Another Exciting Week Some good books

Not much happening - AGAIN
Anna went to a couple of Basketball practices and did not like it at all, she didn't like the coach yelling, hurry up, you have to be faster. At the urging of a couple of other girls she went out for cheerleading, and everyone makes the team. Because she is so small she was selected to be one of the "fliers" but 3 of the four girls who are her lifters have never done that before so there are some challenges in working that out- you can't fly if your lifters cannot lift and hold evenly. She seems to be having fun and says the girls are much friendlier than some of the girls she has had in her classes.

She as had some of the girls come up to her and tell her not to talk to some boy because that is so and so's boyfriend. In an effort to meet new people and make new friends, she asked one of the girls on the equestrian team if she could be her physics lab partner. The girl shrugged gave her " a look" and said , I guess, when another girl came up she said "is SHE working with us? Girl 1 said again with a shrug and a look, "I guess."

One of the girls whom she is working with in Spanish knew me from DI, and is a real sweetie, they seem to get along better.

Anna is frustrated because so many of the kids do not do their work and the teachers let them get away with it and don't feel like they can move on if 95% of the kids don't "get it."

For example: In English the kids were supposed to read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and have a quiz on it this week and because most of the kids have not read it, because it is "too hard" Anna-Lena has to read, it Charlie reads it then they discuss it because she is trying to understand the old southern dialect and she got it done. The teacher has given them another two weeks.

In Spanish they have taken the same "map quiz" three or 4 times. When one of the girls said something the teacher said, something about her being smart and couldn't she the teacher couldn't move ahead until the class gets it.

It seems to me that if the teachers would not coddle them quite so much and really expect them to do their work they would get farther,

On to more "cheerful" subjects. Brian, Shonda's boyfriend, got a nice 8 point buck this week, and his dad got a really nice one too. I don't have any pictures, maybe Shonda took some I can share later.

Only three days of work this week- I am taking Friday after Thanksgiving off, I don't usually do that. I don't plan on doing any heavy shopping either- I hate those crowds.

Oh, a hint for those of you who might be checking several blogs, if you subscribe to a feed, you only have to check one spot to see which ones have been updated. Go to Common Craft- Social Design for the Web for a better explanation.

I sent an e-mail to those I thought might be interested but in case I missed you- I added some family history pictures to my flickr account, last week. go to flickr.com and search for betzspt- it will pull up all of my pictures.
Anna also has an account- if you are interested search for annaleanwerner. You can also do an RSS feed on flickr accounts.

I just finished reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen- It was a pretty good book. I'd be interested in what some of the rest of you thing.

I also read Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the book chosen for the Libraries "Big Read" this year. I did not care for this one, but would be interested in what the rest of you thing about this one too.

For more light reading- A Bear in the Attic by Patrick F. McManus, I try to take some of these with us when we travel, It is something all three of us can listen to and enjoy together.

If any of you have read The Mitford Years series of books by Jan Karon, She is starting a new series, the first one Home to Holly Springs, and takes Father Tim back to his boyhood home.

Later - JB