Sea of Green Life

 This pictures shows 6 brand new 240 watt panels. We were hoping for a game changer, and so far it has been. We haven't lost power since they were installed last week. Our solar electrician gave us some insight on how to use a solar system that we didn't have before. We were using it more "on demand." I'm thinking of course, yeah that's how I want my power to work, I turn on a light switch it comes on.  Anyway, the new plan is to watch the weather closely and keep the inverter? (the little black box with numbers) between 50 and 54. We lose power about 46, or if the well pump engages and we are below 48. The well pump is our biggest power sucker. Water going into or out of the house is the overall biggest problem for off grid. Or so I've been told----repeatedly.  He also left us with a little gas generator that will run for about 8 hours on a gallon of gas to keep it up to 50 on cloudy days. That worked out great, except it was too close to the

  Look at a lesson that you are planning or have already planned. How many boxes in Pritchard's checklist can you tick with confidence? Would you change the lesson plan? If so, why and how? Most of the lessons that I am currently teaching are coming out of curriculum books so I am not necessarily planning all or the parts, but also, I am having to modify and differentiate based on the needs of the child or children that I am working with. This week my phonics group is working on the /k/ sound specifically when we would use ck instead of c or k. To compare the parts of the lesson that I will teach in 4 20 minute sections. The blue sections are from Pritchard's guidelines, underneath is how I would approach them to meet my lesson objectives.  The remaining points from Pritchard’s website primarily focus on the   writing process in a more detailed way than I would need to get into for this lesson as well as with the goals of this student group. I would not change my lesson a

  What are the dangers of encouraging children to develop as spontaneous, creative individuals by allowing them to view situations from different standpoints, take risks, make mistakes and follow their natural impulses? Let’s get the obvious out the way first. The dangers of allowing kids freedom to be themselves? Mostly, they won’t be who we wanted. They will be themselves. Spontaneous and creative kids, they are also, messy, accident prone, and will fail a lot before they succeed. It will be hard to watch, and if you have a strong need to control things, trust me……sometimes don’t watch. As a teacher and a mother of teenagers I can give you advice on both sides of the issue. Let them do and follow where ever they want to go. Let them climb and fall, make messes, and change their minds. They may want to quit dance after 5 years, it OK. What I would suggest to parents is that as they are giving their kid freedom, remember that they are looking to you for the structure, t

  What do you think about Tuckman's assertion that the team needs to experience and resolve conflict before they will perform well as a team? In general, people only find out how strong they are when they are going through some type of adversity. Not to say that you need hardship in your life, or a team can not perform until they are short staffed, under deadline, or dealing with some other catastrophe. As a team to really come together, they need to have a common goal that binds them and more often than not, those things come to play when there is a problem that needs solving and a deadline to meet. Another reason that conflict or difficulties bind people as a team unit is because in a work setting we may be unsure of feedback and hold back some of our ideas or skills. When a problem is at hand, all hands and skills are on deck and people are eager to hear solutions. A person’s idea that they may have been too hesitant to bring up when things were going well, may toss it out t

  Do you believe that a strong sense of their cultural identity is essential for an individuals overall well-being in a community? Being a part of a community is essential to one’s well being. How they define that community is very fluid and can be based on many things. I personally struggle with the word culture. To me I think of places with history and continuum as having culture. Foods that are known to an area or are shared for generations are culture. Traditions, festivals, and community is culture. In school I was so confused, what is American culture? Cheeseburgers and french fries, Rock and Roll music, materialistic focused holidays that no one knows why they are celebrating or make up their own reasons. Don’t throw me under the fire, I’m legitimately curious as to what others would say. When I think of the community that is essential for my well being I think of the cultural norms of mother, teacher, participant, helper. I think of the places that are a part of