Saturday, November 20, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
It is Called HOMEwork for a Reason!
At the kids schools they do not send home papers every day or week. In elementary school they send home "paper packets" every two weeks which is all of their graded papers in an envelope. I am not a fan of this AT ALL! By the time the papers and tests come home for me to see and have the kids correct, they have moved on to something else in class. To me, it kind of defeats the purpose of the kids doing assignments if they cannot learn from their mistakes on the assignments.
In Middle School, we don't get papers back. If we want to see the kids grades we have to get online and look them up. I got on to check Caleb's grades, because we are STILL having the "I don't have any homework" discussions every night. I was NOT happy to see that he had a B (an 85, here an 84 is a C, so almost a C) in READING! He reads ALL.THE.TIME!
When I asked why his grade was so low he said he must have not done too well on a comprehension test. I argued that he needed to read his book at home and he said they read it in class. I told him he obviously was NOT comprehending what he was reading and he needed to bring it home and reread.
After a couple of days (and getting progress reports in the mail with still a B) of not getting any good answer for the grade, I emailed the teacher. Turns out, she says the ONLY reason he does not have a A in the class is because he either did not complete or did not complete correctly a HOMEWORK assignment! That is right....he has a low grade because of his HOMEWORK (which he didn't do at home, so I don't know when he did it)
This did not do much for his argument! He has already been a little weary of the fact that the church we have been going to for the last month (and joined today) is where his teacher for this class goes. Even worse, she is in the Sunday School class we have been visiting! I am not sure that he likes me having such easy accessibility to her (not that we talk about his grades at church)!
He better hope he has that grade up in the next 3 weeks!!
In Middle School, we don't get papers back. If we want to see the kids grades we have to get online and look them up. I got on to check Caleb's grades, because we are STILL having the "I don't have any homework" discussions every night. I was NOT happy to see that he had a B (an 85, here an 84 is a C, so almost a C) in READING! He reads ALL.THE.TIME!
When I asked why his grade was so low he said he must have not done too well on a comprehension test. I argued that he needed to read his book at home and he said they read it in class. I told him he obviously was NOT comprehending what he was reading and he needed to bring it home and reread.
After a couple of days (and getting progress reports in the mail with still a B) of not getting any good answer for the grade, I emailed the teacher. Turns out, she says the ONLY reason he does not have a A in the class is because he either did not complete or did not complete correctly a HOMEWORK assignment! That is right....he has a low grade because of his HOMEWORK (which he didn't do at home, so I don't know when he did it)
This did not do much for his argument! He has already been a little weary of the fact that the church we have been going to for the last month (and joined today) is where his teacher for this class goes. Even worse, she is in the Sunday School class we have been visiting! I am not sure that he likes me having such easy accessibility to her (not that we talk about his grades at church)!
He better hope he has that grade up in the next 3 weeks!!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Potty Training: The Finale
Madeleine started carrying her potty around and sitting on it (dressed) a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes she tries to take her diaper off, sometimes she just sits. Tuesday I decided that since she was showing interest we would REALLY introduce the potty and see how she does. She is not even quite 19 months yet, so we are not going to push TOO much! As long as she is willing to sit and try we will go for it. If she decides she doesn't wanna do it then we will put it away for a while. However, if she wants to do it and I can quit buying diapers, well LET'S DO IT!
So, after nap Tuesday we began our final venture into potty training. I have done it four times already, I should be a pro - right? Well, the one thing that I DID learn with the first four is they are ALL different! I am going into this adventure with my eyes wide open. EVERYTHING about her has been different than her brothers! Everyone I have talked to or read about says girls are MUCH easier to potty train. I am going to assume she is going to be very difficult to potty train, then I will not be heart broken or feel like a failure when she is stubborn and difficult about this like she is with everything else!
Tuesday after nap she got up and sat on the potty. She actually peed in the potty! We clapped and cheered and did the "potty dance". She got embarrassed and hid between my legs! A while later she peed again in the potty, We clapped and cheered and did the dance and she hid again. After her brothers and Daddy got home though, she was not too interested in sitting on the potty!
Wednesday morning when she got up (at 5:30am) we went straight to the potty. She again peed in the potty. We toned down the cheering and did more dancing (did NOT want to wake all the boys up). She did not hide this time! Guess she doesn't want all the hoopla her brothers enjoyed. She wore a pullup to the library for storytime and for nap, but when she was home she was in underwear. She had one pee accident (and decided it was a good day to poop four times, all while in underwear). She used the potty four times yesterday!
This morning, she got up and went to the potty. Before, I would put her on her potty and go do what I need to do. Her potty makes noise when she pees or poops in it, so when I hear the noise I run to her and praise her. I was fixing breakfast and she came in screaming at me. I turned around and asked what was wrong and she was pointing to the potty. I went and checked and she had peed! She was very proud (and upset that the potty did not reward her with her princess sounds). I was happy that she knew she had done what she was supposed to, even without the potty telling her! That is a good sign!
A while later she came in saying something. I asked what was wrong and she pointed to the potty and started pulling her panties down. I helped her to the potty and she sat down and peed!
I am going to assume that it is still fun and exciting and new. I had another child that was ready to go and making progress and then decided it wasn't for him (he was still potty trained before 2 1/2 though). I am not getting my hopes up to high, but I am going to encourage and nudge as much as possible!
Andrew is NOT enjoying the potty reward system. He thinks if she gets a reward he should too. When that didn't work, he tried to tell me that when he goes potty I have to give him a prize! There might be a "tad" bit of jealousy ;)
A while back I found some Fancy Nancy panties. She has three favorite books and the Fancy Nancy series is one of them. I went ahead and bought them and put them away in her drawer. We pulled them out and she has been SO excited to wear Fancy Nancy around!
So, after nap Tuesday we began our final venture into potty training. I have done it four times already, I should be a pro - right? Well, the one thing that I DID learn with the first four is they are ALL different! I am going into this adventure with my eyes wide open. EVERYTHING about her has been different than her brothers! Everyone I have talked to or read about says girls are MUCH easier to potty train. I am going to assume she is going to be very difficult to potty train, then I will not be heart broken or feel like a failure when she is stubborn and difficult about this like she is with everything else!
Tuesday after nap she got up and sat on the potty. She actually peed in the potty! We clapped and cheered and did the "potty dance". She got embarrassed and hid between my legs! A while later she peed again in the potty, We clapped and cheered and did the dance and she hid again. After her brothers and Daddy got home though, she was not too interested in sitting on the potty!
Wednesday morning when she got up (at 5:30am) we went straight to the potty. She again peed in the potty. We toned down the cheering and did more dancing (did NOT want to wake all the boys up). She did not hide this time! Guess she doesn't want all the hoopla her brothers enjoyed. She wore a pullup to the library for storytime and for nap, but when she was home she was in underwear. She had one pee accident (and decided it was a good day to poop four times, all while in underwear). She used the potty four times yesterday!
This morning, she got up and went to the potty. Before, I would put her on her potty and go do what I need to do. Her potty makes noise when she pees or poops in it, so when I hear the noise I run to her and praise her. I was fixing breakfast and she came in screaming at me. I turned around and asked what was wrong and she was pointing to the potty. I went and checked and she had peed! She was very proud (and upset that the potty did not reward her with her princess sounds). I was happy that she knew she had done what she was supposed to, even without the potty telling her! That is a good sign!
A while later she came in saying something. I asked what was wrong and she pointed to the potty and started pulling her panties down. I helped her to the potty and she sat down and peed!
I am going to assume that it is still fun and exciting and new. I had another child that was ready to go and making progress and then decided it wasn't for him (he was still potty trained before 2 1/2 though). I am not getting my hopes up to high, but I am going to encourage and nudge as much as possible!
Andrew is NOT enjoying the potty reward system. He thinks if she gets a reward he should too. When that didn't work, he tried to tell me that when he goes potty I have to give him a prize! There might be a "tad" bit of jealousy ;)
A while back I found some Fancy Nancy panties. She has three favorite books and the Fancy Nancy series is one of them. I went ahead and bought them and put them away in her drawer. We pulled them out and she has been SO excited to wear Fancy Nancy around!
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Halloween 2010
I thought this was going to be a pretty easy Halloween in the costume department. We had decided Mady's costume a while back, after the first time we took her hair out of a rubberband and it stood in a mohawk the rest of the day. When we started talking about costumes Bryce wanted to be the trashcan (for the THIRD year in a row....it is being retired now) and Isaac wanted to wear Caleb's costume from last year. Andrew had seen a picture of a robot and said that he wanted to be a robot.
Caleb was so difficult! He wanted a homemade costume too. But EVERY. IDEA. we gave him he did not like! I had given up on him and told him he could go as a stubborn teenager. He asked what the costume would look like and I told him to look in the mirror! He FINALLY decided to go as a fisherman (I think he sensed my impatience with his lack of costume decision).
I was thinking a simple robot for Andrew. A box, painted silver with a silver face, etc. But, I gave the task to his Dad! THIS is what we ended up with:
On Wednesday we went to Fall Fest at the church we have been visiting. Because there were lots of games, jump houses, races, etc. I did not want to put Andrew and Bryce in their costumes that they would not be able to sit and move around in. So, AJ wore his monkey costume from last year and Bryce wore his Fireman costume. When we tried on Andrew's costume Mady got so excited we put her in an older monkey costume. She thought it was hilarious
Here are the pumpkins Dad carved with the kids:
Here is everyone before Trick or Treating. Mads would only have a picture if I was sitting in it! They did individual pictures at Fall Fest with a professional photographer and I had to sit in that picture with Mads too! I will post those when we get them in the mail (everyone got a free photo).
We had so many people asking if they could take pictures of the trashcan, robot and punk rocker. But, I think at EVERY house we visited we were told that the robot won the costume of the year. Then they would put HANDFULS of candy in his bag! This is some of what we ended up with. I found more after I took the picture and this does not include what they had eaten over the few days before I took the picture!
I sent a grocery bag FULL of candy to Paul's office yesterday. There was no way FIVE kids were going to be allowed to eat near all of that!
Mady had so much fun going to each door. I had to hold her hand, of course, because she isn't fond of strangers! After every house she would want to stop and eat candy though. She could have been given a couple of pieces all night and would have been happy (she wasn't though, she returned with a full bag as well). She loved wearing all of the jewelry and makeup too.
Andrew's hand had to be held the ENTIRE night too. We knew if he fell it would be the end of the robot! Daddy saved a couple of falls throughout the night, but for the most part Andrew did a great job of staying on his feet. When we got back home is when he fell going up the porch. He fell right on the mums Paul had gotten for me :( Robot-1, Mum-0 :( He managed to not mess up the robot at all. Now to figure out where to put this masterpiece!!
Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!
Caleb was so difficult! He wanted a homemade costume too. But EVERY. IDEA. we gave him he did not like! I had given up on him and told him he could go as a stubborn teenager. He asked what the costume would look like and I told him to look in the mirror! He FINALLY decided to go as a fisherman (I think he sensed my impatience with his lack of costume decision).
I was thinking a simple robot for Andrew. A box, painted silver with a silver face, etc. But, I gave the task to his Dad! THIS is what we ended up with:
On Wednesday we went to Fall Fest at the church we have been visiting. Because there were lots of games, jump houses, races, etc. I did not want to put Andrew and Bryce in their costumes that they would not be able to sit and move around in. So, AJ wore his monkey costume from last year and Bryce wore his Fireman costume. When we tried on Andrew's costume Mady got so excited we put her in an older monkey costume. She thought it was hilarious
Here are the pumpkins Dad carved with the kids:
Here is everyone before Trick or Treating. Mads would only have a picture if I was sitting in it! They did individual pictures at Fall Fest with a professional photographer and I had to sit in that picture with Mads too! I will post those when we get them in the mail (everyone got a free photo).
We had so many people asking if they could take pictures of the trashcan, robot and punk rocker. But, I think at EVERY house we visited we were told that the robot won the costume of the year. Then they would put HANDFULS of candy in his bag! This is some of what we ended up with. I found more after I took the picture and this does not include what they had eaten over the few days before I took the picture!
I sent a grocery bag FULL of candy to Paul's office yesterday. There was no way FIVE kids were going to be allowed to eat near all of that!
Mady had so much fun going to each door. I had to hold her hand, of course, because she isn't fond of strangers! After every house she would want to stop and eat candy though. She could have been given a couple of pieces all night and would have been happy (she wasn't though, she returned with a full bag as well). She loved wearing all of the jewelry and makeup too.
Andrew's hand had to be held the ENTIRE night too. We knew if he fell it would be the end of the robot! Daddy saved a couple of falls throughout the night, but for the most part Andrew did a great job of staying on his feet. When we got back home is when he fell going up the porch. He fell right on the mums Paul had gotten for me :( Robot-1, Mum-0 :( He managed to not mess up the robot at all. Now to figure out where to put this masterpiece!!
Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!
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