Wheeling and dealing

 
   I've gotten fairly adept at cutting deals with Georgia for just about anything. And she's picked up my talent for it pretty well. I'm hoping the devil isn't keeping tabs, as I would not enjoy being offered a training position in his fiery corporation. Besides, I know quite a number of people who would be way better suited for the job than me. And anyway, I abhor that kind of heat! Yes, I am aware that I live in the deep South, but contrary to popular belief, it is not *typically* hotter-than-hell here. Well, with the exception of the month of August.

   Thursday afternoon I made a deal with Georgia that we could skip mic work, if she promised to make up for it on Sunday. After all, I was anxious to meet up with my LWDC peeps later (Liberal Women's Drinking Club. Whether you're a liberal, or you just drink that way, we welcome you!), I'd had a really long, tiring day of wrangling second graders, and frankly still had a cough and sore throat.(Have I mentioned I'm also good at rationalizing just about anything?) Geo hemmed a bit, then agreed, and we shook on it- but with a dangerously impish twinkle in her eyes. I said "You think I'm gonna forget by Sunday, don't you?!" I don't know how or why, but somewhere along the way I've managed to instill in my children the concrete certainty that Mommy will always forget things she is supposed to remember. Important things. They are convinced that I will forget to show up to retrieve them from school, or sign an important life-or-death form, or - heaven forbid- WASH THEIR SCHOOL CLOTHES. I honestly can't recall an event that would have imprinted this fear so indelibly on their little brains, and so I've decided to just blame it on my father-in-law, who actually DID forget to pick them up from school one time. Not my fault!          

   You will be relieved to know that I did not forget our Pact Of Procrastination! After letting Georgia have an entire morning of uninterrupted screen-time, I called to her that it was time for our mic work. She did not go quietly, but I could tell that her whole heart wasn't in the whine, and she was cracking a smile. We got right down to business. This was a difficult lesson, but she did such a great job! We went over that pesky "tion" ending, Me: Holds up card: "This is the word 'mention'. The 't-i-o-n' says 'shun'...." Georgia: Blank stare: "HUH?!" Me: "What part says 'men'?" Georgia: "m-e-n". Me: "What part says 'shun'?" Georgia: "s-h-u-n?!" Me: "No, sweetie, remember the 't-i-o-n' says 'shun'. Georgia: Looks at me like I'm insane. Me: Thinks: "Oh, yeah, this is the ever-confusing, always ridiculous English language!!" Honestly, who came up with these rules? I WAS impressed she could distinguish the sounds though, and spelled it like she HEARD IT. She did eventually catch on, after ten more words ending in "tion", and we kept our cool for the most part. The reading passage in this lesson was more challenging, and she was irritated that she had to spell so many words, but she gained a little more confidence once she read a bit from her chapter book. It's always nice when we can end a session on a positive note!

   Only two and a half more weeks of school until the Christmas break. I know because Georgia obsessively goes over this information with me every day. I'll do my best to keep on track with our Stowell work over the holiday, and Georgia will do her best to help me forget!

 

Tightrope Walking

  HOLY MACKEREL what a month. The school year is underway, and we are caught in an undertow. Well, maybe it's more kin to a rip current! The jump from Middle School to High School for a student such as Georgia is like trying to leap across the Grand Canyon. You might get a few feet out from the ledge, but then you plummet straight down like an overweight, drunk Wallenda on a dare. The work load is nearly insurmountable to Georgia, and we're barely keeping her together.

  Here in Baldwin County, in the Great State of Alabama, kids must choose one of several "diploma track options". Our High School offers an IB (International Baccalaureate) track, Honors track, A/P track, Standard track, (insert another track here, haven't found out what it's labeled), and Occupational track. What they advised us at our end-of-year IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting was to start on the Standard track, because "you can always move down a track, but you can't move up." Since our two older girls went IB, we had absolutely NO IDEA what the Standard track entailed. But we thought "Hey, she'll have her aide, and she'll be in inclusion classes, so how bad can things be?" Uh.....bad. I'm convinced that her IEP coordinator (who is also her Lit. teacher) didn't even glance at the report from Stowell. I'm beginning to wonder if she even really thoroughly read her IEP! The pace of these "inclusion" classes is so fast that it's no wonder the drop-out rate is so high. (34% in Baldwin County last time I checked) There doesn't seem to be any concern on the part of the teachers whether the kids are getting the information or not, they just keep moving on. I understand there are standards that have to be met, material that MUST be covered in a certain time frame. But MY KID can't keep up with that time frame, and I'm certain there are others who would be considered normally functioning kids who are getting lost in the shuffle.

  In addition to her high-stress, fast-paced school day, we are spending three or four hours a night on homework, and skipping our Stowell work because of it. (I handle work for Science, Lit & the "7 Habits of a Successful Student" classes. Brad tackles math.)This is NOT productive, nor is it beneficial to Georgia in any way. When we sit down to do homework I start to feel like I've been put into a very dark, very small, metal box where every time I try to yell "THIS ISN'T WORKING", all I get is my own voice echoing back on me. No one seems to hear me! Except Brad, 'cause the lid to my box is slightly ajar so that I can gulp some oxygen occasionally. We need to fix this, to slow the pace for her, extend the time frame, to be HEARD.

  So Brad and I began mulling over, discussing, hashing out ideas on how to slow things down so that Georgia has the time she needs to actually ABSORB and process all of this information being thrown at her. We agreed that continuing with our Stowell work is the most important thing. When Brad said "How important is it that she get her diploma in 4 years?", it was like an ephiphany. Oh, my goodness. What a radical, AWESOME thought! By law she could stay in school until the age of 21. I can't imagine letting her do that, but if we look at it that way it certainly buys her more time. While chatting with several of her former Resource teachers in the last few weeks, one of them suggested "Why can't she just take TWO classes per semester, instead of four? Or have her spread out something like Algebra over the whole year?" So if we determine that getting her diploma in 4 years (or at all) is not a priority, can't we just pick and choose her classes and work load? Sort of buffet-style education!

  Of course another road to follow would be homeschooling. I have to admit that when Brad and I started delving into that idea, I initially felt lost. Then when I imagined days of setting our own schedule, doing the Stowell work every day, going over a subject until Georgia "got it"...I felt so peaceful. THINK OF IT! Days of NOT STRESSING about getting homework in on time, of NOT cramming for a test on material you barely comprehend that you end up failing anyway. A very appealing thought indeed.

  We've finally gotten a meeting set up for tomorrow morning, so all of our concerns - and ideas on how to deal with them - can be discussed. If, for whatever reason, we can't *personalize* her plan more, and keep her in the public school system, then we'll be looking into what it will take to pull her out. Or...I don't want to say we may be looking for a lawyer....but....

Aw, nuts!

We've added yet another program, and I'm actually excited about it! AST-Reading. So now we'll be working on 3 AST (auditory stimulation and training) programs, rotating them out each day. Yes, EVERY DAY, MONDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.  

First of all, here is a good summary of what Auditory Stimulation is: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-auditory-stimulation.htm
This is what we refer to as our "Mic work". In the program that we follow with Stowell, Georgia listens to 1 of 2 "prescribed" Samonas CDs, depending on what work we are doing, and wears a mic so that she can hear herself speak. As I've mentioned before we are currently working on AST-Language and AST-Phonics Actives. I've briefly summarized in earlier posts what we do, but here's the broader view: (the REALLY broad view): (you might want to pause here to take a bathroom break, and get a snack):

AST-Language uses picture cards, and involves the instructor (Me! Surprise!) giving the student (Georgia! Woo!) words to describe each picture. There are 3 steps to each part. An example: one picture card has six photos of people doing various jobs. Part One: Nouns: Step One:: I name each person (Fireman, Builder, Workers, Policeman, Musician, Teacher), then Georgia repeats each after me. I name and point at random, until she can name them all clearly and with ease. Step Two: I say each person's "name", and she identifies by pointing to that picture and saying the name. Step Three: I point to a picture, and Georgia identifies by saying the name. Part Two: Adjective, Verb "to be":  as the header says, we're adding an adjective and forms of verb "to be". We run through all 3 steps like for part one. (Example: Smart builder.- The builder is smart.; Busy workers.- The workers are busy.) Part Three: Questions and Answers with the verb "to be" and adjective: is a question and answer exercise designed to further strengthen auditory memory, and work on articulation and flow: "Is the worker busy? Yes, the worker is busy". With the question and answer portion we break it up during one of the steps so that on one go-through Georgia asks the question, and I answer. Next I ask, and she answers. Part Four: Adjectives, action verbs, and objects: "The smart builder is studying plans." Again, we run through all three steps for this part until she is clear in her articulation and can remember the phrasing.
We've actually had a lot of fun with this one. It may sound a bit plodding, but we've been able to laugh when she gets tongue-tied, and make jokes along the way. While working on this at Stowell, one photo was supposed to be about two boys, but one of them clearly was a girl with a very short haircut. This was not overlooked by Georgia, and she had to correct it EVERY time she saw it.

AST-Phonics Actives begins by reviewing the vowel sounds she's learned up to that particular lesson. Then we go through 6 other steps using four columns of words.
So, Step One: Review all learned vowel sounds. Pretty much sums that up. Step Two: Listen and Repeat: I dictate syllables (words) in first column, one at a time. Georgia repeats, and points to and says  just the vowel sound. She uses the vowel chart for this. Step Three: Listen and Repeat Auditory Chain: I say the first two words (or syllables) in column two, Georgia repeats. Then I say the 2nd and 3rd, she repeats. Then I say the 3rd and 4th..... until we've gotten through every word. Example: "hurl; hail", "hail; mail", "mail; marl". The syllables create a chain in which only one sound is changed. This is REALLY difficult for Georgia. Step Four: Auditory Sound Blending: I say each sound in the given word, Georgia instantly blends the sounds to make the complete word. Totally auditory. This step has gotten much easier for her!  Step Five: Visual Spelling: I say a word. Georgia repeats the word and mentally pictures the spelling of the word. She then spells the word. SHE HATES THIS ONE. But, she has gotten so much better at it. It's amazing to see! Step Six: Mental Manipulation of Sounds: I orally spell a word. Georgia visualizes the letters to "read" the word. I then manipulate the word in one way, or another by changing a sound or letter. I then ask her to "read" or visually spell the new word. She also hates this step, but for someone who says she can't "picture" letters at all, she's gotten remarkably good at this! Step Seven: Syllable Reading: Georgia reads the vowel sound and then the whole syllable doing down a column. On alternate columns, she has to mentally notice the vowel sound but ORALLY read only the whole word. Again, she has made huge strides in this step!

The final portion of this learning trifecta:
  AST-Reading. The phonetic/language content emphasis of our first lesson is: sh, ch, tch. Step One: Listen and Repeat Syllable Discrimination: I say a syllable pair (ship-chip), Georgia repeats. We're looking for clear artic of ALL sounds. Step Two: Listen and Repeat Phrases: I say 2 phrases (chicks will hatch - chickens will hatch), Georgia repeats. Step Three: Contrasting Sentences: there are 6 pairs of sentences. (1st pair; The catcher was ready for the pitch. The catcher was not ready for the pitch.) I read each sentence with appropriate intonation and rhythm. Georgia repeats and taps each sentence....one tap per syllable. This is really working to build her memory as well. Step Four: Phrasing: consists of a four-sentence passage, split up in two columns. First column the passage is broken up at about 3-4 words per line. Georgia reads one line, then pauses before moving down to the next line. The second column is about 6-7 words per line. She is to pause at the end of each phrase, and pause longer at each comma and ending punctuation. Step Five: Visual Clusters for Decoding: We have word cards for this. I show the card ("This is the word 'ship'") and rapidly ask questions ("What letters say /sh/?" "What does the 'i-p' say?" "What does the 's-h' say?") to help her to see and identify logical visual clusters. (I do not point to them, she needs to see it as a whole). Step Six: Spell-Read: I use a book about on her reading level and she spells and then reads EACH WORD. If she doesn't recognize the word after spelling it, I just tell her and have her repeat. As the instruction says: "This helps her to notice all of the letters in a word and improves orientation and synchrony between what she is seeing and hearing when reading."
                                                                                                       

And that's it in a nutshell. Albeit, a very large and complicated nut. One that any squirrel with even the smallest amount of discernment should abandon. But not me. Well, for one thing: I'm not a squirrel. Yet I like to imagine that I might have a *bit* higher degree of perspicacity than your common ground squirrel. So I'll just continue trying to crack this nut until we get to that meaty center!