Good Luck Angus

Angus has his first end of year exam today. I dropped him off at school about half an hour ago. Good luck on your English exam cutie! Thank you for studying for this one. It will help believe me.

A Wasted Opportunity

Thankfully there is another chance this time ....
let's hope it isn't wasted!

Yesterday afternoon we found out that Angus didn't pass his Automotives course.The TAFE teacher said that he was busy talking and not doing his work. That he didn't complete enough of the tasks to pass. All the other kids were able to. I just don't understand how this happened.  I feel awful and I know Angus does too.

A whole year has been wasted. Not only did we pay $400 for the course the high school paid around $1600+ for the year. Angus had signed an agreement in order to participate at TAFE in the first place but he has broken that agreement by not doing the work. He may not even be able to continue next year and if he is allowed to he must repeat the first year units again.

I went to Angus's high school yesterday afternoon after school. I was hoping to see the Pathways Advisor who looks after the VCAL*/VET** kids. I wanted to know why Angus failed. I needed to know where we go from here. What are the options for next year because there is no way Angus can do VCE*. He just isn't the type of kid who could cope with the work load that is required. It's not like he has an aide like Brodie did. He just wouldn't be successful and I so desperately want him to be successful.

We were given three options

1. If Angus wants to continue with Automotives next year we will need to pay a retainer (around $500) on top of the fees which I have already paid. He will repeat 1st year. If he completes the course successfully we get the retainer back. If he does not we forfeit the money.
2. He can do a school based apprenticeship to complete his Automotives course. That means we need to find an employer that is willing to take him on for the whole year for two days a week. He would get paid a small wage (possibly $8 per hour) that the government will help the employer pay.
3. Try another course but one that is based at the high school. For example Building Construction. That will allow the school to keep an eye on Angus and his progress.

I have send the Pathways Advisor an email and requested that we have the weekend to think things over. I also asked if there were other courses available at school that may be an option for Angus. I hope I hear from her by the end of the day with that information so that Mark, Angus and I can talk about it over the weekend.

I like the idea of the second option but I don't know if its the best one for Angus. So many things could go wrong and I am worried the boss may tell him to not come back. I know I should be optimistic but that hasn't gotten me very far where Angus's school work is concerned.

* The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is a hands-on option for students in Years 11 and 12. The VCAL gives you practical work-related experience, as well as literacy and numeracy skills and the opportunity to build personal skills that are important for life and work.

** Vocational Education and Training (VET). VET in the VCE or VCAL allows students to include vocational studies within their senior secondary certificate. Students undertake nationally recognised training from either accredited state curriculum or national training packages which may contribute to their VCE and/or VCAL.

***The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) is the certificate that the majority of students in Victoria receive on satisfactory completion of their secondary education. The VCE provides diverse pathways to further study or training at university or TAFE and to employment.

Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

Angus and I went to his school this morning for Parent/Teacher/Student interviews. I honestly don't know why this kid stresses out so much before we go to these things. The teachers always have something positive to say about him. Things like what a nice polite boy he is and how he can do the work when he focuses on it. The only negative things I hear is that he is a bit of a social butterfly and at times he would rather talk with his mates instead of focusing on the work. He also need to submit all of his work, whether he has finished it or not, so that it can be graded. 

Stress less kiddo and do the work. You'll be fine (~_~)

This mornings floral collection from Rory. 

Look at what I found inside when Angus and I got home. Of course these 'flowers' were not neatly piled together but spread throughout the lounge room. My guess is Rory either missed us and wanted to surprise us when we got home or that he was extra hungry and wanted more food. I'm tending to believe he was extra hungry.

Normal Is Just A Cycle On A Washing Machine (Part 2)

If you would like to read part 1 please click HERE

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My Story (part 2)

Once Brodie got to High School that was a whole new ball game. By then Mark and I were now an item. Having Mark in the home made things better for me. I had someone else to help support me. Of course Brodie rebelled a bit. I think that knowing Mark since Brodie was 7 had helped a lot at this stage. He's grown up with him as a role model.

High School was hard. Even though I had told the school that Brodie had Aspergers and ADHD they didn't seen to understand. Some of the teachers made it a nightmare. Brodie was constantly getting suspended. Year 8 and 9 were the years from hell** as far as I was concerned. Brodie spent more time at home from being suspended than he did at school. One teacher in particular seemed to go out of his way to pick on Brodie. At least it felt like it at the time. It didn't help that some of the kids knew exactly what buttons to push with Brodie to get him started on some silly idea or to get him so annoyed he acted out. These kids didn't seem to get punished at all but Brodie did.

I was upset all the time and extremely stressed. I was so distressed one time while I was visiting the Primary school where Angus still went that the Principal asked if it was okay that he contacted Anglicare on my behalf. I thought it couldn't hurt. It was probably one of the best things we could have ever done. We had a fantastic case worker called Marg. Marg was part of Anglicare's Family Support program. She attended school meetings with me to make sure that I was heard. That Brodie was heard. Marg was our advocate. Anglicare even paid for Brodie to be 'officially' be tested and given a diagnosis of Aspergers. Our paediatricians word wasn't enough without the piece of paper to back it up.

Finally things started happening again. They were turning around and improving. That piece of paper opened new doors for us. New services were made available. We had help from a Travelling Teacher from Mansfield Autism Statewide Services. She observed classes in school and at home. She gave us suggestions that might help us out. Provided the school wanted to implement them. Anything to make life easier was good in my books.

We were in contact with GCAMHS (Gippsland Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) again and had a new case worker, Cate. She worked with Brodie and myself on a regular basis. School finally got funding for Brodie and in Year 9 he had is very own aide. I don't know if it was because of the aide, the fantastic special ed. teacher at his school or the fact that Brodie was now maturing. Maybe it was a combination of that and all the hard work we had done over the years that everything was slowly improving. Of course we had good and bad days but doesn't everyone?

During all of this horrible stuff that was happening at school I decided to take the boys back to Church. I hadn't been for years. Not since Brodie was a baby. I had tried going with the boys when we had first moved over to Victoria but it was hard. Angus refused to attend Primary classes on his own. Brodie was handful and I was constantly worried that he might misbehave. I wanted to attend so that I could make new friends but being stuck with the kids in their Sunday school classes defeated the purpose. So I gave up trying and stayed home.

Once Mark and I got together we both decided to go to back to Church. We went to the Moe ward. Where we were welcomed with open arms. I spoke with the Bishop and explained that Brodie had Aspergers and ADHD. It didn't matter. Brodie was accepted for who he was. They didn't care that he was different. The kids made friends with him. No one tried to change him. It was the first time in years that he was truly accepted. It was a relief to finally be able to go somewhere and not be judged. It felt wonderful. Brodie got to socialise. He was able to put into practise all of those skills we had worked on over the years. He was forging relationships with kids his own age. Something I never thought would happen.


After Brodie's diagnosis I cried a lot. I cried for what I thought Brodie had lost. I cried for the future that I dreamed of. I cried because he wasn't like other kids. I cried for that perfect baby that I had who was no somehow different. I grieved for what would never be.

As I now look back on things I see how much Brodie has changed. How much our family has grown because of his diagnosis. How much we have learned as a family. I see all of the things that Brodie has now achieved. I no longer see him as a person with Aspergers. Sometimes I even forget that he has it. To me he is outstanding. He has all these skills that others are jealous of. He can play guitar like a professional. He has computer skills that are amazing. I have come to realise that those dreams I had for him are still there. That he will be successful in what he wants to do with his life. That he has that family of his own that he dreams about. The dreams are still there they've just changed a little. It doesn't matter that he isn't normal. What is normal for you is not normal for me. After all that my family has been through I have learned that normal is just a cycle on a washing machine*.



* the quote is not one of my own. I read it many years ago while chatting with a friend online. It's something that has stuck in my head ever since.

** If you're interested in reading what my life was like when "the years from hell" were happening check my blog archive from 2006 - 2008. Please bear in mind that I was suffering badly from depression back then & some of my posts share my raw emotions. Back then my blog was private and only Mark, my girlfriend Traci or I read it.

He Did It!

It's Happy Dance Time!

Congratulations Brodie! 

Today's the day the Year 12 students can go online and find out whether they passed and will receive either their VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) or their VCAL (Victorian Certificate in Applied Learning). They also find out their ATAR (Australian Tertiary Administration Rank) scores to see if they can go to University or not.

Brodie phoned up his school to get the log in information from the Yr 12 co-ordinator and he logged in. There right at the top of the screen it said that he got his VCAL pass. He also checked to see if he got a pass in VCE as he had done a few subjects for that as well. He didn't but that didn't matter. He got a PASS in VCAL. Brodie's has successfully completed Yr 12. Woohoo! He is so pleased with himself and so he should be :) It was his goal to finish high school with a pass and he achieved that.

There were plenty of times over the years when I thought Brodie would drop out of school. Especially in the early years when we had all those suspensions. He spent more time at home than he did at school. At one stage we even had a meeting to see if he was going to stay at school. He was that close to being kicked out. But he hung in there and he made it!

WTG Brodz I am so proud of you!! 

Brodie's Yr 12 Valedictory Dinner

Last night was Brodie's Yr 12 Dinner. It was held at Rosco's Shed in Jindivick. The kids had a great time, as did the adults too. Well I guess I can still call them kids. They are all over 18 now and are officially adults (boy does time fly!)

Ut oh - I got the look for taking his photo ...

Now he smiles ...

The class of 2011

Of course the kids were embarrassed by the photos that the teachers shared. Photos that spanned from Year 7 when they started High School and were so little and cute through to photos from this year.

There are three kids missing but this is pretty much the WHOLE class.

Kathrine & Dean

Brodie's best friends. Celeste, JJ and Katrina. These girls have such beautiful spirits.

Brodz also went to TAFE with Tamara

Just before the kids were presented with a parting gift.

I am so proud of Brodie for making through Year 12. For a kid who had such a hard time when he started High School. He made it! There was many a time when I thought he would drop out. If you go back and look at posts that I wrote in 2006 & 2007 you would see that he spent more time at home than he did at school with suspensions. You would see why I am extra proud of him. He's the first grandchild (on my Dad's side) to have completed all of his schooling. It was one of Brodie's goals to finish school and it's so great that he achieved it. Brodz you ROCK!

My Baby Is Growing Up *sigh*

Angus is at TAFE today. (if you want to know what TAFE is you can click HERE to find out) He's attending an orientation day for his Automotive Certificate II course that he will be starting next year. He and a few friends from school got accepted into the course.

I'm struggling a tiny bit with the fact that MY baby will be 15 years on soon and that he will be in Year 10 next year. He will be officially starting his life as a senior student! Where did the time go?? Who said he could grow up so fast?? I want MY baby back! Well okay maybe not as a baby but I wanted him to stay younger for a lot longer than this. Kids grow up too fast these days.

I can't wait until 1 pm when I go pick him up. I want to hear all about what happened. I want to know if he liked, what he saw and what he got to do. I hope that he listened carefully and took notes when he needed to. Going to TAFE is a whole lot different to going to High School. They leave you to your own devices a lot more. The teachers don't supervise you as closely. He'll learn all that eventually I guess so I wont 'nag' him about it (yet)

I hope he's had a great morning! I'll find out soon enough :D

More Meetings

Last week I received a letter from Angus' school requesting I come in for a meeting in regards to his report for last semester. I thought it was odd that a meeting was required for subjects that he no longer does and probably wont be doing them again. Some subjects were only for the first half of the year. Any way I made a time to see them to find out what they wanted to say.

Yesterday evening Angus & I went back to his school to meet up with one of the Year 9 coordinators. It turned out that it was Angus' English teacher we were seeing. Of course Angus wanted to be anywhere else but at school. He knew exactly what his teacher was going to day.

Angus has a very hard time doing his work. Well not really doing his work its more like completing his work. He just never finishes pieces and then decides that since it isn't finished he isn't able to hand it in. How wrong is he! Angus now knows that regardless of whether it is completed or not he is to hand it in on the due date or beforehand if it is completed. It is better to be marked on what you have done rather than getting a BIG FAT 0 as your grade.

Homework is also something that Angus has problems with. He wont do it. No matter how much I nag he is often caught playing on facebook rather than completing his assignments. If it isn't FB he is watching movies or playing games. Either way he isn't working. Education Department policy recommends that Year 9 students work an hour a night. We have currently compromised. If Angus works a completely 'solid' 30 minute session then its okay to stop but that is minimum he can work longer if he wants to.

We (the teacher and I ) reminded Angus that it is okay to ask for help if he is having a problem. That he can always ask us at home and if we can't help it he can always ask the teachers. He knew this of course but he said he gets embarrassed. He is afraid that some of the questions he wants to ask might be silly. I told him there is no such thing as a silly question. Any question is a good one. He is worried about asking in front of the other kids in his classes then he can ask the teacher privately. In fact I am sure that his teachers wouldn't even mind if he sent them an email and asked that way. He didn't like that idea but I thought it was a good one. What ever he decides it doesn't matter as long as he asks.

I am crossing my fingers that this new strategy helps Angus improve his grades. Otherwise the school may place him in other classes. Ones he may come to realise are for the kids who don't try. It's not like Angus isn't an intelligent kid. He is. He knows the stuff he just doesn't always apply himself.

It must be the month for meetings at his school. Tomorrow night is an information night in regards to subject selection for next year. My baby will be in Year 10 *sob* he's not allowed to grow up. Then there will be another meeting next week or the following week (depending on time) so that we can have a chat and submit the preferences for the subjects Angus would like to do next year. There are some fantastic units on offer that Angus can choose from.

Brodie's Future.

I had a meeting up at Brodie's high school this morning. There were three teachers (Assistant Principal, Yr 12 coordinator and the special ed teacher) plus Brodie and myself. I was thinking that Brodie probably thought that he was being ganged up on considering how many people were there.

The meeting was to discuss what we are going to do to help Brodie either complete Yr 12 or to see if he was going to quit school. I was hoping that we could convince him to stay and finish. Last year Brodie mentioned how he wanted to be the first grandchild to complete high school on his Dad's side of the family. Now that I think of it none of the other kids (apart from myself) in my family finished high school either. Out of Dad's kids that is not his step-children (the oldest 4 are from Mums first marriage). I don't know if they all finished or not.

I could see that Brodie was very peeved that he was even at the meeting and he was getting louder & louder trying to get HIS point accross. Thankfully by the end of it all he was definitely in a better place and didn't feel so bad about the outcome.

Here's what we discussed. Basically there are three options for Brodie and his schooling.

1. He finishes school as is and attends every day that he is meant to be there. Co-operating with the teachers and students without the antics that have happened recently which ended up with his being suspended twice.
2. Brodie works off campus & completes Yr 12 that way. Which means he will be working from home (just like he did in Yr 7 & 8 when he was suspended a lot). The teachers will provide the work for him and he completes it. He may be required from time to time to go into school for some lessons for 1 - 2 a week. That when he is on campus he can request help from the teachers providing the work or from the aide who will be scheduled to work with him while he is there. He also has the option to phone or email the school and get help from the teachers that way. There will also be times when Brodie needs to go into the school for assessments. This will be where he presents his work in front of a small group of people so that he can be graded that way. He is to also keep going to TAFE to finish his Hospitality course.
   Completing school this way will still enable him to access the help that the school can provide. Linking us up with the Futures Program which helps the school and an agency help Brodie find work once school is over. 
3. Find an alternative pathway. That means he leaves now and finds his own way to deal with being out in the 'real' world.

Once the Assistant Principal left the meeting we were able to have a really good talk with Brodie about option 2.  To pass VCE/VCAL Brodie needs to acquire points. Points in different areas such as literacy, numeracy, personal development, work placement & other subjects. I'm not exactly sure what areas need to be completed but the school will work all of that out.

Right now it looks like Brodie is well on the way to successfully completing Yr 12. All we need to do is get him through the next 9-10 weeks (not including the September holidays).

For now Brodie needs to have a really good think about what we discussed at the meeting. Tomorrow we will phone the school and let them know what Brodie's final decision is. So far option 2 is looking really promising.

What Would You Do?

What do you do when your 18yo Aspie kid decided he doesn't want to go to school? Do you tell them they have to go? Do you give in for the sake of keeping the peace? Do you remind them that it is their senior year? That completing Year 12 is important? That passing is the outcome they agreed to achieve? Do you also remind them that if Centrelink (Social Security for my overseas friends) contacts the school or vice-versa he may lose his Education Allowance due to not being at school often enough?

As you can probably guess Brodie didn't want to go to school today. I often think its so he can spend more time on Facebook talking to his friends but I would love to be wrong on that one. I have told him that if he is NOT sick and doesn't want to go to school I WILL NOT phone them and lie to them. If he wants to stay home he needs to phone them himself and explain why he isn't there.

Even though Brodie is 18 and officially an adult he still isn't mature enough to always be treated like one. He hates that but its true. His maturity is probably equivalent to a 15-16 year old and some kids that age are very immature. Having Aspergers is hard enough but to heap a lot of 'adult' responsibilities on to him as well. I don't think I can do that to him yet.

I often wonder if I do the right thing? There are times when I have to play peace-keeper. I just don't need the stress. Its the only way to remain sane (well, my happy pills help a little). There are enough arguments in this place without me creating another one. I jus thope that one day Brodie will realise that I am not always a mean person who makes him do things. I do it because it is in his best interest and I am just taking care of him & helping him to learn to be more independent.

Thankful Thursday & Some Other Stuff

I know on a Thursday I usually list a few things I am grateful for but there is something I need to get off my chest first. You see Brodie was a butt head at school today and has been suspended. I receive a phone call at 9:15am stating that I need to come and collect said butt head from school. Not bad considering school starts at 9am and I get a phone call within the first half hour. Needless to say that I am NOT impressed with Brodie. I thought that all of those suspension were well and truly over and done with. It was almost like being transported back a few years when I got 'those' types of phone calls ALL the time.

Here's what I am thankful for this week

• my postie. He brought me my Tunisian crochet hooks this morning (it almost makes up for me having to drive up the mountain to collect Brodie from school)
• the wonderful weather we have had the past couple of days. I might even drag Brodz out for a walk to the chemist & the supermarket. He can be my pack mule helper if I buy anything from the shop (although he has already said he wont do that but I know he will). 
• that Angus has made an attempt at doing some homework this week (not sure how long that will last) 
• that Mark is cleaning up the boys room (not that I am happy with the amount of washing coming out of the room) and it is looking almost 'normal again. I can actually see carpet! 

What are you thankful for this week?

I had to share some photos of my new crochet hooks. They are quite big. Around 35cm (13 inches or so). I am really excited about getting them although I am not exactly sure what I with them yet. I know that I will be checking out some youtube videos though so I can learn how to knit & purl with them. Perhaps there will be some patterns on video too.

My Tunisian Crochet hooks.

They are heavier than I thought they would be.

Brodie's Music Cafe Night

I don't normally post more than once a day but with me being such a proud Mum I just had to share these videos. I took them earlier tonight when we went up to Brodie's high school to watch him perform. His school sets up a Music Cafe once a year where the kids can show off their music talents while some of the other kids practise their catering skills.

Brodie is the only boy in the band. The other male is the music teacher. I think the kids did a wonderful job entertaining everyone but I am biased! They totally rocked!

I only managed to record three videos. You don't have to watch them all unless you really want to. Please ignore the shaking in the videos I was holding my phone and the floor boards were wonky and made the chair I was sitting on vibrate as people walked behind me (or in front of me).

In this last video you'll see Brodie playing one of my favourite songs. Its based on Doctor Who's tenth Doctor played by David Tennant. And yes Brodie really was playing THAT fast!

Lucky Me, I Got To Sleep In Today

Well just a small sleep in because I was awake just after 8am. Considering its Friday during a school term that's not a bad thing. Both of the boys schools have a Pupil Free day today. I am assuming its so that they can write their report cards because they are due out soon. Even though they are both home I still wish they were at school. They were fighting nice & early! Let's hope that the rest of the day is better or I may end up pulling out some more hair and not necessarily my own!

Brodie is pretending to be an Emo kid by not smiling *rolls eyes*

I finished that baby's bib I was making the other day but I forgot to take a photo to share. Oh well. I did remember to take a photo of the cardigan that I am currently knitting. It's slow going and I had to pull apart a few rows because I had dropped a stitch and I couldn't work out how to fix it without ruining the pattern. What do you think of the variegated baby's wool? Pretty huh.

The cute little baby cardigan that I started knitting the other night.

I bought a magazine to have a read through. Its not my usual style of magazine it has absolutely nothing to do with knitting or crochet! Although I did look at a few of them at the newsagent but didn't feel that I should spend more money on something that I would probably not read more than a couple of times and the file it away somewhere to gather dust. Do you do that? Buy a magazine or book that you wont read over & over again. What do you do when you've finished reading them? I have a stack of craft magazines & cooking ones that I should go through and toss out the ones I know I wont bother with again. Maybe I should give them to the Op shops in town.

Just in case ... 

Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews

Angus and I had interviews at his school this morning. The poor kid was so nervous about what the teachers were going to say about him. I told him not to worry. That the the teachers would ALL say he is a smart kid and that he is just a little bit lazy when it comes to work.

Teacher after teacher said that Angus is a good kid. A smart kid. That he was polite & that they have no behavioural problems with him whatsoever! That he wasn't afraid to ask for help. Some of them said that he needed to organise his time in class a bit better and focus on the work. That he should try harder to submit his work on time.

One thing that was pointed out, that we knew about anyway, is that Angus lacks confidence in his abilities. He is afraid to take risks. He seems terrified of getting things wrong & is often worried about his work not being as good as the other kids. Looks like we are going to have to work on that a bit more. I'm not sure how to tackle that yet but we will work on it.

And there was Angus thinking the teachers would say bad things about him. I knew he was a good kid at school. I have every confidence in him doing the right thing & making good choices. Keep up the good work kiddo & we can help you to focus on the areas you need a boost with! You rock!!

It's PSG Time

Yesterday was PSG (Peer Support Group) time again. There were a few things to go over this time around. Miss G & two of Brodie's aides were there.

Brodie has been getting a bit behind with his TAFE work as well as his Math stuff. Since I'm not that crash hot with Math the school & I thought it was best if he did his Math homework during his study periods at school. That way he would have someone on hand if he did need help.

The hospitality stuff from TAFE was a different story. That one I do feel comfortable with & I am able to help him out at home. His TAFE work sounds really interesting! There's a few assignments that need doing although there is a little bit of time up our sleeves before they need to be handed in. The mocktail assignment sounds like fun & should be delicious where Brodie needs to create & make a drink. He's designing a chocolate mocktail which he has called Death By Chocolate. He also has a coffee assignment. I'm not too sure what that one involves yet. I'll check his worksheets later.

We spoke about the behaviour issues the school has. Pretty much the same ones we have at home. Although I have a feeling that Brodie might be a tad better behaved at home but not all the time. I'm thinking we need to do some more work on what behaviour is appropriate in mixed company. He gets awfully carried away sometimes and forgets that there are females present. Perhaps some role-playing might be in order.

I noticed that Brodie seems to be louder at school than he is at home. If that was ever possible. He is constantly getting reminded about using a quieter voice at home. I guess it might be working better at here but its not working at school. Poor kid probably thinks we are nagging him.

We also spoke about how Brodie was thinking about not doing an extra year at school. He had it in his mind that he would have to do extra VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) subjects next year & that he wouldn't graduate this year. Once Miss G explained to Brodie that he still graduates this year and can go to the Year 12 dinner with his friends he seemed to be okay about it. I also explained to him that he gets to do all that fun stuff next year too if he wants too.
Miss G also told Brodie that if he did return next year he doesn't have to to any hard VCE subjects. He can do VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) instead and he can do fun subjects like Art if he wants too. If he chooses not to go back then the school will help prepare him for the 'real' world and make sure that we know of places that can help him work out what he will do after his school life is over.

For now we are going to concentrate on getting his work up to date and Brodie will think about what he is going to do next year. I can't believe that he is almost finished school ...

Let's Face It I Am Awful

I feel so bad at the moment. The most horrible Mum ever. Angus is feeling unwell at school (he said his stomach is sore & I sent him to school anyway) and I have no way to go and collect him :( At the rate things are going he will need to catch the bus home as usual. That poor kid has been waiting for hours for me to come & get him.

Mark has been working on the cars rear brakes and is having a hard time with them :( I feel like its my fault that he is unable to finish putting the new disc on. I don't know what to do. He needs a special tool (a calliper thingamabob), which at this stage may not work because this thing (I have no idea what is is called) wont budge and it needs to or he cannot finish it. Only trouble is I don't have any cash to give to him to go and buy it. The tool costs $4o and I only have $10 in change.
Mark is having to do all the hard work by hand and is covered in blisters. Mark is only fixing the car right now because of something I said the other day.

I am so sorry :(

Getting Organised For School

Over the last couple of days I have been slowly getting things ready for when the boys go back to school. Today I went to get some plastic folders so that I could colour code the boys subjects and place some notebooks in them.

Colour coding the subjects has been one of the best things I ever did for Brodie since he is so disorganised. I've been using this system for a couple of years now and it makes life so much easier. All he needed to do was grab the colour folder he needed and away he went. One of the Mums who worked at Brodie's school suggested it. Her son has Aspergers as well. She said it made his life so much easier.
Seeing how disorganised Angus is I thought it was time I did exactly the same thing for him.

I wasn't able to get a huge variety of folder colours but I did manage to get books with different coloured covers. Maybe that will help them out too. Anything to make life easier and less stressful is a good thing in my books!

All that I need to do now is pick a few display folders, decent coloured pencils for Angus, some HB & 2H lead pencils and the text books that I had to order through the boys schools. Then I am done!

Only 22 more days and school is back! woohoo I'm not counting or anything :D

Movies, Books & Kids

I just watched a movie called The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. Angus has to read the novel for English next year. I bought the movie so that we could watch it but I thought that Angus should definitely read the novel first (not that I have it yet as I purchased it from overseas & I'm waiting for my postie to deliver it).

The story is about an eight year old boy called Bruno who strikes up a friendship with a little boy on the other side of the fence in a concentration camp. The story is more or less told from Bruno's point of view. I wont give away too much of the synopsis but lets just say it doesn't end the way you would expect it to.

Today I finally had the time to sit down and watch the movie, mainly because my PVR didn't play nice and wiped off all the shows I had recorded :( Anyway I thought I would watch this movie to see if I needed to be in the room with Angus when he gets the chance to watch it. As an adult I knew basically what the story line would be about before I even watched it but golly I didn't think watching it would affect me like it did.

Right now I am just thinking they're going to get my 14 year old son to read this book? Do I really want him to know how horrible things were all those years ago? Do I want him to know about that kind of history? Will learning all of this stop him from being my baby boy? These are just some of the questions running through my head.

I would have thought that this story would be more appropriate for children in Year 10 (or older) when they are just that little bit more mature but not for Year 9 kids. Then again, I also thought about something that Mark had once said to me about how he would let one of his kids read a book that has been classified as horror because what they visualise as they read it is limited to their imagination and their life experiences. Which is completely true. I remember when I read Stephen Kings The Stand a few years ago it gave me nightmares because of what my mind conjured up but I can watch the DVD I have over & over again and it doesn't scare me at all. In fact it is one of my favourite DVD's.

I guess I shouldn't worry too much about Angus watching or reading this novel. He has no idea about the history behind this story so he wont be as affected by it as I was. Although I am expecting him to ask a lot of questions about it. As far as being in the room with him, you bet. I'll definitely be close by when he watches this movie.

Have you ever read a book or seen a movie that makes you wonder whether you should let your kids, younger siblings or family members watch? Did you end up letting them watch it? I would love to hear about it.

School Fees & Stuff

When I dropped Angus of at school this morning I went into the office armed with a stack of paperwork. It was for things like the school fees, text & stationery order form & an update of personal details for the family.

I had a lovely surprise, well not really a surprise but sort of, when I saw the total amount of "credit" in our school account. There was around $1000 in it. I have now used it to pay for next years school fees (around $250 but it might be more because we weren't too sure of one of the charges), for the school planner (its a special diary the kids use) and for the textbook & stationery order. I will still have loads left over that I can use for excursions, camps or whatever else is required at school. With any luck there might even be enough left over to pay for 2012 as well!

Now I suppose some of you may be wondering how on earth can there be so much credit in a school account. You can read about how it happened here & here.

All I can say is that I am so glad I don't have to worry about Angus's school fees for quite a while! There I was thinking that I need to tighten our spending in order to cover things like the textbooks & stationery and its such a relief not needing to do that. I still need to get bits and pieces but I wont order them through the school (well Landmark who is the school supplier) when I can get them cheaper elsewhere. Plus we aren't in a hurry for them anyway.

Now its just Brodie's books & fees I need to concentrate on but since Brodie gets allowances and payments from Centrelink they are pretty much covered too. ALL is GOOD!

Angus Went To The Zoo Yesterday

Angus went to the Melbourne Zoo yesterday with his school. He took some lovely photos that I wanted to share with you but he hasn't worked out how to send them to me from his new phone (not yet anyway).


So the only photo I am able to share is the one I took of the keyring he bought for me. What a cutie to think of his Mum. I told Angus he should keep it for himself but he didn't want too.

Once Angus sends me the pictures I'll post them for you :)