Steven Helmer Publications

I've been out of college for a long time, and I've reached a point where I'm working toward retirement and no longer looking to further my career or start a new one. However, it never hurts to learn new things when you can, especially when you can do it for free (thanks to a partnership our local library has with Universal Class) so I took a Film Appreciation course. I am happy to say I passed it today with an A+. The class was a little more challenging than I had expected. It wasn't just learning about filmmaking history, I had to write essays about era-specific movies and a biography of the director of my choice (I went with Tod Browning). However, I made it through the 9-hour course and even got some extra credit for teaching the professor a couple things. I'll just add my certificate to my achievements while deciding what class I am interested in taking next.

School starts in a couple of days and, while it will be business as usual for our youngest daughter, her older sister will be doing something new, homeschooling. OK, technically, she is still attending school. She'll just be doing it via a virtual (computer) environment. But, for all effective purposes, she is learning from home with my wife, my mom and I sharing her educational responsibilities as she starts her sophomore year of high school. To tell you the truth, there was a time when I thumbed my nose a bit at people who homeschooled their kids, mostly because I couldn't see the point when public schools seemed perfectly adequate. Now, I am apologetically confessing and admitting they might have been right all along. Both of my daughters are bright and talented kids and were on the school district's gifted/talented list. But, while her younger sister seems to be thriving in a traditional school setting, my teenager has had her share of issues. In elementary s...