1) Reflection . . . . there had been a lot of that lately. Finishing up the last details for the new school year has been extremely difficult this year. I'm checking things off the list, yet coming up with new things to add. I'm almost there though and looking forward to moving ahead with our new year very soon.
2) Enjoy some Fourth of July pictures. I didn't take any of the fireworks this year.
2) Enjoy some Fourth of July pictures. I didn't take any of the fireworks this year.
3) Last weekend the boys braved flooding and went on a fishing trip at Roaring River (state park in Missouri-close to Arkansas). By the time they got there the flooding was over and the park was back open. I think they had a good time.
Lucy and I stayed home. I worked on school planning and relaxed via HGTV on Netflix. Lucy destroyed toys!
4)How's that summer to-do list going? you ask. Well, it started out great . . . . . and that is about it. All the bedrooms need a good deep cleaning. The kind of cleaning when you move the bed and sweep under it. That is something that is not done much here since we store stuff under the bed. The boy's closets needs a good cleaning too. I just keep putting it off!
5)I talked earlier about how difficult planning this school year has been. Planning for Tyler has been much easier than usual. Caleb was tough this year. Most of my difficulties come from not being able to focus on our goals for high school. That is because our goals are completely different than most. You can feel yourself starting to drown at times. I've talked about this in other post, so it's something I've struggled with a while. I think the best thing is prayer. It really helps. It's a constant thing or otherwise I start to sink and once I start sinking I forget about praying with all the clamorous disorder that I've sunken to. Prayer must be constant and never ending.
6) I've been reading some books that the boys will be starting soon for school. I've also been reading Charlotte Mason's sixth book. I'm getting towards the end and hope to finish it up in the next two weeks. I have read this book before and parts of it several times. I always pick up new things. I'm really just reading it for some inspiration of the upcoming new school year. As usual, my to-read pile is over flowing!
7)I know I haven't been blogging much lately and I think that will change next month. We've been keeping it pretty simple around here (in other words not much is going on)and I haven't felt pulled to write. Thanks for checking in on me though! I plan to pick things up next month.
Just sharing 7 things I'm thinking about. What about you?
Cassie
ReplyDeleteWoke up this morning thinking about you, hugs from Australia{}
Was also thinking I'd love to request a blog post on vision therapy for handwriting. I've no idea what it is, how you know it's needed etc. My three oldest teen/adult boys have terrible handwriting (the others are fine) and I've wondered, is it me or is it ...
Whilst you are planning it also occurred to me it might help if I shared my more nitty gritty planning/learning notes blog with you, it may be relevant and help. God Bless xx
http://sevenlittleaustralianslivinglearning.blogspot.com.au/
I won't be very good at explaining vision therapy because I don't know any of the official names and terms of anything. We all wear glasses here (except Tyler), including all grandparents, aunt, and uncles on both sides of the family. Because of this I take Tyler to the eye doctor every other year (would take him sooner if I would see him having problems seeing). The eye doctor I've been seeing since I was 16 is still in business and two of his children practice with him. It just so happens that one of them has extra training with children to do extra test to find problems that are normally missed in a regular eye exam (at least in the US, perhaps it's different in Australia). So, my boys always get more than a regular exam. In November she caught some focusing problems. I could see it while she was doing the exam too. He would be focusing in and one eye would shift, so he couldn't focus in on stuff. She said a sign of this would be trouble reading, which he didn't have, but he can't read for very long because his eyes get tired which would be a sign. He does have bad handwriting and seems clumsy (randomly falls out of chairs) which are other signs. She sent us home with a computer program for vision therapy ($150) which he completed in two months and then he went back for a follow up. He was better but not completely. She sent us back with more things to do at home. He wears 3-D glasses and was focusing on a chart and reading it too me. A few months of that and we went back for a follow up. Better but still needs more therapy. He now is focusing on a small sticker inches from his face for so long and then looks away to the chart on the wall to focus for so long. Back and forth for about two minutes at a time (wearing 3-D glasses too). He has his next follow up visit this coming week.
DeleteNow, I also had him evaluated by a physical therapist for his handwriting too. There are problems with his pencil grip and we are working on fixing that. Which is going very slow!! Mostly because I tell him to sit down and practice writing for 5 minutes daily . . . . and he is not doing it. His hand hurts when he writes. The therapist recommended these pencil grips to train his hand and he also does hand exercises with rubber bands to strengthen them. http://www.amazon.com/Write-Dudes-Training-10-Count-DDD01/dp/B005FPT7JU/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1437233453&sr=8-13&keywords=pencil+grips
If you are wondering what his handwriting looks like, his handwriting is not smooth (like his hand is shaky). He has troubles using the lines, spacing problems, letter size varies, and he pushes down way too hard. I think all a combination of struggle to focus and poor hand strength and pencil grip.
Does this help? Let me know if you have any questions. I'm going to check out your other blog. I think I've been there before but forgot about it.