Dyslexia

My youngest has really been struggling this school year, particularly with reading fluency and comprehension. Her teacher has tried various strategies and we've been working extra-hard on things at home. I even took all of her stuffed animals except 1 away from her a couple months ago. She has been earning them back at a rate of 1 per week IF she reads to me, her father or one of her sisters 5 nights in a week. That helped with motivating her to do the nightly reading assignments her teacher sends home without a literal meltdown but it wasn't helping the fluency or comprehension.

While researching different things, I discovered that she exhibits a number of warning signs of dyslexia. Earlier this week, I sent a letter to her teacher detailing what I've discovered and officially requesting that my daughter be tested. The day I sent the letter, I received a hand-written note from her teacher and the next day I spoke with both the school counselor and the EC Program Specialist/Instructional Coach at the school. We have a meeting tomorrow morning with the EC Specialist and S's teacher to go over parent rights and do the paperwork necessary to get the testing process underway. Unfortunately, the school system won't diagnosis her, they'll simply test to determine if she qualifies for EC services. There are only a few certified testers in the state of North Carolina thought it may be possible to have her screened at a private school for dyslexics in Charlotte. It's something I'll be looking into more thoroughly in the near future.

People with dyslexia are generally very bright people who are unable to read, write or spell at grade level. Personal bias aside, S is a bright child. She often surprises me with her observations and insights. She can identify a number of plants and in many cases knows specific things about them such as "sassafras has a citrus smell when you remove a leaf from the tree or cut the branches. Tree pulp has been used to make a paste to treat pink eye and some people drink sassafras tea." She retains information and her teacher says she's usually one of the first to put her hand up to answer a question.

Here are some of the symptoms she exhibits:

*reads in a choppy cadence rather than smooth phrases (she pauses after every word)

*directionality confusion with certain letters: b-d confusion is a classic warning sign (she gets the b and d mixed up daily; I find b-d mistakes on homework when I look it over and she often asks which way the b points. Everything I've read says it's common for kids to do that up to age 7 or 8; she'll be 8 in a couple months and this isn't getting any better)

*transposes the order of letters when reading (she mixes up who-how, saw-was, & on-no often)

*can read a word on one page but not the next

*unusual pencil grip often with the thumb on top of the fingers i.e. fist grip

*may put their head down to watch the tip of their pencil while writing

*knows phonics but can't - or won't - sound out unfamiliar words (She stares at the page until we prompt her to 'tap it out' when faced with unfamiliar words)

*easily distracted by sounds (she complains if the refrigerator is running, if the dryer is on, if I'm typing, if her sisters have a TV on or are playing their hand held game systems in their bedrooms, etc. We hear "I can't concentrate!" a lot.)

*misreads, omits or adds small function words such as a, an, the, for, from

Those are just some of the symptoms I've noticed in my daughter. There seems to be a family link. When I talked to my husband about many of the symptoms, he was surprised how many of them fit him. He uses a fist grip and puts his head close to the paper to watch the pencil tip when he's writing. When he was in school he was often told he could do well if he just applied himself and was frequently labeled 'lazy.' He reads slowly and generally avoids it whenever possible. He told me he's never read a novel cover to cover.

Walking in the Woods

Sunday was a gorgeous day but The Princess Trio had an evening event with church so instead of hitting a trail in one of the nearby parks, we explored the woods at home. I took my new camera and played with it. We walked at random through a maze of pines, holly, some deciduous trees I didn't bother to take the time to identify, and thorns until we stopped at a stream.


The water level was up because of all the rain and snow we've had this winter; it was nice to hear the stream singing a happy melody to us. There were still patches of snow in the woods and we saw nests high up in the bare trees. Soon those nests will be hidden by green leaves. Bring on Spring!




Spring really is just around the corner; we spotted a butterfly on our little walk.



This tree near the stream caught my attention



Here's a closeup I took to test out one of the settings on the camera



Cloud accompanied us on our walk through the woods. We don't usually take cats hiking with us but he was determined to go. I was glad he didn't jump in the stream the way he jumps in the bathtub.

Vacation Chatter

Earlier this week, reservations were made for our families first ever overnight vacation. T and The Princess Trio have never seen the ocean and I, myself, haven't been to the beach in over a decade. We typically take day trips to hike in the mountains so this vacation will be a big change for us. A week long vacation requires a lot more planning than a day trip.

As the planner & researcher of the family, I had devoted some time to finding us a place to stay. I knew I wanted access to a stove and refrigerator so we wouldn't have to eat out all the time. I finally settled on a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo across the street from the ocean in Garden City, South Carolina for around $600. Checkout maid service and linens are included. With the condo, we'll have a full kitchen, a pool and a short walk to the beach. I've heard the beaches in Garden City are less crowded than Myrtle Beach; I hope that's true. We'll be a short drive from Myrtle Beach so we can still visit some of the attractions there.

The attractions the girls are most excited about are actually located closer to Garden City in Murrells Inlet. They want to visit Brookgreen Gardens and spend a day at Huntington Beach State Park where we'll tour Atalaya. A dolphin cruise is a possibility, too.

Sew Fun

Yesterday was my sister's birthday. When her work day was over, I treated her to a late lunch at Longhorn. She rarely goes out without one of her three kids along unless she's going to work so we extended the outing with a little post-lunch shopping. I bought a sewing machine and an accessory kit with 165 pieces. I had researched sewing machines a while back and one of the top candidates was on sale at Target so I sent T a text message to clear the purchase with him before checking out. I like to check-in when I'm spending more than $50 on one item.

The Princess Trio is thrilled, particularly M. She's really developed an interest in needlework over the past year. I find scraps of cloth sewn together in the dirty laundry at least once every week. Her hand sewing has improved with practice; she's probably better than me by now. It took longer to set the machine up and get it ready to go than I expected and M was in bed by the time it was working correctly. I'm not ashamed to admit that T was ultimately the person who got everything set just right so the machine would work.

This morning before school, M did a "practice piece" on the sewing machine. She didn't want to wait until after school and homework. They missed the bus so T took them to school. He told me M talked about the sewing machine and what she's going to learn to make the whole way to school. Doll clothes. Blankets. Purses. Skirts. She has big plans.

After school, I let each daughter wind a bobbin. I talked them through the process as a first step to learning more about the machine. After we finished doing that, A did her first practice piece. S opted out of the actual sewing for now but she thinks winding the bobbins is a lot of fun. M and A took turns practicing for a while this evening. I think they tried out all of the different stitches. They cut large squares from clothes that M had claimed for scrap cloth and sewed the squares together. I gave them safety instructions and then left them to experiment while I did things in the next room. When I heard them talking about why it wasn't working correctly, I waited for them to ask for my input. They didn't need it. A pointed out that M hadn't lowered the presser foot and asked if that could be the problem. They cleared away the mess, got everything ready and tried again with the presser foot lowered. It worked so they now believe that's an important step to take before beginning.

Trekaroo KidsMobile -- Charlotte, NC

I was invited to participate in Trekaroo's KidsMobile Blog Carnival. Who doesn't love a blog carnival?! When you pair the blog carnival with Trekaroo...well, that's just spectacular.

What's Trekaroo? Only the neatest site around for sharing/reading reviews of places to go with kids. A Mommies group fundraiser introduced me to Trekaroo over the summer. I love it! Yesterday, I found some promising places to add to my Destinations Notebook. I keep information (place name, address, phone, url, price, activity, maps) about places I think the family would enjoy visiting in page protectors in a 3-ring binder. When we have a chance to take off for a day, we always have lots of options. I do a lot of my research on 'stay home' days like the ones we just had compliments of a foot of snow. When the weather is pretty and the family is ready to go, go, go; who wants to waste time trying to figure out where to go?


Trekaroo -- Kids. Trips. Tips.

Wanna know something really neat? They just launched my home state of North Carolina. The KidsMobile Blog Carnival stopped in Charlotte, NC which gave me the opportunity to share a list of places to hike with kids around Charlotte.



Trekaroo just launched in North Carolina! Here are quick links to the wonderful recommendations from Trekaroo Families and those of local North Carolina bloggers who jumped on board the Trekaroo KidsMobile during it's stop in Charlotte, North Carolina

* Best Activities for Kids in the Piedmont Triangle – voted by Trekaroo parents

* Places to Hike with Kids Around Charlotte, North Carolina by Roses and Brambles
* Cheap Things to Do in Charlotte, NC with Kids by Charlotte on the Cheap
* Kid-friendly Hotels in Charlotte, North Carolina - Carolina Nomad
* Fun for Dudes, Both Kids and Bigs Near Charlotte, NC by A Dude's Guide
* Snow Tubing and Sledding Hills in North Carolina by thelees3


Read all about Trekaroo's KidsMobile Stop in Charlotte, NC


Other Resources for the Piedmont Triangle in North Carolina

* All 273 Activities for Kids in and around the Piedmont Area (Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh)
* Kid-friendly hotels in and around Piedmont Area (Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh)


Next stop for the KidsMobile Blog Carnival - Orlando, Florida

The Trekaroo KidsMobile is a blog carnival with a twist. It’s designed to provide a unique opportunity for mom and dad bloggers to be featured on Trekaroo while 1) expressing their unique point of view. 2) getting a web of link exchanges. Jump on board!

The Long Trip Home

The forecast had been saying we would get a winter storm. We were under a Winter Storm Warning from 6pm Friday until 6pm Saturday and that warning had been issued on Thursday...maybe even Wednesday night. Snow started falling just before 4:30 on Friday. I was at work as I usually am on Fridays. We closed at our normal time (5pm) and T arrived just a few minutes later to pick me up. Normally, we're home in 20 minutes. Thirty if the traffic is bad and an hour if we decide to stop at the grocery store or pick up dinner on the way home. T told me he had received a call from my sister saying the main road we usually take was a mess so he picked an alternate route.

We were on our way and would have been okay except the van in front of us started spinning on the side of a hill. We had to stop which is never a good idea. T is very resourceful and was determined we weren't going to be stuck there. He got the ice scraper and dug around the tires down to the road so he could get some traction. After about 15 minutes of scraping and trying, he had turned the car around and we were on our way again.

It was slow going but mostly uneventful. We decided to check the main road my sister had said was bad to see if the traffic snarl had cleared up any. It looked fine. Sure, there was a long line of tail lights ahead but the traffic was moving. We didn't want to go around the back roads we had traveled the last time it snowed because we had such a hard time on that one hill. We decided since the traffic was moving on the main road, we would take that. After we passed all turnoffs for alternate routes, we hit a snarl that left us sitting in a line of traffic for almost 4 hours as snow continued to fall.

Finally just after 9pm, we were on our way again and dreading the road to T's mom's house where The Princess Trio had been since getting off the bus at 3:30. As we expected the road was virtually untouched. We could see where other vehicles had traveled earlier but those tracks were filled with fresh snow. I held my breath when we crossed the narrow bridge and started up the hill on the other side. We almost made it to the top before we slid to the side. Again, T was out of the car digging around the tires with an ice scraper. Hard as he tried, the car just wasn't gripping the road. Someone else who lives on the road stopped and kindly offered us a pull. He pulled us to an area that's mostly flat and then followed us to be sure we made it to my mother in-law's house okay.

By this point, we were sure we didn't even want to try bringing our Plymouth Breeze up the road to our house. It's a private gravel drive with a couple steep hills. T parked the car at the end of his mom's driveway off to the side a little so his brother could get in and out. We got the girls and walked the mile from mother in-law's house to our own house. It was a cold walk and I was thankful for the flashlight T took from the car. When I walked through the door a little after 10:00 Friday night, home was the best place in the world. I probably ruined my shoes because I walked home in the shoes I had worn to work that morning. Unlike last time, I hadn't put my sneakers and extra socks in the car.

That long trip home is an experience I do not wish to repeat but I know it could have been much worse. I can't imagine going through that with the kids in the car and I'm very glad God answered my prayers and sent a helping hand so we didn't have to walk any further than we did.

Garden Planning with S

When gardening catalogs arrive, I have to hide them from S until she finishes her homework. As soon as she sees them, she grabs a snack and a pen and settles herself at the table. I hear lots of "Oh, Mommy! Look! We could grow this!" and a little "Aww, that's really pretty but it's not in our zone." I only told her about USDA Hardiness Zones once. She asked what our zone is and I told her 7. Since then, she's looked for the hardiness zone of any plant she thinks is interesting. Spring isn't here yet but S already has a few specific plans like red geraniums in terra cotta pots on the porch "'cause that's pretty and hummingbirds like red." She's a few months shy of her 8th birthday and I'm afraid I've already taught her everything I know about plants and gardening. It's going to be fun to learn together.