A School Day

Leah is busy with her school work today. She is really starting to get the hang of the new program and is figuring out how to take notes and study (FINALLY!!!!). This is a skill we desperately wanted to instill in her before she got into harder subjects in high school and college. She seems happy and quite content to do her work, just checking in when she has a question or something new and exciting to tell us. Mark thinks she is enjoying the freedom and fewer distractions than she would have at school. Time will tell.

For Jordan, we are just trying to get in our hours for the week, no more, no less. We want to get him used to the program and the changes before we ask him for more. We are doing a lot of review right now so I can get a handle on where he really is. Math seems to be going ok and he isn't too far off of grade level. Reading is ok as far as the words themselves go but he doesn't really "get it", they are just words on a page to him unless, it is fact based thus, writing is a problem too. I am going to have to find ways to make things visual to him so he can "see" things in his head. When he is reading facts he is a virtual storehouse of information and he wants to know everything about everything. The hard part with wanting to know everything is trying to convey the point that no one else keeps that kind of stuff in their head (nor do we care to).

On being human barometer: It appears that Jordan and I have yet another connection. I have noticed after some careful observation that we both feel the weather. He has been bouncy and in my face trying to tell me stuff, and I have a huge headache (both of which always happen when the weather is changing). Since we are in our monsoonal period here it is easier to look for patterns. When I see the clouds rolling in and I feel my headache coming on I can ask Jordan, "Is it going to rain?" I am hoping at some point that I can get him to see the connection so he can begin to label how it is he feels when the weather changes. If I can get him to label it, maybe we can give him some coping tools. As for me, I guess I will just keep my super-size bottle of Advil close at hand.