Dingoes Step Into September YMMV - Page 12

[bec]

I love the idea of an adventure club!  Thankfully, girl scouts is still working for us for now.  Time will tell!

Geo - I am trying to be gentle about this for the moment, while still making the distinction that this isn't just her slacking.  I wrote this in reply to his first email:

Thank you for your reply.  Katie really is working very hard to understand this material.  I am not sure if you understand the level of difficulty manipulating numbers presents for Katie.  She has an IEP for her math learning disability.  Over the last couple of days, she put in about 5 hours of work to complete the pages she was able to finish.  I felt that she was gaining some comprehension of the process, but she did need the use of a conversion chart as an aid.  I understand about being fair to the other students, but I highly doubt that any of them will need to put in the effort to complete the work that she will in order to finish.

I have not gotten a reply to this, yet.  I am guessing he probably hasn't read the IEP.  Hopefully, the reason he hasn't replied is that he is trotting down the hall to her special ed teacher to see what all the fuss is about. 

Congratulations on the new car, Kerc.  I always get really aggravated when things go wrong with the cars and/or they need to be replaced. 

RR: I meant to do a short weights routine followed by a swim.  But, as I was finishing up the strength portion, I saw a whole bunch of high school kids take over the pool.  The high school pool is being renovated, so they come over to the park district to swim.  Irritating because it wasn't on the schedule (I could have planned my gym time differently).  So, I went into the gym and played basketball for half an hour while waiting for them to do their class.  Needless to say, my arms and shoulders are tired now!

NRR: DH upgraded his iPad to IOS6, and we have been having a good time making Siri say all sorts of crazy things!

[Geofizz]

I would have gone just a bit further in the email, editing out your perceptions of her understanding & performance (you're just a dumb parent, how could you know?)

Thank you for your reply.  Katie really is working very hard to understand this material.  I am not sure if you understand the level of difficulty manipulating numbers presents for Katie.  She has an IEP for her math learning disability.  Over the last couple of days, she put in about 5 hours of work to complete the pages she was able to finish.  By reason of this disability, she has an accommodation allowing for extra time to complete her quantitative work:  "Direct Quote from IEP goes here."  She will hand in the assignment on Monday, once she's had sufficient time over the weekend to complete the assignment.

Thank you for your understanding.

What accommodations might you have in there to allow the conversion chart?  I'm wondering if you need to reopen the IEP meeting process to add something like that to the list of accommodations.

Remember the "By reason of the disability" as the key phrase in the IEP law.  The science teacher might not recognize it, but the IS and principal, when reading this as a cc, will most definitely see it.

[MelW]

I love the dingoes. For advice on non-dishevelled friends, awesome long runs, IEPs and general childhood-geekiness-turned-adult-srmart-strong-loveliness.

I was supposed to be in the middle of my crazy stretch of work with another 12 hour day shift today, but called in exhausted after a massive asthma attack and middle of the night rounds of ventolin and (useless) ER visit with my youngest. Our family doc straightened things out this morning, and we're going with aggressive oral steroid and home nebulizer treatment based on my mama instinct that this was going to be a very bad cold and a very, very bad weekend if we didn't pursue a lot of intervention. May we not have an 11:30 pm raspy voice come into the bedroom gasping "I can't breathe!" tonight. 

Today also provided a good chance to catch up on some laundry, vacuuming and homelearning day for the eldest. I think we're getting into our groove with the "distributed learning" part of the curriculum, particularly in figuring out what to skip (pages of repetitive easy-for-her math, and a ridiculous phonics book), and what to pursue in greater depth (biography of Einstein and related activities of ordering events, identifying parts of language and subsequent library trip for books about space/matter, etc.).

No exercise, unfortunately. Tomorrow I owe my body, big time.

[1jooj]

It's still September, so I can still post on this thread! I didn't totally miss it. Yay!

MelW, totally agree on the Dingoes. Sometimes it is amazing just to sit back and watch when a problem is beyond my own wisdom, because I know there is someone here who has walked the road already or at least done something similar. And out it comes. And sometimes I am amazed by how the best advice are so counterintuitive to what I might have considered, and then to hear how it works out... love that.

Hope you got ahead of dd's cold/asthma with whatever punches are needed, and that there is good rest and sleep and recovery for all.

bec, it does seem like, were I to read something like what Geo offers here, I would totally "get" that the quantitative work in science = math and thus gets accommodation. Of course, that's me, and ymmv. Good luck, anyway, and may we soon be well into second quarter and some ease at school.

In the closest thing to a lull that I guess I'll get until we're on our own in Abu Dhabi. Kids and I moved into dh's hotel room. It's cramped but OK, and we have a gym and free laundry so whatever. We do school while dh is at work, and the weather is still so nice that we can get out afternoons/evenings and enjoy it. A couple more weeks, I guess, and we'll be on our way. I am struggling to get ahead with the kids on school, but ds especially is just not moving fast. I know it will all work out OK, and we'll be all right, but I wish I could make a little better progress.

RR: Kids and I used the gym yesterday and did a 45-minute cardio session by rotating 15-minute intervals on the elliptical, bike and TM. I didn't run but for a few minutes, but I did run. Have to be satisfied with that.

Have sorted through a lot of our stuff and I think I am almost ready to pack and meet baggage limits. Now it just remains to be seen whether we fly through Morocco or back to UAE and then to Morocco.

Hoping to spend what downtime dh has in visits with beloved friends and family. Which means a lot of time on the road.

Have a great weekend, Dingoes!

[bec]

She is allowed aids in testing, per her IEP.  Including calculators, charts, etc.  It's very clear.  He just needs to read it.  No response from him yet. 

Planning on a 5 miles with DH this morning. 

[mommajb]

Reading and lurking along...

kerc, your wording is awesome and matches the point I have been trying to make. It also hit a bit close to home. Perhaps if I can ways to make more time to take care of me I won't be so frazzled and can be a bit more open to really getting to know the interesting people around me.

May this years school woes be settled soon for all dinglets.
We are settling into a regular groove. It could be smoother. The girls want flexibility but aren't so motivated to earn it. I detest playing catch-up and am much more comfortable working ahead before taking time off. It is supposed to be back up around 90F again next week so we have beach days planned f they can get some things knocked out later this weekend. Other than swimming their sports season is by the month so we are done with soccer and moving on to flag football. After years of league play with randomized schedules and such I am loving this 'class' with a regular meeting time and a sport a month. We would not be trying so many sports (or playing at all) if I had to manage practice and game schedules for five children. Now to find a piano teacher we mesh with that will come to our house.

I have struggled to get out the door all week. Each run has been a day late but this is a pull back week so I won't be too hurt by it overall. I may reevaluate the plan I chose. It has 17 and 19 mile runs on it. A 19 mile run 2 weeks before, for a mini? I worry I won't be able to make it happen and that it doesn't make sense. If one can feel all sorts of hidden inflammation I can right now. I could use a massage and more. I assume it is food choices and fatigue doing this too me.

[bec]

Reporting 5 miles done with my husband.  It was a really nice run!

[sparkletruck]

I dont really have the mental capacity to venture into personals. I made it through this week of class getting all my work done and, i dont think, saying anything too stupid. i have difficulty sleeping right around O time, so this week was 5 hours a night for a few, on the heels of being up with dd2 for a few nights, and I was Anyway, O'd yesterday and sure enough, slept much better last night - woke at 7:45 compared to 5:30 the previous morning.

Meanwhile, as soon as I turned everything in Friday and finished all the reading I got another pile loaded on, and am now into the next paper. Must. Read. Aristotle. That's on the docket for tomorrow, I couldnt face it today, so read linguistic research instead Mostly it's all good, except for the part where I'm sure I'm the dumbest one there and I struggle to make sense of what my classmates are saying (and no Im not fishing here; I really feel like my brain is blunted, but , it is what it is)

Whatever, it's all good, just relentless.

RR: Th: bike intervals and run /walk. Fri.: weight circuit. Today was a rest day. Tomorrow is supposed to be bike/run but Im so burnt. I know it will give me energy, but sometimes it feels like more work, ykwim?

and to all

[Mel38]

Originally Posted by sparkletruck 

I know it will give me energy, but sometimes it feels like more work, ykwim?
 

I totally kwym! I think I have to figure that very thing out for myself again and again and again... I hope you got better rest.

mommajb, is a mini a half? 19 miles does seem like a very long run for that.

Yes, I agree with the food choices. Mine have not been great lately, and I am working on it. Making more time to prepare things is so important in my house. When time gets tight, things go downhill fast.

Bec: his responsibility is to be familiar with or at least consult the IEP, right? Sorry if I missed it, but have you had a face-to-face meeting with this teacher? It sounds like he was completely unaware of any of the circumstances. I hope he gets you a better answer after he talks to the right people.

A question for you wise, experienced running mamas out there. I need advice on my running plan. I have a marathon scheduled on the 28th of October, my first full. My knee has been cooperating with the plan so far with minimal pain and no flare-ups like the one I had at the end of June that put me out of commission for around 2 weeks. My long runs have been great, probably my favorite runs of the week. So I had been feeling lucky and like I would be ok for the marathon. But... I recently was reading some online forums (fora?) on the benefits of higher mileage training plans. I noticed that the moderate mileage plans for a "just to finish" marathon goal were still quite a bit higher than my weekly mileage! My mpw have been from 20 to 30, and that includes the long run. The consensus was that the long run is less important than the total weekly mileage. Now I feel underprepared and a little nervous. What weekly mileage would you consider acceptable, and do you have any articles that might support that "running less" theory?

[bec]

The training program I am going to be doing for my marathon this spring is going to be a 3 run a week program.  One day of speed work, one of tempo, and one long run.  Basically, it will boil down to one short, one medium, one long.  The mileage will not be very high.  Around the 20-30 mpw average.  A facebook friend did post an article about this, but I'm having a hard time finding it.  But, rest assured, it is out there and it makes a lot of sense!

[mommajb]

Mel, I usually do regular runs 2x a week even if I am not on a plan and then my weekend runs vary more. When I am feeling awesome I am running 6 miles on Tuesday and 8 on Thursday. These usually turn into tempo/fartlek runs so that I get home on time. Weekend long runs of not longer than 12 if I am not working towards more. Right now I am running 45 minutes on T/R and then alternating weekends long runs and speed work for a half. Based on no particular study but mass info gathering and some experience, I think 2 good midweek runs followed by regular weekend runs building up to at least one 10 mile run a couple weeks before would get the job done. You get to define good midweek runs so that you are uninjured but stressed enough to improve in some way. I have a feeling my thoughts are very unclear and as they are not based on much, take them for what they are worth. Basically I think consistency and lack of injury will take you far and your mileage sounds good to me.

[JayGee]

Mel, I've never run a full, but for the half-marathon, I usually do the 3x a week (speed/tempo/long) with crosstraining (not that kind ) on alternate days.  Always worked out well for me!  I say don't second-guess yourself, and just keep doing what you've been doing.

sparkle ~ I totally know what you mean about knowing that it will give me more energy, but still finding the energy to start is difficult.  Ah... inertia!  Good luck with school this week.  I am amazed at all you are doing.  I am not sure my brain would grasp any of that stuff anymore, sad to say.

bec ~ yeah, I think the science teacher should definitely allow accomodations for "mathy" type stuff, per the IEP.  Good luck getting the answers you and Katie need.

kerc ~ enjoy the new wheels!  I know our day is coming soon for massive auto failure.  I'm just hoping not too soon....

RR ~ ran/walked on Friday, nothing yesterday or today, but may go for a walk after dinner if I can break away.  I'm taking the plunge and going back to Pilates tomorrow morning though!  My library volunteer schedule is finally close to full so I won't be picking up a million extra classes that don't have volunteers as I have been for the last 6 weeks.  But I do have to make October bulletin boards and create book lists for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade read-alouds. Any good recommendations?

NRR ~ yesterday was DD1's First Feis (Irish Dance competition) and she did so well!!!  We got up at 5:30am to drive to St. Louis and she was so excited about the whole thing.  She won a gold medal for her Slip Jig and a bronze medal for her Beginner Reel.  It was really fun to watch the advanced dancers in their fancy solo dresses and hard shoes dance some amazing dances too.  I'm very proud of her for actually competing and enjoying it so much. I just wish I had remembered to put the battery back in the camera after recharging it .

[Geofizz]

What are you looking for with regards to read alouds? Shorter stories to be read in one session, or chapter books for the teacher to read over a number of books?

[JayGee]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

What are you looking for with regards to read alouds? Shorter stories to be read in one session, or chapter books for the teacher to read over a number of books?

Either, but we are mainly doing chapter books where the library volunteer reads the first chapter of a book to the kids to get them interested in something they might not otherwise pick up.  For example, we've done Frindle and The Westing Game for 5th graders so far.  My 5th grade list is pretty much done, but I need 4th grade stuff and a little more for 3rd graders.

[tjsmama]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Gaye, on homework, it helps to ritualize it.  Always in the same spot, at the same time, after the same snack.  Homework is done in our house earlier rather than later (certainly not within an hour of bedtime).  My OT friend also recommends a quick massage of the arms, hand, back, and head before starting.  It really works!  I've taken to taking DS' head and just squeezing it.   Also, the acts of writing and the process of coming up with something to write are two different things.  If you need to take the writing act and the figuring out what to write act apart, do so.  If you've got the feature on your phone, you should be able to record and playback easily as well.  Have him record what he wants to say, then he can play it back as many times as he wants while he writes it down.

We do homework immediately after we get home from school. I sit DS down at the kitchen island, with a snack, if he's hungry, and we go through it together and then pick out one or two parts to do each night (he brings home a packet on Monday that has reading, math, science, and writing sections, due on Friday). Math and science are super quick and easy usually, reading is great until he has to write down the book titles, and we struggle with the writing. This week was slightly better than last week (although I still felt like I gave him all the words to write down), so maybe we're getting into a routine. I like the massage idea, I'll have to give that a try.


mel~You are right on track for your marathon. My first marathon was the one that I had the highest mileage during training, and I topped out at 40 miles the week that I had my 20 miler. Most weeks were absolutely no more than 30. I'm only a week behind you on training, and I'm only getting low 20's to maybe 30 miles/week mileage. Especially for a first marathon, you'll be fine!

I survived the absolutely crazy week of work. Four call shifts (for 20 hours of call), a four hour training class, an eight hour shift, and two twelves. Can't wait for the paycheck! I really didn't think I was going to make it through the night last night, I was so tired. I had less patients than normal, but was way busier. I had a spanish-speaking only mom whose baby I had to start on phototherapy, and a mom with twins. The twins were out in the nursery most of the night with me trying to keep them happy because mom is breastfeeding (awesome), but only one twin at a time and refusing any supplementation, including donor milk. Babies were hungry, and mom was exhausted. Not to mention that dad was kind of a jerk...the previous night he had gone home to sleep. Not to take care of their 4 yo, who was staying with friends, but to sleep. Leaving mom (and her nurse) to manage the twins on her own. I hope he's more helpful when they get those babies home! (sidenote, mom delivered twins, vaginally, second one breech with forceps, with NO tearing...rockstar!).

Just happy to have two nights off before I'm back for three more...

[Mel38]

Thanks you guys! I am feeling better knowing that others have done it. Just trying to trust in the training and enjoy it as much as I can.

Hmm, book recommendations for reading aloud to 3-5 graders: the Indian in the Cupboard for the younger ones comes to mind.

Geo, I'm going to try that massage idea.

[sparkletruck]

Jumping in to say hi. I have no R to R, as I've been buried in reading for three days, in response to my panic over what I have coming and how unprepared I feel. Although, after these three days, I feel much better. Apparently I need to FREAK OUT, eat a lot of garbage, not exercise, and work non-stop (yes that was me at the 4-year-old birthday party at the "Little Gym" yesterday reading and underlining Aristotle ) to get a grip. Sigh.

I'm doing a project for one of my classes - it's THE semester project - and the prospectus was due last week. So I get an email from THAT prof. saying what a great idea she thinks it is and she cant wait to see it, and maybe she'll steal it. So of course that hit my panic button ("oh sh**, I'm too dumb to do anything she will want to steal...") Anyway, the pressure is on. I have to keep reminding myself that I am doing all this for ME, and however this semester goes, I want to come out of it with something that's mine, that means something maybe JUST for me (grades be damned or so I keep telling myself)

But in the process of working on the project this weekend (no, it's not due until December ) I found a PhD dissertation online in exactly what I'm doing my project on! Do you mean to tell me, I could add a lit. review and more analysis and get a PhD out of this!!

Ok, I really will calm down soon and be able to have a dialogue here, rather than a monologue.

P.S. Have I mentioned that it is DD1's 10th bday on Wed. for which she will have a sleepover next week that involves an indoor water park for 10 girls And that before that AWESOME day/night, I will be driving her north 6 hours (do the math) this Friday for a climbing comp. saturday morning, and then driving her back saturday afternoon. Yes, I will be the mom at the climbing comp. reading Aristotle

[kerc]

Originally Posted by sparkletruck 

Jumping in to say hi. I have no R to R, as I've been buried in reading for three days, in response to my panic over what I have coming and how unprepared I feel. ........

Yep. that sounds like graduate school, semester 1.

I found a PhD dissertation online in exactly what I'm doing my project on! Do you mean to tell me, I could add a lit. review and more analysis and get a PhD out of this!!

yeah, except that someone else has already done it. Oh and add in all the stuff that doesn't actually end up in the dissertation.

The name of the day today is "get ahead."

[Juvysen]

Had my first half-marathon yesterday!  Came in at 2:04:38.  WOOT!  Way faster than I was expecting.  I'm pretty sore today, though...

[kerc]

Originally Posted by Juvysen 

Had my first half-marathon yesterday!  Came in at 2:04:38.  WOOT!  Way faster than I was expecting.  I'm pretty sore today, though...

WOOT!!!

In my experience a gentle run or walk helps to ease the sore muscles. I'm talking like 2 miles or less.