Slow Week

I didn't post this week because it was just the same old stuff.

So I'll try to do a little update on the kids instead.

Tyler is now in the computer tech program at Job Corps. He's doing well and fitting in. He sounds upbeat when he calls. We are waiting to hear if he can get a couple of extra days off Thanksgiving week. If so, we'll go get him and go on up to Indiana. I may need to call myself since he's not getting an answer from the counselor there. No photos. I'll have to take a lot of him at Thanksgiving.

Jessica still works at the theater and had gotten hired at Church's chicken. But the boss has a habit of hiring so many people that he always has more than he needs. Jessica wasn't really getting any hours, so she "quit" (she only worked three days in three weeks time) and applied at Applebees. 

She got that right away. And she's worked three days in one week. It only pays $4.66 an hour and they can get away with that because you get tips. But right now Jessica doesn't. Even though she taking the orders and such, the person in charge of training her is getting the tips because they are logged in under her while Jessica trains. That should change once her training it over. 

If she gets enough hours at Applebees, she'll quit at the theater. It's not much fun working there with the manager and assistant that replaced Hunter (Jessica's fiance) and Michael. One is very young and much too immature to be in charge and the other is just different.

 She has found out she is ONE class short of graduating next spring. It is only offered in the fall, but no one met with her last year to make sure she had all the required classes and to make sure her senior year was lined up okay. I've told her for the past four years I'd take her to either New York or D.C. as her college grad present, and I think we will still do that next May since she'll only have one class to go. She'll graduate Dec 2014, and I don't want to go to NY in the winter. We'd have to wait until spring/summer of 2015 to go and who knows where she and Hunter will be at that time. 

Adam facebooked me today that he graduates from his training on Tuesday. Then he trains for his actual reserve job. He says the training he is in right now is tough. He had to do a 15 kilometer hike with all his gear that was not much fun. But it's the stuff other than the physical training that's hardest for him. He naturally smiles and laughs a lot and that doesn't go over well. But it's who he is. And of course there's classwork and mind games to deal with too.

Jasmine is having a tough year of it. At her school everything is "by the books." It's a charter school that strives for the highest achievements, and they don't have a lot of flexibility. If an assignment is not turned in on time, it's a zero. So if she forgets to pull it out of her binder, which happens a lot, she gets an F. 

She is not organized. They know that. We have talked about it in the IEP meetings. She needs someone to walk up to her and tell her to turn it in. The teachers say that they tell the kids when they come in to class to get it out and turn it in. Jasmine's body may be there, but that doesn't mean her mind is. It's frustrating, but the school is the best place for her right now. 

Her science project is safely turned in. She took her board, research paper, abstract and notes for her oral report. But she forgot her science journal. That is a lot for any kid to remember. Oh well. Let's hope she scores high on the project as a whole.

Now we are into history fair. Her first topic was turned down. So we are going with an easy topic--integration laws in the schools (Brown v board of education, Ruby Bridges etc.) Let's hope that gets approved.

She has required volunteer hours for civics class. She did not enjoy her first two projects because there were more volunteers than needed, so she didn't really do much. Today I took her to the humane society where she got Travis. Jayden is from there and so was Kiara. 
Update: We have just found out this project was not approved. There is a very limited list of projects and they all revolve around the school, which to me seems very self serving. It's not community service, it's school service. We plan to go back and volunteer at the shelter just to do it even though it won't count. I volunteered along side Jasmine. We fed two three-week-old kittens who were found alone and brought in before their eyes were even opened. We fed meat treats to all the dogs and walked four dogs. It was fun and we will go back again to complete her hours for the semester. It's well run. The dogs get a lot of time out in large fenced-in areas. The kennels are kept clean, and the animals are all socialized.

I don't think I put in pictures of Jasmine at her "sister" school's homecoming parade last week. I'm not sure why, but the band leader had her march with a cow bell, not a drum! It was a super short parade, and it might have been a chance to see how she'd do with a drum. But she was okay with it. 

Unfortunately, the high school kids were throwing large handfuls of candy to their high school friends who were stomping on it all. That was not cool to me. Jessica and I were there (it was during the school day so the twins weren't with us) and tried to rescue some of the candy. I wish they would have saved it for the little kids from the school (it's K5-12th) who were farther down the parade route.

Kaleb went to a gymnastics class to try it out. I didn't get any pictures. He was in a far corner, and I couldn't see him a lot of the time. The problem I can see with the class is that there are a lot of classes and they all go in at the same time. Kaleb's group went running off crazy instead of following the teacher. They were also running around when they were supposed to be waiting their turns. 

I could tell that Kaleb was trying to wait in line like he was supposed to be, but I also saw him continually turning around to see if I was watching. So I think if I wasn't, he would have joined in the chaos. Having other classes nearby was also very distracting. All the equipment was in use and the whole place was busy. So I need his assurance that he can listen to the instructor and concentrate on the skills, not seeing what he can get away with. 

Kayla is doing well in soccer. Her coach says she'll be a good player if she remembers to listen and to focus her aggression on getting the ball to the other goal. She did not play today. We had a few situations this week that showed us that no one was going to run the 5K this morning (Jessica had to work and Jasmine didn't want to) and she was not going to her game. 

We really try not to have that happened, but if you continue the behavior consistently after being talked to or receiving a smaller restriction, it will happen. She knows how to fix it and we're looking forward to that happening in the coming week.

So that is how things are going right now.