Free Mini-Set of Opposites Picture Cards

Ava has discovered opposites and is taking great delight in being quizzed on opposites and quizzing others in return. She inspired me to search through all of my speech cards to find a few opposites and make her a mini opposites card set.

To download click on the image to open it full size. Then right click on the image, choose "save as" and save the page to your computer.

Permissions

I give permission to copy, print, or distribute this card set provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Homeschooling on the Go

Although both of my children are currently enrolled in preschool five mornings a week, I have been flirting with the idea of homeschooling for quite some time. Last spring, after a lot of research, I purchased a math program and a reading program to try with the children over the summer. I wanted to get a taste of what homeschooling might be like in our home.

Ava had just turned three and it was just a little too soon. We were having fun, but it felt early and a little too much work for children so young. So I put it aside for a while. When I realized that Michael and I would be spending 50 minutes in a waiting room twice a week this fall while Ava is in her speech group I decided to pull the materials back out.

For the first six weeks I've been winging it preparing for each lesson during the hour before I had to leave the house to pick up the children. Last week I got organized. Everything fits into a small bag along with Ava's speech binder. I keep the bag hanging in the coat closet in between uses and grab it on my way out the door.

Inside the bag I keep Ava's speech binder and Michael's Homeschooling binder. There's also our abacus, the books we are working on, and our pencil bag of accessories. Inside the binder I have a math section which includes the reinforcement chart I made and the next several RightStart Math lesson plans. A handwriting section contains the first several pages I copied from our HWT workbook. The reading section contains the free worksheets you can download from the Usborne Very First Reading website. I also keep the flashcards I made from their free downloadable word bank in the accessories case. All of the math manipulatives are also kept in the pencil bag. In one bag I have everything I need to do a math, reading, and handwriting lesson on the go.

Michael and I really have a lot of fun during our 45 minute homeschooling lessons. I have to say, so far I'm still leaning towards homeschooling next fall, but I won't be making a final decision until the end of the school year (or possibly the end of next summer).

Mistreated

I have not shared this before, but I have a phobia. The free dictionary defines a phobia as "A persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous." In my case, I have a needle phobia. I've had this phobia for as long as I can remember. This phobia played a huge part in my decision to choose natural childbirth - twice.

I manage it though. When I need bloodwork or a shot, I don't say no. I try to prepare the nurse ahead of time. I explain, through tears, that I am going to get upset. I will need to sit in a corner. I am going to try to pull away several times. I won't faint. "The key part," I tell them, "is that I won't try to pull away once the needle is in. I'm too petrified by then." I have to tell them that last part or they freak out. The entire experience is humiliating every time. But I do it because I refuse to let this phobia make important health decisions for me.

Last week I was sick and my doctor wanted to run some bloodwork. The extremely nice nurse I had been working with throughout my visit freaked out and left me in the midst of a panic attack to go get someone else to draw my blood. I'm pretty sure that is the first time I've actually scared someone off. She came back in with another nurse that she introduced simply as the office expert in blood draws.

I wasn't completely listening at that point. I really just wanted to get it done, but I nodded assent. This woman came over to me and told me, "Now, if you're going to behave like a child I'm going to treat you like a child and hold you down." Somewhere in the back of my not entirely rational mind I was pretty pissed, but I certainly wasn't able to articulate anything at that moment. She made the other nurse hold my arm down at the wrist and elbow while she used her body to restrain my torso. Then they drew my blood.

Being restrained pretty much against my will at a time I wasn't able to even articulate a protest contributed further to my sense of panic. To be honest, I felt somewhat violated and was left with a lingering sense of extreme dislike for that nurse. I gathered my things and left as soon as possible.

My husband wanted to call the office and lodge a complaint. My mother suggested I write a letter to the physician. I would feel bad about that. I don't hold grudges. I don't want a negative letter to be put in her permanent file or anything. Nevertheless, the incident lingers in my mind and I've been trying to put my finger on what exactly it was that I couldn't let go.

Then I figured it out. She said, "If you're going to behave like a child, I'm going to treat you like a child..." That is not how you treat a child. And it is certainly not how you treat an adult. No person deserves to be treated that way. If anyone had tried to handle my child in that manner I wouldn't have permitted it and I probably would have complained to someone in charge. Why won't I apply that same logic to myself?