Rooibos is my favorite non-caffeinated tea. It's got an earthy flavor (not fruity) that has heft to it... so it doesn't feel like drinking flavored hot water. If you can have dairy, I like rooibos with half and half. I also add maple syrup sometimes if I'm in the mood for a sweet drink.

I'm a resource room teacher, so kids come to my room for reading, or math, or writing, and then go back to their general ed classrooms. I'm curious about what happens in other schools when kids come to the resource room for part of a block. For example, a 3rd grade classroom has 60 minutes of math per day, and a student in that class has 45 minutes of math per day in their IEP, so they go back to the classroom and there is still 15 minutes of math going on. Do you send the kids on their way and be done with it, or are you expected to provide material for the classroom teacher for the other 15 minutes of math? Many teachers at my school seem to think that I should provide work for kids to fill any free time that the kids have. My opinion is that once the kids leave my room, they belong to the classroom teacher, so he or she needs to provide the work (or differentiate the work, or provide different work). I'm happy to collaborate on what the work could be, but I think it should be directed by the classroom teacher. (I.e. if the student is really so far outside what the class is doing as to make the work impossible to differentiate, then the kid should have their IEP modified to reflect that, and get more intervention time in the resource room.) Another hypothetical example would be if a classroom has 5 blocks of math per week, but I only see the student for 3 blocks per week. Teachers want me to fill the other 2 blocks for the student while they're in the genreal ed classroom (so, the student is doing completely different work from the rest of the class for two whole blocks per week). I think I shouldn't provide the work for this. This is causing some tension at work so I want to make sure I've thought about all possible points of view. What do you/would you do?

That was beautiful. I'm so sorry for the loss of your sweet cat. 💔

I agree it was strange. 😕

So when she starts eating her lunch, what would happen if you were like, "Hey mom, where's my portion?"

Sending you a million hugs. I can't even imagine this level of stress and sadness. Also, I have no experience with lawyers, but... I would totally call the closest attorney and get in there ASAP. You need someone who understands all of these legalities inside and out. When DH and I bought our house, I had to call a lawyer for something totally trivial related to the purchase. I was really nervous because I thought "attorneys" were just scary for some reason. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that attorneys are just normal nice people (at least the two I talked to were).

I'd probably go with #2. Ask for a promotion and a raise. I'd also start looking for and applying for a new job. Is the conventional wisdom still that it's better to be employed while looking for a new job, so you don't have gaps in employment history? Sorry you were bait and switched. Ugh. It's so disheartening to realize that The Company doesn't care about you personally the way you thought they did. I know that I could leave my current school today and most people would be more annoyed about the inconvenience than sad about me personally not being there. 😕

Awwww, that is awesome. I wish I knew some dyslexic teachers!

A lot of places don't use the term dyslexia. They use "specific learning disability in reading" instead. (How is that specific.... don't ask me! The terminology bugs me to no end.) So, if a kid is having trouble reading, and is tested and score poorly, they'll be called a student with a specific learning disability in reading. They might not be called dyslexic but they likely are. If they struggle enough to adversely effect their academics, they'll receive special ed services in reading. My district doesn't like to use the term dyslexic because they claim there's no one universally accepted definition, so using the term will be confusing. I think that excuse is BS personally.

I'm sorry you have to deal with that 😢

My friend uses Tracfone and gets great Verizon service. She pays something like $10 or $20 per month, and she's got some kind of Samsung smartphone. She swears by it! We're going to switch to Tracfone ASAP.

Thanks everyone!! 🛶⛵

I've always wanted to try it. I like swimming. I think kayaking is okay, but kind of boring and slow, so it's not always worth the hassle of getting the kayaks onto the car, off the car, back into the car, back into the garage... Paddleboards are on sale at a place near me right now. Wondering if I should go for it.

Hmm. Might be worth investigating this a bit more.

Does he understand "before" and "after?" I worked with a kid once who did not understand this. For example, I put a bunch of toys in a line. If I said, "Which toy is right after the truck?" he wouldn't know what I was talking about. He had to be explicitly taught before and after (and then lots more prepositions.... between, nearby, etc). So, saying "15 minutes after 2" would be really hard if he doesn't know before/after.

Ditto. I would much rather live 20 minutes from inlaws that I love than right next door to them.

Well, I'm in special ed so it's a bit different. I'm able to customize a lot. I'm also able to mix kids from different grades, which is awesome. I know the general ed teachers sometimes have kids from different grades in a class. Actually, from my perspective, at my school the kids who excel get more of their needs met than the kids that struggle. But that might be because I see more of that side of things.

I wouldn't say that. It's my school's guiding principle.

Wouldn't they move him once they saw he was acing every assignment/test in the remedial class?

That's a really great idea!

This is really fantastic!

Oh my gosh, I just heard about these sweet birds on the radio. I love them so much!!

Yes...I think they're missing the crucial step.

The kids at my school all use planners, with a page for each day that has a space for each subject. They write down Monday's assignments on the Monday page, and so on. I guess I don't really understand this system. Once Monday is over, they turn the page and it's like Monday never existed. For any assignment that's due later than the next day, how does this system help them remember? If the lab report was assigned on Monday and due on Thursday, how does the planner help them remember it? Nobody seems to write anything on a monthly planner or anything long range. I prefer to just have a simple list of things to do (these days on Google Docs), with due dates noted beside them. That way I can see everything that's due. In addition to the master list, I put each of the items on a different document with categories of of Do Today, Do This Week, and Do This Month. It works pretty well. Anyway, no real point to this except to say that I think the daily planners are not super user-friendly for kids, but that's the type of student planner I see in every store.

Are you guys fans of I Mom So Hard yet? Mom camp: https://www.facebook.com/awestruckTV/videos/1900703556871896/ Mom camp podcast: Why do we pay so much for camp for kids??