Acquara Independent School

Oh, Craptastic! As I am prone to do, I got off course on this blog. I got sick, sick, sick. I had double grandparent visits, I don’t know, there was an election and it rained. I cannot recreate so this will be one of my whopping catch-up posts. Highlights…from looking back on the calendar.

Village Home

• I was called three weeks ago by Lori to ask for someone to come to Engineering with Aaron. I was kind of disappointed by this because he was liking it so much and doing so well. But also she said that it was changing form and was not going to be offered at that time slot after the term ended. Apparently, the instructor, who seems pretty cool, kind of overestimated what the kids could do independently and was having trouble with a lot of kids. The new class is going to have more prerequisites and a higher age range. So, I think we are out of it for now, but I hope this guy sticks around and maybe Aaron can try it next year. He missed the 8th week due to my illness. He went with Susan the 9th week and that seemed to go OK. And the last week, I put him with Krister, Nik’s mom’s partner, but Nik finally stepped in and helped. I have replaced that class next term with another one of Hillary’s classes called History Expeditions. I think he will do well there.
• They took Fred and Susan to the dress rehearsal for the play, in which Hillary had my dad speak about working for the railroad (hee!) The rehearsal looked a little chaotic, but ok. The last week they did the actual play and I thought it was so much better than the dress rehearsal. They did really well and Naim did well remembering his lines and to his solo song, which was about Daniel Boone. Aaron was a little goofy about it, but looked like he was having fun. They had a little reception after. Hillary did a really good job making it all professional with programs and stuff. Anne-Maj and Krister went with Nik and I.
• Apparently there was a play in Drama, but Naim never told me and I was dealing with the Swedes at the time, so missed that one. I think it was more improv.
• Legos, Math Playground and discoverers all went fine. In Discoverers, they both did a lapbook based on “Frog and Toad are Friends.”
• In semi-related news, Naim is working on a book he got from the library on how to draw dragons. Avery is working on the library’s potty training pack. I have read “Everybody Poops” 400 times.

Soccer

• Soccer wrapped up for the season with several practices and two final games. I think they ended up winning 5 and losing 3. Fred and Susan came to the last game.
• They had an all HSC party at Out of this World Pizza. I was lucky Fred and Susan were there, they took them with Nik and Naim got a trophy.

Church

• Giving Aaron a perfect record of having phone calls made to me about his behavior, I got called again and was asked to take a pager (usually used for the babies in the nursery) in order to come if he melts down.
• Naim got to light the chalice in the big sanctuary, but I didn’t see it because I did not know about it.
• We didn’t attend church for about three weeks, due to my illness and our grandparent visitors.
• We returned last week, I decided to go to Aaron’s class and see what’s what. He was a bit whiny, and I don’t want to excuse that behavior. BUT! The teacher sort of left a lot to be desired and I started to really understand the problem. She was a snore bore who, although well prepared, was way too uptight with the kids, no fun, and not a good listener. She was more interested in getting through the curriculum (and using it like a script instead of a guideline) to listen and actually engage much with the kids. Aaron is not even her biggest problem, I don’t think. There are two or three other boys that pretty much act as rowdy as Aaron. There is a girl that I think may be on the autism spectrum that they didn’t really seem comfortable with or know what to do with. Maybe she is new and will improve and just needs to relax, but god that was overstructured and teacher-directed and BORING. Naim’s class seems better and more gentle and fun. But I am not going to switch them because that is not fair to Naim who already sacrificed the Interactive Theater class to have Aaron in it. So, he is going to have to deal with her and improve his behavior. I am going to have to get a pager.
• Avery is doing fine in his class (I don’t even get a pager for him anymore.)

Fieldtrips/Special Visitors

• I had been trying to get the kids to a Halloween Party or pumkin patch or something, but then I got sick on Halloween week. I was very fortunate that Susannah agreed to take them to a UUCCWC dance. They wore their costumes and did crafts and danced and it sounded like a lot of fun.
• Nik took them out for Halloween. I went for about three houses with Avery and them and then quit and took Avery back home. Avery did so well last year but this year he just didn’t get it and crapped out. I was too sick to deal with it and could barely hear or talk, so I had to come home. I didn’t even pass out candy. The kids did paint pumpkins with Nik and they had fun trick or treating and got a lot of candy. Aaron was General Grevous from Star Wars and Naim created his own costume out of his spy gear toys and was a spy.
• They went to OOTW as mentioned above.
• They also went shopping with Grampa Fred, and with Farmor Anne-Maj.
• They had their OMSI lab about hot/cold and it was way cool. They did stuff with Liquid Nitrogen, dry ice, and fire-burned magnesium. They froze balloon animals in the liquid nitrogen and then they shattered. Afterward, we went through the environment exhibit and we saw an imax movie called Born to be Wild which was about two women who saved baby elephants and orangutans in Kenya and Borneo, respectively.
• Besides having Fred and Susan visit, it was probably more of a learning experience to have Anne-Maj and Krister visit. They got to experience a solid week of a different language, different foods, and a different culture. I wished for more interaction between them and the kids as they were not very engaged, but I still think it was a valuable experience for them and hopefully will improve with time. They played lots of UNO with their grandparents.
• We also had a small party for Dwight’s birthday. They got to visit with Bob.
• Aaron caught strep from me. We went to pediatric urgent care and got antibiotics.

Homeschool Work:

• Nik did work with them a bit the week I was sick. They worked on Sylvan, HOP and HWT. The only thing I didn’t have him do was math because it was too hard for him visually. I was happy they got done what they did, considering.
• I put Aaron back in first grade Sylvan after trying second grade for a bit. It was just a bit too hard for him to do independently, which is kind of the point of Sylvan. First grade now seems right on track for him for extra Language Arts independent practice.
• They finished HWT Letters and Numbers for Me. I started Naim in saner-bloser kindergarten. Aaron has moved up to the next HWT book My Printing Book. I am having him do that one on his own. I told him when he finished it, I will teach him cursive, which he very much wants to learn.
• I continued them both in Calvert as now I have looked at both books and am seeing some repeat chapters and some chapters not covered. So, we are doing 3 more chapters (skipping around in Calvert). And then we will move on to Singapore and will skip I think one chapter there. We could skip more, but the other repetative one was place value and I think they could both use more work with that.
• We did a Little Passports London.

Early Intervention/Goddard

• Goddard is all well and good, but Avery has decided to not want to go in the mornings. Once he gets there, he is ok. I am wondering if it is because most of the other kids he started with have left. He is with a lot of younger kids now. Is he bored?
• We are starting potty training this week. We have already done a lot of talking, reading books, watching videos. This relates to Goddard because when he gets potty trained, he can move up to the preschool room.
• Avery had his 3 year EI assessment today. I thought he did really well as far as being engaged and doing what they asked, although I did see where he was not pulling scores and I also saw where he could have pulled scores but was culturally or linguistically at a disadvantage. That kind of goes with the territory, but I got a quick and dirty raw score email from Jean this afternoon and the cognitive and adaptive behavior were lower than I expected. It qualifies him for DD services. Here is her email:

Our 2nd evaluation canceled so I was able to score the tests we did this morning.  Here are the scores ( I will be adding interpretations and other information into the report).

Preschool Language Scale- 5     Auditory Comprehension: Standard Score  73  Percentile Rank  4  Age Equivalent 1-10
Expressive Communication:  Standard Score 80  %tile Rank  9  Age Equivalent 1-9
Total Language Score:  Standard Score  75  %tile rank  5  Age Equivalent  1-9
These scores qualify him in the area of communication.

On the Battelle Developmental Inventory- 2nd Edition  there are 13 subtests which are then put together to come up with developmental quotients in 5 areas plus a total.  I will go over the results in detail at our meeting but he had qualifying scores in the areas of personal/social, communication, cognitive.  His scores in adaptive were also low, but a little higher.  His motor skills were within typical limits.

Because he had scores that meet qualifications for an eligibility of developmental delay we will be talking about that as his official eligibility. That would cover all areas in which he is showing delays.  That eligibility would not follow him to school if he still needed services.  He would need to be re-evaluated before he went to kindergarten.  I will explain that more next Wednesday.

• So, basically the choices are going to be all services at Goddard, going to ECSE preschool, or some combination of both. It is a scheduling issue at heart. ECSE is probably the better environment for him, but I don’t know how to get him there (there is school bus, but I have to be in the right place at the right time, and it does not give me the flexibility of Goddard as far as last minute changes, etc.)  I will be going to the school next wed. to check it out and to finsih up the IFSP and get it signed before his birthday.

What pictures and stuff do I have? Let’s see!

Filed under: Aaron, ADLs, Avery, Class/Camp, Communication, Drama, Early Intervention, Fieldtrip, Fieldtrips, Handwriting, Health and Medical, Home, Industrial and Technical, Language Arts, Math, Music, Naim, Physical Education, Science, Social Studies, Spirituality |