mktkcb
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Posts posted by mktkcb
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in our house it's simple. The couches eat them.
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A couple good books: Raising you Spirited Child, and Out of Sync Child. OOSC will give you a good overall picture of SPD, which it sounds like you dd hs to a mild degree. My son is VERY similar. Not over the top spd, but *there* iykwim. My son hates doing things he isn't good at. Period. Well....he hates some things he is good at also LOL, but he has a very low frustration tolerance. All the advice you've gotten is good.
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How about just assuming that he isn't mature enough to treat the computer properly and waiting till he is 7 to let him touch it again. Unless it is legitimate schoolwork. As for restitutuion, maybe decide how many extra chores you want him to accomplish to "pay" for the damage, get a nice big picture of a computer, cut it up in that many pieces, and let him glue another piece of the puzzle every time he finishes an extra chore. When the picture is together, he has worked off the damage, so to speak. I think these are both logical consequences, and not over the top considering that we're talking about an expensive piece of equipment. I'll bet that if you just matter of factly do this, when he gets the privilege back at age 7 he'll think a bit more.
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My daughter's first (and so far only) bow has been the lowest end carbon fiber bow from Shar. Its a very good bow. Around $100. My dd is 16 and has been taking for almost 3 years. Hopefully in the next 6 months or so we'll get her a better bow, but this one has been very serviceable. Definitely better than any $30 cheapie. Here's a link. Actually, I think the price has gone up about $50 on these since we got one.
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Mine got progressively younger. Oldest at 5, next at 4, youngest ds learned to read at 3. He loved sounds & he picked it up pretty easily. He's very auditory, however, and read *everything* outloud for*ev*er. Always with wonderful expression and fluency, but outloud. He was probably 8 before he could genuinely read silently. He would subvocalize (whisper read very quietly). He still reads slowly, and I am convinced that his brain still goes through the extra step.....meaning instead of going from eyes to comprehension, the info goes from eyes to mentally "hearing" it, then to comprehension. Strange child :o). But then...he's my pianist, has perfect pitch, and flawless auditory memory. Loves theater, funny sounds, voice tricks & gags. A big EAR :o). No real visual processing problems, though. I've considered having him do a speed reading course to work on training his brain to skip that extra hearing step. He's 13 now, and is a good reader, but not an avid one. He much prefers technical reading to real literature :ob. You can lead a horse to water.....
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Not to throw you off or anything, but If I were you, I would switch to Sparkpeople. It is very easy to enter food, and they will set up an ideal nutrition balance for *you*. Whenever I look at my pie chart (you can see it in table form as well), it shows what I am shooting for next to what I actually ate. JMO
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Mary Rice Hopkins!! She has the best fun music. My kids loved her when they were little. I also like Judy Rodgers and Donut Man. *sniff* my oldest is 18 now, and my youngest is 13. Good memories.
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yep we are. My kids have been involved for about 3 years in a local k-12 children's theater (about 235 kids total per performance). Ds (youngest) started with Peter Pan & got to fly as Michael (way cool). Middle dd joined for Oliver, then Oldest joined the rest to do Joseph and the Technicolor dreamcoat. After Joseph they did Music Man, then Wiz of OZ, and the fall show this year is Lil Abner (perform in Feb). Frankly it's a blast. DS is refusing to do Sound of Music which will come after Lil abner, but my girls are dying to be nuns (16yo and 18yo) LOL! It is an incredibly well run group, the directors are christians, but it isn't a "christian" group in any way. It has a good mix of public/private/christian/home schooled kids, and they do an amazing job. Totally inclusive (any kid can join, no auditions for ensemble cast)...they encourage parents with special needs kids to join. They have auditions for lead roles, they encourage everyone to try out who is interested, and they double or triple cast leads, and occasionally make up additional roles to include as many kids as possible. They are truly fabulous, they have fabulous people working for them. And they do their best to keep the cost relatively low. We're geeks all the way.
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Well, every kid is different, so for each child there is a different combo of: 1) honoring their preference 2) making them do/try something because even though they "say" they won't like it, I know them well enough to know that they will. Example: neither dd1 or dd2 did formal music lessons early in life. They learned recorder in coop class, we did lots of classical music at home etc. but no lessons. When it did become an option, dd 1 wanted nothing to do with formal music lessons. Knowing her, I respected that. She is very math/science oriented, and not so artsy. dd2 begged for violin lessons at 13 so she does that, but when a very good homeschool choir opportunity came up (she loves to sing), she flatly refused, saying she would hate it...no no no. I *made* her go, because I know her. She loved it, and is still involved after a year and a half. 2 kids, 2 different styles. Ds is a generally gifted, and a very good musician, but an EXTREMELY difficult kid (think spd). I started him in piano at age 7. He is a natural musician, but because of his personality, would quit if I let him. I don't let him quit. He also does musical theater, but that is *totally* up to him. He has chosen to do about 6 shows in a row now, but wants nothing to do with the next one. Fine. no problem. So in a nutshell, know thy child. there is always that tightrope to walk between supporting their decisions, encouraging them in a particular direction, and making them do whats good for them even if they don't like it right off (or ever?).
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Well, I use paper plates all the time. Not for sit down sloppy food dinners, but pizza/hotdog type ones sometimes, and certainly lunches and the like. I get a big box cheap at Costco and it lasts a long time. At the rate my kids seem to be able to get dishes into the dishwasher, it works well for us. We hate washing dishes LOL :o).
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Well, my dd just got her first Dell. They were selling the new thinner/lighter Inspiron 15 for the same sale price as the old model. Ended up being 1000, but that's with an extra year of in-home repair (if needed), and Microsoft Office Student. It comes standard with a year of Lojack for computers.
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summer bday 18, summer bday 18, fall bday almost 19
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I decluttered 2 whole bathrooms, and got rid of tons of little junk/trash. Once I start with 1 thing, it's hard to stop.
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Your Ben sounds SO much like my Ben it's downright uncanny :o)! Only mine's 13. I also have "The Explosive Child" on my shelf. I gleaned some good info from it, but I wouldn't say I use that method to a T. ITA with you about having to be very discerning with kids like this to separate out what is truly willful disobedience from what is just sensory overload/impulsivity. Everything you said sounds just like my son, and how I parent :o). I think we're twins :o)! Hang in there. BTW, if you don't yet have the book Out of Sync Child, that is a great one to read as well. It pulled together a lot of "pieces" for me that had seemed unrelated to each other in my son as a whole. A good read.
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Well, I first read this when my now 18.5 yr old was 2. It was THE best book. It was so reassuring to know that there were other children like this. I already knew how to discipline, but it was just very good encouragement, and very POSITIVE. My dd is still "spirited".....for me, spirited meaning just extra hyper, quirky, sensitive...whatever, but not quite "enough" to make you want to go get a diagnosis for something. It was the quality that made me homeschool her, as I honestly couldn't fathom foisting my crazy dd on a poor unsuspecting teacher LOL! For the record she is lovely and gracious now, drove me nuts till about age 13, then got into gear and became very responsible, ultra logical, and self motivated. I now know more about sensory processing disorder, and am more than convinced that many of their issues are spd. My 13yo son is very like his sister....only even more emotional and up and down. VERY challenging *every* *single* *day*. Sweet, loving, idealistic, good heart.....but incredibly impulsive, immature, and emotional, not to mention some mild physical things typical of spd as well. I'm SO glad I read this book lo those many years ago. I cried when I read it.
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Get thee to tasty kitchen...or allrecipes or something of that ilk. Sparkpeople has a recipe board that would probably have lots of healthy/from scratch stuff.
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I would go with Faber Piano Adventures. Get the level she is at. At the very least, get the method book, the theory book, and the technique book. This is the best method out there, IMO. You can find them at any music store, and they have TONS of fun supplementary books of all styles of music. PA uses the landmark/interval approach to teach note reading, so kids will learn C and G first, then High and Low C, and it goes from there. They get kids moving all over the keyboard early, so that kids don't get mentally stuck in C or G position and can't read any music otherwise. I would use some note flashcards for a few minutes a day. Put the note on the music ledge, and have her name it and play it. Start with the ones she already knows well, and go from there. The best way to learn to sightread, just like reading books, is to read lots of easy readers. The theory books in PA will have little sightreading exercises in them, and will teach how to sightread. Use these steps with some fun pieces in a couple books that are below her learning level. Always keep a couple fun *easy* books around to do this with. Even if you have to get a silly little pre-primer off staff book. It is funny to me that no one questions the wisdom of having lots of easy readers around when kids are actually learning to read books, but when it comes to music lessons, many parents don't even think about buying some extra easy reader piano books just for fun, as their kids progress. Anyway, just some tips. YMMV.
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We have a panasonic with 2 handsets. Not incredibly expensive, but it works great for what we need it to do. The answering machine is on the main phone holder.
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Sometimes dh gets a bonus....I don't think we got one this year. His accounting firm is very small, though, and they have a Christmas party every year with a gift exchange. We came home with chocolate. :o). Dh also does accounting for our church, though, and they were very generous and gave him 2 $100 gift certificates for Amazon, and another $100 gift certificate for Walmart. That was really nice.
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Merry Christmas from Sunny Southern CA. Probably the warmest spot (aside from maybe Florida) in the country judging from the weather map on the news last night. Actually it is sunny but cool.
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Well, my son is 13, but he's not that mature. His favorite gifts this year were probably the golf putter he got from grandma and grandpa (he's a golf nut....why? I have no idea. He has only played miniature golf. We don't watch golf. He knows we won't give him lessons because of the cost. He's just quirky), and the Make-your-own-opoly game. He is also a board game nut.
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Lets see.
From dh:
A really nice paring knife
2 books: 1 of puritan prayers, the other "Truman" by David McCullough (one of my very favorite history authors)
New toaster over
Starbucks card
music cd
From Mom and Dad:
An apron made from vintage material that my mom got from *her* mom's ancient stash from a bygone era. Very cool.
Pineapple Cilantro candles with holder from Yankee Candle..mmmmm
Mango something lotion from Bath and Body Works.
From Nephew and daughter
starbucks cards (you can never have too many after all)
From Niece:
cute Christmas jingle bell decoration for hanging on a doorknob
From Sister and Bro in law:
Nice note cards made from flower photos that sis took herself.
I got a couple other small things, but I'd have to go back and look in *my box o stuff* to remember what they are.
All in all a nice Christmas.
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LOL! Whatever wine will get you drunk the quickest. Personally? I'd have some pizza waiting in the wings ;o).
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you know...the latest Supernanny was a really good one. SN goes through the timeout steps really clearly, among other things. It was just thought it was a particularly good one. You might find it helpful. http://abc.go.com/watch/supernanny/153459/243986/beck-family
California weather question
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I think this is an especially el-nino-y year. I agree with the other poster who likened it to the el nino of 10 years ago. This series of storms have been doozies. Here in Santa Clarita (far north LA county) we are very soggy, but not in particular danger of mudslides like areas SE of us. Woulda been fun to see some snow, but oh well. Thats *really* rare. I'm personally ready to see sun. It will be SO beautiful and clear and sunny and green and shiny!! All the creeks and washes (dry riverbeds) will have water for awhile. There are some very nice local hikes to waterfalls that will be nice to do this spring. I do love rain, but it wears on me. I'd have a hard time living in the Pac NW. Frankly, a 2 day dose every 2 weeks would be just about perfect :o).