GAG!

Yes, this has been one GREAT spring break.

I've been sick and now have pink eye.

It has rained everyday

Now, my oldest daughter has been throwing up since 4:30 this a.m. Thankfully, she made it to the bathroom, but anything hitting a vinyl floor at a high rate of speed has a high rate of splatter. I made my hubby get up and help me clean up the bulk of the mess as I couldn't be in there more than 30 seconds without a chain reaction retching.

I just hope no one ever throws up on my bus.

Field Trip Day!

Thursday was field trip day.

I so remember how much I loved field trips and how few I got to go on. I went to private school from the 2nd thru the 5th grade. 6th grade was in public school but I don't remember taking any field trips at all. We did go on one my sophmore year in high school. Bowling to compliment our unit on bowling in PE.

This trip was for 4th graders. The Boise Philharmonic put on a "children's concert". It was EXCELLENT. As a musicain, it is hard for me to just sit and listen to music. I want to be playing it, but the concert was enjoyable, was free and I got paid to do it. What more could you ask for?

Count Down to Spring Break

and better yet, payday!!!! One of the few, and I mean few drawbacks of my job is the once a month paydays. But, I have learned to adjust. I also have to adjust my budget around for a small small June check (school lets out May 30th) and no check again till September 25th. I had kicked around the idea of finding a small part time job, but decided that my kids are more important. Especailly, with my 4th, Mollie who has some learning issues. She has language deficit issues as a result of undiagnosed hearing loss that lasted almost a year. The girl had NO and I mean NO ear infections. It wasn't till she started putting her ear up to the TV speaker that I got worried. Up till that point, I thought she just wasn't paying attention and was bit of a late bloomer. She also has convergance insufficancy, meaning that her eyeballs do not work together. She also overfocuses when she is doing close work which fatigues her eyes for distance work. The school psychologist feels that she is also ADHD/ADD but I am not so quick to jump on that bandwagon. There are several studies that show that convergance insufficancy can lead to a false diagnosis of ADD. I am also going to try an elimination diet that has shown promise with ADD kids. If anything, improved nutrition will not hurt anyone. So my summer will be spent helping Mollie with her learning issues. She is poor in reading comprehension and math. She also has poor spacial reasoning. It is hard for her look at something that is broken into peices and put it togther to make a whole (like a puzzle). Each evening, she and I play a children's game, do a puzzle and do some flash cards, sometimes a worksheet. She has come to treasure her evenings with mom and I have too. It is hard for me sometimes because it is easy to become impatient with a child who cannot do a simple puzzle. But I also refuse to put her in a box labled ADD, throw in some pills and hope all comes out fine. Thankfully, too, she has a great teacher who has put up with alot from Mollie (she is easily distracted and requires alot of redirection) and has really helped up in our quest to get help for Mollie. I call Mollie my "crack child" because she was never bad enough or tested low enough to trigger any red flags. She didn't qualify for preschool by 8 points! (if we had been low income that would of been diferent). She didn't score low enought on her reading assesments to get placed in Title 1 reading programs and so on and so forth. Had I not pushed for the testing for learning disabilities, we would still be floundering, wondering how to reach her and she would of gotten worse, especially with her eyes. She would of kept falling thru the cracks.

What this all has to do with bus driving? Nothing, but since I have mostly family reading this, I think you will appreciate this. I have some misplaced guilt over this and more heartbreak, but I am also clinging to hope. Many people who have changed history were considered not normal children and learning disabled. Please pray for us as we try to help her discover her strengths and talents and help her with the school subjects that she needs.

Thanks all!

Did you ever feel like this?

The Horn on the Bus goes Beep Beep Beep

This didn't happen to me, but to a veteran driver I work with.

She drove a high school group on an overnight trip to Idaho Falls. But there was some type of electrical short that she didn't know about. Driving down there was fine. The problem came every time she turned a corner.

BEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPP!

Yep, her horn honked every time she turned the steering wheel. She said that the high schoolers really got into it, yelling and waving at people on the street every time the horn honked. The folks in Idaho Falls must think that our school district is either very friendly or very touched in the head!

Gotta love those high schoolers!

They are a wealth of mis-information. One girl is planning on going to the gynecologist every MONTH! YIKES!!

One boy thought you had to have good credit to get a credit card LOL!!!!! When I told them that people can get credit cards in their dogs name, another girl piped up and asked "How would a dog use a credit card?"

One 18 yr old boy informed us that he may not be aging gracefully, but at least he was getting maturity. He had to shave almost every day now!

Some of the conversations are sad too. I get so sick of hearing about their parents love lives and how many boyfriends/girlfriends have been in and out of their home. I also hate hearing about how their step parent doesn't like them very well. Since when did the kid ask for the divorce and remarriage?

school bus DRAG RACE amazing!!!!!!

What I want to do this summer

I'm a bus drivin' mama

Yes, I drive a school bus and here is the really weird thing. I LOVE it. It is a challanging, yet satisifing job. But above that, I am a mom to 5 kids of my own. So, I guess that I started training to be a school bus driver before I ever sat down behind that big 20 inch wheel.

This blog is to talk about what happens on the bus and issues related to driving the bus. I drive for a small school district in Idaho. No real names will be posted to protect people who may not appreciate being mentioned in the blogosphere.

First, a bit of background. I started out as a special needs bus aide. Actually, I started out as a crossing guard. I needed a way to bring in some extra income to our family without having to place our youngest child in day care. A friend from our church drives for the same school district and mentioned to me that they were looking for aides. I put in my app and they only had a spot open for crossing guard. I worked as a guard for about October and November--very cold October and November--when I was brought on as a aide on a preschool route. Many of the drivers encouraged me to obtain my CDL. I thought they were crazy and I thought there is NO WAY I could climb on board a bus and turn my back on 60+ kids. :) By May, I had decided to become a driver. My trainers were excited and 6 weeks after prying my sweaty palms off the wheel and bracing my shakey knees, I now turn my back on lots of kids! The school district did issue me an extra set of eyeballs in the back of my head LOL!

I now drive a kindergarten route and drive a group of high schoolers to a technical training education center. I also drive field trips and sub on any routes I can pick up. My family has been so supportive of me and best of all, I can take my 4 yr old on the bus with me. He has a special car seat and has fun with the high school students.

Stay posted for more bus driving fun!