My Creatively Random Life

I had the joy of watching my oldest graduate grade 8 the other night, which was a big accomplishment for him.  It was a long road for us to get him there through years of bad diagnosis' and schools that did not work for him. We were lucky just before grade six to finally find a doctor who recognized his struggle for what it was and tested him to see if he was on the spectrum.  (he is)  At the same time he transfer to a smaller school where it really felt like the teachers and his peers cared more. I watched my son change from an unhappy, miserable boy to a positive, humorous young man.  The change did not happen over night, it was a long road.  I usually keep my struggles with the children pretty private but you never know who might need to hear something. This kid here holding the honor roll medal, 3 years ago we were at the point where the school he was in was refusing to grade him and I was crying every night because I did not know how to help h...

The end of the school year is once again upon us and I have become overwhelmed with tiny pieces of classroom art. This year though Cat and I have struck a deal.  Every piece I share on here I get to recycle.  So once a week I will share a piece of this year's classroom work and it will find a new home that is not in my house. This is a friendship heart and it talks about her teacher, whose favourite drink is coffee.  (mine too).

There is nothing that stresses me more than the fact that Ace is having trouble in school.  He's such a bright kid and the frustration that he has with certain aspects of stuff he's expected to do at school is turning our lives into a nightmare. The Learning Success Program is a simple do-at home program that will show you how to find core problems and overcome them.  Learning is made up of basic core skills.  There are sixteen of them in all.  Typical learning difficulties are small weaknesses in a combination of two or three of these skills.   The Learning Success program offers a variety of activities building in complexity designed to help children improve their learning skills.  So far the only improvement I have seen in Ace is his focus but that's a huge start because at least he is focusing. I look forward to seeing where the activities go over time. I received this product in exchange for an honest review. a Rafflecopter giveaway

For her second library pick Cat picked another Scooby Doo book and it was not as big of a hit as the first one.  Scooby Doo! and the Opera Ogre has all the right things to be a great book.  Cat and I both lost interest very quickly though because the story started to drag very fast.  How may times can you have Shaggy and Scooby dress up in a costume and get chased exactly before it gets old hat? The concept was cute but we are hoping the next book she brings home holds her interest better.

There is nothing quite like the kids heading back to school to make me feel all weepy and nostalgic.  With Cat heading into Senior Kindergarten and Ace going of to Grade Four it's a sharp reminder that they are growing up far faster then I ever though possible. Despite Ace being too grumpy to late me take a back to school picture this year (apparently 9 is too cool for that?)  I thought I would throwback to last years pictures and remind myself of how much they have changed.  I got a little teary eyed at this.  Miss Cat at least has changed so much.   It's hard to believe a whole year has passed already.

Today marks the last day of school for the monkeys, an exciting day for Cat as it is her first last day of school and she has been counting down to it FOREVER it seems like.  A little less exciting for Ace as it means not seeing his friends every day and a summer full of working on his research project skills. This morning they each headed off to school with their bags full of thank you gifts for various staff members that they felt were vital to their school year.  Ace with chocolates and thoughtfully written out thank you cards and Cat with brightly patterned pens and paper clips that she felt would make her teacher's smile to use.  (their personalities are really so different) Being the terrible  inappropriate  cool parent that I am I naturally pulled up Alice Cooper's School's Out on my phone for the kids on the way to school.  Ace was less than impressed, (who's kid is he anyway?) but Cat was very into it. I had to play it though, th...

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7714159/?claim=zwypvenfvmg">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> I have been taking two separate study at home courses over the past year or so in my 'spare time' and most of what I have learned is that my brain is not what it used to be.  In college I barely had to study, (mind you then I had all sorts of time and very little stress) now it's hours and hours of study for things to feel like they are being retained. There's got to be a trick to it right?  Some sort of thing that makes information stay in there despite the fact that I can only spare a few weeks to studying.  Clearly my current method of reading, highlighting and going back and rereading and making notes is not doing it for me. Time to study up on study habits.  Any tips?

So there I was working away this afternoon when I got a call from the daycare.  Now don't take what I am about to say in the wrong way at all.  I like these people.  They take awesome care if my kids, they are nice and most important of all my kids love them. Me:  ".....Melissa speaking how can I help you?" Daycare: "It's A from XYZ."  So, automatically I think something is wrong with my kid because why else would the daycare be calling?  Me: "Hi, A" Daycare: "Did you pick up Ace from school today?" Me: "Um, no..." Daycare: "Well, he didn't get off the bus and the kids aren't really sure if he was on the bus or..." Me(trying to keep the panic out of my voice): "What do you mean he didn't get off the bus?" Daycare: "Don't panic, I'll just call the bus company..." Me(interrupting): "I dropped him off this morning, he got on the bus.  Why didn't he get o...

So Ace went back to school yesterday.  He was pretty excited about it, up and ready to go by 6:15 in the morning.  It was fantastic to see that kind of enthusiasm for learning in him and hope that it sticks with him forever. So far we have managed to be organized and out the door on time both days.  Yay!  (hey, this is huge for us)  All that practicing and lecturing I did last week really seems to have paid off.  The cooking I did on Friday helped as well.  I was determined not to be making lunches at 6:00 in the morning this year so I spent time squirreling away recipes for lunches on Pinterest .  On Friday I made  up a batch of my son's favorite homemade chicken noodle soup to freeze in small batches for school lunches here and there.  I also tried out these Pizza Muffins  (I tripled the recipe and froze them in twos for lunches).  The pizza muffins were a huge hit and he took them yesterday for lunch...

As the school year draws to a close for my son and he shows his growing pride in his new found command of French and various other skills he has learn since since September I find myself reflecting more and more over my own childhood days. Unlike my son, who has a very strong command of and even stronger interest in science and math, I leaned heavily towards English and writing.  Even at so early an age as he is now my imagination was awash with a million ideas dying to spring forth and create their own little world.   I was often accused of daydreaming and not paying attention (okay, so I wasn't paying attention) and I longed for the day when I could be a grown up and spend my days writing and let my characters tell their stories.  Sadly, I then grew up and realized life isn't that easy.  With the birth of the previously mentioned beautiful little boy my writing got pushed to the side as reality of life as a working mother hit.  Now I am learning to write...