Friday, August 28, 2009

Nothing special

The kidlets have now been in school for a whole week. They are learning new things and making friends. They come home very tired, but it is well worth it. Kelsey is not as excited about school starting because she does not get to leave when everyone else does. She and I are looking for things to do. At the end of September, the library will start their story time program. We are looking forward to that. The weather is still nice so we can be outside too. We just have to be careful because she is on an antibiotic that is photo sensitive. (nothing serious)

As for my school, I can see a small glimmer of light at the end of the very long tunnel. I am currently in the 5th week of my current 9 week block. I am taking Math 157 - Math for Elementary Teacher II. Since when did elementary kids learn statistics. I must admit that my 5th grader - now 6th grader had to help me with some of the concepts involving mean, median, and mode. Once I learned how to figure those, I had to learn about, variance, standard deviation, interquartile range of data and how to put that information into a box-and-whisker plot. That was the first two weeks. Now I am into geometry learning about rotational symmetry, reflectional symmetry, and whether polygons are regular or not. My head is swimming!

The other class I am in is AED 222 - Introduction to the Exceptional Learner. In this class I am learning about different learning abilities and disabilities. The final is comprised of me creating an IEP (individualized education program) for a make-believe student. So far I am learning the components of an IEP and which students work with one.

After these classes, I will have one 9 week block of two classes left! I am very excited!!

I have also been finger-printed and placed in the system to substitute teach in the local school district. I will be able to log into the district system to select the jobs I feel I can do, on the days I am available. I am nervous, but I will try not to have a panic attack when I accept my first job.

The Dad is just working away. He has been recognized three times in two months by customers. This afforded him the privilege of going to the "Raving Fans" lunch. He said the food was good, but would have rather been given the $10. He is learning lots and enjoying it too. He works downtown SLC. After driving his 1989 Camry without air conditioning for a week, he started taking the bus. It was a good choice. He has an hour in the morning and evening when he can check his email and his farm with the laptop. And he doesn't have to worry about the traffic.

We miss Reno, but are happy, healthy, and settling in.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

First Day of School

The kidlets are so excited to be back at school. Even though they are nervous about starting a new school, they have been to Open House to see their classrooms and teachers. Now they are gone for the day. I am glad I will not hear "I'm bored" or "I'm hungry" all day long. Well, at least from those three. I cried thinking about not having my buddies with me. I cried thinking about what I was going to do with the fourth all day while they were gone.

Kelsey is not ready for them to go.
Here goes the start of a new school year.