How you keeping yourself busy?

[flowerbug]

He's already on track to do so. He's growing at an incredible pace, and lack of comprehension can usually be gotten around by trying different things until he does understand. He's currently struggling with past tense, but we've created flip books that show the past, present, and future of different things we do and that has really helped.




To be fair, he hasn't exactly been a willing participant in school. It's hard to grade them on their teaching abilities when they have 20 kids to teach, and one that turns his ears off as soon as he doesn't have one-on-one interaction.



Yeah, couldn't figure it out so I'm teaching him the regular way.



Parent teacher conferences usually involve my teachers showing me IQ tests and finding ways to say, without saying, that he's an idiot that will never amount to anything. Every time I've been to a conference I think I'm going to have to find him a nice box to live in after I've died.

The difference at home is just so huge, it's hard for me to understand what is going on. At school I literally had to stop sending him cold lunch because he would lay across his desk eating chips when he was supposed to be learning. -.- Yet at home he asks if he can take this homework book or that to his room to do pages just for fun, and gets excited about science experiments or book reports.

He's incredibly smart, no matter what their tests say.

i'm on the dyslexic side of things and have a tough time studying certain subjects. as a younger kid i was forced to use my off hand for penmanship and then got complaints it wasn't good enough, that i was lazy for how i wrote things, etc. to a kid that's not going to help. luckily i had a Mom who was similar enough that she knew i was ok. i just needed to be left on my own in a library and i was fine. by 5th grade i was trying to figure out what logarithms were and algebra. i didn't get it at first but eventually by the time i did see it coming it made sense to me.

don't tell your son this, but i self-medicated through much of math in high school right after lunch - eventually i stopped needing to do that, but college was a tough road in math for me. long story. won't get into it here. let's just say i survived.

 

[AMKuska]

i'm on the dyslexic side of things and have a tough time studying certain subjects. as a younger kid i was forced to use my off hand for penmanship and then got complaints it wasn't good enough, that i was lazy for how i wrote things, etc. to a kid that's not going to help. luckily i had a Mom who was similar enough that she knew i was ok. i just needed to be left on my own in a library and i was fine. by 5th grade i was trying to figure out what logarithms were and algebra. i didn't get it at first but eventually by the time i did see it coming it made sense to me.

don't tell your son this, but i self-medicated through much of math in high school right after lunch - eventually i stopped needing to do that, but college was a tough road in math for me. long story. won't get into it here. let's just say i survived.

His handwriting was absolutely awful, so much so he actually went to therapy to try and strengthen his hands in the hopes his handwriting would get better. His left hand is actually stronger than his right hand, but he prefers to use his right. I know as a toddler her never seemed to be able to make up his mind which hand he wanted to use, where as our daughter is obviously right handed and I've known that since she was 8-9 months.

I think maybe he was supposed to be a lefty, but due to some vision issues he ended up learning to use his right and now he's stuck with it.

 

[ducks4you]

Recognizing your interest in accuracy, @ducks4you , the skink isn't a salamander (amphibian). It is a lizard (reptile).

Steve
still waiting for @so lucky to find an artifact in her garden soil .

Accuracy is great, but I don't care. It was a Nice share, @digitS' !

 

[ducks4you]

@AMKuska , I hope that you can create a habit of schooling your young son from now on. I KNOW how we all have work, but, maybe? ...a few weekend hours?...Saturday School? I grew up with "Schoolhouse Rock" and loved it. They sandwiched it in between Saturday morning cartoons.
Something else to consider bc it will be here before you know it.
I moved from PA to IL and was almost one year younger than my peers in IL bc I started school earlier.
I never went to Kindergarten.
When I started my Junior Year of HS, my counselor told me that I would have enough hours to graduate at the end of the year, IF I wanted to.
So I did.
(You see, I had spent my summers taking classes. Our HS had Summer School classes that were not just remedial.)
No Senior Year, and I didn't miss it.
I worked in downtown Chicago for a year before college, at 16yo.
Your son will continue to learn from YOU! It sounds like he is thoroughly enjoying your attention and thriving.
ANY good teacher would be thrilled at his progress.
I am sure that if you could afford a private school, even a small home school, you would send him there, but I am thinking that your finances aren't there.
Be creative!
You only have him home for a few more years and you making wonderful memories!!!

 

[AMKuska]

@AMKuska , I hope that you can create a habit of schooling your young son from now on. I KNOW how we all have work, but, maybe? ...a few weekend hours?...Saturday School? I grew up with "Schoolhouse Rock" and loved it. They sandwiched it in between Saturday morning cartoons.

The weird thing is, I have. He was very behind in school, so we've been doing everything we can to get him ahead. This includes:

1. Working with him after school
2. Online educational games that support learning
3. A tutor as often as we can afford, 2-3 days a week
4. Every kind of therapy you can imagine, in case the reason he's not progressing is his vision, his mental health, his hands, etc.

It's not about time. No matter how much time it takes, I'll give it if it means he'll succeed. It's about what works or not. My plan at this point is to send him back to school in September and see how he does with his usual support. If he fails, I'll home school him for good.

 

[ducks4you]

DH decided that my pantry needed to be OUR pantry and OUR pantry needed cleaning up. We spent 2 days and almost 2 hours on it in the last week. We are using the "15 minute rule," where you clean where you really don't Want to clean for only 15 minutes at a time, and then congratulate yourself for getting something done.
We threw out old canned goods, old packages of pasta, cardboard that had gotten wet--it's a basement and has enough humidity that my dehumidifier runs pretty much every day and empties into the basement shower--old clothes, broken glass, old bottles that were for...ummmm...don't remember, so they were trash.
I have my garbage pickup can full and it's REALLY heavy.
I had bought a pretty big plastic garbage can for the basement with a lid that is removable, BUT, it snaps in place on one side and stays put.
I had also bought the Right sized bags for it, 44 gallon, and they live at the bottom of the garbage can, so I don't have to search for them.
ANYway, he was gonna throw the 2 remaining cans of blueberries, until I told him that I had made a pie from the Other 2 cans of blueberries and promised another.
It is now baking.
DH is rearranging my canned jars and planning on their next usage.
NOBODY else in the family ever cared about this space.
What FUN!!!

 

[digitS']

Plan to head out to the garden today.



Oh ... Ouch ... Oh ... Uh oh ... Ouch ... oooh

digitS'

 

[flowerbug]

still busting pallets. the good news is that at last i have all the stuff that was put aside because it had nails in it sticking out and too rotten to do much with and other random chunks all gone through. so my next day's efforts will be only to cut up what is left and if, If, IF i am lucky that will be the last day of chopping them apart to get rid of them or to reuse the wood.

we have a few cruddy days in the forecast coming up so i will get a very welcome break. @digitS' ouches sound familiar.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

The weird thing is, I have. He was very behind in school, so we've been doing everything we can to get him ahead. This includes:

1. Working with him after school
2. Online educational games that support learning
3. A tutor as often as we can afford, 2-3 days a week
4. Every kind of therapy you can imagine, in case the reason he's not progressing is his vision, his mental health, his hands, etc.

It's not about time. No matter how much time it takes, I'll give it if it means he'll succeed. It's about what works or not. My plan at this point is to send him back to school in September and see how he does with his usual support. If he fails, I'll home school him for good.

You are a great mother! My 7 year old is on the spectrum and I am homeschooling her and my 5 year old son. Best part about homeschool is you can change curriculum if something doesnt work. You can change schedules, if math is too hard in the afternoon, you can do it in the morning. You can school outside. We do co op once a week, piano lesson and lots and lots of outside play. I really enjoy it and I hope you strongly consider it. He is thriving with you now and that shows that he will be a great homeschool student! Just my opinion, at the end, do what works foe your family.

 

[ducks4you]

Your kids will be successful.
I know a family where only 1/3 kids is doing their schoolwork. VERY spoiled kids. One has broken his I Phone (not this year), and, instead of replacing it with an LG cheapo smartphone, they immediately ran out and bought him a new I Phone. Same 17yo who was failing several HS classes, basketball coach intervened, so he passed them, then he drops basketball. COMPLAINS that the parents haven't provided a personal trainer for Football, and that is why he isn't playing well.
HAVE to buy all 3 Each a used car to drive at 16yo, while complaining that THEY had to buy their own first car.
It really means, "I am bragging bc I am rich enough to pay for all of this."
I guess it's worth it to them to train children to live in their basement after HS.
I never professionally showed horses but I have read about many successful showman. I'm kind of a groupie. One is this woman who started at a local stable mucking stalls, then "catch riding", where you show somebody else's horse for them, never know who you are riding ahead of time. Same rider (Hunter/Jumper/Stadium, which means she rides horses over fences in the show ring,) wrote about training over fences by securing the reins to the saddle and jumping with her eyes closed, so that you can feel the motion and help, instead of hinder, the horse while he/she jumps.
VERY serious about her sport and wasn't a complainy-pants about not having resources.
For 2 seasons, "This Old House" had a resident electrician. He said he wasn't interested in HS. Between his Junior/Senior year he took the phone# of a local electrician looking for summer help. All he did the first summer was fish wire, but he Loved it and made this his profession. As you know, electricians are hard to come by, so very lucrative.
The skills that you teach your children will help them become self sufficient. You don't know where they will end up and cannot plan on that. You can Only help them on the way.
GOOD JOB!!!
I Know, bc my 3 DD's are all on their own and employed.