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Dobela

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Posts posted by Dobela

  1. I agree that you need to start watching clearance shoes. The trick is to buy them when they are available and before you need them. Right now it is back to school and everything is picked over. When my son was that age we had great experience with New Balance, Nike, and Adidas. I rarely paid $30, but I also didn't wait to buy them when I needed them. If he had an odd growth spurt, I was also always able to sell them for at least what I had bought them for.

  2. I wouldn't leave toys out. When my dd was little I had them all up high in bins. No toys in her room either. She had to ask for anything, and then we could pick it up before she could get the next bin. All school supplies behind closet doors except for art.

     

    You're at a hard stage with lots of littles.

     

    You're finding the things that work, like that kickboxing video, like nature walks. I can't keep a time schedule either, mercy, but there's a FLOW to our day.

     

    Have you looked at workboxes? I'm not saying to overwhelm yourself with setting up a million workboxes. However it might get your mind going with some ideas of how to have a structure that flows. When my dd was little we used a pocketchart, but that was only for one kid. With more kids, workboxes make more sense. You can have a tower of drawers for each kid (8,6, 4) and put things in each drawer. Then they just work through their drawers. So for instance your ds might have that kickboxing dvd in his first drawer. Then it might be a slip of paper with a picture of the computer and the word math. Then the next drawer be a slip with a tree and he's to take a bag on a nature walk and go collect something. Or put a nature guide in the drawer and he's to find 3 things to look up on his walk. Or put a sketchbook in the drawer and he's to draw something on his nature walk. Or put a camera in the drawer and he's to take pictures on his walk. Next drawer has his handwriting pages, because now he's worn out and ready to settle down. Next drawer is his book he's reading. Next drawer says lunch. Next drawer says snap circuits or a science kit.

    I know someone who has all toys in bins and up on shelves. At most the kids (she has 4) can have 2 bins at the same time. When finished playing, the kids put the toys away and then receive other bins. They are allowed some toys (like a couple of dolls and a few changes of clothes, a small stack of books, a few pieces of paper and a few crayons) at all times. I think she even calls this her 'toy library'. It was difficult getting it together and making it routine, but once they got going, she says it works very well.

  3. You know, after a couple of incidents similar to the OP, we always give our son $20 when he goes out with another family - just in case. Sometimes he spends it, sometimes just on junk he wanted, sometimes he returns home with it all. We always pay for everything another child needs when with us (not wants), but are discovering that not everyone else does.

  4. Wow!! I have been thinking of tutoring using the Susan Barton system. (It uses the OG phonograms, I do believe :)) I was thinking that to start I could maybe do $25 or so an hour. :)

     

    Maybe that would be a good deal for families? :) I do well with teaching.... if I had finished college instead of headed to nanny, I was going to teach :)

    :)

    I would ask around and see what the prices are in your area. I was talking ot my son's tutor the other day and she actually dropped prices some due to the economy, but doesn't feel it has helped bring in any students. The trick is to be priced just enough that you are not outrageous, but not so low that you undervalue what you are offering. If that makes sense.

  5. The Barton certified one that had no college education was only $35 an hour, and wanted a 4 year commitment of 2 days of tutoring per week. The one with college degrees was $50 an hour and wanted a 4 year commitment of 3 days per week. We went with a different reading and language specialist trained in the Scottish Rite method who wanted us to come 4 days per week for 2 years. We negotiated down from $50 to $365 a month if we paid for the month in advance.

  6. I would start reading again. My son responded the same way as your child. We hire an O-G tutor and had him start at the beginning. It was AMAZING how many gaps he really had thanks to his vision. He had also developed the habit of guessing. His VT told me that before he had probably never seen the same letter the same way twice which meant that he really didn't know which sounds matched those letters and combinations of letters. Once he began making that phonetic connection, his reading skyrocketed. If you have not tried LiPS since beginning VT I would certainly try it again.

  7. The therapists here call those braces AFOs - ankle foot orthotics. My dd has worn them at different times. The hardest part for me was finding shoes to wear over them as they can widen the foot considerably.

     

    Not all people with EDS wear braces. The granddaughter of a friend no longer needs them although she still takes lots of dance, gymnastics, and did take lots of PT and OT to build up her strength to prevent hyper-extension. Because EDS effects all connective areas, including those around body organs and she has had to have special considerations whenever she has needed surgery for her digestion issues.

  8. Once we had an initial evaluation of any sort completed, that showed a deficit of any type, we were able to apply for a state funded insurance for our son as he was then considered to have a disability. It began as a supplemental insurance paying for most of what our primary insurance did not pay. We applied thru the state Medicaid offices. It took several months for approval, but it was approved. We did pay a small co-pay each month based on income, but that was very affordable and way less than the therapies out of pocket. FYI, our son's first eval was for OT and it was our OT that told us about this other coverage. After we received the coverage, it then paid for ed psych evals and more. Later, when dh's employer decided to no longer offer us any insurance, we were able to make this ds's primary coverage. I know every state is different, but it could be something worth looking into.

  9. If one is showing signs of dementia, then your dh needs to start paperwork to become the guardian. Having power of attorney is not enough. My mom learned this in the last month while dealing with issues related to my grandmother in the early stages of dementia. Then you are involved with doctors, and are in control of things like home health aids.

     

    You need help. Your children need your attention as well. If they stay in your home, you need someone to come take care of you - laundry dishes, cleaning, prepping meals, etc. Or you can hire someone to come take care of them for a certain number of hours a day. The gp can't fire who you hire. You need sitters to stay with them so your children can still have a life outside of the home. If your church doesn't want to help, then it is time to find other resources and people. Ask other homeschool families who they would recommend. If you live near a college, ask if any nursing students would be willing to work with them a few hours at a time. It is great experience.

  10. I chose private therapy so that my dd would have private sessions, and because in a private setting they can often receive MORE therapy per week than in the school setting.

     

    For both of my kids, they were waaaaaayyyyyyy over done sensory wise in evaluations than in any therapy session. The purpose of the evaluation is to see how far the child can go and it often pushes them to the brink. After 1 VT eval session my calm son was nearly violent he was so aggressive with me -incredibly physical and unable to back down. For my dd this happened in a recent PT eval. Both have always done just fine with the actual therapy sessions though. My dd has 3 hours consecutive so she will be exhausted sometimes, but not aggressive.

  11. I had a hysterectomy in 2005 and feel better than ever. I was in so much pain before the surgery that when my epidural fell out after surgery, and I was in pain, it was less than what I ever experienced before surgery. I didn't even know the line had fallen out.

     

    Hystersisters is a great site with lots of information.

     

    Week 3 and 4 were the hardest for me pain wise interestingly. I remember tiring very easily until week 6 or so. Driving was more exhausting than I anticipated when I was told I could drive again. I did develop unnecessary scar tissue though and some bleeding complications from not following the order of DO NOT LIFT ANYTHING. A friend of mine developed a hernia and then needed more surgery because she decided to vacuum before the doctor gave permission.

     

    I would stock upon easy freezer foods or anything easy to make, but remember that lasagna if large can weigh more than you are allowed to lift. If friends and family want to provide food, welcome it. And then let dd or dh load the dishwasher for you. And do some laundry, and clean the house... Make sure you give your body lots of time to heal properly.

  12. I think that everything I have ever done has disappointed my mother in some way. I didn't participate in the activities she thought I should in high school, I didn't have the right college major, I didn't get married until I was 28 and then I didn't marry the right man with the right pedigree, my house is not clean enough, my kids are not disciplined right. I could go on and on about all this, in fact it was a big topic of discussion between her and I just last week.

  13. One year I had a sale with 3 other friends. We each used a different color sticker. One lady came up, with us sitting there, and had changed stickers on nearly item. We knew it because items had wrong color stickers. When we confronted her about it, she threw this big hissy fit and couldn't believe we would dare accuse her of dishonesty.

     

    Another time, a neighbor was having a sale and someone walked off with a baby bassinet when they were busy. No one paid for it.

     

    One of my mom's favorite stories is of a time when a lady was traveling thru from another state and bought a few of my mom's clothes. My mom is quite small and few people really can wear her clothes or at the time wanted her very dressy work suits and such. Anyway, the clothes fit the lady perfectly and after about 30 minutes she turned around, came back,and bought everything else my mom had put out in her size, then asked if there was anything else left in the house that she might want to sell. My mom went inside, brought out more and sold most of her closet for a good price.

     

     

    At my last yard sale, some guy bought a bunch of junk and then asked for a receipt so his girlfriend would believe him when he said he didn't spend too much money.

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