Going to miss my first day of work

and not happy about it. I am a teacher, which gets a bad rap around here a lot, and I am taking Monday off. I do not really want to but, their is fieldwork that must be done on the farm. My dads health is not the best and he is very concerned about getting crops in. I will do what I can and hope all goes accordingly. First day in 15 years.

I hope it isn't English that you teach, or spelling.
K

Mark W,
Bummer to blow a perfect attendance record... but really cool that you are doing it for the reason of helping your dad. Hope the weather and the machinery all cooperate.

Math, but thanks for the smarta55 comment!

By the way, please point out my errors.

there, not their
dad's, not dads

Mark W. There are just too many perfect people here who are looking to point out others mistakes. Like they never made any in their life.

Thank you for your compassion. Hope I spelt it all corecktly.

can you get a letter from his Dr. that your father was in poor health and unable to work? might fall under the Family Medical Leave Act you can help out a parrent in poor health and receive time off (likely unpaid) my friend has to take his mother to the dr. sometimes during work hours and the FMLA thing has helped him out a lot good luck with it

CR might be exactly correct. Helped us a great deal with our son's juvenile diabetes emergencires.

Good for you helping out this way as to the "spelling" correctors you people are why I usally just read here and do not post on this forum, thought this was to be a fun forum not a degrading forum, very bad taste in my opinion,, not that my thoughts matter cnt

Sorry adout your dad's health but 15 years is a good record and I can see why you hate to break it. Do what you have to do, no one will think the lesser of you, P,S. never ask these guys to point your mistookes.

Class, what have we learned today?

(quoted from post at 21:33:39 10/13/12) and not happy about it. I am a teacher, which gets a bad rap around here a lot, and I am taking Monday off. I do not really want to but, their is fieldwork that must be done on the farm. My dads health is not the best and he is very concerned about getting crops in. I will do what I can and hope all goes accordingly. First day in 15 years.

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Fieldwork has to come first...Dad pulled me out of school a few times to help do 'after harvest' work. Sis would bring home a list of catch up assignments from my teachers..

I wouldn't sweat it. I rarely miss time and when I do it's usually scheduled. I have a softspot for the people who are tending to their family, and I know who the "frequent flyers" are, both are treated accordingly.

That everyone has their faults even the teacher.
That many out there needed a mother but must have not had one to teach them some manners.

Every time I see some posting on here about spelling or grammar I think of a have the last word text battle I got into with my wife all in fun a while back.

She says.... You are a terrible speller. It is xyx not yxy.

My response was........ Yes dear; we both know you have the well educated book smart brain in the family; while I have the common sense brain in the family. We complement each other.

While it does not happen often I won that time. She could not think of anything to say. LOL.

Anyone that is able to read your post, correct your spelling, and check your grammar should thank their teacher.

Congratulations on your attendance record at work.

Teaching math is very important.

Your dad will be very grateful for your help regardless of your reading, writing, and arithmetic skills.

I taught school for 30 years. When I retired the school system bought back 281 sick days. We were allowed 10 per year. Took 3 of those days when my Dad died. Ellis

Good thing you work for the Gov't a private employer would probably fire you.I farmed on the side for 25 years while I worked an off farm job and the off farm job always had to come first if I wanted to keep it.

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.

2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.

3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph

4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of"lie,""play," and "run."

5. Define case; Illustrate each case.

6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.

7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre?

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour) Do we even know what this is??

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.

8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of North America

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? Also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers (nnalert education, if any, was taught at home)

Good for you, Mark. Some of these folks should get a life. I am on less often these days, I get tired of the bs, "when I was a boy, we didn't have chit, we had to make our own, and walk uphill both ways to do it".

5 Errors in spelling or grammar in your post. Depending on what class you teach, it's entirely possible the students might be about as well off you did play hooky. lol!

I'm no stickler on wrting and spelling for sure but I have a grandneice that graduates this year and she couldn't correct his post for sure.Seems now in school the kids spend all their time fiddling with their electronic devices.She's never heard of the Cold War,knows almost of of the American Revolution or The Constitution.Sad really.

MFPoor,
I don't see anything wrong with taking a day off, or 2 days off or the week off. You have the days, use them. Where I worked, if you don't use your sick days, you lose them when you retire. I lost about 60 days.
George

The grade school writing teacher I had would often take home work from other classes to grade our writing. The quailty was not as good for other subjects as it was in writing class.The same can be done on this forum. As I searched some old and other post on here I found mistakes in my posts and a lot of others. Be careful as one points a finger as four fingers are pointing back at you.

Hope everything goes well.

No employer I've ever worked for would fire someone for taking one day off after 15 years. However, the people who use up every sick day, especially when they're always "sick" on Monday or Tuesday after a football game, are first in line when there's a layoff.

Is that your grandniece’s fault or the ones that keep passing her along.

While she may fiddle with her electronic devise every chance she gets she is only doing what she is allowed to do.

If it were me I would have kids checking those electronic devises at the door like it was a gun. You go to school to learn not to text friends.

We talk about the greatest generation that has every lived when we refer to WW2 times but we made this boat our kids and us ride in today.

vernMI.... For real?????

I did not go to college... My income is in the top 5%, (not a brag).... I got lost in just reading these questions.... WOW! that is amazing.... I will have to check this out!
snc

Don't feel bad about it at all. I am also a parasitic leach, suckling the teat of the poor taxpayer (oops, I mean teacher). You did just fine.

By the way, Mr. Ohnstad, your spelling is wonderful, however the comma you placed at the end of your statement should actually be a semi colon as there are two separate thoughts. It should read "I hope it isn't English that you teach; or spelling. "

I definitely do feel your pain. I hate missing class. Making up sub plans that are implementable by a substitute and yet worth the students' time is quite difficult.

Traditional Farmer, no one in private industry would fire someone for this. See in professional private industry they have these things called vacation days. Employees will use these vacation days when situations like this arise.

As an aside to everyone else, this is my least favorite thing about teaching. It isn't low pay. It isn't blaming parents. It is the inability to take vacation time when you want to. Don't get me wrong I get a lot of vacation time but it is incredibly frustrating to not be able to pick your own days. As an example, we are not allowed to take one of our 2 personal days on the day before a break. My family, ever since I was little would hunt Wisconsin's gun deer season at some property we own near LaCrosse. This meant taking off school growing up on the Monday through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. Now, my family still meets and carrys on the tradition sans me. Another example is that my family enjoys camping. Particularly we like to go in the Spring and Fall when it isn't so hot out. It is very difficult to do this without being able to schedule your own vacations.

You knew going in when teachers take their holidays
and there's nothing stopping you from changing
careers if you don't like the arrangement. There's a
big difference between wanting time off for pleasure
and needing time off to get crops in or other
important things that have to get done by a certain
time.

I love the great spelling debates, especially when teachers get involved. It’s icing on the cake when they whine about low pay while doing it. I wet myself when teachers whining about low pay get it wrong and leave more mistakes in their post than others do.

Ryan-WI, in the exact same sentence that you are correcting Kenneth R Ohnstad on the proper use of a semicolon, you missed placing one yourself. You should have put one after "wonderful". So rather than trying to put a semicolon in Kenneth R Ohnstad's work, you should have keep it back for your own use (semicolons are expensive after all). But wait, it gets better. Not only did Ryan-WI totally mess up the proper use of a semicolon, he doesn’t even know the proper way to spell it. Semicolon is always one word although with a hyphen is considered OK but not proper (it’s considered outdated IIRC).

http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Semicolons.html

http://how-to-spell.net/semicolon

The thing to remember is that this test was given after the students were taught the answers.

In sixth grade we had to learn the capital of every nation in Europe. I look at the map now and half the countries don't even exist.

Someone needs to take at least a day off from life. I did not know that MFPoor was such an expert in all. Students better off huh? 97% in state scores for my students. Keep your BS to yourself!!!

(quoted from post at 05:37:10 10/14/12) Good thing you work for the Gov't a private employer would probably fire you.I farmed on the side for 25 years while I worked an off farm job and the off farm job always had to come first if I wanted to keep it.

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Why do you feel the need to post this comment. The guy is a school teacher, he has not missed a day of work in 15 years and you are busting his balls

You work for the Gov't too? Many private employers require a Dr's note to be absent and if you're working another job and putting that first they'll tell you to go work it full time.

You don't like that you cannot choose when you take your vacation days....Did I read that correctly? Whats a vacation day? They do not have those where I work. Teachers work half the year and have vacation days and sick days AND a retirement. Yeah its a tough life is it not?

Yer a real badazz there Sparky.

and a fine example for your kids....of what NOT to aspire to be.

(quoted from post at 19:03:02 10/14/12) You don't like that you cannot choose when you take your vacation days....Did I read that correctly? Whats a vacation day? They do not have those where I work. Teachers work half the year and have vacation days and sick days AND a retirement. Yeah its a tough life is it not?

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I had a reply here. Not worth it.

(quoted from post at 08:22:37 10/14/12) Anyone that is able to read your post, correct your spelling, and check your grammar should thank their teacher.

Congratulations on your attendance record at work.

Teaching math is very important.

Your dad will be very grateful for your help regardless of your reading, writing, and arithmetic skills.

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Eloquently stated James.
I could not agree more.