Category Archives: good days

storm watch — warning – a lesson for my kids.

So we are under a winter storm watch. From Saturday evening to Monday morning.

Winter on the Northern Plains typically lasts from mid October when we normally get our first snow to late April, when we get our last snow.  This year, we have been blessed with Spring like weather until this past week.  Two days ago we received an inch and a half of snow.  Last year at this time we had over 90 inches to put it into perspective.

Now, we are under a storm warning that promises to change that. Now since Winter on the Northern plains is a 6 and a half month proposition, it would make sense that we are used to being in the weather.  Nope.  First snow of the year and everyone forgets how to drive on snow.  Everyone forgets the cardinal rule when travelling.

“Never pass the snow plow.”

Why?  Well apart from common sense that you don’t pass a vehicle when you are snow blind that may at any point turn into your lane.  It makes sense doesn’t it?  Don’t go there.  Plus, I think that there are rules regarding passing the plow.  The plow man is mandated to turn or pull off the road at specified intervals in order to allow accumulated traffic pass him.

How nerve wracking must it be to be sitting up in that plow, plumes of snow cascading off of the blade on your truck or tractor, obscuring the vision behind you, and here comes this car. Not much bigger than the plow in front of your truck.  Where did he come from?  Heaven forbid, where did he go?

Never pass the snow plow.

Homeschool help and more

As we wait for the Facilitated IEP to be scheduled, we are homeschooling David, our youngest.  There are numerous websites that can be used to help facilitate the education of your child.

Two of the better sites:

www.abcya.com

www.ixl.com

www.toonuniversity.com

www.schoolhouserock.com (I remember watching these when I was a kid, so was very happy to have found them again for my children.)

I am looking for others, some sites allow you to use them on a limited basis without having a membership, others require you to pay a monthly or annual fee.  Either way, you and your child can benefit by not having to use worksheets and workbooks all of the time. The fee based sites track your progress which is beneficial when it is time for you to document your child’s progress each year.

If you know of education related sites that make learning fun, comment on this post and include the link.

 

 

a most magical, amazing day and other stuff

Today was incredible.  Limited arguments from the youngest. By limited, I mean less than 5.  Very nice day.

Spent some time working on household chores, dishes and what not.  Laundry can wait a day.  Seems like it never ends anyway.

Setup my sewing area in the living room.  While it would be nice to have a separate area, it will do.

Wrote an article about Least Restrictive Environments.    Worked on some other aspects of the site, namely stats and determining who, when and how long each visit was.  What seem to be the more popular postings?  the jury is still out, but the lead is in for the post about “Toddlers and Tiaras“.

The first month of live activity garnered 1500 unique page views.  this is up from 0 in December, and traffic is increasing each week.

On a side note, still looking for an attorney in regard to the incident earlier this week.  Violence is not the answer, parents, please teach your kids that.

I appreciate the support of you readers.  Please take the time to comment on those posts you have an opinion on, or if you find some tidbit applies to your situation.  Even if you think the post is way off the deep end, please don’t hesitate to tell me that either.  Just be brave enough to leave contact info so we can debate the issue in the blog comments.  I won’t tell you that you are wrong, but will work to see your side, and also convince you that I am right.  I will do this with research and data.  Either way, the reader wins, I learn something and you learn something.  How can that not be a winning combination?

Tomorrow and Saturday I am off for class.  I am attending the Partners in Policymaking training put on by a local organization.  If you ever get the chance to attend, do so, it is a wealth of information. I promise you will find the experience highly enriching for your life.

In other news, I applied to the Maternal and Child Health / Public Health Leadership Institute. I am hoping that I will get in, training occurs over a period of 1 year covering 3 on-site visits of roughly 4 days each plus numerous online learning opportunities. Please pray that I may be accepted into the institute and enhance my abilities to help families transition to having a stay at home father or even just a more involved father.