Yesterday Nathan was baptized. It was a big day for him! He woke up early, helped with breakfast and the luncheon food, got dressed, and pretty much thoroughly enjoyed the spirit of the day. He seemed relaxed, calm, and peaceful through the baptism and confirmation. I had a sense of the Spirit enveloping him in our Heavenly Father's love.
It is weird to think that my baby is baptized--they grow so fast and life changes so much. We had a sweet day with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I love having the little nieces and nephews over, which is funny because I can remember a time when little people just wore me out and I felt I was always sending them away. Now I actually enjoy the noise and commotion they bring! Perhaps that's easier when you don't have "littles" underfoot all the time. Yesterday we had a big Easter egg hunt with all the cousins--for me, the best part was watching the little kids try to stop their cousins from "peeking" at the dads hiding the eggs while sneaking peeks of their own. Hysterical!
I love Easter. I love that we have a day set aside to remember our Savior's triumph over the grave and to contemplate what it means for us in our daily lives. I'm not good with words, but President Monson captures my thoughts this morning:
“With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift up my voice in testimony as a special witness and declare that God does live. Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father. He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He became the first fruits of the Resurrection. Because He died, all shall live again. ‘Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: “I know that my Redeemer lives!” ’
Happy Easter!!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Pollyanna
Ivy and I have been reading Pollyanna together. It's a touching story and we are enjoying it. I love this quote from the book:
"A father one day said to his son Tom, who he knew had refused to fill his mother's woodbox that morning: 'Tom, I'm sure you'll be glad to go and bring in some wood for your mother.' And without a word Tom went. Why? Just because his father showed so plainly that he expected him to do that right thing. Suppose he had said: 'Tom, I overheard what you said to your mother this morning, and I'm ashamed of you. Go at once and fill that woodbox!' I'll warrant that woodbox would be empty yet, so far as Tom was concerned."
"What men and women need is encouragement. Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened...Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold him up to him his better self, his real self that can dare and do and win out!...The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionise a whole town...People radiate what is in their minds and in their hearts. Tell your son Tom you know he'll be glad to fill that woodbox--then watch him start, alert and interested!"
It's a good parenting reminder for me. I love this approach! This is the most interesting/powerful part for me: "Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened." How true! I want my kids to have strong resisting powers--they will need them in this world! These natural powers are part of the strength their Heavenly Father has blessed them with to become eternal beings. If I 'nag' the kids into doing what I think they should I risk weakening their resisting powers. I'm reminded of the following message from conference:
"A father one day said to his son Tom, who he knew had refused to fill his mother's woodbox that morning: 'Tom, I'm sure you'll be glad to go and bring in some wood for your mother.' And without a word Tom went. Why? Just because his father showed so plainly that he expected him to do that right thing. Suppose he had said: 'Tom, I overheard what you said to your mother this morning, and I'm ashamed of you. Go at once and fill that woodbox!' I'll warrant that woodbox would be empty yet, so far as Tom was concerned."
"What men and women need is encouragement. Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened...Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold him up to him his better self, his real self that can dare and do and win out!...The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionise a whole town...People radiate what is in their minds and in their hearts. Tell your son Tom you know he'll be glad to fill that woodbox--then watch him start, alert and interested!"
It's a good parenting reminder for me. I love this approach! This is the most interesting/powerful part for me: "Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened." How true! I want my kids to have strong resisting powers--they will need them in this world! These natural powers are part of the strength their Heavenly Father has blessed them with to become eternal beings. If I 'nag' the kids into doing what I think they should I risk weakening their resisting powers. I'm reminded of the following message from conference:
Elder Wilson taught that when one tries to “compel someone to righteousness who can and should be exercising his or her own moral agency,” he warned, “we are acting unrighteously.” Instead, he admonished, “when setting firm limits for another person is in order, those limits should always be administered with loving patience and in a way that teaches eternal principles.”
Elder Wilson explained that compulsion created by unrighteous dominion prevents learning opportunities for those being coerced. He taught that parents need to be especially cautious of making this mistake with their children.
Perhaps parenting through encouragement is a way to avoid unrighteous dominion.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Where I Write MSNBC
Today I wrote my first note to a news agency. I'm disappointed, frustrated, .... about these comments made Tuesday by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell:
"Mormonism was created by a guy in upstate New York in 1830 when he got caught having sex with the maid and explained to his wife that God told him to do it," O'Donnell said on his MSNBC show. "Forty-eight wives later, Joseph Smith's lifestyle was completely sanctified in the religion he invented to go with it. Which Mitt Romney says he believes."
I suppose this package of lies is not new to O'Donnell--here's a quote from 2009:
"The more you know about Romney's religion, the more you want to ask him questions about it. Your religion was founded by an alcoholic criminal named Joseph Smith who committed bank fraud and claimed God told him polygamy was cool after his first wife caught him having an affair with the maid and who then went on to have 33 wives, and you really believe every word that he said and wrote?"
I don't know how a reasonable reporter could be this misinformed. I believe The Church of Jesus Christ does a reasonable job of making information available and there have been numerous articles written on a national level that do a reasonable job of explaining our faith. So I wrote a letter to MSNBC:
"I have gladly counted on your news service for world news updates but I have been discouraged to read about Lawrence O'Donnell's depiction of Mormonism. The inaccuracies are staggering at best--a disgusting display of bigotry.
"In my mind, the numerous spurious statements he made in regards to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints make me question the facts of any of your news reports.
"I recommend that Mr. O'Donnell publicly apologize and correct his misstatements. This is the least he could do. Truthfully, if he had made such egregious remarks against another faith I believe the man would be fired. I'm not certain that he shouldn't be fired in this case.
"I'm not demanding he lose his job. But if no apology/correction is forthcoming I will choose to get my news from a more trustworthy source and recommend to all friends, family, and blog readers that they do the same.
"Thank you for your attention in this matter."
I don't know that my little note will make a difference to the people at MSNBC but I feel better at having writing it. If you want to write a quick note, here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10285339/
"Mormonism was created by a guy in upstate New York in 1830 when he got caught having sex with the maid and explained to his wife that God told him to do it," O'Donnell said on his MSNBC show. "Forty-eight wives later, Joseph Smith's lifestyle was completely sanctified in the religion he invented to go with it. Which Mitt Romney says he believes."
I suppose this package of lies is not new to O'Donnell--here's a quote from 2009:
"The more you know about Romney's religion, the more you want to ask him questions about it. Your religion was founded by an alcoholic criminal named Joseph Smith who committed bank fraud and claimed God told him polygamy was cool after his first wife caught him having an affair with the maid and who then went on to have 33 wives, and you really believe every word that he said and wrote?"
I don't know how a reasonable reporter could be this misinformed. I believe The Church of Jesus Christ does a reasonable job of making information available and there have been numerous articles written on a national level that do a reasonable job of explaining our faith. So I wrote a letter to MSNBC:
"I have gladly counted on your news service for world news updates but I have been discouraged to read about Lawrence O'Donnell's depiction of Mormonism. The inaccuracies are staggering at best--a disgusting display of bigotry.
"In my mind, the numerous spurious statements he made in regards to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints make me question the facts of any of your news reports.
"I recommend that Mr. O'Donnell publicly apologize and correct his misstatements. This is the least he could do. Truthfully, if he had made such egregious remarks against another faith I believe the man would be fired. I'm not certain that he shouldn't be fired in this case.
"I'm not demanding he lose his job. But if no apology/correction is forthcoming I will choose to get my news from a more trustworthy source and recommend to all friends, family, and blog readers that they do the same.
"Thank you for your attention in this matter."
I don't know that my little note will make a difference to the people at MSNBC but I feel better at having writing it. If you want to write a quick note, here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10285339/
I clicked on "The Last Word" for Subject because that's O'Donnell's show.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Painting!
Today we painted the front door and shutters and trim. Now our shutters actually match the door.
And we did touch-ups on many walls inside.
I'm loving spring!!
And we did touch-ups on many walls inside.
I'm loving spring!!
Monday, April 2, 2012
March was lovely and now it's over! I accompanied nearly 30 music students in Ogden once Salt Lake several times, and locally numerous times. It's one of my most favorite things to do and I love every minute! Of course with work, teaching, family, and church there is not much time left for things like blogging. Here are some other March highlights:
Eva played with the district orchestra--it was beautiful, of course. She also earned a Superior rating from Federation judges for her solo violin work. Last Friday she went to the state science fair and had a great time. She spent the day with friends--her friend's mom drove and chaperoned Eva that day. They went to City Creek, the new mall in Salt Lake, and she was singled out among throngs of people and a group of friends by a talent director for a modelling agency. She was wearing her medallion that day and the lady made sure to mention several times that they wanted to work with her and her standards. She was flattered but she is not interested. Whew! Of course I know she's beautiful and a great worker but I'm scared of that industry!! She said something to the effect of: "How can I do modelling while I'm practicing violin and piano and teaching and I want to run track?! And I have school!" Exactly right! I love that girl!!
Ethan is loving scouts. I subbed in his Sunday School class and was impressed that he tries to answer nearly every question and knows most all the answers. It's clear he loves the gospel and thinks about it more than I had realized. Eva tells me that her friends in that class say he is always like that. It's neat to witness his testimony. This Sunday he gets to speak in Sacrament Meeting. He is my most thorough worker--and I look forward to when he gets a new zone because I know the deep clean will be done well on that part of the house that week. For Nathan's birthday Ethan gave Nathan a set of coupons for chores. He didn't think it was fair that Nathan wouldn't get a day off chores for his birthday. Of course, I said Nathan could have a day off but then he wouldn't earn money that day. Ethan also finished up his early morning advanced math class--he's loved it and he's looking forward to Junior High. I'm excited to see what clubs/sports he decides to do. He's thinking he wants to try to be the mascot when he's an eighth grader--he'd be great at that!!
Ivy and I were in charge of achievement days one day this month. I wanted to change it because I was so busy but then realized that we were asked to plan it on Ivy's last day with this group of girls. So we muscled through it. She wanted to bake bread. We borrowed some small bread pans and made bread dough with the girls and then gave them a small loaf of their own. Then we made placemats for nursery snack time. Ivy loves cooking and baking. She looks forward to her night every week and volunteers to help in the kitchen all the time. She still checks out cookbooks when we go to the library. She's been growing her hair to donate and it's past ready but she's working on earning enough money to pay for her hair cut. Maybe this week....
Nathan had an IEP this month. He actually didn't qualify for special ed services in speech, writing, or reading. It was shocking to everyone at the meeting. However, he did qualify for math because he wasn't paying attention to the adding/subtraction signs that day. No one is concerned about his math but since he qualified for that if we send him for minimal math help he can still receive services for the other. And the speech therapist qualified him for conversational speech, since that is not yet perfect. I was surprised at how nervous I was at the thought of receiving no services. It's definitely bittersweet. The past few months Nathan has made stunning advances at speech--the professor is literally giddy. I have never seen him this excited for Nathan! He mastered rhyming, syllables, sounds in words, most 3-syllable words and is working on 4-syllable words. He is still working hard on retelling stories, describing things, etc. This is very difficult for him but we have seen some progress--Nathan has told us a couple of stories in the last month or so. His reading level as also taken a big leap. His dibels fluency went from 37 words a minute to 51 words a minute. It's still nearly a year behind where he should be but it's a huge jump! His classroom reading aide and his teacher both noticed marked improvement. I believe that his mind is developing and preparing for his baptism and consequent gift of the Holy Ghost which can only enhance this great growth!
Nathan also went to cub scouts for the first time! The night before he put is shirt on and Ethan helped him make it perfect with the scarf and the scarf slide. It was so cute! Don't tell Ethan I described anything he's said or done as cute. Let's keep that between us. I couldn't believe how excited Nathan was--I hadn't realized how much he was looking forward to it. He's working on saving money for day camp!
This week Nathan will finish reading the Book of Mormon! He turned eight in March and will be baptized this Saturday. It's weird that my baby will be baptized. Every one of the kids has read the Book of Mormon before their baptism. It has been easy for none of them and sometimes feels hardest on me but we have done it and it feels great that Nathan will finish. There have been many times when it seemed it would be impossible but he's done it!! This week we will need to read 2 chapters a day to do it and it's a bit more reading for spring break but when I gathered the kids this morning there was not a single word of complaint. They all know what it means to finish it and the older three are more than supportive of Nathan and willing to help. It's a heavenly thing to witness this kind of support and love!
Aahhh, spring break! We are spring cleaning and I LOOOVE it!! The kids don't love it so much.
OK. Maybe they hate it.
I don't care.
It's impossible for me to deep clean with work and piano and we are past due. A clean house is marvelous!
Eva played with the district orchestra--it was beautiful, of course. She also earned a Superior rating from Federation judges for her solo violin work. Last Friday she went to the state science fair and had a great time. She spent the day with friends--her friend's mom drove and chaperoned Eva that day. They went to City Creek, the new mall in Salt Lake, and she was singled out among throngs of people and a group of friends by a talent director for a modelling agency. She was wearing her medallion that day and the lady made sure to mention several times that they wanted to work with her and her standards. She was flattered but she is not interested. Whew! Of course I know she's beautiful and a great worker but I'm scared of that industry!! She said something to the effect of: "How can I do modelling while I'm practicing violin and piano and teaching and I want to run track?! And I have school!" Exactly right! I love that girl!!
Ethan is loving scouts. I subbed in his Sunday School class and was impressed that he tries to answer nearly every question and knows most all the answers. It's clear he loves the gospel and thinks about it more than I had realized. Eva tells me that her friends in that class say he is always like that. It's neat to witness his testimony. This Sunday he gets to speak in Sacrament Meeting. He is my most thorough worker--and I look forward to when he gets a new zone because I know the deep clean will be done well on that part of the house that week. For Nathan's birthday Ethan gave Nathan a set of coupons for chores. He didn't think it was fair that Nathan wouldn't get a day off chores for his birthday. Of course, I said Nathan could have a day off but then he wouldn't earn money that day. Ethan also finished up his early morning advanced math class--he's loved it and he's looking forward to Junior High. I'm excited to see what clubs/sports he decides to do. He's thinking he wants to try to be the mascot when he's an eighth grader--he'd be great at that!!
Ivy and I were in charge of achievement days one day this month. I wanted to change it because I was so busy but then realized that we were asked to plan it on Ivy's last day with this group of girls. So we muscled through it. She wanted to bake bread. We borrowed some small bread pans and made bread dough with the girls and then gave them a small loaf of their own. Then we made placemats for nursery snack time. Ivy loves cooking and baking. She looks forward to her night every week and volunteers to help in the kitchen all the time. She still checks out cookbooks when we go to the library. She's been growing her hair to donate and it's past ready but she's working on earning enough money to pay for her hair cut. Maybe this week....
Nathan had an IEP this month. He actually didn't qualify for special ed services in speech, writing, or reading. It was shocking to everyone at the meeting. However, he did qualify for math because he wasn't paying attention to the adding/subtraction signs that day. No one is concerned about his math but since he qualified for that if we send him for minimal math help he can still receive services for the other. And the speech therapist qualified him for conversational speech, since that is not yet perfect. I was surprised at how nervous I was at the thought of receiving no services. It's definitely bittersweet. The past few months Nathan has made stunning advances at speech--the professor is literally giddy. I have never seen him this excited for Nathan! He mastered rhyming, syllables, sounds in words, most 3-syllable words and is working on 4-syllable words. He is still working hard on retelling stories, describing things, etc. This is very difficult for him but we have seen some progress--Nathan has told us a couple of stories in the last month or so. His reading level as also taken a big leap. His dibels fluency went from 37 words a minute to 51 words a minute. It's still nearly a year behind where he should be but it's a huge jump! His classroom reading aide and his teacher both noticed marked improvement. I believe that his mind is developing and preparing for his baptism and consequent gift of the Holy Ghost which can only enhance this great growth!
Nathan also went to cub scouts for the first time! The night before he put is shirt on and Ethan helped him make it perfect with the scarf and the scarf slide. It was so cute! Don't tell Ethan I described anything he's said or done as cute. Let's keep that between us. I couldn't believe how excited Nathan was--I hadn't realized how much he was looking forward to it. He's working on saving money for day camp!
This week Nathan will finish reading the Book of Mormon! He turned eight in March and will be baptized this Saturday. It's weird that my baby will be baptized. Every one of the kids has read the Book of Mormon before their baptism. It has been easy for none of them and sometimes feels hardest on me but we have done it and it feels great that Nathan will finish. There have been many times when it seemed it would be impossible but he's done it!! This week we will need to read 2 chapters a day to do it and it's a bit more reading for spring break but when I gathered the kids this morning there was not a single word of complaint. They all know what it means to finish it and the older three are more than supportive of Nathan and willing to help. It's a heavenly thing to witness this kind of support and love!
Aahhh, spring break! We are spring cleaning and I LOOOVE it!! The kids don't love it so much.
OK. Maybe they hate it.
I don't care.
It's impossible for me to deep clean with work and piano and we are past due. A clean house is marvelous!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Science Fair
Congratulations to Eva for getting an opportunity to be in her school science fair! She did well there and moved to the district science fair, where she won the opportunity to be in the Region Science Fair at the U of U. Way to go Eva! Her project involved photography. She used Vince's new camera to see how the flash was affected by different materials. She has been at region before as a sixth grader and the whole experience was a bit stressful for me. We didn't know anyone else going and I had to leave her there (alone) to be interviewed by judges all day. I hated leaving her there all alone. It turned out well but her school did well at district and there are 18 kids going--I'm pretty sure we can arrange some carpooling this time and I won't worry knowing that she'll have friends there! :)
Ethan also had a project this year and he did great. At the elementary level the kids are judged by volunteer parents and he was given a 0 in one category because his science board was green, and given another 0 by the other judge because they didn't notice his bibliography on the board. I've judged those projects before and it's a tedious amount of work. His teacher and the principal were disappointed and frustrated for him (as was Ethan) but these things happen. Ethan did an osmosis project involving eggs. Ivy is looking forward to working on a science fair project for next year. I really hope/wish/dream they would just do them in the summer! I'll admit to never looking forward to science fair! Eva especially loves science but I never have--I think the whole thing is kind of a pain. Luckily for me Eva loves it so much she's willing to help with the others!!
It's Solo & Ensemble season and I'm busy accompanying. I love it--it's a great hobby for me and I look forward to it all year. This year I am accompanying 7 students at the high school. I predict that at least 3-4 will go to region, maybe more. At region I will pick up an additional 2 students from a neighboring high school. Luckily, region will be held at our local high school this year, which makes things so simple! I often wish I could substitute some of my teaching time with accompanying time. I have one student whose parents pay me to accompany as part of her practice time once or twice a month and I LOVE that--I wish I could find more of that kind of work!!
I've been contemplating going back to work to get my Masters degree. There is a Therapist in my ward who has been encouraging me to get my Master of Social Work. USU has recently made a Master's program available in my community and he even offered to provide the supervised clinical hours I would need to get the degree. I thought the suggestion was kind of silly and laughed it off but Vince didn't. I thought there was no possible way we could pay for that but was then remembered of some legitimate hometown scholarships that would help. I still think it would be pretty impossible given my current schedule of teaching, working, and speech. I can't give any of that up yet, as the teaching and working is helping to pay for speech and we can't change that for now. But maybe when speech is over.... If I had my degree and worked in my field we could afford for Vince to get his master's. For now I think I've decided to try to take the GRE this summer, or at least start preparing for it. Then I'll wait until the time seems right.
Speaking of speech, it is IEP time at the school and so Nathan has been going through a battery of tests to see if he qualifies for services at school. When the kids turn 8, the government says they must have a real "diagnosis" and not just "developmental delay". Nathan's testing very well!! So far he only qualifies for services because of math (no one is really concerned about his math--it's obvious he had an 'off' day). This may change when they finish testing. He may not qualify for any services. This is bittersweet for me. I'm sooo relieved and excited to see the results be so great but I worry about him not getting services. I feel like it will be completely our responsibility at home and while we generally take on that responsibility anyway, I'm not comfortable with it being concretely something we deal with ourselves. It's scary because I'm not certain we have all the knowledge and tools to give him everything he needs ourselves. To add to the angst, the speech therapist is even saying he will likely not even qualify for speech services through the school, much to the surprise of everyone else who works with him! (The resource teacher even said that if that happens but that she still gets to help Nathan she would like to have language goals for him--I'm grateful for her--I know that language goals are not really her job.) I don't think highly of the services they offer here but it has been a small comfort to know that if for some reason we couldn't get him to Salt Lake for services, at least he would have something here. Maybe not so. I feel discouraged that we may be 'forced' to continue what increasingly becomes more of a burden to get our son the help he deserves. I'll admit that it was comforting when the mother that we are carpooling with me said last week, "I do not understand how you have been able to keep this up for so long. We've only been driving once a week for a month and it's been a major adjustment. I don't know if we could ever do what you've managed." I wanted to hug her. I know I complain about it a lot but that's because it really is so hard. And yet we know it's so necessary so we keep plugging through it. It's made all the difference in the world for Nathan and I know I should be grateful that we've been able to find all the resources to make it happen but it's still discouraging to know we're not done with it and we can't even see when the end will be. And that we really may have NO option or help from public education.
Ethan also had a project this year and he did great. At the elementary level the kids are judged by volunteer parents and he was given a 0 in one category because his science board was green, and given another 0 by the other judge because they didn't notice his bibliography on the board. I've judged those projects before and it's a tedious amount of work. His teacher and the principal were disappointed and frustrated for him (as was Ethan) but these things happen. Ethan did an osmosis project involving eggs. Ivy is looking forward to working on a science fair project for next year. I really hope/wish/dream they would just do them in the summer! I'll admit to never looking forward to science fair! Eva especially loves science but I never have--I think the whole thing is kind of a pain. Luckily for me Eva loves it so much she's willing to help with the others!!
It's Solo & Ensemble season and I'm busy accompanying. I love it--it's a great hobby for me and I look forward to it all year. This year I am accompanying 7 students at the high school. I predict that at least 3-4 will go to region, maybe more. At region I will pick up an additional 2 students from a neighboring high school. Luckily, region will be held at our local high school this year, which makes things so simple! I often wish I could substitute some of my teaching time with accompanying time. I have one student whose parents pay me to accompany as part of her practice time once or twice a month and I LOVE that--I wish I could find more of that kind of work!!
I've been contemplating going back to work to get my Masters degree. There is a Therapist in my ward who has been encouraging me to get my Master of Social Work. USU has recently made a Master's program available in my community and he even offered to provide the supervised clinical hours I would need to get the degree. I thought the suggestion was kind of silly and laughed it off but Vince didn't. I thought there was no possible way we could pay for that but was then remembered of some legitimate hometown scholarships that would help. I still think it would be pretty impossible given my current schedule of teaching, working, and speech. I can't give any of that up yet, as the teaching and working is helping to pay for speech and we can't change that for now. But maybe when speech is over.... If I had my degree and worked in my field we could afford for Vince to get his master's. For now I think I've decided to try to take the GRE this summer, or at least start preparing for it. Then I'll wait until the time seems right.
Speaking of speech, it is IEP time at the school and so Nathan has been going through a battery of tests to see if he qualifies for services at school. When the kids turn 8, the government says they must have a real "diagnosis" and not just "developmental delay". Nathan's testing very well!! So far he only qualifies for services because of math (no one is really concerned about his math--it's obvious he had an 'off' day). This may change when they finish testing. He may not qualify for any services. This is bittersweet for me. I'm sooo relieved and excited to see the results be so great but I worry about him not getting services. I feel like it will be completely our responsibility at home and while we generally take on that responsibility anyway, I'm not comfortable with it being concretely something we deal with ourselves. It's scary because I'm not certain we have all the knowledge and tools to give him everything he needs ourselves. To add to the angst, the speech therapist is even saying he will likely not even qualify for speech services through the school, much to the surprise of everyone else who works with him! (The resource teacher even said that if that happens but that she still gets to help Nathan she would like to have language goals for him--I'm grateful for her--I know that language goals are not really her job.) I don't think highly of the services they offer here but it has been a small comfort to know that if for some reason we couldn't get him to Salt Lake for services, at least he would have something here. Maybe not so. I feel discouraged that we may be 'forced' to continue what increasingly becomes more of a burden to get our son the help he deserves. I'll admit that it was comforting when the mother that we are carpooling with me said last week, "I do not understand how you have been able to keep this up for so long. We've only been driving once a week for a month and it's been a major adjustment. I don't know if we could ever do what you've managed." I wanted to hug her. I know I complain about it a lot but that's because it really is so hard. And yet we know it's so necessary so we keep plugging through it. It's made all the difference in the world for Nathan and I know I should be grateful that we've been able to find all the resources to make it happen but it's still discouraging to know we're not done with it and we can't even see when the end will be. And that we really may have NO option or help from public education.
Friday, February 10, 2012
CEO Ivy
This morning Ivy was recognized by her teacher as a Chief Example to Others (CEO) Her teacher, Ms. M writes:
"Ivy is a great CEO student. She has a true thirst for knowledge, and will not be satisfied until she knows ALL of the answers. She tackles all problems head on, and is creative when finding her solutions. Ivy is passionate about her learning, and will defend her answers to almost no end (we're still discussing/debating some answers). Her resourcefulness in the classroom has proven her point of view many times! She also is a model citizen in our classroom. She listens to others and has thoughtful insights to add to writing, problem solving, or discussions. Never let your passion for learning, and that drive to find the right answers, leave you. It's powerful stuff! Every teacher will love it!"
I'm very fond of this teacher. She's new to our school and very young but I love pretty much everything about her teaching style, organization of the classroom, interactions with the students,... I was impressed this fall when I first met her as Ivy's teacher and the more time I spend working at the school the more I find to like. She's quite remarkable! She's been great for Ivy who has literally blossomed this year. She's matured so much and has learned to love learning--she hasn't always--I believe she's inspired by this teacher. We're noticing a difference at home, too. Like tonight, for example. I had to drive to speech because the other car in the carpool was broken. Generally, I'm home Friday when it's Ivy's night to cook. I forgot to remind her this morning that it was her turn and I also left the cell phone at home so I couldn't call to remind her. I didn't see her after the CEO meeting before school and I also didn't leave a note or tell her where any of the ingredients I purchased for her meal were. So I was prepared to let everyone have sandwiches tonight and supervise Ivy's cooking tomorrow night. I was so pleased to come home (and it's been a looooong day--one of those days) to find a warm meal on the table, which was set and ready for the family. She baked chicken drumsticks, oven potatoes, cooked some green beans and added salad. She had to wash, cut and season those potatoes. We're very proud of Ivy! It's a blessing when the kids become more responsible than their mother--maybe I don't need the cell phone anymore!!
"Ivy is a great CEO student. She has a true thirst for knowledge, and will not be satisfied until she knows ALL of the answers. She tackles all problems head on, and is creative when finding her solutions. Ivy is passionate about her learning, and will defend her answers to almost no end (we're still discussing/debating some answers). Her resourcefulness in the classroom has proven her point of view many times! She also is a model citizen in our classroom. She listens to others and has thoughtful insights to add to writing, problem solving, or discussions. Never let your passion for learning, and that drive to find the right answers, leave you. It's powerful stuff! Every teacher will love it!"
I'm very fond of this teacher. She's new to our school and very young but I love pretty much everything about her teaching style, organization of the classroom, interactions with the students,... I was impressed this fall when I first met her as Ivy's teacher and the more time I spend working at the school the more I find to like. She's quite remarkable! She's been great for Ivy who has literally blossomed this year. She's matured so much and has learned to love learning--she hasn't always--I believe she's inspired by this teacher. We're noticing a difference at home, too. Like tonight, for example. I had to drive to speech because the other car in the carpool was broken. Generally, I'm home Friday when it's Ivy's night to cook. I forgot to remind her this morning that it was her turn and I also left the cell phone at home so I couldn't call to remind her. I didn't see her after the CEO meeting before school and I also didn't leave a note or tell her where any of the ingredients I purchased for her meal were. So I was prepared to let everyone have sandwiches tonight and supervise Ivy's cooking tomorrow night. I was so pleased to come home (and it's been a looooong day--one of those days) to find a warm meal on the table, which was set and ready for the family. She baked chicken drumsticks, oven potatoes, cooked some green beans and added salad. She had to wash, cut and season those potatoes. We're very proud of Ivy! It's a blessing when the kids become more responsible than their mother--maybe I don't need the cell phone anymore!!
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