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RE: Becky and Brian are such mean parents

The attachment… 

From: Steve Taylor [mailto:spt@thetaylorcompany.net]
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 10:31 PM
To: Bill Taylor (Bill Taylor); David Taylor (David Taylor); Tom Taylor (Tom Taylor)
Subject: Becky and Brian are such mean parents

  They wouldn’t let their son Tony sign up for 20 credits this semester.  One must apply for special permission (and pay more money) to take more than 17 credits.  Tony pleaded his case to no avail.  His parents held firm. He did find a way around the rule, however.  In addition to the classes he’s signed up for: Calculus, Latin, Ethics, etc., he got permission to audit the Macroeconomics class he also wants.  He won’t get any credit for it, but he can attend class and get to learn all it has to offer.  But Becky and Brian don’t totally suck as parents.  Public school tried to teach Teigan algebra but she didn’t like it.  Now that Becky is homeschooling Teigan and Conner, and as a homeschooler she is not responsible for a class of 30, she could spend the time to research teaching options.  It turns out there are ways to get around specific subject resistance.  Just combine it with something else; something the student finds more interesting! Becky found a combination biology and pre-algebra book called Life of Fred that is currently making Teigan’s studies a lot more fun.  It’s a charming approach.  I’ve attached a sample of it.  

Posted on

Becky and Brian are such mean parents

 They wouldn’t let their son Tony sign up for 20 credits this semester.  One must apply for special permission (and pay more money) to take more than 17 credits.  Tony pleaded his case to no avail.  His parents held firm. He did find a way around the rule, however.  In addition to the classes he’s signed up for: Calculus, Latin, Ethics, etc., he got permission to audit the Macroeconomics class he also wants.  He won’t get any credit for it, but he can attend class and get to learn all it has to offer.  But Becky and Brian don’t totally suck as parents.  Public school tried to teach Teigan algebra but she didn’t like it.  Now that Becky is homeschooling Teigan and Conner, and as a homeschooler she is not responsible for a class of 30, she could spend the time to research teaching options.  It turns out there are ways to get around specific subject resistance.  Just combine it with something else; something the student finds more interesting! Becky found a combination biology and pre-algebra book called Life of Fred that is currently making Teigan’s studies a lot more fun.  It’s a charming approach.  I’ve attached a sample of it.  
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I got *outside* air

 We stepped out the door early this morning and it was so calm I ran back into the house, got the helicopter, and flew it.  Perfect conditions.  Takeoff was painless and there was just a little drift to contend with while in the air.  Multiple flights and landings.  Every landing was a *soft* landing too; either because I brought it back in under control, or because I was able to steer it back over the soft grass before it crashed.  Part of learning to fly a model helicopter is repairing the damage done in the process.  So far so good.  I’ve been able to spend all my time flying.  It took me 20 minutes to run the battery out. Last night we went to an event here at the park.  A couple that lives here part of the year put it on.  When they are not living at Sandpipers, they are in Mexico tending their vineyard/winery.  They gave us a slide-show presentation on where they go, what it’s like, and how the whole winery process works.  They fed us a meal made entirely of ingredients from that area. Appetizers were:  White wine, goat cheese with apricot jam, flautas de pollo, cherry tomato/melon salad, cream cheese with raspberry chipotle, stuffed grape leaves with sour yogurt, and salados crackers and corn chips.   The main course:  Red wine (from their winery), lamb or pork skewers, guacamole, pico de gallo, refried beans, and warm flour tortillas. For dessert:  A pecan extravaganza with pecan liqueur, pecan tarts, pecan ice cream, and assorted pecan candies.  (They grow a lot of pecans there in Mexico.) There were six of us at our table.  We figured out that together, the three couples had been married for a total of just under 150 years! 
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I got air!

 The helicopter training flights have left the floor.  I’m practicing steady hovering, within the confines of the front room, with slight movements and corrections, and no panicking.  Many flights last for a minute or more now.  Some flights end with a graceful intentional landing.  Most finish with a decision to return abruptly to the floor just before a more serious crash. There is a tricky lag to helicopter controls.  It’s easy to overcorrect.  I’m supposed to relax and let the helicopter fly itself.  That task is complicated by the tendency of the craft to rotate around an axis when held at a steady hover however.  It’s like the little flying machine is hanging by a string fixed to the ceiling and someone gave it a bump; or a tetherball that has a life of its own.  It picks up momentum, the plane of rotation expands and wants to take up the whole living room.  My challenge is to neutralize the rotational motion, without over-correcting.  It can be done…  I just don’t get it done every time. It will be nice to fly this outdoors on a calm day.  But this is South Texas.  We haven’t seen a calm day lately.  I think, with a little more practice in the house, I’ll be ready to fly outside even if it’s a little breezy out there.  I won’t be able to completely control which direction the craft goes, but I should be able to follow after it and keep it in sight.  I’ll be sure to have my running shoes on just in case though.