It's time for school to start again. This has been the summer that supports the opinion that before Labor Day is too early. How kids can concentrate in this heat is questionable. Practice for track and football becomes a concern for safety due to heat stroke and surely even recess is compromised when it is in the 90's and the playground is blacktop. At this writing there seems to be no end in sight for high temps and drought. It is not only the school calendar that has changed since most of us went to school. Schools are reinventing themselves to keep up with the times. The focus today is technology. The July issue of Urban Times, a publication for and about downtown neighborhoods, featured an article about the new Carpe Diem School, opening this August, located in the 2200 block of North Meridian Street. As a charter school it is a tuition-free public school and will serve grades 6 through 12. Carpe Diem uses an educational principle known as "blended learning". The school will rely heavily on state-of-the-art technology to allow students to learn on their own (sitting at computers). That technology keeps the small teaching staff (4 teachers to 300 students) constantly apprised of which students need help, and where. There are advantages. Individualized technology-based learning allows for numerous elective courses. Twice a day, software generates a report telling teachers which kids are ahead and which are behind so customized programs can be implemented. A student could have the same math teacher for all grades so that teacher will know that child inside and out, according to the superintendent Robert Sommers who will oversee as many as six Carpe Diem Schools in Indiana. The schools will have a partnership with Ivy Tech State Community College which will allow Carpe Diem students to earn an associate's degree before leaving high school. Career counseling is a strong focus.

Things are changing. We live in a digital age. It has not gone unnoticed by the pet industry. One company spokesperson said "In a world where video games, iPods and other electronics reign supreme we unfortunately see less and less children having an interest in pets." The industry is concerned that if today's 5- and 10-year-olds fail to develop the connection with animals and the desire to own one, the industry will face an impoverished market and a dwindling customer base that cannot support the abundance of small, independent retailers. The most vulnerable will be those that specialize in small animals, reptiles, birds and fish-basically any category other than cats and dogs. I know at our house, our kids had it all. . . .hamsters, guinea pigs, fish, lizards and rabbits. I grew up with a rabbit and gold fish. How many of you had Habitrails for your hamsters? How many of your kids today are asking for that for their birthdays?

Studies show that kids turn to their pets for emotional well-being, with 40% of children choosing pet companionship when feeling down. Kids were also found to seek out their pets when feeling tired, upset, scared or lonely, and 53% of respondents said they enjoy doing homework with pets nearby. "Being around animals is extremely good for children," says Dr. Harvey Markovitch, pediatrician and editor of The Archives of Disease in Childhood. "They're good for morale, and teach children about relationships and about the needs of another living being - learning to care for a pet helps them to learn how to care for people." Studies show caring for pets aids in improving school attendance and teaches children about responsibility.

Armed with those statistics, the pet industry, knowing that teachers have limited resources, initiated Pets in the Classroom. This is a program that has helped teachers support classroom pets with no-hassle educational grants for the purchase of new pets, pet environments, pet food and supplies for existing classroom pets. Since 2010 over 9,300 grants have been awarded. If you are a teacher who would like to use pets for education go to www.petsintheclassroom.org . On that website they state "whether it's Math ("how much does a hamster weigh?") or Science, ("what does a snake eat?") Geography ("what part of the world do ferrets come from?") or Grammar ("what words would we use to describe a goldfish?") students will approach learning all these subjects with a new enthusiasm and interest. Other classes can even come visit your classroom pets and your students can create special presentations about the animals." The following conditions apply: Pets in the Classroom grants are offered to Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth grade classes in both public and private schools. These grants are intended to support pets or aquariums in the classroom for the purposes of teaching children to bond with and care for their pets responsibly. The welfare of the small animals involved is of paramount importance. These grants must not be used for the purposes of research or experiments of any kind.

Thanks to Bill Brooks, editor of Urban Times, for his interesting article on Carpe Diem School. The Indianapolis Star did a feature as well. Look for it online.

I always say, pets make you smile.