I suppose I should make a stab at a real update
Let's see. The children are currently wrapping up their year in pre-k, in two different schools, which different schedules. It's not too bad, but having everyone on the same schedule next year will be a relief. Gabriel has just about outgrown his need for any kind of therapy, although he continues to make the appropriate sounds in strange ways. He keeps his upper lip peeled back when he talks but he makes the right sounds somehow that way.
Malachai adores pre-school, though we suddenly hit a rut where he doesn't want to get up in the morning. We've been having some bedtime issues, but I'm trying to get everyone back on track. The children ALWAYS wake up fully in the middle of the night, and instead of coming to me, who just cuddles, offers water, and boots them back to bed, they've decided to go downstairs and watch tv with Danny. Danny will have to immediately turn off the tv and use the tablet pc instead, oh the poor dear. He doesn't object, just needs to remember to do it automatically.
The school the beasties will attend next year is a Montessori charter school. It very much fits Gabriel's style of learing. He may or may not listen to an explanation about how plants grow, that he himself initiated, but if you give him something to demonstrate it, you can teach him concepts you would not think him ready for for YEARS. Malachai can learn by just being spoken at, but as with nearly all children his age, he's more interested and remembers more longterm the concepts he was able to learn by physically manipulating something. Gabriel is hesitant about leaving the preschool he has known for two years, but when he sees all the beads and blocks in his new school, I am certain he will be completely won over. I never did see a child for loving beads and shiny things the way my little redheaded crow does. The beads and blocks are in the math section, so I fully expect that child to be much more competent at math than his forebears.
The school does make me a little nervous, because as a charter they have to do a lot of fundraising to keep something of the things I consider basics, such as a formal music program and a PE program. Maybe I'm not giving credit where credit is due, but I feel maybe PE for physically able children shouldn't be too hard of a program to put together, and children who do need more physically, maybe they should want someone with a therapy background. I'm a little worried for that part, and about fundraising. I'm not one of those people who joyously jumped into Avon and Scentscy and forcing your friends to listen to sales pitches. I really hope they have occassional fundraisers that offer things I'd actually want, so I feel good about poking friends and strangers to buy. I'll figure something out. If I cannot help them raise money, I will put myself out for cleaning classrooms, playground maintainence, and painting and such.
Uh, hey...any of you guys know anything about grant writing? The school needs one, but I don't really know where you just find one. Ideally I'd like to learn it myself, but I'm thinking this isn't something you just go read a few webpages about. Maybe it is! Anyone give me a pointer about where/how to learn this?
Going to this charter school also has just a few drawbacks: no bus, so I will need about as much gas money for everyday back-and-forths as I do now. I never did plan on the beasts being latchkey kids so young, so that part isn't an imposition. And this would have come up even with a regular public school: work. How do people with overlapping schedules manage this? Say my job is 3 pm to 11:30 pm, and Danny's continues to be 2:45 to 11:45 pm. What do people do with their kids? I have the feeling the only answer for those late night hours is "grandparents." That's not an option for us. Grandpa cannot, and Grandma will not. I loathe not having plans in place, but this is something I'm just going to have to roll with. I'm not sure that I want the job I in mind, beacuse while it is very good pay and the resposibilities wouldn't be too onerus, I would be better served long-term to begin schooling. And then with schooling comes LOANS, which I loathe. OH WOE IS ME.
So, mostly these days I'm just concentrating on improving and expanding my cooking, the usual (clean house, clean kids, feed kids, feed kids, feed kids), and dreading the blistering murderous summer.
Malachai adores pre-school, though we suddenly hit a rut where he doesn't want to get up in the morning. We've been having some bedtime issues, but I'm trying to get everyone back on track. The children ALWAYS wake up fully in the middle of the night, and instead of coming to me, who just cuddles, offers water, and boots them back to bed, they've decided to go downstairs and watch tv with Danny. Danny will have to immediately turn off the tv and use the tablet pc instead, oh the poor dear. He doesn't object, just needs to remember to do it automatically.
The school the beasties will attend next year is a Montessori charter school. It very much fits Gabriel's style of learing. He may or may not listen to an explanation about how plants grow, that he himself initiated, but if you give him something to demonstrate it, you can teach him concepts you would not think him ready for for YEARS. Malachai can learn by just being spoken at, but as with nearly all children his age, he's more interested and remembers more longterm the concepts he was able to learn by physically manipulating something. Gabriel is hesitant about leaving the preschool he has known for two years, but when he sees all the beads and blocks in his new school, I am certain he will be completely won over. I never did see a child for loving beads and shiny things the way my little redheaded crow does. The beads and blocks are in the math section, so I fully expect that child to be much more competent at math than his forebears.
The school does make me a little nervous, because as a charter they have to do a lot of fundraising to keep something of the things I consider basics, such as a formal music program and a PE program. Maybe I'm not giving credit where credit is due, but I feel maybe PE for physically able children shouldn't be too hard of a program to put together, and children who do need more physically, maybe they should want someone with a therapy background. I'm a little worried for that part, and about fundraising. I'm not one of those people who joyously jumped into Avon and Scentscy and forcing your friends to listen to sales pitches. I really hope they have occassional fundraisers that offer things I'd actually want, so I feel good about poking friends and strangers to buy. I'll figure something out. If I cannot help them raise money, I will put myself out for cleaning classrooms, playground maintainence, and painting and such.
Uh, hey...any of you guys know anything about grant writing? The school needs one, but I don't really know where you just find one. Ideally I'd like to learn it myself, but I'm thinking this isn't something you just go read a few webpages about. Maybe it is! Anyone give me a pointer about where/how to learn this?
Going to this charter school also has just a few drawbacks: no bus, so I will need about as much gas money for everyday back-and-forths as I do now. I never did plan on the beasts being latchkey kids so young, so that part isn't an imposition. And this would have come up even with a regular public school: work. How do people with overlapping schedules manage this? Say my job is 3 pm to 11:30 pm, and Danny's continues to be 2:45 to 11:45 pm. What do people do with their kids? I have the feeling the only answer for those late night hours is "grandparents." That's not an option for us. Grandpa cannot, and Grandma will not. I loathe not having plans in place, but this is something I'm just going to have to roll with. I'm not sure that I want the job I in mind, beacuse while it is very good pay and the resposibilities wouldn't be too onerus, I would be better served long-term to begin schooling. And then with schooling comes LOANS, which I loathe. OH WOE IS ME.
So, mostly these days I'm just concentrating on improving and expanding my cooking, the usual (clean house, clean kids, feed kids, feed kids, feed kids), and dreading the blistering murderous summer.