To Donate or Not to Donate

We have spent the last ten years managing Type I Diabetes in our family.  Imagine how frightening it would be to have a three year old boy and a doctor telling us, "Your son needs to go to St. Paul Childrens, IMMEDIATELY!  They are expecting you, we have already called!"  We had no idea what to expect or how we would manage.  Grandmas and Grandpas were frightened of hurting him by testing blood sugar or administering shots.  Mom and Dad were sleep deprived, emotionally drained, and son was managing as best as we could expect any three year old child to do.  As we grew into the disease, we learned more, understood more, and tried to do more.  I still find myself depending upon the doctors, even after ten years.  Understanding what insulin does in our son's body and what his blood sugars need to be is one thing, but making changes that could drop his numbers dangerously low, is another.

We use an Animus Ping insulin pump and it works well for our active, now thirteen, year old.  He plays football in the fall and has played baseball and soccer in the past.  We encourage him to always be active as it tends to help his blood sugars.  He is passionate about fishing and if he could do that all day every day of the year, he would!  Just check out the team shirt below!

I still find there are days where I am dragging from waking up every two hours to test his blood sugar, trying to gain insight as to how to change the basal and bolus rates.  I look at my sleeping baby and stare at his pin-pricked, calloused, discolored fingertips to find a good spot to poke for a test.  I maintain my composure but know in my heart that I would take this on for him if I could!  As we move into this weekend, we as a family, as for your support in finding both advanced treatments and a cure for Type I Diabetes.  Below is a link to our Team Zoubek page for the MOA Walk for a Cure.

Thank you for your support!

Team Zoubek Walk for a Cure

Common Assessments

Schools struggle with how to assess the students that walk through their doors. Many districts use tests such as NWEA or MAP testing.  This test is an adaptive test that moves up and down with the answers of the student, eventually leveling out their "grade level" score.  For many students this doesn't really show what they are capable of or how well they understand a topic.  Now, for teachers, there are ways to utilize the scores and build bridges for students, if they have honestly tried.  Many teachers become frustrated with the amount of testing that needs to be done.  Not only are there the regular quizzes, tests, and daily formative assessments but there are the summative assessments that are supposed to show growth, such as MAP.  In Minnesota there are also state tests called the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment  (MCA) that are taken in the spring.  Minnesota is now offering a online math test prep called the Optional Local Purpose Assessment (OLPA) to prepare for the MCA math test.  The results are only for the school/student and are to prepare for the spring MCA.
I would contend that if districts really wanted to see benefits of their teaching, they need to create common assessments that each grade level, course, and school will use.  These assessments would be used to see what is working in a classroom and what adjustments need to be made.  Teachers may continue to teach how they teach, but it will be telling if one class out performs another.  I would say changes would need to be made at that point.  The goal of this for teachers is collaboration.  Sharing what works, what doesn't, and how to become better teachers.  This in turn affects the performance of the students.
I encourage each parent, teacher, student, community member to become involved in making change at each level.  Our youth is too important to leave behind!

The Ice Project

The Ice Project

We have nearby neighbors that have a geo-thermal system heating their house.  Roger Hanson is his name and he is a computer programmer gone wild!  Check out the photos!!  

He has an amazing system for creating this and is working on getting this up on Facebook   As far as education is concerned, we are talking math, science, computer, language, marketing...the list goes on!  I have linked the title to his website showing more photos over time.  If you haven't been by his house to see this in person, this is the next best thing!
Enjoy!!

Money, time, and organizational savings

As I was adding my "Coke Rewards" points into my account this morning, I got to looking at all my school collections items and thought I would share this. My sons' schools collect all the food labels, milk tops, etc for extra supplies. It became overwhelming to keep track of all the small tokens. I have a small wall space tucked away behind some cupboards so I decided to use this as my collection area. I use push pins and sandwich bags to hang on the wall. After finishing, opening, cutting, etc each savable item I place it in the appropriate bag. After I have a full bag, I send it to school with one of the boys. This works out great when Grandma sends more in the mail as well! Remember every dime counts when everyone's dimes are counted together!! Don't forget that many schools have an inkjet cartridge recycling program that earns them money too! If you don't use your "Coke Rewards" donate them to your local school, if they don't have a program, email the principal to get one. Every little bit helps!