Snow

Vinny made me so proud this morning. I had OBP on in the living room, some show about gardening. At one point they were talking about keeping plants healthy and safe in winter. I wasn't watching until Vinny pointed at the T.V. and said "Shue" (His word for "look" or "see") then out the window and repeated "Shue" so I looked, it was snowing on the TV, and out the window! He kept pointing back and forth "shue"ing, then walked (okay, hobbled with a hand on the coffee table) to the couch to get a better look out the window and said "wow."

I was so excited to see him not only telling me something so clearly but also realizing things can be happening in two places at once, and that what you see in one place you can seen in another. I just can't believe what he is doing. He communicates with me really well. He will point at what he wants and say, you guessed it, "Shue", then if I pick up the wrong thing he will quickly shake his head and point again until I get it right. He only gets mad or fussy if I am obviously giving him the wrong thing on purpose, or he is sleepy. When I get it right he smiles or giggles. It is so cute.

Law and Order

Jack McCoy on Law and Order had a great quote on an episode tonight, I really liked it, so I thought I would share it with you all.

"The Constitution should be used less as a shield for the guilty and more as a weapon for their innocent victims."

Seriously, "LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". I am so sick of "justice" letting people get away with murder and the destruction of lives in the name of the constitution. KKK incites people to commit crimes, but it is freedom of speech. But if I say I am Christian I am forcing my religion on people and I should be silenced.

Oh, and on the topic of freaking freedom of speech, a Candidate's pastor can have, just in the last year, say horrible things about his country DURING SERMONS and people say "Don't hold it against the Candidate, he doesn't believe that." The same candidate's wife can say embarrassing things I don't like hearing from a potential first lady, but we should all ignore it.

But if a Candidate has a religion that says others might not being doing what they should, or that you might be wrong, just saying, he is ridiculed, mocked and judged on what happened in his religion 100 YEARS AGO! And that's okay, no wait, more than okay, it's right. Come on!

Now I am not saying Obama is a radical like his pastor. I have no idea if he is, and I think his wife just said something stupid and probably thought "Shut up! Shut up!" after her comment, but it is the way people reacted to it and treat it. I am just sick of all this "Liberty and Justice (and freedom of Speech or religion) for some. It's getting really old.

Baby Loves Chocolate

This is a video from this morning.
Last night I took Vinny's easter basket and put it beside his crib, on the floor, this morning he had been very quiet for about and hour so I went in to get him. I could smell chocolate as I walked in, but I thought the basket must have been left near the heater. This is what I found.

8th Grade Education

I found this on-line and I was just shocked to think about it. Nowadays people talk about how we are so much smarter and better off than 10, 20, 100 years ago, but this proves other wise to me. I had to look up a bunch of this on Google just to understand the questions. I know Kari will do better than me, being a teacher and all, but for the rest of us, try it out without looking anything up first and see how you compare. (And we are doing this after a full High School and College educations)


What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895

--Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)


1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of"lie,""play," and "run."
5. Define case; Illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)


1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)


1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas. (Sub. in your state, Oregon for most of you)
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour) Do we even know what this is??


1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8 . Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)


1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? Also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers