MrsRobinson
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Posts posted by MrsRobinson
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I was hoping to see more replies here since this is a weak area for me. They have daily chores but I have to tell them a zillion times to do them. I was putting them on a dry erase board and they'd come check it off (which was way better) but I don't have the spare time to write it out anymore.
I keep eyeing Accountable Kids. I just wish it was a little cheaper.
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My DS is 9, and has had his palate expander for 15 months. He just moved to wearing it at night only.
Our orthodontist's office is pretty amazing (he was recommended by our dentist). I, too, had worried about impressions, and tried to prep DS for it. Imagine my surprise when it came time for them, and the office didn't use goop to make an impression! Instead, they had this wand with a laser (I think?) on it that they used to take pictures of his mouth. The pictures were used to make a 3-D model of his teeth, and they used that to make his retainer. Amazing! And so, so much less traumatic! This article seems to be about the same kind of machine our dentist used.
If you have a sensitive kid (like I do), finding an orthodontist with one of these machines is completely worthwhile. (Where were these things when I was a kid??)
Thanks for the link. It might be worth it to call around to find an ortho with that technology.
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Well, dd did some extra reading and worked in a doodle book while she was resting on the couch. After some cuddles and miso soup for lunch she was feeling better. We were able to get math done so I was happy. I didn't make it out to go shopping, though and the schedule is packed so I don't know when I'll have another chance to go.
Tuesday's list:
-2 loads laundry -in progress
-reading
-double spelling lesson
-math
-history reading
-piano practice
-game of dd's choice
-fine motor activity of dd's choice
- baths and prep for out of house activities this evening
-early dinner
Jean- dh and I read and studied like that for a class we took together years ago. I really enjoyed it. We each have a different reading rhythm and it was grating for both of us to listen to the other read aloud. It was much more enjoyable after we switched to simultaneously silent reading. We were still there to discuss and study together.
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School work has already been interrupted by a sore throat for dd. I am hoping a 20 min break and some hot tea will fix things. I have too big of a "to do" list this week to have a sickie in the mix!
Today's original list:
-wash bedsheets -in progress
-reading -done
-double spelling lesson -done
-math
-history reading
-piano practice
-summer clothes shopping
-clean out fridge and freezers
I almost forgot the big news! The baby started walking yesterday! I guess I should stop calling him "the baby" (sniff sniff).
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We're OK here. Thursday was a horrible, no good, very bad day with dd at the orthodontist. I was grouchy afterward so I didn't post here. We did get some school work done before the appointment.
Yesterday, dh stayed home with a cold and we have a big event today that we HAVE to attend. Only hospitalization would get us out of it... maybe. ;) So I spent yesterday sterilizing the house and keeping the kids away from dh. I was busy making him tea and soup to try to get him up to par for today. He's not 100% but he'll make it.
We did manage reading, spelling, and math yesterday. I'm happy about that. I'm doing better about making sure we still get some essentials done even when we get thrown a curve ball. A few months ago, dh being sick would have shut down school work completely.
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Thanks for all the insight. A friend of mine that has sent 2 of her kids to this orthodontist, reached out to her fb friend that lives an hour away to get a recommendation for someone we could get a 2nd opinion from. Apparently, she's also had 2 in braces. I'm anxious to hear back from that. I also called today and set up an appointment for a consult with the current dr without dd present and I'm working on writing out my list of questions and things I need clarified. I feel a little better now. :)
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I'm surprised that you paid for the treatment up front. Even though we had the cash to do it up front, None of the orthodontists do it that way. They all required a deposit to start treatment and a monthly payment plan. I think they get better compliance if the parent is paying the bill every month.
At this office, we could have done it that way but they offered a % off for paying in full up front. (After evaluations) We've been saving for it for over a year so we figured we might as well pay it and get the discount.
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What do you consider a pigtail? In my mind it's the same as braids, but that doesn't fit your post.
I'm not the person you asked, but I've always called 2 ponytails with a part down the middle "pigtails."
I hope I'm not derailing here, but to those that do baking soda + vinegar, was there a "transition" where the hair was greasier before it balanced out? If so, how long was it? I'm interested in trying this method for myself but need to time it right if it will look worse before it looks better.
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Dd and I both have thin fine hair. For dd, I do 2 French braids in her freshly washed wet hair before bed. The next day, she wears the braids. The 2nd morning, I take the braids out and she does a stretchy fabric headband to keep it out of her face. It's soft, smooth, and curly and still smells like shampoo at that point. On the 3rd morning, she gets a ponytail or pigtails. There is still enough body in it to hold the ponytails in. She gets another wash that night.
Tea tree oil shampoo has been a huge help for both if us. Paul Mitchell if you're willing to pay $15 a bottle or Trader Joe's has a decent one for $2.99, I believe. And only condition at the ends, never the roots. Very little product, no heat.
That's my 2 cents!
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Thanks for all the replies. :)
To answer a few of the questions:
I had braces myself at 10 and I remember the awful impressions like it was yesterday. I really did try to prepare her and give her tips to take her mind off it by closing her eyes and counting to 100 slowly with her breathing pattern or sing a comforting song in her head. She forgets it all in the moment and hyperfocuses on the discomfort.
I wasn't 2nd guessing the extraction, just asked for clarification. I guess I did ask what an alternative would look like but when he explained I was very agreeable to the extraction and said we'll get that done at the regular dentist office, right?but he went ahead and said why don't we wait on that and see how responsive her mouth is up top.
Regarding aesthetics: I LOVED her twisted little baby smile. It was like a physical representation of her unique personality. Her adult teeth have come in differently and i miss her baby smile so much. I'm all for aesthetics when all her adult teeth are in. I don't see much point in a perfect smile full of teeth that are going to fall out anyway. I was proceeding now because of the palate expander. Dh had one and he was 7. He had more issues though. Narrow airway, raspy voice. He was even doing speech therapy in conjunction with the palate expander. He is, of course, glad his parents had him do all that intervention because who knows what would have happened if he hadn't. So I was for it, thinking her issues were similar, just milder. But now we aren't even doing the expander???
As far as money and time commitment, the money is fine. We've paid it, no stress over having the money (thank you Dave Ramsey) but I don't want to pay for these braces only to have a 2nd round of braces when her adult teeth come in. I do want this money to be put to good use. The time commitment is only an issue because I have to get a sitter for the boys for these bigger appointments. The checkups, I'm hoping I can just hang in the waiting room with the boys. The baby is very attached to me and when I leave him with anyone else they have to be right in his face constantly entertaining him or he melts down. I feel bad for the sitter, really. Again, though, I was willing to go for it because we were told she needed a palate expander.
The regular dentist doesn't do any appliance work. We have to go to the orthodontist. They are both 30 min away so it doesn't really matter in saving time.
Julie of KY- I think I will make an appointment for a consultation alone. That's a good idea. It was too hard to ask all the questions I had and process everything with dd sobbing and squeezing my hand, lol!
Sixpence- I forgot she'll have to do them again after braces anyway! She told ds as they were getting ready for bed "I hope you never have to have impressions. They were terrible!" So I told her she's getting them again at some point. We chatted for a few minutes about the whole thing. I tried reassure her that I had faith in her that she could "make a good impression." She cracked up and I think maybe I could get her where she needs to be emotionally for it to be successful.
UCF612- how old was your son when he got his palate expander? How long was it in for? Did they follow with braces immediately?
EKS- how were they treating the overbite? Dd is supposed to have rubber bands with the braces to correct an underbite.
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I want to bang my head against the wall over this orthodontics stuff for dd. She is 8 and only has 4 adult teeth in front on top and 3 on the bottom front. She has obvious crowding and bite issues. Her baby teeth crossed over each other in front like an X. So we've known since she was a year old we would most likely be doing orthodontics at some point.
Last month we were told 1 bottom adult tooth extraction, palate expander for up to 6 months, then braces top and bottom for 6 months to a year. Well, I had a few questions about the extraction, which I think is reasonable when they are talking about removing a healthy adult tooth for aesthetics. So he back pedaled on that and decided to skip it for now. Let's see how the uppers respond to palate expander + braces simultaneously. We were supposed to have her get the impressions then but our consult took so long, they had us reschedule. At that point, I was aggravated. We drove 30 miles, let's get the ball rolling, ya know? Whatever.
Fast forward a few weeks to today. We go in to get impressions of the uppers for the palate expander. They put in spacers in between her molars to make room for the brackets. Then she did the impression. Crying, hyperventilating, gagging, coughing caused air bubbles. Take 2 was no good as well. So Dr looks in her mouth and says let's just do bands on the molars (no impressions needed for that) and braces. Uppers only still.
I'm asking what about the palate expander? Does she need it or not? If not, why did you recommend it in the first place? He says it would have been better but we don't want to traumitize her with repeated impression fiasco so let's see where we get with braces. So we leave having done 2 unusable impressions and have to go back again to start a whole new treatment plan that didn't even require today's 2nd impressions appointment! See? Head banging.
Am I just a dummy or does this sound ridiculous? Right now, I'm questioning the whole thing. (1) I wrote them this huge check and feel like we are just spinning our wheels. (2) I think dd is too emotional/ high strung/ immature/ whatever label you want to give, for this intervention. I still supervise her teeth brushing and flossing because she doesn't do a thorough job on her own. And we have prepped her for this impression thing for a while. She knew what to expect. (3) Why not wait til all her adult teeth are in and see what needs to be done at that point? He did throw around the easier mobility aspect since she's young but that was in reference to the palate expander which apparently, she suddenly doesn't need since she couldn't take a usable impression.
Btw, I am trying to get a 2nd opinion. I am having a hard time getting a recommendation. I don't want to just pick one from the phone book. But everyone I know has used this one. Everyone loves him.
So, if you've read all that, does it sound fishy to you? Like he's just trying to make money? Or is it common to change treatment plans on the fly if kids can't tolerate a particular aspect of the process?
Eta: sorry! I meant to post this in chat!! I may XP later.
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Mama25- bummer about your tooth. Hope you feel better soon.
We are dragging here today too, but that's normal for Wednesday morning since we are out late on Tuesdays. Another could, rainy day which also lends itself to dragging. I really should watch the long term forecast, because if I did, I would have just done another week of history! I have no idea when we will get outside to get our planting done! Maybe I'll look online for an easy kitchen science experiment as a one off.
Wednesday's list
-wash bath mats and kitchen mats -going
-reading -done
-double spelling lesson
-copywork
-math
-TBD science demonstration
-piano lesson
-quick grocery store run during piano lesson
-next school year planning
-dinner at in-laws
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Jean- what a cute bunny!
Yesterday went well. Checked everything off the list and a good time was had by all. Today is a normal day for us. Lots of rain here, too, so we'll need to have a dance party and indoor relay races to get the energy burned.
Tuesday:
-2 loads laundry -going
-reading -done
-double spelling lesson -working on it now
-math
-science week Today we are stuck inside so no planting. I'll find something online that's related
-piano practice
-get chicken in oven to roast
-baths for all children
-get bags/supplies/clothes lined up for outside activities after early dinner
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My dd started piano at 6 yo using Faber's My First Piano Adventures series.
I couldn't find time to get her to the piano 2x per day. I set a timer for 30 min and if she made it to 20 min, I was happy. I would praise and give her the option to stop or noodle around without me directly supervising.
Sounds like your ds is learning with a different program, maybe? Iirc, she learned middle c and then learned the whole music alphabet starting at middle c then continuing c,d,e,f,g,a,b. Her teacher had her say that 2 times forwards and backwards b,a,g,f,e,d,c morning and afternoon every day to me. Then he (or the book, can't remember without looking at the notes) applied it to the rest of the keys, showing how the pattern repeated itself.
There were a lot of exercises on the keys like "stair climbers" "riding the escalator" where the notes went up and down. "Here comes the bride" over and over across the whole piano. That sort of thing.
He also had her do balance and coordination excercises. Touch your nose alternating hands. Stand on one foot and do something with your hands. There were several of them i am forgetting, atm. The practice, repetition, and away from piano exercises paid off. She really knows her way around the keys like second nature now.
I can grab her old books if you have more questions or if this was confusing, ha!
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Well, tonight is pizza out so I'll give you the next few days:
Tu- Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk, mashed potatoes, wilted spinach
W- mild Italian chicken sausages served on hot dog buns with sauteed sweet bell peppers and onions, French fries, and salad
Th- crock pot BBQ chicken, steamed broccoli, and brown rice
F- Silver Dollar City succotash, honey lime fruit toss
Edited because baby hit post before I was done! I guess I better pay him some attention for a while. :D
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Wiggly baby, double post!
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'Tis the season. Dh found a snake in fil's workshop over the weekend and we've got wasps under the eve of our front porch. I need to remind dh to take care of that this afternoon while the kids and I are out of town. I don't deal with that sort of thing only because I'm a terrible clutz and I'd probably spray myself in the eyes, or the nest would drop right on top of me, or something equally ridiculous. Dh jumped in last night and made dinner because he said I was being so spac-y and clutz-y, he worried I'd cut my finger off or burn myself! Ha!
Today's plan:
-reading
-double spelling lesson
-morning poetry tea
-math lesson (starting a new chapter!)
-science week: nature study through setting up our potted plants outdoors for the season. Maybe a couple more bird feeders.
-piano practice
-mid afternoon trip to the "big" city to meet hs friends at a nature center.
-hit big box store and restock. Most likely eat pizza for dinner while there before making the drive home.
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We listed our house last spring. 10 weeks on the market with 2 to 3 showings per week. It was exhausting! That's a fast sell for our market, though. I was fully prepared to not get an offer til 4.5 to 5 months on the market. Sooooo glad it didn't drag out that long.
Good luck to you! Hopefully it picks up!
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Critter- I probably wasn't clear. I don't have a curriculum that teaches creative writing to DD yet but I certainly encourage it wherever I can. I have written out a few of her stories that she wanted in print but were too elaborate for her to write herself. I have had her add descriptive sentences to pictures she's drawn. She's written a few poems. It sounds like a lot but that been over 1st and 2nd grade combined. We do pretty good getting out the sketchbook and colored pencils regularly. I could do better with painting. I'll keep at it and not let my freak out cause more resistance from her. Thanks for the encouragement :)
Jean- no laughing here! I love your quiz day idea. I might institute a quiz day here! Sounds like a great way to stay on your toes.
Laura- your living situation doesn't sound lame at all. I have 2 relatives with apartments in their basements, a relative with a small extra house on his land and one of my bffs lives with her dh and DD at her sister's house with bil and nephew. No separate anything. They all share the main house all on one level. I think it's a great way to share expenses, child care duties, etc.
I'm so sorry your family is experiencing divorce fallout and being displaced. Last fall, we had 4 weeks to move a I wanted to crawl in a hole too. And we WANTED to sell our house! Ha! Moving just sucks. I hope you find a home you love and get settled.
If it were me, i'd say your moving-school plan sounds good. If they are pretty independent with MM, like, a brief instruction/lesson from you then they can do the problems without hand holding, you might as well keep it going. If you have to sit with them for the whole lesson, i'd say set them up with some math on the computer. Kahn or something. So you can pack and search homes (then clean and unpack after the move) and they don't loose what they've already learned.
DD got to skip math today since she took her chapter test yesterday and did well. DS and I did Skittles math! Great manipulative. :D He's got his doubles down up through 5 so I'm happy about that.
Today's list:
-reading -done
-double spelling lesson -done
-copywork -done
-history video -done
-piano practice -done
-speech practice
-pre-k math lesson for DS -done
-2 loads laundry -almost done
- dust, vac, sweep, mop
-clean bathrooms
-Goodwill drop off
-grocery shopping
-quick family hike
-pizza and movie night
I gotta hustle to get this list done! Have a good weekend everyone!!
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Yep. No groups. I have friends but always do things one on one. My life is much less stressful since adopting this policy. I wouldn't even say I've encountered mean female drama. Just overly sensitive hurt feelings type drama, which was exhausting enough. Sorry your experiencing drama! :(
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Critter- thanks for your thoughts on writing. I'm not letting myself even thing about original content from dd yet, her mechanics and stamina are so weak. All I have her do for writing is copywork. Sometimes it's 2 sentences from our reading, other times it's a longer poem. But that will take her 3-4 days to complete. Maybe creative writing is in the genes. Your boys sound like you. :)
Sahamamama- I feel you on scheduled activities. I'd much rather say hey let's go do this fun thing because the weather is good or let's have a playdate because you guys did great on your chores this week. Something we have to be to a certain time every.single.week. is exhausting to me. We are out Tuesday evening, Wednesday afternoon and evening. We are adding swimming lessons and I am dreading it.
Jean- Woo hoo! So close!!!
Mama25- my kids have been really grouchy with each other lately. I haven't come up with a remedy yet.
Yesterday went pretty well, school-wise. We managed to get through math and a double spelling lesson. And dd helped me with ds' preK lesson. Baby has been running a fever for a few days. I thought he was teething. Yesterday, he was truly miserable. Cryed every time I put him down. Fell asleep sitting up! So we went to the NP and sure enough. Ear infection. :( We cuddled the rest of the afternoon while the big kids played outside.
Today's plan (may be modified if baby is still feeling crummy):
-reading
-double spelling lesson
-math chapter test
-history: probably a video today
-piano practice
-speech practice
-preK activity with ds
-make menu and grocery list for tomorrow
-laundry... always laundry
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Thanks everyone for the great feedback and suggestions!
Arcadia- schoolhouse rock vids are great! How did I not know about this?! Thanks!
MotherGoose- thanks for the encouragement. So glad things are improving for your dd. (and you :D)
Silver Moon- our dd's sound a LOT alike! Mine doesn't like anything that looks like work either. She grumbles about math but then gets excited when something clicks and she wants to keep going. Writing? Nope. Not gonna happen. :S
Jackie- I love the magnetic poetry idea! Dd will be all over that! Off to finally look at MCT...
Birchbark- your ds' sample looks great! I would be thrilled if dd could produce something that long and neat a year from now! And yes, whether she realizes it or not, I have increased her workload around the house since the 1st of the year since we have such a relaxed school atmosphere.
Sewingmama and Blue Goat- I like the product description I read of Sequential Spelling. We are using Spelling Workout now am I'm not really in love with it. I will give her a little copywork tomorrow and watch while she does it to see if she's copying letters or words.
Dragonfly mom- yes! I've browsed the Bravewriter website and caught a few of her Periscopes but none were about writing! Lol! We do poetry tea once a week. I knew as soon as I read about it on the website, dd would love it. It's been a great addition to our weeks. I've steered clear of the writing materials because I thought they were creative writing assignments and I can barely get dd to put pen to paper at all much less come up with an original writing idea. But maybe I need to check it out again. The site was a little confusing.
8- don't worry, I'm not going anywhere near another dictation for a good long time!
So here's what I've done so far this week:
1. I doubled up on spelling lessons. So she did 2 10 min lessons back to back each day. I actually think she liked this better!
2. I asked her to join us for ds' preschool memory game because it would be "more fun" with more players ;). She started off pretty rocky but once she got the hang of it, she had to resist giving ds help on his turns! Today she asked if we were going to play one of the memory games again and if so, could we wait til she was done with her math lesson so she could play with us? (Eeekkk!!!) Really excited about the games I ordered geared for her age group.
3. I picked up these books at the grocery store, of all places, and stashed them for a rainy day. I pulled them out and let her loose with them. The cover just says "doodle, draw, create" and there are prompts for drawing and writing. "Create a dragon. What is its special ability?" Done! She chatted endlessly about her dragon and all the details. "Design a couch. Be sure to include comfy pillows." Check. The books have little doodles in the corners or maybe a few shwoopy lines across the page for you to turn into something. She's loving them and getting in the fine motor skills activity she needs.
4. I put all LA away. I'm calling the above LA in my records for now and will add things back in as it feels right.
5. I've encouraged her with her reading. I feel like that's where she's already a "rock star" right this minute. So I've had a few chatty conversations about her current chapter book outside of school time. I think she really loves it when we just have a grown up chat like that and then she devours even more books and comes to talk to me about what's going on in the story. Even if she is never a strong writer or never likes to write, I think she'll be okay because she loves to read.
I feel so much better already. I still am reading old threads and whatnot and nailing down what to try next curriculum-wise but I feel like we can do this. I need to keep realistic expectations and stay diligent but I'm optimistic. Thanks so much everyone!!
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Critter- I hope your Kitty's eye stays put together! That sounds painful!
I finally gave up on writing. Dd's behavior regarding a writing project she came up with really opened my eyes as to just how deep this writing thing is with her. Up until that point, I thought it was just some fine motor delays or it was my fault for not requiring more. Maybe I don't sound firm enough when I give an assignment so she thinks there's room to argue. But when it's her idea and she still has fits, it's time to restructure the approach. So I'm getting tons of ideas from another post and while I wait for things to show up at my door, I am just taking it easy with writing. I am making her put pencil to paper for math and spelling still, of course. In the meantime, I'm reading recommended books and figuring it out.
Today's list:
Reading
Language arts
Math
History
Piano practice
Play outside in beautiful weather
Prep for outside activities tonight
Sausage biscuits and gravy (and friut) for dinner! Yum!
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Reading all the replies, I realized we usually do call out as we come in with a "hello!" or something. I never thought about it before. My Gram calls out "yoo hoo!" which always makes me giggle. I think I'll adopt the yoo hoo when I'm old. :)
I also realized that in our old house I didn't like drop ins. It was so tiny you could see my sink full of dishes and hear EVERYTHING going on in the only bathroom right from the front door. If someone dropped by I'd usually sprint to the door and intercept them in the driveway.
Now, at this house we have a separate entry, which is great for drop ins. Even if people wander into the living room, they still can't see into the kitchen. Plus, my mil will text wanting to drop something by and you would think that meant "within the hour." It actually means "some time this week." So you never know when she'll show up. Drops ins never just hang out endlessly unless I suggest they stay for a drink or something. If we drop in at my dad's and they have plans, they'll just leave. They know we don't expect them to entertain us on the spot. We will take the dogs out before we go, and the trash. I'll wash any dishes we made plus anything else already there.
Suggestions for Detail-Oriented, Unorganized People?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
All the suggestions and links here are great! Dh and I both need to increase our productivity and be better organized.