34. Curriculum Renewal/Reform

Another class down! (2 of 14) Not much to say but I'm glad it is done.
I'm using the wildcard on the memorization of presidents/vp/party because I don't have as strong of a desire to memorize the vp/party section anymore. I still look at the list of presidents and try to get them down, but I don't think the other two parts are as important anymore. Another goal down!

37. The Last Lecture

I finished my 5th biography! Last week one of my students told me that their mom was reading the book, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. His lecture became quite famous on the internet for his ability to speak so easily to a large group about his life with pancreatic cancer and things he has learned along the way. I haven't seen the whole lecture yet, but plan finish it some time soon.

This book was really written with the purpose for his kids (ages 6, 4, and 18 months) to have something to remember and know their father by. It is a really good book and an easy read. As I was reading through it reminded me of Ron Clark's book The essential 55 where Ron Clark talks about 55 rules he has for his classroom. The Last Lecture has 62 chapters with each one containing a certain memory or important lesson. These chapters are his way of teaching his kids how he wants them to live their lives through giving stories about his own life. It is a great read. While you know he will eventually lose his battle (died July 28, 2008), you know that he isn't going down quietly.

I enjoyed this one a lot (I finished it in 3 days) and thought that the life lessons that were given in the book were a great piece that he could leave to his kids and to the rest of the world. Next book on the agenda is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I'm thinking that one will take a little longer than 3 days to finish.

91. Foundations of Curriculum EDU 8130

I just finished my first class of my program (1 of 14). The second will be finishing later this week. While having a class on Saturday mornings beginning at 7:30 isn't the most ideal time to have a class, I enjoyed the class quite a bit. The group of people that I have class with is a really good group. This class studied how curriculum is put together and what components make it up. That's the least boring way for me to describe the class.
As enacted earlier for marathon completion, Matt suggested that each class that I finish will also count as a wildcard. I think that is a fair suggestion as it trades the time that I am taking for my studies for a task that is no longer one that I see as important.
The thing that I see as not as important is cleaning out the car. While I do see it as important, I haven't kept the integrity of the goal getting it cleaned as much as the goal intends. Another goal down!

69. Read a book about nutrition that would help me understand nutrients and vitamins better

After what seems like months of reading this book, I'm finally done! Nutrition for Life is over! I bought this book a long time ago at Borders because it seemed to be the best book in the nutrition section of the store. I have really grown to like the DK publishing group for non-fiction (Mom, take note!). They really do a good job putting pictures together to help explain the content of the book.
After reading the book I have a better understanding of why vitamins do the things that they do. There was nothing earth shattering in the book as far as new things I learned, but it was a good book to read. I definitely didn't internalize a lot of what I read, but I did learn about a lot of different foods to eat more of. Lima beans seemed to be mentioned a lot for high nutritional value. I hadn't realized they were thought of so highly.
This book is finished. I am going to try to get one or two of the reading goals done in the educational section next. I have a little bit of a break from reading for my classes right now and think I have a chance at getting those done. Now I just have to find something interesting to read.

Little bloggers

I had a kid at school tell me that he asked his parents to start a blog. His parents did the same thing that I did, they laughed. I then asked why he wanted to start one, his reply was that he wanted to type out the 50 goals that he had set for himself so he could keep track of them and write about them.

I share with my students that I have a blog. I usually use it as an example if I am talking about experiential writing or something in that area. I talk openly about my goals and they constantly ask what goal I am working on or what goal I want to begin next. I have had kids in the past say that they had one or two goals that they wanted to do, but never have I had a kid that had a list of 50 that he wanted to begin right away (his time line is 3 years for completion). I was touched to see that he wanted so much to do something just like me.

The solution that his parents came up with was that he could just open up a Microsoft Word document and write everything there (sound's like Creed's blog).

We went to the library right after he had shared this information with me. I walked by his computer and saw that he had typed into the search box "how to start a blog."

Gotta keep trying!

I wrote another letter to Time today and got this message:

In a nut shell, the letter is a way of saying, you took too long to write in for the week. Next week be faster. I get this message about half of the time. I usually save the content and send it in the next week. This particular article was one I had to sign my name as "Paul Lewis." I talked pretty openly about things that happen in our school. I figured it wasn't something I wanted my name on. Not a great career move.

39. The Millionaire Next Door

I have been wanting to read this book for awhile. It is often discussed on two of the personal finance blogs that I read. One of them is The Simple Dollar. The author of this blog is a guy from Iowa who went from being a huge spender to being a guy who finds joy in frugality. I like his site and find plenty of tips that I can use in my daily life. His site is actually the site that I first read about 101 goals in 1001 days. The other site I go to is Get Rich Slowly. The author is from Oregon. He was also a huge spender that turned his habits around. He tends to write on a lot of topics that I find interesting, but he gets into numbers which tends to lose me after awhile.

Both of these guys have done reviews on the book which can be found here and here.

The biggest point that I got out of the book was that there are wealthy people and there are people that try to look like they are wealthy. Most of the truly wealthy people (those who have a net worth of over $1 million) are people that don't live the lavish lifestyles. They don't have a need to impress others with their money.

A point to take out of the book is to spend less than you earn. That's pretty obvious. Avoid trying to impress others with the things you have. I know I can't afford a lot of things I see other people with. I've learned that is ok. Paul says in Philippians 4:12 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Paul's words come from the extreme areas of having plenty and being in need. I know that I haven't really learned Paul's "secret" completely, but I understand what he means. After having kids, my list of things that I want has gone down greatly. I have most of the things that I need. The book discussed clothing, houses, and cars as being downfalls for people to not gain wealth. I'm happy with where I am at with all of these.

This was a good book to read. The formula to becoming a millionaire isn't a secret. Be wise with where you spend your money and save wisely and regularly.