asks for my help. My prayers will always be with her and I look forward to see what she will do with her life. Sarah Phillips, I'm proud of you and love you very much!!

Employed after 64 Days

I was unemployed from July 22 - September 26, 2014. I had been prepared to be unemployed for 2 weeks and it turned out to be 2 months. That isn't easy to do. Not only is it hard financially, but also emotionally. Luckily I had my family and friends supporting me financially and emotionally and was able to do it. I tried to do several things while unemployed from taking vacations to finding other work. This is hard to do when I am emotionally on edge. Now that I'm employed again I want to get involved in many things.

While I was sans job I wanted to travel and as I prepared to do that I realized that is what I did for my job so I couldn't get excited about it. I also thought I would find another job since this one doesn't pay me what I should get paid and when I thought I found the job I wanted I found  out they gave me a job where there was no work until next summer.One of my coworkers abandoned the job and got a great job that pays great. Now that I have the burdens gone I will keep my eyes open for a better opportunity. I also will be better at writing here now.

This has been a great week and the weekend looks like it will be better! Sarah's 18th birthday was Tuesday and I was able to give her a great birthday thanks to a friend. Today I met an old student of mine that will soon be moving to Turkey and I am happy I could assist her in reaching one of her goals. Saturday Sarah moves into the dorms and it feels good to have my youngest daughter start a new chapter in her life. And, Sunday I will take a group of 15 to the Northern California Renaissance Fair and I always have fun there and it will be great to share my fun.

Teacher Student

This week I am in training to be able to teach teachers how to use a reading series called Reading Street by Pearson Publishing. I am at the Scott Forseman headquarters near Chicago, Illinois. It feels wonderful to be in this environment. I got my masters in education in 1989 and since then I haven't really taken any education courses. I have taught many of them and am very confident when I teach. This is a humbling experience. I feel completely lost in many of the things we do, but I love that feeling.

I know when I leave this training I will know more than I knew when I came here. I will be able to provide better training to teachers about the reading series. I will feel confident when I talk about this series to schools. The other students here have been working in the elementary education field for over 30 years. Some are recent retirees that have been teaching for over 25 years. Some taught for over 15 years and have worked for Pearson for over 20 years. They all have more experience than I do.

During class we have to give group presentations. I feel like the new kid on the block. I think about the hundreds of times I have my students make presentations in front of their classmates and realize how frightened they must feel. The teachers and the rest of the students are wonderful. They help me throughout this training. Tomorrow I need to step up and be the leader in one of the presentations. No one here is experienced in what we are learning, so I am an equal in what we are learning.

The class also brings back college memories. I was an elementary education major and most of my classes had mostly the same major. 80% of my classmates were female and then there were usually 2 males. This class has 31 students, 2 men. I love this class!!

Back to the Blog

Running in San Francisco

I haven't written in my blog for over a month. On August 4th I got a job "officially", but I wasn't contacted to do anything until August 11th. Even after that I wasn't told how to prepare for the job until August 18th. I tried to do the preparation for the job and kept getting false information until I was given specific information on September 3rd. Sounds like I was getting the run around ... well it felt like it. That job was supposed to tie me over until my contract was renewed in September.

Rock climbing before run

On September 4th I talked to the person that will assign me schools to visit after I'm trained and she told me there were no more assignments until next year. I was hired to work for Pearson publishing and go to schools when they buy text books (Reading Street Common Core) and train the teachers how to get the most out of the reading series. Schools have started so the teacher training is done for this school year. This is a perfect job for me with my normal job not having much work after the school year is over. So, today I'm in Chicago and tomorrow I will go through intensive training for this job that won't start until next June. The good news is I will be paid for this trip and this training.

Running at night

As I was getting off the plane today going to be trained for my new job I got a call from my old job saying I can look forward for the job starting again in 2 weeks. I should expect a 25% raise from my old salary which might be worth the 2 months without work., especially if I keep the job for 5 more years.

14,000 people running in the SF Giants Race

I look forward to starting the job I love and enjoy and feel like I go a good job doing. I think I'm the best Education Liaison in California and I want to get back to work. I haven't liked this forced vacation and feel like my job is more of a vacation than an actual vacation.
I have been wanting to get back to my blog for a long time. I have a lot of things I want to write about. I will be writing about my 3 races I ran this week. I will write about why I run races and why I did 3 in one week. I will write about how to teach proper pronunciation.

I will write about riding in an indie car, I will write about learning life lessons from Candy Crush, I will write about many other things and write often.