Amy Currioman » Education and Personal Growth

Teaching courses

Amy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:26:24 +0000

Have you ever wanted to take a teaching course? Not too long ago I was thinking about becoming a substitute teacher for the local school district. After all they don’t even require a college degree in early education! That was surprising to me! Well, I decided to check it out as a possible course of employment but decided that the school system here did not have any kind of training course in place to help people to learn how to be substitute teachers. So I passed on that – I didn’t think I would do a good job of it! I really think that the school systems should have a better system than to just hire anyone with a high school diploma to be a substitute teacher!

Your ticket to fun

Amy — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:49:54 +0000

I love how the Internet has made so many of us “global citizens.” I can remember when I had to work really hard to get information about things that were happening out of town! If you wanted information on a particular town, you had to contact the local chamber of commerce and try to get copies of the local newspapers. If you wanted to buy something specific to that town, like Georgia Dome tickets, or United Center Tickets or even Tournament of Roses Parade Tickets you had to use the long distance operator to try to help you find telephone numbers and then make a seemingly never-ending series of long distance telephone calls to try to find out how to get tickets!

But now, with the advent of the Internet, and the increasing access it has made possible to the consumer, you can get all of those things just with the click of a mouse and a credit card or paypal account! The ease in which this can be done is almost unimaginable to those of us who were adults before the Internet was invented. It truly is a modern marvel!

Say what?

Amy — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:51:50 +0000

Have you ever needed a translator? I took Spanish back in 1969 (yes, that WAS a long time ago) and 1970 in middle school. I really enjoyed learning a foreign language. I wanted to keep taking it, but the classes were full and I couldn’t get in. There were a few times in the early ’70s that I actually used some of what I had learned in my job, but then I moved to New England where nobody spoke Spanish – it was mostly English and French.

More recently I’ve found some websites that were in a foreign language and found that I wanted an online translation to help me to understand what the websites were saying. I find it fun to be able to communicate with other people whose native tongue is not English! I think that as more people turn to using the Internet to become global citizens there will be an increasing need for free translation services. I sure wish I’d kept up on my Spanish skills! I’ve been thinking about taking a course in it but I’ve been feeling too lazy. Or maybe I just feel that I don’t have the time right now.

Helping kids with math

Amy — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:56:34 +0000

I can remember when I was in high school I had a math teacher that hated girls. The first day of class he announced that he felt that girls did not belong in his class and that he was going to flunk every girl. He told us all to drop the class immediately! I went to the school administration and complained, and their response was for me to drop the class! That was over thirty years ago and I still get angry thinking about that!

Since that time, I’m pretty sure that schools don’t allow that kind of person to teach! And since that time, I think that teachers have learned that girls can be just as good as math as boys are! And in this day and age, any student can get Math Help fairly easily with Online Tutoring if they have Internet access! The Guaranteach website offers Algebra Help and Math help for a low monthly fee of under $10. If I had a student that needed help with math, I would certainly do everything I could to get him (or her) that help! Math is vitally important in today’s world.

Entering the modern age

Amy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:55:18 +0000

I’ve been resisting entering the modern age. I admit it. I’m technologically challenged! I prefer cassette tapes to CDs, I prefer VHS tapes to DVDs. And I have resisted getting an IPOD or MP3 player like crazy. I like my old “Walkman” cassette player; it works great! I just pop in a cassette tape and press play and I get to listen to my favorite tape! But I have to admit that the IPODs and MP3 players are smaller, and therefore easier to transport. And I can store hundreds of songs on them and don’t have to lug around a bunch of tapes to swap in and out of them. So I have finally ordered an MP3 player.

I asked my kids for help in picking one out, and they basically told me that they are pretty much all alike, and to buy a “cheap one.” So I think I ordered one where I can pick the song from a menu (I hope!) and not just have to put up with a random shuffle. It is supposed to be arriving in the mail shortly; I’m anxiously waiting for it so I can check it out! Who knows, maybe I can start to embrace the “modern age” after all! Just don’t ask me to text message anyone on my cell phone!

The complicated Internet

Amy — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:21:25 +0000

I can remember life before the Internet. Can you? I even remember life before the personal computer! Back when I was in junior high school I took typing classes on the old-fashioned manual typewriter. The classroom only had two electric typewriters in it, and they were reserved for only occasional use! It was such a big deal at work when we got our first word processors! Then when the first personal computers hit the market, my hubby and I were the first family on the block to have one!

I am constantly amazed and impressed with how the technology has advanced so quickly in this field! Now it seems that almost everyone I know has a personal computer with Internet access! Many of us have our own websites! I’ve recently been made aware of how important it is to make sure that you have an up-to-date website security program on your computer to protect your website. I was reading a blog article on the webhostinggeeks.com website about that very issue. I like their website a lot; I use it to help me to make decisions about what web hosting service to subscribe to or recommend to my friends when I want to learn about the different options and packages on a lot of different services at once. If any of you need to read reviews and rankings of the most popular web hosting services, this is a great place to go.

Be careful with payday loans

Amy — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:19:26 +0000

I understand that payday loans are very popular in some states. I also heard that they are not legal in other states! That surprised me to hear that they are prohibited in some states. I was searching on the Internet to find out if they are legal in the state that I live in, and they are, but they are illegal in most of the NorthEastern States. I have to wonder why that is the case! And I wonder if that is a trend that is going to continue, making them illegal. I know that some law-makers are very concerned that some of the companies that run that kind of loan are predators and that the loans are designed to never let the debtor pay off the loan!

There has been a lot of news stories on the local television stations about how some companies have been sued over their predatory practices, and changes have been ordered. I don’t know if the changes have actually been made or not! I still see a lot of television commercials for that kind of loan. I think that this kind of short term loan is ok if the debtor is in the position to pay it off with their next paycheck; but if they are not able to pay it off quickly then they need to carefully review their options because these types of loans are very high interest loans.

I like shiny, glittery things

Amy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:16:37 +0000

I’ve always liked shiny, glittery things. I enjoy looking at them sparkle and shine! Having said that, I don’t own very much “good” jewelry; fear of theft would prevent me from enjoying it! So I think that maybe I should go for the costume jewelry that I won’t be upset about if I lose it (or break it) and try to put the “good stuff” where it will do the most good – in a gold IRA or a gold 401k instead.

I had never heard of IRA gold or how to put gold in an IRA until my brother told me that he was going to be doing it. I asked him how to put gold in my IRA and he told me to go to the goldcoinsgain.com website. The website is an informative resource that explains all of the details of what kind of gold can go into an IRA or 401K and how to go about creating the accounts and buying the gold to put in the account.

For the love of music

Amy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:54:57 +0000

My family roots are in show business. As far back as my family tree reads, on my father’s side, are musicians. It was understood that everyone in the family would learn to read music and play the piano as soon as their feet could reach the piano pedals and their fingers touch the keys at the same time. I can remember the many hours of practicing the piano in the family room.

I loved watching my grandfather play the piano – he made it come to life! He used to play the piano for the silent movies before I was born; I loved to go to his house and beg him to play a silent movie for me. I would close my eyes and visualize the movie. He didn’t need to narrate for me what was happening; I recognized each and every scene. The villain, the beauty in distress, the oncoming train, the horse chase, the rescue, and the love scene. These memories will always be dear to my heart.

Stinky costumes

Amy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:40:49 +0000

I was just thinking about some costumes that my sister brought over to my house that she asked me to store for her. They were created decades ago by our mother and her friends to use in a minstrel show they used to do. They’ve been stored in her friend’s basement for decades, and then given to my sister who stored them in her basement. I don’t want to store them in my basement, but they have that nasty nasty musty cellar smell in them. I’m not quite sure how to get the smell out of them. I don’t think that I dare to just throw them in the wash – they are very old and I don’t think that they could survive going through the wash. And I’m afraid to take them to the dry cleaners. And I don’t want to air them outdoors in the sun – the sun would fade the colors! Hmmm….. maybe storing them in a box filled with baking soda kitty litter. Or in a box filled with crumpled newspapers. I had read that crumpled newspapers will take the musty smell out of old suitcases……

I think I’ll pose that question to my community group, asking them how they would try to get the odors out.