Back In The Saddle Again

Start of a new school year. New grade, new challenges.  What worked last year, may not work this year.  We need to discover new strategies.  We need to implement strategies well.  We need to work together.  I guess we're back in the saddle again.

One of These Days

Dear "The Learning Nest" blog,

I am so sorry for neglecting you. One of these days I will come back and resurrect you, I promise. But for now I need to concentrate on A Maui Blog.

Thank you for your understanding.

Liza

Missing My Schwabbie Friends

Last night I got a call from a parent of a child with ADHD. A good friend of mine gave her my phone number. I'm glad she did.

This mom is needing support and encouragement. We talked on the phone for a long time. After the phone call I started looking back and remembering the time when my son was at the peak of his difficulty in school back when he was in kindergarten. Before we found out that he's dyslexic, has ADHD and Uniquely Gifted, he was having a lot or problems in school. The teachers were having a hard time dealing with him. To make the long story short - he's doing a lot better now...actually he's doing great.

What made the difference? A lot of things. Countless research, doctors visits and support, etc. etc. But the thing that made the real impact in my son's life is when I found the support group at Schwablearning.com I learned a lot from the parents there, I developed friendships, on times I was down they were there to lift me up.

The Schwablearning website closed last year and it was a tremendous loss for all of us parents there. The message board was transfered to Greatschools.com but it is never the same. Many of the "veteran Schwabbies" moved to Millermom Board. Me? I tried Greatschools a little bit and I am intending to join back at Millermom but right now I'm just a "floater". Ahhh... I miss my Schwabbie friends. I really do...

Back to the mom who called me... I hope I can be a support to her as much as the parents at Schwablearning had been a support to me.

A Kid Making A Difference

I had been wanting to start a non-profit organization that would benefit kids with learning differences. I had been planning for a long time, this kid just did it! Watch the video below and be inspired to make a difference:

Teaching Multiplication Table the Visual Way, Trying Out Times Tales

I first heard about this TIMES TALES from CharlotteD at Learning Board. She highly recommended it. I don't know why I didn't get it sooner, but I wish I did. Another poster named "WishIknew" ordered it right away and here's what she said:

"I want to thank whoever it was that mentioned Times Tales for helping my son with multiplication. We got the flip charts yesterday and we've already learned 4 of the memory stories just messing around with the pictures. This kind of learning is SOOOO right for my son! He thinks it's silly, but fun. He starts third grade in a few weeks and hasn't even really started multiplication yet, but he thinks it's cool to have a fun story head start. Thank you, whoever you are!!!! (that whoever you are is CharlotteD:)

And so I ordered it and it arrived yesterday. I'm excited! We'll start working on it today :) I'll keep you posted on how it goes. By the way, the costumer sevice on that store is excellent!

Random Thoughts

How do I know when I am stressed? When I am waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning for a couple days and couldn't get myself to go back to sleep, then I know I am stressed. I love sleep, I enjoy sleep, but when sleep is hard to come, that means I am anxious.

I know I should be praying, and I will. I just want to type my random thoughts here, so I can jump start this blog.

I started this blog several months ago but wasn't really updating it as much as my personal mommy blog. But now that Schwablearning site is closing, I am determined to make this blog a haven to us parents of kids with LD.

So... I'm logging off to pray then will come back here tonight for a more informational post.

Stressed. Support Group About To Disintegrate? I Hope Not!

Remember this post? Well, it's a stressful time right now because that support group I was talking about is in the danger of "disintegrating". We received an announcement that the website is closing at the end of the year. The Schwabbies are still raising our hopes high. I guess it's kind of like "hoping against all hope". No definite news yet, but hopefully next week we'll hear of a plan. Till then, I will be posting most of my thoughts on LD here.