The kids are smart!

Today was Parent/Teacher Conference for my kids. It went about how I expected. But I was pleasantly surprised to learn exactly how smart my children are. Mind you, I think they are brilliant no matter what.

My son is in the top reading group in his class. His teacher honestly admits to being pressed to figure out how to challenge him. She's working hard to give him work that will not be too easy. The kid is a pro at slacking off, so he doesn't need any help. To demonstrate, one of his reading scores was a 49, and 50 is average. His score should have been out of this world, but he only put forth half an effort. She says he's even better at math than he is at reading. I didn't realize that.

And my daughter took the same test as her brother (she's a year younger) and get a 72! And her teacher felt that was accurate. Average score for her grade level was around 35, or lower. She was nearly off the chart!

For both of them, their grades don't reflect their potential. My son is not paying attention, fiddling with his pencil, and basically trying to get away with minimal effort. My daughter is busy being Miss Stubborn Pants. She wants to do it her way, and never mind what the teacher said.

Fortunately my son's problem is solvable. He has shown Attention Deficit Disorder tendencies. I'm strongly opposed to Ritalin, and that class of drugs. I did my research, and I've put him on a high dose of Magnesium. The teacher and I have noticed a big improvement. I explained to my son, this will help you pay attention IF you want to. And he hasn't quite figured out if he wants to yet. I've made it easier for him, but it will still take his own self control.

Wish there was something I could get my daughter for back talking, and strong will! Ten cents for each episode of back talking, growling and hissing. (Yes, she really does growl and hiss at me.) I will permit her to question something, but when it becomes a yelling fest I start tallying up her debt. It's put a real curb on the growls and hisses. Though she doesn't growl and hiss at her teacher, she certainly doesn't give her full attention. I took a look at some of her work. She was supposed to draw a pig. My daughter's pig was holding a stick of dynamite, a match, and wearing a sword. Yep, that's my girl, going out at full force!

Flat Stanley

My son is getting ready to participate in a Flat Stanley project. If you aren't familiar with Flat Stanley, let me explain. It's based on a book. A boy wants to go visit the word, and so he gets flattened, and mailed around from place to place. Much cheaper than a plane ticket. So, my son's class is going to make a Flat Stanley, and they need addresses to send him to. If Flat Stanley comes to visit they ask that your provide interesting facts like weather, schools, historical facts etc. Flat Stanley would go with you to school and work, and take pictures to show his trips. If you can find souvenirs to send back with Flat Stanley, that would be great!

So, if you would be willing to host Flat Stanley for a bit, please send me your mailing address.

Paniced again

Last night I was in terrible shape. In the rush of the morning, I forgot to take my anxiety meds. While going thru my divorce, I dealt with alot of panic attacks. My doctor put me on medicine to see me thru. The medicine is addictive, and used long term. Translation, once you're on it, you're on it for at least a year, and pity you if you forget to take your meds.

I've accidentally forgotten my meds before. Most of the time, it's not a big deal. I can feel the difference. But often I can deal with my the elevated level of anxiety just fine. It's elevated because I don't have the meds, not because of anything else. It's kind of fake anxiety. My body is so used to my medication, that it goes bonkers without it.

So yesterday I forgot my meds. And we have a busy, frantic day at work. When I got home I took a partial dose, and made it thru the evening without a panic attack. I also saw our massage therapist yesterday, and that helped. Once I had the kids in bed, I mixed up some essential oils she recommended. She suggested them for a diffuser, but I don't have one. (A diffuser heats the oil, and puts it into the air.) So instead I applied them to my forehead, and other pulse points.

Believe me when they say that Nutmeg and Ylang-Ylang have a hypnotic, sedative power, they mean it. Mixed together, they were powerful. I literally couldn't stand up straight. I was tripping over my feet to get to bed.

Today I picked up a diffuser, so that should work good.

The school quandry

Six days into school. My daughter has already had a detention, and my son's teacher had me in for conference this morning. We are not off to a good start. Or maybe we are. Maybe we've finally got teachers who will get in top of their problems and force them to shape up.

My daughter prefers to talk. Instead of following directions, she wants to give them. Each morning I turn up the stereo to fall blast to get her out of bed. So far it's the only thing I've found that will work day after day. She's getting into trouble at school. She's talking, and distracting other children. She wants to play her own games in the middle of class. And needless to say, that's not going over well.

My son on the other hand, plays with his pencil. Instead of completing his work, he simply stares off into space, his mind racing ahead. He's so busy thinking that he forgets to write. (Had the same problem myself.) He refuses to focus unless he's forced to. His teacher has been happily surprised at how smart he is. When asked what the answer is, he can quickly give it. But told, read the question, and write the answer, he stares off into space. Until someone guides his attention, he let's himself wander.

Today I was at school with them at 7:30 am so I could meet with my son's teacher. Basically I told her, he's going to have to hit rock bottom before this will improve. So we're going to let him fail as quickly as we can so that he'll learn responsibility. And hopefully won't sacrifice too much of the school year in the process. And my daughter meanwhile had to stay after school 30 minutes to serve her time.

Corpus Christi

This week-end I went to Corpus Christi for Labor Day. A friend in our singles group is originally from Corpus, and her family still lives there.

As you can see, we kind of had fun. Tube rides, rides on a fishing boat, and a bonfire on the beach were all included. I could go on and on about my week-end. It was fantastic.