Me too!  I will try re-entering the license key.  I hope we haven't lost our progress.

Thank you for your story.  it was very encouraging.  I worry that I'm not doing enough.  I have a son with a learning disability.  My daughter is advanced but she is resistant to formal lessons with me.  She claims to know it all.  My son is the older and needs much more help and support, so I focus on him.  I feel guilty that I'm not doing enough with my resistant smarty pants daughter.  However she is a few years ahead in reading and a couple years ahead in math.  I have an enriched environment.  Somehow she soaks up information without formal intervention.  But it is hard not to compare and think my daughter could do more if she would accept some formal lessons.  She goes to school but the work is too easy.  Again it feels good to hear from a perspective that is so similar.  You are doing a wonderful job with your kids especially the special needs child.

Lori

Sometimes the solfege sounds are out of synch with the music in the songs.  I hope that makes sense.  We discovered the play edit section.  My daughter goes in herself to replay her favorite songs and now some of them are a mess.  Could she have changed them somehow?  Some of the files seem to be missing or just playing at the wrong speed.  Sometimes there is no sound for the notes then suddenly there will be lots of solfege notes playing catch up.  I'm not musically trained.  Would this also change the songs in the daily lessons if she messed up the song in the play/edit tab.  Today I thought that the solfege song in our daily lesson seemed out of synch during some parts.

My daughter is up to lesson 30 and is doing well.  She is recognizing note sounds.  Hooray.  

Thanks, Lori

Unfortunately I have looked at right brain stuff.  It hasn't worked.  Then per testing I discovered my son's visual memory is very poor.  I'm doing well.  I think I will always have moments of guilt.  Maybe it is just part of being a mom.  Overall I'm feeling optimistic and have some great plans for my son.  I'm in the midst of a legal battle with the school which has me feeling stuck.  Once this is over, regardless of the outcome, I will feel more resolved.

Thanks.  Oh yes, Baz, I read about John Gurdon's report card.  And LDSmom, you are right - adversity builds character.  Part of my stress is that I hired a lawyer to mediate some additional services from the school.  Therefore, per my lawyer, I'm not allowed to after school or supplement his education until the issue is resolved.  The school will take credit for any academic gains which could jeopardize any additional services.  In the meanwhile I'm trying to tackle some executive functioning goals so all is not lost.  I just feel a little powerless right now, but it will pass.  I'm hoping that everything will be resolved by December.  Then maybe I can try out the jump math too, instead of sitting around feeling guilty.

Thanks for the support, Lori

I saw a video in the math forum section.  The video was promoting jump math which raised the median math scores and narrowed the standard deviation in the bell curve in studies of students in targeted schools in Canada.  The presenter focused a lot on the great gains made by special education students.  He cited studies where enriched environments created narrower bell curves even in studies of rats.  Information like this always hits me like a double edge sword.  It is inspiring and depressing at the same time because I'm always left feeling guilty.  I don't know when my son's problems began - maybe in the womb.  I had nagging concerns by time he was a year old.  Maybe I could have done something to fix it early on.  Maybe I could have played music to my womb, used crawling tracks, brachiation ladders, doman dots, and flashcards. Don't get me wrong I did have an enriching environment.  I read to him, had black and white patterns over his crib and changing area, and used Baby Einstein videos and DVDs.  I enrolled him in Toddler gymnastics and art classes. Also I'm an intellectual and just the natural state of my home is enriching.  But at the time, I didn't know about baby reading and maths.  He was born in 2003 before accounts of babies reading had seeped into my awareness.  Essentially I had a home that was much more enriched than most, so why does he have so many challenges. So why isn't he closer to the median on the bell curve?  I try very hard to make sure that my parenting is so profound that it affects my son on the epigenetic level.  Yet he is still different and might never reach that median.  I adore my son and wouldn't want to change him.  I just want his life to be easier and for his challenges to be less extreme.  I want to make sure he gets to adulthood feeling capable and good about himself.  In reality I know his challenges might have been worse if it wasn't for our home environment, but I still feel guilty sometimes.  Anyway sorry for my pity party.

Dreaming about neuroplasticity, Lori

Incredible.  I can't believe it is free.  Thanks so much for sharing this find.

Lori

LDSmom,

What is the name of your math CD?  Maybe my kids would enjoy it too.

Lori

Very interesting video.  I watched it twice.  You always finds such informative stuff.  I have a kid with learning challenges so it was inspiring.
Thanks again, Lori

Amazing video.  It looks like he is using his arms and legs a bit to help propel himself under water.  Remarkable!
Congrats, Lori

I think that boys sometimes like nonfiction better than fiction.  I really like Welcome Books published by the Children's Press.  It's a whole series of non-fiction books with real photographs instead of illustrations.  It's hard to search for them.  They aren't often categorized by the series name ( Welcome Books) and they have many different authors.  They have words on one side with pics on the adjoining page.  It makes it easier for little ones to concentrate on the words.  I used to get them from the library when my kids were younger.

Here are some links on amazon.com:


http://www.amazon.com/Lloyd-G.-Douglas/e/B001IOBEE8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=inez+snyder&x=15&y=19#/ref=sr_pg_2?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Ainez+snyder&page=2&d=1&keywords=inez+snyder&ie=UTF8&qid=1293176052

Good Luck, Lori

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=inez+snyder&x=15&y=19#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=sarah+hughes+%2B+welcome+books&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Asarah+hughes+%2B+welcome+books

I have an update.  My dd has been getting incentive projects with 2 other kids.  The teacher sends it home at the end of the week explaining they worked on it all week.  The first couple were simplistic CVC word building projects.  I liked the last project a lot. They read a story and did a "story map" - a worksheet where they filled in the title, the characters, the setting, and wrote a sentence about the problem (conflict), and a sentence about how the problem was fixed (the resolution).  I like writing projects, because she doesn't write much.  Sometimes she writes short disorganized notes to slip under my son's door.  Otherwise she doesn't have any interest in writing and pretends she can't do it.  I taught her to read using a joyful game approach as per Glenn Doman.  So I didn't get her writing because she didn't like it.  I wish I had turned writing into a game.  Anyway writing sentences at school seems infrequent, slow, and laborious.  However I am pleased that at least her teacher is doing it, since it isn't part of the kindergarten curriculum.  She has kids that are obviously delayed, average kids, and advanced kids, all in one classroom with just one aid.  The last incentive project was a good match for my daughter's abilities.  I just wish there was time for more of it at school.  However I realize that in most classrooms my daughter wouldn't get any advanced work.  Also I do believe this teacher is working very hard to try to meet all of the kids at their level.  I may have to inspire my daughter to do some afterschooling with me to ensure she gets enough enrichment.  At the moment my dd is not interested in doing any extra work at home.  She stills complains that school is too long and hasn't completely adjusted to her school schedule.  In addition to the the enrichment work, my daughter gets the regular curriculum which is too easy.  They have a word ring with 5 words (red, green, blue, yellow, black) that they are supposed to practice reading nightly.  Also she gets dot-to-dot worksheets to practice number recognition.  Usually a couple of homework assignments regarding color of the week.  This week the color is black.  She had to find black objects in our house, draw them, and write the word "black" neatly.  The teacher adds instructions that the kids who want an extra challenge can label their drawings, or write a sentence using the "color of week" on the back of their homework.  My daughter reluctantly does the extra challenge with lots of encouragement from me.  The curriculum doesn't thrill or inspire my daughter.

Lori

There are some interactive books available for the iPad.  We have "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr Seuss.  I think there are many others.  Maybe he would like them.

Wow.  That's a lot books.  I also checked out your website and got some good book recommendations.  The parts of speech books look very interesting (If I Was An Onomatopoeia, etc.). Did you teach the parts of speech first? 

Thanks for sharing, Lori

krista,

I love your funny email post.   

Lori