School's Out for Summer!

Snow days never look as good in June as they do during the winter, and this year our area certainly looked askance at them after Memorial Day. Our district only had 5 days out of school, which was actually fewer than many of our neighboring districts. Unfortunately, no snow days were built into the schedule this year, meaning that all five had to be made up at the end of the year. Rather than finishing the year the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, we went the Tuesday through Friday of the week of Memorial Day, and an additional Monday of the next week. June 7 felt like it would never arrive for many of our students--and teachers!

Our family made a decision this year that still seems a little surprising--the boys missed the last day of school. Hear me out before you gasp too deeply, please. Though I work in the district, I am on a longer contract than teachers in order to ensure technology in the building is ready for summer. This also gives our team the chance to offer some early summer professional development that counts toward the following year. This means that a week after school is out for students and teachers I am still on contract. This is not a problem, but it does require child care for the boys. The week is the perfect week for the boys to stay in Little Rock with Nana and Papa!

Going to school on Monday and then getting to Little Rock with Mommy and Daddy working the next morning was more of a challenge than we wanted to face, however. With the boys still in elementary school, and teachers assuring me that there would be little but movie time and cleanup missed on the last Monday, we opted to take the boys to Little Rock over the weekend.

Friday, June 4, was the last day of 4th grade and kindergarten for the boys. I forgot the 'real' camera, but did get a quick cell phone camera photo of them as they were going in the back door.

They've grown up so much this year! Of course, they have grown physically. Here they are on the first day of school, excited about a new school year in a newly remodeled building, with Shawn just starting 'big school.'

They also learned a lot this year. The both brought home wonderful report cards, and Tyler even got a certificate and a medal for getting all A's on the Honor Roll all year. He also showed a huge boost of confidence, between GT presentations and reports, getting a solo in the school musical, and having the lead in the church musical. It helped to make a great new best friend, too.

Shawn had an impressive year of learning, despite some challenges. He struggled with his sensory issues, continuing to chew on marker lids and bouncing a lot. He started his occupational therapy during the year, and also began taking medication for ADHD. Despite these challenges, his reading, writing, and math skills were wonderful, and he continued to surprise us with his new abilities and knowledge.

We're so excited about a fun summer with time at the library, at dollar kid's movies, camping at the lake, trips to Silver Dollar City, a day at Wild River Country in Little Rock, fireworks at Nana and Papa's house for the 4th of July, and just lots of fun. I expect them to have some video game time, too!

So our rising 5th grader, our rising 1st grader, and their Mommy are very glad to sing "school's out for summer!"

Do We Already Have a Pre-Teen?

Some things really surprise me. Fortunately, a lot of surprises are good things. Particularly as a pessimist---ahem...realist---surprising outcomes are often a very good thing. Expecting to have to replace the starter in my car and only needing a battery is a good surprise. A card or gift from my hubby that I find in my car is a good surprise (hint, hint...).

Having my sweet little boy, who is only 9 years old, suddenly act like a rebellious teenager, however, is not such a good surprise.

This week is testing week for Tyler. THE testing week. The tests that determine how the school and district is ranked and rated. The tests that he should have no problem doing well on, but still require concentration.

Testing week does not mean he gets away without doing homework or chores, however. It does mean an earlier bedtime.

With testing week upon us, Monday night we saw a side of Tyler that we wish we hadn't. First, he chose to not do his homework. We have been having some struggles with math homework this year. He is consistently not doing his math practice exercises, so he is behind on his multiplication and division facts. This is unacceptable in our house, and he knows it, but the math facts are not fun, so the sheets get forgotten at school. I even bought him a game for his Nintendo DS for Math, but it's not as much fun as his other games.

His homework was to redo questions he missed on his math test, all of which went back to the basic math facts. Not only had he not done them after school, but he did not do any of his work, instead getting on the computer and later on his DS. I asked him about the test just before bedtime, so that he suddenly remembered he had to redo it and get a parent's signature for bonus points.

Instead of gathering to read a book chapter or two before bed, we all gathered in the boys' room to go over the missed problems. Forty-five minutes later, he finally got it corrected. With testing continuing the next day, staying up that far past bedtime was problematic, so we skipped our reading. We hurried to get them into bed and tucked in, and went about our evening.

An hour later I discovered a problem.

At about 9:45 I went back to my room to go to the bathroom. Hearing a noise from the boys' room, I prepared myself to get Shawn back into bed. This is a regular occurrence, unfortunately. I was quite surprised to find Shawn sound asleep and looking quite angelic. This was a good surprise.

I was also surprised to see Tyler in his glasses, even though I thought I remembered him putting them on his bedside table. I was even more surprised to move his covers and discover something unexpected. His DS, which was supposed to stay in the other room at night, had somehow gotten into his bed. It had somehow been turned on. It had somehow been in the middle of play. My child had somehow done all this in order to play games. To top it off, he excused himself by saying he just has a problem stopping playing the games.

Fortunately for him, it's quite easy for us as parents to help him with this problem. In his words, he is now "banned" from the DS. He is also not to be on the computer at Grandma's house after school, since that time is supposed to be used on homework. I would be surprised if he were to do something like this again anytime soon.

I hope that this is the only surprise of this type I have from him. Of course, as a realist, I know that I'm likely to be in for some other situations as he gets older.

Hopefully he'll surprise me and his teenage years will be wonderful. Because I think we have already started the process.

I think we now have a pre-teen.

My MS Life Moves Forward

For the last several years I’ve been focused on my “MS life.” The acronym “MS” seemed to be dominating my life.

• I have multiple sclerosis (MS). Living with and dealing with MS takes a great deal of time and energy, and my physical health has been a huge focus for our family, often to the exclusion of all else.
• I work with Microsoft (MS). I am a certified Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS). I have been a Microsoft trainer for almost a decade.
• I work in a middle school (ms). As a curriculum technology specialist, I focused on middle school topics and needs.

Some of my "MS life" seems to be moving forward now. I still have MS (multiple sclerosis). This is not a disease that can be cured. I also have to be pretty careful, because when other illnesses hit it’s a total knock out to my body (the strong disease-modifying drug I take by IV once a month is an immune-suppressant, so my body is not as resistant to other illnesses. Even my usual allergies are harder to deal with due to their affects on my body). HOWEVER, the medicine I take is a miracle drug for my body, and allows me to walk without a wheelchair or cane. I don’t even need quite as much rest as I once did, except during situations with other illnesses. SO…we will never be rid of the disease MS, but we are at a point where it does not dominate all aspects of our family life.

I still work with Microsoft, and prefer a Windows PC over Apple. Even though my first use of a computer was an Apple II, I’m deflinitely an MS girl. HOWEVER, hubby and I are addicted to our iPhones. I'm also working with MacBooks at work, including Final Cut Pro. What an exciting new challenge!

The biggest change regarding my MS life is an upcoming change in my work assignment. I’m excited to be moving to a new school location–a junior high! The change allows me to be at one school full-time (for the past 3 years I’ve split my schedule between a middle school and an elementary). It allows me to be very close to our house at the junior high my boys will attend in not too many more years (uggh–can't think about that right now…). It gives me some new and exciting challenges with multimedia (yes, including some Apple components). Plus, it still lets me focus a lot on training and professional development. The transition makes me nervous (I’ll be covering THREE schools for the next few months, while most on my team just have one!), but the change is exciting! SO…I’ll still be a part of “middle level,” since many states and districts consider middle school and junior high together, but for our district I’ll no longer be a middle school (ms) technology specialist, but will be moving forward to junior high (I’ve graduated–yay!).

As my MS life moves forward, I’m excited to re-focus my “new” time in my life and see where we go from here!

About My MS Life

I am Laura. I am a Microsoft (MS) Certified Technology Specialist in a middle school (ms). I also have multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease affecting my nervous system. Welcome to my MS life.