It's time for our annual "Back to School" picture!!!
Here all the pictures through the years. Scroll through the pics and see for yourself.
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Showing posts with label Back to school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Back to school. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Thursday, September 06, 2012
School: The first week
We have successfully survived the first week of school. Otherwise called, "I have managed to get each kid to his or her bus on time every day this week."
Asher: Asher has an interesting schedule this year. He is in a full-day regular ed. kindergarten classroom, except that he's doing two 1/2 days each day. "How does this work?" You ask. Well, in the morning he goes to the morning session of 1/2 day kindergarten where he has a 1:1 aid and gets the whole morning uninterrupted by any services. Then he eats lunch and has recess with 1st grade (many of the kids he knows from his 8 weeks in school last spring.) After recess he goes back to the kindergarten classroom for the afternoon session. This is when he receives all his therapy services such as speech and occupational therapy as well as adaptive PE. Two days a week I pull him out of school when the morning session is done so we can access private services. This was a set up his school has never tried before but was suggested by me. It worked well for Angela when she was in Kindy and I didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work for Asher. We'll see how it goes!
Behaviorally Asher did well this week. I went along with him the first day so his aid could see what he IS capable of so her expectations aren't set too low. When you are working with a child who is non-verbal it's easy to assume they don't understand or are not able to do some things. I wanted to avoid that kind of situation which would set him up for some naughtiness! LOL I was going to go for his first day of lunch but wasn't feeling well. His teacher said he did great and seemed excited to be eating with all the other kids. Because Asher doesn't chew yet I'm sending all his food so it's a consistency I know he's safe with and can eat independently. I do have to wonder if this type of situation reminds him of the orphanage at all. I bet he's eating really fast like he used to when we first brought him home. I'll be going to lunch with him tomorrow so we'll see.
Axel: Axel is in the same deaf/hard of hearing program he was in last year, however his day looks MUCH different than before. Now that he understands what is expected for behavior at school, he is spending a lot more time in the mainstream classroom. Although he is in 5th grade according to his age, he is physically and developmentally very much 7 so he is going to several classes (art, music, phy ed, science and recess) with 2nd grade. He has an ASL interpreter with him for these classes. Then his academics are being taught in a 2:1 setting in the d/hoh classroom. I'll be very interested to see how this works for Axel this year. He really needs to be around the typical kids more since has no idea how typical kids act or talk. I expect we'll see a lot of growth this year both academically and socially. Two days a week I pick him up early so he and Asher can go to private therapy services.
Angela: Oh Angela....she was just a TINY bit excited for school to start! The first morning when I woke her up she sat straight upright (like she'd been awake for awhile) gave a fake yawn and stretch and announced, "Well, I guess I'm a 10th grader today!" She cracks me up. LOL
Angela has a very busy schedule every day. Since all I hear about her broadcasting class the most, I'm going to venture to guess it's her favorite. In this class they produce commercials, the school announcements, conduct interviews around the school and I don't know what else! This is right up Angela's ally and I'm so glad she was able to get into it! If you don't know Angela, she is all about the camera! LOL She spent several years in theater and is very comfortable being the center of attention.
Angela is in several regular ed. classes: Broadcasting, metals, choir and phy ed. That's just this semester. In addition to those classes she also has English, math, reading, current events, and some other rotating classes in the special ed program, as well as "Work experience" which is a job training program.
Yesterday after school Angela talked at least 200 mph for 2 hours straight. I emailed her teacher to see if her activity level has been that high all week at school. She said yes, but if they reminded her to "calm down and breath" she was able to settle herself down a bit. She also said Angela has been VERY excited to see all her old friends, meet new teachers, and just generally glad to be back at school. Sometime I'll see if I can catch her activity level on camera, because it will take your breath away!
Next week she starts adaptive soccer, which is part of the high school league sports and they practice after school four days a week. It's highly competitive. This is the first year she's played soccer so it should be interesting. I'm sure she'll be on the JV team since she knows nothing about the sport.
The after school schedule is crazy! Monday-Thurs Angel has soccer practice, Tuesdays and Thursdays the boys have private therapy after school. Tuesday evenings Angela has swim club. Saturdays the boys swim. Sunday Axel and Angela have Special Olympics bowling. You should see the miles I'm racking up on my van!!!!
So that's our week. How is your year starting off? Are there things you want to drop or tweak in the schedule?
Asher: Asher has an interesting schedule this year. He is in a full-day regular ed. kindergarten classroom, except that he's doing two 1/2 days each day. "How does this work?" You ask. Well, in the morning he goes to the morning session of 1/2 day kindergarten where he has a 1:1 aid and gets the whole morning uninterrupted by any services. Then he eats lunch and has recess with 1st grade (many of the kids he knows from his 8 weeks in school last spring.) After recess he goes back to the kindergarten classroom for the afternoon session. This is when he receives all his therapy services such as speech and occupational therapy as well as adaptive PE. Two days a week I pull him out of school when the morning session is done so we can access private services. This was a set up his school has never tried before but was suggested by me. It worked well for Angela when she was in Kindy and I didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work for Asher. We'll see how it goes!
Behaviorally Asher did well this week. I went along with him the first day so his aid could see what he IS capable of so her expectations aren't set too low. When you are working with a child who is non-verbal it's easy to assume they don't understand or are not able to do some things. I wanted to avoid that kind of situation which would set him up for some naughtiness! LOL I was going to go for his first day of lunch but wasn't feeling well. His teacher said he did great and seemed excited to be eating with all the other kids. Because Asher doesn't chew yet I'm sending all his food so it's a consistency I know he's safe with and can eat independently. I do have to wonder if this type of situation reminds him of the orphanage at all. I bet he's eating really fast like he used to when we first brought him home. I'll be going to lunch with him tomorrow so we'll see.
Axel: Axel is in the same deaf/hard of hearing program he was in last year, however his day looks MUCH different than before. Now that he understands what is expected for behavior at school, he is spending a lot more time in the mainstream classroom. Although he is in 5th grade according to his age, he is physically and developmentally very much 7 so he is going to several classes (art, music, phy ed, science and recess) with 2nd grade. He has an ASL interpreter with him for these classes. Then his academics are being taught in a 2:1 setting in the d/hoh classroom. I'll be very interested to see how this works for Axel this year. He really needs to be around the typical kids more since has no idea how typical kids act or talk. I expect we'll see a lot of growth this year both academically and socially. Two days a week I pick him up early so he and Asher can go to private therapy services.
Angela: Oh Angela....she was just a TINY bit excited for school to start! The first morning when I woke her up she sat straight upright (like she'd been awake for awhile) gave a fake yawn and stretch and announced, "Well, I guess I'm a 10th grader today!" She cracks me up. LOL
Angela has a very busy schedule every day. Since all I hear about her broadcasting class the most, I'm going to venture to guess it's her favorite. In this class they produce commercials, the school announcements, conduct interviews around the school and I don't know what else! This is right up Angela's ally and I'm so glad she was able to get into it! If you don't know Angela, she is all about the camera! LOL She spent several years in theater and is very comfortable being the center of attention.
Angela is in several regular ed. classes: Broadcasting, metals, choir and phy ed. That's just this semester. In addition to those classes she also has English, math, reading, current events, and some other rotating classes in the special ed program, as well as "Work experience" which is a job training program.
Yesterday after school Angela talked at least 200 mph for 2 hours straight. I emailed her teacher to see if her activity level has been that high all week at school. She said yes, but if they reminded her to "calm down and breath" she was able to settle herself down a bit. She also said Angela has been VERY excited to see all her old friends, meet new teachers, and just generally glad to be back at school. Sometime I'll see if I can catch her activity level on camera, because it will take your breath away!
Next week she starts adaptive soccer, which is part of the high school league sports and they practice after school four days a week. It's highly competitive. This is the first year she's played soccer so it should be interesting. I'm sure she'll be on the JV team since she knows nothing about the sport.
The after school schedule is crazy! Monday-Thurs Angel has soccer practice, Tuesdays and Thursdays the boys have private therapy after school. Tuesday evenings Angela has swim club. Saturdays the boys swim. Sunday Axel and Angela have Special Olympics bowling. You should see the miles I'm racking up on my van!!!!
So that's our week. How is your year starting off? Are there things you want to drop or tweak in the schedule?
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Back in the Saddle
After 6 weeks out of class, I'm back in the learning saddle. I'm only taking two classes this semester, but already in the first week the homework load is killing me. That's mostly due to me taking two condensed classes: meaning 15 weeks of work crammed into 7 1/2. I thought with only 2 classes this would be do-able. Unfortunately I didn't take into consideration the fact one of the classes is Algebra! Yesterday was my first class (3 hours long) where we covered two full chapters, which is due tomorrow. Ummm that is two weeks worth of work people! Wor that.is.due.tomorrow. What was I thinking?
So today I went and changed my class! And, while doing that was reminded WHY I took the condensed class! Oh yeah, I took it because there would only be one week that Angela wouldn't be in school, which means only one week of having to find someone to hang out with her while I'm in class.
It's a coin toss, really. Stress myself out, buried in homework, or stress myself out each week making sure I have someone to watch Angela while I'm at class.
I opted for the latter. And, if worse came to worse, with drive time and everything I'd only be gone two hours. Angela has been learning to stay home by herself for short periods of time, but we've never left her THAT long. I don't really think she's ready for it yet. Two hours is a long time for her to stay busy and not think of something creative and fun to do, like go visit a neighbor or cook, or call China.
So today I went and changed my class! And, while doing that was reminded WHY I took the condensed class! Oh yeah, I took it because there would only be one week that Angela wouldn't be in school, which means only one week of having to find someone to hang out with her while I'm in class.
It's a coin toss, really. Stress myself out, buried in homework, or stress myself out each week making sure I have someone to watch Angela while I'm at class.
I opted for the latter. And, if worse came to worse, with drive time and everything I'd only be gone two hours. Angela has been learning to stay home by herself for short periods of time, but we've never left her THAT long. I don't really think she's ready for it yet. Two hours is a long time for her to stay busy and not think of something creative and fun to do, like go visit a neighbor or cook, or call China.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Failing
I had coffee with a friend this morning (thanks Lynda!) and had every intention of coming home and doing homework. Somehow I ended up outside playing fetch with the dogs, which turned into raking, which turned into realizing how beautiful it is outside today!!! A wonderful fall day after WEEKS of crappy weather.
So, I'm not studying for my big test, because I'm doing yard work instead. If I fail the test on Monday, I'm blaming it on Mother Nature!
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