First week of homeschooling

 I began our first day, of our first year homeschooling, very hesitant. I had spent so much time looking over curriculum, making lesson plans, going over lessons, gathering materials, and making copies, now it was time to see if the work would pay off.

 The night before Chris asked that I wake the kids later, so he could leave for work without them crying. I agreed, this would be better, since this year we wouldn't be walking out the door with him. Between, that and Alex waking and needing to nurse we started 30 minutes later then planned.

  By 8:00 am, C.J. and I were sitting at the kitchen table. I introduced the concept of a spelling list and we went over the words. I told C.J. to write his words 2x, then I set Jase up with her "school work", she was matching uppercase with lowercase. Alex was sitting in his high chair happily eating veggie puffs. I began a pot of tea, and started unloading the dishwasher. When C.J. was finished with spelling, we began a science project about deciduous trees and what causes them to lose their leaves.  From there we all sat on the living room floor, while C.J. read aloud, Jase listened and Alex played. Upon completing the reading he sat at the table to do the phonics pretest and a couple phonics worksheets. Then a handwriting pretest. We had our first break while I nursed Alex and laid him down for his morning nap. We reconvened in the living room and started English learning about complete sentences and phrases. Then Math, where we snacked on marshmallows that we used for counting, and so forth. 11:00 am and we were done. The kids ran outside to play, I tidied up and made lunch. The whole morning was relaxed and productive.

 Day three brought our first challenge, C.J. was told to write his spelling words and 45 minutes later had only written 6. He was obviously not focusing, having been told to specificlly do this, he was also being defient. I had him look me in his eyes and explained,  "Mommy is your teacher now and I need you to listen and respect me. When I tell you to do something you need to listen. Now, I am going to set a timer to help you stay on track. If you choose to continue playing around, our school day will be very long." He chose to listen and completed his words very quickly. After that, we took a break and went to story time, where he found several big foot books. Both my kids showed amazing independence at the library. Jasey sat with other girls on the craft room floor to do her craft, while I showed C.J. where the librarian was. C.J. then went up to the librarian and asked about big foot books and then followed her to the shelf and gathering his desired books and went back to the common table. I could see both kids at all times, I just stepped back and observed.

 Today, wrapped up our first week of homeschooling. I'm in love! I love watching my child learn and love learning. The whole morning routine is a wonderful 180. This morning he took his first spelling test and aced it! I am so proud. I took the kids to Mcdonalds for lunch to celebrate our first week. They played so well and burned off a lot of energy. It was a fun ending to a great week. It's so perfect that when I see him getting bored or restless, I can break and let him go run outside for 10-15 minutes. I love how we have the extra time to do fun things like the 2 science projects we have going, and the cave paintings we made (like how we read in history).  He played outside probably on average 2 hours each day, we have had a lot of afternoon rains. He did two 15 minute sessions of piano, where he is learning how to hold his hands, middle see, and the quarter note.

 I love NOT feeling rushed, pressured, stressed out. I love NOT feeling like I'm always compromising what I feel is best and sacrificing the family.

Dwelling

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Choose to dwell on the positive.

My week in review

New friends are found in unlikely places, the line in McDonald's for one.

A near brand new wooden high chair for $10.

Surprising my husband with a brand new bow before hunting season, priceless.

A 10 inch zucchini from the garden.

A wonderful catch up play date with wonderful friends.

Meeting other home school moms and discovering a great co-op!

A friend surprising me with a new book.

Grilling steak with homegrown veggies. YUM.

C.J. breaking is bedroom light, sword fighting on the top bunk.

Alex managing to rocket fire orange poo all over my living room floor.

Jasey deciding all stick figure drawings need to be anatomically correct.

The bear climbed our fence and broke my composter :(

Photo Drop

Daddy holding Alex right after birth.

Growing

My kids are growing so fast, (sigh) I can't believe it. Next thing they will be starting to drive.

 C.J. is reading so well. He has started the Magic Tree House series and LOVES them. He can now read the TV guide on the television, signs on the road, directions for his legos and so forth. It is amazing to see. He continues to be emotional and passionate. I love that so much about him. He is excited about homeschooling. He is now pouring his own drinks from the gallons, opening his own food, making his own sandwiches. Not because I won't, but because he wants to. I have started letting him run carefully and while being watched across the street to check the mail. He thrives of independence. I even let him order a muffin by himself at the coffee shop with my card as I watched like one table away. He is such a little grown up.

 Jasey... my ever talking daughter. She talks and talks and talks about everything. She is really into rocks right now and stops us everywhere to pick up a "special rock". Once home she proceeds to wash her special rock and add it to her collection. She enjoys playing in mud and asks to make some everyday, she loves to play pretend and spends most of her time pretending to go some where , packing her babies a diaper bag and herself and over night bag. I have had to limit this game after the entire closet was emptied a couple times.

 Alex my cuddly boy. He is a solid chunk of baby lovin. He is sitting up and smiling all the time. He definitely is sensitive to new people and DOES NOT like random people picking him up or talking to him. He squeals and grunts, hums and fusses, but not a lot of baby babble. He loves my two carriers, which makes going places a breeze. We are transitioning to his crib, when he sleeps he randomly shakes his head back and forth smiling, making this hard to sleep with him. So far he loves the crib.

Can't believe all the changes.

School Supplies

  Around this time every year, the stores start displaying back to school sales and the schools hand out the supplies list. This year I noticed a BIG difference.There was so many things I DIDN'T have to buy such as; backpack ($12+), lunch box ($8+), hand sanitizer ($3+), sanitizing wipes ($3+) gym shoes ($10+), Kleenex ($1+), ziplock bags ($3+), snack bag ($3+)

  Awesome thing is that all the items I did buy were for my child, not for the classroom to use as a community. I have had a couple people tell me that homeschooling must be more expensive because buying the curriculum. I am going to track what I am saving against what I spent, then we shall see. I am not listing the other supplies as a savings because some things I have to buy either way. At this point curriculum and supplies I am sitting at roughly (rounding up) $300.

 Here are other random expenses I would occur in the first month, some are opptional, but it's realistically what I did.
- $10 on lunch card, in case we forgot a drink or lunch.
- $17 on spirit wear shirt, so my child could participate in spirit day.
- $15 for the month of August in specially packaged lunch foods ( fruit, yogurt, string cheese, meat sticks, crackers, juice boxes) Yes I could send Tupperware, however my young child threw some away and it was cheaper to buy it this way in stead of buying new Tupperware every month. Yes, I said Tupperware as in plastic, my Pyrex containers made his lunch box extremely heavy. Also, children were required to bring a separate snack.

 So taking my overall cost $300 and minus what I did not have to buy, $85. Leaves me at $215, I have spent.

Shop for a cause

I want to encourage everyone to check this link on shopping for a cause. I have known about Special Kids Special Families for two years now. They are a group of amazing people doing amazing things for those with disabilities. If your going to do school shopping anyways check this out.

For more information on Special Kids Special Families visit their site here.


How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.  ~Anne Frank

Jasey's Tongue

 Um, a tongue. I bet all those that are reading this are suddenly very aware of their own tongue. LOL!! When Jase turned 2 1/2 we noticed her speech wasn't very clear, having gone through this with her older brother we knew what to look for. We called our therapist and had her evaluated. We were surprised to find out she was severely tongue tied. To the point that she could not make front sounds ie T,D and S. It also had been effecting her eating, She hated eating bread or sandwiches because it would get stuck behind her front teeth and she couldn't fix it. The therapist had me place frosting on her upper lip to have Jase lick it off. She couldn't do it. Yes, I'm sure you are now trying this with your own tongue.

  By not having the mobility she could not say certain sounds or blends, thus she was compensating and saying things incorrectly. Try keeping the tip of your tongue on the bottom of your mouth while you make the T sound. Now say a word such as TALK. More often then not the T sound will be replaced with a CH blend sound. When saying the same word TALK, it now is being pronounced as CHALK, a completely different word and meaning. This gives Jase so much frustration when people can't understand her.  Fast forward, but mispronouncing affects learning to read and write. How do you sound out a word when you can't make the sounds. How do you try to spell when REALLY sounds like it starts with a W.

  We consulted her pediatric dentist and felt that a clipping of the membrane under her tongue would benefit her greatly. That is called a frenectomy. There has been a lot of debate if this even helps or if being tongue tied even cause speech problems. However, after a lot of research we felt it did cause a problem in Jase's case and a frenectomy would help.

  We had the procedure done in the dental office, with conscious sedation, and use of a laser. She did wonderful. Complained of pain only twice, later that same day and the following day when she decided to eat chips. We are continuing to work of stretching her tongue with exercises. This helps strengthen her tongue and prevent it from re healing together. 5 days out and she is great, talking up a storm and not complaining at all. We will continue the speech therapy and tongue exercises.  I'll post an update further out and note the progress she has made.

Homeschool beginnings

 We are very close to beginning our first year of homeschooling. The books are ready, my lesson plans are done, we have filled out the "Notice of Intent", and families have been told.
  While,  I love the flexibility that homeschooling provides, I acknowledge that children do thrive with structure, knowing what comes next. We have decided to start the school year a week earlier then the school district here. In September, my husband is taking some vacation and we are planning on taking a couple days off to have fun. This feels right, spending his time off together. We have also decided that school will begin at 7:30am, no later then 8:00am. Continuing to wake up early will help with sleeping and allow us plenty of time to accomplish what we need to and still have time to have an outing. I plan on schooling roughly 4 hours each day, some days longer some shorter.
  I am very pleased with the curriculum we have chosen. If goes as follows;
  Math- Saxon, I chose this because of amazing reviews and my own personal experience with it. I love the repetition and easy to understand lessons. I am also excited how hands on it is and uses lots of manipulatives.
  English/Writing- Rod and Staff,  I chose this because I feel children are not taught how to properly write sentences, paragraphs and or use punctuation. This book starts with when to capitalize, use periods and ends with learning how to alphabetize. Again, the lessons are short, easy to understand and very well written. Handwriting, we are doing a penmanship course, mainly, because my son needs it.
  Reading/Phonics-Explode the code and Early Classics, C.J has already completed a hooked on phonics course with me so we are using Explode the Code books with great worksheets to reinforce the rules and exceptions. Early Classics are just that classic literature written at a 1st grade level. I am using this to introduce literature and help him work on reading fluency. Spelling- Christian Liberty Academy, great weekly lessons with additional weekly exercises using the week's words.
  History- World History Series, Science- Science Around the Year and Reading and Understand Science, We are using this particular History series because it teaches themes my son is interested (Greek Mythology and Egyptian Pyramids) at an age appropriate level. I feel he has spent the past two years learning how America was discovered and the first thanksgiving and nothing else. This history series has maps that go along with the lessons that the kids have to identify items on to learn about geography. Our science is really hands on with a TON of experiments. We are also integrating several field trips into our science.
 Music/Art/PE- C.J. will be learning how to read music and beginning piano on my key bored. I have played for several years and feel more then qualified to teach a beginner. I also have slowly been acquiring several other instruments for him to play with and use such as a triangle, tambourine, harmonica, Maracas, cymbals and a couple others. Art, will consist of me providing lots of materials and letting the kids discover different art supplies, color blends, textures etc... We also will be visiting a couple art galleries to learn art appreciation. For P.E. we will be physically active, this one is easy my kids are always go go go. We will be playing at parks, riding bikes, going to open gym, swimming, doing basketball and football. Honestly, he will get more physical activity than the kids in school. The district has a 40 min P.E. 6x a month. I know he will being getting an hour plus a day.

 Jasey, has shown a desire to do school, so I will get her a preschool book and let her practice printing and work on her letter recognition. I anticipate she will sit in on most of our lessons.

 So, this is my grand plan, I will let you know how things go and work out as we begin our journey.

 

The family