More Pics from Kellen's Visit

 Joining in for soccer practice.  If they would have had an extra shirt, I think the coach would have let him play in the game later in the week too!

 Lunch one day at Memorial Park.... Lunchables.  My biggest mistake was not buying three of the exact same kind.

 Chillin' between the camps and evening sports.  a.k.a. forced Mythbusters watching.

 Picnicing at Plamann park - which was flooded.

 We had limited time between fishing camp and ninja camp, plus a 15 minute drive between locales.  On Thursday, I'd planned to take them out to pizza buffet.  On Thursday, the fishing trip bus was 15 minutes late!  MickeyD's drive through it was!

Sunday Fun Run

The first thing we did with Kellen was the Neenah Summer Fun Run.  Jacob has never done it before, but the neighbors do and he's really wanted to.  Also, it's free!

  We ran into the neighbor, Lucas, before the race.

 Discussing strategy..

 And they're off!

 Jacob running in

 Kellen running in

The post-race goodies.... pizza, cookies, fruit, dilly bars!  Nice spread!   (did I mention free!!)

Also, Jacob finished ahead of Kellen, but Kellen placed higher in his age group.  Therefore they both could claim victory!

Catch Up Posts

I think the next series of posts might explain why there haven't been any posts lately.  I'll start with last week when we took Allison totally (almost) off her medication.  It looked like this:

I say "almost" because I did give her a small dose before her first gardening camp - didn't want that to go badly.  So - we survived!  The upside was that Allison was hungry.  The downside was that it didn't help any of the behavior patterns we wanted it to - which is also an upside because it assuages the guilt I was planning to have over the fact that the meds which help with issue 1 might cause issue 2.  Now we know it's not med-driven.  Too bad, that would have been easier to address.  Oh well.

Last week we also babysat this girl: 

... 130 pound Leonberger "puppy" named Gaia whose "people" are friends of ours who went out of town for a few days.  She's super nice (though she does take up a lot of space!) and was walked way more than she needed because the kids loved doing it.

We traded in the puppy about an hour before the boys arrived back from Chicago on a mission to pick up Kellen.  The boys have been enjoying a variety of camp experiences this week.  More pics to follow in the next post.

Also - med check update

What kid doesn't want their orthodontia off?  Mine, apparently.

What's it like to motivate a kid off her ADHD meds?

6 x "please go get clothes on"

4 x "we're leaving at 8:40am"

5 x "you have to brush your teeth"

Result:  one girl, eating breakfast, in her pj's, watching TV, at 8:28am.  Mom's blood pressure rising.

Montessori Camp

Jacob got the spot in Montessori School late last week.  We broke the news to him on Sunday.  Montessori summer school camp started Monday.  He didn't get a lot of processing time.  Given that, I've been generally pleased with how mature he's been about trying it out.

Day 1: not interested in going, but after an explanation of how he had to try it out - he went.  He stood no more than 2 inches away from me on the playground before going into the building.  Afterwards, he said it was fine but he wasn't going back.

Day 2: oddly, no morning resistance to going back.  He stood apart from me on the playground but didn't run off with the other kids.  Afterwards, he wasn't interested in going to the picnic with the other families, but he said he had a new friend and wanted to know if he went to Montessori, did that mean he got to go to school with his new friend, Alex.

Day 3: not interested in going AT ALL.  Why?  Allison woke him up.  If Allison is involved in the morning routine, then all sides of the bed are the wrong sides of the bed.  All other mornings, Allison was actually still sleeping when we left in the morning.  (It's nice when they start staying home by themselves for short periods of time.)  However, once he got to the school, he dropped off his backpack and ran off with the other kids on the playground.  Also, he said he made another friend in his class.

Day 4 - last day.  Since the kids aren't up yet, I don't know how it will go.  This week has reinforced the knowledge that kids are adaptable.  Also, playground politics exist everywhere.  In Montessori, it appears to be who is and is not in the Avenger's Club rather than at JB where it is who plays football on the playground.  Maybe smaller schools breed closer friendships, but you also have fewer kids to choose from.  

It's a diverse parent group as well.  I was actually watching a same-sex couple with their (I think) son in boys' clothes, longish hair, and pink backpack - and wondered about how much parenting philosophy ultimately influences kids in the long term.  I'm sure there have been kids on communes who grew up to be investment bankers.  Kids in WASP families who grow up to live on communes.

We survived!

Jacob had his birthday party at the indoor soccer arena.  I think (overall) the boys had a lot of fun.  There was a lot of "fart" talk.  And there is a clear reason why I don't teach elementary school!

Happy 8th Birthday, Jacob!

School's Out

Shockingly, the kids didn't really want their pics taken after school either!

This one before he saw me.  The new 3rd grader!

This one when he didn't know I was looking.

Sure - Allison posed with her blue popsicle mouth and face tattoo (5th grade now!!).  Notice the coats, pants, and crappy weather.  It was in the upper 50's. 

Then for fun - some basketball after school before heading off to piano lessons and soccer game.  I just like the jump-shot pics. 

see what sticks

Today is the last day of school - pics to be posted later.  The kids would only agree to photos after school.  I can't believe that they are going to be in 3rd and 5th grade!  Yikes, I feel old.

In other school news, we just accepted a spot for Jacob at the public Montessori school.  This will create a logistical nightmare of drop-off and pick up, because the Montessori moved from a local elementary building to its own building on the complete opposite side of town.  Of course.  He's also going to be royally hacked off because....

Allison will be returning to Janet Berry next year.  The Cooperative School reviewed her info and decided that they couldn't accept her for next year.  Clearly, we're disappointed because we think that she'd gain more from them than she'd lose from the public school - however they fell on the other side of that line.  As a small, private school - I understand their right to say no, even if I'm upset about it.

It's also difficult to parse out the part of the upset that is from this opportunity not being available to her; and the part of the upset that's due to our overall frustration and ongoing educational issues.  For example - why does she need modified grading in math, when she scored in the 70th percentile on her achievement test?  Or the comment on her report card that said "Allison's need to follow her own agenda causes frustration for her in the classroom setting."  Can we all just get on the same page and understand that she can't sit though 45 minutes of "math instruction time?"  Clearly, this challenge isn't impeding her ability to learn.  Would it be so terrible if she sat and doodled during that time?  Is it sooooo difficult to consider the idea that your "special needs" student is bored?  That what this student lacks is the ability to cope with the boredom that you're creating with your cut-and-paste curriculum?

And I know she has some real needs in writing and communication.  But lowering the bar rather than taking the time to bring her up is not acceptable to me.  If everyone else writes 4 paragraphs and you let her write 1 paragraph - what has she gained relative to the class?  Sure, it might take 4 times as long for her to write 4 paragraphs, but so what?  Do it during math instruction time!  Because next year it'll be 5 paragraphs, and students can go from 4-5 but they don't go from 1-5.

And I do sit and ask myself if my expectations are too high?  Sure.  I ask myself if her needs represent a barrier that may never be fully overcome.  But I don't think so, and I don't think we can think so.  She's smart and she's capable and she has poor decision-making and poor social skills.  And yes, the later two get in the way of the former two.  The latter two prevent her from being able to demonstrate to others that she's skilled in many ways.  And she's not a people-pleaser, which makes her more challenging to work with (at home too!!).  All of which make the environment of the local public school not a good fit for her.  It's just not.

Ok - I think my rant for the morning is done.

Chicago

We've made a lot of trips to Chicago this spring.... Jacob says he's getting tired of the drive.  Allison thinks the gelato is worth it!

 Steering the ship

PIRATES!!  RUN!!

Doesn't she look like the Little Mermaid?

Posing with grandma and grandpa...

Yes - those are real flowers in the background.... beautiful!

Enjoying the early birthday cupcake.

Blowing out the "chocolate" eight.