Acquara Independent School

Head Start:

Avery had head start and I don’t know what happened, lets see the notes here. Looks like clothespin a bottle and a book called The Very Quiet Cricket (Eric Carle, perhaps?) that made cricket noises every time she turned the page. I did hear Nik tell me that he sat through that book. He liked the noises. The motor skills activities she is having him do (clothespins) are OK, but he is beyond them. I think this is a case of his language delay giving people the impression that he is less able or younger than he is. Although he is really at the fundamental level in language, his motor skills, problem solving skills, etc. are fine. People get all impressed when he does some little thing, but I think if he talked like a normal 2 year old, they wouldn’t be so surprised. I might get out my Montessori language stuff for infants to show her. He really is at the infant level there , perhaps 10-12 months, but for everything else, he is  24 months or beyond. She could compile those activities and take them on more than I sometimes have time to, or in addition to what I do. If she is going to keep doing the motor skills stuff, maybe I can teach her how to add a language component to them.

Head Start Notes

Also, she sort of got me to reluctantly agree to put Avery’s name on their mitten tree thing. It is funny, I have been on the giving side of these things at church. But since Avery has been born, we have been on the receiving end. (Avery being the catalyst that financially changed us. I was supporting three people and a little bit of D. We couldn’t live extravagantly, but it wasn’t too much of a hardship. Now on the same income (less actually, with budget cuts) I’m supporting 7 people and a bit of D and a dog. Hence Avery qualifies for Head Start and they all qualify for OHP, and I suppose, mitten trees. So today, she brought over the stuff that an anonymous donor had given, I have not opened it yet, but I know it is a new winter coat (for next year, like I asked, he is growing out of his current one, but it will do for now.) and mittens/hat, etc. There was just something about it, how it was wrapped, with a small teddy bear tied to the ribbon, that made me cry. Like, people actually care and want to make things nice for us, for my kid. Someone sat there and wrapped a present and put a tag with his name and a bow and a bear and wanted us to have a nice gift. So much of what you hear about people like us, people who use OHP or Head Start, etc. is so negative. We are lazy losers, or disabled and worthless. To have strangers just want to give you nice things and not think shit about you, it was very much appreciated. People don’t probably even get how much appreciated. It is the coat itself, probably saves us $50-$75, which is a big deal. But it is just that people want to share what they have and be kind while doing so. Wow…

I suppose also I am grateful for my dad’s $150 worth of Target cards, which is probably going to end up being my kids christmas gifts. Great Wolf Lodge was supposed to be that, but you know they would have been sad to not have anything to open. They would get stuff from Lori, and D and his family are always a toss up. (They gave Avery B-day gifts this year but not big kids. eye roll.) So we were going to try to do a present each. But maybe more now. This is the first time in 7 years that my dad has given them anything for their birthday or Christmas. He got that Caroline Kennedy book for them their first Christmas, and he has bought them a few things impromptu here and there, but never a B-day or Christmas gift. Anyway, I am grateful, but taking stuff from him is always difficult since he does nothing but gripe and complain about me and our financial straights while telling me about how Mark is applying for disability and can’t work because he has too much pain (I don’t know how much pain he has, but I do know that I get up and work and/or teach EVERY SINGLE DAY with pain. I cannot remember the last time I had a pain free day. And it never even occurs to me to talk to anyone except Nik about it because no one can do anything about it.)  So Mark’s pain means he can’t work so he gets everything paid for while telling me that they bought this, this and that new thing for their house and are going to go on an Alaskan Cruise from Vancouver.

Being a completely different class and minority group as your parents and have them always rubbing it in your face is weird. It will never get better.

Anyway, enough of that tangent. HOMESCHOOL.

• Word Time: (TOGETHER APART)
• Math Lesson 151, estimation. A did fine, Naim had number writing memory issues again.
• Reading: Aaron did Sylvan -et words and his first lesson in HOP Green book level one, which was sh- and ch- words. It was a tad bit challenging for him, but he did ok.
• Naim did Sylvan Gg.
• I had to cut school short and not do HWT because I was in SO much pain today I was bent over, table gripping, teeth gritting, tears spewing. I could not even keep track of what they were doing. I was just trying to breath through it, but that became a distraction for the kids, so they told me I should quit and they were probably right. I’m glad I got that much done. I had lifted Avery over the table to Nik and my insides just would not settle down and were spasming nonstop.

Took some ibuprofen, went to sleep, woke up later and kids and I watched 1971 version of Willy Wonka on the computer, and then I went back to sleep some more. Hopefully better tomorrow because of Avery’s dental and his HS christmas party.

Oh, I was on the bathroom floor on all fours waiting for my drugs to kick in, and Avery came in and sat with me and kept bringing me stuffed bears and animals for me to kiss. I sat on the floor with him for a long time. He has empathy. Nik said he did the same thing to him when he was upset after he found out he didn’t get the OCB job. He can be a socially smart kid. Just doesn’t have the words. Sometimes I think, “Aphasia? Like my dad? Dysnomia? My dad most definitely is aphasic and from the sounds of things, was born with it. He has obviously worked around it for the most part, and we can surely do better for Avery than what he had growing up. So, we’ll see….

Filed under: Communication, Early Intervention, Language Arts, Math | Tagged: Calvert Math, Head Start, HOP, Sylvan, Word Time |