When learning DOES NOT come easy

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I am a teacher and have worked  with children for 20 years ,in various different cities , countries, schools, and ages of children.

I have my own 4 sons , 2 of which are ADHD. I tutor primary school children in maths , Afrikaans and Xhosa.  I have my own art studio for classes with children age 4-12 and adults.

Over these years I have come to have a deep empathy  and understand some of the barriers to learning children experience. I am not a remedial teacher but  I have gathered some tips that I would like to share.

1. Seek help early - If you are concerned about your child's learning, seek help - there are many professionals who can assist you in supporting your child

2. Schools should be equipped to help you find some help for your child , either in the school or by recommending someone outside of the school

3. leaving a potential problem to hopefully "sort itself out", in my experience, simply does not work.

4. If your child is getting help from a tutor or having extra lessons......

* be constant by keeping the weekly time slot booked

* Give it time - children often need time to consolidate information and concepts and that is what the extra work is providing.

* building confidence is a KEY - often, children have lost confidence in their ability. Extra help is a way to build back some foundational work so the child can feel that I can do this feeling

and so YOU play a big part in building confidence by what you say and or do not say

* keep up communication with you class teacher

* work at home - doing some times tables or  a game on decimals on the computer are two small ideas for home practice.

* keep it short and make it fun!!

*  Be Patient- realise that it is a process that takes as long as it takes. We can not rush a child through the stage of learning he or she is at. 

*  Have realistic expectations- extra help is not a miracle work and it might be that the extra help simply keeps the child learning steadily and not raises the mark up to an A

Tips for organsing thinking

One of the barriers to learning is what I like to call the brains filing system.

Children learn a whole lot of different concepts in a given subject. Subjects like science and history are easy to put into the filing system because each section is often taught as a whole and the concepts belonging to that section stay together.

However, in areas like maths, English and other languages, concepts are taught throughout the year and from year to year. These concepts build on one another and are scattered or not taught as a single unit.

Children often have a chaos in the brain in these subjects. In other words all the separate concepts are not clearly in the files in the brain. 

How to help?

1. help your child to clearly head all his or her work in the workbook 

2. use colour post it notes to classify sections of work that belong together - is use these in the text book too 

3. You might even like to get a separate file or folder and colour code all the work into sections . When your child is studying, he can then put all his "werkword" learning together into his file.

This process helps any child to organise his thinking and learning and then it helps him to retrieved the information more easily from he right file in the brain.

Forgive me

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Forgiveness.

A very big theme and a very real issue.

This term in  one of my fabulous bible studies, we are studying Tim Keller's book The Prodigal God. I am not sure if you have read this book but it is truly a profound and wonderful read. I decided to listen to some of the sermons Keller has preached that are linked to his book. The first was on the topic of forgiveness. 

The prodigal God is a book that grows out of the The prodigal Son story that Jesus told in the New Testament. 

A profound and wonderfully challenging story in the bible.

One of the themes of that flows out from this story is the theme of forgiveness. 

If you read the story in Luke 15, you will see a father who not only patiently waits for a son who has rejected and shamed him but more than that, he rushes to meet him when the son finally returns. This Father then forgives the son of the debt that the son holds. 

The thing is, what happens to the debt that is owed to the father. Where does it go. Is it brushed aside or simply forgotten?

Keller explains what happens by saying that the Father actually forgives his son by absorbing the debt himself.

This is powerful and has deep meaning for the Christan life. If I am to forgive those who have hurt me and or offended me, I am called to absorb the pain and the hurt - absorb the debt so I can set the person free from the debt they owe me. 

WOW!

How is this possible?

The spirit of the Living God within those of us who call ourselves Christians is able to accomplished this kind of real forgiveness.

This kind of forgiveness is open to me. God has absorbed the debt I owe him by bearing my sin on the cross. He has forgiven me the debt I owe him. 

He is truly glorious and beautiful. 

He has set me free.

I am able to set others free!!

The profound working of Ritalin

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Ritalin, The one word that causes such confusion and such disagreement. People have incredibly strong opinions about Ritalin. Ritalin is in fact the brand name for the drug metholphenidat. 

We are an ADHD family and we use Ritalin.

I have written a great deal about ADHD including the use of medication so this is not all I think nor is it all we have journeyed through together. 

This weekend we had one of those experiences that further underlined our very positive experience of the use of medication for helping ADHD.

Two of our 4 children have been diagnosed ADHD. Both take different dose of Ritalin LA. 

The LA Ritalin 10 is fairly new in SA and for some or other reason is out of supply at the moment. I switched our little guy to the short acting tab while we wait. Short acting Ritalin lasts for about 4 hours and so we need to give another dose at lunchtime. We have been forgetting:(. 

I had totally forgotten how angry; frustrated; blow-up, irrational and uncooperative this little chap was off Ritalin. Wow oh wow. We have been reminded.  He has not experienced those deep and overwhelming emotions for a very long time. These out of control one that are often part and parcel of ADHD.

And so we are again so grateful for the positive and helpful effects that medication has had for us and for this son. 

Our second part of the Ritalin affirmation came with our older son. He is 12 and at the moment has to prepare for an oral. His topic required research. He had been working on it for a long while and then asked me to read his work. 

The quality of his work was both way below his normal functioning and really , really short. It did not flow well and his ideas were all scattered. 

He told me he had written it off meds.

Take two was on meds and unfortunately we did not keep the first draft, but it is really interesting how these two written pieces were from the same child. It was honestly hard to believe.

For children who need help with meds, these meds are truly a life changer!

Surprised by prayer and fasting

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I have been a Christian since I was in my 20's. It has been a journey so full of the unexpercted and so marvelouslly full, more than I could ever, ever have dreamed or imagined.  

One of the aspects or experiences of the Christian life that I had not entered into was that of fasting and praying. Praying yes. but fasting.... well it was not really ever something I had engaged with, both interlectually and physically.

Many religions fast. In fact it is about to be the Muslim time of Ramadan and this week I had a chat to a nominal Muslim who was sharing her experience of fasting with us. For her, it was not linked at all to anything spiritual but rather to health and well being.

That is not why I decided to fast.

Towards the end of 2013, I began to feel that God was laying on my heart to fast. Doug and I have some very big things we were really praying for and trusting Jesus to help us with.  I chatted to two different  people, one who fasted a great deal in life and the other who did not. I was gradually persuaded in my head that fasting and praying was something to enter into.

 As 2014 dawned, I began a Beth Moore Bible study with a fab group of woman. The Daniel study began with a fast. Once again that pull from God to step up.

At the same time, a group of friends were and still are going through some big trials. And so, we decided to fast and pray and cling to Jesus for these very big things we were all going through, together. We joined and fasted through weeks that lay ahead together, bearing each other up in prayer to Jesus.

We have a social meadia group chat box and we encourage one another via this media.

It has been a wonderful experience. The denying of food, for a time, joined deeply with praying to our great God who is our everything, joined with my sisters in Christ. well, this has been one of the many glorious times of my Christian walk.

Has God answered our prayers more or especially or in a new way. Yes and no. I know that my fasting actually adds nothing or subtracts nothing from my standing before God.  But it has changed me. It has caused me to pray more, love more and watch and wait all the more. God has moved in and amongst our little group of faithful women. He is busy causing us to trust him more and always and lifting our eyes off of our circumstances and back onto Jesus. I really have experienced a spiritual revival in a sense. This fasting and praying has centred Jesus in his rightful place, in my thinking, heart , attitudes, desires and hopes, trusting that God is busy at work in and through his people.

 Therefore, I have become a convert to prayer and fasting. it has become, a normal and natural part of my life. Thank you Jesus!

How to help an ADHD kid as seen through the eyes of an ADHD kid:)

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Last night while sitting chatting to my husband and our second son, Thomas, we began to have one of those fabulous conversations. You know the kind of conversation I mean. Those that are both fun and profound.

Both Thomas and Doug are ADHD and so this conversation was both full and brief. For those of you who are ADHD or who love those who are, will totally understand what I mean by this. Brief and full!!

Thomas began by saying he though that someone should make an ADHD school. I began to write down the few ideas that he thought would make a school great for ADHD kids.

Here they are.....

1. Posters on the wall that change every day. This would keep the classroom interesting all the time.

2. rooms that changed regularly. Not in the way that made people confused but that just made life at school more interesting. :)

3. during the lesson --- cut to the chase---- get to the point.

at this point Doug joined in and there was a lot of yes and oh   that would be great and that is so awful when the teacher .....

I just loved this. A sharing of the ADHD journey with dad and kid amongst the laughter and fun and will, some very valid points in my opinion.

the list goes on....

4. The teacher should never, ever repeat himself or herself - ever - ever....

5.ha.. a buzzer on the desk that indicated when the child has 'got'  point so the teacher could swiftly move on...

6. speed things up a bit... not so much so that too much homework is given:)

At this point Doug shared his love for watching you tube DVD because I can speed it up and listen to it double time.

Then we were done!!

Saying Goodbye

saying goodbye

Saying goodbye is part of life.  Nothing in life stays as it is.Some goodbyes are temporary while others are more serious and permanent. There is more than a hint of loss with a goodbye. This week we say goodbye to someone who has profoundly touched our lives. Mrs Linda Anderson. She is our grade 4 teacher and this year we are privileged to have her as Samuel's teacher.

We all feel deeply sad to be saying this goodbye. She is an exceptional teacher with insight, empathy and kindness beyond measure. She is wise in her dealings with children. when James was in grade 4 we also had her as his teacher. At the end of the year, she wrote each child a little, personal note. At the end of his school career at Sweet Valley, she wrote him another little note. Full of confirming, godly words. Of all the teachers in grade 7, James chose to give a gift to Mrs A ( as she has become known in our home).

We are blessed with a bunch of excellent teachers at our school but Mrs A we salute you as exceptional. We are" gonna miss you something arwful" BUT know that God is at work in all things and he will bring this bunch of kids through with their new teacher.

Thank you for your kindness and love; for all the chats and laughs and for your heart of deep compassion for people.

God bless you as you journey on with him towards eternity.

Bring Back Our Girls -- a metaphor

Bring Back our Girls!!!

These tragic words are the cry of many of us who feel and fear for the long term safety of the girls in Nigeria who have been stolen by the militant group Boka Harram. 

The shocking reality of these young teen girls is almost to horrific to mention out loud let alone think about it.

And yet, for these and for many, many girls and indeed women around the world, this fear and tragic out come of life is a reality.

slavery

abuse

rape

persecution

voiceless

femail genital mutilation

beating

 Slavery, trafficking  abuse and a lack of freedom of choice is real for far to many girls and women living in the 21centry. The plight of these lost stolen girls is heartbreaking as well as perplexing. I wonder how it is "we" the world who search for them can not find them. But, be that as it may, I pray for real and quick solutions to finding them and reuniting them with their families. Families who must be absolutley devistaed with grief and despair. I pray to for the long term healing of all that they are experiencing daily as they remain hidden from the world. I pray too that as we reveal in the shock at a group of men being able to snatch over 200 girls from a school and as yet, not be held accountable, we might step back and consider the many that these girls represent. 

Bring back our girls has a far wider reaching cry than simply those in Nigera.

 God have mercy on us.