Sunday, October 21, 2012

The School Part 2

So I had been jumping down the schools throat and threatening to take this up to the Superintendent so the school this year has backed off and they did not slide the ADHD paper. They had mentioned her might needing to go into special education but her State scores came in and my 3rd grader is comprehending at a 5th grade level so they couldn't do that. In the end we spent an hour trying to discuss how to stop her from reading... yes stop because she enjoys books so much she'll rush through the class work and not read 'all' of the directions and then bury herself into a book. Problem is she's reading while teachers are instructing and reading when she is suppose to be getting her stuff for the next class. So yes we discussed for an hour how to stop the reading and now are promoting 'video game time' .... it sounds REALLY off but my girl loves video games too! but I can't help but to laugh.

If you're as boggled as I was just laugh for a moment and suddenly things seem awkwardly ok.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Dealing with a Problem Child & the School

So since Kindergarden I've always had problems with Katherine at school. Katherine's birthday is in August so she started out emotionally younger than the other kids which meant lots of crying and screaming the hope was she'd move out of this. Well she moved out of that phase by the 2nd Grade (yes it took awhile) and we found prizes helped. Well now that we are into the 3rd grade we've had a bad year already this year and last year. Prizes no longer seem to help and we've had to move on to this odd combo with prizes and punishment. It works for a day or two and then it's like she forgets.
Sadly Katherine is disorganized like everyone in this family and on top of it she's so happy to be at school and enjoys learning so much that she gets excited and blurts things out on top of this she's so smart she catches on to things quickly and then ignores the teacher and starts reading a book or she'll skip the directions on the paper see what is apparently needing to be done and zoom through it so she can go back to reading. Normally a parent would be overjoyed that their child enjoys reading but it's become very problematic for us.
I tried a little reminder bracelet that I made for her but she said she forgot it was even on her. I've tried putting her in the corner every day she did not get enough behavior points and we still continue that but the teachers caught on and started grading her behavior less harsh because I guess they thought it might be abusive (I gave her water, dinner, bathroom breaks and sit down time a lot more than my parents gave me when I went to a corner... actually did I go to the corner? I think I just got the belt). So now we've moved on to a little candle lighting ceremony where we repeat every morning what she should do at school that worked for a few days.
Today Katherine came home with a note saying she disrespected the teacher by making a face when told to move to the back of the line. *sighs*
The school keeps pushing the ADHD paper but that's not the problem here nor do I agree with young children being diagnosed with this. Children have energy, some more than others and with how large classroom sizes are and how limited PE and recess are I can relate. I never did well in Elementary School. It's learning to have goals and obtaining the drive to try and reach those goals that will help her the most but those are concepts learned at a much later age.
I love my little girl but with how the school system is these days if we don't nip these problems before 5th grade then she's going to have some major issues. I'll keep trying things tonight I wrote out a list of sentances that I had her rewrite and then by memory tell me back. Sadly her memory is like mine aka not so great so it took a few more times to write things out and I had her write the teacher a 'sorry' letter in her own words I only helped spell check it.
Tomorrow we go in for a meeting with the school to discuss Katherine and I really hope I can keep my temper in check. Peter will be there too so hopefully he will be my rock. She's a sweet girl she just needs to learn that at school they don't put up with being bouncy happy which at home we always have thought of as a plus because we like to see the children happy.

Monday, October 15, 2012

New Windows!

So this last week the kids were with the grandparents because it was Fall Break for them sadly not Fall Break for Peter and myself. They stayed up there until Saturday night and the reason into the weekend is because we got new windows installed into the house. We paid a little extra to have flashing installed also but we are so glad we did and so glad we had friends and our friends had relatives that knew how to do this job because Peter and I would have been lost! It was an all day job and there is some trim work that needs to be fixed still on the inside but otherwise it was done within a day and we are so happy with the work. It really does seem like a new house and Peter has been overjoyed that he can open the window by his desk now. We've pretty much done nothing else but open windows since the job got done :)
Here are some before and after pictures.











Monday, October 8, 2012

Fall Break

Fall weather is upon us along with Fall Break so I found this really cute idea for a crochet ghost necklace. I mean how hard could that be right? Well as far as project time goes it didn't take that long but the frustration level was extreme. Crocheting and I don't generally get along as much as I try with it. In the end what I got was this.

My husband said I should submit it to pinstrosity so I actually did submit it today LOL

Today was the first official day of Fall Break for the kids and as much as I would love to spend the week home with them unfortunately that is not possible I have to work. I thought my husband was going to take the week off but he opted not to so that left us with relying on my Mother-in-Law which I would have rathered not to do. As we may not see the kids until Sunday because next weekend we are having new windows put into the house I wanted to try and make the most out of today. I slept in real late, I had the girls help me fold clothes and we ate Mac & Cheese until we were so stuffed we thought we would pop. Next came the crafts.
I've been trying to come up with ideas for what to do for my annual crafting event that wasn't completely generic but today everything I tried either was going to be much too complex or didn't turn out at all.
First it was making leaves. I really liked how these turned out but they were so complex that I wouldn't do it with little hands and if it wasn't my children who are very used to doing art projects with me then I wouldn't have tried it even with older kids (Have you noticed they like to say 'I'm bored' a lot? Thankfully my girls don't do that very often and definitely not during a craft).
I think they came out really nice but again just very involved with the shredding of crayons (no I'm not joking) and all the clothes for projection of where I was ironing and what I was ironing with. Not young kid friendly!

So next I tried spreading some paint over some leaves to see if I could get the 'leaf' shape but it didn't help that the leaves Katherine kept bringing me were a bit crunchy and two my construction paper was old and I swear it has been sucking up the humidity in the air. After one picture was tried we completely gave up on it and the girls just went to painting pictures. So now I have a very decorated refrigerator.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fall Break!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Proud Mother - Beta Club

National Jr. Beta Club Pledge
I hereby declare that I shall always strive
To be honest and truthful at all times;
To maintain a creditable scholastic record;
To be of service to my teachers and fellowmen;
To conduct myself in a manner to reflect credit
Upon my school and community.



Tonight my oldest daughter was an inductee for the Jr. Beta Club at her middle school. I'm very proud of her academic achievements and how she always strives to help fellow students, teachers and truly anyone that asks something of her. 

Entering the Ceremony


My poor girl is so short LOL


See her little face peaking out back there? It's 'Where's Brielle'!
Brielle with some of her friends who also joined.

Productive Day Turns Sour

So as many already know Mondays I take off of work and I just work the extra hours during the rest of the week normally. I'm extremely blessed that I'm allowed to flex my hours like this so yesterday I broke out of my food budget because I really wanted something different and a pot roast (which always turns into more of a beef stew) sounded like just the thing now that we are into Fall. So I rushed off to the store after getting everyone out the door and did my grocery shopping for this week. I've been trying to do a monthly meal plan but this month trying to figure out what we will eat has been difficult because we so often just eat the same things just in random order. I've been told, "Well this looks like something the family would eat" by friends but often I just don't have the time to spend in the kitchen. Neither here nor there though, I went and got what I needed and started the roast.
I then left a message for Brielle's dentist to find out what our part of her teeth extractions we will have to pay. For those that don't know, Brielle's baby teeth are just not wanting to come out which is causing more problems for her mouth so we have the okay from the doctor to have them extracted. As I said though, I left a message so we'll come back to this.
I worked on cleaning the house, I baked a cake because Peter and I have been having a sweet tooth and the girls are a little tired of me always pushing fruit for desert.
I gave Blacky, our dog, another bath as I'm trying to work on getting these darn flees out of my home! I have them managed but I want them GONE! It's such an embarrassment to have a pest like that in your home but they are so hard to get rid of but I know if I stay on top of it that eventually we will get there. I'm still quite upset that the Frontline that I spent so much money on just stopped working for both the cat and the dog and now I have to deal with this.
The plunger in the kids' toilet broke this past Friday so Monday I got out and bought a new plunger and I splurged and I fixed their toilet when I got home I was very proud of myself.
I went to Jo-Ann's Fabric and bought a vinyl siding hook so I could hang my fall wreath. I also splurged and bought some new hot pads for the kitchen for this fall at the dollar store. They were really cute and my other hot pads were falling apart. So that was my big spending spree of $10.
I went down to the YMCA to write them a new check for $30 for Holiday Camp as they had lost our last check that I wrote several months ago. They had it noted to shred the first check if found and this is a key reason why I make sure to get carbon copy checks.
I got a phone call later from the dentist office and our part after insurance pays is $197 for Brielle's teeth to be extracted (5 teeth to be exact) and I told them I would make the appointment after I figured out how to get the money. I know how to get the money but as our emergency fund dwindles nearly to nothing I get very scared. I am kind of wishing we would have taken out a second loan but the fact we had to take out the first one makes me sad. We had done well for so many years saving but this past year has definitely humbled us as we find it harder and harder to do things with cash in hand.
I also found out that the check I had wrote Brielle for Beta Club that was due last Thursday she lost. I found this out Monday night and initiation is tonight! So I wrote her a new check but now I am fearful because I didn't know who to make out the check too the first one had no name on it so anyone can put their name down and cash it. It may only be $20 but $20 is a lot of food and is nearly a week worth of After School fees.
On a positive note Katherine did better at school though not as good as I said she needed to be so she still spent time in the corner. We've moved away from positive re-enforcement and into punishment. I really dislike punishment I think it is bad on a child's self-esteem but we've tried for so long with the ability for her to get prizes and special video game time and positive re-enforcement, reminder bracelets, etc. that it was just time to move onto the next step. Now every day she doesn't reach the minimum amount of points she spends time in the corner. It makes me so sad to punish my children I just want to cry along with them but I'm at a loss for what to do anymore.
That brings us to today. So far I forgot to defrost chicken for cheesy chicken so I'm working on that, Brielle almost missed her bus so I was sprinting up and down the street watching for the bus and trying to hurry her along. Not all of Katherine's things got back into her backpack so after I get dinner started I'll be running out to the school which is the opposite direction of work and then it will be off to work for the day. Tonight when Brielle gets off the bus at 4 o'clock I will be taking her down to K-Mart since it is the closest and we will have to pick out new shoes as the last ones she picked rubbed her feet into blisters. Brielle is now into the adult sizes of shoes which makes things much harder for appropriate dress shoes.
So off to the kitchen with me to get this day going and let us all pray that by the end of tonight I still have all my hair. I think I'd look pretty silly without hair don't you?