Saturday, September 8, 2007

Back to School

The twins are back in school, thank God. I love my kids but I was ready for summer to end. Everyone was up and ready for the bus on the first day, by day 2 Colleen had enough. So I had to dress her-she can do this herself-and drag her out the door to the bus. She did come home happy, and her teacher said she slid right into her school routine. Maybe next week will be better (one can always hope).

I have a program for my computer called Boardmaker, they also have one at school. It allows me to pair pictures with words. Colleen has a number of sight words that she knows without pictures, but she needs pictures for new ones. So I used the program to print out a story about her summer. She would never be able to answer questions without this visual cue. I do a sheet every weekend, so she can tell her teachers what she did. And now (after 1 year of begging) the school is doing a sheet a week so she can tell me what she did at school. It also helps because Colleen's articulation is poor. I'm always translating for others. And if I don't get it it's a guessing game, which frustrate Colleen. Some of my friends kids speak so clearly, and some don't speak at all. One of her classmates calls her mom a bitch all the time-thank God we don't have that to deal with!!

We signed up for bowling for special olympics which starts this week. We're skipping soccer so we can watch Patrick play football. Ballet starts this week too-my 13 year old with 5&6 year olds, but she loves it. It is good for her feet, balance and self confidence. I'm hoping we can move her up to an older level, but I don't want to push the teacher. I had to convince her to let Colleen try, and she did very well.

So we're gearing up for week 2!! Wish me luck!!