Beginning our 8th year of homeschool:)

The short story: We have had a wonderful week of school. The kids are all eager to learn (yes, I am wondering where my children from last year went...Hmmmm:) We have developed a schedule (now just to stick with it!). We also had dentist appointments this week (no cavities!!) and eye appointments (no glasses either...yay!!!)

The LOOOOONG story:)
This year we started a high schooler, middle schooler, and 3 kindergartners. I fretted a lot this summer and talked over my plan with friends as I was so nervous about starting the 3 little ones when they have such varying skill levels. I think we have a plan and, just for fun, I thought I'd share our curriculum and plan with you! (of course, if you don't want to read you don't have to;)

Beautiful: She is a Freshman! First, I am having to get over the shock of her being so old already (meaning that I am getting old!!) We are working on her being more independent in her coursework and she is really rising to the occasion. I have informed her what she needs to have done between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. (and what the consequence would be for not finishing;)

Buddy: He is a 6th grader. We are working on some specific skills with him that I will discuss below.

Superman: Kindergarten! He has made huge strides over the summer in learning and we have decided to not have him attend any classes at the public school. We will trust our understanding of his issues based on the testing we have had done (I did learning disability testing in graduate school and worked on IEP's with high schoolers) and focus on attachment issues and the things I am learning from the TCU training. We will reassess at the end of the year where his needs are. For now, he finally knows his alphabet (if he doesn't know the name of the letter he does know the sound) and is even reading short vowel 3 letter words!!!

Grace: Spitfire that she is she LOVES to sit down and work on school. She asked all summer "when can we do school mom!?" She is very artsy and loves to sit and create. She is developing about where I would expect...given that she doesn't attend to one thing very long lol!

Faith: She is doing great. Loves kindergarten. She was reading at age 4 and is very bright.

Coursework:
Apologetics (all 5 kids in school) - most important class! We are doing Creation or Evolution by Mike Snavely. We also bought the DVD's that go with it as they were highly recommended by friends and we look forward to what we will learn this year:)

Devotions (all 5 kids) - Character Building For Families vol 1 and 2 by Lee Ann Rubsam. We believe that home school has as much or more to do with teaching character development as academics.

Math U See (all 5 kids) - obviously they are at different levels but we have LOVED Math U See! It is great to have the DVD teach the lesson and then the kids work in the workbook until the skill is mastered. No endless workbook pages "just because." Once it is learned, move on to the next lesson.

English: Obviously with the little ones I am doing phonics. I have/will continue to use the computer program for "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." However, with some learning issues present we are also using Dianne Craft's material for teaching spelling/reading to the right brained learner. This is going well.

For Buddy I started using Shurley English. I had a friend recommend it to me 2 years ago. I decided against it last year as I was intimidated by the book. This year I bit the bullet and just decided to start it as opposed to using Bob Jones English as I have done for the past 5 years. Let me tell you just how sad that I am that I did not start to use this curriculum earlier!!!! It is wonderful! It explains things SOO much better! It is much more user friendly that I had thought (now that I am actually diving into the lessons). I will certainly start the little ones in this curriculum next year!

Beautiful has the fun experience of taking 2 English classes this year!! She is doing the Queen Secondary English program for her grammar needs. I am so excited about Home Scholar books. The author of this curriculum uses a popular book series like the Little House in the Prairie books (we are using the Lord of the Rings curriculum) to teach literary skills. Beautiful has to read a chapter, answer workbook pages on content of what she read, learn 10 "old English" vocabulary words from each chapter, and answer comprehension questions. There are sections learning about J.R.R. Tolkien, all kinds of literary terms, and some excerpts from Beowolf and other "old" stories and poems. The best part is that she gets to learn all of these important things while reading books she actually likes!

Spelling: For Beautiful we used several curriculums and settled on Sequential Spelling. For Buddy we have tried lots of options. Right now we are using Andrew Pudewa's Spelling Zoo combined with Dianne Craft's tips to improve spelling by focusing on the visual part of it (you know, trying to learn to spell based on "rules" doesn't work well in the English language lol!). So when there is a word he struggles with we turn the word into a picture somehow to help him "see" it when he is trying to spell it. He also does the "phonics tutor" on CD-ROM.

Spanish: Rosetta Stone - the newest version is a great improvement over the older one!!!!

For Science we are using the Answers in Genesis recommended "God's Design for Science." This year we are doing Biology, last year we did Chemistry (that was tough I'll tell you!!) I love, love, love this curriculum! I also really love the elementary versions of Apologia and we have used 4 of them in the past.

For History we love the approach by My Father's World. We are studying ancient history this year - from Creation until the time of the Greeks. When we started home schooling we used all My Father's World and then adapted based on each child's needs - that is part of the beauty of home schooling!!!

For Art we are in a home school co-op. I really, really, (REALLY) am not artsy so this is so great for our kids!

Beautiful will be on a home school Basketball league this year for PE. Otherwise she helps to teach a PE class for younger kids in our co-op.

We are also learning Greek/Latin root words - very helpful for vocabulary in the English language!

Reading - I require that the kids read age appropriate books daily but let them choose what they are interested in from the hundreds of books on our bookshelves.

We like Quarter Mile Math on the computer to solidify math skills in a fun way:)

I think that covers it. I may be forgetting something.

Structure:
We start the day with Dianne Craft's Brain Integration training. Her book is filled with exercises to help people "cross the midline" and have information become what she calls "unblocked." I have several of her DVD's and CD's (including 1 on biological needs (such as supplements) for kids who struggle with learning) and have gone to 6 of her seminars. The information/exercises that she talks about is also discussed in the TCU training that I am taking on helping kids with attachment/fear issues. I have seen significant improvement in my kids who participate in this.

In the morning I have the big kids work at their pace from 9 - 12 in self-study. I am available if they need help with anything like correcting a lesson or giving a spelling test. However, by this stage they are mostly self-studying. I have the little ones do 30 minute "stations" during this time. Superman and Faith each have 2 30 minutes stations during this time to play with Jonathan since he is absolutely and totally unwilling to ever be alone (in fact, he is on my lap right now!) Superman and Faith LOVE to have this time alone with their brother. Where is Grace you ask? She is kept at the table with me and the older kids doing art projects, practicing her reading, numbers, etc. I keep her in my sights at all times lol! When Superman or Faith are not with Jonathan they are engaged in other quiet activities that they enjoy but are "learning" tasks. I keep the 3 in separate rooms all morning and, wow, it sure is quieter and no one is hurting anyone else lol! Seriously though, they do have trouble occupying themselves since they are used to our "little CEO" constantly telling them what to do and them always needing to be on guard for her. This time allows them to have the freedom to look through books or whatever they choose and have self-directed time.

Once the big kids finish their subjects we all do science and history together. (we do eat in here... I promise!!) Then it is time for kindergarten. I am using the word lists and concepts from the Dianne Craft right brain learner book to teach letter identification, letter sounds, and reading. I am using My Father's World with the rest of what I am teaching them. Since MFW is not "workbook" heavy I also am using the Answers in Genesis Preschool curriculum workbooks to solidify concepts as a review (and some new material) from what I taught them in preschool last year. I find that with 3 of them I have to find something for 2 to do while I do 1:1 work with another one. They LOVE the workbooks - go figure:)

I'm sure I have forgotten something. I hope that if you are considering home school you have been encouraged about how many options there are and how it is very doable...even with several kids! If you are a home school parent and have any suggestions for me, please let me know!! If you have read this far...wow!!!

small breakthrough??

Sport has a hard time with time out. He has a hard time all the time feeling "left out." He has such far reaching hurts from the life he had before us... When we put him in time out he used to scream like we are cutting off a limb, now he "just" whines. He really hates time out. He will whine for hours if we would let him stay in there that long.

Today, he was throwing rocks...again. So he went to time out...again... When I went to talk it over with him hoping he had calmed down he was still whining.

I said, "why are you whining?"
Sport said, "because there isn't anything fun to do in time out."

There you have it...we have apparently met our goal of time out (not getting to have fun). Now we need to work on him actually trying to avoid time out by obeying lol! Understanding that disobedience has a consequence is so important - but they need to learn to do right...not just try to not get caught!

I am so frustrated by the premise that I am the cause of his pain. When I worked in prisons for 9 years I learned that the primary thought of criminals is "THEY are the problem" (the judge, the cops, the person who told). So, I may be a bit hypersensitive to my children thinking they they don't have the problem. Isn't that the core problem with sin and Satan's deception? The world is unfair. THEY are the problem. THEY don't understand. "I" am the victim.

But...how does one deal with that with a child who has been deeply hurt? They have learned that "the world IS unfair," "THEY did cause the problem,"" I WAS the innocent victim." Satan is so deceptive and evil. He twists and makes everything confused.

Thankfully we have the LIGHT and TRUTH of Christ. We have the Holy Spirit to help us discern and to give us wisdom. We have God who works ALL things of the good of those who love Him.

Reading...

I have been reading several books lately that I wanted to share my thoughts on. As I've shared before I am currently taking a class from Texas Christian University on TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention) as a means of working with children who have come from hard places. I'll share more about what I have been learning in that class in another post. But, I have had to read 2 books as part of that class that I would like to share here. The first one is The Connected Child - for parents who have welcomed children from other countries/cultures, from troubled backgrounds, with special behavioral or emotional needs. It is written by Karyn Purvis Ph.D. and David Cross, Ph.D. I think that all parents who have adopted kids from hard places should read this book. It has taught me more than any of the other sources on adopting combined. In part it teaching about looking at the brain chemistry changes that occur with early trauma and the long term ramifications of that helps to understand why a child engages in behaviors that as parents we sit back and scratch our heads over...or get very frustrated about. The book offers many ways for us to see our children's behaviors differently so that we can more accurately see the heart of our hurting/fearful child rather than assume "this child is willfully rebellious and will never change." They give many specific strategies for intervention and give much hope to the parents who don't know what to do next. What I appreciate the most about the book is that Dr's Purvis and Cross are Christians who do not rely solely on modern psychology but rather incorporate the truths of Christian parenting - including as part of our parenting to instill in our children their identity as a loved child of God.

The second book I read as part of this class is The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder by Carol Kranowitz, M.A. Sensory Processing Disorder (or, as seen in various locations SI or SPD) is a relatively newly categorized disorder on the Autism spectrum. The spectrum goes from Autism to Asperger's Syndrome, to SPD. The book is very readable and helps to explain the causes and behaviors of those children who are highly sensitive to sounds, smells, sights, etc. Those kids who we buffer from out of the box (for them) experiences knowing those experiences will result in triggering a behavioral outburst. It also does a great job of explaining how SPD sometimes looks like ADHD - but delineates clearly how they are two different disorders.


The next group of books I am reading are parenting books (not that the above books aren't helping me parent my kids who have a wide range of "issues"). I believe strongly that parents need to be intentionally parenting their children and not just "getting through the day" by clothing, feeding, and keeping their children alive. We need to get to the heart of our children, teach them how they are loved by their Creator and the need for them to live for their Creator.

I was very, very impressed with Voddie Baucham Jr.'s book Family Driven Faith: Doing what it takes to raise sons and daughters who walk with God. He clearly goes through the reasons why we need to be parenting more intentionally, and wonderful suggestions on how that would look. Many of the precepts his discusses I already agreed with, but he had more practical suggestions and laid out the Biblical foundation well. I highly, highly, highly recommend this book.

And, because we have a teenager who is...well...a teenager...I also read What He Must Be...if he wants to marry my daughter - also by Voddie Baucham Jr. My husband and I were not raised in Biblical homes and this world of parenting...and parenting a teenager... has made us really examine our Worldview. We desire to have a Biblical Worldview and I am so thankful for such great leaders such as Voddie Baucham Jr who write such excellent books on this topic. This book takes a look at what Biblical Manhood should look like and how our daughters should settle for nothing less than a solidly Biblical Man - and how it is the father's responsibility to be actively involved in that process. It was very convicting about the goals we need to have for our own sons as well...

Finally, I read Boy Meets Girl - say hello to courtship by Joshua Harris. It the follow up to his "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." It is a great book that clearly defines what "courtship" means, has excellent practical ideas on what courtship looks like, and explains why courtship is the Biblical model.

My hope is that if any of you are looking for help or helpful ideas in parenting your children that you would check out these resources. I am always learning such great ideas from other blogger friends that I want to pass along what I have found helpful too:)

JJ Update

JJ had hard nights Sat. and Sun. Sunday night he even had inconsolable crying which he has never had before. He had a fever of over 104 again. He also stopped taking in solids (he doesn't eat many of those anyway) and taking bottles - only nursing. Monday morning I took him to the physician. He has bad head congestion again but without drainage - odd. His throat was very raw and his lungs were congested again. I had taken 2 other kids in for Kindergarten physicals on Friday so weighed JJ then - he was 17 lbs 12 oz (I was so proud that he broke 17 lbs lol!) Monday we found that he had lost 4 oz since Friday. So, he got a shot of an anti-inflammatory, started on Zithromax, started back on the nebulizer treatments, and we had to go back on Tuesday. His fever broke Monday night:) The antibiotics always work well when he is on them, but his symptoms come back right away when he gets off the it.

Tuesday he had lost another several oz, but with the fever gone and he energy level up we did not have to hospitalize him as we had feared. We go back the end of this week to see if all is well. He is finally back to eating solids and drinking bottles again. One day he drooled so bad - his throat hurt him so much that he would not swallow his spit. Thankfully once his fever broke and the antibiotic kicked in he was not drooling anymore lol!

Once again, I am so thankful that we made the decision to nurse him. Each time that he gets sick he refuses bottles but will still nurse. I'm sure that he would have been hospitalized more often (and longer the time he was hospitalized with RSV) had he not nursed. I hope that more adoptive parents learn about this option and choose it:)

JJ is feeling great at the moment. He is walking all over the place staying vertical for 3 - 25 steps at a time. In a few weeks he won't fall hardly at all and we'll have a "toddler" instead of a baby... He loves to open all of my drawers and cupboards, pulling out my bowls, lids, etc. He is such a delightful and wonderful son. We are blessed:)