feeling vindicated

I am so over public school.  We had Drew in a class for ED (emotional disturbance).  Several years ago when we home schooled he was having lots of emotional issues.  WE found out later it was because of his age and not being able to verbalize what he was feeling so he acted out.  So we made the mistake of trusting public school.  The end of his second grade year all he did was sit in a class, play legos, color pictures and watch movies.  This year there has been more learning if you could call it that. The teachers did the work for him and he just copied what they wrote.  They claimed they talked about it with him and wrote what he said. UMMM no boss will ever do that.

I am now aware there are some kids in that class who have severe issues who should be in a different class.  But I have also found out my gut feeling about Drew is pretty spot on.  He can read and he can read well.  He doesn't like to but he can.  He can also comprehend what he is reading.  He can do math and do it at a 3-4 grade level.  right now I am working with him on learning to write a paragraph.  He did know how to do that before I turned him back over to public school but since it and other things were not used they were not retained so in many areas I am having to go back and reteach.  I have also discovered he can't think for himself.  I asked him to take his spelling words and make up a sentence about them.  He had no clue about how to do it.   So baby steps over the next few months to get him up to where he should be.

I am already seeing improvement in attitude since he is no longer in public school.  His fears have abated and he is sleeping in his room again.  The tourette's is still there but not at the intensity it was when he was subjected to daily bullying and fear.  The admin has chosen to ignore the issue. They say it would happen in a Gen Ed class as well and I have to just accept that is the way things go.  I will not accept it and it is not the way things go.  I don't home school because of religious beliefs I homeschool because California schools are broken and no one wants to fix them.

Christian Version of Weird Al

This song made me smile today.  It is by the Weird Al of Christian Music.  Hope it makes you smile too.  Happy Easter.  And FYI - it is OK to celebrate the Risen Christ as well as the Easter Bunny.  I think God wants it that way.  Why else would it be all right to eat pork to celebrate a Jewish man who has risen from the dead to save us all from our sin.  And yes I am a Christian who attends church regularly.

the dog the cat the fight

I knew Scott's trip out of town was going too smoothly. Mrs. Murphy's law had not kicked in but I knew it was coming.  Yup it came and hit full force last night.  Drew and I made a run for Chinese food about 515 last night.  We  picked it up came home and I went to feed the animals.  I looked at skippy and realized his eye was swollen shut and bloody.  CRAP.  I called the vet praying that there would be an evening appt so it would not be considered and emergency appt.  Nope all evening slots were full.  Bring him on in they said but we have to charge the emergency rate.  Double CRAP.  So off we go to the vet with our Chinese food still sitting on the counter.  

Get to the vet and a tech takes Skippy for a triage.  Then we are taken in to a room with the vet.  She has me hold a light while she stains Skippy's eye. Right along the edge of the colored part of the eye is about a 3/4" deep gash.  Cat scratch.  Deep.  She offers to send us right to UC DAVIS vet clinic for surgery and grafts. Expensive.  TRIPLE CRAP.   I reject that offer. She gives me the 300.00 option.  2 forms of antibiotics, 2 pain killers and a serum made of Skippy's white blood cells to fight infection.  Do it I tell her.  She then tells me there is a chance Skippy could lose his eye.   Drops must be administer  every 4 hours around the clock.  Set your alarm.  EXPLETIVE inserted here.  90 minutes later another tech takes me into a room and I see Skippy in his cone of shame.  I am shown how to administer all the meds.  We get home to luke warm Chinese food that we eat as I set alarms on my phone every four hours.  Finally Drew and I hit the sack at 1030, me knowing that I will get 2 hours of sleep before the blessed alarm.  

I have made it through all of the first day doses.  Skippy can open his eye a bit.  He is very clingy and very touchy. I am very tired and very touchy.  We go back to the vet on Sunday to see how things are doing. 

I hate Mrs.Murphy's law. 

we are making it

We are plugging along.  Drew seems pretty receptive to what we are doing and so far has done his work with out any fights.  He is reading on my Nook, computer time, writing letters.  Even though next week is technically spring break I am going to have him working.  He seems so far behind where he should be.  Tomorrow I take him to school for an hour for his language therapy.  He is not too happy about it but he needs to maintain his therapies.

I am ready for my hubby to be home.  Single parenting is not for me.  I don't know how my mom did it when my dad traveled.  she also worked full time and had 2 kids.  We head for SF next Wed for Drew's last appt with the Tourettes doc.  Scott and I will go in a few weeks for a wrap up and discussion on where we go from here.  Up until today the tics have been pretty level.  they are there and noticeable but not the intensity as when he was in class.  Today they seemed to be higher in frequency.  Not sure why.

I know I need to post pics because it makes blogs more interesting but just haven't done it.  I can post pics of a snoring dog if you want.  Think Skippy needs his aednoids out.

first day

Today was the first day back to a homeschool regieme.  We are still working with the school to get the Home and Hospital teacher worked out.  i didnt' want to let Drew go with out schooling until this was worked out so off we went.  First up.  Computer work on Synonyms.  then some math review.  Then a BREAK.  We are using Time4Learning.com.  I will be doing a review of it in the next couple weeks.  It has some great points and a few things i am not too keen on.  We headed to trader Joe's and to grab some lunch.  While we were driving I asked Drew if he was all right with returning to doing school at home.  He said if it kept him from being hit and teased about his Tourette's he was all for it. WE came home and he read me Henry and Mudge get the Cold Shivers and then i introduced him to a long term project.

He loves Pokemon.  So I  have him designing his own card game.  He has to come up with the characters, their weapons, powers, who can battle who etc.  He seems to like the activity.  The main thing this time around is that I know now to keep it interesting and change up the activites so Drew does not get frustrated or bored.

can't say much but

Because of reasons that be disclosed we have gone back to homeschooling Drew. For the time being the district will be sending a teacher to the house but last time that was a mitigated disaster. So I have decided that I am going to start working with him to get him caught up.

This is the only way we know to keep him safe.  His tics have already become manageable and he is not having the anxiety issues.  He is sleeping better since his doctors made the decision to "home and hospital" till the end of the year.

When I was questioning a couple weeks ago he could not tell me what a synonym or an antonym were. HE can't identify a noun, verb or adjective in a sentence.  These were things that he COULD do before he went to public school but since it is not reinforced it is gone.  They say he is working a third grade level but he can't write a paragraph, no papers come home from school or academic progress reports other than his report card.  I find it hard to believe he has an A+ in science when he has never brought anything science related home or even talked about science class.

I will let the H&H teacher come to the house because I have to but it is going to be really interesting.  We are looking at all options for next year.

time 4 learning

As a member of Time4Learning, I have been given the opportunity to review their program and share my experiences. While I was compensated, this review was not written or edited by Time4Learning and my opinion is entirely my own. For more information, check out their standards-based curriculum or learn how to write your owncurriculum review.

stay tuned

weekend

Thursday Andrew and I made our trek to San Francisco to meet his Tourettes doctor.  It was an adventure to say the least (the VERY least) But I am happy to report that we made it home.  I get to fight a 100.00 fine I got because I thought the stupid MUNI subway read both of our tickets but apparently it only read Drew's.  When you get off the subway during busy times there are cops waiting to ensure you didn't ride for free.  I didn't ride for free but their stupid machine shows I did.  HUMPH.  Now I get to ride a letter explaining what happened and hope that they waive my fine.

This Doctor does not see the Asperger's in Drew.  so back to square one there.

We get to do it again this Thursday.  Yippee. Yesterday we had a great day.  In the morning we met with CHILL - our home school group and learned about wind and made kites and listened to stories about wind.  While all this was going on  my phone was sending alerts about the real power of the wind in the way of tornadoes that were ravishing the south.  Wish we could have taught about that.  Then home we went.

Last night we went to see The Lorax.  Wonderful movie.  I can't believe it was never on the read list to Drew.  We read so many other Dr. Suess books but not that one.  Bad Mom.  But I will be rectifying that soon.

Today drew is enjoying some down time watching movies while Scott is out for his ride.  ME?  I am supposed to be doing my final Statistics paper for my class.  That is a blog post unto itself.  And I will be so glad when it is over this week.  Scott is also going to the National Homemade Bike show this today.  Not sure what that is but I am skipping it.

I did get my grocery shopping done this morning.  I love that Bel Air allows me to place my order online.  They pick the groceries and when I get there I push a button tell them I am there and they bring the groceries to my car.  Can't get much simpler than that.

I am also preparing for the IEP meeting we have Monday.  Yet another blog post.  Drew does see an audiologist Monday afternoon.  There are several docs waiting to see those results.  I have to make sure I take all the information to the appt. so the results get sent.

So here I sit at my computer doing everything possible to avoid writing my paper.

I am back

I tried the world of Word press but it was not for me.  I thought I wanted to be a blogger of deals and steals but I want to come back to my little corner of the world and blog about me and Scott and Drew and homeschooling ( yes the H word) and Phil and Betsy and life and love and all things me. This is where i belong.  I have to figure out how to put some of the other blogs posts on this site so i don't lose them.

Where do I start?  We have been fighting the wonderful world of bullies and drew getting beat up and dealing with the school for not telling us.  Drew is asking for home school again.  He is tired of it and wants to feel safe.  We meet with the school again on Monday for an emergency IEP and I think the will be seeing things my way for the end of the this year.  I can file lawsuits with the best of them.

We are also finding that Drew may have APD (auditory processing disorder).  So off to the audiologist we go Monday afternoon.  Tomorrow Drew and I are off to San Francisco to meet with the Tourettes doc at UCSF.  Scott and I went last week and now Drew gets to go three times then a plan of action will be put into place.  They are also putting us in touch with an Asperger specialist at UCSF to help as well.

Wedding plans are on course as far as I can tell.  They tell me when they need something.  but otherwise i stay out of it.  Safer that way.

Scott is getting ready to run a half marathon.  His goal is to finish in the top 10 my goal would be to have fun and finish.  I have started going back to the gym.  well until the doc benched me because I tore a muscle so now I am waiting for the all clear to go back.

great giveaways on my other site

There are two awesome giveaways on Rantings of a Mom

The first is a giveaway from MixBook for 30 Christmas cards.

The second will have 2 winners.  It is sponsered by Eli Treasure.  One person will win a Rockit.  This is such a cool item  Wish I could win it. 

The second prize is a Wildtree Garlic duo.  It has a bottle of garlic grapeseed oil and a bottle of Natural grapeseed oil.  I was very surprised the health benefits of Grapeseed oil.  Even over olive oil  I use Garlic grapeseed oil as my main oil of choice.  Benefits of grapeseed oil. Click the link to see the benefits.  It made me a believer.  I also like the fact it does not have the olive taste that permeates everything I cook. Grapeseed oil works better as an infuser oil because of it is not strong as olive oil.

Go check out the give aways.  I know there will be another give away starting October 25.  Subscribe to Rantings of a Mom   so you don't miss all the goodies.

Come join me

It is up and running. I finally have my own site. It is still a work in progress but I bought the domain and have my own site. It gives me a lot more freedom and more opportunites for give aways. in fact Mixbook has a give away running on my page now. the new site is www.rantingsofamom.com.  You can sign up for daily emails of all of my daily posts so you won't miss any give aways or Drewisms. the week before Halloween I will be particpating in a cash give away with several other bloggers so you won't want to miss that.

Meet ALICE.COM

Save yourself a trip to the store, buy your home essentials from Alice.com. Get toilet paper, toothpaste, paper towels, coffee and more all with free shipping, automatic coupons and 20% off your first order. You order from Alice just like you would a retailer, but behind the scenes Alice works as a marketplace where you can often buy direct from the manufacturers that make your goods.

Special Groupon

This is a Groupon Special you won't see on any Groupon site. Studying for ant of these?
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Here is your chance to get them half price.

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amazing amazon cookware deal

groupon

15.00 for 30.00 in magazines

Check out this offer from Saveology.

$15 For $30-Worth Of Magazine Subscriptions PLUS FREE Shipping From Magazines.com Click Here

if you have used Saveology you must clear your cookies before you can use this offer

moving

no not the house.  I finally own my domain name and will be moving from Blogspot over the next couple weeks. It is very exciting.  It will allow me to do more things.  I have several give aways coming up for Mixbook, and a couple other surprises.  I have been approved as an affiliate for Amazon as well as Groupon (still finalizing that one).  Feel free to click thru my links to get to Amazon.

Things might be a little choppy over the next week as Scott and I get them moved but it will be worth it once it is all done.  Thanks for your patience.

halloween tote bags.

This year, treat your little trickster to a Halloween Tote Bag from Vistaprint. For $2 you can choose from over 50 Halloween designs ranging from cute to creepy (or hundreds of other designs) to customize your Halloween Tote Bag. For just $2 you can customize a Halloween bag that is not only environmentally friendly and easy to store from year to year, but also adorable! While you’re shopping, check out the other Halloween products that are on sale! Happy Halloween! Click Here

Mixbook Chrismas cards

My friend Fran always gives me a hard time. I love Christmas. It is my fave holiday of them all. I think I got that from my mom. I am always on the hunt for presents. My closet overflows with stuff waiting to find the prefect wrapping paper. The only part I really don't like is Cristmas cards. What a pain.

This year is extra special. We get to announce that Phil is engaged and we are adding a wonderful young lady to our family. I couldn't wait to find the perfect Christmas card. Mixbook made it so easy to put together a card I can't wait to send. I took pictures from our Disney trip from last Christmas up loaded them and VIOLA! I did spend some time moving pictures around and getting them just the way I liked them. Mixbook made that easy.

I am not revealing mine at this point.  Don't want to ruin the surprise.

Mixbook also has some great deals you will want to get in on.  check these links:

Mixbook Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mixbook
Follow on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/mixbook
Mixbook Holiday cards http://www.mixbook.com/cards/holiday-photo-cards

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

back from an amazing weekend

It is not often you have a weekend that will be etched in your memory forever. I can say this past weekend is one for the record books.

We went on our annual camping trip with 3 sets of friends. Up to Bodega Bay for family, friends and fellowship.

I had forgotten about the sand - apparently Bodega Dunes has that name for a reason. We brought back a couple of the dunes without even trying.

We all went to bed Friday night only to be awoken to what we thought was the Sharks and the Jets of the critter world getting ready to break out switch blades around the tents. Scott went out and the next think I know my husband is trying to reason with a bunch of raccoons. He is actually talking to them. "Hey guys, knock it off", "get of the trash can" "hey hey heeeeeyyyy" were amoung the comments we were treated to. Apparently there were about 12 raccoon pilfering thru the garbage cans - and they were not coon proof like at other campgrounds. It was quite the comedy hour.

I heard Scott get up about 6 and go out of the tent. Then I hear oh no - I figured the coons had torn thru the trash. Then I hear "this could get bad" Come to find out our raccoon friends sent their protector Mr. Skunk to warn scott not to interfere with the eating habits of the coons.

The day went well. We know where NOT to get coffee in Bodega. We did our annual pilgramage to the best Clam Chowder in the northern hemisphere.

Then we were off to the beach where the kids found a dead jelly fish which provided hours of amusement.  Pictures to follow when AE sends them to me.  Not to sure I want to see the one of Drew pretending to lick the jelly fish.

Back to camp for a nap(hang on our critters will make another appearance) We sent the men back in to Bodega for Pizza.  Did I mention the pizza place was in the hardware store?  Yes you read that right - the only pizza place in Bodega is in the back of the hardware store.  It is actually the EVERYTHING store

But the pizza is amazing.  Who knew?

Spent the evening around the campfire.  Drew wanted family time so we went to bed early and missed the appearance of Mr. Skunk.  Apparently before my husband went to bed they sealed the trash can by putting a 2 by 4 thru the lids and then hung a kids bike from each end of the 2x4.  You can imagine how our coon friends reacted.  They went and told their skunk buddy "to get the bald guys family"  Unfortunately for our friends there were 2 bald guys and the skunk got confused and got our friends instead of us.  I am very grateful the confused skunk got the wrong family.  and for the record we now know that Dawn liquid, baking soda, and peroxide work better than tomato juice at removing skunk smell from families as well as their dogs.

the weekend was one for the record books.  ANd we can't wait to do it again next year - without the critters but we will be packing the antidote just in case.