Edumacation And Enlearnment

[Blaze]

We did that here, too! The result was called Kinderland, and it is over twenty years old now, and is still a great place to take kids to play!  The only image I have is tiny: 

It was a wonderful melding of just plain folks and the city.

[Alilisa]

  That's what we'd hoped would happen, once people started asking for information on the playground.  Because we had nothing to go on, I wrote a booklet that is now in several libraries and has been sent out all around the world to help others build accessible playgrounds like this.  The most accessible before ours was only 40% accessible, we brought that up to 100% accessible, that in itself was a breakthrough for so many.  Had people from all over working on it, the furthest away was England, he put the dragon up on the castle. He passed away not too long ago, such a nice man.

nice, is that a Leathers playground, Blaze? The techniques used reminds me of theirs.

[Blaze]

Gosh, it was almost 30 years ago now!  I don't recall!  LOL

[Alilisa]

  Understandable, definitely, but it looks like a gorgeous playground.  When you get volunteers together, you can do anything!!  So glad you had the chance to take part in such a wonderful project.

[MrsAWiggins05]

I haven't read the whole thread yet, and though I can clearly see it's now about playgrounds (?) my answer to Habu is:

I hate these degree checks. Because I'm not Shecky, though I like him much.

I have a regular high school diploma that was .002 away from being Valedictorian and .001 from Salutatorian. I'm the frustrated third place in class.
And then, to add insult to injury, I had to actually work my way through college, but never found enough funds. So, I have three years of Special Education for Early Development and Elementary Education under my belt. I am about 20 hours shy of a Bachelor's. And a few tests away from having my certification. But I won't obtain either in the foreseeable future because... I have even less money than I did when I quit school nine years ago.

So, I'm just an underachieving, quitting stay-at-home-mom and part time bus driver. When what I really want to be doing is teaching special education.

I'm not bitter. Really. Just very, very frustrated that I'm stuck unable to achieve my goals because I'm still stinking poor. Oh, and all those promises that Obama would give money to stay-at-home-moms who wanted to get their degrees? Yeah, that's a lottery. My ONE ticket against hundreds of thousands of others? Hasn't happened yet.

[Madd]

I haven't read the whole thread yet, and though I can clearly see it's now about playgrounds (?) my answer to Habu is:

I hate these degree checks. Because I'm not Shecky, though I like him much.

I have a regular high school diploma that was .002 away from being Valedictorian and .001 from Salutatorian. I'm the frustrated third place in class.
And then, to add insult to injury, I had to actually work my way through college, but never found enough funds. So, I have three years of Special Education for Early Development and Elementary Education under my belt. I am about 20 hours shy of a Bachelor's. And a few tests away from having my certification. But I won't obtain either in the foreseeable future because... I have even less money than I did when I quit school nine years ago.

So, I'm just an underachieving, quitting stay-at-home-mom and part time bus driver. When what I really want to be doing is teaching special education.

I'm not bitter. Really. Just very, very frustrated that I'm stuck unable to achieve my goals because I'm still stinking poor. Oh, and all those promises that Obama would give money to stay-at-home-moms who wanted to get their degrees? Yeah, that's a lottery. My ONE ticket against hundreds of thousands of others? Hasn't happened yet.

I graduated 15 of 29 students.  Feel better? lol

I know what you mean about having to work your way through college.  I've been exceedingly poor for a long time now (most of my life truth be told) so I had to work as well, which of course makes getting A's a helluva lot harder.  In fact, it made getting B's a rare occurrence.  I'm not sure what the point of my post is....I guess just to say you aren't alone and to offer some support.

[Snowleopard]

If you don't have the money - you can't do certain things so don't beat yourself up.
And being a stay at home mom and part time bus driver does NOT make you an underachiever.
Being a stay at home mom is like having two full time jobs simultaneously - that's not any kind of
underachieving.  And being a bus driver is hard as far as I'm concerned.
I will keep fingers and toes crossed that you can achieve your goal of being a special ed teacher.
But don't put yourself down.

[Shecky]

One thing I have to share from my time teaching at the college level: having a student who also worked to put him/herself through college was almost always something professors liked, because they were always hard workers who were there because they WANTED to be there. I say "almost always" because, as with any other profession, there are professors who are pinheads and don't realize basic truths like this.

[MouseWynne]

MrsAW - You are a fulltime Mom? That's not a losers job by a longshot! I hope you'll get the time and money to fulfill your dream but in the meantime don't let anyone tell you that you
are an underachiever!  Raising children to be interesting, well balanced, adults is the hardest job in the world!

[MrsAWiggins05]

Blaze sent me a lovely little message telling me not to be stupid. (My words, not hers, of course. :-) )

I've read the whole thread now that I've had time, and I found it highly enlightening and entertaining.

I've never had DNA fall off a gel because I am not scientifically inclined. Though, I'm sure Mr. Wiggins has made a mistake or two like that. He's a food microbiologist, though, and you seriously don't want me to tell you what he works with every day.

Like Alilisa and Blaze, my list of accomplishments, on the job training, and self-education have far exceeded any lack of formal degree pursuit. But when it's midnight after a long day of running errands with three whiny brats, it's hard to remember that I am not a title, degree, or a diploma. I am a person that cannot be summed up by a few formals words on a piece of paper.

I apologize. I really should have my computer and phone taken away at 10:30 p.m., because all common sense and discretion and self-esteem checks out then.

Oh, and I decided that I have at least a BDV and a MS (master of Sarcasm).

[MouseWynne]

There you go! You have better degrees than I do!

Cheers and may your children be all sweetness and light for you today!

[Warden John Marcone]

I have a regular high school diploma that was .002 away from being Valedictorian and .001 from Salutatorian. I'm the frustrated third place in class.
And then, to add insult to injury, I had to actually work my way through college, but never found enough funds.

Wait a second.  You were third in your class, had (I'm assuming based on my own class' Valet/Salut) higher than a 4.0, and you couldn't get any scholarships?  I'm sorry to bring this up again, but WTH is with that?

[MrsAWiggins05]

Wait a second.  You were third in your class, had (I'm assuming based on my own class' Valet/Salut) higher than a 4.0, and you couldn't get any scholarships?  I'm sorry to bring this up again, but WTH is with that?

I went to a small private high school that didn't have AP classes. So, my gpa was 3.908. One measly B one measly semester of Algebra 2. Sheesh.

I qualified for millions of scholarships, especially with my ethnic background/extra curricular activities. But only one scholarship was actually awarded to me, though I applied for hundreds of them. And it was a pathetic scholarship that basically just paid for my books each semester. Last year, when I tried to go back, despite everything good going for me, No One would give me a scholarship. Once again, I had applied for hundreds of scholarships I qualified for, and they kept awarding them to other people.

The system is jacked. A lower-middle class works-for-a-living person can't get help. We make too much money, even though we barely keep food on the table.

[Snowleopard]

^
Yeah, verily yeah.
Oh so true.

[Madd]

I went to a small private high school that didn't have AP classes. So, my gpa was 3.908. One measly B one measly semester of Algebra 2. Sheesh.

I qualified for millions of scholarships, especially with my ethnic background/extra curricular activities. But only one scholarship was actually awarded to me, though I applied for hundreds of them. And it was a pathetic scholarship that basically just paid for my books each semester. Last year, when I tried to go back, despite everything good going for me, No One would give me a scholarship. Once again, I had applied for hundreds of scholarships I qualified for, and they kept awarding them to other people.

The system is jacked. A lower-middle class works-for-a-living person can't get help. We make too much money, even though we barely keep food on the table.

Amen to that.