NOW would be a good time.
Anyone up for a cup of coffee? I am off from work this week. I almost wrote that I was on vacation, because it is the same word here in DK. But the week is set up for getting a lot of baby preparation done, and some running, and some setting up of my new career that I am working towards. I am going to try and find some schools (the after school program that I work with currently - read an explanation lower) that will hire me as a consultant about how to make their websites more professional, and how to make their computershops more of a place of constructive gaming and work, instead of just putting on Counterstrike and leave the kids to themselves. I am also getting some courses ready that I am hoping that the city hall will pay to get me to do in the coming course-year (starting December 2011). I am pretty hyped about this.
Explanation of how the Danish public school system works: (Would be cool to hear about the other countries represented here as well).
Kids start school at age 5 (almost 6) in a kindergarten class where they have some teaching elements like learning the alphabet, and numbers and some simple adding and spelling. We are talking "Hi cow" here, nothing more advanced.
Then they go on to 1st grade where they are taught even more spelling numbers and such.
The kids that are in kindergarten class and up until 3rd class (so 4 years into their public education) can go to an after school program that is more of a leisure place, so a place where they more or less control how to spend the time. The SFO (School Freetime Program) are often setup with wood-shops, sowing-shops and other creative shops, and there are plenty of outdoors activities. Some sport a computerroom, and those often have a tendency to be more of a buffer for some of the more nerdy and/or uncontrollable boys. Counterstrike or similar are the most used game in these settings, and I think that is simply stupid! My setup is all about finding good games with a more creative, more timeconsuming (pr game), and more constructive or even artsy setup. (Think flow, Cloud, BlockCAD, etc.)
Also they should have the options of actually constructing something like cartoons (Toondoo.com) comics and animations (GoAnimate.com) and work with the expression they like with stuff like Glogster.com or Wix.com.
I will tell you more about this whole idea later on when I am done with my setup. I am currently thinking about contacting the Danish version of "Save the children", because they have a soft spot for kids and their online encounters and dangers. I sort of know a guy that could help me get my foot in the door there if I decide to go that way.