Star Trek The Next Generation
11 months ago
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Projects
Joel is off this week and busying himself by doing some projects around the house. We decided on a green accent wall in the living room and I think it turned out pretty good!
Monday, November 27, 2017
An Empty Room
Over the past few weeks I've come to the conclusion that our formal dining space would be better served having another purpose. Basically, we were only using it a couple of times a year. Also, the girls have been spending too much time on their iPads lately. So I have done two things. The first is to buy a device by which I can set time limits and bedtimes for internet access on all the devices in the house, as well as parental controls. So the girls now each have an hour of internet access per day on their iPads. (For Ben I have not implemented any time limits, but I did set parental controls on everything and set a 10PM "bedtime" for all his devices).
Yesterday was the day I got all of this set up, and when Caroline hit her time limit and her YouTube videos suddenly stopped working, she rolled around in agony on the kitchen floor for a few minutes. But I will not be taking away without giving anything in return. Over the next couple of weeks the now empty dining room (I sold the dining set on Craigslist yesterday) will be transformed into a technology free space for the kids, with reading chairs and spaces for lego building and drawing. Some day they'll thank me :)
Yesterday was the day I got all of this set up, and when Caroline hit her time limit and her YouTube videos suddenly stopped working, she rolled around in agony on the kitchen floor for a few minutes. But I will not be taking away without giving anything in return. Over the next couple of weeks the now empty dining room (I sold the dining set on Craigslist yesterday) will be transformed into a technology free space for the kids, with reading chairs and spaces for lego building and drawing. Some day they'll thank me :)
Looking Cool, Ben
Ben convinced us to let him have his Hanukkah gift early - it helped that he got As on all three of the tests he had last week - so here he is ensconced in his PlayStation VR helmet. It’s actually pretty cool (yes I did try it).
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Weekly News Roundup
Figured I'd better do a blog update before I get swept up in all the holiday stuff :) Caroline's test results showed that she is doing reading, math and spelling at the end of first/ beginning of second grade level. Her overall IQ score was 88th percentile, though she had some sections where she scored over the 95th percentile. Her academic testing was in the 99th percentile for her grade level for math and spelling and 97th percentile for reading. We sent her scores to the school and as I type I'm waiting to hear back finalizing a meeting for Monday with the principal and the head of the talent development department to discuss. The most likely recommendation I think is going to be to set up what's called a DEP, or differentiated education plan, which would be overseen by the talent development teacher. Less likely scenario would be moving her to first grade. It seems like there is a precedent for doing so but it would likely require more testing for her.
Becca seems to be doing better off her meds, at least at home. Her teachers continue to see a lot of confusion and zoned out behavior at school. At home she seems less stressed and is able to get her homework done quicker and with less drama. She has even been working on her homework on the bus ride home, which is kind of mind boggling to me that she can concentrate on a noisy bus. I have a parent appointment tomorrow with the therapist that we finally settled on for her, who hopefully can work with her to reduce her anxiety at school so that she will be able to get her assignments and tests done. Right now she's taking so long sometimes that it takes her a week to finish a math test and she misses all the "non critical" (ie fun) part of the school day because she's needing to keep working on it.
Ben seems to be doing well right now, he got all A's except for a B in science on his first report card and the second quarter seems to be off to a pretty good start. There's been a lot of drama with his teachers this year -- his social studies teacher missed the entire first quarter for personal reasons, and his math teacher quit in mid October and the new math teacher they finally found by Ben's report is not a good teacher. His science teacher quite frankly seems like a flake and constantly puts in his work as missing even though he has turned it in, and then Ben has to go hunt through her pile of stuff and find his homework to show her he did it. This has happened multiple times and it's the only class where this happens. Sigh.
Hoping for a quiet Thanksgiving week next week :) Wish me luck! I am working Monday and Tuesday and then have the rest of the week off.
Becca seems to be doing better off her meds, at least at home. Her teachers continue to see a lot of confusion and zoned out behavior at school. At home she seems less stressed and is able to get her homework done quicker and with less drama. She has even been working on her homework on the bus ride home, which is kind of mind boggling to me that she can concentrate on a noisy bus. I have a parent appointment tomorrow with the therapist that we finally settled on for her, who hopefully can work with her to reduce her anxiety at school so that she will be able to get her assignments and tests done. Right now she's taking so long sometimes that it takes her a week to finish a math test and she misses all the "non critical" (ie fun) part of the school day because she's needing to keep working on it.
Ben seems to be doing well right now, he got all A's except for a B in science on his first report card and the second quarter seems to be off to a pretty good start. There's been a lot of drama with his teachers this year -- his social studies teacher missed the entire first quarter for personal reasons, and his math teacher quit in mid October and the new math teacher they finally found by Ben's report is not a good teacher. His science teacher quite frankly seems like a flake and constantly puts in his work as missing even though he has turned it in, and then Ben has to go hunt through her pile of stuff and find his homework to show her he did it. This has happened multiple times and it's the only class where this happens. Sigh.
Hoping for a quiet Thanksgiving week next week :) Wish me luck! I am working Monday and Tuesday and then have the rest of the week off.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Zoo Field Trip
The 4th grade visited Asheboro Zoo yesterday. If you have never experienced the entire 4th grade and 5 large buses trying to exit the school parking lot all at once at 5:30 PM you should try it sometime - not.
Friday, November 3, 2017
Friday News Roundup
It's been a seriously busy week. Just getting back into the swing of things and caught up with work would have been enough this week but we also have had a lot of other stuff going on.
1. The girls' teacher conferences. Becca earned all A's for the first quarter of 4th grade. The focus with her is still trying to figure out what's keeping her from getting her classwork finished. We had a psychologist come to the school and observe her during a time she was supposed to be working on answering some questions during literacy, and while the rest of the kids finished 5 or 6 questions she was still stuck on the first one and didn't seem to be able to write anything down although when you ask her she can perfectly articulate what the answer to the question is. She seems to get lost in her own head. The psychologist, who I also met with this week, said he thought it was more related to situational anxiety than ADHD and asked that we stop her meds entirely for now and he has an appointment to meet with her in a week. So much of Becca's conference was spent discussing her puzzling classroom behavior and the psychologist visit, when clearly she's perfectly intelligent enough to get the work done. Caroline's conference on the other hand was also a bit frustrating, as her teacher has not been challenging her at all and although she said there will be more opportunity in the second quarter for enrichment, the examples she showed me of the types of enrichment she had in mind are all stuff Caroline can already do and would be too easy for her.
2. To piggyback on #1, we had Caroline undergo educational testing on Tuesday morning. I brought my laptop with me and worked in the waiting room while she spent several hours with a neuropsychologist taking an IQ test and doing some academic testing to see what grade level she is performing on in reading, spelling and math. About half way through the psychologist popped out for a moment to allow Caroline to take a break, and commented on how much spelling Caroline knows -- "She just spelled 'suspect'!" she said, clearly impressed. And then at the end she also commented that she was surprised how much math she knows and that she's definitely performing ahead of where she ought to be and that it was a good thing that I brought her in for testing. I go back on Tuesday for the official results. We're hoping to be able to use them to set up an IEP for Caroline, to force the school to provide formal enrichment for her.
Besides all of the meetings and appointments, Halloween, work catch-up, piano lesson (Only Caroline now, as Becca has decided to take a break from piano -- school has been very stressful for her so far this year and getting her to practice piano on top of all the school issues was not happening), Becca this afternoon has her first yearbook staff meeting at school, and tonight we have the 4th & 5th grade Shabbat dinner & family service at temple. Phew, what a busy week! Now back to work!
1. The girls' teacher conferences. Becca earned all A's for the first quarter of 4th grade. The focus with her is still trying to figure out what's keeping her from getting her classwork finished. We had a psychologist come to the school and observe her during a time she was supposed to be working on answering some questions during literacy, and while the rest of the kids finished 5 or 6 questions she was still stuck on the first one and didn't seem to be able to write anything down although when you ask her she can perfectly articulate what the answer to the question is. She seems to get lost in her own head. The psychologist, who I also met with this week, said he thought it was more related to situational anxiety than ADHD and asked that we stop her meds entirely for now and he has an appointment to meet with her in a week. So much of Becca's conference was spent discussing her puzzling classroom behavior and the psychologist visit, when clearly she's perfectly intelligent enough to get the work done. Caroline's conference on the other hand was also a bit frustrating, as her teacher has not been challenging her at all and although she said there will be more opportunity in the second quarter for enrichment, the examples she showed me of the types of enrichment she had in mind are all stuff Caroline can already do and would be too easy for her.
2. To piggyback on #1, we had Caroline undergo educational testing on Tuesday morning. I brought my laptop with me and worked in the waiting room while she spent several hours with a neuropsychologist taking an IQ test and doing some academic testing to see what grade level she is performing on in reading, spelling and math. About half way through the psychologist popped out for a moment to allow Caroline to take a break, and commented on how much spelling Caroline knows -- "She just spelled 'suspect'!" she said, clearly impressed. And then at the end she also commented that she was surprised how much math she knows and that she's definitely performing ahead of where she ought to be and that it was a good thing that I brought her in for testing. I go back on Tuesday for the official results. We're hoping to be able to use them to set up an IEP for Caroline, to force the school to provide formal enrichment for her.
Besides all of the meetings and appointments, Halloween, work catch-up, piano lesson (Only Caroline now, as Becca has decided to take a break from piano -- school has been very stressful for her so far this year and getting her to practice piano on top of all the school issues was not happening), Becca this afternoon has her first yearbook staff meeting at school, and tonight we have the 4th & 5th grade Shabbat dinner & family service at temple. Phew, what a busy week! Now back to work!
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Legos
Caroline has become my little LEGO fiend! She can put them together by herself with minimal assistance and in one sitting, both key factors in maintaining parental LEGO sanity. Super cute photo credit to Aunt Kathleen!
Pumpkin Carving!
No rest for the weary - Back in the US for 24 hours and it was time to carve the pumpkins!
Paris
Paris was amazing! We flew out Friday evening, arriving around 8 a.m Paris time Saturday morning. Fortunately we were able to check into our apartment early, so we took a nap for a couple of hours and then set out to explore around noon. We visited the musee D'Orsay and bought museum passes, and walked around / got our bearings. Sunday we spent at the Louvre and then took a bicycle cab to the Champs Elysees and walked to the Arc de Triomph from there. We figured out how to take the metro back to our apartment. Monday we visited Napolean's tomb and the French military museum, walked along Rue Cler and had lunch there, then visited the Orangerie museum. Tuesday we spent the morning at Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle and then took the train to Rouen where we found the spot where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and walked around the super cute shopping/dining areas there. Wednesday we drove to Utah beach and Point du Hoc and visited the American cemetery at Omaha Beach, and Thursday we went back to Omaha Beach and the museum there/ walked on the beach and then drove to Bayeux where we saw the Bayeux Tapestry, and then we drove to Caen and returned our rental car and took the train back to Paris. Friday we spent the morning shopping and walking around and found some awesome falafel in the Jewish quarter :) Then we had dinner (our 15th anniversary!) at 58 Tour Eiffel restaurant, in the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. Saturday we flew back home, where Mike and Kathleen had done a great job taking care of the kids for the week! We were happy to be home but could easily have spent longer in France, I won't lie :) It was an amazing week! Back to reality!!!
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