This hub will contain archives from my mainhub. It is gettind difficult to read through all of it. I will post archives by month. Thanks, enjoy.

1/3/08- Hard to believe it's 2008. Learn to take time to enjoy the small, the wise, the weird.

1/4/08-My toddler said "Mom, I need my Been-Ten shirt." I spent a few moments asking him who/what is "Been-Ten". We searched high and low. Then we found a very old shirt, previously belonging to his 11 year old brother. It has several comic heroes on it. My eldest son informed me that "Been-Ten" is a character off of a cartoon they had seen. Now I'll have to find a way to get the "Been-Ten" shirt off of him...

1/5/08-Wow, today I'm getting off to a late start. I'm going to scrapbook with a friend and then do some shopping with my 14 year old daughter. We've been waiting all week to get out and do something. My husband and oldest son left for a camping/hunting adventure. I spent 5 hours last night helping them pack. Men do not undertsand the "art of packing". Gotta love them.

On the other hand, I found a really cool site with free craft project ideas. http://www.craftstudios.net/craft_projects.htmlI think I'm going to do the tank top pillow. We recently painted and updated my daughters room. This one should be fun to add onto the new bedding. We'll see. I'll post pictures later.

Well, I'm off to see the lizards or something like that. More later!

1/05/08-We made it back. Spent 3 hours in the mall. We found some awesome deals. 70% off on some boots making them $12.99, some jeans marked down to $14.99 from $84.00. And, we got the "Been-ten" shirt off of the baby!! Scrapbooking has to wait until tomorrow. We were too busy to get everything done.

I'm reading a journal about autism and reviewing some info about teaching strategies tonight. That will take quite a bit of my time. I thought I'd leave my thoughts about the info I've read here. For those of you working or living with autism please leave your thoughts and experiences here. I would love to hear what you've tried and what you think about my experiences.

First, these are my opinions, I am not an autism expert. I merely teach students with special needs, some of which display autistic tendencies or do in fact have autism. :)

I've found that the best strategy for daily life things is to be prepared for something not to work... I am very schedule driven myself but there are days that I can't get everything done. With that said, the children often have days where one thing works and the next minute it doesn't. I've learned to be flexible while being prepared and consistent at the same time. I use real pictures of things the child is familiar with to help him/her relate the object to its function. I use this in an exchange manner to begin with. I display the picture(s) and the object(s). I do this with everything from diapering to feeding to games/tasks. Often children do not have the language to support their knowledge. Autistic children are all different, some having very high IQ's and some not. With that said, I've seen that they often rely on these pictures to help them function in day to day tasks/routines and communicate their needs/wants. I've noticed a great amount of progress in their abilities and in my ability to assess what they know. I use real pictures of my students working in the environment. When we go to large group or computers; whatever is "next"; we use the pictuers to show them where to go and what we are doing. This drastically decreases the amount of frustration expressed during transition and increases the level of participation. I've had students wander out of the group because they didn't know what we were going to do. When they felt "unorganized" in their own little bodies they drifted away from the task at hand. Sometimes they were unattentive, distracted and disruptive for the rest of the day. When I engaged them and displayed the pictures they often settled back in rather quickly. It doesn't always work.

So, pictures/objects are good for me. They are good for my classroom environment, structure and management. I think that I am a lot more prepared and "teaching better" if they are feeling at ease.

Another thing that I have often seen, as many people know, is the lack of eye contact. Sometimes, I've seen parents/adults feel concern about this, even upset by it. I don't worry so much about it if my student is making progress and is maintaining the progress. I have heard others say that this as a social skill needing to be addressed. That may be true with some children/adults. I don't think that it's true with all of them. I've found that some of my students learn more when they are facing away from the teacher (me or whomever is doing the lesson) than they would if being re-directed to look everytime. I think that it is important to teach the child to respond to his/her name, look in the direction of environmental sounds/voices, etc. This is a safety concern more than a social skill development issue. Some people tend to lean the other way on this one. I've been to many trainings and have been "taught" to "train" the student to look at me and be rewarded. I do that with all of my children because it feels good to be acknowledged for doing something "good". I've often played a game using this strategy and it's not stressful for the student.

One last thing, this is always changing. I am the "tryer of all things". If it doesn't work with John, I don't use it with John. If it works with Jill, then I use it with Jill. I never say it isn't going to EVER work with anyone. Who knows, each child is different, we may eventually find the key!

1/06/08- I found some good info about autism. Remember, what you read on the internet is not always accurate. Some is, some is not. I take what I like and leave the rest. I did enjoy this info: http://www.babybumblebee.com/autism.htm?OVRAW=autism%20research&OVKEY=autism%20research&OVMTC=standard&OVADID=8334333012&OVKWID=117705658012&ysmwa=bhWBBTSXi-g19cgcCDuLj-soxvtn8fNFWYZlZgRzsxdVjVNfPYNQmMktKeyjSMh1

And, there is a lot of good reading at http://www.autism.com/autism/index.htm#firststeps

Some of the "symptoms" of autism are seen in other developmental delays. I am certain that not all of the children labeled with autism have every sign. These are characteristics of autism and doesn't determine whether or not your child is/is not autistic. I have a good friend with a little boy that walks on his toes, he is not autistic. It had been mentioned to her early on that he had some characteristics of autism. He is developing on at an average to above average rate. There is no other signs to indicate autism. I am often concerned about over-identification. Of course, I'm not the doctor/diagnostician/expert....

Cool Thing I Found Today: http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/

1-08-08-I've been way to busy to be active here the last two day or so. I'm exhausted. Going back to work after the holidays is always tiring. The kids are tired and the adults are tired. I am very fortunate to work with great people. We are just trying to "make it" this week. I think it will be much easier on Monday. Routines are back in place, schedules are back in place and my sleep pattern is back on track. (I hope.) The youngest addition to our family has taken on a new roll. The night owl. He's determined to stay awake. We all get to stay awake with him. He's decided to prohibit us from sleeping. "I'm not sweepy, mom." I think it was 1:30 this morning when he finally drifted off to sleep. I'm sure that doesn't make for a pleasant day at daycare. They all adore him there, but I'm sure that cute is only going so far these days. He's very cute regardless. We're excited to here him and the tales he tells. He's interesting, he's got an personality much like his father and his brother. They are "odd ones" and enjoy the things that boys like. Guts, bugs, dirt, and loudness. The louder the better. I'm going to find some 3 year old activities. Maybe I'll find one that he'll enjoy much more than diggin' up worms, burying things, and transformers. Doubtful, now that I think about it. Never will I fully understand the things that the walk, talk and dream about. Be back with something cool that I find.

1/12/08-I've been looking at some sites that offer free lesson plans or ideas. I think that there are a lot of great ones out there. I've decided that I'm going to post my favorite "activity" that I teach/use in my classroom each week. It's hard to find ideas that are original or haven't been done. Some of these are activities that I found in the Mailbox Magazine. This week and the next few weeks we are learning about Winter, dressing for Winter, snow, etc. We did a really fun activity where we used an icetray. We did an experiment where we predicted what would freeze and what would not. We drew a larger diagram of the icetray on the board and wrote down what we put in each cube. (water, cotton, goop, plastic toys, paperclip, paint, etc.) We decided whether or not each would freeze or not. We labeled them by putting a green check on the ones that we thought would freeze and a red "x" on the ones we thought would not freeze. These kids are 3 to 6 years old and they got 12 out of 16 right. I was very impressed. :) When we went back to check to see if we were right they were so excited to see the frozen/non-frozen items. I let them hold each one, even the ice cube. They were able to better understand what freezing actually means. It was great. The same day my assistant thought about making each child a hat to wear. she took rectangular pieces of cloth and sewed them into a hat, fringed the ends and knotted the top. They were so cute and so very proud of their hats. I'm very fortunate to have such a wonderful co-worker. She teaches the kids as much as I do. We're a great team, I think. They are going to wear their hats at school for the next few weeks and then we will send them home. They're learning about responsibility because they have to wear their hats all day long. We sing a song at the end "Jack wore his Winter hat, Winter hat, Winter hat. Jack wore his Winter hat all day long." We give them a sticker because they did in fact keep up with their own hat. They will bring it to us if it comes off so that they can get help putting it back on. They were amazing with them. I'll post pictures of how she made them soon. Very cute, cheap/free and great to teach with. We're going to make mittens next!! :) Kudos to Jennifer, she's great! I'll be back today with a great "freebie" or find....

Okay, after thinking about the amount of info that will be here if I post a lesson weekly I'm going to make a hub for my lessons seperately. Be sure to check out all of my hubs.

1/17/08- Ah, teenagers. I heard mine screaming at the top of her lungs for no apparent reason today. She's 15. Man, what a tough age. I remember being 15 and thinking that the world of adults was against me. Now, as an adult, I have some idea about how she is feeling. I try to talk to her about subjects that are considered "tough" with a strong, knowleged tongue. She's free-spiritied and often has the teen-aged absent mind syndrome. Although she's been ungrounded for a few months now, she still has to think about things and make good decisions based on the idea that the consequence of the behavior may or may not be worth doing something stupid, life-changing or hateful. She's a good girl, though I am not naive, she's tried her tricks. I found a really good site for talking to children about topics that are "hard" to discuss. Man, I've talked myself blue about some of the stuff on there. I think this is a good source for information. http://www.talkingwithkids.org/ My job and goal as the mother of 4 children of this odd ever-changing world of chaos causes me much fear. My job is to get them to adulthood, my goal is to teach them values that help them become successful adult humans. I'm torn between my own beliefs and the beliefs of society sometimes, but as a whole, I'm feeling pretty good about what my kids are and what they are becoming. I have some thoughts about this that often challenged by these very children. I am not a person that can institute corporal punishment. I don't do it. Plain and simple. I do tend to be the mom that over reacts and over protects. I've learned, the hard way, that I can not control things that happen when I am not with my child. I hope that they know how to look at the adventures and choose the ones that are safe, meaningful and connect them some how to the world. My children are not always right. They are not always wrong. I am sure that they will be both daily for the rest of their lives. I intend to be around to see how they teach their children the same things that I am teaching them.

1/19/08- I got this article from PreSchoolRock.com's newsletter. I found the info here valuable for me personally and professionally.

What Choices are Appropriate to Give Preschoolers?

There are endless possibilities of appropriate choices to offer to preschoolers. Here are a few examples of choices that preschoolers can start making decisions about.

Clothes - "I've laid out two sets of clothes on your bed. Choose one and get dressed."; "Which shirt would you like to wear today? Your blue one or your red one?"; Parents can also use clothespins to keep outfits together and preschoolers can choose one of the outfits to wear each day.

Clean up - "Are you going to clean up the blocks first or the cars?"; "What do you want to clean up first? Your bike or the sidewalk chalk?"; "Would you like to put away your toys like a ballerina or a pony?"

Learning New Skills - "Would you like for me to hold your hand while you jump down from (from playground equipment) or would you like to do it by yourself?"; "Do you want help getting your shoes on or would you like to put them on by yourself?"

What Choices are Not Appropriate To Give Preschoolers?

Safety Issues - Do not offer preschoolers a choice between being safe and doing something dangerous. When your preschooler wants to do something unsafe, redirect them to choices that are safe.

All Day Long - Don't overwhelm preschoolers with choices about everything in their day. Making decisions is a new skill for preschoolers and they can become overwhelmed with the new responsibility of making choices. Ease your preschooler into choices by gradually increasing the number of choices preschoolers get to make on a daily basis. Also the responsibility of making choices can be a little scary and preschoolers usually want to know that parents are still going to make most of the decisions in a preschooler's life.

When There Isn't A Choice - Do not offer choices when there isn't a choice. If you have chosen specific clothes for your preschooler to wear to have a special photo taken, then there isn't a choice to offer your preschooler about clothes.

Guidelines for Offering Appropriate Choices

1. Both choices must be acceptable to the parent. Offer choices in a way so that either choice the preschooler makes will be acceptable to you. If you can't think of a way to offer a choice in a way that either choice is acceptable to you, then do not offer choices to your preschooler.

Appropriate Choice - "Do you want to sit on the porch or the lawn chair to take off your muddy shoes before you come inside?"

Inappropriate Choice - "Do you want to take off your muddy shoes out here on the porch or in your room?"

2. Both choices must be respectful to the preschooler. Only offer choices that the child will perceive as respectful.

Appropriate Choice - "How would you like to get into your car seat? Would you like to hop like a frog or slither like a snake?"

Inappropriate Choice - "Do you want to get in your car seat or go sit in time out?"

3. Truly present choices as a choice. Use mannerisms, language and tone of voice to send preschoolers the message that they truly have ownership of the choices.

Appropriate Choice - "Do you want to wear the yellow dress or the red dress?"

Inappropriate Choice - "Do you want to wear this beautiful new yellow dress that Grandma bought you or this yucky, old red dress?"

Benefits to Preschoolers

Decision Making Skills - Preschoolers can learn to make decisions in a safe environment where parents are offering limited choices.

Improved Self Esteem - As preschoolers gain independence, their sense of self-esteem grows. Learning to make choices helps preschoolers have healthy control over their lives.

Healthy Personal Power -Offering appropriate choices offers personal power to preschoolers in a healthy way that supports their social and emotional development towards independence.

Benefits to Parents

Helps Parents "Let Go" in Small Steps- Parents can learn to turn over some simple decisions to preschoolers. It can be tough for some parents to allow their "babies" to develop into preschoolers who have their own opinions and are making small steps towards independence.

Decreases Power Struggles - When parents offer appropriate choices to preschoolers, many power struggles can be avoided. Parents sometimes realize that they are engaging in power struggles with preschoolers over silly issues. Does it really matter if the blocks or the cars are put away first? Preschoolers need healthy ownership over some issues of their lives.

Supports Healthy Development for Preschoolers - Through it can be difficult for parents to turn over some responsibility to preschoolers, remember that turning over decisions gradually to children is a part of healthy development.

1/22/2008: Today we had a health fair at work. We did various health screenings. Blood pressure, bone density, carotid artery screening, skin cancer screenings, EKG's... I found that I was "average-high" for my body mass index. I was shocked. I found out that I don't have a blockage in my carotid arteries. I couldn't do the bone density screening because they use alcohol. I'm allergic to alcohol. I did find a lot of useful info on health insurance. I also got a tetnus shot. I didn't feel a thing until this evening. Seems the muscle turns to rock a while after the injection. I'm a wimp though. Luckily there was peroxide on site so I could get the shot. Now I am wondering what I was thinking. :) Anyway, tonight it's spaghetti. Easy. I'm going to rest after I post some recipes and freebies. Gotta go play with the baby first. Enjoy today. ~Angie

1/23/2008: My oldest got a job starting tomorrow. She will be a hostess at a local restaraunt here in town. She's excited. We went tonight to buy her some jeans because their uniform is jeans and a black t-shirt. I wish my uniform was such. After that we went to Johnny Carino's for dinner. Very good food. We split the 19.99/2 entree thing. We had a lot of good food. After that we went to Baskin Robbins to get the baby a yellow duck of icecream (a vanilla cup). He's about the cutest kid I know most of the time. He comes up with some great things. As we were walking into the store to shop for jeans he said "I need a shield around me to make me warm." He's talking about an protective shield like the superhero's have. I thought that was genius.

On another topic, I am a lotion sampler. I try lotions of all kinds to see which ones work best for particular problem areas. One of my favorite new lotions is NIVEA Smooth Indulgence Hand Cream. I have rough spots on my palms around my thumbs and dry fingertips. I don't have such a dryness problem on the back of my hands. I've had a hard time finding a lotion that didn't leave the back of my hands too greasy. This one is proving itself to be what it's promoted to be. Right now, it's one of my favorite choices. I'm pretty faithful to all natural products, but this one meets the expactations that I have for lotion. I found it at Wal-Mart for less than $5.00. I'm always looking for free samples of lotions so that I can find the one that does the job. I found a sample of this hand cream at Wal-Mart. They offer a lot of samples there. Check it out sometime. Just go to http://walmart.triaddigital.com/Free-Samples.aspx and look to see if there is something of interest for you.

One of the coolest sites that I stumbled upon recently is Big Crumbs.com ~ They pay me for shopping I already do online. Very cool. I buy a lot of my scrapbooking stuff on Ebay, so this should help save a little. :)

1/24/2008: Ah, this is pretty cool. I'm a reader of all things. I find stuff to read just because it's there. I "stumbled" upon this site today. http://www.infoplease.com/yearbyyear.html You type in the year you were born and you get a ton of useful history info there. I am clicking away to find out that there are quizzes for the decades on here. I was surprised at what I did know and what I did not know... Check it out sometime. It's worth the trip.

1/30/2008: Ah, tired! Work has been very busy to say the least. I'm lucky though, my assistant is very helpful and it's taken some of the pressure off of me. I don't worry about what's going on if I'm called out for a meeting or have to be out of the room. She's very intuitive and can tell what our students need naturally.

Tonight was easy for dinner, we went to eat cajun food at Fat Katz. My 3 year old is ordering his own drinks and food now. He's quite articulate and very eager to do things on his own. He's also very eager to do things on his own time. We try to find the good in it and enjoy what he says/does. He's such a fun kid. I have teen-aged girls, 15 and 16. And an 11 year old boy, too. I can honestly say that parenting has changed me and I have changed the way I do things as a parent. I feel like I'm probably a better parent now than I was when my others were small. I was 17 and had no idea about certain aspects of parenting. I have taken a ton of developmental education college courses and learned nothing close to what I've learned in the last 16 1/2 years of parent-dom. One thing that I feel like I've changed with is the amount of patience I have with the way a toddler thinks. I guess being a pre-school teacher sort of sets me onto that naturally. Anyway, I think that I've heard just about every approach to dealing with little humans. I've seen the oh-so-passive parent who's child runs the house and decides the schedule. Oh, that can be a mess. I've seen the don't-touch-me-you're-little kind of parent and that just bothers me. I can't sit silent for long, usually. It sort of reminds me of those passer-bys that we see in the store. My son will offer up a compliment or a simple hello and they instantly become emotionless and gaze up at the ceiling. I want to shake them. I want to tell them that my child is speaking to you, acknowledge his social approach and kindness. But I don't say anything. I've hopefully instilled social and emotional skills in my own child that will help him not to be bothered by this and be kind to the next person. I, too, fear the "stranger". I'm teaching my child kindness, not fearlessness. Then there is the parent that over does the punishment but doesn't direct the behavior. I was guilty fo that early on. Man, did I ever pay later. I punished when I'd had enough. I learned the hard way. There is a proper way for distinguishing bad behaviors that doesn't involve hitting/spanking. I did neither early on. My children would hear my voice but not my words. They would stop what they were doing in that second, go to the next room and begin again. I felt frustrated. I felt I was re-living what I'd lived as a child. And then there is Seargent Mom/Dad. The kids I've seen with this hard structure are scared to make mistakes. They are the ones that trace around pictures before they color. They are the ones that want a "copy" to color. They won't get their hands dirty. They won't settle for doing it wrong. Often they won't do it if they don't know for sure what the outcome should be. That saddens me. I want my own children and my students to be creative. I want them to learn from their mistakes. Hopefully while guiding them they will see the mistakes as teen-agers and young adults as opportunities to do it right. I don't want them to go into life blinded by my not educating and preparing them for things. Situations are different. I know that from my own 4 children being 100% not alike in moods, emotions, behaviors, learning styles, etc. They all make different choices when presented with difficult things. I wish I'd have had the ideas about parenting way back when. I don't know if they'd be different and I'm not sure I'd want them to be different. They are different. They are humans.

And on to something else. I've been thinking about a hub on autism. I'm going to put some things I've seen/used and learned. Come by and see!

Oh, what can the last day of January be like??

12/31/2008: What happened to January? Feeling rushed? I know I am. I left today to go get gas in the van. My daughter says "I think we have a flat." It's literally 12 degrees outside. I pulled in to the gas station to get the gas. This is when it all started going down hill. Sure enough we have a flat. I had a credit card, a mini-debit card (which will not fit into an ATM or an auto gas pump) and about 180 pennies. The gas station does not allow cash back on credit or debit cards. I asked the girl running the register if I could get change for the pennies to use the air pump thing. I asked her how much it was, she didn't know. I got two quarters. Went out and finished pumping my gas growing popsicles on my nose and I needed to use the restroom. I quickly pump the 15 gallons of gas OR $51.00 (un-freakin-believable) into the gas pump. I always fear that I'll get and electric shock and catch on fire after I take the gas pump out of the tank opening. I try to not do anything that may cause me to have a spark like scooting your feet on carpet. The guy next to me is SMOKING! I get in the van and creep around to the air tank thing. And, low-and-behold someone wrote does not work in marker on the front. I went back in and asked the girl (notice I'm saying girl) if it worked because it has that written across the front. She didn't know. I asked her to change another 25 pennies for a quarter. She rolled her eyes and said we can't give refunds--while smacking/cracking gum. Ah, so the thing comes on. It does work. Sort of. It has a problem at the end of the hose. It leaks most of the air out of the side of the thing that pushes in on your tire valve. So--I'm freezing, trying to press over the hole to stop the cold air leak hoping to fill my tire still have to use the restroom. The cycle of the air runs through, not filling the tire all of the way. So, I'm going to get fix-a-flat. First, I have to stop and get a frozen rat for my daughters snake. Then I go to Big Lots. Dontcha love Big Lots?? I get in and my daughter and I start searching for fix-a-flat. We do find it. Mean while I find out that we now need drain-o and a plunger. Hmmmm. I'm making sloppy joes for dinner, who can cook a full meal after the last 20 minutes?? Off to find out what is stopping up the toilet. After asking the 3 year old, he says hand soap par. (Um, he says that for hand soap bar). K, i'm moving.

Don't forget tomorrow I'm moving this stuff to my archives for January 2008. Check them out if you missed anything. :)