A friend of mine shared a link to this video on Facebook this morning. As the mother of an autistic child, my heart breaks for these poor kids.
Mother Kills Autistic Children
July 23rd, 2010
Cruelty in Kindness
July 16th, 2010We have a neighbor who has a cat. I am not fond of cats, but I truly despise this particular cat. The reason why I dislike this cat so much is that it has a habit of intruding on my personal space. On more than one occasion it has darted into our home while we are trying to go in. If we are outside, it comes right up to you and rubs against you (truly disgusting).
What is worse is this cat is an indoor cat that our neighbor allows to go outside, and when it is outside it not only terrorizes me (and the other neighbors), but it also terrorizes the birds. It often kills them and carries them around in its mouth. The neighbor who lives on the other side of us has a beautiful set up for birds, containing several feeders, a bird house, and some DIY birds have even made a nest in the upper branches of the tree. However, the birds are constantly in danger as this despicable cat climbs the tree on the prowl for birds.
Now to the point of this post: The neighbor who owns the cat also has a bird feeder out behind her house. I am sure she has not thought about the fact that she is providing birds for her malicious cat to destroy, she is probably just thinking how nice it is she can do something for the birds.
This made me think about the things I do and say. While my intentions and motives may be good, am I really looking at the whole situation? Would someone interpret my kind acts as cruelty? Are my acts of kindness motivated out of selfishness or a true desire to be kind to someone else? Truly something to ponder…
9 months and still counting….
July 9th, 2010I am an emotional basket case this morning as I take another pair of poopy underwear off of my 4 year old this morning. I am not sure why, but he just can’t seem to get the whole potty thing.
I am frustrated, angry, sad, disappointed, and I feel like a complete failure as a mother, because potty training shouldn’t be this hard. We have been working on this process since October, it is now July. By my calculations that is 9 months, and he still doesn’t get it.
As I am sitting there on the bathroom floor watching him on the toilet, crying my eyes out because I don’t know what to do to help him be successful in our potty training endeavor, he looks at me and says, “Thank you Mommy. You are my hero.”
I am sure one day he will get the whole potty training thing. He has to, right? I just pray for the daily patience and wisdom to help him be successful not only in this endeavor, but in life.
2010-2011 School Year
July 8th, 2010We have already begun our new school year. I am anticipating taking some time off when Annabella arrives, so I decided we would go ahead and get started.
The boys have been pretty involved in our curriculum so far. They really enjoy our school time and even ask for it throughout the day.
Below is a curriculum outline for what I want to cover with the boys this school year. We may cover more in some subjects, and less than others, a lot will depend on the boys’ maturity, grasp of concepts, and interest level.
Bible, Language Arts, and Math are our core subjects. They will be studied on a daily basis. Social Studies, Science, Fine Arts, and Foreign Language will be studied two or three times a week.
Bible
Our study of the Bible will focus on three main areas:
Bible Knowledge
We will begin our year using A Child’s First Bible to learn various well known Bible stories.
Memorization
We will be learning the Catechism for Young Children and ABC Memory Verses during the course of the year using this memory system found at Simply Charlotte Mason.
Character Development
We will be using the One Year Book of Devotions for Preschoolers.
Language Arts
Our study of Language Arts will focus on three main areas:
Beginning Reading and Handwriting
We will be using the Explode the Code beginning with the primer workbooks A, B, and C. Although the boys both know their letters and letter sounds, we will be using these books to develop handwriting skills and following directions skills.
Literature
My literature goal for the boys is to expose them to variety of well written and well illustrated picture books through read-alouds. I will choose one book to be read aloud to them during school time, and they can choose others that we can read throughout the day.
Poetry
We will begin the school year using The Random House Book of Mother Goose.
Math
We will be using a variety of different activities including hands-on activities, worksheets, and online activities to reinforce and learn the following pre-K math skills:
- Shapes
- identification of circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles
- Counting to 3
- counting dots, shapes, and objects
- Counting to 5
- counting dots, shapes, and objects
- Counting to 10
- counting dots, shapes, and objects
- Counting to 20
- counting dots, shapes, and objects
- Comparing
- groups (more or less), in charts (fewer or more), in mixed groups
- Positions
- inside and outside, left and right, left, middle, above and below, top and bottom
- Classification
- same and different, by color
- Size
- height, weight, capacity
- Money
- identify coin types, count pennies
Social Studies
- People in the Neighborhood
- Basic Geography Concepts
- Globes and Maps
- Continents
- Oceans
- Rivers, Lakes, and Mountains
- Around the World: Continents
- Holidays
Science
- Your Body
- Five Senses
- Animals
- Taking Care of the Earth
- Taking Care of Plants
- Seasons and Weather
- Physical Science Concepts
- Shadows
- Light
- Color
- Sound
- Motion
- Rocks and Dirt
Fine Arts
Visual Arts
- Elements of Art: Color, Lines, Types of Art
- Artists and Their Works
Music
- Elements of Music: Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Pitch
- Composers and Their Works
Arts and Crafts
Foreign Language
I want to teach the boys Spanish, but I am still looking for a good preschool curriculum to accomplish this task.
The Sharpie
June 30th, 2010Hayden loves to “ink” himself and does so every time he gets a chance. I am almost certain he is my child who will be covered from head to toe in tattoos one day.
Today, apparently, Hayden went into the laundry room and got a sharpie marker without me realizing it. He took the marker to the time-out chair, buckled himself in, and proceeded to draw all over his hands, legs, clothes, and even the time-out chair.
After I realized that Hayden was being very quiet, I went to check on him and found a very inked up child. I guess he knew he was going to get into trouble for the whole incident anyways, so he put himself into time-out so I wouldn’t have to. Luckily, no sharpie marks ended up on the walls or furniture….this time……