Friday, February 26, 2010

Teary Thanks

I truly and wholeheartedly thank each of you for your kind words of encouragement regarding Luke and Evie and, well, me. It is comforting to know your opinions, good or bad. I cherish being able to talk to you all from this tiny little blog and to hear your thoughts on each and every situation.

I put Evie's 16-page application in the mail to Child Study Center yesterday. (It required four stamps!) We will hold steady with our tutoring at home and move forward.


As for Luke, well, I'm going to do some more research. Someone suggested that we examine his diet. Another person suggested that we have him tested for ADD. And still others have suggested that he is simply bored in class. Whatever it is, I need to speak more with his teacher and examine our best options.

The greatest thing about this is the way our entire family, Lindsey included, has embraced the fact that these two children need to focus more heavily on their education. Trust me, we don't rule with an iron fist at our house, so don't be concerned that they are trussed up in chains and forced to chant the alphabet all day. But, instead, we are watching less (very little) television, and we are putting timers on the tasks that Luke has to finish so that he learns time management. Evie has a letter of the day. Yesterday's letter on Sesame Street was Z. Evie and Lindsey talked about that letter all day long and we asked Evie to tell us about it when we got home.

So, all our efforts are in full gear and hopefully, we'll see progress and receive more information from teachers and consultants in the near future.

Again, thank you to each of you. Every response brought sweet tears to my eyes, simply knowing that you all care enough to post comments and to encourage our family.

6 comments:

Stephanie said...

You are so inspiring! Thanks for sharing with me your great time management ideas. Kate does everything she is supposed to do at school, but she doesn't like to do jack squat at home. The timer idea is brilliant and I can't wait to go buy some!

Have a great weekend and enjoy every minute with your precious familia!

love to all of you~
SF

Mom said...

Sounds like you are on the right track.

Alicia said...

You are such a dedicated, inspirational mom. I honestly don't know how you can juggle 3 kids and a stressful job. You are wonder woman.

Re: Luke; my mom taught gifted & talented and always harped that there were many different types of gifted. I was the classic over-achiever, put 150% into everything, etc. But there were an equal number of gifted students who were bored and didn't want to put forth the effort because they viewed the task as beneath them. These were typically boys. I don't know when FWISD will test for gifted & talented programs but it could be that Luke is bored.

Theresa said...

FWISD did not test Kindergarten for G&T because of budget cuts, but he will be tested in first grade. I have a brother and a nephew who were the bored type of g&t students. It takes all kinds, right? Thanks for the comments!

Charles said...

I didn't comment yesterday, but I enjoyed reading everyone's supportive posts. Theresa takes her role as mom very seriously, and that's a big part of what makes her good at it. I told her, "Hey, the world needs ditch diggers too", but apparently supportive comments would have been more helpful. So, today I told her "Hey, ditch diggers need supervision..." I really think that helped.

I just want to say that Mrs. Arriaga (Luke's teacher) is great and has been very helpful and proactive with Luke's performance. We're thrilled with Luke's school and the attention he's getting.

Evie is just a puzzle. She's definitely not dumb, but she's hard to figure out. In the end I'm sure it all works out, but we're experiencing it for the first time and it takes a leap of faith to continue down a path that isn't going where you thought it would.

Cowtown Camera Girl said...

The people at the Child Study Center are wonderful! I worked with them last summer and fall and can't say enough great things about their teachers and school.