Adjustments

The school year is off to good start, I guess. Caleb seems to be really enjoying jr high. The only problem is that he doesn't want to study. He has nagged us for several years to get him a trumpet to play and he has been looking forward to middle school so that he can start band. Well, band started but the first couple of nights we really had to fight him to practice. They were not actually playing at school yet (he just started taking his instrument yesterday and they have yet to start playing), but I knew he needed some time to get used to the fact that he HAD to practice a minimum of 30 minutes a night. He is finally to the point that he is doing it without me telling him.

He is also enjoying swim, although it is obvious that many of the kids on the team have pools and swim regularly. He is holding his own, but when he gets tired he starts swimming underwater, which he is great at. He can hold his breath a long time! Unfortunately, underwater swimming isn't really a part of it! He has finally gotten the freestyle down and he is great at the kicking of the breaststroke, they are working on the arms.

Isaac is night and day difference from last year. This time last year he was failing...more than one class. It took us half the year to figure out he had ADD and get him set with a medicine. He struggled ALL year, but never gave up and worked so hard. He even did a voluntary summer school this summer to help him catch up. He brought home his first paper packet (they only bring home school work every two weeks and we sign it and send it back) last week. He had 10 graded papers. He had one D, 2 B's and the rest were all 100's!! His hard work has REALLY paid off! We spent HOURS every night last year doing homework. He is getting it done in about 30 minutes this year!!

Bryce is making great grades, for the most part. He has been diagnosed with ADD and was put on medicine yesterday. His problems are showing more in behavior than grades. He is having a hard time with spelling and reading comprehension. He can read very well, knows his sight words, etc. His problem is that he doesnt want to take the time to do it. So he skims everything. You cannot answer all the comprehension questions correctly by skimming! As of now (and hopefully it will stay this way) he is on the same medicine Isaac is on. This medicine is only in his system for about 8 hours, so it is out of his system by the time school is out. There are no highs or lows, he doesn't "come off" the medicine (there is no obvious mood swing or any kind of down when the medicine wears off). Isaac has had no side effects (other than a "weird" feeling the very first day he took it). And, he doesn't have to take the medicine when he doesn't go to school.

Homework time is definitely less stressful than it was last year, but I am hoping that we can get Bryce to focus on his spelling and reading a little better and homework time won't be a problem at all!