FamilyEducation Blogs

I've been putting off scheduling an appointment for some time now. It's been in the back of my mind, but I keep pushing it aside, putting it off. It's not an appointment for me, but for my daughter--a follow-up appointment with her surgeons for the major cranio-facial surgery she had when she was six months old. Time has been marked by appointments with these doctors; at first it was an appointment every two weeks, then every three months, then every six months, then once a year. [more]

I have a party to plan this week--L.'s 8th (8 years old!) birthday party. I think this one will be, by far, the easiest party we've ever had for L. He wants things simple this year--no friends, just his four North Carolina cousins and an assortment of grandparents and aunts and uncles. We're having our first ever pool party, which I wouldn't have undertaken at all if L. had wanted to invite several of his school friends. [more]

On Saturday we're escaping to the beach for a quick, overnight stay at our favorite tiny, unpretentious (read: bare bones) motel. This motel could be The Ritz as far as the kids are concerned, even if Scott and I have been around enough to know the difference. For my kids, there is something magical about spending the night away from home, all crammed into one room, in a place where the soaps come in little wrappers and if you wake up in the middle of the night with a panic attack--hey!--there's your mom and dad an arm's reach away! [more]

Hold onto your seats, everyone--this will be another woeful post about being tired and sleep-deprived, at least in part. Last night, between 1:00 and 3:30 a.m., both kids managed--in their own special ways--to send me back into the days of interrupted sleep; those painful nights where all you are allowed to do is doze, fitfully, between bouts of waking up and tending to needs. And if I ever entertained any nostalgic, fleeting ideas of a third baby, that visit back into time last night was enough to quash them all. [more]

A friend of mine, who lives in another state, emailed me recently to ask me some questions about the IEP process. With schools letting out for the summer, many parents are bracing themselves for the big yearly IEP meetings to set up school accommodations and modifications for next year. It's a stressful time, regardless of whether your IEP is lengthy and involved, or short and fairly simple. As a parent, it's daunting and frightening to imagine that you have two or three hours in which to pave the way for your child's success for the upcoming school year. [more]