We went in today to a free session at one of the local Montessori schools. They have a session for parents and children to explore the Montessori environment available Monday to Saturday from 09:00 - 11:30 where you can pay for any number of sessions (typically 1 per week) over 10 week terms. It is also an established school offering kindergarten through to year 12.
I had seen a short documentary on the system early last year and thought it seemed a rather interesting approach. (More hands-on similar to how rural kids might have been raised in close-knit communities where their early education focused on things around the house and immediate environment.) Lin had been talking to a friend that was considering Montessori for their children, and we found that two of the larger schools in Australia are found quite close to where we live.
Within about 15 minutes of having a look around the environments Elise face was lit up with all of the activities available, Lin was a little overwhelmed, and I had found what had to be the perfect learning environment.We had looked at child care centres that also offer kindergarten and I was really not in favour of leaving Elise in that environment. The rooms were dark, and not very large for classes of 10 kids. There was an outdoor play area but only usable by children and specified times of the day, and shared by around 100 kids at a time. The environment at the Montessori school is a huge common indoor area and fully covered outdoor area, plus outdoor yards with a garden. Dozens of activities ranging from puzzles, books, crafts, and chores (such as dust pans, brooms, gardening equipment, etc) are arranged neatly on shelves all along the wall. The center of the indoor area is arranged with child-sized tables, chairs, and stools for parents. Children are encouraged to seek out an activity to explore, within a structured environment where they learn to be sure to put things back, and share with one another. They learn skills that are directly applicable at home such as washing up, preparing snacks, tidying up, etc. A teacher is roaming around to provide feedback and suggestions to parents, plus interacting with the children. They emphasise on only teaching through real-world activities, even if most are scaled down to child size, there is no "fantasy" element, so no television, or books with personified animals. Children develop through curiosity and are guided as to the proper performance of a particular task.
This approach extends into schooling where lessons are provided where children are given choices to a wide range of subjects, and taught how each subject will apply to them through life. All children have an opportunity to try any subject, and the method of learning is much more like lecture and development through self-discovery than traditional schooling. For example a teacher may ask a student to answer a question, where if the student knows the correct answer, knows an incorrect answer, or doesn't know the answer makes no difference. When asked, they are taught to answer honestly, and what action is appropriate when they don't know, or don't have the correct knowledge. (Such as to get up, go to the bookshelf or computer, research the answer, and present it to the teacher.) Tests are given primarily to inform students where they should consider improving their knowledge and skills, and their grading is done primarily through assignments and performances.
Basically it is a schooling system based around the structures we adopt in the workplace. In real life it's not a matter of whether or not you know the answer to a question, but a gauge of how you can learn to prepare yourself for an expected task, and complete a task even if you aren't properly prepared. It's quite a different approach to traditional school learning, but definitely something I want to consider for Elise in the future. (There are plenty of questions to ask such as availability to sporting activities, drama/arts, music, etc.)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
What is wrong with this picture?
I don't know what the situation is with Canadians currently in affected areas on the North-East coast of Japan, but the situation and response of the Australian government has been a bit of a bad joke.
There are Australians living in cities and towns not too far from where the reactors are currently spewing radiation. Right now they are in no immediate threat, but as soon as the wind shifts (as it does during Spring) that radioactive cloud is going to swing South. Not to mention the situation a long ways from being under control and there is still a serious risk of a critical mass explosion which would see a huge plume of radioactive material thrown up to drift on the wind. Such an event in one of the 4 afflicted reactors would seriously compromise efforts to secure the other three increasing the risk of additional radiation release. In all it is a very bad situation for people to be in.
Australia's response so far? Adivse people to leave. This when roads are completely clogged. Infrastructure is damaged due to the earthquake, fuel is impossible to find, food and water are scarce, and many people cannot even get to their belongings in buildings condemned by the quake. The UK and France have already been arranging charter busses to get to their people and transport them to safety. At least one Australian family was fortunate enough to get seats on one of the UK busses that reached their city. Their building was closed off after damage from the quake so they had no belongings or credit cards. They were desperate for someone to help arrange transport out of the area, and the Australian consolate provided nothing, no money, no transport, no help.
Granted this is a disaster so I'm sure they're juggling all kinds of emergencies. But I think this has the potential to galvanize people into a special kind of loathing towards our government in the face of other recent events. Australia has a problem with illegal immigrants, particularly those arriving by boat. People pay their last cent or dinar or what-have-you (along with a healthy sum donated by relatives living in Australia via Western Union) to people smugglers for a place on illequiped boats setting out for Australia via Indonesia. One of these boats was intercepted and directed to a processing centre on Christmas Island. Unfortunately due to poor navigation, bad weather, and a poorly maintained boat, it ran afoul of rocks on the wrong side of the island. Several people were killed.
Now here is the kicker. The Australian taxpayer paid to have 12 bodies flown from Christmas Island to Sydney with several surviving family members for funerals, and then flew most of those family members back to Christmas Island. Plus they flew 5 more bodies back overseas to countries like Iraq for burial there.
This was money spent not on Australian citizens, or tax paying residents, but on people that were trying to enter the country unlawfully. There are thousands of refugees and persecuted people living around the world desperate to get asylum in a better country. These people jump the queue by hopping on a boat knowing that they won't be turned back, and likely won't be sent back if they wait long enough or scream loud enough.
I don't want to sound like they shouldn't be helped, but it begs the question. How can the government justify spending that kind of money on unlawful aliens, and yet cannot be bothered to effectively organize a dozen charter busses for its own citizens stuck in a rapidly escalating disaster zone?!
There are Australians living in cities and towns not too far from where the reactors are currently spewing radiation. Right now they are in no immediate threat, but as soon as the wind shifts (as it does during Spring) that radioactive cloud is going to swing South. Not to mention the situation a long ways from being under control and there is still a serious risk of a critical mass explosion which would see a huge plume of radioactive material thrown up to drift on the wind. Such an event in one of the 4 afflicted reactors would seriously compromise efforts to secure the other three increasing the risk of additional radiation release. In all it is a very bad situation for people to be in.
Australia's response so far? Adivse people to leave. This when roads are completely clogged. Infrastructure is damaged due to the earthquake, fuel is impossible to find, food and water are scarce, and many people cannot even get to their belongings in buildings condemned by the quake. The UK and France have already been arranging charter busses to get to their people and transport them to safety. At least one Australian family was fortunate enough to get seats on one of the UK busses that reached their city. Their building was closed off after damage from the quake so they had no belongings or credit cards. They were desperate for someone to help arrange transport out of the area, and the Australian consolate provided nothing, no money, no transport, no help.
Granted this is a disaster so I'm sure they're juggling all kinds of emergencies. But I think this has the potential to galvanize people into a special kind of loathing towards our government in the face of other recent events. Australia has a problem with illegal immigrants, particularly those arriving by boat. People pay their last cent or dinar or what-have-you (along with a healthy sum donated by relatives living in Australia via Western Union) to people smugglers for a place on illequiped boats setting out for Australia via Indonesia. One of these boats was intercepted and directed to a processing centre on Christmas Island. Unfortunately due to poor navigation, bad weather, and a poorly maintained boat, it ran afoul of rocks on the wrong side of the island. Several people were killed.
Now here is the kicker. The Australian taxpayer paid to have 12 bodies flown from Christmas Island to Sydney with several surviving family members for funerals, and then flew most of those family members back to Christmas Island. Plus they flew 5 more bodies back overseas to countries like Iraq for burial there.
This was money spent not on Australian citizens, or tax paying residents, but on people that were trying to enter the country unlawfully. There are thousands of refugees and persecuted people living around the world desperate to get asylum in a better country. These people jump the queue by hopping on a boat knowing that they won't be turned back, and likely won't be sent back if they wait long enough or scream loud enough.
I don't want to sound like they shouldn't be helped, but it begs the question. How can the government justify spending that kind of money on unlawful aliens, and yet cannot be bothered to effectively organize a dozen charter busses for its own citizens stuck in a rapidly escalating disaster zone?!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Contracting update.
The client's been a bit concerned about taxation/labour law compliance in its dealings with I.T. contractors, so they've been looking at options and organizations to provide a bit of structure around the situation. As a result I've been in to meet one of these umbrella organizations called "Freelancer" which basically provides a contractor service arrangement between contractor and client.
The trouble with contracting in Australia is that the government loves to get its nose into other people's business. They don't want workers using the term contractor as a tax cheat by claiming deductions etc. that legitimate businesses (whether individual or organization) can claim, and at the same time they don't want businesses taking advantage of staff by depriving them of sick leave, paid vacation, and such by labelling their role as a contractor.
Unfortunately it gets in the way of people that are doing the right thing. I'm not looking to, nor need to claim business expenses such as travel, equipment, home office, etc. My only interest is opting out of paid vacation I never get a chance to take, and sick days I never need to use, and applying that extra value against my mortgage.If I can opt to pay my taxes at the end of the year rather than paying too much through the year to apply for a refund, then I'd rather do that as well.
Frankly I can probably continue doing what I'm doing but I will be getting dirty looks from the tax office the whole time, and probably have to deal with audits. Working through Freelancer will have a few perks, such as having my taxes done professionally and being part of a structure that allows me to legally make various deductions plus split my salary for tax purposes with the Mrs. But this comes at a price, namely 5% off the top of my rate. (Tax deductable) That's like saying to a permanent employee they need to work an extra hour a week for the same pay. So far the client has balked at the idea of absorbing some of that cost in an increase in rate, but the fact is the rate I gave them was the same as if I had worked through an agency and I certainly didn't absorb their margin from my rate. We'll have to see what they say, whether they're going to bother with the Freelancer arrangement and agree to my terms, ditch the idea and continue as-per normal, or ditch the idea of using contractors all-together.
The trouble with contracting in Australia is that the government loves to get its nose into other people's business. They don't want workers using the term contractor as a tax cheat by claiming deductions etc. that legitimate businesses (whether individual or organization) can claim, and at the same time they don't want businesses taking advantage of staff by depriving them of sick leave, paid vacation, and such by labelling their role as a contractor.
Unfortunately it gets in the way of people that are doing the right thing. I'm not looking to, nor need to claim business expenses such as travel, equipment, home office, etc. My only interest is opting out of paid vacation I never get a chance to take, and sick days I never need to use, and applying that extra value against my mortgage.If I can opt to pay my taxes at the end of the year rather than paying too much through the year to apply for a refund, then I'd rather do that as well.
Frankly I can probably continue doing what I'm doing but I will be getting dirty looks from the tax office the whole time, and probably have to deal with audits. Working through Freelancer will have a few perks, such as having my taxes done professionally and being part of a structure that allows me to legally make various deductions plus split my salary for tax purposes with the Mrs. But this comes at a price, namely 5% off the top of my rate. (Tax deductable) That's like saying to a permanent employee they need to work an extra hour a week for the same pay. So far the client has balked at the idea of absorbing some of that cost in an increase in rate, but the fact is the rate I gave them was the same as if I had worked through an agency and I certainly didn't absorb their margin from my rate. We'll have to see what they say, whether they're going to bother with the Freelancer arrangement and agree to my terms, ditch the idea and continue as-per normal, or ditch the idea of using contractors all-together.
Solar panel update.
The solar panels have been quietly eliminating our electricity bill over the last couple weeks since the feed-in tarrif meter went in. I've been keeping an eye on the readout from the meter every morning and the results look very promising. This morning the totals were 138kW sold into the grid, with 98kW bought back.
How that looks is as follows:
Credit: 138kW x $0.50/kW = $69.00
Debit: 98kW x $0.21/kW = $20.58 (Tariff 11)
Net Difference: $48.42 profit.
This doesn't include Tariff 33 power that the hot water and pool filter are using, but at anything less than 372kW and we're still turning a profit at the moment. Based on electricity bills since switching the pool filter over to Tariff 33 I would estimate the current usage to be around 98kW.
During winter the system will not generate as much energy due to the shorter day and less intense sunlight, but our energy usage should reduce somewhat as well such as turning back the amount of time the pool filter is running. Still we may break even or have a small bill in winter months, but averaged over the year I'm expecting a credit in our electricity account.
Overall it's an investment like any other, and it will be about 5 years before the system has paid itself off. Provided that it proves to operate for another 20 years with minimal maintenance costs then we'll be looking forward to a possible avg. 20% p.a. return, but the risk being that who knows what the electricity market will be like over that time. :)
How that looks is as follows:
Credit: 138kW x $0.50/kW = $69.00
Debit: 98kW x $0.21/kW = $20.58 (Tariff 11)
Net Difference: $48.42 profit.
This doesn't include Tariff 33 power that the hot water and pool filter are using, but at anything less than 372kW and we're still turning a profit at the moment. Based on electricity bills since switching the pool filter over to Tariff 33 I would estimate the current usage to be around 98kW.
During winter the system will not generate as much energy due to the shorter day and less intense sunlight, but our energy usage should reduce somewhat as well such as turning back the amount of time the pool filter is running. Still we may break even or have a small bill in winter months, but averaged over the year I'm expecting a credit in our electricity account.
Overall it's an investment like any other, and it will be about 5 years before the system has paid itself off. Provided that it proves to operate for another 20 years with minimal maintenance costs then we'll be looking forward to a possible avg. 20% p.a. return, but the risk being that who knows what the electricity market will be like over that time. :)
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