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Click, Ship, and Join Me in Supporting the Garcia Sports Foundation: The Power of a Jersey


The Power of a Jersey:  The Garcia Sports Foundation
Pointe Viven - Jesse Bluma. All rights reserved.



I was recently told by my friend and top soccer athlete David Garcia about his foundation.  The Garcia Sports Foundation works with FIKISHA, an organization that helps street children in Africa.  Street child is a term used for a homeless child residing in the streets of a city (typically in a developing country). In most of the cases they have no adult supervision or care. They are often subject to abuse, neglect, exploitation, or in extreme cases, murder by “cleanup squads” hired by local business or police.  In every developing country the rights of the children is well respected, the same does not apply when it comes to street children. This clearly indicates how they are ignored, not only with their families, also by the government policies.

FIKISHA is a Swahili word which means -  Enable to reach.  FIKISHA assists in bringing restoration, independence, and hope  to the homeless youth in the slums of Nairobi. 

The members of FIKISHA have supported boys to go back to formal education.  Acquired preparation room for boys who are ready to go back to school.  Constructed a shower block in partnership with Heart-to-Heart Orphan Children Centre.  Established mentorship program whereby boys have specific mentors.  Created two days rehabilitation program meant to change the boys negative habits while providing them with opportunities to gain life skills, human skills and other skills that would be necessary for their personal development.  Reconnected some boys with their families. Transformed some boys into independent and responsible individuals.  Established legal aid and advocacy programs.  Their future plans include:  Supporting more boys to go back to formal school.  Offering technical and vocational trainings to the older boys.  Involve and empower the community.  Having foster families.  Establish income generating activities for self-reliance and  sustainability.  Increase resource mobilization activities, locally and internationally.  Own a rehabilitation centre.


What to do?  

1.  Purchase a jersey or jerseys through the Amazon link below or from a local store.

2.  Have the jersey(s) shipped to your house.


3.  Go to the post office or a mail center and have the jersey(s) shipped in manila envelopes to the address below.

GARCIA SPORTS FOUNDATION
P.O BOX 25189-00603
NAIROBI, KENYA
POST CODE 24623

or 

3.   Purchase the jersey(s) and have them shipped to me.

AND

4.  Send $12 U.S. CASH per jersey for shipping costs to me:  1 jersey = $12, 2 = $24, 3 = $36, etc.

Jesse Bluma
24642 Jeronimo Road
Lake Forest, CA 92630

After I receive the jersey(s) and $12 cash I will take them to the mail center and have them shipped to the Garcia Sports Foundation in Africa.

(*Note:  Sites like Amazon do not have shipping capabilities to Kenya.  Buying items and then shipping using the post office or DHL is best.)  









Credits:  facebook, http://fikishakenya.wordpress.com

Announcing Small Business Saturday



Announcing Small Business Saturday




The annual Small Business Saturday® is
a day dedicated to supporting small businesses
on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

We’re asking millions of Americans to Shop Small at their favorite local stores and help fuel the economy.  When we all shop small, it will be huge.

Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a day
dedicated to supporting small businesses nationwide. Last year,
over one hundred million people* came together to Shop Small® in
their communities on Small Business Saturday®.

Small Business Saturday is a day for everyone — from the business owners who create jobs to the customers who buy locally — to support small businesses that invigorate the economy and keep communities thriving.




Small Business Saturday to help small businesses get more exposure during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year.  Last year, over 100 million people came out to shop at independently-owned small businesses on the day.  American Express is offering free and easy-to-use tools to help small businesses get the most out of the day and tools for consumers to show their support.

Thank you for your business.

Please visit my shop and connect with Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven through social media.


Order online or contact me for catering.






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Credit: americanexpress.com

Homeschooling Resources: A Blueprint for Parents, Teachers, and Student-Teachers



Homeschooling Resources:  
A Blueprint for Parents, Teachers, and Student-Teachers





Educators are often asked by parents, guardians, and other people for resources.  Common questions include: How can I help my child study for a test?  What should my student be learning?  How can I prepare now for my own classroom?  Homeschooling is the oldest learning environment.  Students throughout time have learned at home, such as the ancient Romans.  Preparing to homeschool or to become a classroom teacher is an arduous task.  Plan to work 40 to 80 hours a week during the school year, basically fourteen months of work in 10 months time. 

When should you begin?  Yesterday.  As a parent-teacher or student-teacher in college it is best to get as much planning, lessons, and activities in your file cabinet long before the school year begins.  Developing a repertoire of lessons will go a long way.  Create your bag of tricks, your lessons, prior to the school year starting.  Football teams have a book of plays, chefs have a certain ten ingredients or so they use all the time, and painters have a set of colors they use over and over.  You will need a template of lessons that you use throughout the year, this may include starting each school day with warm up/bell ringer questions, doing one SQ3R or QAR a month, one book report a month, playing a certain game once a month during the last half of the school year, or asking your students the same set of thematic questions with every chapter (commonality, conflict, law, cooperation, moral, usability, continuity, change, religion, ethics, actions, power, et cetera).  Your school lessons, activities, and crafts can be designed in a general way and then altered for the level of the student.  

Teaching is an art and a science.  It takes great mastery to take on the practice.  It is about relationships in the classroom.  And outside the class.  Millions of books exist of the practice of teaching and learning.  It is important for you to read the best of these books and practice on yourself and others before working with your students.  Keep in mind that the best textbooks on teaching will focus on practice over theory.  Anyone can write a book and give you theoretical ideas.  It is vital to know the theories, to understand them, and to know why they come about.  That discussion is too long for our purposes here.  It is key to remember that good teachers make it look easy.  If you find homeschooling or teaching in your own classroom overwhelming, welcome to modern teaching.  Politicians, school boards, administrators, society, and parents of your students have created a very complex environment.  







A great teacher is effective and masterful at the art and science of teaching and working with students.  As a teacher you must make your physical, mental, and emotional, and spiritual health a priority.  Eating junk food, not getting enough sleep, and poor organizational skills are among many pitfalls to avoid.  If you find homeschooling is not for you, then you may wish to employ tutors or seek out a good school for your child.  Teaching is vital and extremely important vocation.  If you are brave enough to go ahead with the endeavor, the following resources will give you a good place to start.  These resources are good for homeschool, parents/guardians in general, teachers looking for career development, and student-teachers in college.


>


Teaching and Learning


Understanding Boys http://www.pbs.org/parents/raisingboys/

The Socratic Method https://www.britannica.com/topic/Socratic-method

Phonemic Awareness http://ed.fullerton.edu/EDEL/Faculty/Slowik.html

Reading http://ed.fullerton.edu/EDEL/Faculty/Edwards.html

Reading and Phonemic Awareness http://www.csus.edu/ier/reading.html

Phonological Awareness https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:SguOLL12T20J:www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200901/BTJPhonologicalAwareness.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiwocQ-XSXAuUHTId9OwGru2Rmf6nwQLnZyPwIVfWbwedL8UgDLWAidsqZ7wZ4AcNJnD6LbQ6jfvGXQ8USz31OVA4lhPNCfBBIM1fp3KjfPZtSrz5tgHEXeUe_Bu4TGdxv4e5Gm&sig=AHIEtbT-YWDMvCmUhrYz5k7fM4YBWKereA&pli=1

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports http://www.pbis.org/





Knowing the subject matter yourself well enough to teach it to someone else is important.  Although being a bank of knowledge is not the only component of being a teacher.  A good teacher must set and model standards of learning and behavior.  It is key to remember not to have expectations of your students, rather set standards.  A subtle difference and very important to remember.  Classroom management is vital to being a successful teacher and you must learn more about it and get good at it.  

As you learn more about classroom management you will see firsthand the importance of such things as followthrough, not asking rhetorical questions, remaining calm, cool, and collect.  Look for great books on classroom management and ask a great teacher if you may observe his or her classroom for an hour.  Better yet, volunteer.  As a homeschool parent you may wish to get a teaching credential.  If you decide upon that path, look for a college program that emphasizes practice over theory.

Homeschooling

Search for local homeschooling networks, such as San Antonio Home Education http://www.homeedsa.com/default.asp

Homeschool Movie Club http://www.homeschoolmovieclub.com/




Curriculum and Textbooks

The Federal Common Core Standards http://www.corestandards.org/

The Origins of Common Core http://pointeviven.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-origins-of-common-core-how-business.html

State Education Websites, such as Texas Education Agency http://www.tea.state.tx.us/
   
Check out the webpages of local teachers by grade level, usually they are listed under the district or school websites.  Many teachers post daily, weekly, or monthly what the kids are doing in class along with resources and enrichment ideas.

Textbook publishers also have their textbooks and additional resources online.  Some require a password.  If a password is needed, you may find it online by searching for teachers that have posted it online.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt http://www.harcourtschool.com/index.html

Read Print http://www.readprint.com/

Hillsdale Academy (curriculum guide example):  http://www.hillsdale.edu/academy/academics/curriculum.asp

Research Based Teaching Tools http://www.k-3researchbasedteachingtools.com/







Learning and Teaching Tools

Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/

Discovery Education http://www.discoveryeducation.com/

VuSafe Videos http://m86vusafe.com/

BBC Schools http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/

EasyBib http://www.easybib.com/

Etymology http://www.etymonline.com/

Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/?ss

Prezi http://prezi.com/


College and Career

College Completion Agenda http://completionagenda.collegeboard.org/

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (career information) http://www.bls.gov/ooh/home.htm

Making connections to college and career is an important part of teaching.  There are many sites to utilize to make the connection, make learning relevant, and to plan, and develop workplace skills.

What the Top 1% of Earners Majored In http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/what-the-top-1-of-earners-majored-in/?smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&seid=auto

Parent/Guardian Corner

"What I wish parents knew": Doctors, teachers, therapists, and more weigh in
http://shine.yahoo.com/moments-of-motherhood/quot-what-i-wish-parents-knew-quot-doctors-teachers-therapists-and-more-weigh-in-2521640.html

Two Million Minutes http://www.youtube.com/user/2MillionMinutes/featured?lr=1&v=xZnSG6gg1vs


Books

Amazon is a great resource for finding books on teaching and learning.  You may also find book recommendations through teachers you know.  Textbooks can be expensive, so you may wish to compare prices on Amazon and other sites for your child.  Many books are accessible or will over time be accessible through a device.










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Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Thanksgiving Potluck Ideas



Thanksgiving Potluck Ideas







Artist

Jennie A. Brownscombe

Title

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth

Date

1914

Medium

Oil on canvas


Background: Many of the British North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America were settled in the seventeenth century (1600s) by men and women, who, in the face of persecution, refused to compromise passionately held religious convictions and fled Europe.  Puritans were English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England of what they considered to be unacceptable residues of Roman Catholicism. In the 1620s leaders of the English state and church grew increasingly unsympathetic to Puritan demands. They insisted that the Puritans conform to religious practices that they abhorred, removing their ministers from office and threatening them with "extirpation from the earth" if they did not fall in line. Zealous Puritan laymen received savage punishments. For example, in 1630 a man was sentenced to life imprisonment, had his property confiscated his nose slit, an ear cut off, and his forehead branded "S.S." (sower of sedition). 

 Beginning in 1630 as many as 20,000 Puritans immigrated to America from England to gain the liberty to worship God as they chose. Most settled in New England. Theologically, the Puritans were "non-separating Congregationalists." Unlike the Pilgrims, who came to Massachusetts in 1620, the Puritans believed that the Church of England was a true church, though in need of major reforms. The Pilgrims, who celebrated the first thanksgiving in America, were fleeing religious persecution in their native England. In 1609 a group of Pilgrims left England for the religious freedom in Holland where they lived and prospered.  After a few years their children were speaking Dutch and had become attached to the dutch way of life. This worried the Pilgrims.  On Sept. 6, 1620 the Pilgrims set sail for the New World on a ship called the Mayflower. They sailed from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, America.


Decorative turkey by my Aunt Rosemary Schorle


November is here and another opportunity to give thanks and celebrate!

"In 1621 the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is now known as the first Thanksgiving."  Before your potluck discuss the holiday with your child and ask them questions, comparing the lives of Pilgrims with their own and the peoples they have studied in social studies.

The following website will help in learning more about the holiday.

pilgrimhall.org




Potluck Ideas


Quantity: For 35 students, guests, or coworkers.

water (2 gallons)
homemade lemonade (2 gallons)
cranberry juice (2 gallons)
potato chips (2 bags)
whole wheat wafers (2 - 9 ounce boxes)
dip
salsa
organic grapes (1 bunch)
organic plums (15)
organic baby carrots (1 pound)
turkey slices (36 ounces)
ham slices (36 ounces)
40 whole wheat rolls
organic jam (1 jar)
homemade pumpkin pie (2)
homemade apple pie (1)
homemade popcorn with various toppings
(1 cup corn popped = 6-10 quarts---typically pop 1/2 cup at a time)
organic apples sliced (40 slices)
cookies (48)
salad (36 ounces)
spoons
(No forks.  Pilgrims ate with their hands and fingers)
plates
napkins
cups
trash cans
tables
table cloths
craft
holiday music

*Note: Often holiday parties end with tons of food left over and gone to waste or guests over stuffed.  The ratio of food to people above works perfectly for a fun celebration.  One of the best ways to ensure items get brought is to utilize a group of parent volunteers in the classroom and assign them items to bring from above.  If you have classroom funds to reimburse, tell the volunteers to bring in the receipts with the items.

Decoration: You may want to include pumpkins, fall leaves, and turkeys like the one above my aunt made with craft store feathers and and floral items.






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Credits: historychannel.com, Library of Congress, Studio Melizo

Veterans Day Star Activity



Veterans Day Star Activity
Joe Brown, a World War II veteran, recorded his experience as a prisoner of war in We Stole to Live. The true story tells of his POW days with his fellow POWs.  Among his friends in the camp was my great-uncle, Larry Bluma.  "January 31, 2004-I awakened a while ago thinking about the time, in the early morning of June 4, 1942, an American Navy PBY was shot down by Japanese fighter planes near the Aleutian Islands, and soon three of the nine-man crew aboard were the only survivors, clinging to an inflated two-man raft floating on the turbulent, frigid waters of the Bering Sea, under abominable weather conditions, hundreds of miles from any sort of land. Even a glimmer of hope for survival would have been considered by most as a forlorn exercise of fantasy."  

I have written about this story before and students of mine are familiar with the story as well.  Over the years in the classroom I read excerpts from We Stole to Live with students, we discussed the background of the war, the twists and turns within the story itself, and students have created stars honoring the service of family members.  The star activity is an excellent opportunity for students to do some family research, record some oral history of their family, and get a better understanding of military service.  As students learn there are many reasons people enter the military and each has an important roll after joining.  Some people join out of great family tradition, some join out of a calling, and many join for financial and career reasons.  The reasons why people join changes over time and is an ongoing current events topic.

If you are a teacher looking for a Veterans Day lesson, please feel free to use my lesson below.  Although the star activity is not limited to the classroom.  The activity is perfect for parents, employers, and others too.  The lesson below is a great enrichment for studying pre-history, the Vedas of ancient India, the griots of medieval West Africa, and other times in history.  Oral history is still significant in present time as well.  The directions and stars may be photo copied on red card stock (see any special directions on photo copy machine) or regular red copy paper.  

Click on the link below to download the lesson.






Veterans Day Star Activity






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Credit: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Pumpkin Spice-Glazed Chocolate Cookies


Pumpkin Spice-Glazed Chocolate Cookies
Pointe Viven - Jesse Bluma. All rights reserved.


These cookies elicit the spirit of Americana.  Enjoy
these chocolate cookies drizzled with pumpkin-
spice glaze.  Crafted with the finest ingredients
and flavorful sophistication.  Share with a friend,
serve at your next event, or greedily eat them
yourself.  





Shop Pointe Viven for baked goods 
made with excellent ingredients and 
quality control.


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taste in cookery, culture, and
community, provides gourmet goods
made with organic ingredients, inspired
by the culinary worlds of California,
Central, and South America, and
engages in a community of customers
and readers with lifestyle content,
reviews, and expertise. © Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven

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Jesse Bluma at Point Viven liberates taste in cookery, culture, and community, provides gourmet goods made with organic ingredients, inspired by the culinary worlds of California, Central, and South America, and engages in a community of customers and readers with lifestyle content, reviews, and expertise. Use and redistribution of original content allowed only with explicit permission of site owner and author.