Summer Plans
Our school year ended rather well, it was just really busy and I have not had the time or the inclination to blog much lately. I have started to make exercise a part of my regular routine and I had to find time for it somewhere. It appears it was blogging and spending time on the internet that took the biggest hit, which is alright with me. I do intend to keep this blog up though, especially through the school year. As we ended this year we were pretty much on all the same activities I had already told you about so there was also not much to tell anyway. I will do an update soon though and let you know where she is in all her subjects. For now, here are our summer plans.
We have entered Gess in the Summer Reading Program at the library as usual. Gess loves it and this time I am making her read harder books. She is into some early chapter books and I am really proud of her skills. She is finally using book marks to mark her place because the books are longer than her attention can allow for, at least sometimes. She is also reading on her own now as well. I am not always sitting there making sure she reads it correctly. If I see her pick up the book and read it, I let her be. When she is done we put it on the list. If she happened to skip a word or page, so be it. Reading independently is our ultimate goal. However, many times she still sits and reads the book to me. That is such a fun bonding time I am not ready to give that up just yet!
We have decided to keep her gymnastics through the summer too. That is such a great source of physical therapy/PE that I did not want her to miss any of it. Besides, she really enjoys it. I can't believe how far she has come in a year. She can do a pretty darn good cart wheel and some nice swivels on the trampoline! Granted, they still need improvements, but she was not anywhere close when we started! Her coach is amazing and is so good with her.
Gess will also be starting swimming lessons today. We managed to find someone willing to give her private lessons. We did lessons at the pool last year and while she had fun, she really did not learn anything at all. I think having several classes going on at once was too much excitement for her and she kept wanting to see what was going on with each one. I am hoping this will work out better.
Gess will also be attending her first overnight church camp next month. We are very excited. She has gone to day camp the last two years and really enjoyed it. I am going as the sponsor, so I will be able to help see that she communicates well and how she handles sleeping in the cabin. It is only one night for this age group and I am sure we will have tons of fun. She is particularly looking forward to the water slide.
The last week of July holds a really busy time for us. It's the highlight of the summer for Gess for that is when we have our Vacation Bible School. Gess absolutely loves VBS and has been asking for it all year long.
At the end of that week is our annual Golf Tournament to benefit SEKDSS our local Down Syndrome support group. We always bring the kids up for lunch and she really looks forward to it. Since we live in such a small town, we have had a hard time getting people involved in a Buddy Walk, but our Golf Tournament has been really successful and we have several golfers who come each year. They love the time with the kids and getting to see the children that they are helping.
During this time we will also be getting some annual checkups. Getting this done during the summer keeps these appointments from interrupting school or causing us to travel during snowy weather. In late July Gess will have hear annual Speech Therapy evaluation and see her ENT and Ophthalmologist. She does not need to see her cardiologist for 2 more years!
With this much going on over the summer I think I will be anxious to get back to school so things can slow down again! I will do my best to keep you posted on some of these events when they take place. In the meantime, have a great, safe and happy summer!
We have entered Gess in the Summer Reading Program at the library as usual. Gess loves it and this time I am making her read harder books. She is into some early chapter books and I am really proud of her skills. She is finally using book marks to mark her place because the books are longer than her attention can allow for, at least sometimes. She is also reading on her own now as well. I am not always sitting there making sure she reads it correctly. If I see her pick up the book and read it, I let her be. When she is done we put it on the list. If she happened to skip a word or page, so be it. Reading independently is our ultimate goal. However, many times she still sits and reads the book to me. That is such a fun bonding time I am not ready to give that up just yet!
We have decided to keep her gymnastics through the summer too. That is such a great source of physical therapy/PE that I did not want her to miss any of it. Besides, she really enjoys it. I can't believe how far she has come in a year. She can do a pretty darn good cart wheel and some nice swivels on the trampoline! Granted, they still need improvements, but she was not anywhere close when we started! Her coach is amazing and is so good with her.
Gess will also be starting swimming lessons today. We managed to find someone willing to give her private lessons. We did lessons at the pool last year and while she had fun, she really did not learn anything at all. I think having several classes going on at once was too much excitement for her and she kept wanting to see what was going on with each one. I am hoping this will work out better.
Gess will also be attending her first overnight church camp next month. We are very excited. She has gone to day camp the last two years and really enjoyed it. I am going as the sponsor, so I will be able to help see that she communicates well and how she handles sleeping in the cabin. It is only one night for this age group and I am sure we will have tons of fun. She is particularly looking forward to the water slide.
The last week of July holds a really busy time for us. It's the highlight of the summer for Gess for that is when we have our Vacation Bible School. Gess absolutely loves VBS and has been asking for it all year long.
At the end of that week is our annual Golf Tournament to benefit SEKDSS our local Down Syndrome support group. We always bring the kids up for lunch and she really looks forward to it. Since we live in such a small town, we have had a hard time getting people involved in a Buddy Walk, but our Golf Tournament has been really successful and we have several golfers who come each year. They love the time with the kids and getting to see the children that they are helping.
During this time we will also be getting some annual checkups. Getting this done during the summer keeps these appointments from interrupting school or causing us to travel during snowy weather. In late July Gess will have hear annual Speech Therapy evaluation and see her ENT and Ophthalmologist. She does not need to see her cardiologist for 2 more years!
With this much going on over the summer I think I will be anxious to get back to school so things can slow down again! I will do my best to keep you posted on some of these events when they take place. In the meantime, have a great, safe and happy summer!
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