Here at the van der Stevejinck household, it's Finals Week. My youngest (and only one at home) child is a high school sophomore. For the past two and a half years he has been attending WAVA (Washington Virtual Academy - through k12.com). That means he takes his classes online. He has teachers for each subject, textbooks for most (but not all) subjects, class discussions and field trips. There's very little bullying (unless you count me nagging him to get his classes done...), no commute, no dress code (except mine), no snow days, very few sick days...Ideal, right? Sigh. We've been up until nearly midnight the last two nights as he was finishing up assignments before the deadlines...Here's a sample of my day yesterday:
Me: How are you doing?
Him: Good.
Me: Do you need any help?
Him: I'm fine.
Me: Are you almost done?
Him: Almost.
.....15 minutes later...........
Me: Are you finished yet?
Him: Almost.
Me: Get a move on, you've got to finish this before midnight!
Him: I'm working, I'm working.
Me: sigh.
This morning we'll be reviewing 45 years of US history, in preparation for his History final this afternoon. He'll do just fine - but think how much easier it would be if he had Betty's version of US history 1900-1945:
WWI: Americans FINALLY pitch in.
Prohibition: What? No pre-dinner sherry, 2 wines with dinner and an after dinner drink? Barbaric.
The Great Depression: Let's just blame America for that one.
WWII: Americans are tardy again and then indulge in vulgar ostentation to end the war.
I suspect you're right -- The Great Betty lived through terrible deprivation after WWII. All of Britain did, but she had the added burden of an unwell husband, trying to make a living in a foreign country to support her family (some of the most vivid scenes in The Canon are the ones where the heroine is down to her last coppers . . . and someone mugs her!), and doing this all while living with her in-laws.
ReplyDeleteBy contrast, we in the States must have looked VERY wealthy indeed! Poor Betty -- I'd have sent her some sugar or butter or something if I'd a) been alive, b) known how much I was going to love her, and c) known how to do such things. *sigh*
(By the way, when I visited the UK in the 70s and 1980, people were pretty rude about our tendency to refer to the US as "America," as if our nation were the only one in North or South America! They didn't refer to us as "the former Colonies," usually just as "the States," but Betty Henry has gone on record as suggesting that he doesn't understand why we had to revolt against George III. Whereas, in other news, Betty Ross just got his US passport yesterday. Whoo-hoo! He's one of us!)
Gongrats to Betty Ross - welcome to the Rudeness Factor. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about 8 or 9, while at our summer cottage in northern Ontario, I was playing in the lake with some Canadian kids who were staying at the resort next to our cottage. I said something about being an American, and the little girl who was about my age said, quite indignantly, "I'm an American!"
We got rather heated, appealing to our parents, and finally her point about being a North American was made and conceded. But MY point about being a "real" American was made as well. She never conceded that although her parents certainly understood and agreed that for a Canadian to call herself, "American," just didn't cut it. I can still see that little girl's face although I can't remember her name or where she was from. Wonder if she still considers herself an American.
Or if she moved to the States.
Betty Debbie, overall, how do you feel about cyberschool? My great-niece did it for a year and it went well as far as it went, but she wasn't overly self-motivated. It ended up not being the answer for her.
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Virtual school has its good points and not so good points. My youngest is not a very motivated student, so I end up spending more time helping/encouraging than I'd like. I'm in negotiations right now with our local school district to enter him 1/2 time at the high school that's less than 1/2 a mile from our house. I'm sending him there because I'd like him to spend more time in traditional classrooms - he'll be taking Math and Science along with either Art or Health. Those are all classes he'll do fine in. His weak point in school is anything that requires writing - so Language Arts and Social Studies/History are still better for him to take online at his own pace.
ReplyDeleteWe'll revisit the issue of schooling at home at the end of the school year and decide then if he wants to go back to full time at home (I hope not), continue 1/2 time, or bump up to full time at brick and mortar school.
Dear Bettys all,
ReplyDeleteI came across this blog recently, and have spent (I will not say wasted...) inordinate amounts of time reading the past posts with great relish (not to say gentleman's relish) this past week. I love Betty Neels books, and am so thrilled to meet all you other Bettys who do too. I love her take on upper class Britain (transplanting the 40s into the 90s) and I love the fact that her books don't go to Brighton (it always spoils the story for me :-)). So, with your kind permission, I'd like very much to join you at the feet of La Neels, with my tongue tucked firmly in my cheek. :-) Great literature it may not be, great escapism it certainly is.
Betty Cyndi
Caloo Callay! A new Betty! We are so happy to meet new Lovers of La Neels and are always so pleasantly surprised to find there are so many of us (I feel like the operator of a secret Soviet spy ring...you are all my sleeper cells...)
ReplyDeleteAnyway,come on in and join the fun! (Which is code for, 'Keep your Makarov's loaded and ready to fire.')
Betty Cyndi -- If I'm being honest, I'm a visitor from a much-more-inclined-to-go-Brighton-romance-novel sort of land. But there's no bigger fan of The Canon than I.
ReplyDeleteSo, with that in mind, I will modestly say I've written about Betty a few times at my own blog. (Which, I hasten to add, doesn't go to Brighton, even when I discuss books that go to Brighton.)
Here, then, are some posts you might be amused by (or not...):
A post in which I shameless tout the many wonders of The Uncrushable Jersey Dress.
A post in which I attempt to be smart and honest about The Canon.
A post on the marriage of convenience plot.
A post on Bettysday, the centenary of The Great Betty's birth. In her honor, I promote the idea that she actually was somewhat insurrectionist in her anti-class notions, which is why her distinctly middle-class heroines can marry upper-class, even aristocratic, Dutchmen when they couldn't have married the same sorts of men in the UK. Later in her career -- after, say, Diana married Charles -- The Great Betty started to have less obviously class-specific English heroes.
Hey, Betty Keira -- wanna have some fun? Go to Blogger's profile page and ask how many people have listed Betty Neels among their favorite authors. You get over 100 people. I say we invite them all over here for a big party! Who's in?
Thanks for your kind welcomes. Magdalen, I actually have enjoyed several posts on your blog, because it was the thing that led me here (may I always be grateful). I googled Betty Neels, Blog, and it sent me to your blog. From there to here was but a step for the mini.
ReplyDeleteLove the cannon. Haven't read even half the books yet, and am attempting (boy it's tough) not to read the reviews of the books I've not read since they are way funnier after you have read the book.
I love all y'all's (sorry... from Virginia) humor over here so much. This is going to be a HUGE FUN timewaster.
Sorry Betty Kiera, Fresh out of Makarov but I've got a tasty turbot in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteActually I do have a very realistic BB-Gun, will that do?
I like the sound of the sleeper thing. If I'm gonna be an agent, I should do something I enjoy.
Just promise me that when our cover is blown you figure out a way to send me back to Ireland (even though I was born in Detroit).
I wouldn't need a manor house or castle. This little cottage would do.
Betty Barbara here--
ReplyDeletehey Betty Cyndi--Welcome! Glad you found us. We have a great time here.
Betty Magdalen-Congrats to Betty Ross! That's a really big step to take.
Re: home schooling. My only experience with that goes waaaay back. My parents took my sister and me out of school for 6 weeks, so that we could accompany our dad on a long vacation (that he pretty much had to take at the time he did--long, boring story). Anyway, my folks borrowed grade appropriate school books from the school in my grandparents' home town, and we had to spend a couple of hours a day doing school work(bummer!). So by the time we got back home and slotted back into our regular school we were several months ahead!
Of course, in defense of the Colonies,the post-war deprivations of the U.K. were mostly a result of the dumb-bunny policies of P.M. Clement Atlee who gambled the opposite of the U.S. on how to make post-war economic adjustments and lost the gamble--thus Our Betty's sour grapes. (Watch Betty Miranda or Betty Ross show a bit of British phlegm on this one--oops, Betty Ross now shows Anglo-American phlegmish spit in his sparkling new citizenship). Charing Cross Road does a nice job of depicting the British shortages.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Betty Cyndi! But time spent with The Canon is never a timewaster but a contribution to the greater uncrushable good, and our tongues are never in anyone's cheeks--seems way too Brightonish--Mrs. Neels Would Not Approve.