Scott Adcox

Doing More With Less Since 1972

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I’m reading– December 22nd through December 29th

December 29, 2010 / / 0 Comments

10 Things We Learned in 2010 – Thanks to Mr. Dave Ramsey, I learned these things in the early 1990s. Almost 20 years ahead of the curve! Matters not…most people will forget this stuff in 5 or 6 years.

Track flight prices and check for airline refunds – Who was I talking to about doing something like this a while back? Oh yeah…emailing this to him immediately.

Will 2011 See App Makers Thinking Android-First? – Now I don't feel like as much of an idiot sitting here at Android 2.1 waiting for a Honeycomb phone to surface.

When the Diagnosis Is ‘Dead Butt Syndrome’ – Wait…so the contrapositive of this argument is that if I don't run I don't have to cross-train either, right? FTW!

How New Entrepreneurs Are Taking Advantage of the Great Reset – In front of and behind the firewall I might add.

Payday Lending Booms as Credit Cards Become Less Available – Two not-so-bold predictions. (1) Politicians will "do something" about this, probably at the state level. (2) As a result, payday lenders will be hurt, and lone-sharking at the street level will become a booming industry.

People always have and always will borrow money with outrageous terms. It's just a matter of whether they are going to lose their car title or the use of their thumbs when they don't pay.

If the market exists…

What Your Kids See You Read

December 28, 2010 / / 2 Comments

George Washington Crossing The Delaware

I’ve read articles before (someone can provide links in the comments) about how important it is to have books around the house and to set an example for your kids by making sure they see you reading. But I’ve always looked at that as a general idea–just make sure they see that you read, and the magic will happen later on. Last night I got my first glimpse of how it can affect them in ways I hadn’t considered.

I’m currently reading To Try Men’s Souls, which is a historical novel about George Washington and the Continental Army’s crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776. The cover of the book features the famous painting by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. Yesterday afternoon, Pea was looking at the cover and asked, “Who’s that?”. I told her it was a painting of George Washington crossing a river in a boat, and the book is a story about him going across the river. She’s familiar with George Washington because she’s seen another painting of him when going over the Presidents of the United States with Ana. She immediately said, “Look Mami! Daddy’s reading a book about George Washington! He’s one of the Presidents in my pictures!” She looked through the pages for a little while before putting the book down. I assume she was looking for more pictures–that’s what I did when I was little. It didn’t take long for her to get bored and go play with something else.

We read books together before bed every night, then Pea climbs up to her top bunk and looks at books in her bed before she goes to sleep while I hang out on the bottom bunk and read. Last night, as she was looking at her books and going to sleep she whispered down to me, “Daddy, are you looking at the book about George Washington in the boat?”

Cool! She just made a connection between two paintings she’s seen at different times and something the person in those painting did, and it’s stuck in her memory! She also understands the that I’m reading the story (learning) about what happened from the book. Hopefully this will lead to more questions about George Washington in the future. Maybe she’ll even ask me to tell her the story.

Blending Phonemes With Your Hands

December 22, 2010 / / 0 Comments

We’ve been playing a game in our co-op that Pea loves so much she asks to play it by herself as well. She’s a tactile learner, and this game gives her an easy way to visually and physically learn about blending phonemes with her hands. For more information about blending phonemes, you can read our longer article on phonemic awareness.

Here’s the basic idea for blending initial sounds:

  • Hold up your right hand and make the initial sound of the word. For example, if the word you are going to blend is “sat”, you’ll make the ‘s’ sound with your right hand.
  • Next, hold up your left hand and make the sounds for the remainder of the word, ‘-at’ in our example.
  • Finally, bring your two hands together and as you slowly say the whole word, making sure your child gets to hear the initial sound and how it is combined with the remaining sounds.

Once your child gets the idea, you can do the first two steps and let your child do the final step on their own, bringing the sounds together with their own hands to make the word. One key point is to make sure you are using your right hand for the beginning sounds and your left hand for the ending sounds. This drives home the idea that words are formed left to right. Remember, your child is seeing the mirror image of what you see.

You can use this same concept in reverse to isolate final sounds in words too! Just isolate the final sound with your left hand an use your right hand for all of the initial sounds.

I’m reading– December 17th through December 21st

December 22, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I’m Dreaming of a Tight Christmas – “I’m dreaming of disappointing the analysts and economists and politicians who are crossing their fingers in hopes that spending will be up. I would not have us die of consumption. I would have us live, each in his place, each knowing it well and loving it too.”

I’m down like four flat tires.

How To Write Brief Emails Without Being A Jerk – Twitter is good training for being succinct and clear.

On Princesses – I’d like to see more “Part II” type movies, where we see not how to become a princess, but how to act like one. Less focus on the “saved by a Prince” story, and more on “being kind to others.

Mind-Blowing Translation App – Even a 13 year old I know is impressed. That’s impressive.

Nine Writers Carrying the Torch for Men’s Fiction – As much as I read, it’s hard for me to say that I should read more. But I should read more books, and I should read more fiction.

I’m reading– December 15th through December 17th

December 17, 2010 / / 0 Comments

8 Tools For Easily Creating a Mobile Version of Your Website – Yet another reason I'm such a huge WordPress fan. With WordPress, you can do it with just a plugin. I've been doing it at www.scottadcox.com for a while now.

DSO Nano V2.0 – Pocket Sized Digital Storage Oscilloscope – Back in my day, we had to record the cable signal on a vcr tape and bring it to the oscilloscope in the electronics lab to figure out how to steal cable.

Time Investment Tips for the Offseason – Didn't see anything here about eating lots of bagels and watching documentaries. Going to have to re-evaluate my training plan.

Inflation Calculator | Find US Dollar’s Value from 1913-2010 – 90s to now isn't bad. Afraid to look at the 70 and 80s for fear of what is coming.

Yahoo! Killing Del.icio.us

December 16, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Flabbergasted.

Del.icio.us ranks 255th in traffic on the web right now according to Alexa, and they are just going to ax it? Not even shopping it around to potential buyers? I don’t have the numbers, but I’d guess Del.icio.us is the leader in the social  bookmarking market.

Sure, Yahoo! hasn’t done as much with it as it should have. They’ve pretty much done nothing with it. So why not at least continue that and just give it away.

Killing this service is a real shame.

Stuff You Should See– December 9th through December 15th

December 15, 2010 / / 0 Comments

How to Use Gmail as Your Central, Universal Communications Hub – One of these days, one of these days…I'm going to implement these suggestions. At least the ones I haven't already implemented.

End of the Culture Wars? – Really interesting take on the widening gap between the moderately educated and the highly educated. The numbers on divorce rates alone are pretty staggering.

Toasted Coconut Cake with Coconut Filling and Coconut Buttercream – I'm thinking of throwing down again.

The Crisis of the Middle – hmmm….interesting.

Montessori at Home? – We're working up a Montessori area right now. The materials are the catch for us, but you can build as you go.

What Was Your Favorite Part?

December 13, 2010 / / 0 Comments

One really easy way to gently coax your child towards reading for comprehension is to ask them a simple question when you finish reading a book to them–“What was your favorite part?”

This works especially well with picture books because it gives them a chance to review the book by turning the pages and finding the one they like best. Once they find their favorite page, ask them what is happening on this page and why it’s their favorite. You can even download and print out coloring story books and let your kids enjoy the activity of coloring their favorite page.

We ask “what was your favorite part” about lots of things–books, movies, outings, and at bedtime (“what was your favorite thing we did today?”). The mental exercise of reviewing and sequencing the events is great, and it’s also a great way to start conversations and encourage them to tell you more about themselves.

Creating a Reading Christmas Tradition

December 11, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Ana and I were discussing how cool the idea of a Book on Every Bed idea is last night, and came up with another idea. Now, we come up with all kinds of crazy ideas–some pan out, and some don’t–but this is one we hope we are able to establish in our family.

We will definitely be doing Book on Every Bed while our kids are small, but we hope we are able to continue a variation of that idea long after our children are grown. We’re going to start this year with one another. Here’s the idea:

Give every member of your family a book at Christmas. This isn’t their Christmas gift(s), just a little added something. It can be a book that you’ve read over the past year and enjoyed, a book you think they’d like, a book you want to read at the same time they read it so you can discuss…whatever reason you want. And it doesn’t have to be a freshly purchased book from the bookstore. Buy a used book. Give them a book you’ve finished. You can even check out books for them at the library. When you’re living in the same house together, you can just pull one right off the bookshelf and wrap it up!

Sure, it’s for the kids, right? Well, yeah. But I also want to learn the things they are learning as they grow up, and I want to continue to glean knowledge off of them when they are adults. So while they will definitely benefit, I really want to start this tradition for completely selfish reasons! 😛

Clinton Taking Over For Obama At Presser

December 11, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I guess I’m supposed to feel outraged. Oddly, “relief” is the word I would choose to describe it. Finally, someone with experience and ability seems to be in control. Added bonus–Bill Clinton actually wants to be President. Notice how he immediately leans on the podium and starts fielding questions.

Obama no longer wants this job. Maybe he never wanted it in the first place. It seems like he’s doing everything he can to work his way out of it.

This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, “promoted to the level of your incompetency.”

Can you imagine a tee-ball coach handing off a post-game talk with parents to one of his assistants because his wife is waiting in the car? Me either.

Hosting a Kid’s Christmas Party? Include a Book Swap!

December 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

If you are hosting or attending a Christmas party geared towards kids this year, consider having them do a book exchange as gifts. You can set a limit on the cost of the books, or even make it a “used only” swap that let’s the kids exchange books they’ve either read the requisite 1,000,000 times or haven’t been that interested in. You can do this with several variations.

For mixed ages, you can do a name draw beforehand and let them exchange books “Secret Santa” style, making sure each child gets an age appropriate book they’ll be interested in. If all the kids are older (i.e. mature enough to handle it) you can even do a White Elephant gift exchange, allowing gifts to be stolen as the game progresses.

If you’re having a party for pre-schoolers, have each child bring a wrapped book to the party and attach letters to the packages with post-it notes as they arrive. When it’s time for the gifts to be opened, let each child draw a letter from a hat and match it to their gift. Opening all of the books at the same time instead of individually may help you avoid some meltdowns since they’ll more than likely be focused on their own book and not on what someone else has.

For a twist, have each child bring two books to the party–one for their friends and another to be donated to a local library, book drive, or other charitable organization.

A Book On Every Bed

December 9, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Here’s a great idea–make sure a book is the first thing your children unwrap on Christmas morning!

The easiest way to do that is to make sure Santa leaves the book at the foot of their bed. I can’t imagine even the most anxious kid being able to pass up the opportunity to unwrap the first gift they see on Christmas morning.

Start a tradition: My hope is that other families will enjoy a tradition that revolves around reading together. I further hope that librarians, teachers, bookstore owners and literacy advocates spread this idea as far and wide as it will go, making it possible for any family that wants a child to receive a book to get one.

Newest Carnival of Homeschooling Is Up!

December 9, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Thanks to Christine at Our Curious Home for hosting this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling and including us!

There are so many good articles in this week’s edition, and these are some of our favorites so far…

Montessori Print shop has some good tips on getting started with Montessori at home. We are a far cry from full-blown Montessori style learning around our house, but it’s nice to have a little area set up for the kids to come and do self-directed activities they enjoy.

Robin at Crack The Egg has a great idea on creating and using a robot book. This idea can be used for whatever subject your child is interested in. For us, that would be a flower book. Two of them.

And finally, some advice on dealing with people who are hostile to the idea of homeschooling from The Common Room. Bottom line–everybody has to do the best for their particular families based on their particular situation. In the end, you may not be able to help them see why it’s the best decision for your family, but it may help  you understand why they react the way they do.

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