Off to a Good Start!

Well the first three days of school have gone well so far. We have managed to get up on time and be ready when the bus arrives for Elijah. Jacob gets himself off later to the bus stop. Elijah has had three good days at school. He was a little disruptive today and didn't earn his happy face for today, but nothing too serious. He is working towards doughnuts on Saturday morning for breakfast. He has earned one doughnut and six doughnut holes so far. We will start a new system with him next week and see if it works a bit better on tracking his "greens" that he earns each class period at school, or doesn't earn!

Jacob likes all of his classes so far. I stopped and bought him a $100 graphing scientific calculator! OUCH! He is going to go on an ROTC field trip in a few weeks and we are choosing designs for his class ring. He is taking his ROTC uniform to school tomorrow to trade it in for a larger pair of pants and a larger shirt. YES, he has grown some since May! He told me today that he was offered a leadership position in ROTC and I told him to go for it. I really want him to enjoy his last two years of school and be more active in ROTC.

My first three days back have gone well. I have kept busy checking on students and teachers. It has been a pretty smooth start to the school year and I am looking forward to a great year!

School Starts Monday!

School starts on Monday for both boys! Elijah will be going into the sixth grade at the local intermediate school. We have all of his school supplies and delivered them at Meet the Teacher this past Thursday. He has many of the same teachers as last year, but I did find out his Deaf Ed. Itinerant teacher will be someone new this year! At least everyone already knows how to use his FM system! He is excited about starting school and I think a bit anxious. I am hoping for a good year.

Jacob will be a Junior this year! He will be in ROTC again and will also be getting his Senior Class Ring. He should get the information next week and then we will have to decide what type of ring he will get. He should get a list of school supplies that he needs from each of his teachers.

I went back to work last week, but our kids start on Monday too! I am ready to get back to work full time, but it is hard to get back into the groove of getting up early!

I hope everyone has a great school year!

My brother Alex!

The boys and I travelled to Texas A&M University in College Station, TX this morning to see my little brother Alex receive his commission as a Second Lieutenant. I was 21 years old when he was born which seems like just yesterday. My sister Katie arrived three years later. I didn't become a mother until Alex was eight years old and Katie was five years old. I babysat these two so many weekends and even for a whole week at times when their parents travelled. These two hold a special place in my heart! They helped me be a better mom, by letting me practice my MOM skills on them. They even helped potty train Jacob! Katie has been attending Texas A&M, but is not in the corp of cadets. Alex was in the corp for four years and loved every bit of it.

I am hoping that by visiting the university today and seeing Alex, that Jacob will realize he has two years left before he graduates and he needs to start looking ahead. He has talked about joining the military, but I am not sure that he will. He still has time, but as we all know time passes way too quickly!

Texas Statewide Conference for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

This past Sunday I traveled to Houston, TX to attend the Statewide Conference for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It was a two and a half day event that started on Monday morning. Two teachers from my department and a diagnostician traveled down with me. We had a wonderful time and laughed a lot, but we also learned a LOT!

There were four break out sessions each day where you could decide what session to attend. I attended one on behavior, language development and some others for administrators! I also did my own presentation while there titled, "iPads and the Itinerant Teacher". I thought my presentation went well and they had to close it, because the room became too full! Several people I saw afterwards said they really liked my presentation! There were many other sessions I would have liked to have attended. There were sessions for interpreters as well as sessions geared specifically for parents. There were many families there and child care was even provided. My teachers attended a workshop on Grammar Graphics, while I went to one on the Cottage Acquisition of Speech, Language and Listening! It was sometimes hard to choose WHICH session to attend, because during any one given time there were at least eight choices of workshops.

There was also an exhibition with several vendors there. I got to see the Advanced Bionics new Neptune processor. I talked to representatives from Sunshine Cottage, Phonak, Oticon, and Texas Hand's and Voices!

The next conference will be in two years in San Antonio! I can't wait to go again. I saw many of my deaf education teacher friends and some of Elijah's teachers from Plano! It also makes for a nice time to network and meet other teachers from other programs!