Stretching is good....

I have had a great week! I think that I will really enjoy my new job. I worked independently yesterday and saw 11 patients. It was a very satisfying day. The patients are very accepting of a nurse practitioner as a provider and actually one patient was relieved that she was seeing me. She said that NP's have a much different approach and she is much more comfortable with that. I think that having a primary care background is also very helpful.

The boys do not have school today but are going on a field trip at the daycare to see dinosaurs at

The Heard Museum . They would rather do that with friends then hang out with mom. I plan to spend the day working in the yard and getting it finished for fall/winter. My sister is coming over to help. We only live 25 miles apart and just really never make the time to get together. This is our sister time.

I do have a parent/teacher conference with S.'s teacher today. I think it should go fairly well. He has had a hard time getting back into the swing of things since his camping trip, but I think he is coming around. He has really come so far socially and emotionally and has learned to recognize when he is feeling frustrated and/or angry and can turn it around or ask for a few minutes. This is a huge step for him. his grades have been good, he has a reduced workload but he is learning what he needs to learn. We are really working with him for transitioning to middle school next year.

I start the advanced digital photography class tomorrow. I have really enjoyed the introduction to digital photography class and have had such a good time learning to use my camera.

We had a contest last Saturday in class. We were to take two photos during the week and then bring them in as 8x10's for a contest, mine did well, this one came in 4th,

and this is my other. Not bad for an absolute novice!

We are renovating the Sanctuary at church and I took before pictures, and then also played around a bit. I actually love the second one, it has so much of the detail of the wood, I learned to use the manual focus with that one! Who knows where the next class will take me. I am already thinking about a digital SLR camera.

Learning to stretch

It is Sunday afternoon and I have been out working in the yard all day. I hope that my body can move in the morning! It has been warm and sunny and perfect weather for yard work.

My oldest son went on his 5th grade camping trip last week. He was so hesitant to go but finally, the day before the money was due decided he would go. He came home dirty and tired and very happy. He was quite successful at camp and slept away from family for two nights, made new friends and showed what an outdoorsman he is. He came home wishing that he could do it again. There is only one 5th grade camping trip, hopefully he will feel that it went well enought to go to a sleep away summer camp.

I have parent/teacher conferences in the morning with A and J's teachers. I always look forward to these meetings. I just really like to be in touch with the teachers to know what is really going on. I am hoping that A's teacher can help me out with his organizational skills at school. I will meet with S's teacher on Friday morning.

I also will start a new job tomorrow. I have accepted a position with a child psychiatrist. This was a very difficult decision for me and I have taken about 7 months to make it.

This Dr. first called me last spring to ask me if I would consider a position with him. He wanted to talk to me because he likes the way that I interact with patients/parents and I have allot of practical as well as proffessional knowlege about ADHD and ASD. Despite that fact that I needed something closer to home or with hours that allowed me to be home earlier in the evenings, I said no. I wasn't ready for the big step in that direction. He elected to put the position on hold until after the summer and rethink things then. I talked to him about a month ago and he again asked me if I was interested. I told him no since I had just started to work for the family practice. He called me again after I had resigned my position with the family practice. He had an applicant that was possibly a good fit but wanted to talk to me one more time. I sat and thought it over, listed pros and cons and accepted the position for 16 hours a week. He has guaranteed that I will be home between 5:15 and 5:30 and if not my schedule will change to make sure. He even put this in writing! He is paying me very well, and I will have a nice office and very helpful staff.

I have to admit that this is not what I thought that I would be doing at this point in my career. But, it is good to stretch and try new things and grow.

I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Good Friends

Last night as I was settling in for a quiet evening, at least as quiet as it can be with three boys, my good friend and neighbor came over with a glass of wine for me. We went a few doors down to sit on another neighbor's porch and relax and have a nice "kid free" few moments. We talked and laughed and shared for hours. Some days you just need some good friends, especially girlfriends, to have a glass of wine with and relax and remember what makes each one of us special.

Here is a toast to good friends!

...hmmm

Well, in evaluating the binder and routine system, S and J are doing great with it. A, on the other hand, is still struggling with getting it to and from school/daycare and using the checklists and guidelines to help. I think that it is probably the best system that we have used so far though so we will keep at it.

On the other hand, what is not working is my new job. I am a bit anxious right now, I will be going in to talk to them this evening to resign. They need someone who can commit to them much more than I can, I need to be more available for my family. I was really hopeful and excited about this opportunity, it is so close to home and seemed to be just what I wanted and needed. It is not to be.

Routines and Systems

Homework and organization do not seem to go together at my house as I wrote about in my last post. I spent allot of time thinking and talking to teachers and talking to A and we have a system that we will try out. I bought a small binder (actually 3, one for each boy) and put pocket dividers into it. Each divider has a label and then I made a list that I put in the clear pocket on the front of the binder. A seems to think this is a great way to keep track of everything and even used it over the weekend to get his things ready for the week.

A's Binder

Nightly Homework

Reading and Math Log
Fill in every day, at least 10 minutes of math and at least 20 minutes of reading (due each Friday)

Week long assignments
Spelling Packet, divide # of pages by 4 and do that many pages each night Monday through Thursday (Due each Friday)

Spelling and vocabulary lists
Review each night for at least 5 minutes

Ideas for Science Project and timeline

Forms to turn in, orders to make, papers for mom or dad to sign

We also really worked on our evening routine and I am planning to show my new employer what has to happen to keep my family on track each evening.

Evening Routine

Home from daycare and backpacks and lunchboxes unpacked

Homework out for review by mom or dad and/or finishing it

Dinner/clean-up

Weather check, calendar check

Backpacks ready for morning

Lunches ready for morning

Clothes ready for morning

Baths
Spelling/vocabulary (5 minutes each with mom or dad)

Math Drills (10 minutes each with mom or dad)

Reading (20 minutes each, S and A on their own, J reads for 10 minutes with mom or dad)

Bedtime at 8:00 PM

Lights-out at 8:30 PM

Monday: A and Mom - Karate
Wednesday: Mom works late and Dad on his own with the boys (teachers aware), Mom to Karate after work
Thursday: A to Karate

We will reevaluate how things are going every few days and tweak as needed.

...life in general

I am trying very hard to be more consistent with posting. I always have things going on and therefore no lack of things to say. I just have to commit to getting on here and putting them down.

I am really struggling with how to help A. get organized. He is now in third grade and he is a organizational nightmare! He would loose his feet if he wasn't walking on them.

We have tried checklists, we have tried time and task lists, we have worked with him to plan out his evening to get his homework done and still have leisure time.I have tried to get his input on everything since this has to work for him. We are at a complete loss. I want to meet with his teacher, I sent an email to her, to really want to try to get some good pointers for this at home and to see how she can work with him at school.

On to other things, I decided to start a knitting blog, I haven't posted anything there yet, but it is ready! Check out the link in the sidebar.

I am also taking a photography class at the community college. It is not for credit and purely for fun. This week we are experimenting with lighting. This is my willing and cooperative model "Fritz".Now I need to figure out some creative ways to show off my knitting projects. Off to look for something else to photograph.....