Guess Who's Reading!!!

Pre-K is reading!!! I am excited and happy for him as he is so happy and enjoys reading. This is the first time I have ever used the Harcourt Reading Program. All of my other children learned to read using a phonics program that was developed by a group of nuns that had a small private school years ago in our town. They had a “learn to read guaranteed” program that I purchased. It focused on learning by rote line letters, clock letters, two, three and four-letter phonograms by watching a video. Once you learn all 70 phonograms, the sounds can be put together to read words. Jackson has an auditory processing disorder which makes hearing and repeating the sounds with the teacher on the video very difficult. The Harcourt program teaches high frequency words and uses pre-decodable, decodable books and short early-reader books. I did not intend for him to read this year, but once I showed him the books, he.wanted.to.read!


We started by learning the sight words: a, my, the, I, like, go, we, on, to, you, have, do, what, no, see, look, come, for, me, one, little, are, here. He learned these very quickly as I have noticed that if he sees something he can remember it very well and for a long time. I am almost tempted to think he has some degree of photographic memory. Once he learned those words, he started just flying through the pre-decodable books which slowly introduced decodable words.
He received the book, “Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See” as a gift and I used “Tot Pack” to print the “Heads and Tails” cards.




He was just doing the cards and looking at the book when he just started reading the book. Earlier this semester he learned to recognize color words. I snuck and video taped him from behind.

Well...stink.... the video will not load tonight. I will try again later

Back in the Saddle

We had a good first day back to school. We started late and that was good because it was so cold this morning it was hard to get out from under the warm covers.

Both boys got recorders for Christmas, so we have started lessons during music. I already had a very nice one that I purchased years ago that never got used. At first, I could not find something simple enough for both boys to use, but then I found Musicteacher44 on YouTube and she gave a good visual that both boys could see. So today we just started with holding, finger placement and steady blowing. Look at those faces (I first typed eyes and then realized you could not see their eyes. Ha ha)...concentrating so hard. ~Smile~

I also started Pre-K on the use of Tangrams today. I have had little foam ones for a couple of years, but never took the time to use them. This past weekend, I printed off this sheet and actually printed off paper tangrams and laminated them. This kid is really good at puzzles and now I know...tangrams

Mean Mommy Strikes at Midnight

First I must admit...I can be somewhat of an extremist (Ha Ha - somewhat) and I try not to drip too much of that in my parenting, except in this area. Whew...confession is good.

My mom survived a house fire when she was little and the story of the fire always impacted me. When I was a Social Worker several years ago, I had a client family that had a huge house fire. Their children's bodies were found under the bed and in the closet. Again, huge impact.

I make my kids practice fire drills in the house. We talk about the importance of getting out and not hiding. They learned that they should not leave anything in their path, should feel the door for heat before opening, and how to open their windows if the door is not available. Sometimes I make them practice while wearing backward hoodies (with the hood tied) to simulate the heat, difficulty breathing and darkness. Most drills are after they go to bed. They HATE it! HATE HATE HATE it! But my hope is that they will automatically drop to the floor and crawl out as we practice.

We had a rough summer and had not practiced in a while. Tonight was the night. So at midnight, I sat at the end of the hallway and held the tester button. Lets just say...they did not make good time tonight and there were a few strewn items on their floors that kinda got in the way and boy did I get some *stink eye* looks (and I cannot wait to see what our respite care kid tells her therapist about this one), but they did all get out and....




I heard people putting their shoes and other toys away on their way back to bed. Ha Ha!

Ready to Start Up Again...

I think... We have already decided to have a late start on Monday.

It has been an interesting 2 weeks as we have been doing an emergency respite care for a 13 yr old girl. I usually will not take any children older than my 2 older kids, but this child is pretty delayed and really does not displace my daughter. She has however brought issues to the table that actually gave my kids an opportunity to see some of the behaviors that we often talk about... which I have found to be a more effective way of teaching sometime. Being a foster parent is so very rewarding for me and 1 of the bonuses is that my kids learn empathy and have an opportunity to care for others. They also develop vision for what behaviors may look like to others.

Happy New Year

Another Happy New Year to all of my blogger friends. I thought last year was a year that was tough, but 2009 really showed out! I am so thankful to have made it through! Gratefully, we've had more gains than losses.


Every year the kids and I make silly, paper glasses with the new upcoming year as the frame. We have been doing it since 2000, but the first 3 years were with a Polaroid, before my digital camera days. Years 2005 and 2006 were lost when my old computer crashed. Look here if you want to see "how they have grown."

Blog Awards

MomInTheTrench gave me a blog award and I have to admit, getting an award is one of the things that makes me happy.

Now for the fine print. The Happy 101 Blog Award Rules are as follows: List 10 things that make you happy, try to do at least one of them today, and tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day. For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you then link back to my blog and create your list of things that make you happy.

1. Realizing a blessing

2. Watching my kids learn, play, and laugh!

3. Getting a great deal on Ebay

4. Validation (Love blogging comments and awards! Lifted this one right from Mom In The Trench ~Smile~)

5. Family vacation

6. My favorite television shows with cliff hangers (I’m 1 of those yell-at-the-t.v. types)

7. Farmtown and Farmville on Facebook

8. Simply Apple™ apple juice

9. Camping

10. Fishing

I would like to pass this award to those brave parents, fighting in the trenches, that decide to get up again in the morning:

Corey @ Watching the Waters

Reighnie @ Monkey Trouble

Christine @ Welcome to my Brain

Diane @ Gold to Refine

Beemommy @ With Love from Sumy

Another Hit!

Once again, Dollar Store Christmas was a great success! Last year we started a new tradition and had so much fun that we decided we would continue it this year.


On Thursday (12/24) we made cookies and had fun with the frosting.

James was trying so hard not to lick the spreading spoon that he tucked his lips in to fight the temptation. LOL!!

The kids put the tree up and really did not want to decorated it. They did put 1 box of candy canes on it (half of which were eaten during the decorating) their 3 gingerbread men and they put 2 strings of popcorn only around the bottom half. They were happy with it and I let it be their project. We have a new foster child with us for an extended respite and bless her heart, I'm sure she thought we were nutsy, but did enjoy shopping for her mom and sister at the Dollar Store.

When we started Dollar Store Christmas, the kids made a list of everyone in the family and purchased a gift for each person. This year, 5 year old Jackson came out of the store with his gifts and when Poppy sat down with him to help him wrap gifts, there seemed to be an extra one. When my dad ask who that gift was for, he said, "It's for Jackson!" When he made his list, he listed all the family members including himself. The kicker was, when he opened his gift to him from him, he was so excited and had the biggest smile. My brother was like, " The 5 year old has changed the rules to the game and I like it!"

A huge pile of over 40 gifts under the tree for just over $40. The fun = priceless!