Oct. 7, 2008 - Today was so much better!
Thank you to all of you who listened and/or gave advise!
Today was so much better!! I am going to stay positive about it and decide that this will continue. After receiving input from various people, including a most wonderful and lovely lady from my CRS, I put a plan into action today and the improvement was 110%!! She did not take all day to do her lessons. She got it done in under three hours. (She got house points!!!) I can't tell you how happy that makes me. Granted, we didn't have anywhere to go today, she didn't have any extra chores to do, etc. that would have maybe caused her to delay in other areas, but still, I count this as a huge victory and I am believing we can carry it through.
Yaaay!!!
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Oct. 6, 2008 - Why is my daughter SOOOO SLLLOOOOWWW???
Ok, this is really just a rant, and I'm not looking for answers so much as for somebody to say, been there, done that!!
My youngest daughter has to be the world's slowest child. I thought my older daughter was slow! She has improved a great deal as she's gotten older, but even at that age, man, my youngest is slower.
She has no trouble doing her work, academically speaking, for the most part. She just drags her feet. She piddles. She daydreams. Even when she is doing her work, she is very slow and deliberate. That CAN be a good thing! But not when it is causing an hour's worth of work to take all day!!
This is not just school either, lest I get fifty people telling me to change curricula. The curricula is not the problem. This problem has literally just cropped up in the last six months to a year. I noticed it last year somewhat but it has gotten worse. She is slow in every area of her life. She takes forever to eat her supper. She takes forever to take her bath. She takes forever to get ready for bed. She takes forever to get ready to go. I got up thirty minutes earlier on Sunday in effort not to be late for church and we were still late for church. It seems no matter how much time I allow, she still uses up all that time and still isn't done. Even in Sunday school, she is one of the only ones not to finish her papers and it isn't because it's too hard. She can't even seem to finish something as simple as a coloring paper half the time because she's so slow.
When she does a job of any kind, whether it be school or chores, or anything, she takes for*ev*er*. I tell her to clean her room, which shouldn't take more than a couple of hours at the most, and it takes her all day.
I have tried almost everything to try and get her to move more quickly. I've done rewards and I've done punishments. I've tried to encourage her and I've tried admonishing her. The other day when she was cleaning her room, I even tried to appeal to her by pointing out how much more time she would have to play (outside, on the computer, anything) if she didn't take forever to clean her room. Didn't matter. She says she's doing the best she can, and maybe she is. Some people are just slow. I tend to move at the speed of light most of the time, so maybe I just don't get it!! But it's driving me crazy. Even my husband is wondering what is going on, in particular with school. My oldest is in sixth grade and it is not uncommon for her to be done with her school work in three hours or less. Knowing that she has way more work to do than her sister and that the younger really should be the first to finish, my husband inquires, "why is it taking her so long?" I am afraid I don't have an answer to that!!
AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!
Ok, thanks......
Seriously though, I really have found myself telling her many of the same things I told my older one. It really doesn't make any difference to me how long you take, so long as you get it done. You're not hurting anyone but yourself. You'd have so much more free time if you'd just get a move on and get things done......let'
• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Sep. 30, 2008 - Whew!!
Well, I just got all the changes migrated over to the updated template. I think it looks good. Please let me know how it looks to you!
It certainly seems like a lot has happened since I last wrote. I did end up getting to sing in choir, but only barely. I took medicine, rested, and drank lemon and honey. It got me through singing but then my voice was all but gone. Oh, and the most wonderful blessing of all was that a dear family that I was hoping would get to come to church came!! I was so happy and excited to see them there. My friend (the mom of the family) came again on Sunday night! :D
Other news......my husband, after considering it for a very long time, has decided to try and sell his business. He has it listed and right now he has one person interested. This has been a long time coming but he has finally decided now is the time. If he sells it, we can move forward with the adoption almost right away!! :D He will, of course, build up another business. So I'm praying for the Lord's Will in this. If He wants us to sell it, it'll sell........
Brisingr is coming along great!! I am so excited about it. It is the best book in the series by far. The most recent couple of chapters especially really took me by surprise, which is unusual. I read so much that it is hard to surprise me where plot points are concerned. But it actually made me gasp at one point. I so totally should have seen it coming and for some reason I didn't! Anyway, good stuff!!
The girls have been having a hard time with school the past little while. Dda still hasn't earned house points but once. So I guess Ddl gets the house cup this month! Their lack of motivation hasn't been helped by my lack of motivation, and the latter part of last week and so far this week, I've not felt the greatest. I am definitely on the mend now so I'm hoping we'll get in a better groove. :D
I also have to get on the ball about my co-op lesson plans.....oh dear, I don't want to think about it. I had the first five weeks done and that is quickly passing. I need to get the rest done!!! Yikes!!
My great uncle passed away so we're off to the funeral home. More again soon.......
• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Sep. 24, 2008 - Does this blog look funny to you?
That's really annoying. Really. Annoying. Apparently my screen size and resolution is bigger than most people's, because I got my blog all set up and looking great on my end, only to discover that it doesn't look the same to others. So, if you're looking at this blog and thinking something looks wonky, it's probably because everything shifted as a result of differences in the screen size. Bummer. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about it.
ETA, Shawn from HSB is planning to take a look at the template. He says this template is a few years old and it has some bugs that need to be worked out. He's planning to take a look at updating it and then I can redo the blog. Hopefully, that will fix it, but unfortunately I will have to redo all the work I've done. So be watching for updates......
• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Sep. 23, 2008 - Today has been better.....
I'm still not feeling all that well and my voice is cracking, throat irritated, etc. Which is not good. Not only because I need to talk a lot :D but because we're having a special music service at church this Sunday and the choir is scheduled to sing three songs. I'm one of only three sopranos. But today was better in terms of school. We got started at a reasonable hour and neither of my children gave me a hard time about it. Ddl got finished with her work in a record two hours and thirty minutes. She got house points. Yaay, for her! Dda is doing her seatwork now and I have given her ninety minutes to complete it, which is more than enough time, but I gave her the same yesterday and she still didn't complete it. No house points yesterday, I hope she earns some today. I was really doing the house points system more for her anyway and if she doesn't earn any, that will be a bummer.
Reading lately.........of course, Ddl and I are reading through our favorite right now, but I bought Brisingr on Saturday when it came out and I've been trying to find a minute or two here and there to read it. I usually sit and devour my newest books but I've just not felt well enough to read much. I have been trying to get more sleep. I also bought Dragonlight but I haven't started it yet. I have been doing fairly well reading my Bible every morning, which is something I have committed to work on, but this morning, I was feeling so poorly and so tired that I just couldn't get up early enough. :( I'm actually feeling a bit better now so hopefully tomorrow I can get back into it again. I don't like to go too many days out of my routine, as it becomes so easy to break a good habit.
My husband and I had a good long talk this morning about our plan. We still don't exactly have one but we're working on it. He says we need to pay down some debt and start saving toward the adoption, so that's the goal for now. I'm officially in "getting a plan together, attempting to take some action" mode. You will notice I have affiliate links and a donation link to the right. All proceeds from those will go towards our adoption fund along with anything else we can do to raise some money. Every little bit counts, right? So I covet your prayers for the adoption and for the fundraising.......of course, he is so private about everything and "doesn't really feel the need" to tell anyone our plans. That drives me crazy. Like it's some big secret. I'm ready to tell my family and he said I could, but I just feel weird about it, like he doesn't really see why I would. I'm still considering it. I mean, I know I'll tell them at some point, I just don't know when. I don't think my parents especially will be too happy about it. So it's not a conversation I look forward to having. I wish I didn't feel that way about it, but there it is.
• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
