I quit, this week I'm having a freak out moment..

Confession:  I'm feeling panicky about starting school this year. Yep, digging my feet in, not sure when I'm going to begin..panic!  What the what? I've been doing this home school thing for years and usually about now I'm ready to start up and use all my cool new curriculum. After some soul searching and achingly hard days, I've come to the following conclusions:

1. I have a 4th child entering my classroom this year. Cozette, begins Kindergarten.

2. Dyslexia..just this one word sends apprehension and feelings of self-doubt running up my spine. 

So, it may seem like small things to another mother, but this one is just having a freak out moment. 

I think it's funny how God can calm a fear we struggle with in the most unexpected ways. My week from you know where, was winding down and I had one last obligation to attend Friday night. Don't get me wrong most of my obligations are self imposed and although overwhelming, enjoyable. But as I was headed out the door with my five beautiful mess makers and my overly tired husband who had just worked two double shifts with very little sleep, I was beginning to wish for a house in the mountains far far away from obligations and my propensity to over-plan. Well, wouldn't you know I was introduced to and ended up sitting next to at dinner, a teacher of ten years with a masters in reading intervention. So back story, I have been working with the principle down the street to get special help with their reading specialist. I was just told that unless I enroll him for 7 hours a day he cannot see the reading specialist for an hour. Yep, I told them I pay taxes and their school gets paid extra money for my son being in their specials classes and that I would bring him on their schedule...it's been a long arduous journey through the joys of public vs home school. Anyways, I had been feeling rejected and overwhelmed that I needed to make sure Graham had what he needed this year to progress. Ok, back to the dinner with the teacher. There we were talking about schooling kids and I'm telling her my story and what I've been doing with Graham and how I work with him, what his lesson plans are. And without even realizing it she says the best thing I could have heard all week. Ready? Summary is, basically what I've learned over the years specializing in my son's dyslexia is more than she's learned with her masters degree in that specific reading disability. So bottom line, unless a reading specialist has studied only dyslexia and worked with children in that capacity, its possible that I know more about how to help my son than a reading intervention teacher at the local school. Add to the fact that he's my son so I know him better than anyone else. It suddenly becomes clear to me that, I CAN DO IT! Sorry, it took me a while to get there, but God knew that. He knew I needed some validation and some encouragement. Last night it came from a complete stranger, who was sweet enough and confident enough to tell me what I was doing was the right thing for my son. I have a lot of respect for teachers and specialists in schools, I just needed to know that although I don't have a teacher's certificate or a Master's in reading intervention, that I have ability to give my child the very thing he needs. Now, adding a Cozette to the mix of my school day, that's a whole other thing. But like all the others, she will find her groove and open up to learning new things this year. 

Websites I currently find the coolest stuff on!

Keys for Kids - an old fashioned daily devotionals intended for children to listen to
http://www.keysforkids.org/ForKids/KeysforKids/ReadListen.aspx

Best deals on the planet for homeschooling curriculum
Home School Buyers Co-op

Brave Writer - I love her blog, her daily writing tips and overall writing philosophy. I'm sure we will do her on-line writing classes for high school.
http://blog.bravewriter.com/

Click Schooling - Virtual field trips and fun printables!
http://clickschooling.com/

Fun videos made by homeschoolers for homeschoolers 
Messy Mondays - 

Here we go! 

Wait..school time? I dont think I had a summer vacation yet

Yep, Summer is almost over. I have mixed emotions on this one. I LOVE to have fun, but I also like my kids on a routine. It helps with the loooong hot days in the desert.

We tend to vacation in the fall, so summer is pretty long and I start back to school before vacations have even happened. This year we are camping and then heading to California in a two week time period. The beauty of it, we go in September and we have the beach and forests practically to ourselves!

I just purchased this book on Amazon $.99 for my Kindle. Sounds encouraging!

http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Homeschool-Having-Less-Clutter-ebook/dp/B006GIHQBQ/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1WCEKHH8XQSAH45GKZ6E

So I'm sitting in my school room and I'm motivated to organize the upcoming year. My new purchase, a 10 drawer organizer. Each child has a couple of drawers to hold their daily work. There is a checklist in their top drawer and they check each item off as they go. Creating independent learners is this year's goal. My 6th grader has a weekly syllabus and he can choose to do small amounts each day or get it done in just a few days. This will hopefully prepare him for a college schedule. Well I'm being optimistic in July, aren't I?

 My school room is changed this year. I change it every year to keep us from getting bored. The Tepee was built this summer. I've decided to use it as a reading room.

This picture reminds me that I've decided to drop history this year. I know, GASP! I have the coolest curriculum for it too. Story of the World Vol. 1, some Abeka Old World History readers and even a time line. It was hard for me to put it back in the cabinet. But as I was going over my schedule I was already feeling the weight of adding it into our school day. Who knows I may pull it out second semester. It's one of those subjects I know we will repeat in Jr. High and then again in High School. I mean how many times can you possibly teach about the American Revolution and the Rise of Rome? With five children, you can teach it A LOT...so I'm doing it next year.

This picture also reminds me of the library reading program this year..LAME! It was difficult to sign up for with multiple children and they lacked the little $1 toys that my children loved to fight over. Last year we received free Chipotle kids meals. And where are the Diamond back tickets? ? So, if I could have ever signed up for Fizz Bang Read, or whatever they called it, I would have been greatly disappointed with my free book. Last Spring their reading program deleted our library fines, I am really hoping for that program this year. Although after deleting mine, someone probably lost their job. I'm sure we're supporting someone's take home salary.

Coffee is ready and I must feed the masses..

My 2 cents on Homeschooling

How to begin Homeschooling?

It's a long answer coming from me. I don't take this decision lightly and its been a long, difficult, beautiful road.  I spend the majority of my days thinking about my children's education probably more than on anything else I do. And it has been the most rewarding job I will ever do. Ever heard the phrase, "These are the longest days of the shortest years"? Well that phrase pretty much sums up my homeschooling experience so far.


I began with my oldest son in Kindergarten, and now he's entering the 6th grade. I have a pre-schooler, a kinder, a 3rd grader and a 4th grader coming up behind him! It doesn't seem possible to have come this far. I am so very thankful to have had the opportunity to watch them learn right in front of my eyes! The joys, the triumphs, even the frustration and tears shed have been the driving force behind our journey. Every home school mom I talk to says the same thing, we love to plan and buy curriculum and start the year. The new construction paper, freshly sharpened pencils, new novels to read, new concepts to discover and then... half way through the year, we are done and threatening to run away. The beauty is, you call your other homeschool friends and you take all your grumbling, foot stomping children to the park and let them climb and scream and play and swing. And you and your friends sit on the park bench and commiserate on how your children threw a paper off the desk and stomped away and how your two year old drew all over the walls in her room while you were teaching long division, and you get to laugh together. Because your not alone and there's always tomorrow, and magic erasers, and many more days to try again. So if your thinking of taking this journey, I will step through what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. What I do will probably look nothing like what you will end up doing. That's ok! That's what makes it YOUR school.


So to begin:


Start with the 3R's Reading, Writing and Arithmetic and then find a support group. You will have to try a few groups, a few park days, a few field trips to find where your family fits. Don't give up!
There are many on-line groups. But the best way to find a group is to join an activity. We've met new people with Sports Kidz AZ and Moezart Productions. Both groups can be a little pricey, but they have been well worth the investment.


Curriculum:  Buy used as much as possible
www.homeschoolclassifieds.com
and Covenant resource center are my go to resources.


I would also encourage new home school parents to e-mail Carl Gary. She is a consultant to new homeschool families. She is incredibly helpful when it comes to starting up and if your family has any special needs regarding school.
carol.gary@cox.net 

Carol A. Gary                                                                                                        

AZ State Ambassador

Home School Foundation

"Many Hands Making a Difference in Your Homeschool Community"

www.homeschoolfoundation.org/volunteer

AZStateAmbsdr@cox.net             

I will start listing my personal homeschool resources in the following blog posts. But here are a few you can research!


Here is my list of curriculum that works for my kids. I've tried different things over the years and I continue to implement new things. I will start by listing what I'm doing for different grades this year: (This is just a basic outline, not a schedule to follow) * I have underlined actual curriculum I've purchased.


5-6th: Teaching Textbooks math, multiplication skill sheets, IEW writing class, Abeka reading comprehension skill sheets, Hand Writing Without Tears Typing program, Language Lessons for the Secondary Child, Grammar skills book, Cursive copy work (I find copy work everywhere! the bible, song lyrics, book passages), , Excel and Code writing for computer and  various novel studies.


3-4th: Teaching Textbooks math, multiplication skill sheets, IEW writing class, Phonemic awareness games and reading lessons (I'm creating this on my own), right brain phonics program (Dianne Craft for Dyslexia), HWWT typing program and cursive.Abeka math Various novel Studies


 Pre-school -Kindergarten: Five in A Row volume three, Spectrum kinder math and letter flash cards
various novel studies


We will do the following together as a group:


Apologia Science Swimming Creatures of the Firth Day
Bible
English from the Roots UP - Greek and Latin roots


I will list more curriculum favorites in later posts!

Dear Homeschool Mother - Love this!

Dear mother who doesn't think she's patient enough to homeschool,

I'd love to write and tell you that you have nothing to worry about, but I have to be honest and admit that you are right. You most likely are NOT patient enough right now to homeschool your children. Sad, but true.

You may not always have the patience to:

Deal with the house being messed up throughout the day. People actually living and working in a space tends to mean more mess, more books, more projects, more dirt, etc…

Diligently train them to help clean the house because you'll soon discover that you need all hands on deck in order to keep things running.

Diligently train them to respect your authority.

Teach when you are having a bad day.

Teach them when they are having a bad day.

Research, research, research for the `perfect' curriculum. (hahahaha…)

Teach your child something, only to realize that they still don't get it after you've tried several different ways to explain it and ordered 2 or 3 different programs.

Handle yet another melt-down because they don't understand something.

Multi-task cooking dinner, answering algebra questions, negotiating a sibling argument all while another child practices piano.

And the list could go on…

But if you give up on the possibility of homeschooling because you aren't patient enough than you might just miss out on:

The joy of seeing your child really `get it' after they've struggled to learn something new.

Cuddling on the couch in the middle of the day to read and make memories together.

The tight bond that forms between siblings when they must learn how to get along.

Seeing a breakthrough with a child who was having those meltdowns.

Seeing the fruit of the day-in-day-out parenting work.

Addressing conflict head-on and learning how to work in the midst of it.

Helping your children learn how to work through conflict.

Seeing a child apologize for their lack of patience because they've seen you model that.

Realizing that {character} lessons for him are also lessons for you.

Experiencing character growth yourself.

Learning to laugh.

If you wait to start anything challenging until you have perfect patience you won't do anything at all. We need to remember that patience is forged through perseverance. Patience is not some inborn trait. No, patience is developed.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. James 1:2-3

Before I had children, I seemed to be quite patient. And then, I became a parent… Parenting in and of itself is character building. Homeschooling just amplifies this.

If you are considering homeschooling, the primary question you need to ask is whether or not God wants you to do it? If the answer is a hearty YES, than know that He is going to grow your patience along the way!

So, what to do in those moments when patience is running thin:

Pray, Pray, Pray. When it feels like your day is getting hijacked, you need to be purposeful in prayer. It really beats other `coping mechanisms.'

Rejoice when opportunities arise to grow in patience. Trust me, they'll crop up and rejoicing at the opportunity is going to be much more pleasant and productive than drowning in condemnation.

Recognize the training opportunity. Oftentimes impatience on our part is triggered because we haven't faithfully trained them to do something. We set the tone for the home, the routine and the expectations for behavior. If we are impatient, sometimes it can be because we just need to go back to the `basics' and teach them what is expected and how to do it.

Be Cheerful. Being intentional to say something in a cheerful tone and with a smile on my face really helps me shelve the snarly when it arises.

Put yourself in their shoes… Sometimes I'll catch a glimpse in my child's eye when I'm not being very patient. It takes me instantly back to my own childhood and a time when I was hurt or frustrated by my mom's lack of patience. It helps to try and see things from their perspective.

You Don't Have To Do It All. While we want to embrace opportunities to grow, we can also recognize triggers. There was a brief time growing up when my mom tried to teach me piano. It didn't go over well. She decided the frustration wasn't worth it and quickly found a piano teacher. So pray and discern areas where you need to grow in patience and areas where it might be wise to find outside help.

As a homeschool graduate, I wanted to encourage you that it is OK that you don't have perfect patience. Really. I grew up with an incredible mom, but she certainly wasn't patient all the time. I know the pain and frustration of trying to figure out how to make her happy when she was impatient with us and yet I also watched her diligently turn to God time and time again for help. And you know what? That is what stands out to me now. Instead of the times when she failed, I remember her crying in her room with her Bible open. I remember her coming to us and asking for forgiveness. I remember her encouragement as we all worked as a family in navigating how to live and learn together in harmony. I remember wanting to grow up to become like her.

She grew through the homeschool process and now I'm on my own `growing in patience' journey. I'm grateful for love and grace. I'm thankful for boys who are quick to forgive. I'm thankful for a new day to grow together as a family pursuing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

And I'm praying for your journey too!

"May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." Colossians 1:11

Treasure hunters and pirate sight words

Its been a while since I've posted, but the daily grind of finding new techniques to make my world of reading a better place, is in full swing. We are moving in a kind of rhythm these days, we have found some peace and the learning is...might I actually say...fun? Yep, I'm throwing it out there. And for any mom with a child with learning disabilities, that can be a daunting task. Force feeding learning down a child's throat is possible, but you risk killing the desire to learn in that child. Don't get me wrong, I would pay big bucks to put language arts in an IV and hook my kids up to it. Unfortunately, it requires not only my ability to conjure magical ways to make learning fun, but also opening up their minds to new ideas. There is no way to force this on anyone. We have to decide if we want to retain something. Think about all you learned in school, its only the stuff that was fun to you, that you retained. Or the stuff that some creative teacher made fun, and somehow burned it into your brain. That being said, our jobs as parents/teachers can be very difficult!
I have a few new ideas, nothing amazing but things that are working and brightening up our days.

Just this week, the kids and I watched the Today shows story on Forrest Fenn. Look it up, its a fun story! We are embarking on a treasure hunt and possibly field trip to New Mexico. We will see how far we get on the clues. So in the meantime, my 1st grader, who does not have a learning disability, just a disinterest in reading, and my 2nd grader with dyslexia have been giving me bouts of anxiety about the next school year. I know, why can't wait until summer to worry about next year? Unfortunately, it came to me that if we didn't get into gear, I'd have another year of two non-readers... Ugh... that is not something I want to deal with. I want at least two fluent readers and maybe one that's a struggling learner. That, I can at least comfortably close my eyes and get a good night's sleep with. Sooo...as I pondered the fun in treasure hunting, I realized that this could  make some interesting reasons to want to read. Voila! An idea to make things funner, came to mind. (it's a word and I'm using it!). I created 6 reading clues, some small words to sound out and some of the hated "sight words", hid them all over the house and placed a $1 bill in a treasure box. Amazing what a little creativity and cold hard cash can accomplish. My two little treasure hunters were running around the house, hardly noticing they were reading. Success! No crying, no frustration, just fun. It set the mood of our day very well. We did our sight words with sidewalk chalk on the back patio and then buried ourselves in Forrest Fenn's hidden treasure. Some may say that because we didn't do hours of book learning and flash cards and reading, that the day was wasted. But for me, it was a day of triumph to see my children find the joy in learning. Tonight, Graham opened his e-mail account and sent me the following e-mail:

hi mom you are full of love

And Noah began blogging about his treasure hunt. I will post his postings as they are ready. He will need some help with the poem's clues!

Now for the latest in "sight word art", Daniel and I came up with a picture for "are". Some of these sight words are so difficult to match with a picture.

Pirates say ARE ggghh!

This is a fun story I found at the library and we listened and made a lap book. The lapbook downloads were all free and was to find. This a fun story for boys who don't love reading.

I have now exhausted my idea cache for the week. please post any ideas you may have, I'm always looking for new and improved ways to learn.

As promised..Dealing with Dyslexia Part 3

Our daily routine cont....

8. Paragraph writing - Writing is extremely difficult for someone who doesn't read fluently or at all! Reading and writing is all about patterns. Graham has extreme difficulty deciphering these types of patterns. So, in most cases writing something makes absolutely no sense to him because he usually doesn't know what he's writing. He loves to tell me stories and he can give me great detail about a story that he's heard. Graham is an auditory learner. This is the case for most students who deal with dyslexia. We have found that stories on CD or Stories on his ipod, are the very best way for him to hear something he can then write about. I normally check out as many books on CD the library will lend me and when his older brother has reading time, Graham, has reading time. This is providing Graham with an enriching environment with no pressure. This speaks to Graham's natural intelligence. He is able to take what he hears from a book and then he can begin to write. I cannot sit Graham down an ask him to write an introductory sentence, the body and the conclusion. So we use the story web  method.

This is not the best photo. However, you get the point. It looks like a spider web. The center circle is the main idea and the circles around the main idea, make up the remaining paragraphs or sentences. Making the last circle, the concluding sentence. This is a time intensive project for the teacher. You have to ask the student leading questions to get the paper formed. We have done this about 5 times this year so far, and each time gets easier. Once the web is formed, we number the circles and he copies each numbered circle onto his paper. He is proud to have accomplished these papers. They have meaning to him, even if he cannot read them fluently. He knows that he knew the right answers to complete this project. To help keep Graham on the correct line and to help him spatially on the page. I highlight the lines with highlighter marker. If he has to write a lot on different lines, you may want to do each line in a different color.

The books we are using right now to inspire us, are from a company called Black Bird and Co..
http://www.blackbirdandcompany.com/  This program is all about creative writing. I use whatever grade level that has a book that would interest Graham. I can tone down or ramp up the work book to whatever level Graham is working at. The main objective is to feed Graham's interest level. I think this is the key to teaching any child with a learning disability. Find the interest and create the learning environment around that interest. If I cannot find a particular book already created on CD. I have bought an inexpensive microphone and have been recording my own. Recording things for Graham has become it's very own learning tool as well. Not to sidetrack too much, but once I learned Graham was an auditory learner, (which doesn't include me talking straight to his face, too many distractions involved) I have begun to use CD's and his ipod to record everything from his address, phone number, math facts and even his chore lists.

9. Vocabulary - I use a book recommended by Dianne Craft, called Vocabulary Cartoons. www.vocabularycartoons.com. Fun and easy! No explanations required.

Some other helpful work books are search and find books, like Where's Waldo. Play lots of games to keep the mind active without applying all the pressure. Perfection is a great game to keep the eyes moving and finding object and patterns.

Just a reminder...

When things get hairy and everyone wants to cry.

1. STOP
2. GET UP
3. GRAB A DRINK (water preferably)
4. HAVE THE STUDENT RUN AROUND, DO A JUMPING JACK, SWING ON A SWING
5. RE-CONVENE AND TRY AGAIN

I had to do it just today as a matter of fact. Every day is a challenge and every day is a triumph.

Some ideas for curriculum for children with learning difficulties

Scaredy Cat Reading Program

http://cathyduffyreviews.com/phonics_reading/scaredy-cat-reading.htm


Miquon Math Program

http://www.fun-books.com/books/miquon_math.htm

I have not tried these. I thought they looked interesting though!