01 March 2012

Out of the Systems

On Monday, I had Kauchana's, now, last IEP meeting. She is now out of the Special Education system.

According to the nation wide tests that they did with her, she now falls in the "Average" range. Due to the way the system here tests, her scores would have actually been even higher in some areas, but due to the format, she sits a little on the lower end.

Instead of being in the Special Ed room for a class period to catch up and process everything, she now attends a Study Hall. The team did state that her processing speed and short term memory are her only hindrances, but they are not enough to warrant being in the special ed system.

So, Kauchana has "graduated" out and is now fully in regular classrooms with normal assistance. No more behind the scenes help.

All teachers stated that Kauchana has been a very open and easy going child, asks questions and participates in the class. Her only downfall is not turning in her note folder for credit weekly in one class. She is making friends and is working hard.

Honestly, after everything I heard, I started to wonder if they were talking about a different child.

I hope all goes well with her and she can keep up.

04 February 2012

A new base, a new start, a new...

Well everyone out there, I am going to sit here and say I am rather sorry that it has taken this long for an update.

We are back in the states, we flew in on the First of January. Kevin's parents and our sponsor met us at the air port and helped get us get back down to base. Since Kevin's parents were loaning us their truck until our van arrived, they did not stay for long. But we were able to spend a couple days with them as we visited Boise and did some window shopping/pricing of appliances that we would need to buy.

Pretty much everything was closed, military wise, on the second, so we headed to Boise. It was a relaxful end to the full day of traveling that we had done the day before.

The next day, still on German time a bit, Kevin and I woke up rather early and called up the housing office to find out when they would be open. We got lucky and they were already open. We headed over rather early and checked in. They offered us two houses to choose from, so we went and took a look, deciding on one.

This was rather nice, as the TLF we had on this side was rather small. We were very thankful that Kevin's parents were here, allowing us to let kids sleep in there TLF room, giving everyone an actual bed. The day Kevin's parents left we checked out of the TLF and moved into the house.

Everyone has been sleeping on air mattresses right now, as our household goods still have not arrived.
At WalMart one day, Kevin and I found a rather nice bunk bed for Xavier and Derric, rather decently priced. So we went ahead and picked that up, putting their air mattresses on it. But all the playing around those two do on it, popped Xavier's and it has required a fill up on air just about nightly.

Thanks to the travel money paid, we were able to pick up a washer and dryer, which has been really nice! I am sad to say, I am honestly happy I can do laundry whenever needed, instead of loading up the vehicle to drive it to a laundry mat. Kevin got me a rather nice set, one big enough to wash our King size bedding.

We are still waiting on the Tax refund to arrive to pay off credit cards, put away for when we need to go pick up the van, and also buy Kauchana's new bed. Hopefully this will all be able to be taken care of soon. (Tho the van is still not at the port of call, so still unable to go pick it up.)

Today we did manage to pick up two small mattresses, for the bunk bed, allowing the boys to sleep on something a little more solid and also (honestly) cut down on the noise at night. Found a couple different beds I thought Kauchana would enjoy, but Kevin and I both agreed, it would be much better for her to go pick it out and get a bed she liked then paying the money for one she will hate.