November 12, 2011

The Secret of Raising a Resilient Child




This is a reblog of a post by Dr. Laura Markham of Aha!Parenting.com

Dr. Edward Hallowell, author of Driven to Distraction and other books on ADHD and a successful ADD person, says in the introductory remarks of the featured post "Where does resilience come from?....It comes from knowing that you never, never have to be alone….If you feel connected, you will always be able to deal with adversity.


June 30, 2011

ADDclasses.com

Some time ago I stumbled onto this website and found it to be immensely helpful in our continuing quest to treat and manage ADD / ADHD. ADDClasses.com offers virtual support and continuing education in the field of Attention Deficit Disorder. The teleseminars are offered free of charge for a period of time (registration is required) and also, for a period of time, you can download the mp3 recordings

June 10, 2011

Tables, desks and other concerns

I love my kitchen table. The table began its service for us as a new Canadel table with a beautiful, polished wood finish. The salesman promised that it would stand up to the rigors of family life with the same capacity as laminate. I believed him. He was wrong. The table now has water marks, marker marks, scratches, and funny little holes that look like stabs of a pencil. Pencil stabbed many, many times... huh?

March 22, 2011

Can $3 equal instant gratification?












Does this comic strip resonate with you? It does with me. One of my favorite sayings is that MY money burns a hole in David's pocket.
David wants a BMX bike that cost $350. What kid wouldn't, eh? But, really, $350!?! I'm mystified by the seeming lack of obstruction to obtaining the bike raised in David's mind by the price tag on this bike. 

March 18, 2011

Experience vs. Knowledge

NPR recently published an article that was originally published in The Lancet journal on the topic of ADHD and diet entitled Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs. The study suggests that kids with ADHD could experience a significant reduction in symptoms with a very restrictive diet. Have we heard this before? Yes, we have.

March 15, 2011

Training the New Cook!

I am a don't wannabe cook. I don't even care that much about eating, although the size of my jeans would belie that comment. If someone would cook all the food that could be eaten in this family, I would gladly do the dishes. WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT!? I already do the dishes. Hmmmm....

So, David likes to bake. We found this recipe on another blog and David made it this morning.

After all the mixing, it needs to be rolled out. David really likes using the rolling pin and this is much easier than pizza crust.

(ahem, I did not see "the" kitchen table in the background... I have officially declared it the thorn in my flesh...)

March 11, 2011

Knowledge is Power


Sir Francis Bacon lived from 1561 to 1626. He was a scientist, lawyer, philosopher and author. He was the father of the scientific method, much of which is still influential today in conceptions of methodology. He was also a statesman, being both the Lord Chancellor and Attorney General of England. The guy knew a thing or two. He is credited with the saying "Knowledge is power" although there seems to be some disagreement that he was the author. Proverbs 24:5 says "One wise in strength is an able-bodied man, and a man of knowledge is reinforcing power." (New World Translation) I don't know if Sir Bacon said it but Solomon did and that's good enough for me.

March 10, 2011

Routine (part 1): the Conundrum

Do you have a routine? Is is productive? Don't be misled. Chaos can be routine...

Routine - 1. a regular, more or less unvarying procedure, customary, prescribed or habitual, as of business or of daily life.*

Conundrum - 1. a riddle whose answer contains a pun (Example: what's the difference between a jeweler and a jailor? One sells watches and the other watches cells.) 2. any puzzling problem or question - SYN. see MYSTERY*

March 9, 2011

Earth From Above

Does your homeschool have a whopping case of cabin fever going on? Mine sure does. Well, get out of the cabin without leaving home and venture on a world tour of some very remarkable photography taken from a vantage point that few of us ever attain. This is a collection of aerial photography produced by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.


It captured our respective ADD / ADHD attentions for quite some time :)

I've added the link to the Photography section on the right column of this page. Enjoy!

Best regards,

leapinlily

February 21, 2011

I Still Have Time...


The Incredibles is one of my favorite movies. In the opening scenes, Mr. Incredible is on his way to a very important appointment when he is called into service as a super hero. Looking at his watch he says "I have time." One problem is solved and he is pressed into service again. "I still have time," he says. Oh, baby, can I relate.

February 19, 2011

World Math Day - March 1

Thought I would post this for all you homeschoolers out there. This is a global event. I cut the following paragraph from the About page of the web site:

Students play at home and at school against other students around the world in live games of mental arithmetic. Each game lasts for 60 seconds and students can play up to 100 games, earning points for their personal tally. Students can play beyond 100 games during the event, but points will only count to the World Maths Day Mathometer, not their personal point score. The students who answer the most questions correctly will appear on the Hall of Fame. There are 5 levels of play, 20 games on each level.

Once registered, your child/children can begin practicing right now. David was practicing last night with students from Australia and Portugal, which he thought was awesomely cool!

World Math Day

Best regards,

leapinlily

February 17, 2011

Progress...


That! is my kitchen table. Those people are David and the other children that make up our Tuesday School. They are working on a unit study on Zombie Fire Ants that I acquired from The Old Schoolhouse Store. This is progress...

February 10, 2011

...and Work Your Plan...


This is my kitchen table. It is minus the camera with which I took this picture. Before taking the picture, the camera with which I took this picture was on the kitchen table, along with all the rest of that junk. Really?

This is the way I live and it has become downright ridiculous.

In addition to the kitchen table, I have a desk in my bedroom that is much smaller but looks very similar.

February 8, 2011

Unschooling - So Far, So Good

Just one month ago, we reformatted our home school to an unschool. Gone are the math and grammar books and a structure to rival boot camp. In their places are robotics, classics such as Gulliver's Travels and a nifty little unit study on Zombie Fire Ants with another home school family that we call Tuesday school. How is it going? Not too bad.

January 13, 2011

Two Weeks into Unschooling

It has been nearly two weeks since our official declaration of unschool. Two weeks ago I was a mixed bag of emotions. On the one hand, I was ready for a change and so was David. On the other hand, I was unsure of where we were going with unschooling. I've read much about it and am convinced of it philisophically. Yet, I found myself nervous and unsure of the decision that I was making.

January 5, 2011

What Works For One

This morning it occurred to me that my last post about unschooling might indicate a disdain for the more typical homeschool format involving structure and curriculum. For any that might be reading this blog and might think that is how I feel about home school as most of us know it, I would like to set the record straight.
My personal vantage point on children, school and life in general includes 4 children, 5 step children (only one legally at this time and forever more), a family home daycare, public school, homeschool, more than one marriage and a variety of disorders. I've been on both sides of a couple of fences and I've known a lot of children who were growing and learning in a variety of circumstances. Mine has not been a singular kind of experience. However, I will only speak of the children that I grew.

January 3, 2011

The First Day of Our New School


It is the first day of school. Or, rather, should I say unschool?

For the last several weeks, we have been on break. By the time our break came David and I were both completely fed up with our daily life together. For months, we have been struggling with our school at home. The tools of our school - goals and plans, math books and grammar programs, carrots and sticks - have not been working. We had given up on "meeting at the table" - our term for the daily 9 a.m. appointment at our kitchen table to begin our day of school. We were deadlocked in boredom and frustration and our homeschool was dead in the water.

What's the recurring word in that last statement? oh, yeah - DEAD!
 

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