JA BizTown

I’ve been a Junior Achievement classroom volunteer for several years, but today was my first experience with JA BizTown. I agreed to volunteer mostly because my son wanted me to, but now I’m glad I saw firsthand what it was all about.

When I was a junior in high school, I got my first exposure to business operations, as part of a Junior Achievement company called Vendex. We sold $1 shares in our company to raise capital, then manufactured denim tote bags, and sold them. My mother used her Vendex bag for years, and I wish I still had one now as a memento of that experience.

At the time I had no interest in the administrative side of business. I had to help sell shares, and later tote bags, but other than that I stuck to working in production. I learned about the problems it created when workers were absent, or when they sat around talking instead of working, and the station I was working at had nothing to do because one of the previous stations on the line had gotten behind.

That was a year-long program (meeting weekly), so we got a good look at what it took to have a successful business. (We did earn a profit, though I don’t remember how much of a dividend we were able to distribute at the end.) Our adult volunteers (from Stanley Tools in New Britain, CT) had already procured the product idea, design, and production machinery (sewing machines), but we did the rest – under their excellent guidance.

BizTown, on the other hand, is a one-day simulation (though some businesses do make and sell simple products), giving students less in-depth but more breadth in terms of what goes on in the “real world” their parents work in. They each have a job (for which they had to interview in the weeks of preparation back at school before the actual event), they receive two paychecks which they deposit at the BizTown bank, and during breaks from work they go out into the “city” and spend money at other businesses.

The gift of reading

I find it difficult to imagine childhood without books. My father read to my sister and me often, if not every night. I grew up with shelves of books near at hand in my own room, books all over the house, and with a library within easy walking distance (less than a mile on foot, though by car it was further) where I could get lots more books.

Perhaps I would have learned to enjoy the company of my peers more if I had not had the far more interesting company of books. (Or perhaps I would simply have been a very unhappy child.) I did play outdoors sometimes, generally by myself, or sometimes with my sister. But by far my favorite activity was reading.

I have, on a few occasions, been a visitor in a house where reading material is virtually nonexistent. As a child, I once spent a week as a guest of a family that lived in a trailer park, and I think the only book in the house was the one I brought with me. It was summer vacation, the parents both worked, and the children (at least four of them) spent the day watching TV, eating bowls of cereal, and getting into fights with each other. I spent my time reading Watership Down and waiting for the interminable week to end.

I know there are people who just are not bookworms. No doubt our family would be healthier if we enjoyed participating in sports or other physically demanding activities the way some families do. (I do enjoy walking and hiking, and my husband enjoys racquetball, but we haven’t had much success in finding others to engage in these activities on a regular basis. I tried to learn racquetball but I really don’t like it much; my husband has never been a big fan of walking and a back injury made it a poor choice of exercise for him.) But I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for children whose parents do not model for them the joy of exploring new worlds and ideas between the covers of a good book.

As a matter of fact, my husband and I love books so much that we have to avoid going to bookstores. If that sounds odd, consider how little space there would be left in our house, or money in our bank account, if we purchased all the books we see in stores that we would like to own and read. As it is, our bookshelves are overflowing with books purchased since we moved here, and there are boxes and boxes of books that we decided we simply couldn’t buy more shelves for.

You can imagine, then, my interest when I learned about the nonprofit organization Room to Read. I learned about it from an article in the New York Times, linked to by a friend on facebook. Since 2000, Room to Read has established over 12,000 libraries in developing countries, distributed 10 million books, and benefited an estimated 5.6 million children. It’s not just about giving children books, either – it’s about teaching them to read and to develop the habit of reading.

Room to Read also focuses on giving girls as much opportunity to get a good education as boys have – a lack in many of these countries. Since such efforts run counter to traditional ways in many places, I am pleased to see that Room to Read works in collaboration with local communities and makes a point of having local staff and partnerships so that their programs fit the culture.

One reason I’ve long thought of Heifer International as a great nonprofit to support is because it helps gives people the resources to improve their communities through sustainable agriculture. Other nonprofits that help people overcome poverty are those that provide microloans. And one reason that the work of charity:water is important is that it not only gives people safe, clean water, but it also frees up time for children to get an education (instead of spending hours every day fetching water from a muddy stream).

But I’d never thought much about the impact of providing books for people in developing countries. My mental image of such places didn’t include books, other than some kind of primer for teaching reading in school, and a few basic textbooks. (And the Bible – I did, after all, at one time plan to be a Bible translator.) Books for children are fairly rare in many places, not just because they cost money but because they’re not even being written.

Room to Read is working to fill this void with their Local Language Publishing program. They select local writers and illustrators to develop new, culturally relevant books. Competitions and workshops help promote literacy, as well as providing writers of the quality desired for the books to be published by this program. By the end of this year, Room to Read will have published well over 500 original titles, in 25 different languages.

I’m sure you are bombarded, as I am, with requests to donate to a wide variety of organizations. I try to stick to a few and not let the others guilt me into giving reluctantly, or simply into feeling guilty for not giving. But this is one nonprofit I’m adding to my list now, and I will admit to writing this blog post, in part, in the hope that you will consider doing the same. You can give in honor of a loved one at Christmas, give quickly and easily through paypal, or even create your own fundraiser.

 “A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.” (Henry Ward Beecher)

Al the Ent

Treebeard might not have recognized this tree-like figure as a fellow Ent, but CGI only works in movies, not Halloween costumes. Most people complimented Al on the excellent tree costume – somewhat to his dismay, as no one seemed to recognize that he was a tree-person, not a tree.

I looked at pictures I found online of Ent costumes other people had made, and among the relatively few I found, there was a wide variety in how people went about it. I even looked on sites that sell costumes of characters from Lord of the Rings, and there weren’t any Ent costumes (not that I could have afforded to buy one – I was just looking for ideas).

Fortunately it’s not too hard to make a costume that most people will recognize as a tree, even if I couldn’t find a way to make it look more Ent-ish. I suppose a couple of young Hobbits perched on the Ent’s shoulders might have helped, but making a recognizable Hobbit figure would probably have been at least as difficult as making a recognizable Ent.

 

Music: Go Fish

About ten years ago, some friends of ours in Michigan introduced us to the music of Go Fish. The group quickly became a favorite with our family, especially my husband and older son. I’ve always preferred instrumental music to vocal, and I have more trouble appreciating the close harmonies commonly used by acapella groups, but I certainly preferred Go Fish to some other contemporary Christian groups.

A few years ago, my husband was thrilled to find out that Go Fish was performing in the Quad Cities, and we purchased tickets for him and our older son to go to the concert. They returned with a pile of CDs they had purchased and the surprising news that Go Fish now creates music primarily for children. I would have said exclusively, but while it is aimed at children it is also intended to be enjoyed by the children’s parents. As they put it, it’s “great music for kids that won’t drive parents bonkers.”

When we found out they were giving a concert in Muscatine, naturally we wanted tickets. As the tickets were free, that was even more of an incentive. Of course, when tickets are free, a concert like that is quickly “sold out” (we got three of the last seven tickets). We made a point to arrive half an hour early for the concert yesterday, and the line of people waiting to get in already stretched half a block.

I had expected local families to come with their children, and perhaps groups from local churches. I hadn’t realized just how many groups would drive from an hour or two away with a large group of children. I’m sure well over half the audience was children, many of them with name tags hanging on a string around their necks to help the adult leaders keep track of them all.

Later, I found a description of their concerts at ChristianMusic.com, explaining that “For children, Go Fish may be their first real concert experience, complete with lights, backdrops and fog machines.” Hmm, I never knew that real concerts required fog machines. (My first impression when I saw the strange white mist coming up from one machine was that it had overheated or otherwise malfunctioned.) My idea of a “real concert” has more to do with an orchestra conductor wielding a baton (and usually wearing a tux, but I would consider that optional).

I was disappointed to see that the group was not performing a capella. They had a drummer (whose drum set must be illuminated from inside – it would occasionally light up in different colors) and two guys playing electric guitar. I have nothing against instruments – as I said above, I prefer instrumental music – but somehow drums and electric guitars always end up being too loud. I could barely make out more than a few of the words on most of the songs.

But the kids were clearly having a great time. Many of them knew the songs, probably from having them played over and over in the CD player in their parents’ cars. (One of the Go Fish guys explained that is one big reason they make these albums, since parents are going to have to have some kind of music for the kids, and so much of the kids’ music is so annoying to the parents.) They sang along, did motions to the songs, and went nuts at some of the extra special effects.

I was curious, when one of the Go Fish guys gave a brief salvation message, whether it was aimed more toward the kids or their parents. As brief as he was, I suspect he had lost a lot of the kids’ attention by the time he got to that point (after telling the parents a bit about why they do what they do). But it was very clear that this is definitely a ministry to them, to reach children with the truth of the Gospel. They emphasized the importance of the Bible, to the point of saying at one point that if there was one song that kids were going to learn the lyrics of, they wanted it to be the one that simply lists the names of all the books of the Bible.

If you have kids, check out the group’s music for children. They also have put out some VBS curricula, which I suspect have much more “singable” songs than a lot of VBS programs I’ve been involved in. While I can’t say I really enjoyed the concert yesterday, I think the albums they have put out are good, and their message is certainly good.

I have to wonder, though – was I the only one in the audience who had to keep shutting my eyes when one of the spotlights (there were four of these which frequently changed color, and instead of being trained on the singers were constantly moving around the room) was aimed right at me?

Ahoy matey!

Things were slow at Long John Silver’s when Al and I walked in for lunch today, so I hope we livened things up just a little by showing up in pirate garb. Nothing very fancy, but we had eye patches, bandannas, and earrings. They gave us some cardboard hats to add to the effect, though I doubt any self-respecting pirate goes around as a walking advertisement for fast food. (The food was very good however.)

Back at home, we set out on a treasure hunt. Someone had left clues hidden around our backyard, ranging from rhyming riddles to word puzzles to a photo cut into pieces. Pirate Cap’n Al required help from some of his crew for a few of them (I played first mate, medic, and pirate lore specialist), but we finally found the treasure chest hidden beneath a large fir-tree. Loot included chocolate filled doubloons, magic tricks, and a pirate rubber duck.

Then it was time to enjoy some chocolate cake and watch Muppet Treasure Island. Cannons were blazing on the cake by the time it reached the birthday boy, but he quickly stopped them from doing any damage to our family room. After the movie, Dad took a turn at Sid Meier’s Pirates on the Wii – it’s the sort of game that he’s much more experienced at than I am (not pirates specifically, but fighting enemies, gathering loot and crew, buying and selling, and planning where to go next.

And that’s pretty typical of how things go here. I do the arts and crafts, cooking, and party planning, and Dad does the computer and video games with the boys. It works out well, and I think we all had a swashbuckling good time.

The art of doodles

Lots of people doodle, but it takes some special ability to make a Doodle. Like many people, I like Google’s occasional Doodles to mark special days. Sometimes it’s the artwork itself that appeals to me; sometimes it’s what I learn when I find out what’s behind the day’s Doodle.

Today what I saw awed me. The Google homepage has no doodle, but it has a link to the Doodle 4 Google contest. Over 100,000 students across the country drew Doodles (which like all Google Doodles include the word Google) based on the theme “What I’d like to do someday…”

Among the finalists, there are children whose dreams are as varied as oceanographer, dentist, astronaut, engineer, paleontologist, and baker. There are several future teachers and artists – though looking at the Doodles I’d have to say they’re all budding artists, no matter what their future careers.

Some drew not their career aspirations per se but how they hope to make the world a better place. School supplies for all students, food and clean water for everyone, saving endangered animals, developing green technology, helping all children fulfill their dreams.

A panel of thirteen guest judges (including the creator of the “Garfield” comic strip, the producer of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” two Olympic gold medalists, and an astronaut) selected winners from each state, then narrowed them down to the forty finalists. Now we get to vote on our favorites!

It’s hard to choose, there are so many good ones. (It must have been a difficult job, picking out the finalists.) But I finally picked one in each age group. (Note: at one point the computer gave an error message and wouldn’t record my choice, but after I refreshed the page and tried again it worked.)

Take some time to see the creativity and aspirations of our country’s young people.

Tabletop croquet

Al has been wanting to make another game lately. I haven’t progressed far enough with learning C# to create a computer game, and we still have one or two board games we tried to make and haven’t finished (including our own version of The Game of Life, with pets as the focus). But when he brought me an old copy of Highlights for Children, with instructions on making a tabletop croquet game, I thought I could do that pretty well.

My arts and crafts drawers had most of the materials needed – felt, pipe cleaners (now called chenille sticks since they’re really not made for cleaning pipes), and wooden sticks. I scrounged through the styrofoam recycling bin at work and found a nice piece for the base, and snagged two coffee stirrers from the break room (I never bother using them to stir my coffee; my hot chocolate powder mixes in just fine on its own), then found a couple of drinking straws at the bottom of one of my kitchen drawers.

Finding something to serve as croquet balls was another matter. The instructions suggest marbles or wooden beads, and I thought wooden beads would be more suitable to hitting with a mallet made of plastic straws. But not finding any, I had to settle for marbles. I’m not sure if a lighter ball would work better or not – it turned out to be surprisingly easy to hit the balls right off the croquet “lawn” and onto the floor. (But with a lighter ball we wouldn’t be hitting as hard so maybe that wouldn’t happen.)

Al’s ball seemed to have a particular aversion to the second wicket – no matter how perfectly it was placed in front of the wicket, the ball managed to go anywhere but straight through. My ball took occasional detours across the field but was generally more well-behaved. But Al had a great time playing — even more, I think, than I had making the game.

Our new Boy Scout

Five years ago, when Al was a Tiger Cub, I never expected him to make it all the way to earning his Arrow of Light. There were things he liked about Cub Scouts, but there were also so many challenges. There was always something new to learn or to do, and with his autism that was a challenge in and of itself. There were physical activities that he found difficult, outdoors activities that meant there were bugs flying around, group activities that meant cooperating with other boys.

Yet somehow he continued, year after year, until this afternoon he was awarded the Arrow of Light, and bridged over to Boy Scouts. He was warmly welcomed into Troop 167, one of the four troops that boys from his Webelos den chose for their continuing journey in Boy Scouts. He is happy and proud – as are we.

Games: Bookworm Adventures 2

I wasn’t initially interested in getting Bookworm Adventures 2. Bookworm Adventures was lots of fun, but after I finished the game once I didn’t start over and play it again, as Al did. Once in a while I still play the mini-games, but by now my high scores are so high that only by a great stroke of luck can I get a new score into the top ten.

Besides, Al had done the free trial of Bookworm Adventures 2, and the characters were from nursery rhymes, instead of from mythology as in the previous game. For me, part of the appeal of Bookworm Adventure had been that, like the movie The Pagemaster, it might get my son interested in reading stories he might not otherwise have considered. Now, there’s nothing wrong with nursery rhymes, and some knowledge of them is probably part of a well-rounded education, but they don’t exactly make absorbing reading.

However, I do love word games, and if Al is going to spend time playing computer games he could do much worse than exercise his vocabulary and spelling skills. So this week I agreed, and we got Bookworm Adventures 2. It’s full of quirky humor, as the previous game was, even if the humor doesn’t seem quite as original as in the other game. (I don’t know if that’s because they had trouble coming up with new ideas, or just that having seen their style in the first game it just can’t seem as fresh the second time around.)

Books: The Red Pyramid

I was in the library yesterday, getting a book my husband wanted to read, The Lightning Thief (on which last year’s movie was based). I wasn’t planning on reading it myself – the idea of a boy discovering he was a demigod just didn’t appeal to me. I liked reading the myths about the gods of Olympus when I was in fourth and fifth grade, but they don’t interest me much now.

I wasn’t planning on getting a book for myself to read at all. (I have more than enough unread books here in the house.) But as I walked down the stacks, squinting in the dim light as I tried to make out authors’ names on the spines of books, one called The Red Pyramid caught my attention. It just happened to be by Rick Riordan, same as The Lightning Thief. It had to do with Egyptian mythology rather than Greek mythology. Why not, I thought – maybe I’ll like his writing and decide to read both.

Well, I do like it, enough that I already finished The Red Pyramid. Like the Percy Jackson books (the series starting with The Lightning Thief), it takes characters and themes from ancient mythology and puts them in a modern setting. It is fast-paced, full of memorable characters, humor, chase scenes and fight scenes, unusual uses of magic, and plain old human joys and sorrows.

There are powerful magicians, who may or may not be on the same side as the children at the center of the story. Sadie’s and Carter’s mother died six years ago under mysterious circumstances. Their father has now vanished – right before their eyes, in a blaze of magic. There are Egyptians gods loose in the world – though these are more like elemental forces of nature, and even they have limits to their powers.

It’s about the conflict between order and chaos. It’s also about family, trust, loyalty, and sacrifice. And it’s about two ordinary kids who turn out not to be so ordinary after all.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the series, which is coming out in May. And I think I just might read The Lightning Thief after all.