Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Monday, May 28, 2018
Review: The Girls' Guide to Conquering Life by Erica & Jonathan Catherman
Guys & Dating
Social Skills & Manners
Work & Ethics
Wealth & Money Management
Health & Beauty
Clothes & Fashion
Sports & Recreation
Cars & Driving
Food & Cooking
Tools & Fix-It
In this book your daughter can learn how to have a GREAT interview, CHANGE a tire, Sew a button on and many other things. I highly recommend this book for all girls as it's a great way to help them learn on their own or just have a quick refresher if they need it.
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Week Ending 5/26/2018
Where has the time gone this month? It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Issac's 11th birthday and I was preparing to go to Boston for our UDN PEER meeting. Before we even realize it the school year will be over and we'll be in the heat of summer. I'm not looking forward to the heat!
This past week has been one of the busiest weeks this month. Brianna had her orthodontist appointment on Monday and was super excited to find out she didn't have to have bands for this next 6 week session. Apparently her largest gap that she was mostly concerned about has started closing, so she was super excited to hear that!
Tuesday Issac had his 6 month follow up with the electrophysiologist. They are following him for his elongated qt. They has prescribed an AED, but we have had insurance issues with that. I think we finally found the people to help us and we'll see if we get it soon :) He feels the beta-blocker he put Issac on is doing well and hasn't seemed to aggravate his asthma like was the concern, so we're good for another 6 months.
Wednesday Issac had his follow up with the pediatrician from the asthma flair up the week before. Thankfully he was so much better. No wheezing and barely any coughing. The only issue was his 2 large toes looked very strange to me and she got the pleasure of informing me he has a fungus :( Yikes, how does an 11 year old get a fungus on only his 2 large toes and we didn't have a clue? I guess I have to start checking his toes out a little more (LOL)
Thursday I had to take our daughter to the neurologist to follow up on the headaches and migraines she has continued to have. He feels they are becoming rebound headaches, so we are going to stop ALL over the counter meds to try and reboot her system. He's also starting her out on a low dose of preventative meds to see if that helps. I'm hoping she'll get some relief from it because they are making her miserable!!
Friday was the homeschool formal. My daughter looked so beautiful, but wouldn't take a nice picture with me!! Hard to believe her dress was less than $10!!
Last night Issac had a good friend over as his parents were out celebrating their anniversary. When boys get together they want to sit in front of the game consoles for hours (LOL) I made sure my husband knew that I didn't want them there the entire night, so he did a great job of keeping an eye on them and suggesting when to do other things. It was so precious hearing them talking before they fell asleep last night. Nothing better in life than a friend :) Today they spent the day playing video games, shooting basketball, Nerf gun war and we played about 3 or 4 games of Clue. While Issac's friend was here he told him very excitedly that he has a toe fungus!! I gently told him that information is not always wanted by other s:) All in all it was a great day!
Tomorrow will be a hard day for me. Our oldest and his family are coming over for lunch. When it's time for them to leave we will be saying goodbye to him for the next 9 weeks. He's heading off to basic in the Army. I have already shed SO many tears over this and I keep telling myself that he's just starting his life and that I should remind myself how luck I am that he is here on this earth. I wasn't this emotional when he got his license, a job or even moved out. It's just gotten very real that when this part of the process is all said and done he won't live just a few minutes away from us anymore. He could very easily end up in another country. This mama will be shedding quite a few tears over this next week!
This past week has been one of the busiest weeks this month. Brianna had her orthodontist appointment on Monday and was super excited to find out she didn't have to have bands for this next 6 week session. Apparently her largest gap that she was mostly concerned about has started closing, so she was super excited to hear that!
Tuesday Issac had his 6 month follow up with the electrophysiologist. They are following him for his elongated qt. They has prescribed an AED, but we have had insurance issues with that. I think we finally found the people to help us and we'll see if we get it soon :) He feels the beta-blocker he put Issac on is doing well and hasn't seemed to aggravate his asthma like was the concern, so we're good for another 6 months.
Wednesday Issac had his follow up with the pediatrician from the asthma flair up the week before. Thankfully he was so much better. No wheezing and barely any coughing. The only issue was his 2 large toes looked very strange to me and she got the pleasure of informing me he has a fungus :( Yikes, how does an 11 year old get a fungus on only his 2 large toes and we didn't have a clue? I guess I have to start checking his toes out a little more (LOL)
Thursday I had to take our daughter to the neurologist to follow up on the headaches and migraines she has continued to have. He feels they are becoming rebound headaches, so we are going to stop ALL over the counter meds to try and reboot her system. He's also starting her out on a low dose of preventative meds to see if that helps. I'm hoping she'll get some relief from it because they are making her miserable!!
Friday was the homeschool formal. My daughter looked so beautiful, but wouldn't take a nice picture with me!! Hard to believe her dress was less than $10!!
Last night Issac had a good friend over as his parents were out celebrating their anniversary. When boys get together they want to sit in front of the game consoles for hours (LOL) I made sure my husband knew that I didn't want them there the entire night, so he did a great job of keeping an eye on them and suggesting when to do other things. It was so precious hearing them talking before they fell asleep last night. Nothing better in life than a friend :) Today they spent the day playing video games, shooting basketball, Nerf gun war and we played about 3 or 4 games of Clue. While Issac's friend was here he told him very excitedly that he has a toe fungus!! I gently told him that information is not always wanted by other s:) All in all it was a great day!
Tomorrow will be a hard day for me. Our oldest and his family are coming over for lunch. When it's time for them to leave we will be saying goodbye to him for the next 9 weeks. He's heading off to basic in the Army. I have already shed SO many tears over this and I keep telling myself that he's just starting his life and that I should remind myself how luck I am that he is here on this earth. I wasn't this emotional when he got his license, a job or even moved out. It's just gotten very real that when this part of the process is all said and done he won't live just a few minutes away from us anymore. He could very easily end up in another country. This mama will be shedding quite a few tears over this next week!
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Review: Home School Navigator
At the end of the lesson you have the option to upload assignments to help make a portfolio later or to just check that the lesson is completed. We uploaded once, but we don't usually keep a portfolio and so we just kept all our papers from the lessons in our notebook. Originally I had requested all the books for the first month from the library, but once Issac realized we could watch the videos being read on YouTube he decided he preferred that method. Even though I traditionally prefer holding a book in my hand this part really excited him and he looked forward to it. My only issue with the videos were there were some that were hard to hear and it made it difficult to get the information. I believe this is currently being addressed and won't be an issue for too long.
Even though the agenda is the same for each lessons the activities do vary. Issac has enjoyed most of the activities, but would still prefer to skip the writing! I found I was able to encourage Issac to write small amounts and the writing prompts were often interesting to him and that helped to motivate him.
I think for us using Home School Navigator has really helped to foster some writing skills in Issac. He hasn't instantly fallen in love with handwriting or is writing short stories, but he is writing several times a week without tantrums and that's a blessing. I've gone back and forth about whether the yellow level was the right choice or should I have gone with the green. I think ultimately Issac needs to learn that writing isn't a fate worse than death and that it is something he will need to do during his life. He's really enjoyed all the stories so far and he got a big kick out of Anansi and the Talking Melon. We are working towards fostering a love of learning and reading and if we push too much that will not happen. I'm happy with the progress we've made with the yellow level and look forward to continuing on and seeing the progress Issac makes.
Check out this video to get a better understanding about the program. Also check out what the rest of the crew thought as they explored all the other levels.
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Fun printables I found this week.
We attend a TON of appointments and it always helps to have something to keep Issac busy. He usually brings his tablet, but I often prefer something that it's a screen :) We just recently started playing hangman and he really enjoys it. When I was in the Boston airport I saw a really nice hangman set, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the money. It was actually pretty reasonably priced, but I just wondered if we'd use it enough. After I got home I thought surely there has to be something I can print from the internet to use :) I did a quick search and ran across The Puzzle Den . I lucked out and found a printable hangman as well as the dot to dot game. I printed both an laminated them to keep the clean for many uses. Issac and I are already enjoying using these.
I'm not sure what I was searching, reading, etc., but ran across the Princess Pinky Girl Parts of Speech and math printable. Issac is still having trouble remember facts and parts of speech, so I figured this might be great for him. About 6 months ago when he was still in OT they told me that they noticed he did better focusing when he was in the upstairs room that really didn't have anything on the walls. I've always been one to hang things on the walls for the kids and realized that might not be the best plan for him. I figured he could have these little lists in a notebook and refer to them if/when he needed them.
This week I ran across The Bible Trivia for Kids Game from The Fervent Mama. This is a neat little freebie right now that looks like would be fun to play with the kids. I'm hoping to get mine laminated this weekend. I was blessed with a laminator as a gift from a dear friend and I'm trying to find every excuse I can to use it :)
I hope you all have a great week and feel free to share any great things you ran across this week :)
I'm not sure what I was searching, reading, etc., but ran across the Princess Pinky Girl Parts of Speech and math printable. Issac is still having trouble remember facts and parts of speech, so I figured this might be great for him. About 6 months ago when he was still in OT they told me that they noticed he did better focusing when he was in the upstairs room that really didn't have anything on the walls. I've always been one to hang things on the walls for the kids and realized that might not be the best plan for him. I figured he could have these little lists in a notebook and refer to them if/when he needed them.
This week I ran across The Bible Trivia for Kids Game from The Fervent Mama. This is a neat little freebie right now that looks like would be fun to play with the kids. I'm hoping to get mine laminated this weekend. I was blessed with a laminator as a gift from a dear friend and I'm trying to find every excuse I can to use it :)
I hope you all have a great week and feel free to share any great things you ran across this week :)
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Thankful Tuesday 5/15/2018
Today I'm so thankful for my wonderful daughter. When I was pregnant with our first child I always hoped he'd be a boy, then we'd have a girl and then another boy. I loved my son, but I really wanted a little girl. I wanted to dress her up in cute dresses and do her hair. I was so happy the day she was born. She's been a precious little girl all the while being a spitfire too :) She's an amazingly strong young lady, stronger than I am as an adult. She's headstrong, loving, a great protector of her friends and overall an amazing girl.
For Mother's Day she gathered friends together to make one of my dreams come true! I've wanted a pot belly pig for years and she made that happen. Some family comes in the form of blood and others are friends that are really more than friends. She rallied her friends and their parents to make a home for this pig and bring him to us. She planned a way to get me there all the while still keeping it a surprise. She's an amazing daughter and I love her so much!
For Mother's Day she gathered friends together to make one of my dreams come true! I've wanted a pot belly pig for years and she made that happen. Some family comes in the form of blood and others are friends that are really more than friends. She rallied her friends and their parents to make a home for this pig and bring him to us. She planned a way to get me there all the while still keeping it a surprise. She's an amazing daughter and I love her so much!
Monday, May 14, 2018
Review: Kids Email Safe Email for Kids
He chose the cars and immediately wanted to send emails to people. I had only put family on his approved list, but he was fine with that. He sent very short emails to my husband, his sister, his grandmother and myself. I didn't bother to share with him that I would be receiving copies of these emails as he wrote them. I didn't expect that he would write something inappropriate, but liked the idea of him not knowing :) That's just one of the many great features. My son only used our desktop computer, but if he were using other devices I could put time limits on the usage. You can ground your child which is something I thought was great. When Issac misbehaves about the only thing he cares to lose are his screen privileges. This lets you know they are sneaking when you aren't home or at night and trying to email! Another biggie for me was the no ads. I think the ads are the problem a large amount of the time. Things are advertises to attract children's attention and it doesn't always take them to sites that they think they are going to.
There are also different options for younger and older kids. The email can be changed a bit for teenagers, so it doesn't seem like a "kid" email to their friends. Teenagers never want others to know that their parents are watching over them or restricting them in an way and this takes care of those fears. It's a great way for younger kids and teenagers to have their own email and the parents can still feel like they are able to monitor.
Here are a few quick shots of the emails that I get when he's sending/receiving an email. He started emailing my mom and I was really excited about that. It helps extend their relationship while helping him with his writing and typing skills. It's also a nice little "treat" for my mom to see an email in HER inbox from him.
As the parent I have complete control over what my son is doing and I like that for him at this age. As he gets older I can adjust those controls and that helps him learn to manage himself and his behavior. It's nice to be able to log in at any time and see what he's been doing. The activity log shows everything going in and out.
Kids Email started back in 2009 and has been helping families navigate the world of email since. Some of our crew are reviewing them for a second time, so I'm sure they have some great advice on how to use this program.
Saturday, May 12, 2018
The Great Molasses Spill
Have you ever heard of the Boston Molasses Flood? I hadn't either until Friday when I was attending a UDN PEER meeting. There is an amazing man there named Paul who is so gracious and so full of knowledge of the town. The molasses flood came up and none of us had ever heard of it. He started telling us the story and I KNEW I had to get Issac looking this up and reading about it. What an amazingly crazy story!!
On January 15, 1919 a horrible sound similar to gunfire and grating noises was heard before a 5-story high metal tank of molasses split open! More than 7.5 MILLION LITERS of molasses ran through Boston's North End. Traveling at 55 mph and in a wave 7.5 meters high and 50 meters wide at the peak. 21 people were killed and another 150 were injured. I would love to spend an entire week with Paul learning about Boston!
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Thankful Tuesday 5/8/2018
Today I'm thankful for the progress that I have seen Issac make over the last few years. He has had years of social issues where he wouldn't even speak to those he deemed friends if they didn't start the conversation. We've had anxiety issues pop up within the last few years and that added another dimension to Issac. It used to be and still is sometimes that if he's afraid to do something he just won't do it. He's developed a love for basketball recently and got a goal and new ball for his birthday. Today the ball rolled all the way down into the back. It was deep down into the bushes. I told him he'd have to wait until his dad came home because I wasn't go back in the bushes. He went back there with his shovel and the entire time was saying over and over again that he could do this because this is what explorers do. He then said that if people didn't explore then Indiana Jones wouldn't have found America. Not sure where that came from, but I was extremely shocked and pleased that he pushed forward and went to get the ball. There are still many issues we deal with and tough days, but I'm thankful for these times of progression!
Monday, May 7, 2018
Review: ASD Reading
Each lesson seems to focus on a set of words and the student uses those words in sentences, writing, comprehension, etc. I like that it focuses on different words each time. Helps see if there are certain words that your student might struggle with and in what way they are struggling. Here are a few samples of the lessons.
In the above the student has to type the letter that is coming down the screen.
The above is one of the reading selections.
One thing that seemed to disappoint my child was that at the beginning it's talking about a passport. When you've earned so many points from working through the lessons you get to open the passport. He thought there would be some surprise there and was really looking forward to it. He felt a bit let down by that.
Some of the other great parts to this program is that you get a 30 day free trial. This gives you a chance to see how ASD Reading meshes with your student. After the 30 day trial the program is $19.99 a month or $199.99 per year. If you have additional children in your family that will use the program they receive 50% off each month for a charge of $9.99. This program is available for school settings and ASD Reading can be contacted for that pricing.
Some of our crew members reviewed ASD Reading and some reviewed Reading Kingdom, so please check out all the different thoughts and opinions on these programs. You can also check out their social media sites for additional information: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Funny Comments from Issac
Was reading to Issac before bed tonight when I mispronounced a wrestler's name in the book Hornswoggle. About half way through the book Issac got upset and told me I was saying the name wrong. I told him that's how it was spelled in the book. His response was it much be auto correct that messed it up in the book! That reminded me that the other day he was talking about cell phones and which ones everybody he knows has. He then asked me what kind did I have when I was his age. I told him we didn't have cell phones when I was 11! I then explained that I didn't get my first cell phone until about 17 years ago. He asked me how I called people before then. I explained that we used our home phones. He then asked if we had internet when I was a child. I told him that we didn't have that until about 20 years ago. He asked me how I didn't my school? (LOL) It's crazy to think of all the technological advances that have happened in the last 20 years and how much our kids don't understand with it!
Review: When God Says go
When God Says go by Elizabeth Laing Thompson is a wonderful book of people in the Bible and how they followed God's call. We often say that we are following God, that we are open to anything he calls us to do, but are we truly? Often times we aren't even sure if we know what God is calling us to do. In this book we learn about the following people, their stories and even how we can relate them to our own lives.
At the end of each chapter there is a "Let's Go Deeper" page. This includes further verses to read as well as journal prompts and a prayer prompt. This is a great book to read alone or even to read along in a group setting. I felt like the chapters were chosen to reach out to us all. How many times have we thought that God's call is too scary? When his call is unclear? When the call isn't glamorous? These are some of the samples of what is in this book that can help us to a deeper understanding of just what is God's call for us.
**"I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review."
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