tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25954642116171658672024-03-13T05:02:54.396-07:00MidLife Homeschool MomI am a MidLife Homeschool Mom. After 18 years as a working mother (six years of this as a single mom), my life completely changed when I remarried at 39, started a new family and became a SAHM. Life is blessed - and challenging. Following an ADD and PDD-NOS (autism spectrum disorder) diagnosis of our oldest son, I transformed into Super Mommy Homeschool Teacher. Since I am also in the glory of midlife, this is a new and challenging chapter in my life. Here is our story....Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-10176124438854036002015-05-04T08:46:00.000-07:002015-05-04T08:52:53.973-07:00Year 3/Week 34: A Bittersweet Aloha<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is my last homeschool blog post for Midlife Homeschool Mom...I think. Since I am tearing down the classroom to make it into a dining room again for my oldest daughter's wedding shower this weekend (we have four more weeks of school but it can all be done without the classroom), I thought it would be the right time to give an appropriate send-off to my first/best/only attempt at homeschool in this lifetime.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The first thing that I realized when I started packing up the classroom was how much STUFF I have accumulated! A lifelong bookworm and pack rat, this adventure in homeschooling was a total magnet for every book, notebook, game or other shiny doodad that I ever wanted to find its way into my home. I know now that I probably love learning more than either of my boys because the neat stuff I found for every subject was definitely more interesting to me than they turned out to be for them!</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's also the sad part - I wanted to give them my true love for learning, but I don't think I accomplished that miracle. I think I did break down the barriers between home and school so that they will always carry the idea that learning can be anywhere, but I don't think they'll ever read or research for fun the way I did (for goodness sake, I read the ENCYCLOPEDIA for fun when I was a kid - who does that?!?!) But at least I got to do a lot of that with them and we had a ton of good times along the way.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't think it's a coincidence that I restarted my own education two years into our schooling and at this writing, I'm three weeks away from completing an entire course in Medical Coding that should start me on a brand new journey in my life - one that requires lifelong learning to keep up my skills - so that should take care of my curiosity these days!</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, it's been a privilege, a joy, a relief and a blessing to have had these three years with my boys every day and teach and learn with them. Since my husband has been working from home this whole time as well, we have had a rare opportunity that many families in our country no longer have - 24 hour a day family time combined with work and school. Sometimes it's been very hard to be together so much all the time, but mostly it has been the most amazing experience that I know we all will remember and cherish the rest of our lives.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, to these last three years and all the magical (and NOT so magical) moments we've had...I've decided to say "aloha". Since it means "hello"and "goodbye" to us as well as the original Hawaiian meanings of "peace", "affection", "compassion" and "mercy", it seems the perfect word to sum up our experience. And since it doesn't mean a definite goodbye, it also means that we - and life - are always ready to embrace this experience again if it is meant for us in the future.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank You, Lord, Thank You, Homeschooling, Thank You OLPH school for taking care of my boys after this....and Aloha.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Midlife Homeschool Mom</span></i><br />
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Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838703212179939814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-12575194331981038462015-01-05T13:47:00.004-08:002015-01-05T14:04:39.614-08:00Year 3/Week 16: Homeschool Halftime and our Hail Mary pass to the end zone...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Happy New Year 2015! This last year has been a completely full, tumultuous, difficult year that we are happy to see behind us. Besides losing two deeply beloved family members, getting really kicked in the tail by income taxes and having our rusted water heater flood our basement, we had a rough time in home school. Ever since last year, I've felt like our school was a car with a tire getting ready to go flat - bumpy, unsure and scary. It wasn't feeling right and I was realizing I needed help. I had looked for different curricula and tutors, but nothing seemed to come up. Homeschool was getting harder and harder for all of us. These blog posts became fewer and fewer because it was hard to talk about.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This time last year, my husband and I had a real "Come to Jesus" talk with the boys about the reality of homeschool if their attitude didn't change (and by "they", I mean my oldest son). While we continued on as best we could, each week that passed left me feeling more and more worried that I wouldn't be able to meet my oldest son's specials needs as well as the harder high school requirements that are looming ahead in another year. I didn't have anywhere else to turn - and we weren't ready to go back to public school - so I just dug my trenches deeper and kept fighting.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Fast forward to this fall. We started school a little late with a newly painted schoolroom, but I have to admit, with no enthusiasm at all on my part. One particularly lazy Sunday, hubby and I had a chance phone conversation with a neighbor while drinking coffee and were struck with the revelation that our new church's parochial school might be an excellent option for the boys. Since I was already enrolled in a college program to certify me to work as a medical coder next year which would cover the expenses, we started investigating the possibility and after many meetings, tours, and prayer, I can finally say:</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>This is our last year of homeschool!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For now. Our original plan was never for me to homeschool permanently, but only to get us out of an environment that wasn't good for our family, which we did. Starting in the fall, we'll be dealing with all new schools, whether private or public, which is a plus no matter how you look at it. Although I do feel like a failure for not continuing our lovely homeschool for another seven years (yikes!), I know that is not what God intended for me or the family. We are still taking it one year at a time (because once Danny finishes 8th grade next year, we'll still have to make the decision of which high school he attends). The one part that is NOT scary is that we now know that homeschool is always here for us as an option and we definitely know we can do it! Also, after some work experience under my belt, I will be qualified to work from home as a medical coder in a year or two, so I even have the option to homeschool later AND work, if need be.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But until the end of this school year, we homeschool. Today was our first day back after winter break and I think it was physically painful for all of us to adjust. We had some nice family reading time, some great math review together and laughs, but we also had our first tears when Danny's science assignment required some math that we hadn't quite covered yet. So, it continues. I am trying to treasure each and every day of homeschool now, the same way that I treasure their growing years after losing the girls to adulthood already. We are blessed to have this. And we are blessed to have the option to leave it as well.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Happy New Year and God Bless you all!</i></span></div>
Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-24741660462620625052015-01-05T12:56:00.002-08:002015-01-05T14:01:27.847-08:00Year 3/Week 7: Homeschool is the easy way out...and the hard way<div dir="ltr">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We backed into homeschooling. We had never even thought of homeschooling until the public school system completely failed us. We worked for over two years with our school administrators and teachers, attended countless meetings, drove our son into Baltimore for extensive and expensive evaluations and cried countless tears..all for nothing.<br />
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Because we had no choice for our sons education and mental health, we dove into homeschooling. In some ways, and I'm sure to some people, it looked like we took the easy way out. We didn't stay and fight, because I didn't want anyone we had to FORCE to do the right thing teaching my children. And because it was such a relief and Godsend, it did feel easy at first. But I now know all the reasons that homeschooling is the harder choice.....at least for me and my children.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Homeschool owns my life. At one time, I sent my sons to "professional teachers" and I did my own mommy things. These "things" included cleaning, grocery shopping, and a part time job, which quickly fell by the wayside and were replaced by class preparation, grading papers, driving the boys to homeschool classes in art, music and PE..oh, and teaching various subjects from English to ancient Egyptian history. At the exact moment in my life when I thought I was going to escape these four walls and return to "my" life after a wonderful decade of being a stay at home mom, I was sucked right back in without even a preschool class reprieve. This one hit me the hardest.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. I..and I alone..am responsible for my sons' education. That one thought has kept me awake countless nights. I can no longer just drop my child at the big brick building and assume all his education needs will be taken care of. If I forget to cover health this week...they don't learn it. Period. I can't blame anyone else, which leads me to...</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. There is no one to blame but me. This is the hardest one. As much as I hated arguing with the school, at least I was the"good guy" and they were the "bad guy". I had righteous reasons to complain and somewhere to aim. Now, the only person I can blame when my son doesn't know something..is in the mirror.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All these things are humbling and terrifying and I often wish they were not my life...but when I try to think of myself on the sidelines of my sons' education again, I really can't picture myself being meek and mild again and so...</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4. I've become very choosy about whom I will let teach my children. Now that I know what they need and how they work, I will need to trust a new teacher an awful lot before I will feel comfortable leaving them in charge. They are no longer just glorified babysitters who educate my boys in some strange, indecipherable method which I could never do...I am doing that job and I have expectations now. This one didn't hit me until this year and surprised me. </span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So don't let anyone fool you that homeschoolers sit around all day and make cookies in our pajamas...</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because actually we DO do that .....but we <u>do</u> MORE...so much more. :)</span></i></div>
Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-76313737168317457642014-10-04T14:25:00.001-07:002014-10-04T14:25:24.386-07:00Year 3/Week 5: Homeschool performance reviews<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>As many homeschoolers know, one of the hardest parts of being a homeschool mom is the feeling of ...independence?...isolation?...alone at the top-ness?...well, the feeling that since your own homeschool is one-of-a-kind and happily unique, there really is no one to give you that daily feedback about how you are doing in your very important work. Motherhood is by design a thankless job...by that, I mean we do all our mothering unconditionally without expectation of thanks..but homeschool parenting is motherhood on speed. So, once in a while, when we get that moment when the skies open up and God reaches down and shows us how we are doing...it is a beautiful thing. :)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Soooo..this is how it happened. We are studying Ancient Egypt at the moment, so the exhibit nearby at the Natural History Museum was our first family field trip (happily, with my hubby as well) and it went splendidly. We got to the mall around noon to a perfect 70 degree day and slightly cloudy, so no sunburn worries. We dropped by the Insect Zoo exhibit on our way to the mummies...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Danny was fascinated by the leaf bugs</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>..but once we got there, the boys did a great job of relating our current reading of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Goblet" target="_blank"> The Golden Goblet</a> , Story of the World 1 and other readings we've had this month. Ben was proud of himself that he could identify the parts of the mummy on xray and took all the quizzes...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Of course, there was lots of cool stuff. A great 3000 year old inner sarcophagus...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>..and even a visit to the Live Butterfly enclosure that Ben REALLY wanted to do and then wanted to leave in five minutes because REALLY BIG BUTTERFLIES were flying around his head! Hahaha</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> Once we were done with our "planned visit", we made another attempt to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights at the National Archives. We had tried this on our last visit in the spring, but something major must have been going on at the Archives that day, because the line had been out the door and around the corner and we hadn't even bothered. But this time..no line! We got in right away and as we were in line to view the documents, I was going over the meaning of the documents and why we had each one (one to declare our independence, one to define what our new country and what we stood for, and a third to further delineate rights of individuals in our country). I was trying to do this in a way both boys would understand simply and easily and they would remember from our last two year study of American History. All was going swimmingly and I was happy we all could remember so much of what we had learned, when a 30-something gentlemen behind us asked "Are you a teacher". Gratefully, I did not say "no", since I've finally learned that I AM, so I laughed and pointed to the boys and said "We are homeschoolers!". At this point, the man completely surprised me by saying, "That was the most simple and straightforward explanation of these documents that I've ever heard. I asked that because I teach college-age students and I haven't heard anything before that was that easy to understand." Wow. Just wow. I just got a pat on the back by the Great Teacher Review Board in the sky and I floated on Cloud Nine until I got home. Some days are just that good.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We get it, we really get it</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Point and match. I'm done. Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Obligatory yearly Easter island Head </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>#HomeschoolWin</i></span></div>
Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-1667471070472516622014-09-26T16:01:00.002-07:002014-09-26T16:02:52.956-07:00Year 3/Week 4/Final bodycount...any *&$% day...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>One of the most frustrating things, if not the MOST frustrating thing, about homeschooling a child with a behavioral/neurological disorder is that you can count on...absolutely nothing. There is no guarantee any day will go well, and more likely, if you've had a couple of good days under your belt, the odds increase exponentially each day that THIS day will be a disaster. And this can happen any time on any day. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>ANY. DAMN. DAY.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Let me repeat that. Uncertainty and surprise are my life homeschooling with ASD in our lives...not to mention the looming menace of my health issues. But at least my health issues stay mostly at a constant low ebb and I've worked most of our classes around the possibility that the boys may have to work alone. But ASD...that just lives to create chaos in our school.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our week was going pretty well. The basics were getting done and even though Danny seemed to be stalling every day and pushing me to the limit every evening before he was finally done, he was doing all his work and getting great scores. Then today. I already knew today was going to be tough on me, because I had a really scary episode with my back last night..the worst since my surgery, in fact. So I had already planned the boys were only going to do the basics and I wouldn't ask more of them. Easy, right?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Four hours after we started school, Danny had done exactly 12 math problems independently. Twelve. Addition and multiplication problems. And nothing else. For those four hours, I had checked on him, encouraged him, tried to help him...and then when I realized he has accomplished next to nothing, I just lost it. Frustrated, mad, pissed off, you name it. It's just beyond my comprehension. I'm tired, in pain, out of patience, it's Friday afternoon...you name it. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Then he puts his head down and cries.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And I'm done. Again.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And I'm putty in his hands. He breaks down and tells me he is having "one of the days" where he can't even add 9+9. And he didn't tell me. Just kept trying and trying and nothing made sense for him. And I feel awful. My whole day flips topsy turvy in 2 seconds and I am hugging him and kissing him and trying to make it work again. And realizing how a "normal" school would never understand that on Monday we'll have to stop and review addition and subtraction and basic multiplication. Again. Until it kicks in again. That's when I'm so glad he's with me...and scared he'll never be able to go back to a "real school". Ever.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So, we sit on my bed and I study my college text and he reads his reading novel..and hold hands and smile. And I hug him every five minutes until he's ready to move to the next subject. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I'm so ready for the weekend.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-36729677124360681042014-09-23T12:13:00.000-07:002014-09-23T12:27:45.788-07:00Year 3/Week 4: A Return to Normalcy..for us, anyway...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This is our fourth week of homeschool for Year 3 and the first day of fall. So thankful this summer is over...it was a bear! And for the first time in our 5th and 7th grade schooling, we are finally falling in a regular routine and our house is beginning to recover. Once the painting was done, it took me a full week to restock the schoolroom (not including the space we are losing because the bay window ceiling is still leaking) and de-junkify the front living room. Today we finally got the TV room decluttered and vacuumed and it FINALLY feels ready to face company again. Now, once I get my office and upper hallway cleared of the stuff we loaded out of the basement from the flood...and box up or donate all the stuff in the basement...and move the basement furniture...and get the carpet in the basement replaced..we'll be set :)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The boys are on a regular schedule of a core daily program of math, English, reading, instrument practice, Bible/religion study, and what I call MYH (Move Your Hiney time, which is a daily chart of stretching, strength exercises and cardio they can choose from to complete their 30 minutes daily) and they are falling into step pretty well. We've still had to work at Danny not getting distracted while on the computer for math and English, but I've got to admit, he is really trying hard. Which is nice after last week, where I was SERIOUSLY one step from driving him up and enrolling him in school...public school, church school, ANY school! But we got through that (for now) and we're doing okay.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our school week includes "add-ins" of history, geography, science, health and art as I can fit them in and find good lessons. Music is still weekly band lessons with Encore Academy and I'm just as excited as the boys that we are moving up to Intermediate Band this year. Woot!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This is our first year not using the Sonlight Instructor's Guide for history, although I did buy a good amount of the Sonlight Readers to use in conjunction with our Story of the World studies this year. I've made the executive decision (which I am still realizing I can do) to limit our studies to Egypt, Greece, Rome and as much of the Middle Ages and Renaissance as we can get to this year. Since this is Danny's last year with me (and it SO is...lol), I want to touch on as much of World History as I can before he goes. I wish we could have made it to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this year, but we got rained out on the only free weekend before baseball started. Serious bummer for Mom/Teacher.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But the reason we are missing the Ren Fest is awesome...the boys are playing baseball for the very first time (which is also most of their cardio for MYH time)...and loving it! I couldn't be more tickled, because this is really hubby's sport and he is right in there helping them practice, getting their equipment and taking them to the batting cages, practices and games. I finally feel like I'm seeing one of the biggest payoffs we'll get from homeschooling - having enough time in our schedule to try different activities including this one, which is a homerun for everyone this time. :)</i></span><br />
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Danny's first baseball team warming up before the game...he's #53 :)</div>
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Ben at his first practice before he got rained out..complete with game face :)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So, now that the house is fairly under control and the boys have their work finished in good time today, I'm off to list more of my growing pile of "give aways" on my eBay store and do a little studying for my own classes while I'm at it. Yee-haw! Talk to you during my next breather....MLM</i></span></div>
Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-48140882815960228172014-09-08T18:56:00.000-07:002014-09-08T18:56:11.149-07:00Year 3/Week 2: Seriously?<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Just looking at today's title, I couldn't believe we are actually homeschooling into Year 3 - who would have thought?!?! Many things have changed over the years, including the frequency of my blogs, but it's a great way to start the year, so here goes (many pardons to all my Facebook buddies who have already seen these in real time)...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Week 2, you say? What happened to Week 1? Well, let me show you....</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This was our classroom during the first week of school.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I guess I also need to let you know that we started our school year AFTER Labor Day, as well. And AFTER my birthday, the day after Labor Day...and even though we started as late as 9/3/14, we still didn't start a full schedule because we were still in the middle of THIS: repainting a good portion of our first floor (which we had been putting off for years...and, obviously, until the end of this summer.) We had a fun first week, though! After our traditional first day picture and annual "field trip" to Dunkin Donuts...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>First day of Homeschool 2014-2015</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>we had an easy day of grocery shopping and then reading happily after finding Minecraft novels at BJs...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Third year of homeschool and finally found books they really LIKE to read!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Finding these books was a real Godsend to me since the boys have humored me by reading books I've assigned or helped them choose at the library, but they LOVED these. Finally! I may still have to assign reading time, but they won't complain..:)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our second day of school was fun and busy. We headed up to Mt. Airy first to <a href="http://talbotrun.com/">Talbot Run Equestrian Center</a> for a homeschool Intro to Horseback Riding lesson. It was the first time the boys were ever on a horse, and they had a fantastic time. Danny giggled the whole time and Ben looked like he was born to ride...they are already bugging me when we are going next! Since it's an expensive hobby, we'll probably only be able to go once a month or so, but looking forward to giving them these great opportunities in whatever years we have left at Varga School.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Danny and Ben sitting like champs</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We finished our Thursday classes with a "math/spelling bee" on the car ride further north to our band lesson in Hampstead. Love our <a href="http://www.encoremusic.us/">Encore Academy</a> instructor and bandmates..it's a great perk and break for all of us each week. Our first week ended with a relaxing day on Friday while Dad took over the boys and watched over their reading assignment and took them for haircuts while I fled to the library to study for my Medical Coding class. After we were all done, we headed to Rockburn Park for a fun class through Howard County Parks and Rec, Introduction to Geocaching. We had a great time, found a few practice caches and got our smartphones set up to do more in the future. Loved it!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So, we were lucky that our first week really didn't require the classroom. We kicked tail finishing the painting over the weekend so that today (Monday), we were ready for REAL classes like this:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Ben and Danny doing their Math lesson in our new setup</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Besides not having things hung on the walls yet, we did pretty good and covered our first "full" day of subjects with math (Teaching Textbooks on DVD w/workbook again), English (Essentials in Writing on DVD w/workbook), instrument practice, reading and P.E. I'll be adding in History, Science, Art and other electives as we get further into the semester. I am just SO relieved to have my first floor back in working order for the first time in FOREVER, that everything seems so much easier now. Once I get all the subjects up and running, I'll be able to tackle re-carpeting the basement from the Spring Flood of '14 and all the crazy that will entail. But that's for another time. For now, we are just enjoying the normal!!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Til next breather - MHM</i></span></div>
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Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838703212179939814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-85595568200590444492014-06-03T17:22:00.001-07:002014-06-03T17:22:20.534-07:00Year 2/Week 34: The Year I Stopped Searching and Surrendered<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dear Father, forgive me. It's been
three months since my last Homeschool Blog entry.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can't begin to list the differences
between homeschooling this year, our second year, and last year.
However, I think the biggest difference overall is that I've
completely narrowed my focus. I've stopped searching under every rock
for all the possible different curricula/approaches/gadgets I could
use in our homeschool (although, to be fair, it was the right way to
start and now I own about everything I could possibly need..) - and
now, I've started to teach from a new place. My own center. Now that
I belong to every possible email/Yahoo newslist and group in my town
and state, along with a multitude of support groups of every possible
need I could have, I find that all that information is starting to
sound like a lot of noise these days.
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have what I need, at least for now.
My boys' needs change every day and some days I think we are going
down the entirely wrong path and panic. Then we take a break for a
day, a week, a month...and we end up back with the same tools that
have worked for us and they start to work for us again. All the
wheels start to mesh again and the great Varga Homeschool machine
begins it's beautiful humming pace.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It has been a long, hard year. We
started the year with a terrible attitude in the midst of our group
(he who shall remain nameless...OLDEST SON) and it almost killed our
school. Every day seemed an agony and the joy was gone. It had
started to appear at the end of our first year of homeschool, so now my dread over the
summer and lack of enthusiasm when we re-started in September make
perfect sense, although it baffled me at the time.
</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My oldest son also spent most of 2013
scaling that awful, terrible trainwreck of a brick wall we call “Long
Division”. I thought we would both lose our minds, however for
different reasons, because math has always been easy for me and my challenge was to see the problems the way HE saw them. </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But somewhere along the way, God had mercy on us, equations began to make sense and we started to make slow progress and chug slowly down the track again. I guess it didn't really matter anyway, because w</span></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">e lost most of our next year to vacations and family
tragedies that would sidetrack anyone. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Derailed briefly by the holiday crazy
that is Christmas, we had already lost some momentum and never really gotten it back, but then when we hit April,
we totally lost it. We had expected to lose school time during Holy
Week and the following weeks when we had planned our annual “big”
vacation to Disney, but we hadn't expected to lost the next week to
the death of a beloved family member and the week after that to a
flood in our basement due to a rusted-out water heater. It turned
from ugly, then into unbelievable, and finally into surrender. That's when I learned
the biggest “downside” of homeschool:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every..Single...Thing that
happens at home affects homeschooling.</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But here's the good news: Here we sit in the first week of
June and everyone is actually doing amazing. School work is clicking
along at a record pace, everyone is doing their work diligently and I
don't feel stress during the school day at all. Well, until they poke
each other for the umpteenth time and I think my brain will explode.
But that's boys, not homeschool...</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At this rate, we plan to keep schooling
right through the summer, with our planned week-long mini vacations
still happening in between, and maybe a larger break in August before
the “real” school year begins. It's not the way we did it last
year-and it may not be the way we do it next year-and that's okay.</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because I'm the principal and this is
our school.
</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And every day is “home” school. :)</span></i></div>
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<br />
</div>
Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-84596935802281769122014-03-14T19:19:00.000-07:002014-03-14T19:19:46.806-07:00Year 2/Week 25: Seeing the Light<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This week I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! Once I realized we were in Week 25 and I started to sort work for my end-of-the-year umbrella school review, I got to see the big picture of how we were doing and it started to come into focus. Yes, we have problems, but thank the Lord we are homeschooling and they can get addressed. It seems the more we homeschool, the more we "unschool". Maybe that's why this year seems so much more chaotic than last year - and scarier. I'm not trying to stick to a strict curricum, but rather be more organic in working with my kids where they are. When they feel like it - which is almost never with my middle-schooler. The month of February, while the shortest month of the year, seemed to last forever for us. We have no pictures of what we did and I think it's best we just forget it happened...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I did realize that middle school happens, whether you homeschool or public school. Some days are almost intolerable with a tween and some are almost okay the way it was when we started. I'm starting to REALLY appreciate the good days when we have them! Every day is definitely a challenge. Last week things did FINALLY start to fall into place for the first time in 2014. After a few cancellations due to lack of enrollment, we finally started our Abrakadoodle art class and PE class at the YMCA. It was such a relief to know they were getting instruction in those subjects, because even though we do ad hoc artwork and the boys place outside and do workouts on our basement glider machine, I love that they are learning from specialists in those areas - and from someone other than me! </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Monday the boys' Abrakadoodle class did a study of reflection along with learning about Vermeer...guess who did a reflection of Big Ben and who did the study of a green train? One guess. :)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The first 2014 Abrakadoodle - Reflection art a la Vermeer</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It's hard to believe it's only been a week since Lent began last week, but we had a good start to Lent this year. Maybe that's why things have finally started to turn around! We actually began Tuesday with making a lapbook of the history of Mardi Gras and baking a King Cake - my first! Easy to do with Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and the boys liked dyeing the sugar with food coloring - and eating it :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-qOU3NF0x_ro7FxSG8HMk6-Ohm7KuUy69bm9n378KS_SukgUxCH4-Osvte4Cyhp5Qc25EuZzQOP0IbUaNPcxD4Yv-OgrhvTEB-j5-WRM_onE2MJ6gbcinfoI4XQNdipWUnzg9r_pamAk/s1600/2014+King+cake+colored+sugar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-qOU3NF0x_ro7FxSG8HMk6-Ohm7KuUy69bm9n378KS_SukgUxCH4-Osvte4Cyhp5Qc25EuZzQOP0IbUaNPcxD4Yv-OgrhvTEB-j5-WRM_onE2MJ6gbcinfoI4XQNdipWUnzg9r_pamAk/s1600/2014+King+cake+colored+sugar.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWgtWKQTZBgzEA0-xsuGtGBAJwyK-I-M8nfYc2V8bhEs-S8SKshcESf54eDeb7nE7298l0MDvxS1UimTSSzfbSwjHIMkiMuYoCZAEnbkcxWktg2o7rO0AouyEU-1nK3L3Jnhetsvukwvc/s1600/2014+King+cake+finished.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWgtWKQTZBgzEA0-xsuGtGBAJwyK-I-M8nfYc2V8bhEs-S8SKshcESf54eDeb7nE7298l0MDvxS1UimTSSzfbSwjHIMkiMuYoCZAEnbkcxWktg2o7rO0AouyEU-1nK3L3Jnhetsvukwvc/s1600/2014+King+cake+finished.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
The finished King Cake<br />
Making the colored sugar<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our Mardi Gras Lapbooks</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>On Wednesday, we had a nice discussion of Lent using our Lent calendar that looks like a Chutes and Ladder game. We discussed what is involved in Fasting, Almsgiving, and self-denial in order to work on self-control. I'll let you know how I'm doing on this...as soon as I stop playing Farmville 2 the way I was supposed to...:)</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Since the boys tend to hibernate in the endless winter we decided to take a nature walk (with remote control car thanks to Danny) at the Ellicott City Trolley Trail on our first nice spring Saturday over the weekend. Although we had to pry Danny out of the house with a shoe horn, they loved getting back out on the trail. We had the normal Danny breakdown halfway through - where he balked because we wouldn't let him go down a steep cliff to run his car in the creek at the bottom - but we lived through it again and it was so nice to get out in the beautiful rare warm day in Maryland these days.</i></span><br />
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Excited about the frozen waterfall</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Happy the amphibious RC car survived</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although Monday and Tuesday of this week started out fairly normally (and our new history reader "The Terrible Wave" is about the Johnstown flood - unbelievably relevant since that is George's hometown and we can work a visit to the Johnstown Flood Museum and Discover center during our visit home this weekend!), once again we didn't have a full school week.</i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This week our little sleep issue worsened (Danny has begun to stay up ALL night-in his room- without our knowledge which really throws off our day activities) and Ben got strep throat. Actually, he started with a sore throat last weekend off and on and by Wednesday he had a fever, so I took him to the doctor and had him checked for strep. Nothing on the rapid test, so we treated with ibuprofen and smoothies to drink. Because of running to the doctor and other stuff, we didn't have school on Wednesday or Thursday and Ben rested alot, but since he seemed no worse on Friday, we did have reading and spelling and started a science lab. Very minimal but at least it was something. Then - I get the call from the doctor that the strep culture came back positive...and not long afterward, Ben goes downhill very fast. He is miserable in pain and crying as the pain goes to his ear. And he has to miss a friend's birthday party at the gokart track. Not a good week for Ben, all in all. Thank goodness the antibiotics are in him and he's sleeping at the moment. Small blessings that mean alot.</i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Less than three months...:)</i></div>
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Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-76684917160532118742014-02-07T22:22:00.001-08:002014-02-07T22:22:50.945-08:00Year 2/Week 20: It's not how you start, it's how you finish...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The nice part about this week was that it ended better than it began...thank the Lord...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This school week (number 20 by school attendance days, but more like week 15 by actual curriculum completed..argh) started rather rough. We've slowly but surely been revving back up to full school mode since the December trauma we call "Christmas Break", but last weekend put a little bump in our road. We took last Friday off school and spent the weekend with my husband's family to celebrate the life and send off our dear Aunt Mary to Heaven. She was the sweetest, most innocent soul I've ever known and I was so happy that she got to know my boys so well and play with them for her last years, especially since my dear mother-in-law passed away when my youngest hadn't even turned a year old. So my boys got a life lesson in the beautiful traditions that included the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_service_(Orthodox)" target="_blank">Panachida</a>, or memorial service, of the Byzantine Rite of the Catholic Church, a sweet Mass at the lovely family church and a coffee and dessert reception given to us by the Sisters of St. Basil at Mt. St. Macrina in Uniontown after the burial. It was their first chance to really see and participate in a funeral service and I was as proud of their grown-up behavior as I was to show them the rich and beautiful heritage that they are inheriting from their father's family.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Aunt Mary, Danny and Ben in 2006</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So...after that HUGE life lesson, we started our school week on Monday...with the news that our art class with Abrakadoodle (which was to start a six week session this Tuesday) had been cancelled due to low enrollment. With this following on the heels on our PE class at the local YMCA being cancelled as well this session, I was beginning to be a little frustrated that I won't be able to find something to complete all the boys' electives this session. Last year, I was amazed at all the homeschool activities in the area that seemed to be EVERYWHERE and this year, they seemed to be drying up as fast as I could sign them up. Even the January homeschool days at the Maryland Science Center weren't offering anything remotely interesting to me or the boys, so I hadn't even bothered to sign them up. More on that next time..</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But even though art was cancelled, at least the boys seemed to be "back in the saddle" with the schoolwork rhythm again and not fighting their work every day. At least, I thought so, until I realized that one of the reasons they loved the new online Time4Learning curriculum we started as a "breather coarse" after the holidays was because they had been skipping the quiz and test icons on the activity screen and were just breezing through the reading and instruction without really doing any work. Things hit the fan when I had them start doing those little ditties this week and the scores were abysmal...to say the least. So I weaned them off the online history and science portions this week and back onto our regular Sonlight and Mr. Q's lessons and, frankly, I was glad to be back. We are in the Post-Reconstruction American History period and it's a fun time to study the growth of the country across the West by railroad and all the amazing inventions of the time as well. The Sonlight reading that correlates is </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Wheel-Robert-Lawson/dp/0802777058/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391837180&sr=1-1&keywords=the+great+wheel+by+robert+lawson" target="_blank">"The Great Wheel"</a> </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">by Robert Lawson about the first Ferris Wheel at the Chicago World's Fair and the boys are enjoying it so far - even my pitiful attempts at an Irish accent. :)</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">***By the way, does anyone else have a problem with their child not being able to read historical literature because they can't decipher the colloquial speech in the books? It's fun for me to read because I know how it's suppose to sound, but it makes life miserable for my youngest. Their independent reader this time is "Old Yeller" (yeah, I know how it ends and we'll probably all cry, but even though I've dreaded reading it all my life, I want to do it with the boys because it's about a boy and his dog and all...), and I'm actually going to let them read along with an audio book from the library so they can read along but not get bogged down by that.***</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In science, they are working on weather fronts and air masses that cause storms, and even though it's very relevant with the crazy weather we are having this winter and we have great conversations, it is still confusing enough to us that we have alot of sympathy for the weatherman around here! It felt really good to be engaged with the boys again talking about things that really mattered and watching their brains work. It's more tiring for me and I get a lot less housework done, but it's so much more rewarding. :)</i><br />
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Science - Throw boiling water in freezing temps!</div>
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Winter Art - colored water frozen in balloons, then peeled!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The week was pretty successful, all in all. We've had snow days one after the other with the public schools here and usually we just trudge along through our homeschool work (usually a little abbreviated). However, this week by public school snow day number 2, I gave them a real snow day (minus instrument practice and glider time for exercise) on Wednesday. As I was settling in for a relaxing afternoon with the income tax software, Ben rushes up to tell me that "something" was spraying water all over the basement closet - which turned out to be the check valve on the sump pump. Cha-ching...yes, that was the sound of more hundreds of dollars repairing our dear Ryan home substandard hardware. Thank goodness for Len the Plumber, but it took the "relaxing" out of our "day off" for me since I had to keep the place from flooding until he got here...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>By Thursday, I was so grateful that my oldest daughter had treated me to a night in Baltimore with her and my oldest granddaughter to see Disney on Ice. It was great to be out with the girls, surrounded by Princess dresses and tiaras and all the old music that I loved singing when my girls were growing up. It was only 20 years ago, but it seems a lifetime ago! Shayla was an angel and Erin and I had the best time just watching her face.</i></span><br />
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All the Princesses!</div>
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It's a Small World in Lights - on Ice!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Okay, I'm not actually homeschooling these cuties, but they deserve a pic, too :)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And to top off our week, we ended it well. We had a "Fun Friday" at school, with a quick spelling quiz, Math Multiplication Bingo while sitting on the floor, and listening to our Old Yeller audiobook in the car...on the way to see the new Lego Movie! It really was a hoot and the first time we'd seen a movie on the FIRST day it was released..probably EVER. I highly recommend it to any parent who had a child who loves Legos. Although once you go, you'll never get <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx5n21zHPm8" target="_blank">THIS song</a> out of your head...:)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Best part of the week - hubby and I made plans for our annual getaway WITHOUT any kiddos this summer, thanks to our rocking sisters Veronica and Marian! I can make it through the rest of the school year with this ahead of me! Woo-hoo! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>See ya next week!!!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-23321354466667083432014-01-20T15:02:00.000-08:002014-01-20T15:25:02.116-08:00Year 2: Week 18 - My Time4Learning Review<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Halfway through our homeschool year and today I am so thankful we are homeschooling in the technological age of today. Thank God for internet homeschool sites!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Today, I just want to say how grateful I am for the Time4Learning homeschool website. We have been using this for the current school year since September as a supplement to our current curriculum, especially on days when I am sick or having a "down" day from my chronic illness. It has been wonderful to have a fallback when I am not able to sit and teach daily lessons!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We started back to school this year after the Christmas holidays two weeks ago and it has been excruciating, to say the least. Last week, I actually had a serious talk with both my husband and my oldest son about possibly returning to public school, because he was becoming so difficult to deal with and is having problems beyond my scope in both writing and math. We made the decision to do our best this year and if things improve, to have our 6th grader finish middle school at home and go back to public school in 9th grade for high school. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Fast forward to this week and I decided to make this a Time4Learning week to take the pressure off us all, both teachers and students. Aside from daily reading with them and outside subjects, I assigned both boys daily lessons in Language Arts, Language Arts extension, Science, and Social Studies. Since our older son is struggling so much with his current curriculum in math, I had him do his Math lessons on Time4Learning as well this week while keeping our younger son doing his regular math lessons. I let them know that they were responsible for 5 lessons in each to do as they wanted, with at least one per subject per day. If they wanted to finish their full weeks' work in one day, they were more than welcome to do that and they'd have my blessing!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Although with T4L I have the option to pick each days' individual lessons from the grade level lesson plans, this week I opted to simply let them go into their grade level and do the next designated lesson. T4L gives each student a screen which has icons into each subject and an arrow that points them to the next unfinished lesson in their grade curriculum. It is easy to follow and the boys are always able to find all their lessons without any help from me. The math and language lessons are accompanied by cute verbal instruction and walk the boys' through each step. If they don't understand, the program always gives them an opportunity to hear another explanation. The social studies and science programs are mostly read-only lessons with plenty of illustrations and pictures. My oldest son does well with these read-only lessons, but my younger son does find it to be too demanding, so he uses a free downloadable program on his laptop called Free NaturalReader to translate the pages and play them verbally. With this adaption, he does very well with them as well and the material is understandable but complete.</i></span><br />
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The Time4Learning student home page</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>One feature in particular that I love is the ability to change grade levels at any time in any subject for each student individually. A few times over the course of the year I have needed to do that for science and social studies for each boy as I realized they were either behind or ahead of their grade level and the change was completed in less than a school day. Also, any questions I have submitted to their support team was answered and resolved in less than 24 hours as well. I was very impressed with this response time!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Long story short, it works well for us...at least in the short term for now. (In fact, my younger son completed a large part of his weekly work in one day so he could get a jump ahead on his work. I've always know he is very motivated to do advanced work and this is a wonderful way for him to play with that option himself!) We don't plan to use this every day for every subject, but I am always relieved to know that if I have a long term relapse in my illness that my boys can keep moving along on their schoolwork with a full-service, full and robust program until I recover. Thank you, Time4Learning!</i></span><br />
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<em id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1390256232584_2775" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1390256232584_2774" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1390256232584_2773" style="font-family: Arial;">I've been invited to review Time4Learning in exchange for one month of use. My opinion is entirely my own. Time4Learning can be used as a <a href="http://www.time4learning.com/homeschool-curriculum.htm?ref=Review+Referring" id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1390256232584_2778" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">homeschool curriculum</a>, for <a href="http://www.time4learning.com/curriculum/afterschool.html?ref=Review+Referring" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="http://www.time4learning.com/curriculum/afterschool.html?ref=Review+Referring CTRL + Click to follow link">afterschool enrichment</a> and for <a href="http://www.time4learning.com/summer-school.shtml?ref=Review+Referring" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="http://www.time4learning.com/summer-school.shtml?ref=Review+Referring CTRL + Click to follow link">summer skill sharpening</a>. Find out how to write your own <a href="http://www.time4learning.com/homeschool-curriculum-review.shtml?ref=Review+Referring" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">curriculum review</a> for Time4Learning.</span></span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-2619700013004432392014-01-04T06:38:00.003-08:002014-01-04T06:38:59.390-08:00Year 2: Winter Break review<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I haven't been blogging very much recently about our homeschool...I know. I was very happy when Christmas break rolled around and we could just "turn off" the school and "turn on" our regular old homelife, sans schoolwork.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Not that we didn't accomplish much in December. I wasn't really "with it" this year like last year's holiday (note the lack of Advent wreath project this year *sigh*), but we did manage to put some meaningful holiday lessons and fun into our homeschool Christmas 2013:</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>1) While I didn't have the boys create an Advent project, we did do - or tried to do - a little thing everyday that I named our "Advent-ure". In a nice holiday basket, I collected enough envelopes for the Advent school days, labelled them with the number of the day and inside put an activity we could do after all our schoolwork was done. One day it was cutting out paper snowflakes (this was a dud with the boys, but a hit with Shayla) and talked about how we were all unique creations of God. Another day we made hot chocolate and played Christmas Bingo - big hit with the boys! Some days by the end of the day they didn't want to have anything to do with me and other days it kept them motivated to finish, but at least we recognized the season in our school.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>2) As part of the boys' music studies, they participated in our church's junior choir through the end of 2013. They practiced at church every Wednesday night and sang at Saturday evening Mass once a month. For Christmas, they sang again for the Children's Mass on Christmas Eve afternoon. They weren't "feeling the love" for singing by then, but did a great job and Ben even carried the lantern up to light Baby Jesus in our altar nativity scene. </i></span><br />
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Danny wasn't really asleep - Mom's just not good with her new camera phone yet :)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>3) Our new band, <a href="http://www.encoremusic.us/" target="_blank">Encore Academy</a>, out of Westminster, is truly a Godsend. The boys actually found a music class they really enjoyed, practiced every school day and that - ahem - Mom loves! Our Holiday concert on December 16th went really well considering that is was my and Ben's first instrument concert ever and neither of us passed out or threw up. :) Our family afterward:</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>4) Our art this month was sparse, but we managed to get to <a href="http://www.thepotterystop.com/" target="_blank">The Pottery Stop</a> in Ellicott City for the first time so the boys could make Christmas gifts for their godmothers. The projects turned out so good that they begged to go back and make something to keep, so that will definitely happen in January before we begin our Abrakadoodle classes at the Columbia Hobby Lobby....</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>5) We were able to squeeze in a visit to the B&O railroad museum (again :) because I didn't want to miss the Christmas train exhibits. Also, since they have been celebrating the Civil War 150th Anniversary with The War Came by Train exhibit, and we just finished our Civil War unit, I thought they might tie the two together. No such luck, but we did get to see all their new exhibits (Thomas was still there :) and the main exhibit made entirely of Legos with camera-mounted cameras displayed on a TV screen. So definitely a local win!</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydS1kofOyWKENFrYazzb0vXyzPvFoSxXoc9F9MJaZEUiFGvrFeuKTf2hhlWoGupTT4sUpU9YS4b4VqV91b0FNUC6oS61CoW6qd-ng_-legH7lDwHpEfBGtwFIPf94IaZ7ysqG6pcXOds/s1600/20131218_150504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydS1kofOyWKENFrYazzb0vXyzPvFoSxXoc9F9MJaZEUiFGvrFeuKTf2hhlWoGupTT4sUpU9YS4b4VqV91b0FNUC6oS61CoW6qd-ng_-legH7lDwHpEfBGtwFIPf94IaZ7ysqG6pcXOds/s1600/20131218_150504.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> So, it was a fun and productive December, even if the actual grunt work of schooling dwindled down to a trickle of holiday worksheets in math and grammar by the last week. We've all spent the last two weeks letting our brains rest and I think it actually worked. I've redone my weekly school schedule to something I think will be more usable to me. Also, I got the Grammar Ace grammar curriculum because I needed something better suited for the boys and I think this might be it - I hope so! </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> My biggest challenge starting into 2014 is Danny's math issues and Ben's reading dread. However, one of those may be on it's way out. Since we weren't doing schooling over the break, I starting reading Ben one of his favorite character books at bedtime (not educational, but not a graphic novel and something he LOVES) and he FINALLY started getting excited about them and not letting me stop each night. This was a surprise, because b</i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">elieve me, I tried before with this same book all fall semester and he was determined NOT to like it. </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And - miracle of miracles! - when I was sick in bed last night and couldn't tuck him in, he came RUNNING into my room with the next book in his series to read! Since I was feeling so bad, it was good excuse for me to ask him to read to ME - and it went wonderfully. He is really starting to read with expression and comprehension and we both giggled our way through the whole chapter. I told him how good he made me feel when he read to me, so I'm gonna work this angle as long as I can. :)</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> I still have to hope and pray for a miracle with Danny's math, but seeing Ben's progress, I have hope now. Happy New Year 2014!</i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-87943093009868378362013-12-11T21:16:00.003-08:002013-12-11T21:26:25.952-08:00Year 2/Week 14: When Hot is Not<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My son was hot today and that's what it
finally took to shake me awake today.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The last two weeks have been very
difficult – both for me and the boys. Although I thought our
weeklong break at Thanksgiving would have given us enough of a break
for us to start our third 6-week schedule, we have barely finished a
week's worth of work after eight school days. Of course, it didn't
help that we had two snow days this week (I know, I know, a
homeschooler doesn't really HAVE snow days, but..oh, well, we needed
them :), but those actually helped.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our most serious school work
dysfunction started the week before Thanksgiving and I figured it was
excitement over the holiday. We took Thanksgiving week off and
entertained, visited and traveled to see family in a fun week. We
returned from our last family visit from out of state late Sunday
night on December 1st...and all forward progress stopped at that
point, I'm afraid. Because I hadn't taken time to really figure out
our lesson plan for the last month of the year, we didn't have a real
game plan and I'm afraid it showed. It really set me up for a rough
time, but no matter what I did, I couldn't figure out what to do
next. I felt panicked and paralyzed and had no idea why. I was
increasely aware that we were falling behind in art, religion and
health.
</i></span></div>
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</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We limped along for the week, doing our
daily spelling, reading, basic science and history and some math.
Danny is thoroughly stuck on his triple digit multiplication, so I
spent extra time just walking him through all his exercises and
abbreviating all his work and quizzes, but it is still trying on his
spirit. He “got” some parts a little on Wednesday when I tried a
new review approach and we had a brief celebration, but he still
couldn't complete the unit quiz that followed, so I started
foundering at that point. Then Wednesday afternoon our PE teacher at
the Y was a no-show due to a scheduling snafu, so the boys lost some
decompression time, which didn't help either.
</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Thursday was interesting at band
practice. Our lovely Encore Academy instructor is extraordinarily
patient and funny with the kids but after Danny's 5<sup>th</sup> or
6<sup>th</sup> question about when the class would finally end, she
jokingly said that the band wasn't finished but if he was done, he
could pack up and leave. </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Which he immediately did. She was
totally gobsmacked and couldn't believe he did it (she had no idea he
was on the autism spectrum and takes everything literally)! But Danny
did what was perfectly logical and what she offered, so I understood
what had happened. After class, I explained it to him and what to do
next time (when he needs a break, just asked to be excused to the
restroom until he is ready to rejoin us) and explained it to Mindy in
an email later. Nothing major, but I felt like a stress sandwich that
was getting more and more layers and it was getting more than I could
handle.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This past weekend gave me my first
breathing room in weeks and Monday and Tuesday were our first
official “snow days”, which was a true blessing. We used the
weekend to finish putting up the tree and getting some work done on
the front yard so we can eventually put up Christmas lights
outside...maybe. After a week of being home, I FINALLY got the
suitcases unpacked and caught up on MOST of the laundry (this just
reminded that I need to get Ben's clothes in the wash if I want him
to have ANY clean pants tomorrow...) and the dishes done. Sort of. By
Monday we had some semblance of order again and I thanked God all day
Monday for this excuse to put school aside for another day and pray
for inspiration – along with running errands and going for a huge
grocery store run.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Tuesday gave us a second snow “storm”
and a true snow day. This was the first time I actually felt like I
could breathe. My brain had sorted out a little but the anxiety/panic
of not knowing what to do for school was still bubbling under the
surface. It's not that I don't have the curriculum – I do! It's
more – something about missing something, not doing enough, not
teaching the boys what they will really need. When Danny gets totally
log-jammed in his brain (usually about math), I go into this panic
mode because I know the school system definitely didn't help him when
that happened and if I can't, then where do I go and what do I do?! I
don't trust counselors or psychologists anymore (this is a long story
involving another child and trust me – you wouldn't go back
either), so unless I schlep him up to Kennedy Krieger every time I
need help, I'm on my own here. Sometimes the weight of the
responsibility for all four of my wonderful, unique and amazing
children is too much to bear. Not that I don't want to...I sometimes
don't believe I am able.
</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But God always finds a way. You know
the old saying that if you are really strong you bend, not break?
Well, I am blessed that God always seems to show me a way to bend
when I think I will finally break.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Today, we had an “okay” day at
school. Danny was still struggling to concentrate at all and Benjamin
was being a goofball at a record rate. Both of them kept our progress
all morning to a snail's pace and although I tried to be goodnatured
about it for the first hour or so, by the second hour I had really
lost patience. We did manage to finish our daily spelling, a Nativity
bible lesson from the gospels along with a worksheet, the second
chapter of Caddie Woodlawn (Yea! Finally a book I know and loved as a
child!) and a really good instrument practice. We trotted over to the
YMCA for our PE class and got there on time. Check. I took my brief
break to run our Angel Tree gifts over to the church and got that
checked off my list, along with connecting with my Avon customers
from church. Check. When I got back, I was ready to pick up the boys
and finish the 3 or 4 final subjects for the day before I picked up
my granddaughter after school, made dinner and took the boys to
church choir.
</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And then I bent. Danny came out of the
PE gym with his winter coat on over his sweating body. He had the
hood up and almost covering his face and I knew something had
changed. He had said numerous times all day that he was just having a
terrible day. I knew that it mostly stemmed from the internet being
out and he couldn't listen to his favorite songs streamed on his
tablet, but I didn't realize it had gotten so bad. I just had to stop
trying to push all of us forward with our schedule and stop to listen
to his pain. Only part of his face was peaking out and he either had
sweat or tears on his cheeks when I asked him why he wanted to be
hot. He said that “it was the only thing that makes me feel better
because the day was so bad”. I'm not exactly sure what words he
used, but I knew that what his heart was trying to tell me was that
he wanted to make his outside – his body – feel as bad as his
inside – his spirit – felt. And that was it for me. All the anger
flew out of me and all the love and care came racing in.</i></span></div>
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</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>From that point on, I threw out the
schedule and started ministering to my children's hearts again. And
immediately my panic and anxiety totally lifted. We went to our
favorite snack shop and we picked out our favorite food, which I
usually ration out. But not today. I was blessed again when my
granddaughter's other grandmother spontaneously offered to pick her
up from school and that was off my plate. Then we went home and
watched a BBC video (since the internet still isn't working – wah
wah wah) and relaxed. I cancelled the rest of our classes and also
decided to take church choir off our schedule for the night, too. I
know we will fall behind on our schedule this session. I know I may
need to drop back and punt next year, but right now I don't care. I
started homeschool to take care of my sons' needs, education AND
hearts and that's what I need to do. And by nurturing them, I nurture
me, I nurture US.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I get it now. I'm learning. That must
be what homeschool is all about....:)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The best part of our homeschool work this week :)</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-60920082633301639542013-11-13T16:11:00.001-08:002013-11-13T16:14:52.053-08:00Week 11/Yr 2: Schooling your children is like marriage<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Choosing the way you school your children is a lot like choosing your partner in life. You look around at all your options, you learn as much as you can about the good - and the bad - of your partner...and even knowing ALL of it, you still decide they are for you.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our choice of schooling has been like that. At first, we were public-schoolers like we grew up, as were our older daughters. There really wasn't even another choice for us. We didn't any more information - and didn't think we needed any more.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Then our boys' experience in our "blue ribbon" public school turned from one of education to frustration then demoralization. Thank God there were options available for us, that we found them and that our household situation allowed us to use them. Since this is Thanksgiving and the month for thanks, I'll just let you know that I already have that foremost in my heart each day. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>That being said...schooling is like being married. And some days it just sucks. Just awful, royal, total suckage like nothing else. You hate your life, hate your choices, feel overwhelmed and under-rewarded and nothing helps. Well, sometimes a drink. Or a hot bubble bath. Or a good book. Or a Xanax. Or all of the above. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But sometimes nothing does. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Then you wake up the next morning and see your life anew, as we do each day. And just like looking at the sleeping face of your spouse the morning after a bad day reminds you how lucky you are to have him/her in your life, seeing homeschooling the day after a bad day reminds you how very lucky you are to have this option.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>To see your sons finish a book report...an unthinkable task just last year.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>To see your children practice instruments every day - for FUN - that they never touched until this year.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>To see handwriting blossom and math concepts improve - or not. And to know that because they are with their mom for school, they will not be overlooked or hurried or belittled because they can't do it ...yet.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>To see them master each challenge that they have in their lives..however slowly it may be.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>To explore new concepts with your children and learn together. And when you look up at the moon on the way to choir rehearsal (which they don't really want to do anymore but miraculously don't complain about) and ask them what phase of the moon it is, they both say "Gibbous!". And when I ask them if it's waning or waxing, they KNOW! It still amazes me that they are actually LEARNING. From me. With me. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And, once again, I love our schooling choice.</i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-91096938613076412442013-11-04T16:19:00.000-08:002013-11-04T16:19:27.104-08:00Week 10/Yr 2: Lost in Translation...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I lost two weeks. To be perfectly honest, I was here, but our homeschool almost wasn't.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Week 7 was a planned week off for "teacher planning". With Furlough Dad in charge and lots of field trip ideas, the boys had an enriching "unschool" week and everyone was fine with that.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Week 8 was a total Sick Out. I was just miserable with a sinus/headcold/fever thing that made life miserable day and night. School was back "In", but I wasn't. I leaned heavily on Time4Learning.com and Brainpop and hot cider and prayed to feel better before we lost too much ground.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Week 9 was Halloween Week. If you have any child, this is a wasted week at any school with the adrenaline rush and candy-anticipation at full maximum. If you have a child on the autism spectrum...you have this multiplied by ...oh...a zillion? We had a very productive Monday and Tuesday with starting our Lincoln biography, another chapter in Science (one of the few subjects where we are right on schedule), Time4Learning and Halloween worksheets for math and language arts. However, our week deteriorated rapidly on Wednesday right after YMCA PE class...in direct correlation to the panic my oldest son started to have about not having a costume as "perfect" as the picture in his mind. So - school stopped and became "art class" until Halloween on Thursday night when the curtain rose on the wonderful costume for about an hour...until the rain started. Happily, my Big Guy was perfectly happy to stop short of a huge bag of candy in exchange for keeping his "awesome costume" (his term) intact, so in the end, it landed in the Win column of Halloweens. And Friday was post-adrenaline crash. Until mid-afternoon. This was when I realized we had family coming to stay for a weekend visit in SIX HOURS and the house was in shambles, so it became Crisis Cleaning Day. I guess I can count that as a Life Lessons class, but I was too tired to bother.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So - Week 10 started today and after a wonderful weekend with my sister-in-law here, I'm totally wiped out. Introvert Classic that I am, spending that much time entertaining ANYONE totally drains my battery, so today was just putting one foot in front of the other during school time. The boys did manage to finish all their work and we covered all our subjects, so in one way it was a success. But after weeks of sickness, holiday crazies and running around, I just don't have an ounce of energy to give to school. And I wonder how long I can do this. How many more years can I do this? Even for a healthy younger mom, this would be a challenge and it is days like this that I'm not sure I can do it.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But I do. I'll give myself until next summer to decide about next year. And I'll do that each year until I can't anymore. Because even this morning, I woke up from another nightmare about one of my boys being somewhere where I couldn't see them or get to them or help them...the way I felt when my boys were drowning in their old school and all my efforts didn't work. So, until I feel safe I can't let them go...even if it is harder than I ever thought it would be. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I may be lost, but at least I know I'm not traveling in the wrong direction...:)</i></span><br />
<br />Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-45141110696395995532013-10-21T10:36:00.000-07:002013-10-21T10:36:24.825-07:00Week 8/Yr 2: Homeschooling is panic alternating with peace<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Every so often, I start the "Homeschooling Mom Panic" phase. This usually happens when I'm lesson planning, like I did during my teacher "break" last week. I look at all the curriculum I am using, try to figure out how to get all the necessary content done by the end of the school year PLUS mix in all the field trips and extras that make homeschooling fun. Finally, I try to make sure we are covering all the materials that are included in "common core" so they will be able to transition back into public school when - or if - it becomes time.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I get performance anxiety because I feel so underqualified. Then, I get hit by another health problem - this time a terrible head cold - and I'm not able to "teach". And panic sets in. How can I teach my children when I can't even open my eyes for more than 10 minutes or read a book to them? And since I have chronic health conditions, I know this will happen regularly for the rest of my life - and the rest of their schooling.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I do have a small place of calm deep inside because I know things would be harder if they were in public school. I could NEVER get them dressed and ready for school on time in my condition AND I could never handle the absurd homework/project/extracurricular work they would bring home either. So - I know this is better and I move to thinking how I can do it.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Most importantly, I know my boys know how to do their work independently by now. I didn't have the energy to stock the workboxes, so I started with the basic Three R's on the white board, then I added instrument practice, glider exercise time and ended with a great Science Inventions kit I had stored for a rainy day. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For Math, they do their regular Teaching Textbooks on CD, which they love. Boom, one R is done. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For Language Arts, I am REALLY starting to love the <a href="http://www.time4learning.com/" target="_blank">Time 4 Learning</a> website program for Language Arts. They do lessons in Language Arts (today was synonyms for Ben and pronoun nominatives for Danny) and Language Arts Extension (reading comprehension) with great videos and they seem very comprehensive. For the long reading comprehension paragraphs, I even found a wonderful FREE download for web and document audio reading called <a href="http://www.naturalreaders.com/" target="_blank">Natural Reader</a> which will translate any text into audio so Ben can hear the paragraphs while he reads along, since he isn't 100% proficient on reading comprension yet. Second R down.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For reading, Mom can't read today, so we won't be beginning our new Newbery Honor book about a boy during the Civil War called <u>Across Five Aprils</u>, but we have time to start that tomorrow. I checked to see if there was an audio version at the library, but no luck :( </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, the boys need to finish their self-reader, <u>By The Great Horn Spoon</u>, about a boy and his butler (!) during the Gold Rush, so they'll be reading to each other today while I listen. Last R completed and we could stop here and I'd still feel good, because the Reading portion also fulfills our History and Geography lessons as well (thank you, Sonlight!).</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But...I did add instrument practice and glider exercise time, because we need to get used to doing those daily. And for future reference, please remind me NOT to practice my flute with the boys when I have a head cold!! Ouch in the ears...seriously...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Well, gotta go get another hot drink of something for the throat and a little something to eat, but I just wanted to stop by and note briefly that even sick in bed, homeschooling rocks. *sniff* *sniff* *gurgle* :)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-30167888088407548682013-10-17T18:08:00.000-07:002013-10-17T18:08:27.952-07:00Week 7/Yr 2: Blink And You'll Miss It...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>How can it possibly by Week 7 already?!? Where has the year gone? Really?! I do think it is a good thing that I haven't felt the need to stop and document every week of our second year, because it means I have more of a "feel" for things this year and it's becoming more organic for me to do. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Even though this is technically Week 7 of our second year, it is really a "planning week" for Mom (me). Daddy was out of work during the government shutdown for 16 days, so this week, he wrangled the boys to field trips while I did alot of lesson planning. Actually, we also did do some "catch-up" things like completing assembly of our solar system mobile, finishing a Sonlight novel called "The Candymaker" that we started over the summer and were reading for fun, finishing a Math quiz and having Homeschool Band with Encore Academy today. This band is great - after watching the boys the first week (and seeing another mom learning the flute), I decided to join the fun and re-start learning the flute again after quitting in the fourth grade - and we are all having a blast!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I can't figure out why it takes almost a week to plan every six week cycle, but it does! I think this is the only way that public school teachers have it easier than homeschool moms...they usually have to figure out lessons plans for one age of child each year. And many years, they repeat the lessons from the previous year! </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Each year, I have to advance each child a grade AND create a new lesson plan for both of them. Yes, some of the materials for my older son I can repeat for my younger, but for our history, we are using the Sonlight curriculum, so it's the same for both and advances each year. Yes, thank God for Sonlight curriculum! However...I do have to modify it for my boys abilities and speed. Some things we have to skip and some we have to supplement. </i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This year, I took this time to review how the first six weeks had gone. Before school started, I had planned a six week "goal sheet" to help me figure out where I hoped to be by the end of this stretch, basically to make sure I don't get too far behind and have to cram everything in at the end of the year like I did last year! So far, we aren't too bad. I found out that we really are only doing full days four days a week, and doing catch-up and field trip adventures on Friday, so I have to adjust my next six weeks for four "real" days of work a week. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I have managed to work art, PE and music into their schedules pretty well, but haven't found a way to work our Spanish and Programming lessons into the week as well. I know they aren't necessary, but they are the fun stuff, so I'll just have to figure out time!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We completed our first section of the second year of American History and are finishing with the Gold Rush this week. Coincidentally, the Discovery Channel is airing a new, fantastic series on Gold Fever each week and we are loving it! It shows places and events from our Sonlight novel "By the Great Horn Spoon!" and really helps when they can see the landscape of places we have read about all fall.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our next six weeks is pure Civil War history. I'm feeling overwhelmed. It's a huge amount of very important material to cover and I want to do it justice. We have so many great places nearby to visit while we study this - we even were in Gettysburg last week for a relative's wedding! Unfortunately, I was a late bloomer American History buff, so I'm learning alot about this part with the boys, but I want to make sure I do it right. I know we can always revisit it later, but I know this is a special time with my guys and I just want to be there when they see it the first time :)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Well, I think that catches me up for now. I'm sitting on my bed surrounded by texts, curricula and spreadsheets and it's after 9pm, so I think it's time to hit the hay. One more day of "planning week", then we are off at full speed again on Monday. You may not hear from my again until after the holidays, the way things are going. Wish me luck!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-87084878550641169562013-09-23T19:35:00.004-07:002013-09-23T19:36:16.490-07:00Week 4/Year 2: Why am I still organizing the school room?!?!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It's 9pm on the first Monday of our fourth week of school...and I just tonight got my classroom finally setup in workable condition. Seriously wondering how the heck this happened.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It's not like I didn't try to be ready for the beginning of school...but really, I wasn't able to. Maybe it was the total and complete burn out at the end of our last school that lasted until...about last Friday. Maybe it was the fact that my final homeschool review wasn't until three weeks after our summer vacation started and once I had everything so nice and neatly arranged for the meeting, I didn't want to tear it apart to store our work and take out what I needed for this year. Possibly, it was the fact that I had forgotten how much work it took to organize last year...or maybe I DID remember and just didn't want to do it again.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Whatever the reason, I am glad the paralysis is starting to lift. I've felt totally unprepared to start this year - and since I was SO ready last year when I had absolutely no experience, I have been confused about the whole situation. I am praying this part is over!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This year, I was lucky that I was able to hang onto our Sonlight Curriculum for our history and reading, Sequential Spelling, Teaching Textbooks for math and for now, Classic Science Earth Science from Mr. Q.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And I've added some things this year since I feel we've got some experience this year. I'm still a little unsure about complete grammar studies...but the boys are so mismatched on this, I'm pretty sure it's going to be different for both of them. Up til now, I've been using grammar worksheets to brush up on parts of speech, but soon I'll have Ben back on Essentials of Writing...and Danny....well, for now it's Time4Learning until I think about what's best for him. Nothing has really clicked for him yet. I'm also adding Wordly Wise 3000 to beef up their vocabulary, although I have to admit just reading the Sonlight books with the boys has expanded their vocabulary by leaps and bounds anyway! Oh..any every new word seems to be similar to something in Minecraft or Portal 2 anyway, per my sons...LOL</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Science is still Classic Science because the boys love it. I know it's corny, but the boys love the funny language, the cartoons and the activities for each chapter. I know the content is sound, so I know I can just beef it up with more content for Danny. So I'm added Time4Learning Science for him as well, hoping that will fill in the blanks.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Luckily, the electives seem to be covered. Although the PE class at the Y was cancelled after just one week, they are both in SAC soccer so they're getting plenty of exercise (and socialization, too...lol). Also, with the SkyZone trampoline center opening, we have someplace to go when it rains, too :) </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For music, we are going to make the trek to Westminster every Thursday so the boys can join the Encore Academy band for beginning homeschoolers. Danny is playing our good old clarinet (kid number three on this old Bundy!) and Ben will switch this year and try trumpet (like my dad). It will be cool to have them play together - and they will have concerts like the PS kids - yea!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Art is currently working on the <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Create_Your_Own_Masterpiece.html?id=v452VQtGMr4C" target="_blank">Create Your Own Masterpiece</a> book, written by the National Gallery of Art in DC. My hope is to turn this into a field trip to the Gallery downtown...I haven't seen it for years and have a suspicion Ben (and maybe Danny) would love it. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But this year is tricky. In only my second year, I have to switch to a separate instruction for the boys for some subjects because now Dan is in middle school and I really have to up the game for him since the game plan at this point is to get him back into public/private school for high school. I'm feel much more pressure this year because I realize this is no longer just a short term measure to repair the education damage that happened in their local school, but needs to be a really solid and competitive program that will keep them right on track and ready for their return high school.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Now, just to get Danny to write complete sentences...and pray he can learn to write cohesive paragraphs. Oy.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-11978660693712680652013-08-13T13:09:00.000-07:002013-08-13T13:09:28.690-07:00Homeschool re-examined: The Long Haul vs the Short Game<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>First, you must know I had never created a lesson plan before in my life. Ever. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Beyond playing house as a child (which, since I was the oldest, consisted of me just ordering my little siblings around), I had never - ever - considered being a teacher. A trainer, yes. In my professional careers as computer programmer, project manager and Avon sales representation/manager, I've taught training course for years, but that was different. So different.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Today I sit down to plan my first six weeks of classes this year. We will start in three weeks and even I can't procrastinate anymore. Anxiety attacks are already starting, so I hope that getting things down in black and white will make things better in my brain.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I've had a full summer - two months so far - to relax and let last school year rattle around in my shell-shocked brain and settle into some kind of normalcy. And it actually did, to my relief and surprise. My biggest realization came last week when the question came up to Ben again about what grade he might want to go back to public school and his answer was...."never". </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Hmmmm....so it seems that instead of an emergency stopgap measure to help Danny with his learning issues, I've created a new reality for the whole family. We may be a serious homeschool family right up until high school - or beyond.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I never really considered this when I started. I figured I was just a band-aid on my boys' education until I could fix their damaged learning and send them back to public (or private) school at some future day. I didn't think this would be permanent. However, I may have created a monster - or a unicorn, depending on your definition of a brand new creature that never before existed - the Varga Homeschool Family.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I'm sure I'm not perfectly suited for this. However, I want the best for my boys and I want them to learn and love learning as much as I do. I want them to feel free to learn and study the way THEY do best, without condemnation about their uniqueness. I've seen immense changes in my boys since they've stopped attaching inadequacy and anxiety with learning and I can only hope that continues. Just one example - Ben has NEVER wanted to go to school and started preschool and kindergarten with MUCH trepidation and never really got relaxed in a school setting. He was a great student, but very anxious all day in school. In second grade, he started and loved karate class, but quit after his first belt test after having a huge anxiety attack in front of the class. He just refused to set foot in the dojo again. Until this year. After being as relaxed as possible (I mean, how tense can you be bouncing around all day in your underwear?...), he asked to start karate again and I think he'll really do great this time. He's grounded in the love and support of his mom and family every day and that's what will help him fly and succeed.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Okay, I get it. We're in this for the long haul - and that's an amazing thing. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But could someone else write these lesson plans for me??....:)</i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-83526021975933849182013-08-05T08:23:00.000-07:002013-08-05T08:23:58.299-07:00Summer Break 2013...because I was definitely broken...<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whew...I haven't posted since May?! I have to admit, I seriously checked out this summer. I had such a serious case of burnout from homeschooling my first year that I shut down our school, headed out to our timeshare the next morning and never looked back (except to travel up to our umbrella school in Rising Sun and show them our amazing work).</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Until yesterday. </span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Two thirds of the way through our vacation, it's time. I looked at the calendar last week to surprisingly discover it was already August and realized it's time to put next year together. Since I had already planned to use June to decompress and do some painting around the house and July for Spring cleaning and a nice long vacation with hubby while the boys vacationed with their godmothers, I am right on track. I had hopes of painting more, including the homeschool room (which was our dining room in a previous incarnation), but I need to lay those hopes aside unless a miracle happens in homeschool planning for next year :)</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since recovering, I now realize how seriously we all were burned out from our first attempt at homeschooling, so I'm making some modifications this year...one of the many benefits of homeschooling - we can modify anything that doesn't work! Some changes we'll be making this year:</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1) <b>We're going to try a modified Workbox System for work assignments with the boys each day</b>. The Workbox system was originally developed by Sue Patrick and can be started with younger children, but really works with any age group. In a nutshell, each child starts the day with his work in "workboxes" and as he finishes his work, he moves the completed work to his "finished" area and stacks the empty workboxes aside. Since each student can move at his own pace and it is extremely visual, it works well for my visual learning boys. Each drawer is marked with what is being worked on and as long as it is done in the assigned order, each student can plan his day as he likes. The key is to put small treats and breaks along the way at unexpected intervals so they get rewards throughout the day. Very Pavlovian :) I'm looking forward to moving from being a public school-like "teacher" to a "facilitator" for most of their classes.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2) <b>Changing the attitude of the classroom this year from "I'm teaching" to "you're discovering"</b>. I'm planning on teaching the boys how to find their own answers this year through search engines online, reference books and other methods. I want to teach them to learn, not just spit out information. Of course, we still have to drill the basics because they are still weak in that area from public school. But I am so proud that we ended last year with both boys knowing all their multiplication tables, holding their pencils correctly without any pencil grips and writing in much-improved handwriting. So that part is definitely staying!</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3) <b>I'm going to continue to try to instill a love of reading in them</b>. This is a tough one. They are both reluctant readers and even though they CAN read, they don't CHOOSE to read. I gave them a complete break from reading at the beginning of the summer, but by last week I was really missing reading to them, so I pulled a fun book from our Sonlight curriculum that we didn't have time for last year (The Candymakers by Wendy Mass) and starting using it for bedtime reading. A book about a 12 year old boy who lives in a candy factory? Danny is enthralled and I am tickled. :) Ben is still wary...he is so bright with an amazing vocabulary, but something hasn't "clicked" in his reading enjoyment yet. He can't seem to read for enjoyment...somehow the content doesn't move into his brain very easily. He is content to listen to me read for now - and interrupts me to define words he doesn't know - but I haven't gotten the feeling yet that he can process all the story internally yet, so I'll keep reading to him and hope it "clicks" one day.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4) <b>Make sure they move more and sit less</b>. I was a nervous homeschool mom last year. I was terrified that they wouldn't get the subject content they needed and I would fail them. I am losing that fear a little this year, so I want to make sure they get as much "body knowledge" as they do "subject knowledge". This is one that I'm sure that moms who homeschool from the beginning do much better than those of us who are used to the public school model. Yes, we're still going to have desks they can use for common subjects, but I want to get us outside of the house and outside in the world more this year. If I can. I have been blessed that my personal health is doing so well these days (aside from putting on 10 pounds since beginning my homeschooling journey), so I'm hoping we can do more outside this year. Both boys are already enrolled in SAC soccer for the first time (serious nerves about Danny's "fitting in", but gotta tough it out since he's getting to be a big boy now) and they'll be enrolled again in the YMCA PE program they enjoyed so much last year. The Y program even finally got Ben swimming independently, which made me so happy and this summer at the pool MUCH more enjoyable. One serious bonus of pulling Ben out of public school last year is that his anxiety level seems to have dropped steadily and that has led him to want to re-enroll in Karate this year. I am SO thrilled! He enrolled in our neighborhood dojo in the first grade and was amazing. His sensei said he was definitely gifted and would be one of his best students...until Ben had to take his first belt test in front of the whole school. He had a huge anxiety attack and even though he finished his test (under firm pressure from his dad and teacher) and got his yellow belt...he was traumatized and refused to ever go back. Out of the blue this summer, he said he is ready to try again. Win!</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For now, these are enough goals for me to plan and start our next school year.The schoolroom got a straightening yesterday and this week I'll be moving more shelves in and rearranging the furniture to see if we can find a "better" way to work. We still have a few weeks to go before we do hardcore curriculum, because we'll be taking our ocean vacation the week the public school students start and driving 500 miles to see my dad for his 75th birthday during our first week of school. The boys don't realize that during their first week of school, we'll be doing "video carschooling" on the van DVD player!</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I need to get used to this rhythm and relax and enjoy, because Ben just told me this week that he may never want to go back to public school. I hear ya, son. This is too much fun. :)</span></i><br />
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<br />Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-36593924847695921062013-05-30T08:24:00.000-07:002013-05-30T08:24:10.886-07:00Week 36: The end of the beginning<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So, today is my "official" last day of teaching homeschool our first year. Technically, our last school day is tomorrow, but I hope that is just a party day and all our work is finished, since we only have to finish our book summaries today. It's so strange - on Tuesday of this week, I was elated. I was almost finished! I felt like a marathon runner who is within steps of the ribbon and I knew I was going to make it! Amazing! Incredible! </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So, on my last day of "educating", what am I doing? Planning next year's curriculum. How am I feeling? A little stressed, a little worried, very focused. Searching for books online. Thinking of how I am going to do "better" next year about the items we didn't really do well this year - or totally missed in a lot of ways. Yikes. Is this how athletes feel minutes after finishing a monumental race or game? You celebrate one minute and in the next minute, your focus is on the next challenge and what you can do better next time?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Don't get me wrong - we did amazing this year! After our week of vacation next week, I will begin to sit down and sort through the second half of our work this year and prepare my year-end evaluation report for my umbrella school. I'll look at what worked and what didn't. What we achieved (finishing spelling, science and history!) and what we didn't (only 75% of math and we totally lost grammar along the way somewhere this spring...). Trying to keep what we discovered from the good lessons (Danny needs both a DVD and workbook option for most subjects to keep him interested and Ben needs one-on-one for all his Language Arts) and find the answers to the hard lessons (I have an elementary and middle schooler next year and need to use two different approaches - yikes). </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I have a lot more to learn-and now homeschooling becomes more the marathon than the sprint. This year, homeschool was a last-minute essential that I just HAD to figure out, for the good of my boys and my family. Now, I realize I need to play the long game and figure out MY strategy for the years to come. I thought I would run away from school the last day of teaching this year and not think about it again until I had to in August. But I'm already trying to plan and get ready for next year - ACK! </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Part of this is because almost all the homeschoolers I've met and loved have been "organizational junkies". We love to plan. We love drawers and shelves and dividers and notebooks. Our eyes light up in office and teacher supply stores - what new markers can we buy today?!?! We love to fill up our adorable planners and Excel spreadsheets with new and amazing plans of all the fun things we'll teach our children next time. The planning is so much fun - the follow-through always feels harder, doesn't it? :) But every revision is better, every new learning makes our homeschool run smoother and service our children even better, so I know it's a good addiction to have!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So here's to the END of our FIRST and SUCCESSFUL Varga Homeschool year!! Yea!!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>...and here's to the continuing saga of taking care of our children's education in the best way we can for them and their specialness.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Have a wonderful summer!!!!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="200" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6631428.131449;sz=200x200;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802464048;pid=21127610;usg=AFHzDLsMZeLpSXvRKfxJbZo6MVc-rHXFUA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.officemax.com%252Foffice-supplies%252Fpens-pencils-markers%252Fmarkers%252Fdry-wet-erase-markers%252Fproduct-prod3620314%253Fcm_mmc%253DPerformics-_-Office%252520Supplies-_-Pens%252C%252520Pencils%252C%252520and%252520Markers-_-Markers%2526ci_src%253D14110944%2526ci_sku%253D21127610;pubid=575203;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.officemax.com%2Fcatalog%2Fimages%2F397x353%2F21127610i_01.jpg;width=200;height=177" vspace="0" width="200"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="200" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N963.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6527721;dcadv=3632184;sz=200x200;lid=41000613802463524;pid=2661790;usg=AFHzDLv-TtR745tG-DUnmTb6gcyP_KAXKQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cafepress.com%252F%252Bmoms_homeschool_fuel_large_mug%252C2661790%253Fcmp%253Dpfc--f--us--001--2661790%2526sourcecode%253Daffiliate%2526pid%253D6673073%2526utm_cp_signal%253D382%2526productid%253D2661790;pubid=575203;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.cafepress.com%2Fproduct%2F2661790_480x480_f.jpg;width=200;height=200" vspace="0" width="200"></iframe><br /></i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-8303193640756155672013-05-22T16:30:00.001-07:002013-05-22T16:30:35.140-07:00Caution: This is an Autism Moment<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Reader warning: This entry is about my daily struggle being an Austism Mommy for my glorious son, Danny. If that doesn't interest you as much as my homeschool news, then this post is not for you :)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For those of you who don't know, my oldest son was diagnosed last year on the Autism Spectrum. Because he has social quirks and learning deficits all over the spectrum in an odd combination, his diagnosis is technically PDD/NOS - Pervasive Developmental Delay/Not Otherwise Specified. Not to go off on a tangent, but the DSM, the diagnostic "bible" of the psychiatric/psychological set got a makeover this year and the newest version, the DSM-V deletes this diagnosis and simply puts all Autism/Aspergers/PDD-NOS/Retts patients under the ASD (Austism Spectrum Disorder) diagnosis.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This means my son's diagnosis will (technically) disappear. Looking at the new specifications of the DSM-V, Danny will no longer meet the qualifications for autism. In fact, he will not meet ANY of the criteria of ANY official disorders. He will simply be "quirky", with no hope of getting any services....as if he was getting any now, which he isn't. :(</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Believe it or not, that's actually not the cause of my rant today. Today, I'm having AMF...Autism Mommy Fatigue. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Most of the time, I can work with our daily schedule around our sons and our differences and quirky behaviors don't even show. We have done so well adjusting our lives around the needs of our sons that we don't even know we are doing it any more! I did have one of the psychologists that evaluated Danny note that we had adjusted our family to fit his needs...and I don't think she meant that as a compliment. But honestly, what options did we have? </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When your son can't sit still long enough for you to receive your meal, much less finish eating it, you don't go to restaurants as a family.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When your 10-year-old son can't understand why it's not okay to yell at a 3-year-old boy who accidentally pushed you, you don't go to the playground when other children are there.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When your son has NEVER been able to tolerate anyone touching/brushing/cutting their hair, you don't take him to the barber anymore - you learn to cut hair yourself and do it every six weeks for years and years....</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>...and when you are cutting his hair and realize that his extreme scalp sensitivity has led to a horrible case of I-dont-even-know-if-I-can-call-this-dandruff-it-is-so-horrible - then you give another lesson in personal hygiene and find yourself washing your little boy's hair again, just like when he was three.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When your son needs the extra understanding and time required to actually LEARN educational material rather than just perform the required sequence of lessons in the required time, then you take him out of that environment - and you stop your own life and teach yourself how to teach and become a Homeschool Midlife Mom.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When your son can't tolerate more than a handful of food tastes, you stop making family meals and are sad - or you make two of them and seethe with resentment.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When your son shakes and cries with fear some nights because he's scared to sleep alone in his room at age 11, you have family campouts in your bedroom with your son in a slumber bag on the floor and lose the last of your privacy.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When you take your son(s) to a group homeschool activity on a beautiful day in a beautiful park and he whines for the entire visit because the toy he brought doesn't work because YOU didn't tell him something and that YOU should have told him to bring another...and then happily frolicks in the creek you are passing as you desperately try to walk to the parking lot and just LEAVE and get home to your quiet cup of coffee at home...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And when enough of these happen on one day...or too many days in a row...then you realize you are Autism Mommy and it is hard. So very, very hard. And you have given your life and soul to someone you love very much, and love to raise - but would very much like to watch grow, learn, and grow up. Before you lose your mind.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>He is growing. He is learning. He is amazing and wonderful. But parts of him are the same as they were ten years ago. And Autism Mommy is tired today.</i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-75952556491717889142013-05-09T05:32:00.000-07:002013-05-09T05:32:08.233-07:00A full life and a full time job...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I'm not sure where I first read that homeschooling is a full-time job, but I believe them now. It's not that I didn't <u>believe</u> them before, it's just that I had no frame of reference.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Consider my reference suitably framed.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The last time I was a full-time working mom, I was in my 30s with two girls, ages 12 and 16. I was out of the "trenches" of baby mothering and my girls were in public school, so that was nicely out of my hands. Of course, I still had the brunt of teenaged escapades to come (and had NO idea how hard THAT was going to be), but going to work didn't kill me. Actually, in a way, it saved me because it was an escape to a world that was just "me" without the name "mom" attached - well, most of the time.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So, after 16 years of being a working mom, I had a vague idea of what full-time work was going to be like. However. This has been different.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>After teaching homeschool to my two boys for almost a full year, I can honestly say I never imagined it would be this hard. And it has taken over our lives and our home as if I did have a full-time job right in the house. Our house is not neat. It is not clean. It is held together with bubblegum and bandaids until we finish our curriculum at the end of this month and I can do emergency surgery on the bathrooms and kitchen. After being a SAHM for a decade, I never realized before how much I actually accomplished at home when they were out of the house for preschool/school/camp/etc. This year I had exactly one hour a week when they were not in my hands - when they went to homeschool PE class at the Y. I usually work out in heavenly peace while they are there, but lately I've just been in recovery mode during that time and try to just deep breath while I walk around Target or Barnes and Noble for an hour. And shop. Don't forget shopping. That definitely helps.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But as I limped out of bed this morning trying to wrap my head around the day ahead and decide which subjects we NEEDED to do today and which we SHOULD do today and which chores I would TRY to squeeze in between classes before I'm too tired to make dinner tonight...I realized I have a full-time job that I never planned on having. I knew that having two more babies in my forties AND working was impossible, so my husband and I worked it out financially so I could stay home until they were in school. HA!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Then came my autoimmune diagnosis. And my older son's ADD and PDD/NOS diagnosis. And then the recession! So now I'm working full-time anyway - for NO money - AND being a full-time SAHM to boot. Wow. How the heck did that happen?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Well, don't let anyone tell you that homeschooling isn't a job. Yes, we sleep late and go to bed at night when it suits us. Yes, we can swap history for bike-riding on a nice day and go on field trips wherever we want and always get to chaperone :). Yes, we have no evening or weekend homework/book report/science project stress from meeting someone else's deadlines. But the schoolwork gets done and the housework doesn't. And I'm dog tired and need a vacation.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Yep, this is definitely a full-time job. And come to think of it, the best one I've ever had :)</i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-37645364636203854792013-05-07T07:48:00.000-07:002013-05-07T07:48:28.575-07:00Week 33: Oh so done....<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I'm done. So done. So very done. And I have 3 1/2 weeks left until the "official" end of the Homeschool year. I'm burned out, exhausted, impossibly behind on housework and paperwork and....everything. I need a break like you wouldn't believe. I don't have the will to pull myself out of bed in the morning but I still can't sleep at night. Go figure.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Other than that, things are awesome :) The boys are happy, getting along so well, and doing so well in school I can't complain at all. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It's just me - I'm out of juice! Well, I'll keep giving the boys their work every day and we'll DO this thing until it's DONE. I'm obviously an ADD carrier to my kids because I love to start new and interesting things...and it is torture for me to finish them! So I know this can be done, and I just have to DO it. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />Where are my Nikes? :)</i></span>Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595464211617165867.post-34208080740555400072013-04-21T18:45:00.000-07:002013-04-21T18:52:38.590-07:00Week 31: The Final Countdown<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Well, this is it. The final countdown to the last weeks of school. This is where I really have to pull it off. Can I finish what I started last September? Finishing things is a hard one for me...the ADD part of me loves to start new and interesting things, but finishing up those last hard parts are always a challenge! </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>So...this time last year I was gearing up for becoming Midlife Homeschool Mom and now I am figuring out how to finish my first year in this new endeavor. I spent two hours tonight compiling my final 6-week curriculum calendar and let's just say...my mantra for this year should be "Best Laid Plans....". I've started each day/week/month with a great-looking calendar - and then my boys enter the picture and chaos ensues!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I'm encouraged that it looks like I'll be able to "finish" more subjects in my curriculum than I expected when I saw at mid-year that we were "behind". I began this year promising myself that I would go at my sons' speed and do what <u>they</u> needed, but I also realize now that if I stop for every issue Danny has, we will NEVER finish a school year, since his learning progress is so erratic and varies from day to day. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Anyway, I need to make sure that even if Danny doesn't "get" everything we cover that I go ahead and progress so at least he's exposed to all the new information he needs. We can always review next year when we encounter paragraphs or regrouping again - it (and we) aren't going anywhere! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Six more weeks...and then Mom will have a Summer Vacation Party!! :)</i></span></div>
Midlife Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04927605157793161973noreply@blogger.com1