Millennial Generation

I saw a segment on last week’s edition of Sixty Minutes about the ‘Millennial Generation’. The definition of 'millennial generation' varies slightly but generally to be a member, your birth year has to be at or after 1984. I have two children that are members of this group but fortunately my kids don’t have the characteristics of this generalized group. I find it odd that when I was making the decision to home-school these same two children, most of the reasons that I wanted to home-school was because I didn’t want my kids to turn out like the members of the ‘Millennial Generation’. I had no idea at the time that someday these characteristics would be attributed to the current generation of young people.

My two kids tell me that they can’t believe how unprepared their Millennial Generation classmates are for the real world. My daughter said that she couldn’t understand why their orientation was a week long. At the end of the second day, she said “How many ‘get-to-know-you’ games do we have to play - let’s get on with classes!” She didn’t need to attend the orientation session that showed students how to run a washing machine or a dryer either.

I have always said that the education system is exactly what parents want. It’s a quasi-daycare center that makes their children feel good about themselves. Bill Gates warned parents and post-secondary institutions that by continuing down this path of non-justified rewarding will produce individuals who are ‘sissy’ and can’t take criticism of any kind. Essentially he stated that the kids will not grow up in the real world and they won’t be ready when they graduate because they won’t be able to cope. I guess he was right.

I can hardly wait to say “I told you so” to all those nay-sayers that criticized me for my home-schooling decision. My two children have flown the nest, are paying for their own university education (through wages that they earned themselves) and fighting their own battles because I have given them the tools to do so. They also know how to separate their white clothes from the darks. Imagine that!

My Trip to A New World

Here's Michaella's interpretation of the assignment on pretending to be a turkey on her turkey farm. Enjoy!

When I was in an egg, it felt hot and sticky. All I heard was a little peeping noise. It was too cramped and I had to get out of that turkey egg! So I started to peck at the egg wall. I was almost out but I was so tired that I had to take a nap. When I woke up, I started to peck at the shell and I heard a big crack. Then I was free from the egg at last.

As I laid there beside my shell, all wet and weak, I fell asleep. When I opened my eyes, I was soft, fluffy and dry. A giant came and moved me to a box with several of my friends. All I heard was the giant talking and I felt the box jiggle. Then the giant moved the box to the sorting room and sorted us into two boxes, one for hens and one for toms. Then we were put on a huge truck.

Inside the truck it smelled different than inside my egg. My egg home was clean and cozy. The truck home is dirty from all my friend’s poop. I sure hope I get off this truck soon.

It was a long trip because the giant that was driving the truck kept stopping. Outside the truck, I heard loud and scary sounds that rumbled and beeped. They sounded like monsters. Then I felt a jerk and the truck stopped, and the door opened. Another big giant picked up the box I was in and dumped me into a new world.

In my new world it is warm and dry. There is food and water for all of us to eat and drink. We have wiggly jiggly red stuff to peck and it tastes good. I have made lots of new friends in this new world and I love living here.

A Poult's Life

Here is Addison's story based on the assignment that he was to pretend that he was a turkey on his farm. We hope you enjoy his efforts.

It’s crowded and hot in the truck and it can be quite bumpy. With all the other polts peeping in here it’s very noisy. There are many stops along the way. I can hear sounds of traffic and the heater that’s keeping us warm. I can see some lights out of the holes in this box. I smell stinky car fumes in the back of this truck and the cardboard under my feet feels weird because the cardboard is bumpy. The truck has stopped and I’m being taken into a gigantic barn. I wonder what will happen to me next.

Oh my gosh! I’m being dumped in a huge cardboard circle. There are so many of us in a big pile and it’s hard to get off my back. My feet are in the air and I can’t get up! A huge person flips me over so I’m back on my feet. There are soft and comfortable wood shavings all around me. There is food and water, and it is very clean. These heaters are nice to take a nap under and it’s very warm. There is very good and nutritious red jelly that wiggles when I peck at it.

Huge people wearing old dusty shirts and pants come every day and clean the cardboard circle with a long wooden arm with fingers on it. The fingers are taking the top layer of dirty shavings out of my cardboard circle leaving me a clean area to live in with my friends. The huge people also put in new water and food. My friends and I sometimes sleep in the food dishes and the huge people have to move us from it. Every two days the huge person moves the walls of our cardboard circle, then there is more room to run and explore in this huge barn. My yellow fuzzy feathers are turning into big white bird feathers. I try to fly and don’t get very high.

When the huge person comes in I go running to see him because I’m curious to see what he will do next. This farm will be a great place to grow up.