The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 27

greenvilleonline.com 5D Monday, August 27, 2001 The Greenville News 1 Farmers' Almanac says another 'old-fashioned' winter is on tap lM'7 IM By David Sharp The Associated Press LEWISTON, Maine Those who remember jammed airports, slippery sidewalks, potholes and mounds of snow last winter won't like what the latest Farmers' Almanac has to say about the coming winter. With no El Nino or La Nina to botch up the forecast, the almanac's secret formula projects another "old-fashioned" winter, with heaps of snow beginning in late November. "According to our time-tested formula, winter will begin early," chief weather prognosticator Caleb Weatherbee writes in the al- pened only once before. In the new edition, the 185-year-old publication said last winter was snowier than it predicted because it was the first in several years in which there was no El Nino or La Nina the warming and cooling of the Pacific Ocean to meddle with high level prevailing winds. This winter will be much the same, said editor Peter Geiger.

Climatologists call it "La Nada." Geiger predicts an active winter followed by a wet summer in the Northeast, Pacific Northwest and Southeast. The middle of the country will be drier than usual, the almanac says. manac that goes on sale Tuesday. "We also expect another very active winter weather pattern, especially in the Northeast." The almanac says its long-term predictions based on a secret formula involving sunspots, positions of the planets and tidal action are correct about 80 percent of the time. The almanac, used to plan outdoor weddings, cookouts and vacations, predicted moderate weather for last winter.

But the Northeast got pummeled by storm after storm. The almanac offices in Lewiston had to shut down for a day something that had hap 4 fT'''i KIM D. JOHNSON The Associated Press Going for it: Instructor Alii Allen gets out of the way as her students try to catch a wave at Surf Diva surf camp in La Jolla, Surf's up for industry catering to women LOST FROM PAGE 1D the child make a chart, with columns for each subject. He can check off the designated column as homework is assigned and completed daily. Buy a hole-punch for the child to carry in his notebook so that he can punch assignments and or notes to parents and place them in his notebook as soon as he receives them at school.

"You've got to have the school supporting you, and you have to be supporting the school. Parents must be aware of what's going on," Blackhurst says. The goal is to simplify. Once students know how to organize, they begin to see how easy it is to locate things that are put in a designated place. "Organization breeds confidence," Blackhurst says.

"Organization builds self-esteem." He believes that "if you teach organization when children are in first grade, you can save a lot of teaching time in middle school." should spend that time doing homework or studying even when they have no assigned homework. "It teaches self-discipline," he says. "If you're going to run a marathon, you've got to practice for it. And if you're expecting your child to go to college and do rigorous work, and you think he's going to acquire those skills once he's in high school, you're already up against a wall," Blackhurst says. He recommends a well-organized study environment free of distractions, and color-coded notebooks with color-coded tabs.

Using the same colors each year for certain subjects for example, blue for science can provide structure for a child struggling with organization, Blackhurst says. The child's home study environment should have a dry erase board or a shower board, which costs less and is available at home improvement stores. Let comes first, before the extracurricular activities," she says. Parents and teachers must work as a team, she says, keeping lines of communication. Parents might request that the teacher check the child's assignment book each day and initial it.

And, depending on the child's age, parents may want to initial the assignment book at home when school work is completed. At Camperdown Academy, a private, nonprofit school for children ages 6 to 15 with learning difficulties, organizational skills instruction is one of the fundamentals. Consistency is important in teaching organization, says Dana Blackhurst, the school's headmaster. Children should have a set study time. And he says they By Chelsea J.

Carter The Associated Press CARLSBAD, Calif. Straddling a longboard, Kim Kennis scanned the incoming waves, searching for one packing enough height and force. A week earlier, she had stepped off an airplane from Rochester, N.Y., with one goal in mind: Ride a wave just like the women she had seen in the surfing magazines. For five days, she had listened, practiced and shared the frustration that came with learning a new sport. Kennis and 20 others are enrolled in Surf Divas, a camp for women.

Now in the water, the 35-year-old antiques, dealer bobbed on her surf board as she looked at the waves rolling in to South Carlsbad State Beach. Then she saw a soft swell building in the distance. "This isn't the end you know, a come-to-California-and-learn-to-surf vacation, and then go home and forget it," she said later on the beach. "This is the beginning. This is a sport I'm learning, I'm going to continue, and I'm going to invest in." That's the attitude, industry analysts said, that a growing number of women have been expressing about the sport in recent years.

In response, surfing companies increasingly cater to women, sponsoring weeklong camps and clothing lines. Analysts point to the rising number of women with disposable incomes, the adventure sports movement and the success of targeted advertising by mainstream retail giants, such as Nike. "Suddenly, in the summer of 2001, the climate is just right for a lot of these women to take that step and get out there," said Elizabeth Glazner, founder and co-editor of Wahine, a women's surfing magazine. "It's not because somebody created a board short for women. It's because people have been out in the sand for years watching their kids, their boyfriends, their husbands do it and finally asked, 'Why can't I do The Surf Industry Manufacturing Association reported at its annual meeting this spring that the number of businesses offering surfing products for women ASLEEP FROM PAGE 1D FOR TODAY'S SHOWTIMES www.re3alcinemas.com or call Pelham Road Cinema 10 458-8565 Hollywood 20 E22965UW7 288-4200 TODAY'S SHOWTIMES MAY DIFFER FROM WEEK-END TIMES 3 Jjfm Futon Gallery The Most ira i Wl JM may ever It's a Sofa It's a Sleeper It's a Bed Fvrl fi LSI 3 i ban 1 288-7789 20 Haywood Rd.

Next to Office Max VmBOUOK AMI'HICAS HI'DIIOOM STOW! The band: Asleep at the Wheel has been making raw, authentic music for 31 years. LTD sTD music does, both of them: They get your foot tapping, they make you feel good." Popular music reflects the culture, Benson said, so heavy metal mirrors the sounds of a city, full of noise and heavy machinery, and much of the dance music on the radio brings to mind heavy equipment as well. "It evokes an assembly line to me, so if you want to escape that, you got all kinds of music." Music he calls 'organic' real, not fake." Asleep at the Wheel's music still reflects the influence of Western swing pioneer Bob Wills, the patron saint of the genre and, to a degree, of Asleep at the Wheel. Asked if he sees anyone on the horizon who could fill Wills' boots, Benson is doubtful. "Weeeell, those boots are pretty big," he said.

There are, however, lots of authentic young musicians out there, from his own bandmates Roberts and Michael to hot country star Brad Paisley and swing band Hot Club of Cowtown. Naked Windows? Let us dress them! 1 WOOD BLINDS SHUTTERS 2 ROMAN SHADES CORNICES Wills' spirit is all over Asleep at the Wheel's latest album, "The Very Best of Asleep at the Wheel," a collection of 14 popular tunes that the current band has reconfigured and re-recorded. The disc includes the Wills' tune "Take Me Back to Tulsa," along with favorites like "Last Meal," featuring Huey Lewis on harmonica, Louis Jordan's "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie" and Hank Garland's instrumental classic "Sug-arfoot Rag," with Paisley on Financing Available AAA Blind Factory Though the band has recorded more than 20 albums over the decades, it wasn't difficult to choose the songs and arrangements for this particular disc, Benson said. "Over the years, the arrangements were simple. Everybody knew their parts from playing them every night.

So that's what this album is, the evolution of all these arrangements over the years," he said. "They were easy to identify as the songs we needed to do." and girls had increased nearly 75 percent from 1997 to 2000. There are no estimates available on the number of women taking up the sport. It also found that major surfing retailers, such as Billabong and Reef, had made significant marketing changes to target women. The babes in bikinis who dominated advertisements in the 1980s and 1990s have been replaced by professional and amateur athletes.

Most visible are world-ranked competitors such as Lisa Anderson, who became the first female professional surfer with a signature shoe line. "Honestly, I think the success of mainstream companies outside of the surf industry has had an effect," said Jessica Trent, a marketing manager for Billabong. "Using real athletes, real women works. You don't have to have a cookie-cutter girl." As a result, companies are seeing increased sales. Reef, which introduced its women's footwear line in 1999, expected female sales to surpass its popular men's line by the end of this fiscal year, said Reef spokeswoman Heather Bensen.

Christina Shires, 29, of Seattle, is among the women targeted by businesses. A year ago, she had never held a surf board. Today, she owns one. While large companies are riding the wave of success, a growing number of women-owned small businesses also is finding a place in the industry. At the recent Surf Summit, the surfing industry's annual gathering in Mexico, more than 70 percent of the businesses represented were owned by women, according to Glazner.

"There were a lot of stores, companies owned by men who were selling what they thought a woman should buy. Women know what women want to buy, what they need," said Isabella Califano, co-owner of Chickabiddy, a small surf clothier. 1 But perhaps the greatest indicator is the proliferation of women-only surf clinics and camps. Five years ago, Surf Divas was one of the only surf schools offering individual instruction, clinics and weeklong camps for women. Today, more than a dozen such schools have popped up around the nation.

"It's like trying to learn driving from your dad. There's no patience" involved, said Isabelle Ti-hanyi, co-owner of Surf Divas. "These kinds of schools offer patience, that nurturing that's needed." There are no men at Surf Divas. "Men and women are different. The way they learn is different.

Their bodies are different. The way they surf is different," Tihanyi said. "Surfing by itself can be intimidating. If you throw men in the mix, it can become overwhelming for some women." For about $600 a week, Surf Diva participants receive two three-hour surfing sessions a day with instructors, use of a board and wet suit, and room and board a tent and outdoor cookouts at South Carlsbad State Beach. Cat Beagan-Gorlick, a 30-year-old Web designer from Queens, N.Y., had always heard that surfing was for guys.

But by day 4 at Surf Divas, she was ready to do it herself. As she popped up on her board, Lesley Gregory, a 46-year-old elementary schoolteacher from Temecula, cheered her on. Later, Gregory got up on her board to cheers from others in the water. "The support the women give each other is important, think, to the experience. You don't want to feel alone out there," she said.

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ZONE FROM PAGE 1D IT Bufojue ID) 11 i UFE IS AN ADVENTURL D0N7 BLOW IT. www.bubblelioy.n8l Litadnim: 3D HOUYWOOD20 CHERRYDALE 16 Sfi' mm mm miB I' 1 JAY SILENT BOB (R) Dolby for that age group. "We have seen an increase in work stations and desks that are scaled-down versions of what you see for adults in residential home offices," says O'Mara. Some are more whimsical or colorful than what you'd find at office big-box stores, made of materials such as pink translucent plastic or metal mesh. "Some kids want something that says 'This is and doesn't look like mom or dad's." Robin Campbell, manager of advertising and marketing services at Stanley Furniture, a major furniture manufacturer in Stan-leytown, agrees that kids and the equipment they use are an increasingly important segment of the market.

"Children's furniture is our fastest-growing category," she says. "We keep updating our configurations like keyboard drawers and wire management to keep up with new developments in the computer industry." The company, which had $283 million in sales last year, offers 19 collections in their Young America line ranging from country cottage to the Arts Crafts look. "With double-income families and grandparents getting in on it, everyone wants to make sure their kids will be academically successful. A big part of that is how they study at home," says Campbell. To find a dealer, typical evening in your home people coming in at different times, preparing a meal, a dog barking, someone watching TV some kids can study through that, others need quiet." She has seen kids wearing stereo headphones who can sprawl across a bed and have their book on the floor and still learn their multiplication tables.

But most don't find this the most efficient way to learn. "Observe your child, and know what's best for them," says Binkley, whose Web site, www.urbanext.uiuc.edu, offers tips for parents concerned about homework. Allan Wigfield, professor of human development at the University of Maryland's College of Education, suggests a quiet spot not too far away from parents so help can be given when needed. "My own kids use the kitchen table after dinner, but some prefer to have their own desk in their room. It's nice but not essential." Wigfield says it's a good idea to do homework at the same time each day, but it doesn't have to be the same place.

"It doesn't have to be sitting straight up at a desk. But it's better not to have the TV and radio on, and definitely no phone calls." Sheila Long O'Mara is editor of Kids Today, a home furnishings trade publication. She says now that kids seem to have more homework than ever, manufacturers realized there was a market for desks and chairs designed 2:00,4:44. IS, MOVIE GUIDE FOR FAMILIES "General Audience." Film contains no materials that most narnnta are likelv to consider fueled a surge in the home furnishings industry, which is scrambling to create kid-friendly desks, shelves and trolleys to hold all of this new equipment. Some families set aside space in their homes where their children can work.

One family created a homework command center on the main floor, with multiple computer portals and built-in shelves plus glass doors so parents can monitor activities; Another family carved out multiple study spots around the house so their four youngsters can each find a quiet space to work. Yet another decided the dining room would eventually double as the homework zone, and are choosing their new dining table with that in mind. Education experts say defining a place to do schoolwork can encourage kids to be more organized and thus make study time smoother. The place doesn't have to be fancy, says Darla Binkley, an educator with the University of Illinois Extension program who has done a lot of research on homework, but it helps if it's tailored to the needs of the child. "Children need their own space.

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