Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Changes
Tomorrow morning (Thursday) is Doug's first day of second grade. I was a little worried, at first, when I found out last Saturday afternoon who his teacher was going to be. I didn't know any of the second grade teachers by name, but Doug's best friend's mom called me to say she was going to try and get her son moved out of that same teacher's class. Her impression was that that teacher is really impatient and yells at her class a lot. My mother instinct got to worrying overtime, too, until I had Luke's Mom DESCRIBE what the teacher looked like. The minute she described her, I realized who it was and my anxiety level begin to subside. That teacher does seem to yell a lot at her kids in the hallway (the only time I have seen her with her class), but she has been the MOST interested staff person in Doug since the moment he arrived at that school two years ago. (Many of the staff, there, have followed Doug's progress with interest...but, she didn't have any reason to even know who he was two years ago or care--but she did.) She has always gone out of her way to come over to me and ask me about Doug whenever I am up at the school for anything. It has always surprised me how interested she has remained in him. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if she didn't REQUEST to be given Doug in her class. So, I am at ease with her...even if she does yell a lot and is impatient. When you know someone LIKES your child a lot, their teaching style isn't quite as important any more.
Doug has had very gentle souls for his teachers the previous two years....quiet spoken, ever patient, gentle teachers. And, he has blossomed under their love. But, he is a resiliant kid. I don't think he is liable to wither if he gets yelled at and if he has a very strict, stern teacher. Actually, MY IMPRESSION of her is that she is a very ENERGETIC, BOISTEROUS soul (maybe even a bit on the brassy side)....and, that might just be good for Doug this year. I think she will EXPECT and DEMAND a lot from him...but, I know that for some reason, she is particularly interested in him, personally...and she genuinely LIKES him. (He can be a handful....so, I would understand if some teachers might dread having him in their classroom. But, like I said, I have a sneaking suspicion she may have REQUESTED to have him in her classroom.) I think he will get along just fine with his new teacher! At junctures like this, it is a relief that none of our children are easily daunted or discouraged. There isn't a shrinking violet or timid soul in the lot. (Though, many a day I WISH there were!!!)
She told Doug (and us) that she is going to work at getting him to TALK more this year. Poor dear. She doesn't yet realize that getting him to TALK is not the problem. The kid TALKS non-stop, every waking moment of his day. Variety, though...THAT is the problem. He talks non-stop but is happy enough to use the same four or five words for 99% of his conversing. Here we WANT him to learn to use language, yet, for the sake of my own sanity, I catch myself, at times, telling him, "Doug, you need to be QUIET for a while, now. No more talking." He just wears my ears out. We have been making a lot of progress with him at home, though, by NOT letting him get away with saying one word and miming the rest as he repeats that one word over and over. Even though we KNOW exactly what he is trying to tell us, we play dumb and make him WORK at adding more words in so that it is closer to an actual SENTENCE. Often, we will tell him the sentence he needs...say it for him and then make him work on repeating it over and over again, until he finally says it clearly, before we address his wants. It is very tiring. I would think it would be very tiring for him, as well, but he takes it all in stride. Grant and I were talking the other day about how utterly UNMOTIVATED the child would be to learn to speak if we didn't push him...but, I guess the flip side of that is that because he ISN'T terribly self-motivated, neither is he hard on himself! Things that would make other children shrivel up in defeat and discouragment, just roll right off his back like water off a duck! He is content and happy...in circumstances where I would be giving up and feeling utterly defeated. I guess that is a really good thing!
One thing about it, Doug LOVES school! I didn't want him to go to summer school this year, but he begged to go, so we let him. Three days after summer school ended, he was begging to go back to school. Then, last night (Tuesday) was open house at the school. We brought Doug up so he could see where his new room was going to be and meet his new teacher and choose his desk and put away his school supplies. They always let the kids choose their own desk. Without fail, Doug always chooses the very center of the front row. This year, his best friend, Luke, will be in his class once again. Luke chose the desk that is paired up with Doug's...much to Doug's delight! Doug was a bit upset when we began walking OUT of the school. He had misunderstood...he didn't understand about Open House. He thought he was going to get to GO to school that day. Then, this morning (the next day) he was fully dressed at 7:00am (long before I rolled out of bed). When I got up, Doug announced to me "Me dress. School!" He argued quite vehemently with me when I told him there wasn't any school yet, today! He was really bummed about the whole thing when he finally accepted that he wasn't going to get to go to school today. He is quite excited tonight, though, because he DOES get to go to school in the morning!
Rayna is starting homeschool kindergarten this year. We have the Sonlight curriculum ready to go! And, Darcy will be starting seventh grade homeschool. (Actually she has already gotten into some of her books and read ahead...until I made her school books off limits.) This year, Darcy will have a notebook computer to use with her school work. We are having to let the horses go...so promising her a notebook computer eased the sting, a little bit, of losing the horses. It really is for the best. She and her grandfather spent three hours straight this morning just doing upkeep on the horses. Since the one horse is allergic to poison ivy, we haven't been able to put the horses out in the pasture all summer. Even at that, the allergic horse (Begins) has had an awful time of it...he gets so itchy that he scrapes himself raw against trees...losing his hair and ending up with open sores all over. We have spent a small fortune on vet bills, prednisone, and medicated shampoos and ointments trying to keep him well. He needs a home free of poison ivy. Something our pasture will never be, it seems, no matter how often we mow it or how often Dad C. goes through it chopping down the plants growing up the trees that are heavily scattered about the edges of the pasture. So...Darcy and her grandfather have to string up electrical wire to fence off places on the lawn for the horses to graze (safely away from the poison ivy)...but, as they graze so much, the fence must be moved every couple of days (a very labor intensive (in our rocky ground), time-consuming process). And, lately, Begins has figured out that the electrical wire is dead...so, he ducks under it and goes wandering over to the neighbor's place! Then there is all the SHOVELING that must be done. Since they aren't in the pasture, all their waste is left where it must be shoveled and hauled off. Those horses make more piles than I would have ever believed possible. Darcy shovels on her own, most of the time. She insists she doesn't mind...but, I think that is just because she doesn't want to see the horses go. If we could let them out in the pasture, it wouldn't be such a problem. But, as it is, it is a full time job just caring for them. They keep Darcy and her grandfather busy a large portion of the day. It takes so long to do the maintenence work with them, that we seldom have the time left to ride them. It would have been a lot harder for me to see them go six months ago. But, after that time that Rayna slipped and fell beneath Begins and I watched helplessly as he walked on top of her prone little body, something in my own heart changed. Rayna was not seriously hurt...just a bad bruise the shape of his hoof on the meaty part of her calf...but, it would have been so easy for that hoof to have landed on her chest or her stomach, instead. She could have been killed. Just like that. One slip. That was the moment that my own heart let go of the horses. Silly, I guess, that I still was happy enough to go to Canada and let my children ride horses we didn't even know through the Rocky Mountains. That didn't bother me. It isn't letting them be around horses that makes me queasy. It is hard to explain, really. I just had this feeling that maybe that was a warning that we shouldn't keep the horses, afterall...just a shadowy uneasiness that never quite left my heart. So, though it will break my heart to see the horses go, still I am at peace with them going. It is just heartbreaking for Darcy. There isn't peace in it for her. But, she wants a notebook computer so badly, that, knowing we will get one after the horses are gone, gives her something bright to look forward to. She really wants the computer a LOT...but, she gets very quiet and somber at times and comments that she would much rather keep her horses than have any computer. She is accepting of it, though...and taking the changes ahead gracefully. Dad C. is donating the horses to the City Union Mission. They have a camp for underpriviledged children at Truman Lake in Warsaw, Missouri. That will be Lightening and Begins' new home. ¶ 8/30/2006 06:51:00 PM
Doug has had very gentle souls for his teachers the previous two years....quiet spoken, ever patient, gentle teachers. And, he has blossomed under their love. But, he is a resiliant kid. I don't think he is liable to wither if he gets yelled at and if he has a very strict, stern teacher. Actually, MY IMPRESSION of her is that she is a very ENERGETIC, BOISTEROUS soul (maybe even a bit on the brassy side)....and, that might just be good for Doug this year. I think she will EXPECT and DEMAND a lot from him...but, I know that for some reason, she is particularly interested in him, personally...and she genuinely LIKES him. (He can be a handful....so, I would understand if some teachers might dread having him in their classroom. But, like I said, I have a sneaking suspicion she may have REQUESTED to have him in her classroom.) I think he will get along just fine with his new teacher! At junctures like this, it is a relief that none of our children are easily daunted or discouraged. There isn't a shrinking violet or timid soul in the lot. (Though, many a day I WISH there were!!!)
She told Doug (and us) that she is going to work at getting him to TALK more this year. Poor dear. She doesn't yet realize that getting him to TALK is not the problem. The kid TALKS non-stop, every waking moment of his day. Variety, though...THAT is the problem. He talks non-stop but is happy enough to use the same four or five words for 99% of his conversing. Here we WANT him to learn to use language, yet, for the sake of my own sanity, I catch myself, at times, telling him, "Doug, you need to be QUIET for a while, now. No more talking." He just wears my ears out. We have been making a lot of progress with him at home, though, by NOT letting him get away with saying one word and miming the rest as he repeats that one word over and over. Even though we KNOW exactly what he is trying to tell us, we play dumb and make him WORK at adding more words in so that it is closer to an actual SENTENCE. Often, we will tell him the sentence he needs...say it for him and then make him work on repeating it over and over again, until he finally says it clearly, before we address his wants. It is very tiring. I would think it would be very tiring for him, as well, but he takes it all in stride. Grant and I were talking the other day about how utterly UNMOTIVATED the child would be to learn to speak if we didn't push him...but, I guess the flip side of that is that because he ISN'T terribly self-motivated, neither is he hard on himself! Things that would make other children shrivel up in defeat and discouragment, just roll right off his back like water off a duck! He is content and happy...in circumstances where I would be giving up and feeling utterly defeated. I guess that is a really good thing!
One thing about it, Doug LOVES school! I didn't want him to go to summer school this year, but he begged to go, so we let him. Three days after summer school ended, he was begging to go back to school. Then, last night (Tuesday) was open house at the school. We brought Doug up so he could see where his new room was going to be and meet his new teacher and choose his desk and put away his school supplies. They always let the kids choose their own desk. Without fail, Doug always chooses the very center of the front row. This year, his best friend, Luke, will be in his class once again. Luke chose the desk that is paired up with Doug's...much to Doug's delight! Doug was a bit upset when we began walking OUT of the school. He had misunderstood...he didn't understand about Open House. He thought he was going to get to GO to school that day. Then, this morning (the next day) he was fully dressed at 7:00am (long before I rolled out of bed). When I got up, Doug announced to me "Me dress. School!" He argued quite vehemently with me when I told him there wasn't any school yet, today! He was really bummed about the whole thing when he finally accepted that he wasn't going to get to go to school today. He is quite excited tonight, though, because he DOES get to go to school in the morning!
Rayna is starting homeschool kindergarten this year. We have the Sonlight curriculum ready to go! And, Darcy will be starting seventh grade homeschool. (Actually she has already gotten into some of her books and read ahead...until I made her school books off limits.) This year, Darcy will have a notebook computer to use with her school work. We are having to let the horses go...so promising her a notebook computer eased the sting, a little bit, of losing the horses. It really is for the best. She and her grandfather spent three hours straight this morning just doing upkeep on the horses. Since the one horse is allergic to poison ivy, we haven't been able to put the horses out in the pasture all summer. Even at that, the allergic horse (Begins) has had an awful time of it...he gets so itchy that he scrapes himself raw against trees...losing his hair and ending up with open sores all over. We have spent a small fortune on vet bills, prednisone, and medicated shampoos and ointments trying to keep him well. He needs a home free of poison ivy. Something our pasture will never be, it seems, no matter how often we mow it or how often Dad C. goes through it chopping down the plants growing up the trees that are heavily scattered about the edges of the pasture. So...Darcy and her grandfather have to string up electrical wire to fence off places on the lawn for the horses to graze (safely away from the poison ivy)...but, as they graze so much, the fence must be moved every couple of days (a very labor intensive (in our rocky ground), time-consuming process). And, lately, Begins has figured out that the electrical wire is dead...so, he ducks under it and goes wandering over to the neighbor's place! Then there is all the SHOVELING that must be done. Since they aren't in the pasture, all their waste is left where it must be shoveled and hauled off. Those horses make more piles than I would have ever believed possible. Darcy shovels on her own, most of the time. She insists she doesn't mind...but, I think that is just because she doesn't want to see the horses go. If we could let them out in the pasture, it wouldn't be such a problem. But, as it is, it is a full time job just caring for them. They keep Darcy and her grandfather busy a large portion of the day. It takes so long to do the maintenence work with them, that we seldom have the time left to ride them. It would have been a lot harder for me to see them go six months ago. But, after that time that Rayna slipped and fell beneath Begins and I watched helplessly as he walked on top of her prone little body, something in my own heart changed. Rayna was not seriously hurt...just a bad bruise the shape of his hoof on the meaty part of her calf...but, it would have been so easy for that hoof to have landed on her chest or her stomach, instead. She could have been killed. Just like that. One slip. That was the moment that my own heart let go of the horses. Silly, I guess, that I still was happy enough to go to Canada and let my children ride horses we didn't even know through the Rocky Mountains. That didn't bother me. It isn't letting them be around horses that makes me queasy. It is hard to explain, really. I just had this feeling that maybe that was a warning that we shouldn't keep the horses, afterall...just a shadowy uneasiness that never quite left my heart. So, though it will break my heart to see the horses go, still I am at peace with them going. It is just heartbreaking for Darcy. There isn't peace in it for her. But, she wants a notebook computer so badly, that, knowing we will get one after the horses are gone, gives her something bright to look forward to. She really wants the computer a LOT...but, she gets very quiet and somber at times and comments that she would much rather keep her horses than have any computer. She is accepting of it, though...and taking the changes ahead gracefully. Dad C. is donating the horses to the City Union Mission. They have a camp for underpriviledged children at Truman Lake in Warsaw, Missouri. That will be Lightening and Begins' new home. ¶ 8/30/2006 06:51:00 PM
