~*~ Musings of a Mother ~*~
• Feb. 17, 2006 - Crazy Days
Today was a little better than yesterday, though it didn't start out
that way. The computer woke me up this morning. Yes, the computer. I
was too late going to bed. Three hours later I awoke to the faint but
persistent sound of an electronic beep. I wouldn't have heard it all if
I had been lying on my right side, for my left ear was totally plugged,
as it is every morning now. I followed the sound to the living room,
and realized it was coming from the computer the modem is in. Oh great.
This has happened before, so I knew the routine. You can't turn the
computer off the conventional, "safe" way, because it is frozen. You
have to turn it off manually by pushing the button on the front of the
computer. But which of those two towers standing side by side, was
which? One of them is Ian's computer, which has no monitor, so he
"borrows" one of the other two sitting on the desk in front of the
window.
By
the time I had figured out what was going on and which computer to turn
off, I was thoroughly awake. I went back to bed, but only dozed a
couple of times. Now I was lying on my right side, so I was lying in a
cushion of silence, and didn't even know when Ian got up. I finally got
up at 6:30.
We have been puzzled by another sound the past
couple of days, and since none of us had any idea what was causing it,
we didn't know if we should be alarmed or what. It came from the
hallway by the back door, and sounded like the popping of canning jar
lids when they are sealing. It was just as loud, and would happen
anywhere from once in an hour to three times in as many minutes. Vicki
and I were both perplexed and annoyed as we eliminated one after
another possible culprit. She even opened the big can of applesauce,
thinking it was that. We were on the right track... it did have to do
with a closed container near both the heating vent and the back door.
But it was Timothy who finally figured out what it was. There were
several small plastic coke bottles lying empty with their lids on,
under the shelves, almost on top of the heating vent. They must have
been expanding and contracting with the furnace coming on and the back
door being opened occasionally. We haven't heard that sound since he
tossed them in the garbage bag on the deck.
Between Andrew
Pudewa and Steve Plog, they are rapidly destroying my ideas of what and
how children are supposed to be taught. Andrew Pudewa, instructor of
Excellence in Writing, our language arts curriculum, denounces the
teaching of a grammar curriculum, saying it is useless beyond the very
basics -- torture at worst and busywork at best for the kids. I don't
agree, but at least he is giving me an excuse not to feel guilty for
not teaching Easy Grammar so far this year.
And Steve Plog is
the guy who refuses to see ADD as a handicap in any way, choosing
instead to see it as the best gift God has given him. He seriously
downplays the focus on getting good grades (at least to the detriment
of really learning your stuff) and says Einstein got where he did
because he wasn't made to "show his work" all during his math years.
Apparently doing it one's head is a distinct advantage, especially for
the ADD student. He says it's harmful to place the emphasis on the D's
on the kid's report card while downplaying the A's. If he is talking
about having a better balance between the two, I can see it, but it
seems more like he is saying the ADD child needs a total paradigm shift
on the part of his teachers. He is probably right, but I am not ready
yet to give up all my pet ideas -- even if I am not succeeding at
carrying them out!
To balance what I've just said, and probably
portray what he said more accurately... he is saying to focus on our
strengths and manage our weaknesses. In other words, as Dr. Ed
Hallowell says, I should not try to be organized like some of my
friends, but rather learn to be "just organized enough" to function
well. Or he might say I should not try to be the world's best
homeschooler, but be "just good enough" that my kids learn what they
need in order to function well in society.
I do like his view of
ADD as a gift, and a handful of lemons we compensate for by making
lemonade. I wish I could see it that way. I would love to be able to
look at it more positively and rejoice in the strengths I have because
of ADD.
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