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4KookieKids

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Everything posted by 4KookieKids

  1. Good call on the override option. My 6 year old has been getting really frustrated with all the grade 4 and 5 questions. Thanks for letting me know it was an option! (Particularly because it wasn't with the parent account I started off with, so I had to do some digging - which I only did because I already knew it should be available somehow!) :)
  2. These are all very popular in my house especially the kingdom of wrenly. Also, we just spent a lot of time in the nonfiction section. It was safe but offered a lot of Variety. Books about everything from transportation to ballet, Legos to zoology.
  3. Well, since physical touch is one of my main love language is, I do cover the “in bed†side of things pretty thoroughly… ;) And anytime he’s asked what he wants, he usually doesn’t now. About the time he figures it out, he just goes and buys it himself. I do think the surprise factor, and the unexpected factor, part of what makes it special for him. :)
  4. Great idea! Ha ha. Me either!! Can you tell?? lol. I think perhaps for a while, several per week might be best to get his love-tank "full".
  5. Ha ha. No, he definitely wants to spend even more money right now, just because it makes him feel like we're not so broke. He doesn't have the best financial sense, and has no concept of how quickly things add up. He's pretty honest about the fact that credit cards don't feel like real money to him - it's just free money you can do with what you want! lol. Needless to say, we view money differently. But I don't want lack of funds to stop me from gifting him, which is why I'm looking for ideas. I baked him cornbread after he went to bed last night and left it for him to find this morning with a little note (he gets up at 3am and leaves for work by 415am), and he wrote me that it just made his whole morning. Yes, it involved spending *some* money - but almost nothing (corn meal and flour and eggs are dirt cheap) - so I felt like this was a win-win. Thanks for this thought, though! If he were different, it would definitely be good food for thought! :)
  6. Thanks for all the great ideas so far! Gift-giving is last on my list of things-I-care-about, and it often feels like a frivolous waste of money to me... I'm more of a quality time and physical affection sort of girl. So I'm trying hard just to come up with more ways to step outside of my normal comfort zone and way of thinking. It's hard to wait until he wants or needs something, because he's a relatively impulsive buyer and will just go out and buy anything he needs, rather than grumbling about a situation. But the thrift store is a great idea. He doesn't like "junk", but sometimes, you can really find something neat there. And he does really like coffee cups, if I found some neat ones used or on-the-cheap. Great ideas! This is so helpful. I can't wait to get more ideas!
  7. I've recently been convicted that I don't speak my hubbys primary love-language often enough. Problem is that we're on a super tight budget (we lost 2/3 of our normal monthly income last fall and it doesn't appear that'll be changing anytime soon) and his primary love-language is gift-giving. Besides food (making him special treats to gift him with, buying an occasional candy bar, etc.), I'm looking for creative ideas on how I can fill his gift-giving love-tank without breaking the bank. Even just buying him a book every week is not in our budget right now, but I'd like to do something several times a week for a while. I'd love any ideas you have! :)
  8. My goal this year is to find something that refreshes me and makes me feel rested. I'm looking to compile a list of ideas and then just try them out for 2-4 weeks at a time and see what leaves me a bit closer to my happy place. What started this thought-train was the realization that, althought I regularly spend time online in the name of "taking a break", poking around online doesn't actually leave me feeling refreshed or rested or like I actually had a break. DH and I were talking, and we both realized that we don't even know WHAT refreshes us anymore... lol. I have hobbies, sure - I like to read and play the guitar - and I never have time for those anymore, so I could pick those up and see how fun it is. I think it would be hard for me to play guitar much if I only have time to do it 1-2X/week, though, and I also think it'd be hard for me to have large gaps in the middle of reading a book (I'm just the type who really gets into it). I've considered trying to take a 20 minute power nap each day. I know some folks find walking around Target or shopping to be a nice break, but that's so not me. I love being outdoors, but I think most "me-time" I'm going to be able to conjure up is going to be in the evenings when the kids are in bed and it's too dark to spend much time outdoors. I know some women who find going to homeschooling conferences super refreshing and motivating - I've never been to one, but I can't say they look very appealing to me either. Having quiet time alone and exercising are things that I do regularly already. I realize that what works for you may not work for me. Some of my kids are high-needs, and I'm working on getting some extra help with them. In the meantime, I still think there's value in working on finding my happy place. :) Mostly I'm just looking to brainstorm some ideas, so that I have a decent pool to choose from!
  9. What do you think are pros and cons of starting all of this before her appointment next week to test for dyslexia? Or would you recommend postponing that appointment to see if this just fixes things? ETA:She flew through the TAAS with flying colors (she missed one early on and then the last one) and on the Barton Screening she got the max wrong on all three tasks, but not more, so maybe that's a good sign?
  10. Oh! That’s good to know. At some point in the past when I was asking what to expect from my sons evaluation, I was told it should take 6 to 12 hours spread out over 3 to 4 sessions. And it wasn’t, it was only six hours spread out over two or three sessions and I found that somewhat concerning. But there was autism There.
  11. Ha ha. There's one other option in town, and we have something scheduled with him, but I'm a little skeptical, because he said he expects the appointment to last 4-6 hours. Not spread out over a few days - just 4-6 hours. That doesn't seem like long enough to run a variety of tests to me, but he said they usually just like to get kids in and out in a morning... I'm trying to withhold judgement until I see what he actually tests and how it all shakes out...
  12. You are right. He is very naturally compliant and eager to please . It made dealing with my next three kids a little more challenging at times. LOL. Unfortunately, offering incentives for getting things done quickly often backfires for us. He gets very anxious and stressed out about not having enough time, and then things take even longer because he so stressed out about the prospect of missing the incentive. Alternatively sometimes he’s so focused on thinking about the incentive, he can’t give the task at hand the proper focus . Maybe I’m just using incentives improperly! :-)
  13. I have to confess that I'm not really sure what you mean right here?
  14. This is good to know. Hopefully I can get those library holds in the next few days. At his neuropsych eval last year, they did test for ADHD and said he didn't have it. They said that gifted + ASD often looks like ADHD and certainly does sometimes in him, but the testing showed that he actually has a slight tendency to hyperfocus, actually. I didn't know how to make sense of it, except to conclude that maybe he often hyperfocuses on his OWN thoughts, to the exclusion of what *I* want him to do, so maybe it looks like inattention to me, but if I were in his head, it's quite the opposite? (Like I'm constantly interrupting his one-track mind, lol.) I think the time experiment sounds like an interesting one. I may have to consider spending a day doing a similar experiment... Hmm...
  15. Wow. Thank you so much for your input. My library has three or four of the books mentioned, so I have quite the reading list ahead of me the next few weeks. :-) Mostly, the Autonomy he wants is to structure his own day. He wants to decide when to do his math, went to his reading, went to do his music, etc. There are two main issues with what we’ve tried so far. The first is that some of his daily work has to be done with me, and the times that I am available (given that I have three other children ) never seem to correspond with the times when he wants to do his work with me. By the time he finishes up whatever he’s working on and is ready for me, whatever activity I had previously engaged my younger children with is nearing its end and my younger children Are demanding attention again. The second real issue is that he is not good about organizing his time. Left to his own devices, he takes 10 hours to do 2 1/2 hours of work. He spends a lot of time transitioning, he loses track of what he supposed to be doing, he forgets that he’s on his way to the bathroom and gets distracted playing with his younger siblings, He spends 20 minutes or an hour staring out the window making up a story in his head instead of working on the next task at hand, He spends 20 minutes setting up his piano stuff before he can do his lesson and another 20 minutes cleaning it up, if He remembers to clean it up at all, etc. All right more later but I’ve had more time to think about this and when my kids are in bed. But this is given me a lot to think about so thank you.
  16. What is VSL? I tried googling it, but got a bunch of stuff on marketing and probiotics. How do I help with EF stuff? I will check out the book you suggested, if I can find it - does it suggest things that will help? Is that something a psych would do? We're in the process of applying for an ABA program, but they've told us he's going to be a pretty low priority for them, since they focus on kids < 48 months (and they're the only place in town that offers individual ABA). Is this something that would be addressed by the folks doing the ABA (if we actually get it anytime soon)? I want to jump on this (while I wait for other stuff to go through), because we've had a lot of conflict lately with regards to him wanting to direct himself more, but he does such an abysmal job of it when I do give him more autonomy. As I read through this chart of EF scales and saw how low he scored, I felt like it was a little lightbulb saying maybe if I can help him or get him help with this, he can a bit more of the autonomy and self-direction that he really desperately wants.
  17. I don't think I understand what it is, what "difficulties" with EF look like, and how it might be weaving in and out of the fabric of our lives without us even realizing it. I recently ran across a report that I probably should've paid more attention to at the time, but had other things on my mind, and I'm wondering what good next steps would be. I somehow missed that my ds8 scored pretty low on every single scale in the Comprehensive Executive Functioning Inventory (CEFI): attention, emotion regulation, flexibility, organization, planning, self-monitoring, working memory, etc. Many of these seem (at least in part) similar to struggles that I associate with his ASD-2 dx He's / We've been struggling a lot with life in general lately, and I'm wondering if there are things I can do to at least make some things easier. One point that I find very confusing is that he scored well on the "Selected Executive Functions" similarities, block design, and child trails B (whatever those are!) They are in the same section as his WISC and WRAML results (all of which were in the superior / very superior range), and not in the same section as his very low CEFI results (most of which were between the 9th %ile and the 20th %ile) I don't really know how to interpret this, and any insight would be appreciated!
  18. I could've sworn I recalled a recent thread on helping an AL with executive functioning difficulties, but I can't find it now. Am I just mis-remembering? I seem to feel like it had these cool charts with three things in progress, but I'll be darned if I can remember more details! I recently ran across a report that I probably should've paid more attention to at the time, but had other things on my mind, and I'm wondering what good next steps would be. Despite iq scores being in the very superior range, I somehow missed that my ds8 scored pretty low on every single scale in the Comprehensive Executive Functioning Inventory (CEFI): attention, emotion regulation, flexibility, organization, planning, self-monitoring, working memory, etc. I don't know exactly what that means (honestly) and I'll probably cross post over on the LC board. I guess I'm wondering how to help an AL with EF difficulties? He's been struggling a lot with life in general lately, and I'm wondering if there are things I can do to at least make some things easier. One point that I find very confusing is that he scored well on the "Selected Executive Functions" os similarities, block design, and child trails B (whatever those are!) They are in the same section as his WISC and WRAML results (all high scores), and not in the same section as his very low CEFI results. I don't really know how to interpret this, and any insight would be appreciated!
  19. Cool! I don’t know anything about it (yet), so this is helpful.
  20. I've been considering letting my older two start playing prodigy. I'm not sure if I should start them at the "grade" that corresponds to their current math curriculum or perhaps a bit earlier, so maybe it'll be good review and a bit easier for them initially. Any thoughts?
  21. Hmmm. I like this idea! From the BA website: "BA Online will present a whole new collection of problems and puzzles that are not duplicated in the books. "
  22. Yeah, I agree that it's a bummer. I get that the online stuff sounds super cool, but I already own all the guides that are out, which means that putting each additional child through BA only requires me to buy the practice books. And at a price that's roughly equivalent to a year and a half of online stuff, I know for sure we'll just stick with the books and skip the online stuff... ETA: I have one kid in BA5 right now, one just starting BA2, and two more littles who will most likely go through it. I think it *might* be different for future folks, though, especially ones that have fewer kids. If you only have one kid, and are look at $400 in curriculum vs $480 for four years of BA online (and an AL may get through it in 2-3 years, at a price that is then substantially cheaper than buying all the guide and practice books), then I think the online program and price might seem very enticing.
  23. Another vote for DragonBox here! All four of my kids love those apps! Also, you mentioned apple apps, but I don't know if you have a kindle? My kids have a bunch of Amazon underground apps (so totally free, but legit and not pirated) of games called stuff like "Learning games for preschool" and "2nd/3rd/(blank) grade learning games" that they enjoy.
  24. Would this thread be helpful to you? http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/667652-singapore-6-or-aops-pre-algebra/
  25. The Y worker apologized for the situation, and said she was unaware of it (my kids explained what happened to me in front of the Y worker - not trying to tattle, but just in response to me asking them why they looked so glum). I think it's true that he may come across as bossy sometimes, but I think it's more likely (from watching him interact at 4H while I tended younger kids from afar) that he's just not forward enough at other times. The most recent thing at the Y was an example: he asked to play with some kids who were starting up a basketball game. They asked if he knew how to play, and he said, "No" when what he meant was that he didn't really know a lot about it but wanted to learn anyway. So they told him he couldn't play, and he didn't know what to say or do, except sit on the sidelines and watch them play (and take up the entire gym while they were at it so there was really nothing he could do but watch, which I do think was on the adult present at that point). But in other situations, I have to reign in his inadvertent bossiness a lot and remind him that other kids don't have to follow his rules to have fun. :)
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