What presents the best canvas for a young child? Did you say the wall? If so, you are more right than you know. My daughter drew on the wall with everything that she touched. If she was left alone with pencils and crayons in reach, a little work of art magically appeared wherever the whim hit her. It took the longest time to get her to put her little works of art on paper.

Unfortunately, back in the day I did not know a lot about keeping kids occupied with learning activities. We lived in an apartment and the walls were more interesting than the coloring books I gave her. When I was a child our little works of art were created under the house that stood on concrete blocks allowing enough room for many different activities. Each concrete pillar boasted a little work of art. Looking back, I realize that we were a very talented family. Some of us could really draw and paint. Most of the trees in our immediate area had works of art carved or colored on their trunks. The side of the stable, barn and outhouse also made great canvases. We were warned never to paint the church steps or the pavement sidewalk leading up the holy place. Those concrete pillars beneath the house became canvas for years of doodling children. Fun for the Holidays and all other times need not cost money. Sometimes the best things in life really are free.

I am older now, and my grandchildren benefit from the knowlege gained in 27 years of teaching in the public school. Both children have areas set aside in the house (we call them the nursery and the after school program) where they are allowed to doodle. There are numerous coloring books, outdated computer paper and pictures ready to color taken from free websites. We recycle paper using the backs for the l ittle one. In addition to coloring books, there is an easel and lots of construction paper in varying colors. Warm spring, summer and fall days allow lots of drive way painting. The blacktop makes a great canvas and the sidewalk chalk washes off with the hose.

The eleven year old spends a lot of time in her little after school corner doing homework, drawing, coloring and sometimes napping. She goes directly there when she comes in from school. I seldom hear that, "I'm bored" line. We have an agreement that she is to go through all of her activity material before she is allowed to tell me that she is bored. It is also the eleven year old's responsibility to keep the area clean and tidy.

Try a few free coloring activities with your little ones. Print out the pages and color with them.

Do you want something to think about that is more important than the state of the economy? 

What can that be?

The academic achievement of your child, grandchild, nephew or cousin. Children are being left behind everyday while the country's leaders are worrying about credit. Students are NOT doing well on standardized placement tests.

What can they and their parents do?

They can do what millions of high scoring students do. They can practice, practice, practice.

In most states these all important test are given in the 4th, 8th and 11th grades. Materials are available that can be used to train your child to achieve on standardized tests. The actual books that teachers use to prepare students are also available to parents for use with their children at home.

Educational programs are generally the first to be eliminated in times of economic crisis. Competition for scholarships become tough right along with the times.  Students must know more these days and score higher than ever before in order to be noticed.

A practice book is available for each grade. Below are the tests given in my state. Your state test may have a different name and will be given at a different time, it nonetheless required.

Are you confident that your child is ready?

I know it has been a long time since I have posted here. An awful lot has changed.

My main site crashed because of a virus I picked up surfing. Not only did it crash. It was impossible to put it back together. My PC does not publish anymore because of the crash. It was not a priority to purchase a new one. I have been publishing from a secondary site. http://www.allfreeforyouplus.com.

I did not purchase my domain names again since they were being offered for an outrageous price. Meanwhile the same company sends me emails about hosting domains for the very low price of $6.95 per year. I wrote them asking if I could have my old domain names back for that price and they did not answer.

I am not very hot on internet marketing right about now. I have decided that I like Blogging. Visit some of my blogs. http://www.ineedtravel.blogspot.com/  is basically a way of me exercising the need to write. http://survivealive.spaces.live.com gives me a way to visually document certain activities in my life. http://360.yahoo.com/plumwalk2 is another outlet.

Maybe after the rebuilding of my home I will be more amenable to diving into more internet ventures. Right now I am quite the comittment phobic as far as on line business is concerned.  Frankly, the prospect of starting another venture scares me to death.  I am taking a break.

 I am open to meeting and learning about people. My daughter says that I should stop trying to save the world anyway.

I have been promoting a website that was created for me for over a year now. When my domain name was created I went through the channels of making sure no one else owned it. I is a toy site. My granddaughter made up all of my domain names. It was a fun activity for us. She called  me early yesterday morning and asked if I had changed my domain name and shut down the website. Of course I thought she had put in the incorrect information.  I tested the url and was taken to someone else's website. A new website that is now using my domain name. I sent off an inquiry to my hosting company.  I have written documents that say that I have lifetime domain name and hosting for this page.

A friend of mine says that the only way this could have happened is if my  hosting company neglected to register my domain name. It was fine for a year and now someone else has it.

This Internet business brings forth a new challenge everyday

I was checking my email in the networking community in which I am the most active.  The forum began, “Beware…and basically one member purchased a service or product from another member. One member has collected payment, but has not delivered the goods. To make matters worse, the purchase was to be used to promote a charitable endeavor.

Does it even matter that everyone will eventually know the details?

GET REAL. It IS called NETWORKING for a reason.  If only good news is allowed into the network we are all going to have our throats cut in some way by someone we have called “friend”.

Internet Community members have made an unwritten bond of trust with all members. The teenagers put it this way. “Word is Bond, man.” They shake on it and rarely break the bond. We all know what happens when they do. Nonetheless, they have the right idea. It is not such a heavy pledge. It basically states that we will not cheat each other. That is not such a heavy practice to hold sacred when networking and marketing.

The pledge should further state that, “I will not exaggerate the dollar amount of earnings and the amount of time on task it takes to achieve the goal.” Stop telling people they are going to be millionaires only working 30 minutes a day. Use some restraint.

Last year, I purchased 30, 000 “targeted visitors” from an advertising company. I was told that I would be able to add on an addition to my house in less than a year because these targeted visitors were basically going to make me rich. The purchase price was so much that I am literally ashamed of my own naiveté.

My first mistake was to purchase something from someone who called me, before hanging up and investigating the company and finding out what the heck is a “targeted visitor”.

Remember that you have rights as a consumer and as a human being. You have the right to say, “I’ll get back to you later.” Regardless of what the Guru marketers say, anything that is only available at this moment isn’t really worth the stress. Hang up and check the company out. My failure to protect myself has taught me a very expensive lesson.

People in a community are not supposed to be perfect strangers. A feeling of security should exist like in your own physical neighborhood. One should not find oneself standing alone in a world of sharks trying to make a million dollars.

Have you ever clicked through a site and come upon a page that said, “It is your lucky day! You will never see this page again. Take advantage of this offer now, because you will never get another chance.”

How many of you have seen that same ad countless times? A promise has been made and broken, but no money has changed hands. I chuckle because it is basically a cheap harmless advertising trick geared to get signups.

When money changes hands other words come to mind and replace the words advertiser and marketer. Words like charlatan, cheat, crook and criminal become more appropriate. Where is the integrity? Where is the conscience?

The Modern Day Trav eling Salesman Works In His Pajamas 

Was it really that long ago that Black people were forbidden to read and write? Do we still hold that ability as something precious? Do we ever really stop learning? Let us hope not.  The human animal is constantly in search of something. Rollo May called it a search for himself. For thousands of years there have been people trying to put the desired products and services at your finger tips for a price. Back in the day, it was  the snake oil salesman and the tinker. One sold you a liquid miracle in a bottle that contained a little too much alcohol. The other sharpened your knives and farming tools while selling wares picked up from far away towns along his long lonely way through the wilderness.

Thousands of  parents are working from home since 1996. The Internet has grown tremendously with literally billions of websites because of this.  Marketers are constantly bombarding surfers to join their programs and spend more time at home with the kids. This would be a wonderful concept if that really happened. As a former teacher, it was very difficult to get parents in to parent conferences, back to school nights, and school board meetings. Illiteracy is growing. Children are growing away from the concept of books. 

Not long ago I attended a board meeting where the Superintendent proudly announced that the new Academy would not  use books or the traditional library. The library was to be totally automated. He strutted about a silent room where parents exchanged puzzled looks, but remained quiet in disbelief. We were meeting in the media center of the high school I attended.  I felt a cold chill come over my body. I stood and looked around the massive room (that had been the library. The building was named dedicated to and named for Martin Luther King Jr.  King Hall housed mostly the visual and performing arts and the new library. The name of the new Academy had no connection to Dr. King.  The room was filled with alumni who had come to hear how the new Superintendent would oversee the education of their children. There were only two visible books. He was proud to announce that there would not be any textbooks.  “Do you see that as an improvement, “ I asked. Try as he might. He could not convince the parents present that electronic/computer should be allowed to replace paper books altogether. He was already in the process of closing all of the libraries in a town where most of the children were reading below grade level and did not own a computer.  He even said that it would cost the parent less in property tax dollars. Check your tax statement when you get a chance and see how little of it is allocated to the schools. As a parent, you should also attend school board meetings and note very closely how the money is spent.  It will surprise you. Midway into the second year all of the computers were stolen. It was as if someone backed in with a truck and removed them all. I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone doing that to get books. We promote books.We celebrate literacy.

We not only support the concept of libraries we encourage the marriage of the traditional Library with that of the computer lab in all of the creative ways available. One must combine adept research skills with use of the Internet in order to protect all concerned from the many scams. Today’s technology is so advanced one must be forever vigilant in verifying information before joining or investing on the Internet. When substandard merchandise purchased from the traveling salesman proved faulty, my Mom simply shrugged her shoulders in disappointment and said, “he had such an honest face.” 

 Recently, I had an experience with a company that could have turned really ugly. I spent a lot of money and went through a lot of disappointing calls and emails before finally reaching the people who could help me. Webmasters must remember that one’s audiences are real live breathing humans. Some actually do persist until they get  least some of what they were promised. It turned out to be a problem of the right people being too inaccessible to the customer. Cashflowdirect.com came through and repaired my websites. Livingfortoys.com and ShopForThat.com are now back up and running with links back to my main homepage. The company has even given me two additional custom made websites to help atone for all of the lack of communication between us. It was really interesting when the young man complemented me on the way I wrote a letter in protest to the way our business transaction was proceeding. I think that impressed me most of all.  He actually admired the way I retaliated in my dissatisfaction.  

Today, we cover the world in just one click. We work the crosshatches of the web making this world an incredibly small place. We are deprived of the privilege of observing that “honest face”. My Dad put it something like this, “He don’t have to eyeball you ever in life. He can tell you and sell you anything. That Joker might not even be a real. person.” Sometimes I wonder if the thousands of hits that I purchase are real.  From across the Internet, we have shopped for  items of interest for families, especially Mothers and Fathers who are concerned about obtaining good health, education, entertainment, and travel experiences for the entire family.  We have left real contact information and welcome comments in  our guest book. 

Discover Internet shopping experiences where real people listen.  We are Your Personal Shopper Direct and we make no promises of instant wealth on the Internet and we try not to work in our pajamas. We shower first and provide child care for the grandchildren while compiling useful information for you. We have researched content of required and recommended booklists from around the country.

We have also used the suggestions from the US Department of Education to support our selections in offering classic literature for the consumption of you and your teenager. We will point you towards information intended to help you in the struggle to raise a literate and motivated child. We will endeavor to point you towards quality goods, services and business opportunities.  We provide a detailed, manually updated Sitemap where we have created a   map leading  you to the things you need among Earth's largest selection of products and services.   

He becomes co-pastor, with his father, of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Students in Greensboro, N.C., stage the first lunch-counter sit-ins.

An all-white jury in Montgomery acquits Dr. King of perjury charge.

The Atlanta trespass charges are dropped and all demonstrators are released except Dr. King, who is held on charges of violating a probated sentence in a September, 1960, traffic case. He is transferred to the DeKalb County Jail and then to Reidsville State Prison.