BAH! I am sorry – for the many (ok, probably more like few…) who read my blog. Life just happened. Right? There are so many updates and fun things coming for the Average Mom world… I have started releasing worksheets (hooray?) starting to launch Average Halloween, the debut of a few books, and not to mention or forget the DIY side of me  that is launching new endeavors as well. So let’s dive on in….

 

Worksheets – the good – the bad – the time consuming.

When I worked as a classroom teacher, the last thing I had time for was to make a ton of worksheets from scratch. It takes a lot of time in between grading papers/assignments, communicating with parents and writing IEPS (individualized education plans) – just not always in the cards. As I have been on my advocacy trail at Keller Law and getting feedback from local moms it is evident that there is a higher need for support in executive functions (my JAM…) I kept on trying to explain how to format building on those skills.. but if it is not your jam then I appear to be speaking a foreign language to you… I have been spending my “free” time to start creating materials that can be downloaded by teachers, parents, tutors, whomever to use as tools to build those skills to push (shove?) our children towards independence. The worksheets are either self explanatory – and ones that are not come with examples or directions on how to most effectively use…

Some examples…

Project Planner to manage long term assignments.

RACE strategy for learning how to write with more details etc… and Superhero Swag great for helping to ensure that sentences are written appropriately. These are just some examples… there are more up on my TheAverageMomCT Etsy site. One that I believe will be in high demand are the Active Listening worksheets – I can not tell you how often I hear distress cries from friends that their child does not get all the information in directions or struggle with focus/attention.

Average Halloween – Ok, maybe not so average..

Every year we have a pretty elaborate Halloween display that my husband and I spend a lot of time putting together. I spend all year researching what is going to drop from the big players (Home Depot, Lowes, Party City etc..) and start to watch Facebook groups of what

are going to be “hot” items. I follow for when they will make the releases, wake up at the crack of dawn to do the pre-orders, and map out what the lawn display will look like. To my husband’s dismay,

I will get sections out there and change it after we have intricately set it up because the flow does not feel right. With all the excitement (maybe just my excitement?) I have decided to launch @AverageHalloween on instagram. Just doing a little dabbling of showing the journey. While it looks like from the outside an average mom who has no control over halloween decorationspending, what you miss is the careful planning that happens every single year around what is dropping and how to incorporate it into the design. I personally LOVE doing the decorations. The community comes around to see it. Children talk about it at school. I love that it brings a little twinkle of happiness and excitement for people who come to see it.

Books! 

So there have been a few developments this year – our household has published some books!

The Special Education Process – A Parent’s Guide By a Parent I started penning last year in response to the texts and calls I would get from people in the community who knew what I do for work (non-attorney special education advocate in CT) so I put together a very brief 101 level class of the overview of the process. Kind of like a “what to expect when you’re expecting” but for the special education process. Just some very lax advice on how to navigate the process and how to be your child’s best advocate.

 

Childhood Trauma and Students Identified as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder was the research I did for my dissertation in my doctoral program at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Long dissertation short, I looked at high school students who were educationally identified as ADHD and looked to see if there was any evidence of trauma in their history. My hypothesis was that children who experienced trauma later in life would come up with the diagnosis of ADHD and that we treat the symptoms as an educational team instead of targeting the root cause in hopes to alleviate some of the symptoms. If you have interest in trauma, ADHD and executive functioning, this book is for you!

Lastly, my son, yes my elementary aged school son, wrote a book called Everybody is Different and That’s Cool a children’s book to celebrate the differences in people around us. He is currently working on his next book that we will hopefully have ready before the end of the year… I am realistic, there is life – and I am managing 5 schedules, work full time and trying to commit to writing this blog more consistently.

 

The DIY world I am going to save for another blog post… We are making some fun changes and exploring new ways to be more self sufficient.. or self sustaining? Wait for the next blog post – your feedback on what we are becoming welcome (unless your answer is CrAzY – that is not necessary feedback at the moment – HA!)

 

XXOO

The Average Mom CT – Dani