Our "Journey into a Life of Learning" - Homeschool Blogger

Strange week

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:04:00 -0600

It all started last Wednesday. I received a call from Jack's work. It seems that the trench Jack was working in/on decided to collapse while he was on it. Jack dropped about 4 feet and landed on the pipes. He had back contusions and at first sprained his knee. Well, after a new appointment, we find that he actually tore a cartilage in the knee. Just what he was wanting. NOT! Jack has to be off work, and this is not an easy task for him. He needs to keep busy. Poor guy.

The kids, all 5 that are with us, came down sick within a day of each other. And to top it all off, I did too.

Even though Jack is supposed to be taking things easy and not doing too much, you really can't keep this guy down. Well, we ended up going through the girls' room and cleaning out old stuff they don't use anymore. It took us about 3 hours to get it all done. It made the room so much bigger. Made the room look so nice. I love it. The girls were happy to have some of their things refound again.

Yesterday, we got to talking about our room and how crowded it looked. I had 2 of the kids' dressers in it. There wasn't enough room in the girls' room for them before. But we got to thinking that we could finally get the dressers back where they belong, so we began rearranging our room. If things keep up at this rate, I might have every room done before the new year. It was nice to be able to see the house arranged differently and give it a better look.

Deciding on a Graduation Ceremony

Tue, 5 Dec 2006 11:28:00 -0600

I am trying to figure out what we should do since this is our big year. Scott will be graduating and I am not sure if we will be doing a ceremony or not. We do have an opportunity to have a ceremony with California Homeschool Network, our state Homeschooling Group, but I am not sure this really is something Scott would want to do. He really isn't into having people watch him or make over him. But I really want something special for him. This will be a major day. He is always so worried about us spending too much for things and doesn't want us to do something that will put us in a bind. The graduation ceremony offered by our group will be during our Annual Homeschooling Expo and that alone costs $30/person plus hotel stay. So for the whole Expo and ceremony we are looking at about $600 and then we will need the invitations, cap and gown, and diploma. He says that if we are planning on going to the Expo it would be ok to do the ceremony, but if we aren't, then he won't do the ceremony. He would really rather have a big old graduation party. LOL I guess I really am going to have to do some thinking on this one.

Stacy's Communication Device

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:52:00 -0600

We had her appointment yesterday and everything went really well. We met with not only her OT but a Assistive Tech Rep. Stacy got introduced to a system that is really everything we were looking for. It is called the Mercury II with Communicator Pro software. http://www.assistivetech.com/p-mercury.htm

It will allow her to have greater communication with everyone from her family to other kids her age. While using the demo the rep brought, she was communicating with the rep very easily. I was amazed it was doing what we had hoped. But another plus, she will be able to do so much school work with it also. It will be able to transfer over to my own pc and all.

Valley Children's Hospital

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:34:00 -0600

Well, we had Stacy's appt. The checked her over and retook xrays. To them it looks like it is for sure Osgood Schlatter disease. The doctors, this time, actually gave us more info about it and how we could help Stacy when it flares up. He also gave us a prescription for a knee pad/knee brace. But I already know she will fight this one every step of the way. She was fighting just trying different ones on. Hopefully with lots of rest and ice when her knee flares and of course time, the knee won't bother her as bad. It does look like we will have at least a yr or 2 do deal with it. I do wish there would be another way. I hate to see her hurting.

Stacy is going to be seen by Valley Children's Hospital

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 08:34:00 -0600

About 5 months ago Stacy's leg started bothering her. Although it is more like the knee. It felt like it was popping out of place. It would cause her a great deal of pain and she would be really stiff and held that knee bent while it hurt. She was unable to unbend it while it was acting up. I had brought her to the ER and they said that nothing was wrong with it, but they did give us a referral to see a local orthopedic. We went there and he claimed that it was Osgood Schlatter disease which is something that happens more to boy athletes as their bones are growing at strange rates and impact sports that us the legs cause this problem. He claimed she would outgrow it. This diagnosis was given to us without the doctor even looking at her knee or leg and within 5 minutes of speaking to us. Well, I decided to talk with her other doctor about it and they think that there might be something else since her knee is still giving her trouble. They referred us to Valley Children's Hospital and we are going in tomorrow. I am really hoping that they will be able to tell us something that makes sense and also let us know what can be done. I hate to see her hurting like this.

Thanksgiving Holiday

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 08:29:00 -0600

Our Thanksgiving Holiday went really well. This is Jack's and my first together, and we had the best time ever. With hosting Thanksgiving at our house, we had a nice full house. Of course all of our children were there :) plus we had his sister and her family and his parents. Jack and I had a lot of fun getting dinner ready and working in the kitchen together. By the time his family showed up around 12:30 p.m., we had everything ready and the kitchen was all clean. We wanted to be able to make sure we could enjoy the family without a big mess after to clean up. We were able to sit and relax and enjoy his family until about 6 when his parents said they were going home.

New Communication Device

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:44:00 -0600

Stacy went in for an evaluation on her communication device since her speech is real bad. She was using a device that was technically a laptop computer that ran Windows 98 with some added software for voice communication by Words Plus. It really didn't work to the way we wanted and the system is now over 3.5 yrs old. Alread outdated. She had to use switch scanning to use the programs which was really frustrating to her as it was too slow and sometimes not slow enough. Never could find the middle for it. Her evaluator is thinking about a system called Dynovox. I will have a chance to meet with a rep from the company (on December 1) that makes these communication devices so I am sure that will help me get so many questions regarding the system answered. I am just wanting something that will help my almost 14 yr old communicate like she really wants to (kind of like us adults do) and also be able to participate better with all school classes too.

Oh my! Not good

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:01:00 -0600

I had an appointment with my stepson's teacher yesterday. He is in 6th grade and really struggling. We got his report card and things were worse than I thought. His regular classes (not PE) were terrible. He received 2 C's, 3 D's, and 1 F. His teacher doesn't feel he should have been promoted to 6th grade and I happen to agree with her. He is on academic probation since his GPA is 1.57. He will not be able to participate in any school activities like dances, sports, etc.

I was really expecting things to go bad after seeing his grades. His father use to have a tendency of blowing fuses, which always left them both completely angry with each other and major attitude problems with them both. Since we became a family and joined together, things have been going smoothly. Yes, there are times when they butt heads and things going out of control (hard habits for them both to break), but it has been easily fixable and thankfully we all are learning to work towards a better relationship with each other. Anyways, after letting dad know what was going on and how the grades actually were, dad and I went into the room and discussed what we would do as a disciplinary action and course of action to take to help him.

As a result of his poor grades, he has lost his PS2, hanging around a boy that lives down the street, and now goes to bed an hour earlier. Both dad and I sat him down and discussed the report card and what needs to happen now. We had him come up with ideas on how to improve his grades and also consequences of not doing those ideas. We also made him aware of things we were going to do to help him succeed at accomplishing his goals for improving his grades.

We began as a united front, nice and calm, taking into consideration thoughts and feelings of us and our son. I am very pleased with the outcome. There was not a single iota of attitude from anyone. Our son understood everything and was really ok with it all. That was the real shocker. He actually was listening, giving suggestions, and cooperating. This family is really doing great. :)

School...

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:10:00 -0600

Definitely been busy and going strong. The kids are doing well. I started working with Sean a little more with chapter books and studies. He is doing amazingly well. He reads with such fluency that I get overwhelmed. He stresses certain areas, and reads with lots of feeling. I am definitely a proud mom, especially since I actually did not teach him to read. We tried working with Teach Your Child to Read and also Frontline Phonics back in Kindergarten, but he didn't seem ready, so we put it aside for about 5 months. Then we began little bits again with Frontline Phonics. But we were not really progressing that well. All of a sudden, he just picked up on it more like on his own. I guess all the reading we have done with him just clicked in. It is amazing how different kids learn. I just let this one go at his own and he got it all.

Got all Nov. Birthdays celebrated

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:04:00 -0600

We had 3 birthdays this past week. Both my girls, the 5th and 12th. They really had some special days. They were so excited and happy with the parties. Our littlest one, Becky - 6, received her big bike and CD player which made her jaw drop both times. It was definitely worth the wait to see that expression. Our 11 yr old, Konola, received a portable karoke machine which excited her far beyond what I was expecting. We also had our neice's birthday on Sunday. Now, on to Thanksgiving! :)