Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with education and schools

Would You Move for Better Schools?

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:25:58 -0800

Moving to a better school zone. Should I do it? Tough decisions concerning moving, staying put, and financial future. Situation:

1. Own nice home in nice neighborhood which is centrally located. It's a quiet subdivision with big yards and sidewalks. It is one mile from younger child's school. We've lived here for 14 years. Will own house outright in three years time -- we owe about 13k on it. Have two kids, ages 9 and almost 12.

2. Eldest kid started middle school this year (6th grade). We are zoned for "urban" middle school. School has a D grade rating from the state. It has a bad reputation and plenty of people do their best to avoid this school. In my neighborhood, and neighboring neighborhoods, there are many families who fabricate addresses and produce false documents to get enroll their children to better school in the same district. In my neighborhood, there are two kids who go to the "bad" middle school, and one of those kids is my kids. There are two other small subdivisions close to mine. I know a lot of these kids in the neighborhood. Without exaggeration none of these kids go to the "bad" middle school. The high school we are currently zoned for has a bad reputation as well and many people flee to avoid it. The "good" high school in our area is 1000 students overcrowded.

3. This summer, my spouse and I chose to go through the process the "right" and "honest" way and apply for a variance to the better middle school that is 2 miles away from our home. We were denied and appealed. The appeal was denied. We appealed the appeal and were denied again. At that point, the appeal process was exhausted. That was it. No dice. So, we start to panic a bit and put our house on the market.

4. We are working with a realtor. Realtor is neighbor and acquaintance from high school. She is nice. She is competent. She is offering us no discount. We didn't ask or expect one. We will pay 6%. We signed 6-month contract. There is a $500 fee to break contract.

5. We have been house hunting. There is hardly any inventory in the good school zone (same district, just better zone). The houses that are in the "good" school zone are expensive and a lot of them are not as nice as my house. I keep comparing. It pains me to pay so much for a "downgrade."

6. When I explain situation to friends, acquaintances, and coworkers everybody is baffled as to why we did not produce and address. We have close family who lives in good middle school zone and could use their address. They have offered to put my name on utility bill and could help me get on other necessary documents that the school necessitates.

7. Spouse and I (especially me) are starting to get serious cold feet. I do not want to move. I feel like I have made huge mistake. I feel like breaking contract right now and staying in my house and going the dishonest route to get my kid into better school.

8. There are no quality private schools around. The closest one is Christian private. We are not religious. There are Catholic privates, an Episcopalian private, and a Jewish private. They are quite a distance away, expensive, and don't have great reputations. Most of these schools are suffering because of the economy. The have lost students and tuition. We believe in public school and aren't really interested in sending our kids to a private school that is affiliated with a religion. There are no secular privates, charters, or magnets. This is fairly small town Florida. Options are limited.

9. I am aware that there are many factors that can cause a school to earn a D grade and a bad reputation. My child's current, and zoned, middle school heavily emphasizes anti-bullying. It discourages the use of the provided lockers. I guess too many students congregate/store drugs/fight at lockers. I don't know. They have signs everywhere that give you the impression that behavior problems are rampant. There are posters everywhere about respect and bullying and a signs in the hallway that say "keep moving, no talking". The segregate kids by grade, which is fine by me. The word is that the PTA and School Advisory Council are dismal. Parent participation and presence dismal. My kid was pushed three times on first day and slapped a few times in PE. Evidently in PE class some kids were slapping everybody on the back of the neck. My kid didn't seem too phased. It might be normal middle school antics.

I am having a hard time with this. I feel like we are making huge financial mistake by moving. My quality of life wouldn't change much -- we would just have a longer mortgage payment. I would basically be in same town, with slightly higher property taxes and a bigger mortgage. It is still a lot of money. Some friends say get the hell out of that school. Some friends say it's fine. I feel like an idiot going about the variance route when all of my friends and neighbors got an address from a friend or family member and are sending their kid to the school of their choice.

Is moving to another school zone, in the same district, the right thing to do? What factors should I be considering that I haven't stated? Have you done it? What are your experiences? Also, how should I handle breaking my contract with my neighbor/real estate agent who has spent this week showing us houses and dealing with paperwork, listing my house, taking pictures, delivering copies, etc. The contract states there is 500 dollar fee if broker and seller mutually break contracts. I wonder if our agent will get half of that. I hope so. Is there any way they can not agree and keep the house listed for 6 months? They say they will get the 6% commission if I sell it 6 months after the contract has been broken. No problem for me because I'm not going to sell it.

Jocks, Nerds and Rebels (tm)

Artw — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:07:53 -0800

To what extent do American Highschools resemble the stereotypical American Highschool seen in just about every movie and TV show ever, withever present competition for social status, rigidly defined cliques, omnipresent bullying, etc... etc?

How can I get more RAM for our school's slow computers?

Mike Mongo — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:31:10 -0800

How can I come up with 250 sticks of 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 RAM? (Our local high school has 150 PCs running Window 7 with just 1GB of RAM.) I am a computer tech. I volunteer in our community particularly for schools whenever I can. Often, as every computer tech knows, computers inevitably come into play.

Furthermore, at my business, I train high school students the way of the computer. Students apprentice with us at learning computers as a trade.

Eventually, between the one and the other, I learned of a problem with the PCs at our high school. That is, they are nearly unusable. I contacted the principal about helping with this—an idea she loved—and she directed me to the school's technician who confirmed the problem.

These are 150 PCs which are HP DC5100 SFF machines. These all have 1gb of DDR2 PC2-4200 RAM. There are four ram slots. Most have two 512mb chips.

In order to bring these machines up to functional, it is going to require an upgrade to 3gb of RAM.

Naturally, with the economy as it is, there is no budget for this. Our school system, like most others in the US, is running bare bones. Pricing the sticks individually, it would cost $3k for that RAM.

I am open to creative solutions to solve this. Is there some place that sells "bulk" RAM? Could I locate some other school or business which has retired the same machines or same RAM? Is there some group that recycles or donates RAM for projects such as this?

What is it actually like going to a well above average public school system, compared to an average or below average one?

imabanana — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:27:19 -0800

What is it actually like going to a well above average public school system, compared to an average or below average one? My wife and I are going around and around on where we want to buy a house and live long term, and part of it is that we can't decide just how important it is to get our kids into the best public schools in the area.

I went to a rural high school that was probably below average, and so I feel really out of my depth in the discussion. She went to a large suburban high school that was fairly average, but even it sounds fairly incredible to me when compared to my school (one quick example - my high school had only had two AP classes, English and Calculus.)

I'm also interested in what it's like going to a school system where the economic diversity is low, i.e. most of the kids parents are white collar and range from well off to really well off.

I feel like I've been fairly successful in life kind of in spite of where I went to school growing up, but at the same time I have no concept of just how different it would have been for me going to a better school. I'm a little bit above average test taker (my ACT score was 29, so decent I think, but nothing extraordinary by any means), but at the school I went to I was treated overwhelmingly like one of the smarter kids, and it might have been nice to have gone to school where more of the kids were at that level. I was bored very often in school, all the way from K-12. At the same time I'd like to think if my kids are intelligent and relatively ambitious the school system won't matter too much. But I really don't know, my personal experience is just too lacking.

I'd especially love to hear from anyone who transitioned from an average school to a top notch system, and the differences they noticed.

For anyone in the Columbus, Ohio area we are looking at the Dublin school system, so this might be a longshot but certainly any insight or experiences there would be appreciated as well.

Educational consultants in NYC?

The corpse in the library — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:18:27 -0800

Can you recommend an educational consultant in New York? My friends are looking for an educational consultant in New York City. Their son is in elementary school, works well beyond his grade level, and hears a different drummer. They need someone who knows NYC elementary schools inside and out and can help find the right place for their son.

Teaching today's tech to the teachers

aheckler — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:45:22 -0800

What are some of the best blogs, websites, newsletters, etc. that explore the innovative uses of (and issues related to) technology and social media in K-12 education? Background: My employer is an IT contractor that provides technology outsourcing for K-12 schools (i.e., managing their PCs, servers, applications, end-user support, and so on). I will soon be moving into a new position, where my role will involve "technology integration with teachers, and helping [the company] create a network of educators sharing ideas across our districts using social media."

Bonus Question: I've worked on the front lines (doing support) with this company for a while, so I know the simple fact is that many teachers just will not catch on to the whole social media thing, but how can I best reach out to those who will catch on and engage them?

There is no official job description to work with as yet, so exactly what I'll be doing on a day-to-day basis is unclear. That being said, I'd like to dive into this and have some ideas ready for implementation so I don't have to sit around for a few weeks figuring out what I can do.

FWIW, I have already dug through the relevant questions tagged as education+technology.

Did you finish your homework? SIR YES SIR!

JimmyJames — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:35:58 -0800

What should I do about an aspiring Marine in my class who keeps encouraging others to join the service? A young man in one of my classes has decided that he want's to join the marines. I'm glad he's found something he's passionate about. He sports a crew cut, calls teachers "sir" and brings his lunch to school in an old MRE bag. He sometimes stands at attention for a whole lunch period, a little odd but hey the kid has found something that gives him identity and strength.

This was all well and good but now he's bringing literature and contact information for recruiters into my classroom and encouraging students to enlist. THis makes me super uncomfortable, knowing first hand how predatory and dishonest recruiters can be. A friend of mine put my name on a card on their booth when I was in highschool, they came to my door a half dozen times, called endlessly and told me all kinds of implausible lies.

I understand the military can be the answer for many people, but honestly I'm teaching at this school because I want my low-income and minority students to have opportunities beyond trade schools and the service. In fact, our schools mission is to get low-income minority students into college. He keeps saying things like the military is the only way to pay for college without loans, and other things I know the recruiters are telling him.

So, is there anything I can do besides telling him that I'm uncomfortable having him proselytize inside my classroom or is this something I just have to politely disagree with?

Comparing public-school apples to apples?

catesbie — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 10:11:29 -0800

Where can I find information comparing the educational quality provided by the *best* public schools in America with your average public schools elsewhere in the industrialized world? I've read a lot about how poorly American students perform compared with their counterparts in the rest of the industrialized world. However, I realize that a lot of that is undoubtedly related to the obvious disparity in the quality American education provided to students of different economic classes.

So I'm curious about how American students from the BEST public schools perform against their European/Asian/what-have-you counterparts, because I myself went to one of these schools - one of the top public high schools in my state - and frankly I still think my education was kind of lacking, particularly compared to what many of my European friends got. Is there any data out there that will give me a sense of how my own education stands up to what I would have received elsewhere?

And while I'm also tangentially curious about how a place like Andover stands up against a place like Eton, I'm primarily interested in public education, and whether there are any American students in the state system who are getting an education comparable to what is on offer elsewhere, or whether they're all just universally hosed.

Which version of Flash is most commonly used in schools?

the latin mouse — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:45:43 -0800

Are you a schoolteacher? Or an IT person working for a school? Which version of Flash do you use? (I'm especially looking for answers from the UK, but anything is helpful.)

What alternative routes to teacher certification can I take as a person who already has a Masters in Education?

rascalface — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 06:59:48 -0800

I have a Masters and certification in Early Childhood. Now I'd like to work as a special educator. Seems the only way to get there is another Masters in Special Ed. I'd like to find a way to do this cheaply and quickly. I have looked into Teaching Fellows and similar programs, and all specifically require that applicants have no background in teaching. What can I do?

How was your day in school, honey?

RajahKing — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:03:36 -0800

Why are children so unwilling to tell their parents about their days in school? Is there a reason for this phenomenon, and does this phenomenon actually exist? I am very much asking this question in seriousness, not as chatfilter.

I have noticed that many children - very young pre-schoolers to sullen high schoolers - are unwilling to answer their parents' queries about the school day. Not necessarily in a defiant or angry way, but just demonstrable resistance to recounting/describing the events the child experienced when directly asked.

Why do kids do this? Is this a boring question to children? Does it invade their sense of privacy? Is it defiance? Do kids just forget/not care?

I'm very interested in hearing from folks with psychology or education backgrounds offer perspectives.

Gender, Sexuality, and Education...HELP!

gleea — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:13:17 -0800

I'm planning a training for elementary and middle school educators on sexuality and gender in education. What do YOU wish your teachers/educators would have known/talked about/done/etc? Background demographics: I'm a 24 year old, queer, white woman, with a degree in Gender Studies, and also working in education. However...I was homeschooled K-12 and thus find myself a little lacking when thinking about my own experiences growing up with teachers and the school system! :)

The educators that I'm training work with urban students in K-9.

Best way to educate a child who is a follower in large groups but independent in small groups.

lynnie-the-pooh — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:54:18 -0800

Need advice: what is the best way to educate a child who is a follower in large groups but an independent leader in small groups? Hello:

My five year old daughter is in public Kindergarten right now and the teacher tells me she is not independent and that she is a follower. She does not speak up and does not show confidence. At home, my child is talkative, independent, assertive, and a negotiater; the complete opposite of her school situation. Plus she is reading at a first grade level.

But I also see this independence outside of home, as long as it is a small group or only a few people. For example, she is a model/actress for a company, and can get up and do a monologue that she memorized in front of a small group. And one time I introduced her to a lady that she never met before (who was a choir instructor), and my daughter got up on the stage in front of this person and began belting out a song from the sound of music, using her arms and face to express the song and everything.

She used to go to Montessori school for preschool, where supposedly an independent child will thrive. The teacher there did tell me that my child was on the quiet side and seemed to be a follower. Now that we are in public school, it seems to be the same thing.

My question is, should I put her back in Montessor, in hopes that she will become independent? Should I keep her in public school, since those schools are more geared toward telling children how and what they are going to do and learn, or should I homeschool her and then put her in a lot of activities? I do homeschool her in the summer, so it's not like I don't know anything about that.

What I'm concerned about, is that a child who appears to be free and independent and assertive, is now changing her personality with every experience she has at public school. And eventually she will see herself as the quiet, unsure, follower in the group.

Any advice?

Lynnie-the-Pooh

I want to find Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

MrMulan — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:24:27 -0800

Is there anything in real life like Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, formerly Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters minus the mutants? I am not talking about international schools where expats, and diplomats' kids go, but a school(K-12) or institution that accepts bright/gifted kids from around the world.

I just want more information for my own knowledge if one or more exists.

If the answer is no, then why wouldn't something like this work?
Have a boarding school for gifted children, where the kids' come from all over the world, preferably from impoverished areas. The parents, and governments would agree to allow the child to study and board there.
Parents could request the child be sent back at any time. The school would provide airfare and lodgings for the parents 1 or 2 times a year. School would be mostly year round.

I have been thinking about this on and off for over 20 years while drunk, sober, sleeping, driving, ect.. and presently have it stuck in my head everytime I hear about Madonna and the baby adoption thing.

Please no chatfilter answers on why it should or shouldn't be done. Just, Has it been done? If not, can it be done? How or why not?

We are Professional vs. "Check out this cute kitty photo."

rokusan — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:31:01 -0800

Design Filter: Does anyone have any good best-of-field examples of corporate/institutional websites that are well-integrated with blogs? I'm looking for good-looking examples where a (dry, formal, professional, corporate) website is well-integrated with a (topical, chatty, personal-voice) blog, so the blog does not seem glued-on and doesn't conflict with the overall professional look/feel.

I don't mean technically, or how the url(s) are set up: I mean purely from a design standpoint, in terms of how the two coexist within the same navigation or home page links/integration.

My current need is part of researching a marketing plan for a private art school, if that matters, but this is a pretty generic question I've been chewing on for awhile.

In many cases, an organization's "traditional" website has to be safe, professional, non-threatening. But the same time, the vibrancy and marketing power of a blog is important too, in showing (not just saying) why this is a good place to work/live/attend/hire. To make good sense, a blog just cannot seem glued on, in a "click here for our BLOG omgcool" way, I don't think.

So I think this is a pretty general question for any website/blog that needs to both be coolly professional on the one hand, and aggressively marketing themselves on the other, so if you know any great examples in any other fields, that's fine too. A doctor's office, law firm, or private investigator might have the same conflicting goals, I imagine.

I am thinking about it so far as the "voice of the organization", as a sort of more useful replacement for the usual boring "About Our Philosophy" type content. Show us how smart and friendly you are, in other words, instead of just telling us.

I'd like examples if possible, but also general ideas/guidance. Blogs are not my thing.

Best Distance Learning schools with Computer Science degree programs?

premo — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:07:57 -0800

Best Distance Learning Universities with Computer Science degree programs? Any recommendations appreciated! I've been considering going to Troy University for my BA in Computer Science. Are there any other competitors that I should be looking at?

I've been to University of Phoenix and they are awful, high priced and don't care about their students at all. I'm 27 and need a school that I can complete entirely online. My main objective is to find a school that is well received and will be enjoyable, price and difficulty aren't as important to me as the caliber of teachers and or program is.

Thanks so much.

How does education about religion work in US schools?

bjrn — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:49:54 -0800

Someone told me that in the US most public schools don't have religious studies or comparative religion type classes. Is this true? If this is true, how far does it go? Does that mean there's no (Greek/Roman/Norse) mythology either? And what would be the rationale behind not teaching it?

Bay Area (horse) Riding School?

penciltopper — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:43:11 -0800

Looking for SF Bay Area equitation schools (wanna make with the horse-riding). I have pretty much the same question as this one.

Lots of good information there. But I'm looking for recommendations in the SF Bay Area.

I've lived in suburbs or cities all my life, so my exposure to horses has been limited. But I've gone on trail rides as described above, had a friend as a teen who was a show-jumper, etc. I've found that I like just being around horses in general.

So I'd like to spend my weekends this spring/summer learning to ride (instead of just sitting on top of a horse). Bonus for some place that would allow me to spend time there cleaning stables, grooming horses, whatever, if I wanted/they'd have me, rather than "your 1-hour lesson is over, please go home now".

(also, I don't really have the income that many in the horsey set do; so if I could cut my lesson rates by shoveling sh*t, that would be welcome.)

How do you change a school?

acoutu — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:41:02 -0800

Can you turn a bad school into a good school? I live in the downtown of the most expensive city in Canada: Vancouver. My catchment area includes two schools. One is an annex, which goes from K to 3. The other is the main school, K to 7. The annex is well regarded. However, the main school is not. The students there have many, many problems. A recent school report shows that 0% of kindergarten students there have personal preparedness skills and that at least 1/4 students is 20 minutes late every morning. 11% of grade 1s can do grade level math. And so on.

The annex has good results. However, because people don't want their kids to transfer to the main school for 4th grade, people move or send their kids elsewhere. By 3rd grade, only 3 students are original to the school and the class size is quite small. (Not that small is a problem.)

The main school apparently has problems with 7th graders bullying kindergarten students. My friend, who is a teacher, says no one wants to teach at the main school, although the annex is a popular destination.

People have apparently hoped to change the main school, but, if you head there for 4th grade, it's hard to get on the PTA. The people who were there from the beginning don't want to give up their spots or vote for new people. And the entrenched people are apparently okay with the way things are. (This is what I'm told.)

Most of the parents I know are great parents. We all have preschoolers. And we're all unsure what to do about school. A few parents have suggested that we could all band together and work to change the schools. The problem is that we'd all want to send our kids to the annex. Then you're in a game of chicken, when it comes to waiting it out till 4th grade. People inevitably panic and pull their kids out before they need to move to the big school for grade 4. And so things never change.

Is there any way to change this? If our kids don't go to these schools, they'd have to go out of catchment, which involves commuting and kind of defeats the purpose of living downtown.

A few key points:
- starter houses in this city are $800k-$1.1M. Housing prices have spiked in recent years; more people are living downtown than ever before, including families.
- the school board decided not to build a new school in this area and instead transferred funding to build a school on the new Olympic grounds
- we've got about 2 years before our kids get to kindergarten
- the nearest French Immersion is over a bridge and so popular that a lottery system is used to award spaces. It is not necessarily a solution.
- we recognize that many "bad schools" actually do a great job in teaching, but the word on the street is that this is not one of them and that the social environment is dismal.

Schools Filtering DotCom E-mail - DotCom vs. DotOrg

MaxVonCretin — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:40:14 -0800

Two Part Question: 1) Do some educational institutions flag ALL .com e-mails as spam? 2) Is it unseemly for a for-profit company to use the non-restricted .org TLD for its e-mail addresses? Part 1: A small educational publisher for which I sometimes freelance - and which has never sent spam - has inquired about changing all their e-mail addresses. (They use the .com variant of their domain, but also own the .org & .net versions.) In making the inquiry, they stated:

"Most of our clients are elementary and high schools, and most school firewalls now detect .com email as spam and send it to antispam folders where it is deleted before being read. Oftentimes our emails never reach our clients!"

Can this be true? I would imagine this would make it impossible for school personnel to communicate with 99% of the outside world.

This client has a propensity for interpreting anecdotal events as sweeping trends, so I'm tempted to think that's what this is - but they insist that they are hearing this from "many people". Can anyone verify this trend, and if so, which TLD(s) are best for combatting it?

Part 2: I could switch them over to .net or .org - though they seem to prefer the idea of using .org. Thing is, they are not organized as a non-profit (though they're barely profitable). I know the .org domain is not restricted, but it is popularly perceived as representing non-profit status. As such, I have advised them that using the .org might cause some people to feel they are somehow misrepresenting themselves. What do people here think - given the (possible) issue above, is using a .org address in a for-profit context a no-no?

Why not just send your kids to a private school?

Jimbob — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:49:55 -0800

Church/State, creationists, private education in the US; why don't all the "intelligent design" folk just send their kids to private religious schools? A point came up in a discussion with my wife tonight; why is there such controversy regarding the teaching of "religious dogma" in public schools in the United States? If parents are so concerned about the need for their children to learn creation myths in school, why do I get the impression very few US parents send their children to private religious schools?

Here in Australia, it's not that expensive. It's my understanding that there are typical, suburban Lutheran schools, for example, with annual tuition fees of only AU$2,000 or less - not a great commitment for a religiously conservative, low to middle class family to make in order to ensure their kids are educated the way they want. I was unfortunate enough to have attended a private Christian school myself; we were infact taught evolution, but only after a letter was sent to our parents first, asking if they raised any objection.

Indeed, my (primarily TV and movie-driven) knowledge of America suggests that public schools really do handle the great majority of education; the only movie I can think that features a private school is Dead Poet's Society, and possibly Donny Darko, although in that case it isn't clear if it's a private school, or a public school in a very nice neighbourhood.

My question is wandering; so back to the point. Why aren't private religious schools more common in the United States; if they were, would it solve the constant "teaching creationism in public schools" mess?

Public or private?

Framer — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:34:58 -0800

What questions did you ask when you were choosing your kid's school? It's the classic conundrum: private school seems better in many of the obvious ways (creative ways of teaching, small class size, "whole child" focus), but is costly, involves a commute and feels somewhat elitist. Local public school is good (rural, small), but feels more like an institution and would mean putting our kid through the whole maze of state-mandated standardized testing and us through the annual fretting about whether budget cuts would mean the loss of music/art/phys ed programs. Philosophically we want to support public schools, but should that even play a role in our decision?

Is zero speed a constant speed?

Chanther — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:33:07 -0800

Mathematically, can a speed of zero be considered a "constant speed"? I teach sixth grade math. Recently, on one of the district tests, there was a multiple choice question asking students to choose which one of four graphs matched the description "Maria biked at a constant speed." All four graphs had time on the x-axis and distance on the y-axis.

Graph A was a zig-zag of different slopes - clearly not constant.

Graph B was a straight diagonal line - roughly y=x - clearly constant.

Graph C was an exponential increase - roughly y=x^2 - clearly not constant.

But Graph D was a flat line - roughly y=4. (Maria's speed is zero).

The answer key for the test said that Graph B was the (only) correct response. In some ways, that makes sense to me, for in the real world we wouldn't say "Maria biked at a constant speed" if Maria is standing still like she is in Graph D. But I was concerned, because in all the definitions of "constant speed" I'd seen (for example, "the object will cover the same distance every regular interval of time") I'd never seen anything that demanded the distance for every interval be non-zero.

I was inclined to treat either Graph B or Graph D as a correct response. The school district math coordinator disagreed, refering me to Newton's First Law. I'm assuming by this she meant that Newton's First Law implies that an object in motion and an object at rest are two different things. Is she right and I'm wrong? Or is this a question on which reasonable mathematicians can disagree? (It's only an academic question now, since in fact none of my kids chose Graph D on their tests).

Becoming a Notary Public

calwatch — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 23:48:28 -0800

Has anyone ever become a notary? I'm interested in making some extra money and am wondering which notary schools you recommend, what tips there are to drumming up business, etc. (This is in California). If it matters, I'm an engineer so my work has virtually zip to do with notarizing documents. I would be working this as a part time job, no more than 15 or 20 hours a week, and not expect to be paid like I'm doing a full time job. Some notary schools have been advertising lately on the radio claiming of a huge shortage so I'm wondering how true that really is.

Montessori Schools?

bondcliff — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 06:58:34 -0800

Montessori schools? We're looking into sending our toddler to a Montessori pre-school next year. Anybody have any experience with them? Most of what we've read is pro-Montessori but I'm looking for personal experiences from people who have sent their own kids or who have gone themselves. I realize our pre-school choices probably won't affect him when he's thirty but I would like to start him off on the right foot. [There is nothing more inside but your many helpful comments.]