Hello, whoever happens to be reading this. As you may have inferred from the title, this is not going to be a happy post. On the contrary, it is going to be opinionated, judgmental, disgruntled, and possibly offensive—that is, if you support standardized testing. I don’t. At all. And I really need to tell as many people as possible, as loudly and repeatedly as possible.
As some of you may already know, I was homeschooled up until this school year. Therefore, this is the first in-depth experience I have had with a standardized test. I have literally not heard one good thing about it from anyone I know and trust, but I tried to approach it with an open mind. To be honest, I failed at doing that due to a lifelong grudge against tests. But still! It’s not like I went into it determined not to see any good at all in the PARCC test. I like to try to see the silver lining in everything, and I usually succeed.
I found no silver lining.
Instead I found thirty-four math problems (some with up to four parts). I knew how to complete maybe half. I had ninety minutes to complete each seventeen-question section. The first section actually went okay. I knew all but one or two and I finished about ten minutes early. The second section… not so much. I managed to “answer” all of them (meaning I put somethingin the answer box, even if it was just “The y-intercept is…”) but I guessed on about two thirds of them. It (pardon my language) sucked.
The other thing that has caused me no end of angst today is that most students are blaming their teachers!It is NOT the fault of the teachers! I mean, we (as in the students) aren’t even expected to pass the math portion of the test until junior year. I am a freshman. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I think there’s a reason kids can’t pass the tests until they are sixteen or seventeen, and it is not lazy teachers. I love my math teacher! He works really hard to try to help his students enjoy and retain math while also getting a passing grade. He works as hard as anybody I know, and I still probably failed the Algebra 1 PARCC. I think it’s because there is not enough time in three-fourths of a school year to cover everything that seems to be expected.
I’m going to use myself as an example here because I’m good at retaining information and have really good grades. I have never disliked math. I prefer almost every other subject, but I like math too. (This is in part because academic-wise, I like doing things I’m good at, and I have trouble memorizing math formulas as compared to memorizing vocabulary words or Spanish conjugations.) However, I still remember practically everything I learned in pre-algebra. On the other hand, I can’t remember half the stuff I learned in math last semester! I am pretty much certain that this is because we cover each unit (meaning things like linear inequalities, quadratic expressions, and exponential expressions) in three weeks at the most, and we never have time for an actual review. After studying the unit, I won’t see the material until the next big test. As a result, I barely have time to memorize anything and then have it all pushed out of my brain by the next unit. Even though I’m a good student, I have trouble in math because of this ridiculously accelerated pace.
Now, I know they (whoever “they” are) have reasons for having such a fast moving curriculum required in public schools. I’m not saying those reason are invalid. I’m just saying that, as a student, this curriculum does not work for me. Among those reasons are that other nations’ students are more advanced than those in the U.S. That is true. However, one recent observation I made from a book written by a Japanese author is that the main character spent all his time (until he ended up in a fantasy world full of animal-people and magic gems) eating, sleeping, or at school. He would get up, go to school, go home from school, and then go backto a different school to study. So… maybe kids in other countries don’t spend less time on each topic, but spend moretime studying.
I don’t think standardized tests should be a part of the education system. From what I know, they’re supposed to evaluate the teachers according to how well the student performed. However, teachers can’t forcea kid to learn, and they don’t have time to teach the students everything that is on the tests, anyway. If it’s really that important to evaluate teachers, why don’t they (again, not sure who “they” are) just evaluate the teachers on the students’grades. That would probably be a little more accurate.
Frankly, I even have a problem with the term “standardized testing.” How can you standardize education? You can’t just shut everything I’ve learned this year in little boxes labeled “Math,” “English,” and “Science”! I’ve learned so much more than that. Education doesn’t just happen up to a certain standard, and once you meet the requirements you’re done. Education happens everywhere, in every way, to people of every age and from every walk of life. We are learning from the day we’re born till the day we die, and who’s to say what was important or unimportant? I wasn’t taught how to laugh or smile or play in school, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important! Education isn’t standardized—it’s universal. And it is up to us to keep it that way.
Hello! I have a post I’m really looking forward to planned for today. But first… a useless summary of what’s new: School is the same, high school golf has started again and the first tournament is in two days, our new floors are in but we can’t go back to using the whole house yet because of the trim that needs to be painted and reinstalled, and also we have a new puppy that is deaf (literally), noisy, nippy, and untrained in general. In other words, everything is normal at my house.
But that is not the subject of my post. The subject of my post is sayings that I like and use. And also sayings that I have altered because I dislike them. As well as one saying that I don’t like. Anyway, let’s get started!
My favorite saying is actually not technically a saying. It is a quote from the movie “Kubo and the Two Strings.” Incidentally, that is also my favorite movie of all time. (“All time” is defined as this school year.) Anyway, the quote is, “We grow stronger, the world grows more dangerous. Life has a funny way of keeping things balanced.” Now, I am talking about an animated kids’ movie here, so in real life I like to replace “dangerous” with “challenging.” Either way, I love this quote because I used to feel like if anything felt harder than it did before, it was because Ihad gotten weaker. However, this quote says that you only improve, but life keeps pace with your changes. I like that idea. I don’t think my life is any easier for me than it was when I was born. I have always felt challenged by life, no matter my situation. However, those challenges change from year to year and from day to day. If someone put me in the situations I am in now two years ago, or even one year ago, I would be unable to maintain that fragile balance between struggling and succeeding. I would be completely swamped! But now I can cope with my life—not easily, mind you, but I manage. If you were to reverse that situation and put me in a situation from a few years ago, I would not find that situation challenging. However, when I was in second grade, second grade was justas challenging as high school.
This is only partially related to my post, but I feel I should include it. My mother uses a kind of visual analogy that I think has a similar point as the quote does. She says life is like a series of overlapping triangles. The previous triangle’s point touches the present triangle’s base. We are traveling through these triangles. Every time we overcome a challenge or learn a life lesson, we travel into a new triangle. We think that we have way more room than before because instead of being squished into the skinny point of a triangle, we are in the nice, spacious base of a triangle. This makes us happy. However, we never stop moving forward, and as life goes on we are squished into the point of a triangle again. This does not make us happy. Then, after an often uncomfortable transition, we enter into the base of a new triangle. This cycle repeats itself forever.
Interestingly, whenever I think about this quote from “Kubo and the Two Strings,” I also think of the novel The Poisonwood Bible. I have no idea why.
One saying I have altered is “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” I believe that there is a “price” for everything. Sometimes it isn’t even a price you notice, and sometimes it is a price you like to pay. Sometimes it is a price that you find unpleasant, and it causes you to regret having anything to do with that “lunch.” Therefore, in some respects I consider that saying valid. However, I feel it does not tell the whole story, in a way. I think it would make more sense if the saying went, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to pay.” In my experience, there’s almost always someone who will “buy you lunch,” so to speak. Therefore, while there are consequences to everything, that doesn’t necessarily mean that consequence will affect you.
Finally, a saying I do not like, which is odd because it initially seems to align with my beliefs. This saying is… “Go with the flow.” I do not want to go with the flow. I want to go with what I feel is right. What is this flow, anyway? Is it what the majority of people are doing? In that case, I don’t think it is rightto follow this idiom. I mean, sure, there are a lot of people who are doing the right thing. But on the other hand, I think that there are some things out there that I will not go along with under any circumstances. The traditional school system, for example. Don’t get me wrong—I love learning and school. However, there are some glaring issues with the system, and I won’t be able to change anything if I just “go with the flow.” If “the flow” is like a river, I want to be a trickle of water that is slowly wearing away its own stream bed.
I hope you enjoyed this post. I certainly enjoyed writing it! Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s lunchtime, and if I don’t get to the food soon there won’t be any left!
Hello to those who read these words! I come in peace, and with some information you might find useful! But first, I will give you some information that is almost certainly not useful—about my daily going-ons! High school is dragging on… and on… and then suddenly everything is due and also I have four tests coming up. Yay! Also, I have a cold which caused a long, loud, embarrassing coughing fit in math. I have not golfed, but what with school, gifted testing, and maintaining my sanity, I haven’t had much time. As such, I’m falling back on golf-related tidbits from summer First Tee programs. And yes, card games are related to golf—some even are Golf!
Imagine sitting under a metal pavilion in midsummer, at midday. All your mom brought was water, a disgusting snack mix, and two packs of playing cards. This is my (but mostly my sister’s, she has to bear it much longer) life most summer days. What would you do?
What we do is drink the water, assure our mother that we will eat the gross trail mix if we are absolutely starving, and play card games. Many, many, many card games. Now, the first card games most people would think of (I assume) are Go Fish and Old Maid. These games get old fast. To relieve the boredom, we invented one revised form of Old Maid and include one little known card game that I am obsessed with and my siblings are sick of.
The revised form of Old Maid is called Ninja. (The name is the thing that changed the most. But really, would you rather play a game named after an elderly lady or a stealthy warrior?) It is exactly the same as Old Maid except for one incredibly life-changing thing: No one knows which card is the “old maid”! All you do is shuffle the entire deck and, without looking at it, take out one card. I find that Old Maid is usually fraught with suspicion and subtle (or not so subtle) manipulation. When no one is trying to get everyone else to pick a certain card, there are many more chances to converse openly. You still shouldn’t tell people what card you have, but it’s fun to guess what card is the “ninja.” This game works best with a set of cards with pictures on them instead of aces or spades. For instance, we got a set of cards at the Farmington Nature Center with pictures of camouflaged animals on them. (Trust me, no one ever guesses that it’s the cute baby cheetah right off the bat!) But for the next game I’ll tell you about, you have to have a normal set of cards.
This next game is called Golf. It has a large amount of complicated directions that you can find online, so I won’t go too in depth. Basically, everyone lays out six cards face down in front of them and takes turns flipping them over or switching them out for cards from the discard pile or draw pile, or rearranging the cards in their hand. Be careful, though—once you flip over your last card, you can’t switch out any more cards! Due to some very odd rules, this is the only game of golf in which the lowest possible score on a “hole” (or one round) is -6! Hmm… Maybe that’s why I like it so much!
I hope this post has given you some fun activities for a hot golf course, a rainy day, or a family night. Maybe you’ve even got some ideas for your own card game! Of course, there’s nothing wrong with Go Fish and Old Maid. Just play whatever makes you happy!
-Birdie
P.S. Golf (the card game) also works as a solo game. For instance, if you really wanted to play it but your three annoyingly stubborn younger siblings didn’t, you could pl
Greetings and salutations! Welcome to the 29th installment of Eye On The Birdie! Since I am a Bad Girl, I still have not gone golfing since the last time I went golfing… which would be about a month and a half ago. But don’t worry! My parents have devised a plan to desert me at Civitan every Friday after school. Except last Friday, of course. Last Friday was my brother’s birthday. You know him as Eagle. I know him as ____________. Let’s commence!
To begin, you need to understand that in my family, birthdays are a tremendous deal. We don’t have birthday parties, we don’t go out of town, and we don’t have extended family over. Still, birthdays are as important as Christmas. A birthday is the one day that the birthday boy or girl gets to do whatever they want. (Within reason, that is. If you decide you want to eat nothing but cake and go skydiving, you will be sorely disappointed.)
My brother, being more sensible than me (every year for about seven years, I wanted to go tubing at Hesperus, but it was quite difficult to go tubing all day, open presents all day, and eat junk food all day) chose to have a rather low-key day. We got up, ate, and opened presents. We have a very special tradition for opening presents. Before you open the presents, you have to find them! This year, all his presents were left in the living room, but then he was hustled away and shut in a room while one of his presents was hidden with an extremely annoying toy that beeps at any noise in the vicinity. Then my brother was released to wander the house screaming the toy’s name (“Chubbles!”) and listening for beeps. This repeated five times, and then he decided to just open the rest of his gifts before Chubbles could abscond with them. Since most of Eagle’s gifts were Lego sets and books, he and Fore began building and Driver and I slunk off to a quiet corner with as many books as we could carry.
After everyone was ready to refuel with some sugar, my parents prepared his birthday treat. It didn’t take long. They just put a small gift on a platter (another of our traditions is to include a gift on or in the treat) and then poured a bag of marshmallows on top of it. You see, we don’t do traditional birthday cakes, either. The birthday boy or girl gets to choose any treat they want. I almost always choose ice cream in some form, although once I chose pie and once I chose jellybeans. Ice cream is better. Anyway, Eagle chose a pile of marshmallows and a vat of hot chocolate. I had very little hot chocolate. Instead, I rustled up some tea candles and roasted mini marshmallows over them for half the afternoon.
Then we watched a movie.
Then we went to a restaurant called Wonderful Buffet for dinner. It is a wonderful buffet, but it is an Asian buffet. I am not a fan of Asian food. However, they have soft-serve ice cream, so everything was fine. Also, they have good French fries. I am mildly embarrassed by the fact that I had French fries and ice cream at a place that serves mainly Asian food.
When we went home, we watched an episode of this show from the 1980s called “Due South.” It’s really quite good. My parents have it on DVD.
And then we went to bed. I like going to bed. It is much warmer and softer than places other than bed.
And that brings us to a conclusion. I plan to write more soon. I have multiple posts pending. Both of them have more to do with golf than this one, but I felt like talking about my incredibly odd family. So stay tuned, because I might get around to writing about learning styles and card games within the next month!
-Birdie
Hello! I have what I hope will be an interesting post planned. I would like to begin, however, with a brief update on what’s been going on in my life. Winter break is coming to a close, and I frankly don’t know whether to be happy or sad. I miss my friends, don’t miss my homework, will miss my family, and really can’t wait to get out of the house. I have ruined my sleep cycle (not that I had much of one), but I have finally caught up on sleep. I have turned fifteen and written ten thank you letters in three days. Also, I went golfing for the first time in three months. (Wow, that looks even worse in writing.) As such, I owe my coaches an apology. Sorry. But… I am not completely terrible at golf now! I mean, you’d think I would have regressed, which I have, but not as much you’d think! So… yay? Anyway, to get to the point, when I was golfing at Civitan with my father and brother (the one my readers know as Eagle) a couple of days ago, I started thinking about times when golf has made me unhappy. Then I realized that almost all of the times golf has made me unhappy have certain things in common. And ta-da! A post is born.
The reason I began to reflect on times golfing has put me in a bad mood was because golfing seemed to be trying its best to do just that. Before I continue, you must understand that when I set out to improve in some way, my first action is to come up with a cause, be it real or imagined. Therefore, I started looking for something that could be provoking me, and found one… in my brother.
I know some may look at this say, “Well, duh. The older sister is blaming the younger brother because they’re siblings,” or something along the lines of that. They might be right. Maybe I blamed my brother because he was such a handy target. However, I have another step to my solving problems/improving things process, and it is to find a pattern. Is there something that consistently has a certain result? I thought back on all the times I have golfed with my brother. I found no association between golfing with Eagle and bad moods. I did find a connection between my brother’s scores and bad moods. It was that the closer he came to beating me, the more defensive and competitive I became.
Okay, let’s all take a moment to reflect on what a bad person I am.
(In my defense, I knew that the problem was me, not him.)
Enough reflection time.
To be honest, I never honorably overcame my flaws and came to terms with the fact that my little brother can be a better golfer than me. Instead, he got two sevens and a nine and I beat him by nine strokes. (Factoring out both of our mulligans, that is.) The result was that I learned a fact about myself. I can try to become used to the fact that he will beat me someday before he really does become a better golfer than me. It also made me realize that there are some conditions that mess with my mental game like nothing else—an Achilles’ heel of sorts. After some thought, I realized that I have had a golf-related Achilles’ heel ever since I have figured out how to avoid getting upset about everything golf-related. (Basically, my Achilles’ heel has been whatever bugs me most.) When I began golfing, it was mostly a way to spend time with my dad. When I played, I played to impress him. If I felt I was not playing “impressively,” I was miserable. Later, I would try to impress other people, as well (coaches, relatives, friends, and the like). Therefore, from ages nine to about eleven, if I was playing with people I was trying to impress, things would go varying levels of badly. When I was about ten or eleven, my brother began. Quite honestly, I felt quite superior for about a year. I was a benevolent role model—a master they would always look up to. Then Eagle figured out how to hold his feet in one place while hitting the ball, and suddenly he was pretty good at golf. Also, he decided that his goal was to be able to really, truly, be as good or better at golf than me. I (for some strange reason) was taken totally by surprise. My new pet peeve was the fact that he was someday going to beat me at golf, and I had no doubt then, nor do I have any doubt now, that it is only a matter of time.
Of course, I want him to continue to improve and become as good at golf as he wants to be. I just want to be better. And yes, I know that it is a petty, silly way to feel. However, I’m human, and as such I can’t always control how I feel. For now, I’ll just have to try my hardest to support Eagle. I’ll keep trying to change my feelings, but I doubt I’ll be able to truly change until he does beat me. Then I’ll realize that the world hasn’t ended, and it’s actually kind of cool that he can play at the same level as me. I suppose I got a little off track with this post, so in case my point became too convoluted to understand: I have a weak spot when it comes to golf. It messes with my head and makes it hard to enjoy myself. I can’t magically make it go away, so I have to learn to live and cope with it. Maybe we all have one. Maybe only some of us do. Either way, I guess we all have to learn to compensate for our weaknesses.
-Birdie
Here is the continuation I promised! I have had ample time to work on it because the Internet keeps crashing at my house. I think I may be jinxing it. It appears to be working when I get home, but just before I can finish anything, my computer loses its conection. Ah, the glories of technology!
My next period is Child Development. It’s really fun, and I feel it is relevant to my future (I want to be a teacher). In class, we continued our discussion about safe dating. We also filled out worksheets that had to do with the discussion. It was quite entertaining. We had to devise “pressure lines” (phrases people could use to force you into situations you don’t want to be in) and responses to said lines. My favorite pressure line and response was, “How do you know you won’t like it if you haven’t tried it?” “I know what’s good for me.” I came up with the pressure line, and one of the other kids in the group came up with the response.
In my English class, we took a test. I hate being tested (and timed, for that matter). It wasn’t a very important test, but it was stressful. For some reason, the teacher telling the class not to worry only scared me more. English tests are among the few things that reliably petrify me. That test took up the entire class period, so I’ll skip to my favorite class of the day—Physical Science!
Now, I love science, but that isn’t why I look forward to the class so much. You see, I have more friends in science than in any other class. There are five kids that I work with and chat with—two boys and three girls. Two girls usually work at the same table as me and the other three work at the table in front of me. If one of our groups needs help with an assignment, they go to the other table for help (or to the teacher). For instance, we were sitting in our normal arrangement today and practicing balancing chemical equations. (I love balancing chemical equations. It’s like an awesome logic puzzle!) At one point the group at the table in front of us asked how to finish question number five. At another point, I was elected to go ask the teacher what the parentheses in (OH)2 meant. After we finished our work, one girl tried to find a catchy name for her science experiment while the other played with my pen. I gave decidedly non-catchy name suggestions while keeping a close eye on my pen—which she would not give back until the end of class.
My last and smallest class (there are about eleven students on a crowded day) is Spanish. Two of my friends from Science are also in Spanish with me, and we usually unofficially team up on assignments. Today, we were doing very picky yet typo-filled activities online. Since one can put in the correct answer and still get the question wrong, the three of us have created a system. Whoever is done with the activity and somewhat confident that their answers are correct presses the “check” button. They then show the other two their work and point out any stupid mistakes they made or typos in the program. In this way, at least one of us gets a perfect score on the activity, which is satisfying for all of us. Of course, it’s not foolproof, as two of us proved today. First one of my friends hit the “check” button before he was done. One or two minutes later, I did the exact same thing! I think my final friend finished successfully, though. Luckily, we have a very understanding teacher, and he let our slips slide.
That brings us to the end of my day. It was certainly a success in my opinion. I do not have a pile of homework waiting, none of my friends were absent, and I learned things in every class (except maybe English, because I don’t learn from tests). Goodbye until my next post!
-Birdie
Hello! This will be the post I promised in Post 25. My sincere apologies for taking so long. I really need to get on top of my life. In this post, I will summarize my day—an average Tuesday, except for the remarkable fact that I have no homework. Joy!
This morning, just like every other weekday morning, my dad woke me at 6:30. I managed to finish the process of dragging my uncooperative body out of bed before five minutes passed. Then I got dressed and brushed my hair—the latter of which took quite a while, as my hair was tangled and is quite long. After I gathered the school supplies scattered over the desk in our “school room” and ate breakfast, I picked up the dog poop (Ah, what an attractive way to start the day!) and fed the rabbits. Then I brushed my teeth, tried to bend over with my backpack half on, and tipped over into a wall.
Once I finally managed to get to school, I headed up two flights of stairs to my first class, which is AP Human Geography. I really enjoy that class, mostly because I think the subject is fascinating. Since all we did was take notes and watch part of a movie, I will skip ahead to my second hour class.
I stayed up researching questions on Greek theater the previous night because they were due before Intro to Theater today. However, they weren’t due today, even though I was told they were. My life is so confusing. Instead of doing something productive, my friend and I compared our opinions of the Hunger Games book series by Suzanne Collins. They are my second favorite series after Harry Potter, but my friend says she thinks they aren’t near as good as the Harry Potter series. She says they are too sad. I, being a crazy person, love that they are “realistic.” I mean, it’s a war! People die! I have a thing for somewhat dystopian books. We were still discussing the merits of the series as we left the classroom.
After Theater, I trekked across the campus to Algebra 1. We are studying correlation at the moment, and the unit test is coming up. I think the students and the teacher will be glad to be done with the subject. Today there was a pretest of sorts, which I didn’t find too confusing. I still want to know what whacko decided that the letter to represent slope should be m and the letter to represent y-intercept should be b. That doesn’t even make sense. I spent the end of the period talking with another friend about what language we want to speak, why we want to speak it, and how we would like to learn to speak it.
(At this point I want to point out to anyone on Earth who doesn’t think teens can do anything “good” outside of what they are directed to do, my two friends and I had already independently had two intellectual conversations concerning learning styles, foreign languages, and works of literature. Kids rule!)
Lunch came next. It was boring, so I’ll ignore it.
This post is insisting on being much too long! I still have a lot I want to mention, and not very much opportunity to do so. As such, I’ll write a continuation of my day. Ta-da! Now I will have two posts, both of a manageable length. All this school must be turning me into a genius! Bye for now!
-Birdie
Hello! Sorry I haven’t written in so long. My mom just pointed out that it would be better to do a short post than no post, so here is a short post (maybe)! Since I haven’t golfed for… oh shoot… twenty-eight days, I’ll have to write about other things. For instance, I recently went to a homeschool camp (even though I’m not technically homeschooled) and still have a splinter in my hand! Also, high school is a glorious torture. It’s also a tortuous torture. Anyway, this post won’t have anything to do with golf. It will simply be a summary of bits and pieces of my everyday life—hence the title.
I’ll start by explaining what I was doing at a homeschoolers’ camp in mid-October. As some of you may know, I was homeschooled from 3rd grade to 8th grade, and have just reentered the public school system. However, that does not mean I’m going to stop enjoying the perks of being a homeschooler. Instead, I’m living in two circles.
The camp lasted three days and included activities like a high ropes course, canoeing, and team-building exercises. I really like the canoeing. I don’t get stiff most of the time, although this year my legs got strangely stiff afterwards—you don’t even use your legs, so that made no sense. Anyway, I paired up with two other girls in my group, and we spent most of the time bumping our paddles into each other’s paddles. Eventually, one girl was relocated to a different canoe to make our boat less crowded. After the counselors made sure we could avoid capsizing (or in some boys’ cases, fail to purposely capsize their boat) we played boat tag, which is like normal tag, except in boats. The part I remember best is when my partner and I failed to turn and/or slow down in time and rowed into a tree that was sticking out of the water. Since my partner was in the front of the boat, she had to fall flat on her back in the bottom of the boat to avoid being grabbed by the tree branches. It was so funny! We laughed about it for the rest of camp.
The high ropes course is also fun, mainly because you go down a zip-line to get to it. It is a very challenging activity, and always makes me very grateful that I’m not afraid of heights. That was where I got my splinter! I was climbing up a wooden post to get to the actual tightrope-like activity I was going to do when my hand slipped off the handle I was supposed to be holding and slid along the post. I must admit, I considered turning around right then. I have no problem with heights, but I can’t stand removing splinters. Then I thought, Birdie, you already have a hand full of wood. You can’t change that by giving up. So I kept climbing. After I finished, I checked my hand and found one smallish splinter. It didn’t hurt, and I didn’t feel like having a mental breakdown, so I left it alone. That was exactly a week ago. It still doesn’t hurt, so I am ignoring it. Best way to deal with a problem, right?
I am going to skip the other activities because those three were my favorites this year, and I don’t have time for much more. The team-building exercises weren’t half as good at building a team as the other activities were, anyway. I am of the opinion that team building is best left to the team, with mediation only if needed, but the activities can be very fun. The lectures that go with them are somewhat less fun.
That was longer than I expected. As such, I will save my school life for a different post. I simply can’t do it justice in the time I have. However, since today is Halloween, I would like to note that at school today, I saw the most cats. Witches were the second most prevalent costume. Some others I saw were two zebras, a rabbit, a nun, two girls dressed up as nighttime (one for certain, the other probably), what I think was a monkey, a skeleton, a teacher, and Sybil Trelawney from the Harry Potter series. I did not dress up. My costume is a hoodie, and I didn’t think that would be approved because of the dress code. Tonight, I shall be a hummingbird, for there will be no school regulations to restrain my whimsey! Bwa-ha-ha! Happy Halloween!
-Birdie
The final installation in my First Tee interview series will be with my sister, who will be referred to as Driver. She chose this as her pseudonym because of her love of cars and because it was the only golf-related term she would consent to. She participated in one First Tee session and one LPGA class. She has attended her siblings’ First Tee classes for years, and as such will give a fresh perspective.
Since I can’t recreate her answers and do them justice as well, this post will be written by two people. I will type a comment or question, and she will type a response. I may edit the answers if they don’t have proper punctuation (you have been warned, Driver!). She says she will rewrite any questions that she doesn’t feel are flattering, so I suppose we’re even.
Q: Why did you first try taking a First Tee class, Driver?
A: Because family members were doing it, and I thought it would be fun. I was wrong.
Q: Why wasn’t it fun? All your siblings enjoy it.
A: Because I am sane, unlike them. I’m also not a big fan of marching around with a heavy weight on my back.
Q: There’s a lot more to golf than that. Do you remember anything you learned in the First Tee classes? A golf technique or a life lesson?
A: It’s fun to ride in golf carts. And treat people with respect.
Q: Well, that’s good. Also, please show less restraint. This thing is downright dry.
A: Whatever. And that’s not a question. No question marks.
Q: True. Here’s a question for you: Why do you think Eagle, Fore and I are insane to continue to golf?
A: Yes. But if you enjoy it, I won’t stand in your way.
Q: That wasn’t a yes-or-no question.
A: You didn’t tell me that.
Q: I’m sorry. I thought you would actually read the question. Silly me.
A: I think I’m dyslexic.
Q: PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION.
A: Oh, ok, since you said “please”. Because it’s hot, it’s sort of boring sometimes, and none of you drive golf carts.
Q: I don’t think that makes us insane, but if you think that why did you win an LPGA class two summers ago?
A: I won an LPGA class two years ago? I don’t remember that.
Q: I meant to type “take,” not “win.” I don’t think you won anything golf related. Ever.
A: You’re very jealous of my many other skills. I took the class because there was ice cream involved. Am I getting paid for this?
Q: Okay, first: I am not jealous. Second: No, you are not getting money. Third: Did you have a favorite part (besides ice cream) of either class?
A: OK, 1: Yes, you are. 2: WHAT!?! I’VE BEEN TRICKED!!!!! 3: Yes. The pizza. And definitely meeting other girls.
Q: I never promised you money. Two days ago you wanted a tip for bringing me my towel. From the perspective of a non-golfer, what do you think of the First Tee? What do you think of golf in general?
A: I deserved a tip! I didn’t even spit on your towel! I think the First Tee is a good golf program that reaches all skill levels. But it’s not air conditioned. Golf isn’t air conditioned AT ALL. Also, the golf balls are too small. I can never hit them.
Q: Do you mind waiting on the patio at Riverview while the rest of us take lessons?
A: YES. IT IS VERY HOT AND HORRIBLE. HOW KIND OF YOU TO ASK.
Q: What a passionate answer. If it is so hot and horrible, why do you put up with it?
A: Because otherwise I would have to stay home and do school. So I suffer in a different way.
Q: What a pity. Now I will ask a question that, at this point, I don’t expect an answer to. Do you have a favorite golf related memory?
A: Yes! And not just to prove you wrong. I like having putting games with my sister.
Q: Joy! My baby sister likes me! Except now she won’t, because she hates being called my baby sister. Driver, are you going to hit me now?
A: YES. DUH.
Q: Ow. Now my arm hurts. I have run out of questions, so would you like to type anything else, Driver?
A: Nope.
Q: Are you sure? It doesn’t have to be golf-related.
A: I THOUGHT YOU SAID NO MORE QUESTIONS. And yes, I’m sure.
That concludes my interview with Driver. For your information, it is a bit of a miracle that I kept her here so long. I hope it gave you some in depth information about kids who choose not to golf. Also, the “other skills” she mentioned were most likely knitting and convincing our parents to get more pets. Golf is not all there is to life, apparently!
-Birdie
As promised in Post #22, I am continuing my interviews with my younger siblings. This time, I will be interviewing Eagle, my nine-year-old brother and Par level participant. (See the pseudonym? The dear boy is following in my footsteps.) He took this interview very seriously, even commenting at one point, “I’m starting to sound like a commercial, aren’t I?” Maybe he has a talent for making things seem overly pompous and solemn, but he is very truthful and sweet (unless he is jumping onto you in the dark hallway).
The interview got off to a bit of a rough start, as I started recording while Eagle was unavailable and had to restrain my sister and Fore (remember the name from the last post?) from yelling into the speaker. Then I dragged him off to a somewhat secluded spot by his finger. He commented, “Ow. I think you broke my finger.” I didn’t care; I wanted my interview.
Once we actually started, I asked him how long he had been doing First Tee classes. He answered, “Four years.” Then I asked why he started taking First Tee classes. He said it was because his older sister (me) had taken lessons. In his answer, he referred to me by name, and I told him I was not _________ at the time. He told me he was now Eagle. With this out of the way, I was completely out of subject matter. My sister said I should ask him what his favorite dance move was, but we declined. I called in reinforcements in the form of my mom.
Now that she was helping me come up with questions (read: asking the questions) we were ready to begin again. (Anything I do with Eagle usually stops and starts fitfully until someone else steps in.) The first question she came up with was whether the First Tee was more or less fun than he expected. He said it was more fun than he expected, so we asked what made it more fun than he expected. He said, “I was not expecting it to be as welcoming and as good of an environment as it was.”
Then we asked what he thought of the other kids. He said, “I really like them,” with I mild amount of surprise even after four years (he’s never been the most social of us; he’s pretty shy). His shyness is exactly what the subject of the next question was; we asked how he could join the class with confidence despite his timidity. Eagle said it was because of our coach: “…I know he won’t let anybody hurt me or be unfair.” It really is strange that he has this fear of people. I know he didn’t get it from me.
Then I asked if he had a special memory of the First Tee—the same one I asked Fore. I was confident I’d get an answer this time, and I did! Eagle said, “Um… No.” “Nothing?” “No, nothing.” On to the next paragraph!
Of course, he could answer my mother’s question, which was “What opportunities has the First Tee given you that you would not have had otherwise?” He said, “Getting a set of golf clubs, going out and playing golf with my Dad, and spending time out of the house.” At times, both my mother and I were hissing “Junior League! Junior League!” under our breath. He finally got the hint, and added participating on a PGA Junior League team. We then discussed the positive effects of Junior League team, which turned out to include playing at multiple courses and becoming used to a competitive setting. (He is like me in that respect too—we both dislike most forms of competition. It is useful, though.)
Just like we asked Fore, we asked what Eagle’s least favorite part of golf is. Said he didn’t like how hot it was. Next we asked if golf made him more or less interested in playing other sports, and he said yes. My mom pointed out that she had not asked a yes-or-no question. He clarified that it made him more likely to be interested in other sports because he had more confidence than before he started taking golf lessons.
Then I remembered I hadn’t asked him any questions about the Nine Core Values, so I asked him if he had a favorite value. He said, “No, because I think they’re all equally important.” My mother commented, “Very diplomatic answer to not remembering the Core Values, I like it.” (I don’t know how valid that comment is, but it was funny.) Then I asked him if he felt the Core Values had helped him, and if so, how. He answered, “I feel they have made me more confident and… um… happy with my life, I guess?” (This was when the “sound like a commercial” comment was made.)
We returned to the subject of First Tee classes with “Do you have any favorite activities in the First Tee?” He said he liked all of them equally (ever the diplomat). Then my mom slyly slipped in, “Do you like watching golf on TV?” Eagle does not, apparently, like watching golf on TV. He is also not enthusiastic about practice swing homework, but tolerates it.
Since I really liked having the hypothetical kid conversation with Fore, I asked Eagle the same one: “If a kid your age was to ask you what the First Tee is, what would you say?” The two boys had very different answers; Eagle said, “They’re golf lessons and some other lessons about respect and confidence and other things like that.” I think you can really tell they’re at different ages and levels according to their answers.
The interview was concluded with a few questions about what he saw in his future and his goals and hopes. Eagle says he thinks golf will continue to be a significant part of his life, but he doesn’t plan to make a career out of it. (Just like me! Sorry, Coach.) I don’t think I am a fan of the next question and answer, although his answer was flattering. My mom asked who he would most like to beat at golf, and he said he would like most to beat me. That certainly doesn’t bode well for my oldest sibling supremacy! We also asked him about his thoughts on fundraising. He said, “I like it, and I like anybody who helps the First Tee.”
Eagle is a great example of how a kid can benefit by participating in the First Tee. Comparing his answers to Fore’s shows just how much more a kid can get out of the First Tee by continuing with the program. The boys did start at the same age! Oh dear, now I sound like a commercial! I suppose it’s best to wrap up now, then. Bye!
-Birdie
Here begins a special series of posts. I shall interview my younger siblings, all of whom are affiliated with The First Tee in some way or another, but none of them in the same way! That way, I will have brought four unique views to the tiny section of the public who reads this blog! Yay! I am beginning with my youngest brother, who is just beginning to actively participate in The First Tee. In this blog, he will go by Fore. Like what you yell when you send your ball rocketing towards someone’s head. Trust me, it was the best option.
To begin, my mother and I used pretzels to bribe him to cooperate. It worked, which is why I have an interview. The first question we asked him was when he started taking First Tee lessons. He turned to my mom and asked, “How long have I been taking lessons?” The answer was since this summer, at the age of five. He then turned around and repeated this information to me.
Next we asked why Fore had wanted to take First Tee lessons. His prompt, straightforward response was “Because I wanted to.” We never should have asked such a silly question. Then we asked how he knew about the First Tee. He said that he had gone to the First Tee, so we followed up with asking when he learned of the First Tee. He said, “The other summer when I was five.” Then it got little awkward, because we had to correct the interviewee. Anyway, the answer we meant to get was because all three of his older siblings had gone at some point. Then my mom asked him how long he had been going to golf practices he hadn’t participated in. He shrugged, and she said “Ask Birdie.” (That actually wasn’t what she said; she used my real name.) After a little bit of math I discovered he had been dragged to our practices for five summers—his entire life!
After we had the cold, hard facts, we began to ask more personal questions. The first of these was, “What did you like about the First Tee?” (Before he began lessons, that is.) His response was, “Swinging my arms and riding on golf carts.” I do not know where the “swinging my arms” part came from. Then we asked if Fore liked the other kids. This was a rather important question, because as he is homeschooled The First Tee is practically his only social outlet. He said, “They’re pretty nice.” (High praise, I hope. That’s how he describes me, too.) He said he also liked the coaches in the same way. He began to gain enthusiasm when I asked him if he had made any friends. “I made lots of friends,” he said with a happy, self-satisfied grin. Then my mom asked him what he thought of the kids from the older classes, and listed the kids who had helped with his classes. He asked her to say their names again. He said “Yeah,” and we called it good.
At this point, my mom asked a trick question: “Do you like driving golf carts?” He looked at her with a superior, amused look and said, “I never—I’m five, I can’t drive golf carts!”
We returned to the world of reality with, “Are you going to do the First Tee next summer?” He said decidedly, “Yes.” Anybody who might tell him otherwise will have a tough time! Then I asked what he had learned from the First Tee, and Fore said, “Golfing is fun!” Then I got too philosophical and asked if he had learned anything from the Core Values. After giving this some careful thought, he said confidently, “Out of bounds.” Ah well, maybe next year. We asked him if he thought if all kids should try the First Tee, and he said, “Yes, but not the babies.” However, he thinks five-year-olds could certainly participate.
Then we gave him more free rein, but he said he most definitely could not tell us a story about the First Tee—all he remembered was golfing. Nor could he tell us about a time he went golfing. We switched tracks slightly, and asked him what games he played during his classes. He gave us quite a list: scramble, snag golf, soccer golf, golf baseball, and Frisbee golf.
Of course, nothing’s perfect, so then we asked what his least favorite part of the First Tee was. He said that it was saying which ball you are playing at the beginning of a game. After a couple more questions, we had gotten him to explain that he hated it twice, but we finally figured out it was because it’s hard for him to know what the name of his ball is. (Turns out it’s beneficial to know how to read in golf!)
We then asked if he liked his First Tee homework. He said that he didn’t very much. Our coach gives two kinds of homework—watching golf on TV and practicing swings—so we asked which he liked better. He pantomimed swinging a golf club, meaning he likes the physical practice better. (See, Coach? I told you I wasn’t the only one who doesn’t like watching golf on TV!) When we inquired if he had enjoyed participating in a fundraiser this summer, he said “Maybe.” It shall forever be a mystery.
We finished by asking, “If a kid your age came up to you and said, ‘Hey, what’s the First Tee,’ what would you say?” The answer he would give this hypothetical kid is, “Golf.” If this kid asked what golf was, he would say, “Swing clubs and hit a ball.” If that kid told him that was boring, he would say, “In my opinion it’s fun.” (He would probably also write that kid off as a crazy person.) I asked him why he thought it was fun, and he said that sometimes you get holes-in-one.
There you have it. My little brother likes the First Tee, does not like saying what ball he’s playing, and thinks the First Tee could be even more fun if you got brownies. I hope this has given you all a better understanding of what the First Tee means to beginner golfers and the five-year-old psyche. Next post, I will be interviewing my other brother who is an intermediate golfer. Stay tuned!
-Birdie
Welcome to the twenty-first installation of Eye On The Birdie! (I know the title is a little odd, but please roll with it for now.) The Grants tournament was the first two-day tournament I attended, although I suppose it was technically two tournaments on two consecutive days. Both were simply qualifying tournaments, and in those two days I got my best and my worst score of the season. I also call it a trip because it was in many ways.
To begin, I must explain some important details. First, I did not travel with the rest of the team. Second, I had gone down to Albuquerque two days before the tournament began to visit family who rarely come to the area. The first important detail is a direct result of the second—the main reason I did not travel with the team was so I could spend an extra day with my relatives.
I will start my retelling with the morning of the day of the first tournament. Since we had spent the night at my grandparents’ house in Albuquerque, I had to get up much too early for my liking. (Believe it or not, tomorrow will be the eleventh morning in a row I have gotten up before seven. I am looking forward to Friday night.) My mom drove my siblings and I down to Grants, where they dropped me off at the golf course and then went to meet the rest of the relatives at the Ice Cave. (See what I give up for my sport?)
I am very sorry to say that I did not enjoy holes three through eleven of the tournament. I don’t know exactly why, although it probably had something to do with the fact that I was playing very poorly and didn’t know my surroundings very well (that tends to throw me off my game a little.) Also, it was windy, very windy. That made everything harder. I could go on, but I might end up saying some unkind things about my school make-up workload. However, I had a good time for the other nine holes. On hole something-or-other, I got a par I was quite proud of, as it was my only one. The three people I played with were very nice—I even knew one of them from the First Tee! I finished with a grand total of 106. This was very good for two reasons: 106 is a very good worst score (because it means you do better than that the rest of the time) and I thought I would be getting a 108, at least. The tournament was also wonderful practice for holding it together when you really don’t want to hold it together. I discovered that I could use a little more practice with that.
I will cover the second day more fully because I liked it more. The night before the second tournament, my mom declared she was going to get us to bed early. We then stayed up till ten watching TV and, in my case, doing homework. The next morning, we got to the golf course roughly on time, and my mother absconded to a national park with my siblings. This tournament, I was paired with only two people—a very nice junior and a remarkable eighth grader. I started out much the same as I had the last day score-wise, but for some undeterminable reason, I was much happier. Go figure. Anyway, I got more than one par and—an unheard of achievement for Birdie—no nines! I don’t believe I’ve ever completed a Varsity tournament without getting nine or more on at least one hole. Once, I got two birdies… and also a nine and a ten. Aren’t I incredible? I also saw lots of birds. There were northern harriers, Stellar’s jays, a greater white-fronted goose, some kind of ibis, and lots and lots of assorted waterfowl. Of course, that’s not related to golf, but I felt I should include it. After all, it is part of the reasoning behind my pseudonym. After it was all over, I had my lowest score ever (an absence of nines will do that to you)—a 96! I only missed qualifying by one stroke. Not that I minded. I was playing against my previous score, not the qualifying score. As 106 is a rather easy score for me to beat on a par 71 course, it was an easy competition. (Anyway, state sounds terrifying.)
This concludes the fall season of high school golf. I am now returning to martial arts after a year and a half because I finally have time for it again. Hopefully, punching foam pads as hard as I can will console me.
-Birdie
