Sunday, August 21, 2011
Baleigh and Porkchop
Baleigh and Porkchop had a rocky start to their relationship but tonight I saw a true glimmer that they are going to be best friends. Baleigh put the dog's kibble in her bowl and since the vet said it would be a good idea to add some extra calcium to her diet we now add cottage cheese as well. Baleigh announced that she was going to get the "whipped cream" out of the fridge for Porky's food. It was too cute. Its fun to see our little girl embrace her responsibilities.
Another Adventure Begins
Earlier this year with a looming deployment we had chosen a school in Chicago for both Thor and Baleigh to go to when they all moved back there. We had worked on all of the basic requirements to start Kindergarten and both kids were ready for half days 5 days a week. Then the news came that I would not be leaving! It was a blessing and yet it really threw a wrench in our plans. Suddenly we were scrambling to find a school in Texas that fit our needs. Such a school does not exist (here).
Neither Thor nor Baleigh are old enough for Kindergarten here in Texas so they only qualify for Pre-school. If we were in Illinois they could have taken the entrance "exam" for Kindergarten and since they can easily complete all the tasks they would not have to attend Pre-school. Having worked in the education field for a while I am pretty familiar with what happens in Pre-schools (especially when they are full day). They do a few projects and have a lot of free play. Since they can do that at home I am not really too keen on the idea of sending them to hang out with 20 other little kids and very little one on one attention. In Kindergarten there is a prescribed curriculum and it is regulated. I basically feel that Pre-schools are glorified day care centers. It is just a name to make people feel better about putting their kids there.
This year we will be doing something that I can say I honestly never though we would choose for our kids. Jake is going to home-school Thor and Baleigh! We have several books on phonics that my mom used with my siblings and I when we were young and we have been working on learning letters and numbers as well as all of our sight words this summer. I can honestly say that I think our kids will be reading by Easter. They are smart little people and I know they are capable. We have discussed the other things we plan on doing to work on social skills and they will be going to Library Story Time, and we are going to join either a martial art class or gymnastics/dance class so they get a chance to take instruction from someone other than mom and dad. I think that by the time we get out of Texas they will be ready for 1st Grade with out a doubt.
School starts Monday here in Central Texas- in the Nielsen house every moment is an opportunity to learn.
Neither Thor nor Baleigh are old enough for Kindergarten here in Texas so they only qualify for Pre-school. If we were in Illinois they could have taken the entrance "exam" for Kindergarten and since they can easily complete all the tasks they would not have to attend Pre-school. Having worked in the education field for a while I am pretty familiar with what happens in Pre-schools (especially when they are full day). They do a few projects and have a lot of free play. Since they can do that at home I am not really too keen on the idea of sending them to hang out with 20 other little kids and very little one on one attention. In Kindergarten there is a prescribed curriculum and it is regulated. I basically feel that Pre-schools are glorified day care centers. It is just a name to make people feel better about putting their kids there.
This year we will be doing something that I can say I honestly never though we would choose for our kids. Jake is going to home-school Thor and Baleigh! We have several books on phonics that my mom used with my siblings and I when we were young and we have been working on learning letters and numbers as well as all of our sight words this summer. I can honestly say that I think our kids will be reading by Easter. They are smart little people and I know they are capable. We have discussed the other things we plan on doing to work on social skills and they will be going to Library Story Time, and we are going to join either a martial art class or gymnastics/dance class so they get a chance to take instruction from someone other than mom and dad. I think that by the time we get out of Texas they will be ready for 1st Grade with out a doubt.
School starts Monday here in Central Texas- in the Nielsen house every moment is an opportunity to learn.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Where is our summer going? Nowhere if you live in Texas!
We have just ended 44 straight days of 100 degrees or more. Don't think we have gotten a nice cold front either - it was 99 yesterday breaking the streak. They said it rained- but I didn't see it.
School starts next week and it doesn't feel like it because it is still so hot out. In theory we should have some fall like weather somewhere around November. Hopefully!
In the mean time we are starting to make Christmas plans/shopping, and in the preliminary stages of planning for the kids' 4th and 5th birthdays. Baleigh has already requested a bounce house and a butterfly cake like I used to have when I was a kid ( we've been looking at lots of old pictures lately). Thor wants to go to the zoo or back to Sea World again.
Thor was going to start pre-school this year back in Chicago but since we are staying here we looked into local schools. Unfortunately we discovered that he would have to go all day 5 days a week and Jake and I felt that it just was not in his best interest to put him in a class room environment for that many hours a day. He just is not ready to sit and pay attention for that length of time yet. Instead Jake is preparing to teach them at home this year. I have to say I never though that that would be an option that I would choose for my kids. I always wanted to go to school and do all the "normal" things that other kids got to do. Now I just want to make sure my kids have a solid education and aren't put into a box by a teacher with 35 other kids to try and educate. Yet another adventure begins.
School starts next week and it doesn't feel like it because it is still so hot out. In theory we should have some fall like weather somewhere around November. Hopefully!
In the mean time we are starting to make Christmas plans/shopping, and in the preliminary stages of planning for the kids' 4th and 5th birthdays. Baleigh has already requested a bounce house and a butterfly cake like I used to have when I was a kid ( we've been looking at lots of old pictures lately). Thor wants to go to the zoo or back to Sea World again.
Thor was going to start pre-school this year back in Chicago but since we are staying here we looked into local schools. Unfortunately we discovered that he would have to go all day 5 days a week and Jake and I felt that it just was not in his best interest to put him in a class room environment for that many hours a day. He just is not ready to sit and pay attention for that length of time yet. Instead Jake is preparing to teach them at home this year. I have to say I never though that that would be an option that I would choose for my kids. I always wanted to go to school and do all the "normal" things that other kids got to do. Now I just want to make sure my kids have a solid education and aren't put into a box by a teacher with 35 other kids to try and educate. Yet another adventure begins.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Unit #2
Just after we got back from our family vacation I had a sit down with both of my big bosses ( MAJ Nolan and LTC White). I expressed to them that I felt like I had mastered my job as a Battalion Chemo and wanted to work on furthering my career. LTC White (the big boss) agreed with me and said that he would talk to his friend who was a commander of the Chemical Unit up the street from where we work.
I was called into the office about a week later and told that there was a potential inter-post transfer in the works. What this means is that although I will be changing who I work for I will remain here at Fort Hood.
Last week it was officially announced that I would be moving to 48th Chemical Brigade, 2nd Chemical Battalion, 181st Chemical Company. I will be a Platoon Leader in a Decontamination Platoon. This is what I was trained to do when I went through all of my schools so this is really awesome to get a job that will put me working with Soldiers. I will have around 20 Soldiers working under me that will be my responsibility to train and care for. This is a truly amazing opportunity. The extra bonus of leaving my current unit and going to this one is that it will delay my deployment time. The new unit is not due for a deployment for the foreseeable future. I knew when I signed up for the Army that I would deploy but presented with the opportunity to stay home for maybe another year is really amazing.
As of today I am just 56 days away from a new job! That is not alot of time and I have a great deal to do in order for this to be a smooth transition with my replacement.
I was called into the office about a week later and told that there was a potential inter-post transfer in the works. What this means is that although I will be changing who I work for I will remain here at Fort Hood.
Last week it was officially announced that I would be moving to 48th Chemical Brigade, 2nd Chemical Battalion, 181st Chemical Company. I will be a Platoon Leader in a Decontamination Platoon. This is what I was trained to do when I went through all of my schools so this is really awesome to get a job that will put me working with Soldiers. I will have around 20 Soldiers working under me that will be my responsibility to train and care for. This is a truly amazing opportunity. The extra bonus of leaving my current unit and going to this one is that it will delay my deployment time. The new unit is not due for a deployment for the foreseeable future. I knew when I signed up for the Army that I would deploy but presented with the opportunity to stay home for maybe another year is really amazing.
As of today I am just 56 days away from a new job! That is not alot of time and I have a great deal to do in order for this to be a smooth transition with my replacement.
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