Thinking Outloud

Yesterday was report card day for the two younger kids.  First of all I would like to say that both kids are doing an awesome job!!  I was very pleased with their report cards and by reading them apparently the teacher’s are as well.  The only bad thing that both kids had on their report cards is that both of them are a little too social.  The thing was I wasn’t really surprised to read this in their report cards, I was just surprised that it took this long for the teachers to mention it.  So, I did talk to them about when and where they should both be social.  But, accept for this little minor problem, I have no worries that the kids are going to have another awesome year!

I have to say that this has been a really long week.  For the past three days I have had my youngest son home from school sick.  On Tuesday I took him to see our family doctor.  He had been coughing so bad that he was starting to throw up so I figured that he probably had either phenomena or a chest infection of some sort.  Obviously I’m not a doctor as I got the diagnosis completely wrong.  What he has is an ear infection??  He was not complaining about an ear ache at all so I would have never guessed that this was what was wrong with him.  The coughing came from the drainage in his ear going down the back of his throat and irritating it.  He got some medicine and he is now on the road to recovery.  So, he went back to school today and I have my house back.  Having him home for three days made is so I didn’t get much done, but with them both in school today I have a lot of plans of things I want to get done.

At my kids school, they have an awesome program called the “Rainbows Program”.  What this program entails is that the guidance counselor from the school talks to children who have recently had a loss.  This could be the death of a loved one or divorce or separation.  They discuss with the children their feelings on the event and how they can deal with the situation and their feelings better.  Since both of my two younger kids just recently lost their grandmother, the teacher’s thought this would be an ideal program for each of the kids to participate in.  My daughter who is 9 really wants to participate in this, but my son who is 7 doesn’t want to be involved.  I have left it up to the kids and I most certainly won’t force my son to participate if he doesn’t want to.  I still think that it’s a great program for any child who has experienced a loss of any kind.

After a week of waiting and my daughter biting her nails, the phone call that she has been patiently waiting for finally arrived last night.  The phone call we were waiting for was concerning whether or not she was one of the 20 students picked to participate in the grade 4 violin club.  I am happy to report that she was accepted.  So her dream that she has had for the past two years is going to come true!  She gets to learn to play the violin!  She was so excited and happy when I told her about the phone call and is extremely anxious to get started.  She knows she was very lucky to be picked as there were only 20 spots available and there was 32 kids that wanted to take it.  I know she will do great at it and I only hope that this experience is everything that she hoped it would be.

I am so….tired of fighting with my daughter over homework.  Every night, and I mean every night, her and I get right into over her homework.  She loves school and can’t wait to go every morning, but to get her to do her homework after school is like pulling teeth.  This is the first year that I’ve had any problems with her as far as homework goes and everyday I dread the moment she gets off the bus.  I realize that she is in grade 4 now and has a lot more homework than previous years, but she knows it has to be done and I really don’t understand why she needs to fight with me.  But, the fight continues and hopefully she will get it in her pretty little head that I will not give in and it will get done.

Yesterday she explained to her teacher that she is left handed and asked her if that would be a problem for her to learn to play the violin.  The teacher informed her that although they don’t have any left handed violins in the school, she didn’t see this as a problem as she has taught many left handed students over the years.  This made Kara so happy.  The teacher told her that all she had to do was tweak some of the strings to compensate for this.  So…. I guess my daughter’s wish will come true this year and she will be able to join something that she has been wanted to do for the past two years.

I can’t completely understand why it costs so darn much to put your kids through school.  Not only do you need to purchase new school clothes and books at the beginning of the year, but there are tons of expenses that come up during the school year.  It’s bad enough that you have to pay this all out for one child, but if you have two or three in the school system, you could end up broke.  The kids have only been in school for less than three weeks and it’s starting to cost us a fortune.  First of all you need to purchase the books, supplies and clothes.  Next you have student fees and agendas.  If that isn’t enough then comes out requests for money for trips, school lunches and school books.  Sometimes we have a difficult time dishing out all this money, so I can just imagine what it’s like for someone who doesn’t have a whole lot of spare cash, or for someone who has three or four kids in the school system.

Last year it was determined by the school that my youngest son was reading below grade level. So, I had to check out different programs to get him some help in this area. I found an awesome program that utilizes Reading Tutors to help children in this area. After enrolling him in the Score Learning center, he was able to bring his reading skills up to grade level. This program help children from the age of 4 to 14 with any problems they may be having in their academic studies. This program worked so well for him last year that if I see any indication at all this year that he is having problems, I will definitely be enrolling him in this again.

Well as you all know (especially if your a parent), yesterday was the first day back to school of all the kids.  I have to say if the discussions I had last night with my two younger kids are any indication, this year is going to be a great year for the kids!  They both arrived home tired but very satisfied with their first day of school.  It seems that both their teachers are really nice and they actually got a personal welcome back from the principal and vice principal.  I’m not sure this is a good thing that the principal and the vice principal know both kids by site and name.   LOL  But with the school year in full swing, if the rest of the year continues to make them as happy about school as yesterday did, then I know there will be no real major issues this year.

Last year my youngest son who was in grade 1 was assessed at reading below his grade level. So, we got him some tutoring and he managed to bring his reading skills up to grade level. So this year I am going to keep a close watch on his reading level, and as soon as I see any problems, I am going to immediately enroll him into an Innovative Tutor program. This is a wonderful program for any child from the age of 4 to 14. If they have any academic difficulties what so ever, this program can and will help them to get back on track. Not only is a program like this good for the child’s academic career, but because they help them with their learning skills, this type of program also help boost their self confidence which helps them in other areas of their lives.