Clip art copyrighted by Bobbie Peachey,
http://webclipart.about.com

I thought it would be interesting to research many different statistics about American children. Here are some of the countless fascinating facts I discovered:

Health

Obesity

In a NHANES II survey of the Prevalence of Obesity in Children ages 2-19 years

• Ages 2 through 5  -  In 1976-1980 study, 5% were obese. In 2003-2006 study, 12.4% were obese.
• Ages 6 through 11  -  In 1976-1980 study, 6.5% were obese. In 2003-2006 study,17.0%were obese.
• Ages 12 through 19 – In 1976-1980 study, 5% were obese. In 2003-2006 study, 17.6% were obese.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov

Autism

Experts estimate that two to six children out of every 1,000 will have autism. Males are four times more likely to have autism than females.

We can estimate that up to 500,000 individuals younger than 21 have autism.

Source: http://autism.emedtv.com

Education

Gifted

The National Association for Gifted Children estimates there are around 3 million academically gifted children in grades K-12 in the U.S. That’s about 6% of the student population.

Source: http://www.nagc.org

Students who study music test better. Those who took courses in music performance and music appreciation scored higher in the SAT than those who did not participate in the arts. Music performance students scored 53 points higher on the verbal and 39 points higher on the math.

Source: http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com

Literacy

One child in four in the US grows up not knowing how to read.

85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.

Source: http://www.begintoread.com

Attendance

The number of elementary school-age children (ages 5 through 13) declined by 381,000 while the number of their high school-age counterparts (ages 14 through 17) increased by 329,000 between 2003 and 2004.

Graduation

The last census shows that high school graduation rates for women (ages 25 years and older) continued to exceed those of men, 85.4 percent and 84.9 percent, respectively. But 28.9 percent of men had a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 26.5 percent of women.

Utah, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire and Alaska continued to have the highest proportions of people 25 years and older with a high school diploma or higher (around 92 percent).

Source: http://www.census.gov

Smoking, Alcohol and Substance Abuse

Cigarettes

About 40% of adolescents ages 12–17 years have tried smoking cigarettes, including a few puffs, in their lifetime.

Overall, Mexican American adolescents (41%) and non-Hispanic white adolescents (41%) had a higher prevalence of ever having tried smoking cigarettes, compared with non-Hispanic black adolescents (34%)

Alcohol

Sixteen percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years had their first alcoholic drink before age 13. Among those adolescents who had an alcoholic drink, 37% did so before age 13

Eighteen percent of males and 14% of females aged 12–17 years reported drinking before age 13.

Overall, 21% percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years had at least one drink of alcohol during the 30 days before the survey (Table 18).

Females (23%) reported a higher percentage of alcohol use in the past 30 days than males (19%).

Ten percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years had five or more drinks of alcohol in a row within a couple of hours on at least one day during the past month (Table 21).

Females (10%) were as likely as males (11%) to have had five or more drinks of alcohol in a row within a couple of hours on at least one day during the past month.

Non-Hispanic black adolescents (30%) were least likely to have had at least one drink of alcohol, compared with Mexican American adolescents (42%) and non-Hispanic white adolescents (41%).

Marijuana

Approximately 21% of adolescents aged 12–17 years had ever tried marijuana.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov

Teen Sex

Nearly half (46%) of all 15–19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once.

Teens are waiting longer to have sex than they did in the past. Some 13% of never-married females and 15% of never-married males aged 15–19 in 2002 had had sex before age 15, compared with 19% and 21%, respectively, in 1995

http://www.guttmacher.org

In 2007, the adolescent birth rate was 22.2 per 1,000 adolescents ages 15–17.

http://www.childstats.gov/pubs/

the total number of missing children reported to the police and entered into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in 2000 remained at approximately 750,000, or 2,100 children per day, down from 2,200 per day in 1998.

http://www.missingkids.com

Households

There were 12.9 million one-parent families in 2006 — 10.4 million single-mother families and 2.5 million single-father families.

About 5.7 million children, or 8 percent of the total, lived in a household that included a grandparent in 2006. The majority of these children (3.7 million) lived in the grandparent’s home, and of these, about 60 percent had a parent present.

Hispanic and Asian children under 12 were more likely to eat dinner with a parent every day in a typical week than children who were non-Hispanic white or black children.

Source: http://www.census.gov

On September 30, 2006, there were an estimated 510,000 children in foster care.

Source: http://www.childwelfare.gov

Parents with children of different ages talk to me about school. The most common concern among these parents is homework; their children are not self disciplined enough to get the work done on their own.

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Galleryon www.DiscoverySchool.com

The question is, when should you, as a parent stop reminding your child to get his homework done and when should stop helping him actually do it? I asked this question of 1st-3rd grade Montessori teacher, Rachel Pulido, who has more than 30 years of teaching experience.  “By third grade, an average student should be able to do her homework on her own, without being reminded. It’s normal for parents to want to step in, but it is better if children in third grade and higher suffer the consequences of not getting their work done. Otherwise they will not learn to be independent and self motivated.”

This is great advice. While it may be upsetting for parents to watch a child’s grade slump, this is the best way for the student to learn self discipline.”Middle school students should be completely self sufficient about managing their assignments. It’s fine for them to ask for help at times, but they should not be guided by their parents or reminded about deadlines.”

As far as children with learning disabilities, Ms. Pulido said, “This is a different story. No matter what the age of the child, you will have to be more involved. If not, the student may disconnect and lose interest, because the work may be too overwhelming.”

Not long ago, I watched a news segment about a healthy, normal 6th grade boy, who severely lacked confidence. It turned out that his mother was obsessed with him getting everything correct on his homework and excelling on all his tests. She laid out his work on the dining room table, sat him down and watched and pointed as he filled in worksheets. She checked every answer, read his textbooks, quizzed him excessively and called teachers often to ask questions. The stress this created for him was insurmountable. He was afraid to try anything on his own without the approval of his mom, including making the simplest decisions (like what flavor of  ice cream he should order). His well-meaning, yet controlling mother created a helpless, insecure, unhappy child. A counselor worked with her to show her how her controlling actions were detrimental to her son.

While this is an extreme case, it is representative of a common problem. So unless your child has a learning disability, let her face the consequences of slacking off with homework. There’s nothing wrong with setting boundaries and communicating exactly what your expectations are and what the repercussions will be if her grades start slipping. But rather than doing the work for her, let your child learn the the best way – by making old fashioned mistakes and suffering the consequences.

Being book smart does not make a person a genius. It takes much more than that – creativity for one. Do you know someone who is precise and rigid, yet flat in the creativity department?  This is the sort of person who is excessively organized and gets everything done on her list. She has perfect handwriting. Her grades were perfect in school. Her home is always tidy. She always knows where everything she owns is located.

http://www.school-clipart.com

This is what I call the “Overachiever.” But she is not a true genius. She is devoid of creativity. She cannot go with the flow; she is inflexible. If her plans change, she is nervous. She needs to have things “just so.”  She is the kind of person you’d want to have as your surgeon, your organizer or your hair stylist. But she would not be a good president of a company, the President of the United States or a teacher.

The Overachiever can be an accomplished musician, playing Chopin flawlessly, exactly the way it was written to be played. But he is not a genius like Chopin because he is a technician, rather than an artist. Don’t get me wrong; the overachiever is to be well respected for his diligence, reliability and commitment to excellence. Who ever said one must be a genius to be respected? There is a lot to be said for doing a job well, and many overachievers are super successful. Yet they are not geniuses.

My own definition of a true “Genius” is one who is well-rounded rather than lopsided. A math whiz with no social skills in my definition, is not a true Genius. A true genius possesses all these factors:

• Has a naturally high IQ
• Is curious about everything
• Is creative
• Is flexible and open-minded
• Has people skills
• Is mature
• Has a sense of humor
• Has the drive to get things done
• Is a non-conformist (and no, this does not mean tattooing and piercing your face)

Possessing all of these factors is rare. How many do you have? How many do your children have? How many people do you know who has all of them?

Geography is Anything But Boring!

Have you ever thought about where our basic food comes from? Have your kids ever asked you about it? Just about every time I go to the grocery store, I think about how grateful I am for our farmers who grow all this stuff we eat – the wonderful abundance of fruit, veggies and grains (especially organic!) we have to choose from. I think we all take for granted the work others do to make sure we have healthy food to eat! I grow a few tomato plants in buckets every year and know how much works goes into that. So I can surely appreciate what it takes to feed the world!

One great way to explore the world with your kids is to learn about crop production. The US Department of Agriculture offers some great tables that list crop production from countries all around the world.

http://www.cksinfo.com

I learned some interesting things:

• The US produces the most corn, but India produces a lot more cotton than we do.
• India produces about 66% more rice than China.
• There is a lot of peanut production in the nations of Sub Sahara Africa.
• The US leads the world in soybean production.
• Russia produces more wheat than the US, but India produces more than Russia.

If you look at the data with your children, talk about the reasons different countries grow more of  a crop than other countries do. (Climate, population, land size). Discuss how we all help each other out by supplying food to other nations.

With Thanksgiving just one week away, this is a great time for us all to be thankful for our food!

Now is the time to improve your geography literacy and encourage those around you as well! This year’s National Geography Awareness Week Theme is:

“Get Lost in Mapping: Find Your Place in the World”

http://www.nationsonline.org

Here’s what you should do right now:

• Read about the National Geography Society’s Giant Traveling Map Project, if you haven’t already. Here’s my interview with Dan Beaupré, Director of Educational Partnerships at NGS.
• Read about the Green Schools Alliance Climate Quilt Campaign. Children around the world are invited to make a patch for a quilt pledging their promise to do their part to help save the planet. In addition to learning about the global environment, this project also teaches geography.
• Go to MyWonderfulWorld.org to sign up for updates on Geography Awareness Week, Expedition Week and for a ton more info about geography!
• Talk to your child’s teachers and school principal about the importance of Geography Education!!

More than half of young Americans are unable to find New York on a map. Read 2006 Roper Survey Here.

Let’s change that now!

I have been reviewing a lot of children’s books about famous men – Ben Franklin, Marco Polo, Charles Darwin. Three men who have changed the way we think and live.

Marco Polo

I realize that what they all have in common is a magnified level of curiosity. It is not that any of these men were born knowing any more than others. It is simply that they had a thirst for knowledge. That is truly the definition of intelligence – curiosity.

So you must ask yourself, how curious am I? What about my kids? Are they always asking and searching for answers? If so, you’ve got intelligent kids, who perhaps someday may be another Darwin or Ben Franklin or Marco Polo.

It may seem like there isn’t much left to be discovered. But we just don’t know yet what we just don’t know. And I am desperate to learn all about it.

If you are the parent of a gifted child or are wondering if your child is gifted, highly gifted or profoundly gifted, Haogie’s Gifted Education is a great place to visit. You name it, as far as the gifted world is concerned, they’ve got it. This site will answer all your questions and lead you to the right gifted education resources to help you on your way. There is information for parents, teachers, kids and teens. You’ll find toys, software, magazines, movies, books, contests and more. This site links to countless sites where you can buy educational and entertaining products for your gifted child. This mega site may seem overwhelming at first, but it is well organized and easy to navigate.

Learn about the website’s award-winning founder, Caroline K and just exactly how this site got the unusual name it has by clicking here. Who exactly is Hoagie anyway?

Carolyn K

Smart Poodle Publishing continues to support and promote other websites that are there for the greater good of our children, their well-being and education. There’s nothing more important than that, is there?

Go to Haogie’s Gifted Education

Figure out how many world leaders you know from the countries listed below. (See answers below.)

How many do your children know as well?

Countries

1. Afghanistan
2. Argentina
3. Australia
4. Brazil
5. Canada
6. China
7. Costa Rica
8. Cuba
9. Egypt
10. France
11. Great Britain
12. Greece
13. India
14. Indonesia
15. Iran
16. Iraq
17. Ireland
18. Israel
19. Italy
20. Japan
21. Monaco
22. North Korea
23. Mexico
24. Russia
25. South Africa
26. South Korea
27. Spain
28. Sweden

http://www.freshfreestuff.net

Answers*

1. Afghanistan: Hamid Karzai (President)
2. Argentina: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (President)
3. Australia: Quentin Bryce (Governor General)   -  Kevin Michael Rudd (Prime Minister)
4. Brazil: Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva (President)
5. Canada: Michaelle Jean (Governor General)   -  Stephen Harper (Prime Minister)
6. China: Hu Jintao (President)
7. Costa Rica: Oscar Arias Sanchez (President)
8. Cuba: General Raul Castro Ruz (President of the Council of State)
9. Egypt: Mohamed Hasni Mubarak (President)
10. France: Nicolas Sarcozy (President)   Francois Fillon (Prime Minister)
11. Great Britain: Elizabeth II (Queen)  James Gordon Brown (Prime Minister)
12. Greece: Karolos Papoulias (President)  -  Konstandinos Karamanlis (Prime Minister)
13. India: Pratibha Patil (President)
14. Indonesia: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (President)
15. Iran: Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamanei (Supreme Leader)  -  Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad (President)
16. Iraq: Jalal Talabani (President)
17. Ireland: Mary McAleese (President)
18. Israel: Shimon Peres (President)   -  Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu (Prime Minister)
19. Italy: Giorgio Napolitano (President)  -  Silvio Berlusconi (Prime Minister)
20. Japan: Akihito (Emperor)  -  Yukio Hatoyama (Prime Minister)
21. Monaco: Prince Albert II (Chief of State)  – Jean-Paul Proust (Minister of State & President of Governing Council)
22. North Korea: Kim Jong Il (General Secretary, Supreme Commander of Army and Chairman of National Defense Commission)
23. Mexico: Felip de Jesus Calderon Hinojosa (President)
24. Russia: Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev (President) -  Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Premier)
25. South Africa: Jacob Zuma (President)
26. South Korea: Lee Myung-bak (President)  – Han Seung-soo (Prime Minister)
27. Spain: King Juan Carlos de Borbon y Borbon  (Chief of State) – Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (President)
28. Sweden: Carl XVI Gustaf (King) -  Frederik Reinfeldt (Prime Minister)

How many did you know? How many will you remember?

*Source:  https://www.cia.gov

You know that feeling when you meet a family for the first time and you instantly hit it off with them, knowing you will fast become good friends? Well, that happened to me while at the NCGE conference in San Juan last week. I met Theresa Blain, owner of Visualize World Geography, which teaches students to visualize nations by turning the world into memorable shapes. Theresa and her husband Gregg, homeschool their two talented sons, Hunter (age 14) and Gregory (age 12). The family lives on a sprawling ranch in Western Texas, and the boys recently took it upon themselves to start keeping bees on their property. Naturally, I was curious about this and just had to ask them all about it. Beekeeping is fascinating!

Gregory (left) and Hunter (right) Blain suit up for their beekeeping duties on their Texas ranch

What made you decide to become beekeepers?

Hunter and Gregory: We were talking to our parents about multiple land uses of the ranch. Beekeeping came up as a possibility because it is compatible with cattle raising – our main use of land. Also, wild hives were infiltrating some of our barns, and had to be moved. This indicated that the ranch was a good bee habitat, and if we did become beekeepers, we could then have better control of where the hives would be located, and also receive the benefit of collecting honey.

How did you figure out what you needed to do to get started keeping bees?

Hunter: We read books on the subject, like “The Hive and the Honeybee,” and we asked older beekeepers for advice.

Gregory: I read a lot of descriptions of products in bee catalogs.

What kind of equipment is necessary to keep bees?

Gregory: I wouldn’t go without a bee suit—which includes gloves, a veil, a hat, and a full body suit. Plus you need a smoker, and a hive tool (a hive tool is just a strangely shaped pry bar). Each apiary has a couple of large hives, some smaller ones on top called supers, and a queen excluder between them to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey comb. Also, make sure to bring an extra empty hive with empty frames to store good honey for transport and processing.

Hunter: You need an extractor to spin the honey off the frames, a capping scratcher to remove the wax caps from the cells, bottles, and a sanitary work environment. We use a hot plate, two stainless steel filters—one fine, one coarse, and different stainless pots, trays, and funnels. We wrap our extractor with heat tape to make the honey flow faster. A comb cutter is helpful if you are packaging the honey with the comb.

The beekeepers hard at work

How many apiaries do you have?

Gregory: We have two completed apiaries, and another area fenced off and ready for bees.

Did you attract your bees or purchase them?

Hunter: The two completed apiaries have purchased bees, while the other bees will come from a wild hive that is in a bad spot, and must be moved for safety reasons.

Gregory: You can domesticate a wild beehive by moving the queen bee into a man-made hive.

Do you have any idea how many bees live in your hive(s)?

Gregory: We have tens of thousands, round about, but it would take a while to “bee” exact and count them.

Hee, Hee. I am glad to know that beekeepers have a keen sense of humor! Do you need permission from your town or some sort of a permit to keep bees on a residential property?

Hunter: Because our hives are outside city limits, they have no jurisdiction over our operation. However, we do report our hives and honey production to the USDA for statistical purposes.

That is so cool that you do that! I’ve read that bees need a large water source to make honey and keep their hives cool. How do you provide your bees with water?

Hunter: Although water is not a major factor in cooling the hives (bees use their wings like cordless, portable fans), water is very important to make honey. Currently, the bees obtain their water from ponds about a quarter mile away. However, we decided that for this upcoming season, we will put 55 gallon drums of water next to each hive, making sure to cut just a small hole on top of each drum so that not much more than our bees can get into them. Giving the bees a water source right next to their hives will mean less of the bees’ time will be spent retrieving water, and more bees can be dedicated to gathering nectar, and producing honey.

That’s brilliant! Where is the pollen source coming from for your bees?

Gregory: Bees gather nectar from flowers—for the bees, moving pollen around is accidental. Our bees gather from wildflower patches that vary from year to year. Another important source is mesquite trees.

How long does it take your bees to make a jar’s worth of honey?

Hunter: Our honey production is rising as the hives become more established. This is because the bees do not have to re-make the wax cells from scratch. This year, we harvested about 110 pounds of honey.

Yum. How do you safely get the honey out of the hive?

Greogory: Make sure you zip your bee suit up completely. Use smoke to keep the bees calm and off the honey; use the hive too—check for honey content and bee larvae called brood. Honey comb with brood must be left in the hive. The hive contains a number of wooden frames—separate pieces on which the bees construct their comb. We put the good frames in an extra empty hive and drive away. The wandering bees eventually head back to their own hive.

Does it look the same as the honey we buy at the store?

Hunter: It looks about the same, except the color may vary depending on which flowers are predominant that year. Our honey tends to be sweeter because it isn’t made from a single flower type, or an agricultural crop.

What do you do with the honey?

Hunter: We bottle it, and then we eat it, give it to friends; we even sell some too.

Hunter proudly displays the honey collected from the beehives

Have either of you ever been stung?

Gregory: One time, my veil was slightly unzipped, and 6 or 7 bees unexpectedly got in. It was fine for a while, until one crawled into my left nostril. That’s when I started running. The quick reaction disturbed the bees and I found myself at a curve in the road about half a mile away, just about lost. As I mentioned before, always make sure your bee suit is completely zipped!

That must have been rather scary! What have you learned about bees that surprised you since you started doing this?

Hunter: The Africanized bees are amazingly aggressive. They form a dense black cloud and sting everything in sight.

Gregory: Bees can sting multiple times on most animals. Human skin traps the stinging organ, which is fatal for the bee.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about bees with our readers?

Hunter: After the initial set up costs, and the first year’s experience, beekeeping is easy and inexpensive. It is true that building fences and assembling hives require hard work, and that a good extractor can be pricey, but if you are going to raise bees, you have to think of them as a long-term deal.

Gregory: Dadant and Sons, a beekeepers supply company, has good, introductory books and a lot of the things you would need to get started.

Hunter and Gregory, I cannot thank you enough for sharing all your knowledge with us. I learned so much about keeping bees. Please keep us informed about your progress with the beehives and any other fascinating new projects you take on. With curiosity such as yours, I am sure there will be many other exciting adventures in your future!

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I just returned from the National Council for Geographic Education Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The purpose of this conference is for geographers, teachers of geography and those who have businesses related to or a passion for geography to get together to share information, research and experience about teaching geography to students from elementary school through college.

This was my first conference with NCGE, and quite a fascinating experience (especially from the perspective of a children’s travel book author.) Over 500 people attended from all over the USA and Canada and more than 210 workshops and sessions were offered over the course of 3 days. Here’s the gist of what I learned with the sessions I was able to attend:

1. Lack of geography knowledge in the USA is an epidemic from elementary school, through the university level and beyond.
2. Global and spacial thinking are paramount to not only education but to our nation’s political relationships with other countries.
3. There are many exceptional software programs, lesson plans, books, events and more to help teachers and parents teach geography.
4. Geography is not just about finding places on a map. It’s about people, cultures, plants, animals, weather, space, distance and so much more.

Specific sessions I attended:

1. Rand McNally has just released a brand new and extremely impressive 22^nd Edition of Goode’s World Atlas, the most phenomenal teaching atlas ever. Every geographer and teacher must have this. I’ve got one!
2. National Geographic Society offers an extraordinary program for schools called Giant Traveling Maps. Floor maps the size of rooms are rented out to schools all over the USA for unforgettable lessons in geography.
3. ESRI offers the world’s most comprehensive and advanced Geographic Information Systems to teach geography. You’ve got to try their software products to experience the benefits yourself.
4. 3^rd Grade teacher, Marilyn Pineda from Comanche Pubic Schools in Oklahoma shared how music and literature can be used effectively to teach geography. (This was right up my Lilly Badilly alley!)
5. Two teachers, with great senses of humor, from the Mississippi Geography Alliance, Sandra K. Morgan and June Hollis, demonstrated how to use a large floor map, nursery rhymes and songs to teach US geography to elementary age children.
6. Through Coppin State University and a generous grant from NASA, Dr. Doug Reardon told us how geography education is being transformed in West Baltimore, a low income area. The stories of the teachers in this district are inspiring and will set a standard for all those who long to bring geography into the classroom, for all schools in the USA.
7. Dr. Cynthia Resor from Eastern KY University talked about how Place Based Education can help students learn about geography, starting in their own communities.
8. Dr. Jimmy Dunn from the University of Northern Colorado wrote about Setting New Geography Standards for Colorado. He spent a lot of time quizzing his students about geography using different methods and tracking the results. Fascinating!
9. Venice, Italy is sinking due to excessive flooding, which is cased by a number of factors. Geographer, Dr. Denise Blanchard of Texas State University gave a fascinated session on the causes and possible solutions to the problem.

FYI – I hosted a workshop called “Fun with Geography in the Classroom.”

These were just a small fraction of the many learning experiences to be had at this year’s NCGE conference. I would have loved to attend every one of the sessions, but that would be impossible. I’m looking forward to next year.

To join NCGE, click here. Remember, you don’t have to be a geographer or teacher to care about geography education in America.

Cme back tomorrow . . . it’s all about Puerto Rico.

Geography Matters More than You Know!