Special K

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Posts by Special K

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  15

  What you Canadians can do to help us 'liberal' Americans!

  by Xander in

  1. social
  2. humour

  .

  from yahoo news:fri nov 5, 4:45 am et .

  the canadian website "marry an american" is reaching out to help weary liberal americans who can no longer tolerate their president, asking canadians to marry someone from south of the border(marryanamerican.ca ) .

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  Special K

  Been there done that and brought him home to Canada with moi.

  SK
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  30

  Star Wars Episode III -- Trailer (NEW)

  by Leolaia in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  darth vader rises....chewbacca....clone wars....can lucas please not f*** this one up?

  http://www.jackpearce.info/full.mov.

  check it out....

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  Special K

  I couldn't get that site to load either.

  Special K

  But, Yup! I'm a Star Wars/StarTrek kind a gal.
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  61

  I'm worried about our 8-year-old -- anybody got any ideas?

  by cruzanheart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  our 8-year-old son, jackson, is exhibiting the following symptoms:.

  * disorganized (unfortunately, this has kind of been since birth but more pronounced now).

  * hard to concentrate.

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  Special K

  Oh, and big tex

  Can you imagine having to sit on one of the inside seats. (pinned in) If I was forced to set in groupings like that I just know I'd have to have an end seat.. more room.

  SK
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  61

  I'm worried about our 8-year-old -- anybody got any ideas?

  by cruzanheart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  our 8-year-old son, jackson, is exhibiting the following symptoms:.

  * disorganized (unfortunately, this has kind of been since birth but more pronounced now).

  * hard to concentrate.

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  Special K

  Do you let him take his game boy to school?

  My son started to do this last year in Grade 3. I volunteer at his school and watched him at recess and noon hour one day... There they all were. 3 or 4 of them from his class. Sitting like bumps on a log outside, in the sunshine, and never moved all recess or noon hour. I really think this generation of kids will not get arthritis in their fingers and thumbs.lol

  My first new tactic was. No game boy at school.. then after awhile we hassled it over and over and the little litigater (sp?) helped me see that I should compromise. I did. (You have to make them feel like their winning some leeway) He now is allowed to take it one day a week. His choice of the day, or sometimes if I know it going to be terrential rains (like it is today, in our area). I never remind him though when he has forgotten to take it...I just let it slide. Sometimes a couple of weeks will pass now and he hasn't taken it to school. But the new, pokemon games are out for Christmas and I'm sure he will want to wheel and deal more to take it to school.. but I won't budge now.

  A good question (if you want to know how they are getting along with their friends at school).. that works for me is . So, who did you play with at recess today? And what about noon hour who did you hang around with.. Another one is ..Is there anything that happened at school today that you think I should know...(then wait) or Did something happen at school that you found really funny...

  The other compromise I made, in my own mind, is that when he gets home from school he can play "screens" for one hour. I have a timer I use because he tends to want to forget his hour is up and sometimes I get to busy to remember. (It's a little wind up egg timer. Has a little digital screen you just wind it to the time you want and it count down.. the timer ring/buzz it VERY loud.. which is good)

  He likes that and it is a kind of unwinding after the day. He also knows that if he makes a big fuss about homework, whining and complaining and such that the "screen" time gets chucked out the window until homework is done.

  I don't know if Jackson does this but my guys USED to do this. On the weekend they'd get up at 6 o'clock in the morning and sit downstairs playing screens. I caught on to this, after awhile (I'm a bit slow) . New family rule: No screens, absolutely no screens, T.V.'s, computers, gameboys, game machines until 10 o'clock on Saturday mornings or any holiday or inservice. 2nd new rule: Absolutely "no screens" for anyone in this house (including daddy) on Sundays until 12 noon... and sundays are my favourite day of the week... especially Sunday morning.

  What a change in our house. My kids all sleep in on the weekend now... like they need because they are up later on Friday and Saturday nights. (hey, nina and big tex.. it works for us)

  Good luck with all the information everyone has given to you both.

  Special K
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  61

  I'm worried about our 8-year-old -- anybody got any ideas?

  by cruzanheart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  our 8-year-old son, jackson, is exhibiting the following symptoms:.

  * disorganized (unfortunately, this has kind of been since birth but more pronounced now).

  * hard to concentrate.

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  Special K

  One more thing Nina, I thought about last night was this.

  In grade 1 and 2 the teacher had the kids kind of sit together in groupings. Their desks were all shoved together so that they were literally sitting right beside and across from each other with their little tiny desks.

  Man, would I ever find that distracting. Literally shoulder to shoulder and desk to desk butted against each side of you and a desk butted right up against the front of you as well. (6 little desks and 6 kids all pushed together)

  I couldn't write anything under that style of seating. I'd have panic attacks galore if I had to sit in that setting all day. Not much physical boundaries in that seating arrangement.

  What I found out is that in his particular grouping there was one "Super kid" who read and wrote at a grade 6 level. He wrote bound volumes! Then there were 3 girls who wrote 3 or 4 page neatly printed stories. Wow! No wonder my son was down hearted and felt he couldn't write a lick.

  How often do you tell a child not to compare their work to someone else. Often, .. but do they listen. NO! They do compare. and to be sitting at a table grouping like this, it was no wonder his confidence was zapped. ( Once, my son new that he could bring it home and I'd back him up..he relaxed.. knowing he was going to get it done)

  I talked it over with the teacher and had him moved to another grouping of kids. A better mixture than the "novel writers" group. That helped too, because then there was a kid at his table who was struggling even worse than he was whom he felt the utmost compassion for and also kids who wrote more at his level. They tended to help each other more.

  .....

  Someone, told me their daughter had a rash of stomach problems. So, they got a package of those tic-tacs and put them in a different bottle so the kid didn't know what they were. Whenever, the child said her stomach was upset they gave them one tic tac and told them that would really help because they were made for kids who were having upset stomachs.

  Guess what it worked! A placebo. If it would have been food related stomach upset the tic tac would not have worked... so then the parents knew it was more stress and psychologically motivated.

  Special K
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  25

  Cool Technology - would you buy one?

  by Scully in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yes, it's finally happened.

  lg has built a refrigerator with a small tv screen integrated into the door panel.

  neat idea... but i wonder if it will sell?.

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  Special K

  The only plus I see is that then I would be able to hear/sort of watch Oprah and Dr Phil which I never see because it's on during supper preparation/eating time.

  Special K
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  61

  I'm worried about our 8-year-old -- anybody got any ideas?

  by cruzanheart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  our 8-year-old son, jackson, is exhibiting the following symptoms:.

  * disorganized (unfortunately, this has kind of been since birth but more pronounced now).

  * hard to concentrate.

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  Special K

  What about lactose intollerant?.. re: his stomach problems.

  Or .. he just feels pressured to write in a busy, distracting classroom. One of my kids had a classroom with 4 behavioural problem kids in it. Sheesh.. the teacher couldn't even pay attention for 5 minutes let alone any of the other kids. Chaotic class...it was awful! 31 kids in grade 1 and 31 in grade 2.. that's crowd control not teaching.

  I used to encourage one of my kids to bring his creative wrting work home where he could write without distractions of all the other kids.

  And one of my kids I asked to have moved to the front of the class. Less distractions to be watching around him.. that helped.

  My nine year old has just begun having to write a sentence with each of his 10 spelling words. He was floored!. I can't do it! I can't think of anything..on and on.

  So, I sat him at the table and let him get to the point where he feels sad and cries for a bit. After that he gets mad and writes a couple of simple sentences on a piece of looseleaf. I tell him you can make as many spelling errors as you want and I'd help him straighten them up later for his good copy for the teacher. (Break Through, Nina!! I hit a breakthrough!)..

  I notice that he is a pacer. Walks the floor when he's on the phone just like me, his mom, just like his grandfather sooo.. I say, Why don't you get up and walk around while your thinking of a sentence.. and boom.. break through! break through! and he's writing and laughing about some of the super long adventurous sentences he's writing and how much the teacher will like this one. I think one sentence was about driving a monster truck..on and on.

  Then we go through his rough copy of sentences and talk about spelling errors and tricks to straighten them out, or how to substitute some words that he does know how to spell. etc. He's a Happy Kid now.

  Hey, it all may sound silly to some people .. but it's working for my guy.

  Special K
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  36

  What Aggravates You The Most About People???

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Special K

  Oh My God!! Minimus...

  You know what I hate?? I hate it when someone asks you a question and instead of letting you give an answer, they interrupt and give their own opinion anyway. And----if you do give an answer to a person, they continue asking the same question over and over again, as if you will change your response .

  You have described exactly to a tee.. my 9 year old son.

  He runs me ragged verbally. round and round we go. It's just exhausting.

  Some of our relatives are sure he is going to be a lawyer or litigature (sp?)..

  Special K
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  61

  I'm worried about our 8-year-old -- anybody got any ideas?

  by cruzanheart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  our 8-year-old son, jackson, is exhibiting the following symptoms:.

  * disorganized (unfortunately, this has kind of been since birth but more pronounced now).

  * hard to concentrate.

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• 

  Special K

  Hi Nina, you said:

  HOWEVER, he consistently gets straight A's in school! He is very smart. He plays great with the kids and his friends. He's great in math and does fine in reading (hates to write, though).

  Along with all the other suggestions you receive.

  I don't find it unusual that a lot of boys hate to write. All my boys hated to write. Sitting down and colouring in a colouring book was something none of them enjoyed even as preschoolers. Then there seemed to be their fear of spelling a word wrong.. so they just froze up when it came to writing so they lost any flow or creativity in their stories. I'd get them to write a story for me, and spell words however they wanted.. just write. Find out how long a story the teachers are looking for at this level. I think, if I go by my kids.. maybe one page. If that seems overwhelming, possibly 3 sentences and build up to a page over this year. All just suggestions, Nina.

  Most girls seem to be way ahead in the writing thing. I have heard it said that the curriculum for this is more biased to what little girls do anyways.. but I don't know if that is true.

  He's probably started his times tables so there is a good site for that called www.aaamath.com where they can do appropriate grade level quizes. My 9 year old finds it FUN when he does his times table at this site. You will find most boys into game machines more than young girls.

  Another thing you might look at is a possible "short term memory problem". It's when you go to the phone book look up a number then walk over to the phone and you can't remember the number. This would go along with forgetting what he went upstairs to do, get a pair of socks, brush your teeth and bring down that book off his bed. If you said it to him one by one he might be fine but asking someone with short term memory problem to do all three... and they just can't do it.

  If that is the problem there are things you can do to stimulate the short term memory or you can implement compensations for it such as: Lists, easel in main living area with reminders, etc.. specific spots for bookbags, lunch boxes, boots.. so that they are always kept in the same spot.

  The tiredness? Is he really tired or is that something he usually says when he doesn't want to do something and it's a catch all phrase.. Do you think he's getting into his rem sleep? One of our kids wasn't and boy did he make a difference when we got that corrected.. all his energy came back.

  Is the pets of the family sleeping on their beds at night? They can be disturbing and interruping sleep..Our cat is horrible for waking me up 2 or 3 times a night and purring and wanted to be petted. We have to shut him out of the room...big baby.

  Hope you can find out the answers, Nina.

  Special K
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  17

  Only @ WalMart

  by Joyzabel in

  1. social
  2. humour

  one day, in line at the company cafeteria.

  joe says to mike behind him,.

  "my elbow hurts like hell.

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  Special K

  I must look for this machine the next time I'm in Walmart.

  Special K