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School-Aged Children
Newlyweds since 2007
Getting to know you...
1) How many kids do you have?
2) What are their ages?
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision?
4) Does your child do any activities after school?
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)?
Newlyweds since 2007
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Getting to know you...
1
8
Public. It is an award winning, top rated school. The decision made sense when we were looking at all of the options. However, a few months ago, my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. We don't know if she should go to a specialty school or stay in a regular school. Right now, she is going to a tutor 2/wk to give her extra tools to keep up with the 3rd grade curriculum.
Gymnastics, cross country and tutor. She loved weekly art class previous years, but the day/time doesn't work this year.
We take the same vacations to visit family (every spring break and either TG or Christmas). We try to go to Hawaii once a year, but the timing varies. We always go to the pumpkin farms at Halloween. We always ride the Santa Train in December.
... and, yes, she does still believe in Santa at 8! She will periodically say, "The kids at school say it's you." hahaha, do your kids still believe? If not, what happened?
Newlyweds since 2007
I just wanted to say hi. Unfortunately this board is not super active. I don't yet have a school aged child but he will be next year. I am trying to decide which direction we should go in as far as his education because unfortunately the school in our district is very poorly rated among other things.
Mainly I am just chiming in to say that I am an adult who has a learning disability. I was also a college counselor who worked with students with LD.
My "deficits" are in short term AND long term memory retrieval but I have had good support systems growing up that allowed me to find ways to compensate. Please remind yourself and your daughter that having a learning disability does not mean she is "dumb" or "slower." On the contrary, one can not have a LD and be dumb. It actually means that she has a higher than average intelligence but learns differently in one or more domains (as you mentioned). Unlike with a developmental disability, someone with a LD has an unendless capacity to learn, but the key is to just find the best ways to do so. That is where those "accommodations" come in (having tutors, using notecards, visual aids/ques, formulating songs, etc).
I personally do not believe in segregated education in general but there are benefits to it in some circumstances. Hopefully the school she is at is equipped to work with her to find creative solutions and approaches that will benefit her as she progresses through school.
you sound like a great mom who is doing all the right things. I just felt compelled to write you this to tell you that you are not alone and that her diagnosis does not mean anything other than she learns differently but is not "disabled" in any way.
9 angels in heaven-3 in my arms and 1 in the NICU
Mono/di twin girls: Josephine born to heaven and Evangeline born Earthside at 25w
1) 2
2) 3 and 5
3) Public. School district is good, like the idea of sending my kids to a neighborhood school too.
4) Soccer right now, will start skating in the winter and get back to swimming and tball in the spring.
5) We go to FL every year since DH has a lot of family down there and my parents are down there in the winter. We usually take a week off in the summer to spend with the kids too. We have a nice family dinner every Friday and Sunday night too.
2
8 months and 6 1/2 years.
Public, it's free.
He runs for half an hour before school. I will be enrolling him in soccer also.
Not really.
xnbride - Thanks for chiming in. It is helpful to know people that have stuggled with some part of learning, but have done well overall. It seems like it is a matter of finding the right learning tools. It is a difficult time for an 8 year old. No one that age understands how learning happens. She doesn't know what dyslexia means. She just knows she's frustrated. Her IQ is high and she thinks fast. She has so much going in her mind... but, the symbols (letters, numbers, punctuation) stop her from getting it on paper quickly and accurately. She takes 2 hours every night for simple homework. Most kids in the class get it done in 30 minutes. I hope it starts to come together for her.
Her tutor believes in inclusion. I'm not sure which is better for her. There is a school in driving distance that is specifically for dyslexia. I wish I knew someone who had been through a program like that. Here's their website:
https://www.hamlinrobinson.org/
Pros: all students have similar needs, teaching is based on their communication style, the program is designed to give the kids the tools and return them to a mainstream school when they are ready
Cons: it is in a bad neighborhood, it's expensive, she'd miss her friends, she wouldn't be able to take her school bus (it's great social time with all of the kids and a sense of independence from parents), it's over an hour commute each way.
Newlyweds since 2007
3
5, 3, 3 months
Public school, I was in public school so it just seems natural for us
not yet, we want to wait this year and enroll her in something next year. She talks about cheer leading ALL the time so I think we are gonna get her in that. I also want to do an art so some type of instrument also.
Festival of lights at Christmas time, go to Grandma and pa for easter, no regular vacations though.
1) How many kids do you have? 2
2) What are their ages? DS is 5 and DD is 2
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? DS goes to a private Catholic school. We chose this because the public schools are crap here and I'd much rather pay for a good education for him than him get a crappy one at the public school for free.
4) Does your child do any activities after school? DS plays soccer and DD does dance once a week.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? We rent a house in Myrtle Beach every summer for a week or two.
1) How many kids do you have? Two and done
2) What are their ages? DS 11, 6th grade and DD 8, 3rd grade
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Public, we live in a small town and we felt the schools in our area are good schools.
4) Does your child do any activities after school? Currently, DS is in cross country and soccer and DD is in soccer and dance.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? Not really, we try to take a vacation every year, but it's not always the same.
Also, DD is 8 and still believes in Santa too. DS did until last year.
1) How many kids do you have?
1 and TTC#2
2) What are their ages?
6 in a month! Yikes!
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision?
Public for now, we'll reevaluate at the end of the year. For now it offers the same the local private schools do, however, there are no gifted programs in our district (they just recommend skipping a grade) so we'll see what happens at the end of the year.
4) Does your child do any activities after school?
Dance, choir with the church, and this is her first year of religious education. We do service projects together also.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)?
Our big tradition is a weekend get away at the end of October. So we're all really looking forward to that. It gives us some family time before the hustle and bustle of the holidays!
1) How many kids do you have? 2 DD's
2) What are their ages? 4 and in PreK, 2 1/2 and in preschool
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? Preschool is private and daycare based and PreK is through the public schools and located in the elementary that my kids will be attending.
How did you make that decision? We open enroll to a different district, home distrct is having a ton of financial issues and just not the place to be right now. We now a lot of people in the new district and friends recommened the PreK program as a way to get ahead of the open enrollment process (get to the top of the list and it is a long list) plus its an excellent program. DD #1 has a speech delay and she is getting her therapy through the district 1x a week right at her school
4) Does your child do any activities after school? DD#1 does swim class on Monday nights and both girls are in gymnastics on Sat mornings.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? Family vacation with my whole family (my parents, my sibs and all the kids) every summer. Thanksgiving Day parade in Detroit (where I grew up) every year, State Fair
I know my kids are not technically school age yet but heading that way fast and Kindergarten information night is in early Nov and with her at the school, we get to be involved in a lot of the school activites this year.
1) How many kids do you have? One child and I think I have to be done (I'm 41!)
2) What are their ages? My daughter is 8
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Public school. We have great education here in Iowa and I really never thought about any other options. Most everyone here goes to public or the handful of Catholic schools in the area.
4) Does your child do any activities after school? She takes gymnastics and has for about 5 years. She's also done a little dance and a little cheerleading. Mostly she comes home and grabs our mini dachsund and takes her for a "walk around town". I know that she is secretly just out being social with all of her friends!
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? We try to go to Hawaii every or every other year. My sister lives there and we absolutely love it! We like to camp and used to go a ton on the weekends but we put an inground pool in this summer and now nobody wants to leave the house....Sigh. Might as well get rid of the camper!
My daughter definitely still believes in Santa, even though many of her friends do not. A couple of them are sworn to secrecy NOT to tell but I know she's heard it from the school kids and on the bus. (That damn bus and the things they learn on there!). She's asked me several times and I just tell her, "What do you believe"? She's worried she won't get as many presents so she's afraid to stop believing I think!
1. 3
2. Landon, 5 Kennedy & Kaydance 4
3. Public but would love to do private if it were available. (we live in a really small town so the closest private school is about 35-40 mins away)
4. Landon is playing flag football for the first year and Kennedy & Kaydance are in their 2nd year of dance.
5. For my brothers bday we (my mom, gma, sister, dh, me and the kids) all take a trip somewhere together to celebrate his bday. He was killed 3 yrs ago. Im in the process of starting a Halloween eve family dinner. This is the 2nd year. ITs my favorite holiday.
We also all dress up together as a family in cheesy matching/themed costumes.
1) How many kids do you have?
2
2) What are their ages?
14 (in Nov) and 11(in Nov)
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision?
Public, My DD, my oldest, was originally in Catholic school, but my DS needed more programs than my Catholic school could offer so I switched them both to the same public school so I would only have 1 basic school schedule.
4) Does your child do any activities after school?
My DD plays Field Hockey, Horseback Riding and plays French Horn.
My DS plays Coronet and is a Webelo is the Cub Scouts.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)?
Sure, we go to the beach every summer, we have our holiday traditions, We celebrate holidays from around the world such as Guy Fawkes Day (Nov. 5th) by making a meal from that country.
The Santa thing...I always get flamed for this...I never fostered a belief in Santa w/ my children. The same goes for the tooth fairy, Easter Bunny and other figures. I have explained to my children that Santa is a representation of the spirit of giving and it's an attitude we should have all year. But during Christmastime, many people feel this spirit more intensely and some people even dress up like Santa so they can help spread the spirit of giving to others.
I also instructed my children not to talk about it with other children.
It is a tough call. The alternative school looks wonderful and very empowering. If she is going to get "boxed in" and "labled" at her current school then make the switch, but if they are sincere about accommodating her different learning styles without ostracizing or stigmatizing her then keep her there. Honestly my best advice is to trust your instinct. Where will she thrive?
I think as parents are number one priority is to make sure that our kids develop an intrinsic (internal) love of learning. Who cares if they don't think exactly like all the other kids. That would be boring. If God wanted us to be boring, he would not have created so much variety in the world.
9 angels in heaven-3 in my arms and 1 in the NICU
Mono/di twin girls: Josephine born to heaven and Evangeline born Earthside at 25w
1) How many kids do you have? 2 girls - working on TTC #3.
2) What are their ages? 14 (almost 15) and 7
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Public - pretty easy decision. We have very good public schools in our area.
4) Does your child do any activities after school? 14yo is on the high school golf team and attends our church youth group. 7yo plays soccer.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? Mostly just holiday stuff. We have an annual trip to the pumpking patch, holiday cookie baking day, christmas tree decorating party. We desperately need to establish an annual family vacation tradition.
1. 2 kids
2. 3 & 5
3. Currently public kinder & Christian/church-based preschool. DH pushing to go to private Christian for the remainder of their education- I'm not sold on that. We live in an excellent school district, so it's hard for me to fathom paying further for their education since we already pay for it in taxes!
4. DD#1 does piano & swimming, DD#2 just does swimming right now.
5. We're not super big into traditions, but we are big into boating & our summers are spent on the river & in the sand!
No flames here. That sounds like a good explanation to me.
We've already used part of your explanation to explain why there are different Santas all over the city... and why we have a different looking Santa photo every year... all of those nice people are just spreading the Christmas spirit while the real Santa is busy preparing for Christmas.
We have too much fun with make-believe. Last year, my husband dressed up in the Santa suit and fooled all of the neighborhood kids. Our daughter was at her friends next door. I called all of the neighbors, set a time and told them when Santa might appear on the trail that runs behind our houses (woods). The friends' mom put out bird seed and told the kids they should see all of the birds on her bird feeder. They were watching when they saw Santa walking through the woods. It wasn't long before all of the kids were yelling "Santa, Santa" and running through the snow to track Santa. Thankfully, the neighbor was smart and told them they had to come back and get their shoes. That gave Santa enough time to run. He had parked down the street. Since he had his jeans and a shirt underneath, he just threw the Santa suit in the trunk and drove home. When he drove up, the kids were all shouting that he just missed Santa... then, they continued to look through the snow. Hilarious.
We also have friends that do crazy stuff for St. Patrick's Day. The funniest was that leprechauns turned their toilet water bright green.
Newlyweds since 2007
1)How many kids do you have? 2
2) What are their ages? 4,5 yrs and 16 months
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Catholic b/c we want our children raised with a Faith based education.
4) Does your child do any activities after school? swimming and gymnastics
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? Yes, mostly at Christmas time. We go on sled rides and visit candy cane lane.
1) How many kids do you have? 2
2) What are their ages? 5 yo boy, 3 yo girl
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Public
4) Does your child do any activities after school? No, just to the sitters for 30 minutes or so
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? We have gone to Maine for the past couple years and plan to go again next year.
2
1 and 4
Private. I attended private same sex education schools and I wanted that for my daughters. I work at the school and it's a top tier prep school - and I am fortunate enough to be able to send them here for free (as opposed to the $30k a year tuition.). Whether I worked here or not, however, we would do private school.
My older daughter does ballet
We take a vacation usually in March somewhere and in the summers we spend time in the Hamptons at our vacation home.
3 kids
10, 2, 2 months
public schools
no
we go on a family vaca every year. Well every year I am not having a baby. lol
1) 1. We're trying for our second.
2) 6 year old dd named Lillie
3) Private. It's the best school in our city, public or private. We also live in the city limits and that comes with a really crappy school system.
4) Reading tutoring on Mondays, Gymnastics on Tuesdays and Ballet/Tap on Thursdays.
5) We go to Seaside, Fl every summer for the week of 4th of July, we like to try and go skiing in the winter and we take a couple only trip as well. We also have holiday traditions, but there are too many to list.
1) How many kids do you have? 1 DS and 1 in the oven...
2) What are their ages? 9 years old
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Originally Public, but as of Dec. 2008 transferred to private. **Edit** My son was diagnosed with ADHD/OCD/Bi-Polar Disorders in Sept. 2005. We were slowly dealing with his behaviors and he was doing fine in public school, however, when I moved and we changed schools for 2nd grade, he had a bigger class w/only 1 teacher. He doesn't do well in LARGE class settings as he gets bored VERY quickly and needs the smaller class size/one on one attention. They were going to put him in a severely disabled classroom which would have equaled even worse behavior on his part. So we transferred him to the private school. It's the best decision we've made in a very long time!!!
4) Does your child do any activities after school? DS is in karate which his father takes him to on Saturdays during his visitation. He really WANTS to play soccer for school, but he has to show the grades and the behavior in order to have that.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? We don't have a yearly tradition, but we do have a weekly activity. Every week, either on Tuesdays or Thursdays, we go to the local bowling alley for a Mommy & Me date. Sometimes my boyfriend tags along (he's an avid bowler and is teaching DS how to bowl properly).
1) How many kids do you have? 2
2) What are their ages? DD-6, DS-2
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Public. I'm a teacher who has done quite a bit of research and I prefer the public school setting for my child.
4) Does your child do any activities after school? Soccer
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? We have some holiday traditions that we do every year.
1) How many kids do you have? 2 girls 1 boy
2) What are their ages? 11, 8, 13 mos
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Public We have great public schools where we live.
4) Does your child do any activities after school? DD's both very vested in competetive gymnastics. One or both of them is at the gym each day except for Tuesday and Sunday usually for 4 hours a day. They both absolutely LOVE it and dread the two days they are not there. DS has some pals we hang around with while DD's are at school. Both girls sail in the summer months.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? We do a lot of camping through the summer/fall. Pumpkin/apple picking. Lots of snowboarding trips through the winter. Vermont for a week each winter. We live at the beach so that is what we basically do all summer.
1) How many kids do you have? 7 yr old girl and expecting a boy in November
2) What are their ages? oops see above
3) Public, Private, Catholic, Homeschool or specialty? How did you make that decision? Public
4) Does your child do any activities after school? She plays softball but the fall season just ended.
5) Do you have traditions (vacation or activity that you do every year)? We always go to the pumpkin patch every yr around Halloween time. We try to go to Gatlinburg, TN each year, my dad has a time share that he allows us to use.