life stuff
4 May 2011 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennickelsFeel free to ignore...nothing fandom related here.
Our mailbox is down the street in front of the neighbor's house. Needless to say we don't check it often. We know when the bills are due and pay them online so... I don't know, we just forget to check it. So I sent the kids out to get the mail and there was a ton. On top was a letter from the school post dated April 20. So I open it and there are 2 papers. I open one and it's some kind of test results for our oldest, Meagan who is in 5th grade. I kind of glance at it but I have no idea what it is for or when she took the test. Shrug.
Then I read the other paper which is a letter from the school counselor. According to the letter because Meagan scored 90% or better on this test she qualifies for the "Highly Capable" program. I'm supposed to go to their website and check it out. We were kind of shocked. My husband grabbed the letter out of my hand before I finished reading it. We've always known Meagan was smart. Not like some of these genius kids you hear about that are reading at 18 months and doing calculus at 5. But she's smart. Smart-ass, too. Too smart for her own good we always said.
When it came to school she had it pretty easy. She learned to read in kindergarten. Started the year a couple months after turning 5 barely knowing her alphabet and by Christmas was reading short sentences. By May, still 5 years old, she was reading Junie B Jones books on her own and then telling me what they were about. Those are chapter books geared towards 2nd graders. Not an amazing feat but I was proud. She never struggled in school and just about everything came easy except for math. But she breezed through that until the 4th grade (last year) and then started having issues with multiplication. But her reading and other subjects she aced easily with almost no effort. Because she refuses to put any effort into anything she does. She is the laziest kid I've ever known.
When math became too hard to get without effort she just gave up and didn't even want to try any more. Now in 5th grade, at this new school, she is finally getting it. Slowly but surely.
The deal with Meagan, though, is she has zero motivation and wants to do as little work as humanly possible. When we mentioned the program she freaked out. She doesn't want extra work or to have to actually try at school. I'll check out the website in the morning. I'm still kind of surprised about the whole thing.
On another note... my external hard drive decided to die. I keep all my photos, scrapbook pages, stories and everything else backed up on that hard drive. Now I can't access it. Grr. With my computer always near death itself I'm freaking out. If my computer crashes I lose just about everything. I have some stuff backed up through like winter on another computer (that doesn't really work). But I can only back stuff up by transferring to the external and then to the other computer. Argh.
Oh, but on a better note... Jack is now saying "mama". More of a babble still but I think he's finally getting that I'm mama. He kept following me around going mamamamamamama and crying because he wanted to be held and I had things to do. He refused to go to my husband because he shaved all his hair off this morning. Jack keeps looking at him like he does this little girl down the street that he's terrified of, lol. He has also decided to stop crawling on his hands and knees and has taken up the bear crawl. He's so freaking cute.
Also: We're going to go register kid #4, Nora, for kindergarten tomorrow. I can't believe it... kindergarten. She's five. Wow. Unfortunately, while looking over her immunization record it appears she needs a few shots. She's not going to be happy. So I had to go look up providers in our area. I think I found a practice for the kids to go to. So we'll get her set up for her check up and shots. We're debating taking Jack. He's uninsured and hasn't seen a doctor since he was 5 days old so he's way behind on his shots. But without a SSN we can't get him insured (even with state insurance which he qualifies for) and we can't get him a SSN until we have proof he is who we say he is. They want a note or something from a doctor with his name, our names and his DOB. If we take him in we'd have to pay out of pocket for the well visit which would probably be $180 or so (that's what our old ped charged for an initial visit). That's without the shots he needs. Those would be another $500 or so (at least). We can't afford that.
Anyway, I also found a potential family practice for me and hubby in case I decide I need to see a doctor for this illness. And a mental health clinic for when I get the chance. I could get back on my meds. Wouldn't that be nice.
reading: One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming. The last in the series. I might just go back and start reading them all over again, lol. I zipped through 6 books in 2 weeks and now have Clare and Russ on the brain.
writing: nothing... but trying to start working on my NaNo novel again and hoping to finish up at least one of my started short stories.
Our mailbox is down the street in front of the neighbor's house. Needless to say we don't check it often. We know when the bills are due and pay them online so... I don't know, we just forget to check it. So I sent the kids out to get the mail and there was a ton. On top was a letter from the school post dated April 20. So I open it and there are 2 papers. I open one and it's some kind of test results for our oldest, Meagan who is in 5th grade. I kind of glance at it but I have no idea what it is for or when she took the test. Shrug.
Then I read the other paper which is a letter from the school counselor. According to the letter because Meagan scored 90% or better on this test she qualifies for the "Highly Capable" program. I'm supposed to go to their website and check it out. We were kind of shocked. My husband grabbed the letter out of my hand before I finished reading it. We've always known Meagan was smart. Not like some of these genius kids you hear about that are reading at 18 months and doing calculus at 5. But she's smart. Smart-ass, too. Too smart for her own good we always said.
When it came to school she had it pretty easy. She learned to read in kindergarten. Started the year a couple months after turning 5 barely knowing her alphabet and by Christmas was reading short sentences. By May, still 5 years old, she was reading Junie B Jones books on her own and then telling me what they were about. Those are chapter books geared towards 2nd graders. Not an amazing feat but I was proud. She never struggled in school and just about everything came easy except for math. But she breezed through that until the 4th grade (last year) and then started having issues with multiplication. But her reading and other subjects she aced easily with almost no effort. Because she refuses to put any effort into anything she does. She is the laziest kid I've ever known.
When math became too hard to get without effort she just gave up and didn't even want to try any more. Now in 5th grade, at this new school, she is finally getting it. Slowly but surely.
The deal with Meagan, though, is she has zero motivation and wants to do as little work as humanly possible. When we mentioned the program she freaked out. She doesn't want extra work or to have to actually try at school. I'll check out the website in the morning. I'm still kind of surprised about the whole thing.
On another note... my external hard drive decided to die. I keep all my photos, scrapbook pages, stories and everything else backed up on that hard drive. Now I can't access it. Grr. With my computer always near death itself I'm freaking out. If my computer crashes I lose just about everything. I have some stuff backed up through like winter on another computer (that doesn't really work). But I can only back stuff up by transferring to the external and then to the other computer. Argh.
Oh, but on a better note... Jack is now saying "mama". More of a babble still but I think he's finally getting that I'm mama. He kept following me around going mamamamamamama and crying because he wanted to be held and I had things to do. He refused to go to my husband because he shaved all his hair off this morning. Jack keeps looking at him like he does this little girl down the street that he's terrified of, lol. He has also decided to stop crawling on his hands and knees and has taken up the bear crawl. He's so freaking cute.
Also: We're going to go register kid #4, Nora, for kindergarten tomorrow. I can't believe it... kindergarten. She's five. Wow. Unfortunately, while looking over her immunization record it appears she needs a few shots. She's not going to be happy. So I had to go look up providers in our area. I think I found a practice for the kids to go to. So we'll get her set up for her check up and shots. We're debating taking Jack. He's uninsured and hasn't seen a doctor since he was 5 days old so he's way behind on his shots. But without a SSN we can't get him insured (even with state insurance which he qualifies for) and we can't get him a SSN until we have proof he is who we say he is. They want a note or something from a doctor with his name, our names and his DOB. If we take him in we'd have to pay out of pocket for the well visit which would probably be $180 or so (that's what our old ped charged for an initial visit). That's without the shots he needs. Those would be another $500 or so (at least). We can't afford that.
Anyway, I also found a potential family practice for me and hubby in case I decide I need to see a doctor for this illness. And a mental health clinic for when I get the chance. I could get back on my meds. Wouldn't that be nice.
reading: One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming. The last in the series. I might just go back and start reading them all over again, lol. I zipped through 6 books in 2 weeks and now have Clare and Russ on the brain.
writing: nothing... but trying to start working on my NaNo novel again and hoping to finish up at least one of my started short stories.
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no subject
Date: 5 May 2011 09:12 pm (UTC)"Clare and Russ on the brain"
LOL me too... just finished 'One Was a Soldier' today *G*
no subject
Date: 5 May 2011 09:23 pm (UTC)I'm not quite done with it yet. I've been kind of milking it because I don't want it to end.
Totally have to thank you for the rec. It's the first thing not fanfic I've read in years and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. I think my husband is getting sick of listening to me ramble about them, though.
no subject
Date: 5 May 2011 09:44 pm (UTC)LOL, I was too, but I could only make it last so long. Had to wait for the kids at the dentist today... so I took the book and finished it off :)
"I think my husband is getting sick of listening to me ramble about them, though"
Mine was just getting tired of me whining that 'the new book wasn't out yet.' He was actually happy when I finally got my hands on it... guess I can go back to whining now until she writes the next one *L*
no subject
Date: 5 May 2011 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 May 2011 06:28 am (UTC)If I wrote an ending like that I'd get slapped down by the critics at ff.net. Actually I did have that happen.
Now my head is spinning with all sorts of ideas. They'll probably end up having a girl and poor, poor Russ will be completely out numbered and left at their mercy, lol.
And, man did I want to smack Hadley upside the head. Poor Flynn.
Hmmm, I haven't been this vested in a story in a long time. Little plot bunnies are poking their noses out and sniffing the air. :)
no subject
Date: 5 May 2011 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 May 2011 09:33 pm (UTC)There were some websites listed for teachers and parents at the elementary level (which I assume includes the middle school...in Chicago "elementary" school is K-8). It talked about giving the kids more challenging work and expecting more to them. I don't think it's special classes or anything, just harder work on the same concepts the other kids are learning.
I like how the school lets the kids learn at their own pace. My other 2 kids in school have reading troubles and are in special classes. They offer Title I but also a bunch of other more personalized reading classes to bring them up to speed and work on their weaknesses. They are in 2nd and 3rd grade and both started the year way below their grade level in reading. I think both were at a kindergarten level thanks to their old school (which was a Catholic school...private does not equal better education). Since school started the 3rd grader went from a high kindergarten/low 1st grade level to a high 2nd grade/low 3rd grade level. In testing he's still not where he's supposed to be (high 3rd grade) but he's catching up. I know he can read at level he just gets nervous on the tests.
The 2nd grader started around the same level and is now closing in on her grade level. At PTC I was told she was at a high 1st grade level and after spring break they would move her into a low 2nd grade level (next step up). After the reading teacher left her class teacher told me she's been giving her the same tests the other kids get at grade level and she's been doing find on them so she can read at level but is also having issues with the tests that count.
If they had continued at their old school they would have fallen more and more behind despite the Title I help. Which was just support...they were still expected to do everything the other kids were doing and they couldn't.
It's been interesting and exciting to see them finally get it.
no subject
Date: 10 May 2011 12:22 am (UTC)