Sep 26, 2005 | Uncategorized
I
promise… an update tomorrow! Our little family has been down
with a nasty bug for the past week and are just now seeing the end of
the shared mucus. Eww! I attempted an update earlier
in the week (despite my medicated stupor) only to have my server crash
taking with it a half written post and all access to email.
Consider that fate, dear reader, stepping in to save you from reading more about our
little "snot" problem. So until tomorrow–sweet dreams.
UPDATE: Ok, well, it turns out that I’ve relasped. I’ll be back as soon as I stop hacking up bits of my lungs.
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Sep 24, 2005 | Uncategorized
This entire family has been down with a nasty bug since last Sunday. I tried on Tuesday night, despite my medicated funk, to update but my server crashed taking with it my access to email and a half written post. I took that as an omen–maybe you didn’t want to read about all my mucus afterall!
We are finally on the rebound–but in the past week so much has happened I find updating a daunting task! I will address all the "news"–especially the Pink kind–later. First, I just want to say "Thanks" for all the support I’ve recieved regarding Boy Wonder…
Taking him out of school has not been an easy decision. We have talked about it for many years–it’s just something I’ve chosen not to blog about because so many people have such strong opinions! I’ve yet to meet a person who says, "Homeschooling? I could take it or leave it!" I know from personal experience that the decision to take anything but the regular route with your child’s education can be perilous. It’s like stumbling into a La Leche League meeting with a Gerber bottle full of formula in your hand. This little family is "different" enough already, do we really want to walk down this particular path and announce to the world just how different we are?
Hand me the blow-horn.
Because ultimately, we are different. Boy Wonder has known this for ages. Adults who interact with him, even strangers, always comment on how unique he is. Sometimes they mean that in a good way, most often they mean that in a good way. Yet, there has always been this edge, this unspoken sense that he is not like the rest of his peers. While all the elderly ladies at Peet’s were charmed and told him that he was "Special", all the experts–and there have been many Pediatricians, Pschologists, and Educators–have said, "He probably won’t find peers until Graduate School." His peers? Well, they sense one not like their own a MILE away–and that’s where they’ve stayed… Which makes for a lonely existance within a crowd. One on one, he is charming and sweet and far too innocent. But in a crowd, he simply does not know how to fit. And further more, he doesn’t want to. Boy Wonder figured out early on that he wasn’t like everyone else and he didn’t want to be like everyone else. He has gone out of his way to be as much "himself" as possible.
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Sep 14, 2005 | Uncategorized
Another letter to Becca,
Hi there…
I was looking at my calendar and realized you are well into your 4th
month and have an ultrasound coming up! Just think, if all goes well,
you will know if it’s pink or blue in less than a week! Woohoo!
(Sheesh… I’m busy with the exclamation points.)
I thought you would be interested to know that we had an official sit
down (or IZ did) with Boy Wonder’s teacher today where he was informed
that the curriculum isn’t going to get any more advanced. She told IZ that Boy Wonder is working way beyond his grade level. She said the tests
would come back soon–but IZ and I have decided not to wait until
then to move. Our options are a bit limited. We can keep him in 3rd
grade and let him be bored, advance him to 4th grade to run with the
4-6th grade crowd, or we can enroll him into a home-based program.
Obviously, they all come with downsides!
We’ll take door number three, Chuck! At least for this year. We have
decided (and had been considering this all summer, but wanted to give
the school a try first!) to enroll Boy Wonder into the Connections
Academy, which is an online charter school. It’s actually public
school, so the state still keeps track of your kid and tests. But your
child is allowed to go at their own pace as long as they make progress
and show that they are actually learning. I have NO issues with anyone
looking over my shoulder, since I have nothing to hide and a program
that requires that much accountability out of you means you can’t slip
up and let things slide. It is totally free, you don’t have to buy any
special books. The most we might have to do is purchase a P.C. to run
the programs on if our Macs run too slowly with the conversion
package. So, as soon as the paperwork is final, he will take a
placement exam and then they will ship our books etc… to us. We
should be up and running before October.
I have to say, I never thought we would homeschool. But, I just don’t
see what we can do. The homework he is bringing home is stuff he did
in first grade. He is already breezing through the 4th grade material
we have for his computer and demanding more stuff. Jack bought him a
science kit on electricity and the kid is building his own circuitry.
There is talk of a building a generator. I’d like to think otherwise,
but my kid is a science dweeb and the program here just isn’t capable
of challenging him. And how can they with 30+ students in a class?
So, your prayers are most wanted. If this doesn’t work out, we can
always enroll him in 4th grade next year–but my guess is, he will do
just fine. I am, on the other hand, a completely different story! I
don’t like the idea of him being present 24/7 but IZ and I agree that
he needs a better opportunity. I don’t think he can hang with the 4th
graders this year and at the rate he is moving, assuming it stays the
same, he would need to skip another grade again at the end of "4th".
NO WAY IN HELL am I letting my 9 year old hang out next year with those Juvenile
Delinquents they call middle schoolers. 🙂 Alone time, for the moment
at least, is going to have to be creative. Needless to say, we will be
looking for sitters soon! 🙂
We are getting him involved in Cub Scouts and starting him in swim
lessons at the end of the month–so hopefully he will make friends
there! And then there is always church… (ha ha ha ha *snort*) As
sad and frustrated as I am about my internship, it is probably a really
good idea that I’m home and not occupied with anything at the moment.
You know? Who knows, maybe we will all get on a neat and orderly
schedule and all my J tendencies will be unleashed.
Or not.
See, this is what happens when you move to Oregon. If I start planting
vegetables in my back yard and stop shaving my pits, could you please
just shoot me? 🙂 Thanks.
Hope you are well. . . I’ll keep you in my prayers this evening!
Wen
P.S. As usual, I’m too lazy to create content for my website so I’ll
probably be posting this (edited of course) on my site. Tsk, tsk, I
know. 🙂
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Sep 6, 2005 | Uncategorized
Me: "Are you sure you don’t want just a few new things to wear when school starts tomorrow?"
Boy Wonder: "Um, no."
Me: "So, you’re telling me you are OK with going to a new school in ratty old clothes?"
Boy Wonder: "Oh! My clothes are not ratty. You are just saying that to try to get me to go shopping!"
Evidently, he’s on to me.
UPDATE: Apparently, boys do
like to shop. Just not for clothes. Who knew? Presently,
Boy Wonder is sitting on my bed marking up his new Fall Lego
Catalog. Soon, it will be chalk full of "yeses" and "nos" for all the
things he wants (or doesn’t as the case may be). Including a
complicated scale to indicate which piece should be purchased over
others because, "I know you won’t buy me everything in this book–and I
wouldn’t want you to buy the wrong thing or anything!"
Sheesh. As well, I’ve just been informed that he would like
an "All Lego
Birthday and Christmas." The kid’s getting an early start it
seems. Lest you think he is completely selfish, you will be happy
to know that he just picked out a $70 toy for the kid across the
street. Ha ha ha haa ah ah *snort* ha ha ha ha.
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Sep 1, 2005 | Uncategorized
Boy Wonder and I needed a little plant therapy after all the news.
More pics of the two of us and our efforts on the "read more" link. Click for comments.
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Sep 1, 2005 | Uncategorized
I’m just not motivated to write–between the dragging sensation that is
August (who even likes this month?) and being glued to CNN all day, I’m
just not feeling like there is much to say. Except, maybe, WHERE
THE HELL IS MY GOVERNMENT?
S i g h. Seriously, though, I should update. Much is in the
works, including a visit to Boy Wonder’s new school tomorrow (Yes, I’ll
be on my best behavior) and a potential visit to the eternal city of
lights (IZ says we are going, I’m obsessing that my wardrobe isn’t black
enough). Perhaps I’ll feel up to writing tomorrow, which is
after
all– September.
UPDATE: If you wish to help the victims of Katrina, consider giving to UMCOR. All of your money will go the relief effort!
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Aug 31, 2005 | Uncategorized
Go ahead, ask me where I’ll be next June. Hint
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Aug 31, 2005 | Uncategorized
. . . to despise George W. Bush.
His tan is better than mine.
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Aug 28, 2005 | Uncategorized
It’s like watching a oncoming car accident in slow motion. . .
Our prayers are with you all.
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Aug 26, 2005 | Uncategorized
I’m
not supposed to show you this photo. I’m supposed to wait to post
it until he’s older so that he can say, "That was when I was young and
foolish." But as he will be young and foolish even when he is
older, I figure, OH WELL. Besides, when he finds this blog in a
few years, this photo is going to be the least of the ammunition he
fires at me in therapy!
The
reason I’m posting it (besides being obsessed with my kid’s hair) is
that for the first time in weeks you can actually see Boy Wonder’s
eyeballs! When I asked him how he liked his haircut he said, "Oh, I
don’t have an opinion about that. But I loved having my hair
shampooed*! Don’t tell anyone I told you that."
Oops.
*BW had his hair cut for the first time in a real salon.
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