These days I just loved to look at modern furniture and layout of model houses. I am also taking particular interest in my friends’ homes too. I am not very good at decorating. I believe I am color blind when it comes to decorating. So I need ideas from friends, magazines and brochures to help me figure out how I’m going to decorate our new home.
In Canada, if you want to be successful and continuously climb up the ladder, it is very important for you to go back to school and enhance your education.
I remember one tax client of mine. He is earning a 6-digit salary and got laid off. He had a hard time looking for a new job so he decided to go back to school. He is already in his mid-40s. For 4 years, he is earning minimum wage while he studies full time. And after he graduated, his salary is now at 6-digit figure again.
In 2 years time, I can work full time at regular working hours. And right now, I am already thinking of my career path. I don’t want to work at the airport forever. I know and I plan to get an education online at my own time and in my own home. I need to invest on myself to find an interesting and well paying job.
I’ve always talked to my kids about the importance of getting a degree in a University. So far they have not said anything about not wanting to go to a University. And I’ve talked about my struggle with my son’s homework. So I am preparing myself that he might have to do something different than most of the kids. I still don’t want him to miss the opportunity to get a degree because he is a very smart boy.
I am glad to discover that there are a lot of courses that are offered online. Not only that, there are also online universities that can help him get a degree without going to school everyday. At least now, he got options.
My kids just love summer! They love playing outdoors and play different sports. Sometimes they get a cut or bruise. I guess that’s normal for active kids and part of growing up.
One time, while we were at the beach, I saw a little boy with a cast on his leg. But there he is by the water, playing happily, getting himself wet. And I ask the mother “is that ok?” The mother told me that medical supplies such as waterproof cast protector are now available precisely for this kind of a situation. And all I can say is: “Your son is lucky, he still gets to play in the water despite his broken leg.”
I had a 5-year old passenger who had a fake leg and his carry-on bag full of insulin syringes because he is diabetic as well. I felt bad having to wand him as he walk through the metal detector. He is so young and yet he had a hard life already. I felt teary eyed after. He can not play in the playground like the other kids. He can not run nor jump up and down. His disability has so many restrictions on him. But his face is full of love and happiness. His face is really glowing as he feels excited about going on his trip. It seems like his disability is not a hindrance at all. He felt normal. And here I am feeling pity on him. Shame on me.
Health is wealth. That is what hubby always told me. He keeps on encouraging me to eat healthier food and lots of vegetables. Despite the lack of vegetables in my daily nutrition, the doctor said that I am in perfect health.
Then, he proceeded to remind me of the time when the doctor had to insert a catheter on me during labor because I was having a hard time peeing. So I went around the internet and discovered that there are different types and sizes of catheters available for individual use.
Sometimes I feel like I’ve wasted my University degree with the kind of job that I have right now. But then, my priorities are my kids. So I have to find a job with a schedule that will work for them.
But now that they are growing up and becoming responsible children, I feel like I need to enhance my education further so that I could get a better job. I found this site that offers a degree online and am really contemplating if I should push through with it or not. Timing may not be right at this time, but I need to start planning on what to do for next year.
A friend of mine who recently migrated to Canada is contemplating on whether to pursue her MBA here or not. She is an auditor/accountant back home yet she is having a hard time getting hired by a firm here due to lack of Canadian experience.
Another friend suggested that she took some courses to upgrade her skills. She found these MBA programs offered online and enrolled herself in one of Capella’s MBA courses.
My sister in law who lives in the U.S. bought their first home recently. And though they don’t have a lot of things to move, they still hired New York movers to help them. It costs more but what can they do? They have 2 little kids and they can’t just leave them somewhere. The good thing about hiring movers is that it is less stressful for them. Congratulations to their new home!
I am very lucky to have a clear and clean face. And my skin is not sensitive to anything at all. I don’t need acne treatments or see a dermatologist for acne problems like my sisters do. The only times when a pimple would come out is when my period is coming. And it’s a warning sign for me to get ready for my period.
After writing this post I decided to make further research on how to help my son with his homework… and I found this useful site —
12 ways to make homework less stressful for your child with attention deficit disorder (ADHD/ADD) or dyslexia.
- Start a homework group.
Invite one or two kids from your child’s class to come over and do a little homework together. This can be an effective way to get a look at other children’s studying strategies, and the chance to play for a while when homework is done is a strong incentive to do the work more efficiently.- Consider your child’s daily rhythms.
Most children do much better if they do their homework relatively early in the day—maybe not immediately upon coming home from school but certainly before supper. (Everyone deserves a break, and our kids, in particular, may need a chance for some physical activity before they have to sit down again.) Some quirky kids are notoriously early risers, and that can be a terrific time to get homework done.- Have a plan of attack.
Sit down and strategize the day’s homework with your child: How much has to be done? What looks easy? What looks hard?- Have a specific place to do the work.
How can you minimize distractions? How available do you, or some other supervising adult, need to be? You may want to set up a dedicated homework location. If your child’s room is the place most full of possible distractions, the best spot might be some boring adult setting: a little desk in the living room or some space at the kitchen table.- Reward accomplishments.
We are big believers in small, tangible rewards for small, tangible accomplishments. Finish your worksheet, and you’ll get a cookie. Finish all your homework, and we’ll go to the playground for 15 minutes before dinner. With the assignments your child really hates, there’s nothing wrong with offering a grape or a gold star for every single successfully completed sentence on the worksheet or math problem on the list.- Don’t overschedule.
If you fill up every afternoon with sports, therapy sessions, and other activities, then homework will have to wait until later, and that may be hard. How about moving some of these activities to the weekend? How about getting your child accustomed to bringing his homework along if you know there’s usually a wait in the physical therapist’s office? Some schools send home a weekly packet of assignments due on Friday, or the following Monday. This allows for more flexibility in planning, and the final product is more likely to be relatively neat and well thought out.- Plan for supervision.
Think about homework supervision as you make your child-care arrangements. If you have a babysitter overseeing some of these after-school hours, give her clear instructions for helping with homework, and make sure she understands that, if possible, it needs to be done by dinnertime. If your child spends time in an after-school program, is there some provision for homework? Many of these programs offer a supervised homework room, where kids can work in peace and get help if they need it.- Organize.
For many quirky kids, just keeping track of papers is a big task. When an assignment is given at school, your child should know exactly where to put the paper so she’ll be sure to bring it home.After homework is done, she should pack it in whatever special folder or backpack is going back to school the next day. The parent who picks up and drops off the child at school may need to double-check to see that assignments or completed homework has been packed. No matter how carefully you plan, every parent has, at some time or another, driven madly back across town one morning with the forgotten, left-at-home important assignment in hand. You just don’t want to have to do it every day.- Check in with the teacher.
If the assignments are not always clearly indicated, or if your child has trouble figuring out exactly what is expected, you should either check in with the teacher on a regular basis or establish a connection with another parent who seems relatively clued-in, so that you can, in a pinch, call for advice and instructions. Some teachers are available by e-mail, and some even post homework assignments on a website.- Bend the rules.
By far our favorite homework activity for young children is reading—reading together, letting the child read to the parent, and, of course, letting the parent read to the child. If your child’s worn out by the evening, take over more of the reading and let her enjoy the pleasant one-on-one contact. We’d like to express the hope that homework reading programs will recognize the pleasures and comforts of reading aloud and will allow children to select books that interest them. If you find yourself with a homework reading program that is taking all the fun out of it, you may need to make some discreet alterations at home—with or without notifying the school.- Use tools to plan.
Help older children plan their time—not just for any one evening’s work but for the bigger, longer-term assignments. Some quirky children are unable to understand how to break these down into manageable steps, so a chart, a checklist, or a calendar, with separate due dates for each task, can be really helpful.- Remember the power of praise.
Try to make homework a period that is associated with a certain amount of praise, with some physical comfort, and even the occasional treat. It won’t make your child love worksheets, but it may start to seem like a familiar, relatively pleasant interlude in the day—or at least, like a doable assignment.
Adapted from Quirky Kids (Ballantine), by Perri Klass, M.D., and Eileen Costello, M.D. Reprinted with permission. SOURCE
One thing we missed when we left Toronto is listening to EZ Rock. It’s a good thing it is also available online so we still get to listen in every so often. We just love listening to Colleen Rusholme and Stu Jeffries. They are so good together. Hubby’s morning drive to work is never complete without listening to their radio station.
If you are new to Toronto, check Out EZ Rock & Listen Online!
Here is their press release:
97.3 EZ Rock has unveiled the mystery addition to its weekday morning show.
The popular former CHUM-FM morning personality Rick Hodge has been announced as the fourth member of the all new EZ Rock Morning Show.
Hodge joins fellow radio icon Humble Howard, spunky Canadian Recording artist Kim Stockwood,and EZ Rock’s own rising morning star Colleen Rusholme.
The quartet provides a fresh alternative for commuters, the At Work crowd, and listeners looking for engaging talk and light rock favourites in the morninng.
It’s a whole new dynamic and great new vibe. The brand new Morning Show officially kicks off after Labour Day, weekdays from 5:30 to 9 on 97.3 FM.
ClickSmart.com is an online site that helps connect consumers with small businesses. So if you need an insurance broker, a contractor, a massage therapists, moving companies or a real estate agent, you are just one click away.
Likewise, it is also an expert at helping qualified small businesses in promoting their products and services. But first they should get certified as Click smart Certified Expert before they can help you market yourselves to the consumers.
Take for example somebody who needed a landscaping in Raleigh done. That person just has to go to ClickSmart.com and browse through their site and they will lead you to a Raleigh landscaper and his contact information. It’s that easy!
ADHD kids often have unconventional talents that don’t get rewarded in school.
I feel that whenever I leave my son alone, meaning he gets away with making a mess, not doing homework and watching TV too close, we have lesser fights. And the house is more peaceful in a way.
I know that I should learn to start picking up the things we argue about. He is ADHD after all. And as long as he knows the safety rules and doesn’t hurt his little sister or any other kid, that should be fine, right? Or should finishing his homework be something that we should argue about too.
I need to be constantly at his back whenever its homework time. And now that he will be starting Grade 6 in September 2, I know for sure he will get more homework and projects. But the school doesn’t give homework that will take more than an hour to finished, that’s just the way the school system here works. But a 30-minute homework will take us 2-3 hours, sometimes more to finish.
He loves to read! He knows the answers to the questions in his homework. The problem is making him sit down and write down those answers! This is my major problem. Here is a typical scenario:
ME: Start writing Pat.
PAT: [fidgeting, playing with his pen and notebooks, flipping through the books]
When I saw him starting to write I would turn my face to whatever I was doing… after 2 minutes, I would check up on him and he still didn’t write a single word. He just wrote 1 letter and stop.
ME: Pat, what are you doing? Start writing.
I would turn my face away from him once I see him writing… another 2-3 minutes, he would be holding a toy and playing with it,
ME: Give me your toy. Start writing!!! [voice getting louder]
Another 2-3 minutes, still nothing.
ME: Earth to Pat, earth to Pat. Start writing please [and I would start to stare at him and not take my eyes while he starts to write].
PAT: Stop staring at me mommy. I’m writing now.
ME: Make sure you continue writing.
And then this would repeat over and over again… until its time for me to prepare dinner. Then we both would move down to the dining table. I need him where I can see him. I need him to hear me say “start writing” over and over, again and again.
Some days are easier especially if the homework doesn’t entail too much writing like Math. Some days are just too frustrating. I honestly don’t have the face to face his teachers because he goes to school with unfinished work, most of the time.
So this summer, I tried to force him to write his 10 sentences everyday. He can write anything he wants as long as its 10 sentences long. I want him to get the hang of writing and improve on his spelling. But again, he would argue with me saying he didn’t know what to write. So I would suggest things he can write about, still NA-DA! I force him to do this the month of July and then I just stopped. I just don’t want to argue with him or ruin his summer on this one.
My son is very smart! He can talk about anything under the sun. He can even talk to adults and make lots of sense. He even knew things that I would have to research on to see if he’s right. He just didn’t want to write! If only school would give oral tests rather than written ones, I’m sure he will pass with flying colors.
Ever since we moved to this city, I have been busier. I still have my normal house chores and nurturing the kids. But aside from that, I am also busy with work. In our almost 7 years in Canada, last year was the first time I was employed full time. And I don’t really have much time left for myself since then.
I have missed a lot of huge bargain sales at the mall. I miss digital scrapping. I miss organizing my photo albums. I miss alone time with myself at massage parlor or spas. And I’m sure a lot of working moms are experiencing the same things.
My neighbor recently told me that in her busy schedule, she decided to join the many women who has signed up for C’elle. This was actually a gift from her mother, she said. She told me to order now for myself. Their website also includes pricing and gifting ideas to your love ones.
So far, there are no known clinical therapy that one’s preserved stem cells can be used. Everything is still under research and study. All I know is that the stem cells can serve as a “mother cells’” in a human body. It also means that it can be used as a source for regenerative therapies from cardiac disease to diabetes, to anti-aging and wellness applications.
These days, for a business to succeed, either small or big or online businesses and even corporations, they need a website to promote their company and their products and services. They need a website to let the consumers know that they are there for real. And you need a reliable company to host your site, files, and even emails.
Concentric can help you in your small business web hosting. They offer domain name registration, email hosting, web hosting, and freebies like spam filters and virus protection.
Trust me, if I am to start a business, I will definitely have a website and I will use the services of Concentric.
My PC right now has 1.0GB memory and 200 GB hard drive. But with all of my pictures from my new DSLR, my digital scrapping files and my numerous downloaded movies, it doesn’t seem to be enough. Right now, my PC is very slow already, and recently it hangs a lot. I told hubby that maybe I need memory upgrade. But he said to just wait for awhile and just transfer my files to CD for now.
Hubby works as a Network Administrator and with his work he needs a lot of gadgets. Other than the ones that we are currently using in our network at home, he still had a box full of new and old, different length, of CAT5e’s cables wires, couplers, splitters, connectors and plugs. Even the obsolete ones are still there. He didn’t want to throw a single one away. And he is not currently using any of those.
This poem is a wake up call for me! I feel like a failure as a mother when it comes to my son. I need to change and I need to change now!
This poem feels like my son is talking to me and I chose not to listen to him. He would say a lot of these phrases to me and I ignore them. I need to spank myself for behaving like that!
I’m printing this poem and kept it close to my desk so I can read it over and over, again and again.
The ADHD Child’s Bill Of Rights
“Help me to focus”
“Please teach me through my sense of “touch”.
I need “hands on” and “body movement”.
“I need to know what comes next”
Please give me a structured environment
where there is a dependable routine.
Give me an advanced warning if there will be changes.
“Wait for me, I’m still thinking”
Please allow me to go at my own pace.
If I rush, I get confused and upset.
“I’m stuck ! I can’t do it !”
Please offer me options for problem-solving.
I need to know the detours when the road is blocked.
“Is it right? I need to know NOW!”
Please give me rich and immediate feedback on how I’m doing.
“I didn’t forget, I didn’t “hear” it in the first place!”
Please give me directions one step at a time and
ask me to say back what I think you said.
“I didn’t know I wasn’t in my seat!”
“Please remind me to STOP, THINK and ACT.”
Am I almost done now?
Please give me short work periods with short-term goals.
“What?”
Please don’t say “I’ve already told you that.”
Tell me again in different words.
Give me a signal. Draw me a symbol.
“I know, it’s ALL wrong, isn’t it?”
Please give me praise for partial success.
Reward me for self-improvement, not just for perfection.
“But why do I always get yelled at?”
Please catch me doing something right and
praise me for my specific positive behaviour.
Remind me (and yourself) about my good points,
when I’m having a bad day.
“I may be hard to live with, and have ADHD, but I still have
feelings and would have never chosen to behave like I do
sometimes.”
Back to School
I’m working as a part timer at the airport now. My regular days are Sundays and Tuesdays only. The rest of the week I get to pickup additional shift whenever I want to. And due to lack of manpower, I always get approved.
This week and next week though, I won’t be working as much, just my regular days. I don’t have a babysitter so I decided to enroll the kids in some programs and see our doctors and dentist.
This week to I plan to shop for school supplies. I don’t want to wait for the rush or be a last minute shopper. As I was looking through their list, I was surprise to see File folders in their list. I thought only offices uses file folders. Anyway, the list also said to label everything [from binders, notebooks, duo tangs, pencil box, pencils, pens, highlighters, scissors, glue sticks… etc…].
I remember when I was a kid; my older sister would label our school stuff with Dymo. And for the past 3 years, I’ve been using a Dymo labeler to label all my kids’ school supplies. Not on the pens and pencils though but on binders, dictionary, rulers, clipboard, lunchbox and their backpacks. And with the Dymo labeler, their stuff doesn’t get mixed up with other kids’ stuff.
