School update

You all know the WF has issues at school. We started talking about getting him real help in the spring but had to wait for school to start again this fall to have the actual meetings and paper signings. Starting in September, he finally started taking a battery of tests every week for math and writing. He also met with the OT several times and was evaluated by the speech path.

We had our IEP meeting yesterday afternoon and what came of it is that he has hyper flexible joints, which is causing some of his motor control issues. He also has low tone and needs core strengthening work. They suggested some kind of focused training program like Tae Kwon do, swimming lessons or gymnastics. I'm on the fence about forcing him to do something he obviously has no interest in, especially something that is going to cost me a fortune. The OT suggested that he needs a desk that allows him to stand and work, since he simply won't sit and ends up laying across the desk or kneeling in his chair and none of that is helping his hand writing.

The speech path said despite observing him in several situations and even trying to induce some stress to trigger his stutter, she was unable to observe any stuttering that impedes communication.

He ended up being labeled as having a specific learning disability, so he will now be getting 60 minutes of individual writing instruction each week. He is also going to start using voice recognition software and dictating all of his writing. Part of his writing instruction will involve learning to edit those dictated documents, since VR doesn't always have any idea what you are saying. We have crossed fingers that since he is using his own laptop (we bought it for him last year when he was supposed to be typing everything but it has spent most of it's time taking up space on his desk), it will actually learn his speech patterns and will get better as he uses it. He will also be allowed to use spell check on those documents, which was something his 504 plan prohibited.

The only thing I was disappointed about was that he isn't getting any accommodations in math. He scored within the normal range on all of his math tests, despite not knowing most of his math facts. He can find the answer but can't spit them out in speedy manner, so he isn't able to pass the timed tests they give. I was hoping for the ability to use a calculator on math work or at a minimum, a times table. Barring that, I was hoping for either additional time on timed tests or and end to those completely. In a couple of years, calculators will be available as a matter of course, so he just needs to hang in there until then.

So although it has taken FOREVER to get to this point (initial evaluations were discussed 2 years ago) I'm pretty happy with the outcome and I'm thrilled with his team. His case worker is super and the whole team is working hard to get him started on the right path.

Right now, he is struggling with the dictation because his VR program is flubbed up. It only picks up about every second or third word, which means A LOT of editing, which he has never really had to do. It feels like once he gets the hang of it, this will be a far better option for him.

Found: one time travel device

I was at school dropping of snack for the 4th grade today. They were doing their science lesson while I was there and I hung out for a few minutes to observe. The teacher does a KWL when they start a topic, which means what do we already Know, what we Want to learn and what we will Learn. So they were talking about space and someone said that space in infinite. Up goes WF's hand. The teacher called on him (and honestly, I know what kind of irrelevant answers he tends to give so I held my breath a little bit) and he says "some scientists believe that space is always expanding but eventually, it will get so big that it will come back in" His teacher says "Oh yeah, I think that is called negative matter. They can't see it but they can look for signs of it"

They move on down line and eventually another kid says that space has black holes. The teacher talks about how when he was a kid the question was are there black holes, now it is what happens to things that get sucked into black holes.

Boom, up goes my kid's hand again. I think "gah, what can he contribute to that discussion?", because you know that something about black holes triggered his thought. The teacher calls on him and he says "It's my opinion that things that get sucked into black holes go to a different time and place. A black hole is just a tunnel to somewhere else"

As I push my eyes back in my head, the teacher commented that lots of books have that theme and asked if anyone could think of one off the top of their head.

All I could think was "that's my little nerd!" LOL

O.(T.) No, they didn't

At our meeting last week, the school suggested that Occupational Therapy was basically the cure to all of our ills. Of course, that is a service the district does not provide so I needed to take care of it. The school psychologist suggested I contact my insurance company to find out if services were covered, since paying out of pocket for that is cost prohibitive (or as she put it "insanely and dauntingly expensive"). My insurance is stupid and only open until 4:45 so I wasn't able to call last week.

I called today and was transferred around a couple of times. Eventually, I got to someone who told me that, while O.T. is covered, I need a referral from my doctor (no problem, I totally expected that) but that once that referral was made, we would have to visit the O.T., who would then contact the insurance to find out if services were ACTUALLY covered. I know, I totally felt my head explode as she was explaining it to me. So basically, I have to go and hope that the visit is covered or pony up the cost. Of course, I have no idea what that cost might actually amount to.

I called WF's doctor to get the referral process started and the nurse seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. She said the school usually handles O.T. services and she didn't know what they could do. I explained that the services were cut so we were trying to make up that difference ourselves. She said they don't actually offer O.T. services and can't refer us to Carle, who does offer O.T. She at least agreed with me that there was really no need for an office visit, since there was nothing to diagnose. She ended up giving me their fax number and telling me to talk to the school and have them fax over his assessment and their recommendation for treatment and we'll "see if we can figure something out"

So basically, I'm back at square one as far as getting him O.T. services goes. The school can't help, the insurance won't help and the doctor doesn't know how to help.

On a bright note, I did get to check out the new spelling system they are suggesting for him and I could totally make it myself, at home, for under $10! They said I could use the books they have to get him a jump on it, so I don't need to spend $250 per lesson or buy an iPad (since the app they suggested is only available for iPad AND costs $23!), so that was good news. The special ed teacher also recommended a dictation program for him to do his homework with. It isn't perfect, but it is a place to start, so that the words get on the page and he can at least work on editing.

BIT meeting

Earlier this week, I blogged about WF's math, and school in general, issues. We met on Thursday about supports for next year and, although I wasn't thrilled with the idea of the meeting, I came out of it in a better frame of mind. We talked about his focus issues, his spelling issues, his "floppiness", his habit of writing numbers backwards, etc. Today, it occurred to me that I should have asked them about his stutter as well, but I didn't think about it at the time. They agree that most of those issues are real issues and we talked about several things to help him overcome them. Unfortunately, OT has been cut in the district so he hasn't been seeing an OT all year so their first recommendation was to contact my insurance and see if they cover OT services at Carle. Of course, by the time the meeting was over, insurance was closed and then I worked late on Friday and didn't get the call made then either. It is on my calendar for Monday. If they cover it, the school wants me to at least get him evaluated and either do the exercises at home or take him regularly for therapy. For spelling, they want to start him on Barton Spelling. which is a different type of spelling program. Unfortunately, it clocks in at $250 a lesson for 10 lessons, taking you all the way to high school. It isn't going to be something we are going to purchase for him, but I'm assuming that the school has the system, since they said they are going to start him on it. The school psychologist said there is an iPod app that is similar and she is going to email me the details of that so he can start on it over the summer. They said OT would help with the inability to sit up (he is constantly laying over and flopping on other people's desks and being annoying) as would sitting on a therapy ball, since the first time he tries to flop over, he'll fall off the ball! LOL They are also going to get him a math tudor for school. Instead of doing math in class with everyone else, he will sit with this person and learn things at his own pace. They want him to practice math facts at home but he can figure out the math, just not quickly. I think the ability to do it is more important than the ability to do it quickly.

They suggested that he needed to work on hand eye coordination, which isn't surprising. The surprising thing was that they suggested playing Wii Fit for 30 minutes a day to help him get better. They said that 15 minutes of Wii Fit yoga and 15 minutes of balance games each day would help with balance and the floppiness. They also suggested that he play Wii Sports to improve his hand eye coordination. Sending him to the garage and telling him to play tennis or baseball on the Wii fits our schedule a lot better than taking him to the court or the field and hitting balls with him!

Over the summer, everyone is working on school work, everyday. We are starting with Kindergarten sight words and working our way forward for both kids. Both kids will practice K and 1st grade sight words, until they know them like nobody's business. We will also be working on spelling, either just going over the previous spelling words or through the iPod app. We are going to practice handwriting and reading for both kids. Our goal is to get WF caught up and MF starting first grade at least a little ahead. I've already started compiling lesson plans for both of them and working out a timeline to keep us on track. We'll see how our summer of homeschooling goes.

You do the math

WF is having some issues at school (again, I know, shocker). Up to this year, he has always done well at math and struggled with reading. This year, he has caught up, and stayed, exactly at grade level in reading and has slipped away in math. I completely understand this slide. I was always terrible at math, but I remember 3rd grade being particularly difficult because of multiplication. I learned the times table enough to pass the test (why do we do timed math tests, anyway? Isn't being able to find the answer enough, why does it have to be done in a certain number of seconds?) and then promptly forgot most of them. His teacher is nice but, as I'm sure I've mentioned, doesn't have much control of her classroom. I doubt there is a significant amount of learning going on in there because of that. Her big thing is that everyone must go to college. She even has a note on the wall about the college graduation date of this class. I think it is fine to push students to excel, but I don't think that she is approaching it in the right way. She told WF that if he didn't learn math and go to college, he would never have any kind of job worth having. While that might be partially true, that whole sentiment is a bit too insane for my tastes. I agree that the better educated you are, the better options you have. However, I happen to know personally that you can, in fact, have a job worth having while still not knowing a whole lot of math. RF and I neither one use anything beyond the basics everyday.

In fact, when I started college, I was a secondary ed major. I wanted to teach high school history. Of course, that requires a 4 year degree, with a lot of classes that don't mean much of anything. I took some classes towards that goal and then, after getting a job that paid for classes related to my job, I started taking business classes. Eventually, I left that job and decided to go back to school for the degree of my choice. I ended up picking preschool, partly because I had a preschooler and I enjoyed that age but mostly because it was a degree where I could work with only a 2 year degree. A 2 year degree meant that I only had to take statistics for math instead of Algebra. As I did more research into my options, I found that I didn't have to get an early childhood degree. I could pursue a CDA (which I completed all the class work for, but never actually finished the process), which would make me director qualified, would teach me practical teaching practices and best of all meant I never had to take another math class again. I honestly planned my career and life around a single subject and a few classes in that subject. RF never finished any type of degree. We will never be rich but we are comfortable. We both have stable employment and aren't constantly looking over our shoulder in fear of our job being cut(no job is 100% safe but both of ours are in decent shape, even if budgets are tightening). And really, that is more than a whole lot of people can say in this economy, college educated or not.

I choose not to do any math in my head. When I go to the grocery store, I have a calculator on my phone and I use it to figure out which item is the better deal. I can estimate and figure out that if I have $10, I can't get all three of the things I want at the grocery store. I know that $4.19 is more than $3.95 and that I'm going to Thorton's to get gas, instead of the place by my house. I know how to count change, although I do it so rarely that I do have to stop and actually do the counting. I can do basic geometry and figure out how much paint I need for the bathroom or how much grass seed I need for the yard (about twice what the bag says it will cover LOL). I don't really need any additional math and that is all stuff that they have learned by 3rd grade.

I facebooked about this, just out of curiosity about how much math other people use in their daily lives. I expected some of my friends to say they used a lot, but in thinking about their jobs, I expected most to be in the same boat I'm in. They know the basics but haven't done anything beyond that since high school or college. I knew I had some science-y people who would tell me that they solve complex equations in their heads before breakfast. The job I was surprised about was the video game developer. In the abstract, I guess I knew that computers=math but I'd never really made the connection until he pointed out that his whole job is basically writing word problems. I was surprised at what I perceived to be somewhat venomous responses. Several people acted like I was trying to give him an excuse to never do math again. I'm not, I simply wanted a balanced perspective to give him about math and school and college.

Do I want him to do well in school? Absolutely! Would I rather he be middle of the road and actually enjoy school? You bet! I waver constantly between wanting to push him until we both drop to be an A/B student and accepting the fact that, although he is crazy smart and creative, he simply doesn't do well at school. For his last few report cards, he has had a solid 75% across the board. That is the middle of the middle and you can't really get more average than that. There seems to be some stigma against being a middle of the road student that I don't get. They wouldn't call it average if everyone where getting As!

I was a good student, effortlessly. I never, ever studied and rarely did homework, except when turning it in was part of a grade. Unless something was actually being graded, I never did home work at home. I would do it during study hall, sometimes or, more likely, in another class. My dad, RF, my brother, none of them were great students. They were solid C students, most of the time, (unless something really interested them) so why should I be surprised that is where WF is? Of course, when they were in school, average was something different. A teacher friend of mine pointed out that, now, those middle of the road students are the most likely to get interventions because they are on the bubble, so to speak, for testing purposes. Passing is passing and failing is failing, it doesn't matter by how much. There is simply no point (as far as standardized testing goes) in wasting resources on kids who are sure to pass or sure to fail. Instead, they devote a ton of resources to those middle kids since they have the best chance of being saved from failure and bring the whole school percentage up. Because so much time and attention is being paid to those middle kids, it seems like everything is a bigger problem than it is. I've pretty well decided he is the student he is going to be. We'll keep working on getting better and progressing but I'm not holding my breath for him to suddenly become an A student.

We have another intervention team meeting on Thursday. Last year, we met about his handwriting (still horrible BTW) and he ended up with a 504 plan that allows him to use a laptop in class, during writing time. We got it for him in December and he has used it ever since. His writing isn't any better. he still isn't getting his ideas onto the page. He is still writing a sentence or two when he should be writing a paragraph. His spelling is still terrible. The theory was that if he didn't have to focus on the mechanics of writing that he would be better able to spell the words probably and the ideas could flow more easily. Not so much. The only benefit I've seen to the 504 plan is that he got to dictate his extended response on his ISATs this year. I'm sure that made a world of difference in his final score but this seemed to be much ado about nothing.

His teacher things he is has some issues with spacial reasoning. I know that spacial is how things relate to each other and how things fit together but I don't know what that has to do with school. He hates puzzles (me too) but he doesn't do them. She claims, vaguely, that spacial issues can be related to poor spelling, poor handwriting and poor math skills. No one seems to be able to tell me how, exactly, they are related or what exactly can be done about it. So I'm going to meeting on Thursday and I'm hoping to nail down some answers then but I'm just not getting too excited about it. On the one hand, having a "label" (besides "bad kid") might help him in the short term, I don't relish the idea of having him labeled forever. Of course, I don't think any label will get him the help that he actually needs so I'm just not terribly enthusiastic about the whole process.

School

I've blogged in the past Meeting with the teacher, Smiley face charts, Reading problem about issues we have had at school. First grade was a nightmare but last year was the best ever! This year, we didn't get the teacher we requested but I was ok with the teacher that we got. She is kind of quite and very gentle, which would be great, if she had control of her classroom. She really doesn't. Her discipline style is to say "ok, guys, now settle down, shh, quite now" quietly and repeatedly throughout the day.

WF is about where he should be academically, but is just barely holding on to grade level. He has also had an issue with a bully at school, who has gathered several other kids to gang up on him. They have been cornering him out of sight of the teacher and taking turns pinching him repeatedly, until he falls down on the ground crying. I talked to the assistant principle about it and he said he would "observe the situation", which he did for a few days. I also went to school for a week or so at recess to keep an eye on it. Nothing happened while I was there but the AP called the kids in and talked to them about it so they knew they were being watched and likely didn't pull anything. He also complains about not having any friends. He says that no one wants to play with him and he spends recess alone.

Besides all this, he has started getting in trouble at school. A few weeks ago, there was an incident in class where a kid was talking to him and he spit while talking. WF turned to the kid and said "don't spit on me" and apparently spit while he was saying it. The kid then spit on him on purpose and they both ended up in the principal's office. They spent the whole afternoon there, not getting any of their work done. Then a week later, there was a problem on the playground. He was apparently playing basketball and lost control of the ball and it bounced into another kid. The kid thought he did it on purpose so he threw the ball back and hit him in the chest. WF stumbled backwards into another kid, who thought he did it on purpose and shoved him forward into the first kid. Eventually, they all ended up on the ground rolling around, possibly throwing punches and elbows (no one was clear on the story at that point). Because the details were "murky" WF earned an in school suspension for his part in it. He served that on Friday of last week.

Then on Monday, he was playing with the girls who have been picking on him. We have pointed out to him a million times that they are not the right people to play with, no matter how popular they are. They aren't nice people, aside from being bullies and he should just avoid them. They were playing tag and when he joined in, they changed it from regular tag to having to hold the person on the ground for 15 seconds. Can you see how this is a HORRIBLE idea in the making? Well, once he held the girl down for 15 seconds, they decided to keep him it that the rule was actually 17 seconds. After he did that, they again changed the rule to 20 seconds. While he was holding her for 20 seconds, he was holding her by her neck and accidentally choking her. The girls were yelling at him to let her up but he didn't realize he was hurting him. Once he let her up, she ran off crying and the other girls ran to the principal to say that he was hurting them.

So because he has a pattern of bad behavior, he got in trouble. No one bothered to take into account that he isn't a bad kid and wasn't doing it maliciously. No one bothered to pay attention to the fact that he was playing by the rules the girls set out for him and had no idea he was hurting someone. Nope, he was automatically the bad guy and got suspended on Tuesday for it. Not only was he suspended, Tuesday was the night of the Third Grade musical. The only performance opportunity he will have in that school since he was in first grade and the last one until he is in 5th grade, because the music department in that school sucks.

So now he is a bad kid, with a reputation. I feel like the school is failing (and has been failing) him academically, socially and emotionally. I feel like he has a label now and anytime anything happens, he will automatically get in trouble. My real concern is that if someone is bullying him (which we know has happened as recently as a few weeks ago), he has to simply take it. If he fights back in anyway, he will be accused of fighting and will get another suspension. I asked the school to assign him and aide to accompany him throughout the day. He is struggling with direction in the classroom (he has always had issues with being overwhelmed with too many choices and his teacher doesn't seem willing to say to him "you need to do this, then this" so she lets him flounder until he gets in trouble for not making good choices) and obviously has issues at recess. I told the AP that he needs someone to sit on top of him and derail those bad choices that are leading to bad behavior, before they get started. I was told aides are only available for kids with IEPs that the law dictates must have aides. I was told that during recess he could "check in" with the recess supervisor, who would then help him get involved in whatever organized activity was taking place that day (usually either soccer or basketball) so that he "stays out of trouble"! Seriously, not the answer to the problem but all the school is going to give him.

I'm seriously considering pulling him out for the rest of the year and homeschooling him. I feel like he is immature both socially and academically. I feel like he needs time to get ahead on school work and mature a little bit. Ideally, I would like to pt him back in at the beginning of 4th grade and let him finish out school there before going to middle school. We are having the same impulse control conversations with him I have with my preschoolers. No, it isn't ok to hug your friend until you fall on the ground or grab someone's arm during a game of tag and swing them into the tree. He just doesn't get it, despite having heard those same kinds of things since he was 2. RF is pretty against the idea of pulling him but I really feel like he needs the extra time and attention. I need to call the district and get the details on a temporary leave but I really think that starting second semester, we will be doing school at home.

The Wild Freak's room

This is a view of the door of WF's room before we painted it.

Do you know how hard it is to paint for a little boy, who isn't a preschooler but wants something cool in his room? They make a ton of stuff with Disney characters, etc but not a whole lot for the tween set. After much struggling, we settled on green for the walls.

In a few weeks, he gets to put up stickers like these and he has a cool orange floor light to go with it.

PS, this is a nicely done J&K room, instead of the sloppy painting we did in the pink and purple room. They did such a great job on painting. We managed to get the entire house done in a day with their help. If we had tried to do it ourselves, we might still be over there painting.

Overheard: That is NOT a good name for a band edition

WF: Hey Mom, do you know what my favorite "Black Guys Pee" song is?
Me: What?!
WF: I like that song by the "Black Guys Pee", you know the one about "I've got a Feeling"
Me: Oh you mean BLACK EYED PEAS
WF: That is what I said.

Overheard: Maybe a little stalker-ish edition

WF and MF were talking about Justin "Beaver" today in the car.

WF: I wish I knew him, I would invite him to dinner so we could talk about his career

Me: Yeah? What would you talk to him about his career?

WF: Like when he learned to play guitar and how cool it is to be a rock star

MF: I wish I had a phone so I could text him. We could have a text chat

WF: You can't text him.

MF: Why not?

WF: You don't have a phone and he has lawyers

The Sleepy Chef

A few months ago, we have The Charming Phantom over for a sleep over. Friday night, her mom offered to reciprocate so WF went over there after Funfest. I fully expected a call in the middle of the night but none came so I assumed everything was ok. Saturday, I had a class all day, so my dad picked him up and my parents took him to his soccer game. I got a text from my mom saying "sleepover didn't go so well. Call me at lunch" On my lunch break, I called and she told me what happened. Apparently, The Fearless Phantom woke up about 4 am and heard talking. She went into the playroom, where the kids were "sleeping" and found them sitting on the bed, playing Sorry! She told them it was lights out and they insisted that they had already been to bed and were now up. She told them to get back in bed and they did so she went back to bed herself.

When she got up Saturday morning, she found 5 small bowls and a banana sitting on the table. At first, she thought someone had poured orange juice, but when she looked closer, she figured out they were bowls of uncooked scrambled eggs. When she asked WF what they were doing there, he said "well, when we were up this morning, I was hungry so I decided to make some eggs, but I can't cook them so I set them on the table. I thought I would make some for everyone. CP was there but she didn't have anything to do with it, she was mostly asleep the whole time" She thanked him for being thoughtful and as soon as he turned his back, she tossed the 4 hour old eggs.

When I got home, I was asking him about it and I asked if it clued him in that it was still dark outside. He said "nope, every morning when I get up, it is dark"

What were you thinking? "Well at first, I was confused because I couldn't find any bowls, but then I found some and it was ok"

Why 5 eggs? "Well, I made one for everyone that eats eggs"

Oh, did you not make one for AP?(youngest sister) "No, I didn't make one for CP, because she doesn't eat eggs, but I put a banana out for her so she could eat with us"

Ah, your 4 am foray into cooking all makes sense now.

The amazing Mr. Magic

Overheard: Enough already edition

We have been going skating a couple of times a week for the past couple of weeks. MF really shows a talent for it and LOVES going. WF has always liked it and was disappointed when we weren't going as often as he would like. While we were there last week, I ran into an old friend of my brother's and we were talking while we skated.

After she skated away, WF skated up and said: Hey, who was that
Me: A friend of D's
WF: Oh yeah? Does she have a sister?
Me: Uh, no but she has a daughter your age
WF: Do you think you could introduce me?
Me: Dude, don't you think you have enough girl friends?
WF: Nope. So, you gonna introduce me?
Me: Fine

ROFL

Let the depression keep on rolling

In the theme of my past posts, this one is another depressing one.

Today after school we went to FCC to play. After we had been there for awhile, The Charming Phantom came over to the table to tell me that The Wild Freak was crying. I went to see him and see what was happening. He laid his head on my lap and cried for a while. While I'm asking what is wrong, CP was standing over my shoulder saying "things didn't go well at school today. With some force, I finally extracted from him that one of the other kids had been mean to him about PK and then that PK had been mean to him to. That instead of playing with him she ran away. Then he wailed "Everything used to be perfect and now it isn't"! Oh to be a second grader in love! CP comments, "I think he should break up with her and find another girlfriend" then shrugged at me and walked away ROFL No ulterior motives there. No sirree! :) Eventually he calmed down and told me that his new friend who is in the 3rd grade is the problem. His friends in his class don't want to play with the older kid so he has to decide who he wants to play with at a given time. I explained that sometimes your friends aren't friends with each other and you just have to decide which game you like playing better that day, that time. He told me that it sure wold be easier if all his friends could be friends. Isn't that the story of life!

Unfortunately, the way things are going, I'm betting I'll get to use my shiny new "drama" tag a lot more often.

Body movin'

I get the National PTA newsletter through our local council PTA email list. In it, they had an article talking about different styles of learning and how to help them learn better. I took the little quiz they gave, fully expecting TB to fall into the "word smart" category because the kid NEVER stops talking. He doesn't write well because he is such a good story teller that writing limits his abilities. He can't write as fast as he can think and he ends up playing the "tell a complete story in 3 lines or less game" and leaves out a lot of detail that he would include if he were telling the story instead of writing it.

So anyway, the quiz came up with mostly "a"s, which placed him in the Body Smart Learner. Ok, he is also pretty active, I'll read the description and see what they say The following is text from the article.

Your child is a body-smart (bodily/kinesthetic) learner -- she probably has a natural sense of balance, making her a good athlete or dancer. These types of kids learn best when it involves their body in some way -- either through hands-on experience (think using objects to count with or blocks for building) or by doing something as they listen, even if it's just chewing gum or kneading a stress ball. Your child is probably also the touchy type; when she has something to tell you, she'll demonstrate it using hand gestures and pantomime, which is why she's likely to be a good actor, too.

Possible Careers: Athlete, dancer, actor, doctor, military, construction, artist, landscape designer

Homework Helpers: •Let Her Move• Give your child an exercise ball to sit on as she does her homework -- the sheer act of balancing on it will help her focus better, says Bennett. Or let her do it standing up. Want your body-smart kid to remember better? Tell her to move her finger under the words when she's reading books, notes, or spelling words, says educational psychologist Michele Borba, Ed.D. Have her write out spelling words or sums in big letters with chalk on the sidewalk, or on a big piece of paper inside, and hop on them. Or have her spell them out with her body. •Work It Out• Whether she's kicking a soccer ball or jumping rope, let your kid go out in the backyard and get her energy out before she settles back down to study.

The bold part is the part that really rang true for me. We are CONSTANTLY on him to SIT DOWN. When he does his homework, when he is eating, etc. Last year it was such a problem that his teacher had him evaluated by the school OT and he ended up with a little seat cushion to help convince him to sit. Since he never actually sat, the cushion wasn't so overly helpful. This year, his teacher said she hasn't noticed as much of a problem with it. I still see it at home all the time so I'm guessing that he is doing it, he just isn't as obnoxious about it this year. I hate to suggest doing things at school that would separate him from the other kids, like the stress ball thing while listening. Or something different to sit on but I really wonder if that wouldn't help him.

Regardless of accommodations being made, he really is doing better this year. Until recently, he was doing his homework without protest every night. He has started Handwriting without tears and since I know that he knows how to actually form most of the letters now, I'm making him take his time and write so I can read what he is writing and that makes him irritated. He doesn't like erasing and re-doing but that is just too bad. He can do it and he is going to do it.

Cookies

I decided to take Looseyfur's route and pre-bake my cookies for tomorrow (seems like an even better idea now that I've spent 2 hours on the baking). I told TB he could help me put the cooled ones on a plate. Now he is stalking my cookies, prowling around the kitchen demanding to know when the next batch will be cool. Perhaps I shoul dhave let him make the cookies? :)

Toothless

LMAO

TB went to the monster truck show tonight, with my dad. When he got home, he was telling us about it and RF asked him about the mega-saurus (or whatever name they gave the robot dino this year)and he says "yeah, it was there, but it was completely new, totally redone, refurnished, structured settlement..." That was when I got to laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and he couldn't tell us the rest of the story.

Then, I told him he needed to head for bed because we have a busy day tomorrow. I said "in the morning, we are going to the movie then we'll have lunch, then we'll go to K's party". He started dancing around the living room singing "I'm going to a party, I'm going to a party, I'm going to a party, at exactly 2pm" LOL

Too much Star Wars?

Tonight at our meetup, TB was talking to Special K about the Wondertwins and they had the following discussion:
TB: Hey, they look the same. Are they clones?
SK: Well, they have the same DNA so I suppose technically they are clones. They were one and then they split apart into two.
TB: *looking at her seriously and nodding* In a cloning machine?
SK: Well, I suppose, again, technically.
TB: Ok

I'm thinking her might be watching a BIT too much Star Wars LOL

It's a nerd alert

When TB was little, probably 18 months or a little younger, Discovery channel premiered "Walking with Dinosaurs". Because he is born from a family of nerds, we watched it on TV. He was mesmerized by it and just stared in awe at the show. When a commercial would come on, he would wonder off and play but came back for more dinosaurs when the show would start back up. He was not a "TV stupor" kid (and still doesn't just WATCH TV, instead he interacts and plays his own things while it is on) so that was pretty amazing. A couple of years ago, I found the DVD and bought it for him for Christmas. He watched it a few times but wasn't as impressed anymore.

Today, we got home from school and he was looking for something to watch while he had his snack and found the DVD. He came running into the kitchen, yelling "look what I found, look what I found! Can I please watch it" Sure, you bet. Walking with Dinosaurs is at least educational and better than Drake and Josh by a long shot. I put it in and he is now sitting on the couch, eating his snack and, aside from occasionally commenting on the things that are happening on screen (like that the baby just got eaten), he is in total "TV stupor".

I'm not sure I have ever seen him so still before in my life! Maybe this is what I need to play at bedtime so he will stay in bed during evening TV time.

How was school today

That is a pretty standard question in our house. The answer is usually either "fine" or "I'm not telling you", depending on which kid is asked. After the "fine" response, we follow up with various detail questions to get more info from him. These include "how was lunch", "what did you do in Math", "did you go to reading today", etc. Today, he said he didn't go to reading so I asked what he did in his class. He said he worked with Mr. D, the student teacher, who he thinks is AWESOME.

In yet another desperate attempt to extract a tiny bit of info from a very tightly closed mouth, I asked "what did you do with Mr. D for reading?" His response? "We worked on phonemic awareness"

Ah, well then, glad we could have this talk LOL