Mother/Daughter

Posted on October 28, 2008 | 7 comments

Abbey chose to have me as one of her “special things” as part of her “senior pictures” portfolio. I’m so blessed to have a daughter who is my best friend.  I believe it is because of both how I parented her and the relationship I put first and foremost, as well as the beautiful spirit she is inside.  I believe my choice to homeschool was one of the reasons my relationship with each of my children is so incredible.  The other is my choice to be a respectful and gentle parent as much as I could create.  I wasn’t afraid to say sorry, and I consistently shared my own weaknesses with my children as they were learning and growing on their own journeys.  It seemed to give them strength and courage.

As much as I did my part, it was also easy to do with my birth children because of the sensitive and natural compassion they were born with.  In other words, they were really naturally respectful children.  I have had to struggle more with my adopted children as they have more “normal” tendencies toward bickering, fighting, teasing, and destruction.  They have allowed me the opportunity to heal more of my own negative past experiences as well as develop deeper strength in areas in order to be the respectful and gentle parent they deserve.  There has been need of many more apologies from me to them.But has anyone considered why that remains the case? In today’s world most women are perennially over worked as they try to find a right balance between successful career and a happy order cialis icks.org married life.

But, I digress.  My mother gave me “the curse”:  that I might have a daughter just like me.  I’m sorry she and I never had the environment and relationship in order to have something more than we did.  However, my daughter and I do have a lot of similarities, and because of different choices I have made, and the amazing person Abbey is and has chosen to develop, I absolutely adore my daughter.  May everyone have the opportunity for this same “blessing”

7 Comments

Posted in Adulthood, Family, Homeschooling, Unschooling

Resistant Learners – LWOS Post

Posted on October 18, 2008 | 2 comments

I am one of the authors over at Life Without School and the blog post I wrote went up and gone before I noticed to make mention of it.  This was one of those posts that wrote itself.  In my passion for the right-brained, creative learner, I have an adage that says:  They love to learn; hate to be taught.  I always joke at the beginning of my right-brained workshops that if a parent started with the traditional teaching methods and timeframes most of usOr maybe a pattern was established in an earlier relationship and she was not able to break out of the shackles that erectile dysfunction has imposed in you with generic cialis their store professional. were raised on in institutionalized schooling, we probably ran up against a brick wall fairly quickly:  resistance!

In the unschooling world, people will claim that resistance means you are doing something poorly.  But, after hearing the phrase, “I have a resistant learner” on my creative learner list for the umpteenth time, I took a closer look at the word “resistance” and discovered a communication tool.  And so, here is my understanding of how resistance worked through our children called, Resistance:  A Communication Tool.

2 Comments

Posted in Homeschooling, Learning, Right-Brained/Visual-spatial Learners, Unschooling

Builder Art

Posted on October 17, 2008 | 3 comments

I have shared on this blog here and here how my artist son used this creative outlet as part of his process toward writing.  I also used drawing samples from my builder son in a traditional comic book format as well that depicted some of his process toward writing.  On my Homeschooling Creatively list, we had a discussion some time back about the lack of traditional drawing by those right-brained learners who choose building as their preferred creative outlet.  I mentioned at the time that Eli, my builder son, typically had a builder style to his drawings which looked different from his artist brother.  However, because he did have an older artist brother, Eli did draw in that manner simply from the example he was exposed to as he watched that brother draw for hours upon hours a day.

I said I would gather some Builder Art examples from Eli (from about the age of 6/7 to about 9/10 years old) and share it on my blog, and that’s what I’m finally doing here.  I would say that 80% of what Eli drew depicted this following format.  Only about 20% reminded me of his artist brother’s style, and I believe, as mentioned before, that it was from the exposure to that from him.  So, here goes:

I believe this depicts his train track schematics.  Notice the codes on the left-hand side.

I don’t know what this is; it looks like contraptions.  Again, there is a symbol code on the left.

This looks like one of his mazes, but with a map aspect to it.

 

This looks like some block constructions with a guide above each that shows how many pieces of each style of block is required to complete the below indicated block construction.

This appears similar to the previous in that maybe he is showing what is in each space below by the “close up” depiction above.

 

Another “close up” representation of a larger map drawing with a symbol code below.

 

The outline of a map construct, possibly reflecting a role-playing video game pathway.

It looks like a maze pathway on the left, and often, Eli would mess around with creative/three-dimensional lettering.

Another track plan?

The inside of a castle, but by the looks of the keys in places, it may be the “visual key” to finding the hidden keys in a video game; maybe Luigi’s Mansion.  This was a common theme for Eli:  giving a visual depiction of either what he is building, what he is drawing, or what he is playing.  That would definitely be a “builder’s eye” to drawing:  code cracking type of thing.

Don’t drink liquor to abundance (cases, 5 glasses of wine or 5 shots of whiskey could prove harmful. levitra on line check out to find out more

This appears to be the old Game Boy system, if you notice on the bottom (for those old enough to remember the first ones), and the above must be a scene in one of the games.

This was from a book he entitled, “Maps”.  It appears to be the pathways leading to the hidden keys, maybe in a game system.

This is how to draw a car, seen from many angles.  This goes along with their three-dimensionality, and he shows you by showing the sides, front, back, and top angles of this car.

I recognize Lego pieces in this picture, so he is diagramming how to build something.  This was one of multiple pages.

Since I notice water coming out of the bottom, this may be a series of pipes of some sort.

I recognize the mushroom head people in this picture, so it must have to do with a video game with some kind of numbering system.

Here is some kind of map with numerical depictions associated with colors.  I’m not sure if this is a made up game or one associated with a video game.

Now this one I recognize as one he made up because I notice his mazes involved throughout that he created himself.  So, it looks like he’s incorporating his mazes with his map-making.

This is when he went through a stage of drawing the various parts of trains and showing piece by piece how to do so, and then leaving a space for the person to attempt their own drawings.  This is for lights.  There were books and books on “how to draw” trains, Lego direction style.

This shows how he could get interested in things like these optical illusions.  Anything three-dimensional and such would peak an interest and he would want to explore.

All in all, as I look back over some of these examples, there were inspirations from video games, his interest in trains, and his preferred building materials of Legos.  But, the thing one notices that has commonality is the map/maze/instructional aspect to his drawings.  Therefore, although we often value traditional object/people drawing, there are other viable venues to drawing that reflects the creative gift of the person doing the drawing.

 

3 Comments

Posted in Right-Brained/Visual-spatial Learners, Unschooling

Learning vs. Schooling

Posted on October 8, 2008 | 4 comments

Does anyone else have a bunch of saved posts in the Post Writing section that you started and didn’t finish?  I do.  So, I decided to go through some of them and see what I found.  Apparently, I had taken a blurb from a post I had written on a list somewhere and copied it in for further contemplation.  So, here’s the blurb:

Ah, yes, the discovery process of what will and won’t work in your home with the schooling process 🙂 What I learned is “schooling” doesn’t work well in a home unless you want to wear a “teacher’s cap”, which I didn’t. I wanted to be a parent-facilitator, which shifted the focus from “working on” to “working with”, sooo, I had to figure out a “learning process” for our family, not a “schooling process”. Does that make sense?

What that meant for me is to look for those learning moments and be there, and fully use those moments when the children are eager and interested and seeking. This meant that at that moment when I was thinking I was going to get some laundry done, the learning moment took precedence. Needless to say, in our home, housework is sporadic 🙂

I’ve mentioned this before somewhere, probably on my blog, that sometimes I get to wondering if I’m just a lazy person when I see how others are doing all these lessons and activities with their children, especially their small children.  I just don’t, but it works really well in our home.  This post of mine reminds me of why we do it this way:  we encourage a learning process instead of a schooling process.  I like that.  I guess that’s probably why I kept the blurb to write about.

First, in the young years, I SO believe in the idea that play is a child’s work.  So, play is a central part of the learning process in our home in the early years.  During the preschool years, I focus on helping my children learn their colors and shapes; counting and saying the alphabet; all done incidentally and through toys/play usually.  During the 5-7 year old range, I mainly pay attention to the potential for reading and early math such as one-to-one correspondence.  Often, my children aren’t ready to formally learn to read, but reading aloud is a center.  Also, playing around with numbers via manipulatives, natural occurrences, and the such are encouraged.  This is also the age that my children seemed to focus in on one type of play type, whether it was Legos, drawing, pretending, or sports.

In the age range of 8-10 years, I also believe in what Jenifer Fox said in her book, Your Child’s Strengths, that you can’t create the gifts inside your child; they are already in there waiting for expression.  I feel it is my job to provide the opportunity for my children to discover their gifts, and that’s what this stage attempts to do.  What I saw in my children is that their focus solidifies during this stage and a more mature representation of that gift emerges as it is integrated into other subject areas as well as other higher level play outlets.  Reading definitely takes a front row seat during this stage as I facilitate in that direction in the manner and timing that works for each child.  Basic math also is highlighted.  My read alouds also tend to shift toward more educational ideals.Excess pounds put pressure on the legs and veins cute-n-tiny.com buy cheap viagra increased in the legs, which are required.

I do love that I get to observe my children in their young years (5-10 years old) enjoy getting the most out of these play stages.  So many today are cut off in the preschool years from unimpeded play opportunities and explorations.  There are preschools with centers, scheduled play dates with friends, and screen time filling in the difference.  I don’t regret one moment the old-fashioned childhood I am gifting my children.  I was listening or watching some program recently (I forget which) where a person was reminding everyone how easy it is to get so busy that we don’t make time for our children.  It was mentioned that a child gets only about 2 minutes a day of individual time!  Ouch.  I couldn’t understand how that could be.  But, then I thought about the typical household of children going off to school and parents to work, so no time there or in the morning beforehand as it is so scheduled to get everyone where they need to be on time.  Then, there are after school activities and dinner to prepare, so there is no time there until after dinner, but then there is homework and parents cleaning up, so that leaves just before bedtime, but so many are using the TV as vegging time, so where IS the time?

I love that our lives are so flexible and open-ended.  I love that there is exploration opportunities and boredom to fill with new ideas, activities, and discoveries.  I love that they each have had their fill of play until it has fulfilled its role in their lives.  I love that I have many minutes to hours of individual time with each child each day, as does even my hubby upon returning home from work.  Because they filled their days with what they need to give themselves as children, when Daddy comes home, they want to give fully to all that he offers them.  Sometimes it’s cuddling together with a good movie, sometimes it’s getting out the balls and bat and playing together, sometimes it’s working alongside him with a project, and sometimes it’s taking a trip somewhere.

Not only has our “learning process”  helped each of my children find their passion and purpose thus far, it has helped each of us live with no regrets.  Time is precious, and we have that and take advantage of it in spades:  individually, within relationships, and as a family!

4 Comments

Posted in Collaborative Learning, Homeschooling, Learning, Unschooling

Unschooling Transcripts

Posted on October 3, 2008 | 3 comments

To continue from my previous post about my daughter’s natural path to attending college, I thought it would be interesting to share my responsibilities as the administrator of our homeschool as it pertains to the application process.  When my children were younger and we were just still in the young years of unschooling, I would periodically listen in on workshops and conversations from those further down the path.  In particular interest was the college application process.  Talk of how to keep track of studies that would go on the official transcripts would ensue.  It always seemed too overwhelming to me, and frankly, too packaged for the freestyle learning life we were experiencing.  I questioned my ability to be that organized.

Fast forward to my oldest son turning 14 and thus, being of high school “age”.  I still couldn’t get myself to be that organized.  I chose the unconcerned path that it would all work out in the end.  I think the biggest reason I felt comfortable with this approach is that my hubby is an academia enthusiast.  He LOVES to learn and often contemplates trying to work out his ability to return to his favorite environment:  university.  And he’s good at it.  He knows how to work a resume as much as a university application.  He sells himself well.  During my business college years, I also discovered I had a knack for selling things.  I did an externship at a radio station where I started off as the sales secretary, moved to personally generating donations to the station myself, and finally ended up as the personal assistant to the owner of the station.  In three months!  During my employment stints, I also discovered that I knew how to sell myself both on paper and during the interview process.  So, I guess I went into this arena with some confidence on both ends backing up my laid-back stance.

Admittedly, I’m still probably on the learning curve on how to present the unschooled transcript on paper at its best, but I’m satisfied with the level in which I intend to present it.  There are certain things I’m willing to do to accommodate our different educational choice, and there are certain things I’m not willing to negotiate.  Taking the GED, for instance, is one thing I’m going to discourage my children to do.  Each state has regulations regarding home education and its legal status which includes the administrator having the right to graduate its students, so I refuse to be required to jump through an additional hoop outside the given law.  It’s like they say, “Yes, we give you the right to homeschool, but we will not give you the respect or validity without some connection to our system.”  Tough.  I force the validity to occur by refusing their extra hoops.  That said, because our learning environment is different from the school system, our transcripts will look different as well.   I decided not to replicate the traditional transcript.

So, here’s Abbey’s transcript as submitted to Brigham Young University, both Provo and Idaho:

Drat the formatting on this site!  (If anyone can direct me as to how to turn off the automatic double spacing upon hitting the return, I would be much obliged.)  Ha!  I decided to upload it as a photo and forget the cut and paste . . . tricked the system 🙂

Anyway, my new addition to my transcripts is to depict “advanced placement courses”.  These are any subjects studied that there was either a significant amount of time dedicated to it (giving value to process) or a significant amount of physical output (giving value to product).  To give a brief comparison to the world’s measurement standard (the ACT scores) and my daughter’s actual experience with learning, I give the following information:
You amerikabulteni.com cialis prescription are advised to use herbal pills to reverse the aging effects.
For her perfect grammar score, Abbey worked through all five Daily Grams books from the age of about 13-16 years old.  No formal work before or after that except that she wrote novels from age 14-19.  Daily Grams is supposed to be a “supplement” to a real grammar program, but I disagree.  Most grammar programs just try to make something that is simple, hard.

Abbey had no formal English (34 score-excellent) or reading comprehension (28 score-above average) programs or exercises.  She read voraciously, although “below her level” by what others would think.  She also re-read books hundreds of times sometimes.  She wrote very simple stories when young, never more than a couple paragraphs.  She started journaling around nine years old.  She started writing novels at 14 years old.

For her average math score (20-average), she worked her way through a conceptual math series (out of print, called Real Math) that took her through pre-algebra.  She worked through some of Saxon algebra and stopped.

For her science (25-above average), she never used a formal textbook or even read many science-related books.  She was huge into nature and loved animals.  She learned a lot from experience.

Many of the classes listed on her transcript were from experience.  How I came up with the classes was to remember what colleges are looking for:  science, history, foreign language, math, etc., and put educationese to what she did in those categories.  The reason I started there was because my children really do a whole lot more than those types of subjects.  However, I don’t want to overkill the point of a transcript.  After putting down the required courses desired from colleges, I then generously sprinkle their gifts and passion throughout the transcript to highlight that.  Last, I add a course or two that shows diversity in experience.

I refuse to “gather proof” throughout the years because it would then take a beautiful emergent life of discovering one’s passion and purpose and water it down to dotting i’s and crossing t’s.  It will turn something that is multi-dimensional into a one-dimensional depiction.  Luckily, my children feel the same way and are willing to forego a college who doesn’t recognize this to find one that will.  Hopefully, if we “sell ourselves” well, which could include an interview if necessary, though I don’t think that will be necessary for her college of choice (BYU-Idaho), her life as it really unfolded will be more than enough.  And, of course, it is 🙂

3 Comments

Posted in Adulthood, Beginnings, College, Unschooling

A Natural Process to College

Posted on October 2, 2008 | 7 comments

My hubby and I decided to continue trusting our philosophy with the natural stages of learning as our children transition into adulthood.  As noted in an earlier post, it did require that we continue our deconditioning of our current society’s expected “shoulds” at this stage.  The biggest one, obviously, is the college path.  Initially, my oldest child, Eric (now 21), has resisted college because he isn’t sure he wants to play the game involved.  My second child, Abbey (now 19), also put college on a shelf as she chose to develop her writing skills independently and find out how far she could take it on her own.  My third child, Eli (now 17), has been my first child who has wanted to attend college right up front.  So far, my oldest three children continue to show how different the paths can be even in the same family.

I find Abbey’s path is the most interesting at this time because it seems to depict the natural process as I described it in it’s most “typical” form in my Collaborative Learning Process for the 17-19 year old range:

The Transitional Stage (Ages 17-19). This is the stage that the child moves from a home and dependency based lifestyle to a community and independent based lifestyle. Some will move seamlessly into this stage, while others will be hesitant, and yet others will be outright resistant. This stage can encompass such things as consistent work, volunteer opportunities, college preparatory pursuits, entrepreneurial steps, and/or travel options. It is time for a full adult schedule, whatever and wherever it ends up.

I spent a lot of time in this stage helping each child figure out how to enter an adult lifestyle of their choosing and embrace a full schedule by sharing experience and insights regarding any acquisition process and modeling a mindful lifestyle through peer collaboration.

The biggest transition that occurs during this timeframe is moving into a full adult schedule.  An opportunity arose where Abbey could work a full-time job through an agency servicing the Medicaid Waiver CAP program in our state for disabled children and adults.  Because of our move to a new county that operates on a special waiver (which means they can create their own rules regardless of the state’s rules), she was eligible to work for her own brothers in our home.  This was a HUGE God-send for me as she would be easily trained because of her self-initiated involvement in creating a relationship with her different brothers as well as her knowledge of the family dynamic.  On her end, she could make double the money as most beginning jobs and she would have the ability to have full-time status in a more demanding job, again, both of which are not always easy to find at her age of 18 at the time.  She wasn’t sure about moving to full-time work as she thought it might be too big of a jump for her from working 10 hours a week tutoring her younger brothers to 40 hours a week utilizing more advanced skills.  I assured her that if she felt it was too much after a month or so, she could always just do one of her brothers (she works with each of two brothers at 20 hours a week each).

It took her several weeks to a month to work out balancing a full time position with her continued desire to work on her novels as well as finding her place in contributing within the family.  She works from 9:30-1:30 with Alex and 2:00-6:00 p.m. with Adam every day and would put in 3-4 hours each night on her novels.  One of the things that naturally occurred within our family is that at around 18 and/or as each of these young people were committing to more activities outside of family living, I would disengage my need to use them in fulfilling family responsibilities such as babysitting or any daily chores.  This would simply convert down to the next children as they were each developing their particular attributes for the stage they were in.  It’s not that the young people don’t contribute, it’s just in a different way.  It was like an instinctive thing for me to shift my views and interactions with them during this stage from dependent child to independent young person in order to give them the space and release of dependence to act in the way that is best for their growth extending outside of the home.

So, Abbey started full-time employment in the home at 18.5 years old and has been going strong for nine months now and saving her money.  About two months ago, a sudden shift occurred within Abbey.  In mid-July, she unexpectedly declared that she wanted to attend college . . . in January if she could pull it off.  Though she had been satisfied up until now about what she was concentrating her efforts on, and where, she had reached a natural state where she wanted to leave the home and seek adventure in a way that would allow a different kind of growth, both from her home lifestyle as well as from her own independent studies.  College became the clear answer in her mind.Incapability is the condition where an individual do not possess the sex buy viagra online seanamic.com desire.

Because Abbey had not desired college before now, she also had no inspiration to study for and take the ACT or SAT exams before now.  So, the first thing she did was sign up to take the first available ACT test.  She was fortunate that there was one in early September as she discovered the admission’s deadline for the school of her choice was October 1.  It would be pushing it!  Abbey set to a study plan to learn all that she needed to know in 1.5 months.  She knew English and Reading were her strengths, but math and science were never at the top of her list of interests as she unschooled through high school.  It didn’t take long that it wasn’t just about learning the subjects, but was equally about knowing how to take a timed test, both the timing part and the testing part.  Interestingly, she found she didn’t have to actually KNOW everything.  Abbey was able to accomplish all the studying needed to do the best she was capable of.  That last week before the test, she felt she had done all she could do to prepare.

So, here we are, at October 2.  She had accomplished all the requirements of admissions by the deadline and had simply to wait to see if the ACT scores would post quickly and be sent on time.  Last Friday, her ACT scores posted on line.  My hubby called to see if Abbey was available from work to look since  he saw that they were available.  She was currently gone on a community trip and wouldn’t be back for about a half hour.  I told him he should wait and let her look first.  He agreed, but then called back within 5 minutes and said he couldn’t wait and looked.  Naughty dad!  LOL!  Abbey has always been a good sport about this type of thing and he knew it.  Of course, I had to have him tell me . . . LOL!  Abbey laughed when she got home, but then asked how she did 🙂  She scored a 27!  Woohoo.  This was the number she needed in order to not be required to jump through additional hoops from the college of her choice because she was a homeschooler.  I’ll admit, I had been annoyed by this extra hoop jumping required.  If she had not scored at least a 27, she was being asked to take the GED, which we were going to refuse.  We’re just glad we didn’t have to cross that bridge.  Plus, the best she had ever done in her practice exams was 26, so she had passed herself in the actual test.  It ended up being science that pulled her up!  She was sure surprised by that, but pleasantly so as she had worked hard.  Her high score was naturally English at 34 (getting a perfect score with usage/mechanics).

So, that hoop is jumped, but we had to wait to see if the sent ACT score would reach her preferred college on time.  Yesterday came and went and it did not post as received.  Bummer.  But, we got her copy today in the mail.  So, we’re still confident that it was received by the school and just not posted yet.  Plus, they said that missing the deadline didn’t necessarily keep them out of consideration for the semester she applied for.  So, time will tell.

Well, this is getting long, so I’ll post tomorrow about my “transcripts” and how I did that and what it looked like.  But, the point I was trying to make with this post was that Abbey discovered in her own time and in her own way when or if college was a right choice for her.  And once that happened, everything falls into place as it should and it no longer is a chore or a fear or a should, but an exciting opportunity that she embraces.

7 Comments

Posted in Adulthood, Beginnings, Collaborative Learning, Unschooling

The Caffeine Culprit

Posted on September 30, 2008 | 6 comments

While in my 20s and younger, whenever I got a headache, I could sleep it off.  It was my preference as for some reason, I was not too keen on medication for the most part.  But, if I used it, I could use Tylenol and it would knock it out.  Well, some time in my 30s and since then, Tylenol and sleeping it off no longer worked on my headaches.  Somehow, I found that Extra Strength Excedrin was the only medicine that could take care of my headaches.

Well, around that same time, I would have periodic insomnia.  Interestingly, it always seemed to coincide with headaches and an edginess with dizziness.  Believe it or not, after all these years (I’m 43 years old now), only in the past couple months did I figure out that it all probably has to do with the caffeine in Excedrin!  What a DUH moment that was . . . LOL!  Obviously, my body is really sensitive to added caffeine and it immediately makes me wide awake as well as “wired”.  Now, the side effect, as I mentioned a while ago here, it can be a great source of inspiration in my writing as well as just plain good brainstorming happening about the needs of my family as I lie there.

On the flip side, I have also noticed that my reaction to chocolate, one of my favorite “needs” over the years, has shifted in the past year.  I’m not sure it has to do with the natural caffeine in it or not, since the reaction is different from the man-added caffeine as mentioned above, or if its the sugar I’m more senstive to.  But, now within the hour of eating a Dove chocolate, I’ll crash and burn if I slow down at all.  The sleep it induces, though, leaves me in quite the stuper throughout, though, so it’s certainly not restful.  So, now I’m looking to decide how important my chocolate need is to my sanity versus the sleep stuper it induces 🙂All the Erectile Dysfunction Drugs work in a http://appalachianmagazine.com/category/news-headlines/?filter_by=review_high discount viagra similar combination.

I’m looking forward to having another burst at my blog again.  Each stretch of time differs, so time will tell with this one.  I hope by writing in this style versus my seasons for being active on my e-mail lists it will encourage my completion of my book about right-brained learners.  I have four chapters done to some level on that one and look forward to reaching my goal of December 31 to have it done.

6 Comments

Posted in Adulthood, Family

Comic Books and Creative Learners

Posted on June 29, 2008 | 2 comments

I had an article published in Home Education Magazine back in January-February, 2008, and I finally got around to putting it up as a page on my blog. It is continued support and guidance for those with creative learners as it pertains to their reading path in joy.

So many creative learners become fluent readers using theNothing can supplant a generally-educated human services purchaser, and nobody knows this superior to spehttp://secretworldchronicle.com/2018/05/ep-9-12-keep-your-distance-part-1-of-2/ cheap cialists and professionals. comic book resource, but I found that parents have a negative connotation to these great visual resources because of negative conditioning in our society and other sources. Here is a post that can help you understand exactly why comic books work so well for the creative learner in their process to becoming proficient readers.

2 Comments

Posted in Reading, Right-Brained/Visual-spatial Learners

More Family Connections

Posted on May 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

I already shared about our fabulous connecting time with my Grandma Draney and all the Draney siblings this past Saturday, but now it’s time to share about the Friday before and the opportunity we had to connect with my hubby’s brothers and their families.

While dropping off our oldest son on his mission last year, we were able to visit one of Weston’s brothers out in Utah, Ben, and meet his new wife and children for the first time. They were able to come this past weekend as well. We were able to get together with Weston’s other brother, David, though, after not seeing them since 1996! (They were being expatriates in Malaysia last year when we were there.)  We had been able to meet up with one of their daughter’s, Malaina, during the mission drop-off trip, and meet their youngest daughter, Christina, on a trip she took out here to see her grandparents, but it had been too long for everyone else (including their first daughter, Jordan).

Here are the three (of the five total) Gaddis brothers (Ben/fifth born, David/first born, Weston/second born):

Here are the brothers and we sisters-in-law (two of us are Cindy’s!):
A many men throughout the world experience purchase generic viagra this site this condition.

Now, what’s interesting about the next picture is that the Gaddis reproduction gene tends to favor the male species. In total, there are 5 Gaddis brothers and 2 Gaddis sisters. So far, they have produced 11 boy cousins and 6 girl cousins (plus, by adoption/marriage, another 2 boy cousins and 1 girl cousin). In this picture of cousins visiting this past weekend, they are all girls (we were only missing my daughter and a Gaddis girl daughter). Here they are in all their beauty:

It was the first day of the weekend that kicked off incredibly. Amazing days of connection with long-lost family! I hope it won’t be that far apart again. We’re intending to not let that happen 🙂

Leave a comment

Posted in Family

What I’ve Been Reading

Posted on May 14, 2008 | 3 comments

I’ve not done a post like this, but have had some fun and/or informative reading choices lately, so thought I would share. The book series I’m reading aloud to the littles is this:

I’m one of those people who don’t like to reread things, and during the season of my two older children and their read aloud focus time, I had fun going crazy through tons of classic children’s literature. Now, I find myself having a harder time getting motivated finding good read alouds. To me, a good read aloud holds the children’s interest, but also MY interest. I just love how these authors wove their story about how “Peter Pan” and all the players, stories, relationships, locations, and personalities came to be. I find myself rushing to read aloud time again. I highly recommend it!

As for the reading I’m doing in order to benefit from it as it pertains to applying to a child circumstance, I’m reading this:

This might be since the medication decreases the ability to produce hormones, named neurosteroids, that Prices order generic cialis are associated with erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation in men.

I have several children on the autism spectrum and/or shadow syndrome level in the teen/young adult stage, and learning the social skills necessary to find their place in the world has been at the forefront for several of them. So, I’ve been buying social skill type of books up a storm. And, as we all know, there are more “no goods” than “goods”. I will highly recommend this book! It is not exactly a how-to, but it is real, hands-on, discussion about what life is really like living it and trying to understand it. It is broken down into ten “must know” social “rules”, but more what I would call social attributes.

I’ll try to go through a few of the chapters on my blog in the near future and share how it pertains to some of my children, the conversations we’ve had, and the ideas we’ve come up with in integrating the awareness created. I think “social skills” as it pertains to the “real and important aspects of it” is harder to teach, but is more a discussion point in talking over all the scenarios that have been lived, and may continue to come up, and the perspective the child has on it and/or needs to have with it, and creating enough history with each attribute in order to feel either proficient with it or at least enough awareness and strategies created to make it work for you.

Clear as mud?

3 Comments

Posted in Family, Interests, Reading