...but they are great surfers...

Andrew usually gets picked last during the "choose your team" types of events at our homeschool park days.  Lucas rarely gets picked at all because big group type games are too chaotic and crazy for him, and he just can't bring himself to play, even though he may want to be in the game.  Andrew towers above the other kids in gymnastics because he just doesn't have the motor skills to advance out of the beginner class.  Lucas loves soccer, but once the game starts, he is often caught standing, almost overwhelmed by the frenzy of the game.  They are not natural athletes, they both struggle with some motor delays, and there is also the social awkwardness that go along with team sports, but they enjoying playing, and don't give up.  We have always been VERY blessed with wonderful coaches and organizations that encourage and assist them during the games.  But the boys notice that they are getting left behind, and that is hard.

Last year, after the last basketball game of the season, I mentioned that his coach said he would request Andrew the next year, and wanted him on his team again.  Andrew said he didn't want to play anymore.  His exact words were something like "mom, I'm terrible at basketball, I'm the worst on the team."  I told him that his coach wanted him on his team because he worked so hard, improved so much, and had such a great attitude.  He wasn't buying it (although it was the truth), and I went on to say that everyone is good at different things, and we were talking about all the areas where he excelled.  After talking about that for a bit, Andrew said "yeah, I mean, I'm a GREAT surfer".  He saw that everyone had different things they were good at, and he loved surfing and being in the water.  He wasn't feeling sad anymore.  In fact, he was just fine after our chat, and couldn't wait for our next surf day.

 Fast forward several months, and to Lucas struggling with gymnastics.  He just wasn't feeling it anymore.  He didn't like the noise, the chaos, the other kids practicing, it was just starting to get too much.  I said that it was fine if he wanted to stop, he didn't have to do gymnastics.  He was feeling pretty down, because he likes gymnastics, jumping on the trampoline, and flipping around, but just doesn't like being in class.  He gets frustrated that he gets headaches when things are loud, and he wants to do it, he just can't.  Again, we talked about how everyone likes different things, and have different gifts.  We talked about all the sporty stuff that he can do, and that he enjoys.  This time, it was Lucas who said "well, I'm GREAT at surfing!"  He, too, remembered that surfing was his "thing", and how much he loved riding the waves.  His sadness disappeared as we talked about the upcoming surf camp, and about how it would feel good to be in the water again.

You see, twice a year, for about the past 3 years, the boys attend surf camps through Waves of Impact.  Volunteers come out and spend the day surfing with our kiddos with special challenges.  It's a really big deal for my boys. Professional photographers volunteer their time and take their pictures, Fox 26 News brings out the camera crews and does a special feature.  Our kiddos are STARS.  They ride the waves, everyone claps and cheers, they win medals.  I mean, man, they are GREAT SURFERS!!  The smiling kids light up the beach.  They are proud, they all rock the waves, and the positivity just radiates.  My kids feel wonderful after a surf camp, they ride the massive high for months.  Waves of Impact, and every single volunteer with this wonderful organization, have given my boys a gift.  They have given them their "thing".  That one thing they own, that they know they are good at, their happy place when things aren't all that happy, when times are downright bad and hurtful.

While they are out there catching waves, victory hands held high in the air, it doesn't matter if they have been picked last, or not picked at all on the kickball field a couple of weeks ago.  There is no social awkwardness with the ocean, and the chaos and noise are comforting rather than overwhelming.  They are at peace, and they are Kings of the Waves!

No matter what future frustrations and challenges they will face, they will always have the ocean, and the knowledge that they are GREAT SURFERS...and I can't thank Waves of Impact enough for giving my boys that gift.

www.wavesofimpact.com

Screamin' For Ice Cream!

We have had a wonderful, fantastic, super, duper start to our school year!  I decided to really focus on the start of our school year this time, something I haven't done so far in our homeschool journey, and I really think it's paying off.  We had an awesome, two week ice cream unit study!  We have had such a fun time exploring the history of ice cream, doing some expository and creative writing, working ice cream into our math, and (of course) lots of ice cream science!  I love the internet, Pinterest, and everyone out in the cyber world who shares their awesome ideas.  I found some great ice cream activities by searching Teachers Pay Teachers and also Homeschool Share.  Love those sites!!  And we rounded out our unit with LOTS of books from the library.  And of course, some field trips!  Our big wrap up field trip was a trip to the Blue Bell Creamery with my parents.  SO MUCH FUN!  And how great that my parents support the boys by participating in our field trip adventures.  I'm going to post a lot of pictures, because those really show how much fun we had better than I can type!  :)  What fun things did you do for the start of school?

Melting Popsicle experiment:

 Fun ice cream math:

 Some Ice Cream English and Writing (Did you get that?  Writing!  Without tears!!  Almost a smile even!!)

 Field Trip Fun

As always, let me know if you would like more specifics about our until studies, and I'll be happy to share exactly what we used, what we did, and where I found the information!

First Day Fun!!!

We had a fantastic first day "Back to School" Kick-Off this year!  The boys were so excited (me too!) to start the year.  We took a traditional summer break and started the same day as our local public school.  We plan to do this every year.  It's so wonderful to have kids get so excited about starting school work again.

So for our big kick-off, I told the boys they could have breakfast any where they wanted, plus do another fun out-of-the-house activity before heading home and starting our school work.  We never, never, EVER eat breakfast out of the house when it's just the three of us.  In fact, we've only done so one other time in their whole lives.  Once, when we attended a baseball game, if one of the players hit a grand slam, then our section won free Grand Slam breakfast's from Denny's.  A player did (can't remember who, but it was cool), so the next morning, we loaded up and headed to Denny's.  Guess where they wanted to go for breakfast this time?  You guessed it...

Apparently, it's where you go for breakfast!  :)  And for their fun out-of-the-house-event, they chose a car wash.  Car washes are pretty big at our house.  The boys know all about the different types of car washes, the various manufacturers, the different styles, so forth and so on.  Seriously, they know everything.  Along with elevators, it's their latest obsession.  Strange, yeah, a little.  But so are we.

After that, we headed home and started our day!  I'll share what we did that first day, along with the rest of these first few weeks soon.  I've been planning all summer for a fun and exciting first two weeks back, and so far, it has been just exactly that.  My boys are routine kids.  They really enjoy the "flow" of school.  They are already a lot calmer and happier after the relatively chaotic-ness of summer.  They like summer, and really do need a break, but we are all glad to back into a predictable routine. 

One thing I am going to do better this year is to try and balance their personalities better with regards to social time.  My extrovert Andrew requires and desires so much more than my introvert Lucas.  Last year, Lucas was asked to do more way more than he wanted, and I think he payed the price.  He became easily overwhelmed, mad, and moody when we did too much.  To balance both of their needs, I am going to try and have more small playdates for Andrew with friends and neighbors (Lucas will attend these too, of course, but he doesn't mind occasional small playdates), and attend our homeschool groups weekly park day (again, Lucas will come along, but he enjoys the park, and can interact only if he wants, or he can play on his own).  For Lucas, I'm going to keep most field trips as outings with just the three of us as he likes and always requests (Andrew will end up talking to everyone on the field trip anyway, lol), and allow him plenty of alone time at the house.  Also, he's decided to only attend gymnastics once a week while Andrew will continue to take twice a week.  Hopefully, this will make both boys happy and balanced.

If this year goes like our first few days have gone, we're in for a GREAT year!  I look forward to keeping everyone updated!

3rd and 4th Grade Curriculum Choices for 2014-2015

I am so stinkin' excited to get back to school!  And I'm so happy I can still say that coming after the end of a not-so-satisfying (from a planning perspective) year!  I think I'm excited because I finally have the confidence to teach the way my kiddos learn.  Big box curriculum just doesn't work for my out of the box boys.  My boys are both visual, hands-on learners who hate writing (both have fine motor delays) and have auditory processing issues and short attention spans.  Bring it on, challenge excepted!  As we head into 3rd and 4th grade this year (the boys are 9 and 10.5), my goal is to allow true learning to happen by providing rich, hands-on experiences that are fun, engaging, and meaningful to them.  Lofty goals, but I think it's great to dream big!  As I did before, I'll list our choices then discuss the reasoning behind those choices.  So grab a cup of coffee or tea, this will be a long one! 

Math

 I decided to start with math because I like to get the bad stuff out of the way first.  Okay, I'm kidding...kind of.  I hate math.  My boys like it.  Oh, the homeschool irony.  Maybe it's my own dislike creeping in, but I've yet to find a math program that fits.  We've tried Singapore, Saxon, Horizons, a Charlotte Mason Style program, math using living books, Life of Fred, so on and so forth.  Yes, we've only been homeschooling 2 years.  Yes, I have math issues.  In spite of all this, the boys are doing well in math.  They enjoy it, for the most part.  They hate writing the answers, and get overwhelmed with a lot of worksheets and pages, but the actual math, they like and understand.  This year, I think I've finally found a good one.  We are going with Right Start Math.  Right Start Math is a hands-on math curriculum that uses visualization and games while limiting writing and worksheets.  In theory, it sounds like the perfect fit.  Let's hope!  I'd love to find a program and be able to stick with it. http://rightstartmath.com/home-school/

Writing, Spelling, Vocabulary, and Science

  I hope to utilize a unit study approach with monthly themes and tie these subjects together.  The boys love science, so hopefully it will pave the way to a love of Language Arts.  HA! HA! HA!  But one can dream.  I'm drawing most of my language arts ideas from The Teaching Oasis http://www.teachingoasis.com/  and that's also the spring board for our monthly themes.  For example, September will be apples, plants, and seeds.  We will read one picture book a week, introduce the vocabulary, use the vocab words as our spelling list, and do a writing prompt a day (after we take a few weeks at the beginning of the year to really study what makes a good writer) all based on the book.  We'll continue our book theme into science where we'll look at the theme through a scientific lens, as well as add in lots of hands-on experiments that relate.  I'm really excited about this approach.  It is similar to what we did with Five in a Row, which was a success.  While the boys need a bit more than FIAR this year, I still love the idea and hope to create as many memories as we did working through the Five in a Row books.

Reading

  This year we are going to celebrate Roald Dahl, and read as many of his books as possible.  We are going to start by having a Roald Dahl party, learn all about Mr. Dahl, and do some fun hands-on activities with each book.  I am finding so many great sites and ideas through Pinterest (oh Pinterest, how I love you). 

  The boys are still developing the focus to read chapter books to themselves, so they will read them aloud to me.  We'll take turns reading, and hopefully make it fun.  This worked well with previous books, so it should help smooth the transition into longer chapter books.  It will also serve as good speech and fluency practice, which they still struggle with, especially while reading.  We will read 3 days a week, and one day a week we will still continue to work through the Fluency in a Flash books I purchased at Lakeshore.

Geography

  I hadn't really planned on teaching geography this year.  We've already studied the US States and World Geography in years past.  I was planning on moving more into history.  But then Andrew asked if we could study the states again this year.  I really want to follow their interests, so here we go and I am thrilled!  I loved our previous state study, we had so much fun.  Obviously, we didn't learn everything we ever could about every state, so we're going to take a fun look at them again.  Instead of relying on a curriculum this time around, I ordered Little Passports, USA Edition.  They will send us goodies from two states a month, so we'll use the information they provide and expand.  We have tons of state books, and I plan on using Pinterest, the Web, and the library to find some fun, hands-on ideas, cooking projects, and anything else to round out our studies.  We will make a USA Scrapbook that will be filled with fun facts, recipes, pictures, and anything else we can find.  I will use this freebie http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/State-Notebook-164908 to act as an intro page to each state.  It has very little writing, so I think the boys will be on board.

Social Studies

  We are kicking it old school and heading back to re-visit a common preschool theme for social studies this year--Community Helpers!  I plan on doing an older kid version, because I think it is still important to know who makes up our communities, and my boys are still fascinated with chefs, police, fireman, etc.  Each month, we're going to look at one occupation in depth.  I'm going to beef it up, and tie in as many subjects as possible.  For example, when we study chefs and bakers, I'm planning on working in good restaurant manners, appropriate tipping, how to figure out a tip, what to do if you don't like a dish, and highlight the amount of work and long hours these chefs/bakers put in every week.  We'll look at what education or technical training they need for each occupation, and (of course) take some field trips to see them in action.  We're super lucky to live in a great city that has an abundance of field trip opportunities.  Some of the field trips I have in mind: doughnut shop or restaurant tours, Police museum and mounted patrol stable, fire museum and station tour, vet office, pet store, or humane society, law office and local courtroom, and many more.  Once again, I'll use Pinterest, the Web, and the library to round out our studies.  I'm going to spend 2 days a week, alternating with geography, on social studies.  It should be fun!

Spanish

  Last year, while we traveled the globe and looked at different world cultures and countries, we studied the language of the country.  The library had a great stock on language CD's, and it was fun getting a taste of each language.  This year, we're going back to Spanish.  We use The Fun Class, and really enjoy it.  My goal is to introduce a foreign language in a fun, engaging, hands-on way that makes the boys WANT to learn.  The Fun Class does just that.  We sing and move each lesson, as well as cook, make crafts, and learn about various Spanish speaking cultures.  We're going to repeat Level 1 again since we took a whole year off.  I'll go at the boys pace.  We may go quickly and move to Level 2, or we may take the year in Level 1.  I will plan on doing Spanish twice a week.  Once with the DVD lesson and once to cook or do the craft while listening to the practice CD.

Religion and Fine Arts

  We will once again use our church's material for religion.  They are workbook style, but since we are doing a home study instead of classroom CCE, I have the ability to do a lot orally, and add-in whatever hands-on activities I can find.  We will also continue to watch the Superbook DVD's my dad purchased for them.  They love those, and it introduces bible stories in a way they "get" and will remember.  This year, both boys will participate in their Rite of First Communion and other Rites, so it should be an exciting year. 

  I am using a slightly Charlotte Mason-inspired style for our Fine Arts.  I would love to showcase one Artist and Composer a month, and gain familiarity with their style and works.  I'm going to plan this month by month and use whatever free resources I can find from the library and internet.  We will round out our fine arts with monthly trips to the many art museums around our city, free children's performances at Miller Outdoor Theater, and the Children's Concert series through the Houston Symphony.  Houston is rich in The Arts, and offers a lot of free opportunity for kids, especially homeschoolers.  A lot of what we study will be based on what is offered and available.  Besides the artist/composer study, we have been utilizing this method since homeschooling, and it has produced two kids that love and appreciate various art forms.  I couldn't be happier!

Field Trips and Volunteering

  We are a field trip family.  My boys love getting out and getting hands-on with their learning.  We participate in homeschool classes at the zoo, and homeschool days at various museums and other places around town when they are offered.  We homeschool 4 days a week and leave 1 day to get out into the community.  We also volunteer throughout the year through our church.  Last year, we were on the plant team, and took care of the plant displays around the holidays.  We will probably continue this again, and might look for other opportunities to volunteer.  The boys have shown great empathy toward the homeless recently, so we may look for ways they can help both locally and city-wide.

Games

  We play a lot of games in our house.  We have board games, card games, action games, language games, math games, critical thinking games...you get the picture.  We will continue to play one game a day every single day.  Last year we started playing different "types" of games on the different days of the week.  This helped us play all our games instead of playing the same one over and over again.  We'll probably stick with the same cycle.  Monday-Math Game, Tuesday-Lang Arts, Wednesday-Science/Art/Geography, Thursday-Critical Thinking/Fun


Physical Education

  Both boys take gymnastics twice a week and play soccer during the fall and baseball in the spring.  We also attend our homeschool support group's park play date once a week in the afternoon.  This year, however, we're also going to add in physical education through Family Time Fitness. http://www.familytimefitness.com/fitness4homeschool/Fitness4HomeSchool.php

I purchased this curriculum several years ago and it's been sitting on my hard drive.  I hope to start our day with at least 30 minutes of PE based on the lessons they provide.  This is for the boys as well as myself.  We will all benefit, they focus so much better during the day when we start with activity, and it will get me moving as well, which is hard to work in when you have kids with special needs.

So that's it!  I look forward to sharing our weeks ahead with you and seeing how this list of goals translates into real life.  Thanks for following us on our journey! 


  

Our Crazy Pet Sitting Summer!

It started innocently enough.  A little comment to Andrew while we were watching a friend's pet.  Something along the lines of how this could be a job for them when they get older, and how a lot of people make money by pet sitting.  A few hours later, the boys came to me with a name, The Watch Dogs Pet Sitting, and a mission to make some spending money.  I love social media for times like this.  I made one post about the business starting up, and my wonderful friends responded in such a huge way.  As of this post, The Watch Dogs have watched pets every day we've been home this summer (we even had to turn down some jobs while we were on vacations or out of town!), and are fully booked through July with 3 different households.  They are currently watching 2 dogs, 4 cats, several fish, and 3 toads.  Every day around noon we make our pet sitting rounds.

I am so honored to have friends that trust my boys to take care of their pets while they are out of town.  And I'm so proud of my boys doing such a good job!  They really are, and that is a fun thing to watch.  They really enjoy it!  And, they REALLY enjoy making their own money.  :)

Lucas is still the animal lover.  He enjoys watching and spending time with them all, and feels pretty certain he would like to continue volunteering and working with animals in the future. Andrew  has decided that, while he likes pet sitting, he'd really like to start baby sitting.  Always the people person.  I had to break it to him that he's still a little young, only being 10, but I'm sure, in the future, he'll be a wonderful sitter.  He already volunteers with me in the church nursery once a month, and it's so fun to watch him interact with the littles.  He's stepped up as the spokesman for The Watch Dogs, and loves the interaction with the owners.

This has been a summer of growth for the boys as they've taken on some responsibility, and have stepped up to the plate.  I can see it shaping their future goals and helping them discover a little about themselves, their strengths, and what they like to do. While all parents worry and wonder about their child's future, those of us with special needs kiddos worry differently.  Will my child be self sufficient?  Will they need assistance throughout their life?  Will they find a niche and thrive?  I have 2 that I worry about.  Some people have more. I can't imagine.  As it is, the fear of when I'm gone, knowing they won't have a "typical" sibling to watch out for them, is terrifying.

Seeing them grow so much this summer, however, and watching people take a chance on them, has been a wonderful thing.  Balm for the soul and a little respite from the worry.

Fresh Year, New Start, Back to Blogging!

What a year we had last year!  It was good in so many ways, but also challenging.  Challenging enough that I felt the need to back off the blogging, and focus on my kiddos, our family, and our homeschooling journey.

I don't want to call it a bad homeschool year.  The boys learned a lot, we made many discoveries, and had a lot of fun.  We took some classes, went on awesome field trips, and continued making educational strides.  Despite the good, it was still a year of some soul-searching and homeschool growing pains. 

We started the year with things all planned out.  The school room was painted, decorated, curriculum ordered (My Father's World, Exploring Countries and Cultures), and everything very planned and scheduled.  I quickly discovered that MFW was NOT going to be a good fit for my kiddos now that they had advanced into the multi-year curriculum (3rd-8th grade), and after about the first week, my planned, organized, prayed over year was falling apart at the seams.  Not the best way to start a new year, to say the least.

We never really recovered, and the "bad fit" seemed to spread into every curriculum choice we had made.  We had a "wondering" year, where nothing really seemed to go as planned, and we spent the year meandering through different curricula and educational philosophies.  In the end, though, it all worked out for the best.  God, once again, knew what he was doing, and was guiding me in the direction I need to go.  I grew so much last year, as did the boys, and having a year like we did, allowed me the confidence to go out on my own a lot more.  We will probably never go back to the all-in-one curriculum, and I am much more able to recognize what my kiddos need, enjoy, and how they learn.

Another thing I realized is that I miss blogging our adventures!  I don't think I'm the best blogger in the world, I'm way too sporadic, I forget to proofread and edit on occasion, and I'm usually pretty far behind.  BUT, I really enjoy looking back and seeing the highlight reel!  So, here we go again!  My next post will be our plan for next year.  We are using so many different choices and pulling from many different places.  I am excited for September!  I'm going to sign off with some pictures from our last school year.  It really was a GREAT year in so many ways.