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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

School News...

Kr and grape lick This is darling daughter.  We think she still looks like this but we're not sure.  We haven't seen her since rehearsals for the school play started a while ago.  Although she and I did have that quality evening at the ER the night her toe was x-rayed a week ago.  For someone not actually IN the upcoming school musical play she sure is doing a lot of preparations!   The technical crew  assists with painting backgrounds and setting up the stage in addition to operating the lights and sound equipment.  The crew watch the rehearsals and take notes on what lights and sounds they have to provide and when.  I must warn you though that she is hard to see ~ her techie work means she must be invisible to the audience.  To minimize the chances of being seen the techie's wear black from their shoes to their hats.  If you do spot our shadow on your travels please tell her to send a postcard or call home ~ her kitty misses her!

Spook

Spook.  Daughter's lonely kitty waiting for a sign of the only person who gives him treats.

 

 

 

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Mathew at Renforth

Son is wrestling with the concept that most of school learning actually takes place at home and NOT at school.  To help ensure academic success we have implemented a daily scheduled homework time.  Whether or not he brings work home from school there is a review of math and reading.  Hubby helps son with math and might I interject here....the kid has better marks than I ever did in math!  Grade 9 students are learning all kinds of weird concepts right now.  Some of it is familiar but is disguised with fancy words like "polynomials", "transformation", "factoring".   As math reduces me to a babbling mess, I help son with English and reading instead.  Son struggles with reading and does not enjoy it too much unless it is one of his wrestling magazines.   In preparation for grade 10 and a possible move to regular stream English we are trying to instill regular reading habits.

Son struggles with a learning mental block that developed during the elementary years .  The bullying and teasing on top off learning difficulties certainly affects a young person's desire to learn.   

On Friday son and I head off to the Autism society to meet the woman who runs the local chapter.  There is a surprisingly high number of autistic spectrum kids and teens in this geographical area.  From this meet and greet the aim is to arrange get togethers with other Asperger Syndrome teens with similar tastes and hobbies as our son.   Those with Asperger's Syndrome lack social skills not the desire of company!   Following this meeting son and I plan to dine out and then go see a movie.

 

Uh-oh...it is almost time to get up for the day!  Yikes.... now the hurting tummy has moved on to ominous gurgling from other regions.... excuse me, but I must run...RUN now...!

3 comments:

Susan said...

What movie are you going to go see with Mathew? And tell Kristen we are really thrilled she is enjoying being a techie so much :-) I like how the "cats" are missing her....not speak of mummy,I bet ;-)
I'm with you on all the homework....fancy names for the same old Math that we couldn't do back then either!!
Can you believe that Holly-Anne comes home with homework in Sr Kindergarten most weekends? Honestly, what happened to colouring and getting read to in class? tell Kristen one of the ways we get Holly-Anne to be happy she is in French immersion, is to tell her Kristen is in it too!! :-)
Hope you get some warm weather there! No more snow!!

Windlost said...

Wow, sounds like lots of action at your house (or missing in action daughters). Nice to see a busy bustling family! Sometimes I wish I had more people to spend my love on and dream about having a little one. It is such a crazy demented world out there though, that sometimes I actually would feel irresponsible bringing a child into it. I had lots of bad experiences growing up that made me a very sensitive person, and I know how hard the world can be. It sounds like your Mathew is doing great with all the encouragement and support. He is blessed to have your love and I am sorry to hear that he had troubles with kids and such that damaged him. Why is the world so hard?

I saw a wonderful documentary about Aspergers and so have some (very very vague) sense of your challenges. The young boy in the documentary was very very smart and high functioning but had all the attendant social issues and was quite a handful for the family. It seemed they were so drained trying to protect him and manage him and force him to fit into our world when he didn't. It was this hard balance of trying to make him "normal" so people wouldn't hurt him and make comments and be mean to him (and alienate and ignore him) but also to let him be himself in his world.
It must be hard to know what to enforce, what to push, what to try to teach, what to let go. I am glad you have found support people to share with.

Take care! I finally updated my links with your new address. Slow me!

Joanna said...

Hi there - I found your blog through our mutual friend Windlost... your comment on her recent entry that included the word Aspergers caught my eye as I am in the world of special education and am starting a new job in a high school Monday. I've worked 1:1 with a 5th grade boy with Aspergers, and just worked in a residential program for about 6 months with adults with autism... definitely an interesting world that has inspired me to start Masters program applications for special ed.

I hope it's okay that I bookmark you on my site so that I can visit! That Autism society group sounds like it has a lot of potential to help with social skills - best of luck with it!

Joanna :-)