12.31.2010

Bowling


The kids and I went bowling yesterday-something Gilly has not done before. I am amazed she was SO into it. She did great! They were able to put the bumpers up for her-she was so excited she could barely wait for her turn. I think this will become a regular activity for us :)

12.08.2010

Homeschool field trip











We had our very first Homeschool field trip! The entire charter school went to Aquarium of the Pacific down in Long Beach! It was awesome to see all the kids from the charter school in their blue school shirts along with their parents.

We tagged along with our friends who use the same charter school for their girls. The girls had so much fun. Best "school" day ever-we went to Sonic on our way home for some snacks. Doesn't get any better than that. Gillian was about the best behaved I have seen. Its the best thing ever to see her happy.

12.05.2010

Dyslexia




I have suspected for a while that Gillian may have dyslexia, but dismissed it after I had talked to her school principal last year. Then somehow I was researching something else and happened across it again. I looked at it and wow-it sounds just like her. So I talked to her Educational Specialist and her Resource teacher whom we meet with on a weekly basis, and they agreed that it sounds like she has it. Her Educational Specialist said she had noticed some things about her that she does that is common amongst kids with dyslexia. Anyway, a couple weeks ago, after one of Gillian's regular meetings with the resource teacher, we were discussing her. Her resource teacher totally sees what I see, and agrees she probably has it. I am not happy at all about it-and of course, I have already spent hours researching it for her, for ways to make her life better.
That is my goal-to make sure she has whatever she needs to have a better life. It can be exhausting 'cos I pour myself into it all, but to me, its worth it. I am also keeping very positive and not letting things get me down -she does better with positivity. :) Her resource teacher said that considering all things going against her, she is doing very well. She is not severely behind at this point. But, we have caught it fairly early on and are constantly working with her. Most of the time they don't catch alot of this stuff till later on. Dyslexia is common with the other things she has like ADHD. They just learn differently and very visually-it seems its all about learning style.