Family

Homeschooling-related bills for the 82nd Texas Legislative Session.

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

There are (at least for now) 2 homeschooling-related bills in the 82ns Texas legislative session.

SB 207 – relating to requiring certain students leaving public school to provide documentation necessary to ensure an accurate calculation of dropout rates.

HB 196 – relating to requiring certain students leaving public school to provide documentation necessary to ensure an accurate calculation of dropout rates.

Quick look and the text appears to be the same in both the House and Senate bills.

No, bad bill. Oppose. I LOVE the phrasing… that leaving the failed public school system for a better education via homeschooling is considered dropping out.

HB 132 – relating to the issuance of a driver’s license to a person who has not obtained a high school diploma or its equivalent.

HSLDA is opposing this, but I’m not 100% sure why. My guess is because it enumerates “home school” (in Texas, homeschooling is generally not enumerated, falling under jurisdiction of “private school” and it is best kept that way). I’m going to contact HSLDA for clarification.

Updated: I contacted HSDLA to ask for more details as to why they oppose.

Here’s their more detailed response to SB207 & HB196.

Here’s their more detailed response to HB132.

I agree with their reasoning. You can debate the merit of the intentions behind the bill, but from a purely legal perspective they are bad bills.

Crazy K kinda day

/ hsoi

Yesterday was crazy, in a good way. 🙂

Remember Sneeze, the rescued duck? He’s now living at Crazy K Farm. Ever since Sneeze’s relocation, the kids have wanted to go back and visit. Heck, Wife and I have wanted to go back and visit as well, since we didn’t get a chance to see the farm in the daylight (and it’s our not-so-secret dream to move to the country, so this is just more fuel for that fire). Not to mention, we’re getting to know Tobi and her crew of her daughter and “Long-Suffering Husband”, and they pretty cool people.

So yesterday we packed everyone (Sasha too) into the car and headed down to the farm to spend some time. When we arrived we got a tour of the property, with the highlight being the finding of Sneeze. Both Sneeze and Squirt look great, better than when they were living here. But that stands to reason, because they’re in an environment of care. Sure, we did our best to care for them, but there’s only so much we’re able to do… the overall environment around here isn’t as friendly and welcoming as being on a dedicated farm. In fact, we were floored at the Muscovy’s we saw at the farm. More varieties, like chocolate ones… some of whom even looked golden. They were simply beautiful birds. But there’s more than Muscovy’s at the farm: a few varieties of goats, geese, other ducks, lots of chickens, guineas, 4 horses and 2 donkeys, and a bunch of livestock guardian dogs. Oh, those dogs were awesome.

The Daughter’s played together, the boys (especially Oldest) enjoyed all the animals. In fact, Oldest was truly in heaven; I know if we lived closer he’d be happy to come to the farm every day to help out. The adults enjoyed some good wine, good conversation, Long-Suffering Husband (Tobi’s nickname for him, per Facebook) grilled some food, we ate, we enjoyed. Of course, the farm must continue to function so there had to be feeding of animals, cleaning of cages, and other chores while we were there. Unfortunately we did have a heartbreaking moment when Tobi discovered one of her best chickens had been killed (we assume by a hawk). There was grief, but also resolve on how to prevent that from happening again (once one of the dogs heals up from his surgery, he’s going to be re-trained to guard that segment of the farm).

BTW… feeding time is LOUD. Geese. They are either on or… well, on; there is no off, and they are loud. Get a large group of them together, and it’s deafening. 🙂

Unfortunately our day had to be cut short since we had to get back to Austin. But what a wonderful time. Making new friends is always a good thing.

Doggie School – round 2

/ hsoi

It’s time for Sasha to continue her schooling.

Our first round of training was with Triple Crown Dog Academy. We did 6 private lessons in basic manners and obedience. Overall our experience was a positive one. There’s no question that Sasha is a better mannered and behaved dog, and we’re better owners for the experience. However, we knew Sasha had some baggage, and there’s just some things about the Kuvasz breed that need tending to. It was our plan to go back to Triple Crown for more training, taking their “basic manners and obedience” in a group setting this time, to help with socialization.

But plans have changed.

Wife was poking around Facebook for Kuvasz stuff and happened upon a woman who was local (well, up in Round Rock, city just north of Austin) and lo… she also had a Kuvasz! Turns out she’s a trainer, S.A.F.E. Training for Dogs. From her page:

Elizabeth Marsh is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) and behavior specialist. For over 20 years, she has been training pet dogs and service dogs and providing behavior therapy services for dogs with moderate to severe behavior problems. She has a formal education in behavioral psychology and is the developer of the SAFE Training method – a proven, scientific and reliable method for teaching dogs to adapt to life in a human environment. She is a certified evaluator for the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen Program and a member of several professional organizations including the APDT, Delta Society and The Humane Society of the United States. She is deeply dedicated to improving the welfare of animals through the education of pet owners and their pets. Elizabeth lives in Round Rock, Texas with her Hungarian Kuvasz dog “Gretta” and her Great Pyrenees “Bo”.

And of course, she has a picture up of her cuddling her Kuvasz, Gretta.

I cannot lie. This held great appeal to us. A lady with a lot of training experience, seems to have the credentials, and not only knows the breed but owns it. She’s got daily experience with what it takes. You know, that could be good!

Wife was very excited and got right on the phone with Elizabeth, even setting up a meeting at our house. Me? I wasn’t too hot to it. I knew nothing of this person and just didn’t want to deal with it. So I put it off.

While things are getting better with Sasha well… after the experience we had at Wife’s in-laws, I got to thinking that yeah, we need a “Sasha Whisperer”. We don’t need some generic training routines. What we need is not just general training, but we also need some work to specifically address Sasha’s issues and situation. After the weekend at the in-laws, I decided to contact Elizabeth and get the ball rolling. I figured that she had as good a chance as any, as far as general training goes, but knowing the breed… heck, that can only help, right?

Yesterday Elizabeth came down to our house and spent about 2 hours with us. Us getting to know her, her getting to know us — and Sasha. She asked us lots of questions, we asked her lots of questions. Sasha hung out, and while she was initially not receptive to Elizabeth being around, Elizabeth had us try a few things.

For instance, with a territorial dog, it can be hard to introduce someone by having them come into the room. The dog is there, sees this as place to protect. But if instead the person is already in the room then the dog is brought into the room, it can go over better. Sure enough, it seemed to have a positive effect!

Lots of things were discussed, other tips, lots of reinforcement of what we already knew, some “ah-ha!” moments. It was just a good meeting and time.

Yeah, we’re going to give her a try. We’re going to do more private lessons to help work out the issues, with the goal being that towards the end we join some of the group lessons. Elizabeth is excited by the fact she can work with another Kuvasz, which I think gives us something intangible here… there’s going to be a lot of care going in here, not just another client.

We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

Cat Sitting on Floor – a watercolor

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Cat Sitting on Floor

Daughter received a set of professional watercolors and a nifty composition book for Christmas. She spent the morning painting this and just came in to show me her work.

I really like it. There’s a style to it. I don’t know how to word it right but… well, you know how a lot of kids’ artwork looks like kids artwork? not very refined? This doesn’t have that. There’s some sort of modern style to it. I can’t put my finger on just what it is, but I dig it.

Or maybe, I’m just a proud Daddy. 🙂

The Art of the Dynamic Nerf Blaster

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(title props to Magpul)

Oldest got a Nerf N-Strike Stampede Blaster ECS-50 from Santa.

It’s fully-automatic, battery operated. Runs on 18-round “clips” (I hate that they call them “clips”… they’re magazines). I LOVE that it has a vertical fore-grip with integrated bi-pod; the design is a 100% nod to the Grip Pod. It fires at a fairly good rate, functions well (no malfs yet, and I love the nod to the AR with the selector switch), and is pretty accurate for what it is… tho with that “blast shield” you can’t really get down to do precision aiming. Still, for what it is, it’s good.

And of course… you burn a “clip” of darts and as TXGunGeek would say, it just tips your giggle box. 🙂

Even better? I have a couple of the 35-round drum “dart clips”. We slapped those bad-boys in and it’s nearly-endless full-auto fun!!

On top of that, oldest also got one of the N-Strike Tactical Vests, which holds loads of spare ammo. As well, it has a sheath on the back of the vest to hold a Nerf Sword. Yup, we’ve got a couple of those. We like Nerf around here. 🙂

Where did I really geek out? There’s a spot on the back of hte ECS-50 that looks like it could allow attachment of a single-point clip sling. Oldest also has some “handgun” Nerf blasters. I start talking to him about how he just needs a sling, he can run the full-auto, reload, reload, reload, then when he’s out of ammo just let go of the ECS-50 and transition to his hand-blaster. Of course while I’m describing this I’m showing the kids the movements… and they’re all just looking at me like I’m taking it way too seriously. But hey, tactics is tactics. 🙂

So look out neighborhood kids. Oldest is armed to the teeth! You shall not survive the Nerf onslaught!

Goodbye, Sneeze; you’ve gone to a better place

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The Truck

“Honey… I want to let you know something.”

Oh crap. What did I do this time….

“I’ve been seeing this gray pickup truck driving very slowly through the neighborhood…”

Ah phew… not me. 🙂  We certainly keep our eyes open for things. Seeing vehicles driving slowly, the driver or passengers looking around at things in the neighborhood always perks our interest, but being Christmastime you can’t help but be extra cautious. “OK, just keep your eyes open in case it comes back.”

A little while later, Sasha goes off. She’s a Kuvasz, it’s in her DNA to be a guard dog. And guarding she was.

“Honey… there was this man standing at the edge of our property, out in the road. He was feeding bread to the ducks, but then Sasha went off, he looked up and saw her and took off… he got into that same gray truck and drove off.”

You see, those neighborhood muscovy ducks love to come to our yard. We care for them. Oh sure, I’m tired of all the duck poop, I’m tired of my flowerbeds getting trampled and the plants nibbled down to stumps. But ducks just don’t understand landscaping and property rights like we do. Besides, after all these years we’ve become rather attached to them. Muscovy ducks have a depth of personality. When you get to observe them and interact with them as much as we have over the years, you come to learn a lot about them. Sure, when they first arrived at the neighborhood pond some years ago we had no idea what the heck this odd duck with the red face was… and they perched too. But once we came to know what they were and how they were, gosh… we became rather fond of them.

It’s all Sneeze’s fault. Continue reading →

Chia Christmas

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Never owned a Chia Pet.

These days they seem to get heavily advertised around Christmastime.

Commercial was on TV last night and I thought… why not? Buy one for each of the kiddos. It could be fun.

Of course I know the end result is the cats will eat the plants, then throw up green whatever on the floor soon afterwards… and not just because they were eating from the Obama Chia. 😉

Maybe I should get the kids a mood ring or a pet rock.

Couple random things

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Oh, before I go… couple random things.

1. Feeling a lot better. I think whatever I had is now gone… but last night I felt really bad. My guess tho? The cigar and glass of wine did it… body just wasn’t quite ready for that yet. 🙂   But I’m on the mend, almost 100%. Thank you for the well wishes.

2. Daughter did something cool.

My father-in-law has a deer lease (natch) and the first couple weeks of January there’s a special youth season. He invited Daughter out to come take a doe or a spike during that time. I spoke with Daughter about it and she declined. Why? because she doesn’t feel her marksmanship skills are quite there. She would rather pass on the opportunity than recklessly take it. I am mighty proud of her. I know  she’s got the ability to put a rifle round within an 8″ circle at 100 yards, but she’s not sure of her ability to do it on demand especially given the excitement and pressure of “the moment.” I respect her thinking here; she wants to do the right thing and would rather wait than rush into it and do things wrong.

So it just means more range time. No arguments there!

Make me think… maybe time to buy a second Ruger 10/22 and do an Appleseed with the kids. I’ve been wanting to do that for some time. Hrm.

Tangled

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Took the family to go see the new Disney movie, Tangled.

That was a fun movie. It felt like a return to classic Disney magic (to borrow a 3 word review from a friend of mine). The songs, the pacing, the storyline, the way everything unfolds, characters… just well done. I felt like they remembered what made great Disney movies like Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and so on. I’ve been so turned off to Disney (non-Pixar) movies for a while because they were caring more about money and less about making a good movie and telling a good story. Well, perhaps the Pixar influence is rubbing off on the Disney studios (now that they’re under the same roof) because it seems they cared first about a story and second about everything else.

Good show. Recommended, if you like Disney movies.