A New Springtime

October

Fall leaf orgami and mosaics...

1st grade color by number...
Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Hannah is reading St. Margret Mary...

 

Homeschool Teamwork and Dedication

Homeschooling is a vocation that takes commitment and teamwork. Everyone must work hard and do their part to make the days productive and fruitful. We do have a routine each day and ways of making sure everyone is actually learning. We use some textbooks and some living books (a Charlotte Mason approach). My children are versatile and like to learn in a variety of ways:

• workbooks
• nature drawings/ field guides/ fandex
• drawings/or  pre-printed coloring pages
•  board or card games (educational)
• computer
• hands on activities
•  fieldtrips
• dictation/narration

Since I have 6 different children and each of them have their own curriculum, they have a chart to fill out each day. On the sides are the subjects and across the top the days of the week. Each day they turn this sheet in and I transfer each subject on to my chart.
( fifth grader's desk)

The kids work independently and I am at my desk ready to answer questions when they arise. I also spend my time correcting previous papers, researching options for curriculum, finding worksheets or ideas to go with the subjects they are currently working on.

(eighth grader's desk)

The children know their daily routine and they use their chart as a guide to see what assignments are next in line. Sometimes they share a science experiment or do a project together. Because some of them are close in age it is okay to combine certain activities. Sometimes it is good to let go of the whole "grade" concept.

( 10th grader's desk)

A set curriculum is always a good thing to have but I do not hesitate to be spontaneous if something is put in my path. I am always on the hunt for new learning items. I picked up this book at church last week on the give away table and it is now my son's religion assignment. He reads a set amount of pages each day and is keeping a journal about what he reads.

Nature study has been a part of our curriculum from the beginning. Usually in the spring we are more enthused about it and we set aside a day of the week to incorporate nature walks.
Gathering specimens and things we find along the way are great research starters. Reading, drawing, and writing  about nature finds are all ways to practice spelling, english, art and science.

Everything can become an opportunity to learn something new. There are so many different styles out there and no one way is the best. I am drawn to Charlotte Mason and Montessori approaches. Short doable lessons are actually better than long lengthy drawn out lessons. Children will retain more and their minds will stay fresh in each subject this way.

Homeschool learning gives kids an opportunity to direct themselves and become independant in their skills. They are able to keep track of and be responsible for their daily school routine.  They also have a vast variety of ways and techniques to be able to process the information they are obtaining from their curriculum. It takes dedication and hard work on each family members part. We all learn how to  be independent but still work and pull together as a team.

Early Intervention and A Going Away Party

 My youngest son has Down Syndrome and he has gotten Early Intervention sevices since he was about 1 year old. I didn't sign him up right away as an infant because I was comfortable dealing with his needs alone. When it came time for him to eat solid foods, he was having difficulties chewing his food and I needed some support and assistance at that time. His pediatrician recommended calling EI so my husband and I discussed it, coming to the conclusion that it was a good idea. We met with the women and set up a plan of goals together to meet our little ones needs. I felt this program respected us as a family unit and that is very important to us especially because we homeschool. After 2 years of services from an occupational therapist, physical therapist, and a developmental therapist I can say that the input from them was very supportive. We worked together as a team to give our special boy what he needed.
( our boy with his occupational therapist)

After two years this part of our life's journey has come to an end. EI sevices end when a child becomes three years of age and then there are other options for a family to choose from:

• a public preschool/full services
•  apublic preschool/ discreet services
• private services
• medical based services ex. physical therapy @ a local hospital
• homeschool  ( parent  makes plans and goals for child doing research and using various resources and methods)

We had wonderful EI workers and we wanted to show them our appreciation. Whenever someone gives of themselves whether a job or volunteer work, I feel a sense of gratitude. I also love to meet other people. Service is a reflection of the glory of God. We wanted to honor our workers and let them know we appreciated them.   We decided to have a luncheon/going away party for them.

We had a very simple menu and the girls helped to prepare the food:

• ham /turkey platter
• rolls
• cold macoroni salad
• veggies for dipping
• fruit salad

It was a lovely early spring event with lovely people.

The ladies from EI made birthday cupcakes for our lil' boy and gave him some wonderful "tools" for his 3 year old celebration!

 

One of them was the book, "Little Gorilla" it is about a baby gorilla getting bigger celebrating growth and his birthday, So appropriate for the age and occasion.

 

The other was a Melissa and Doug wooden birthday cake. Such thoughtful ideas! We are so blessed!

I am pleased with the past two years of services from EI. I was a bit apprehensive at first but because of the way the program works and respected our family it was very productive. I am going to homeschool our boy because that is what I have done with my other children and that is the calling that our family is following. I have some wonderful friends that are willing to support us and give us input from their experiences. I will make up goals (IEP) for myself and when he turns 6 I will formally provide one for the schoolboard. I will most likely seek private speech therapy. There are some now that will take private insurance. Malcolm recieves many fringe benefits from having a large family that homeschools. He has constant stimulation and modeling from his parents and 5 other siblings still at home. This works to a child with DS advantage. I am looking forward to our spring and summer with the kids and it will be a new season for Malcolm. He will be able to get some great physical activity at our local park and natural outdoor play! It will be a new chance introduce him to new wonders of the world and new sign language for those things.

Although our EI workers are going away they will be with us in more ways than one. The things we have learned from them will always be with us as we move forward into a new season.

Living Books for Lil' Ones

Charlotte Mason used the term living books to describe books that are useful in teaching other than the traditional textbooks. These books can actually help children to form a relationship with the subject or area of interest that is being read about.

I like to draw or trace a picture from the book and have the kids color it in. One year we made a memory book by photo copying a the cover of each living book they read.

My older children like to read to the younger ones. These are some of the titles they read this week:

• In the Nest  by Anna Milbourne & Laurenence Cleyet-Merle
• Jo macDonald had a Garden by Mary Quattlebaum illus. by Laura J. Bryant
• St. Francis and the Crow by Bernadette Watts
• Biscuit In the Garden by Alyssa Capucilli illus. by Pat Schories

Homeschool News/ Subjects That Are Being Studied

History:

Abigail (5th gd.) - Pocahontas

Hannah (6th gd.) - Gen. Sherman / Civil War

Max ( 8th gd.) - Otto & Pope John XII

Raphael (10th gd.) The French & Spanish War

Science:

Eliana ( gd. K) - Plants

Abigail - (5th gd.) - The Earth and Its Composition (earthquakes, this week)

Hannah - (6th gd.) - The 3 States of Matter

Max - (8th gd.) - The 3 States of Matter

Raphael - The Laws of Isaac Newton, The Laws of Elements

Religion:

Eliana - (gd. K) Old Testament (  New Catholic Picture Bible) Noah's Ark

Abigail - ( 5th gd.) The Forming of God's People

Hannah - (6th gd.) The Sacred Banquet

Max - Fathers and Doctors of the Church

Raphael - Confirmation Prep. worksheets on sacraments, etc.

Spelling:

Eliana - ( gd. K) short and long vowel sounds

Abigail - (5th gd.) words ending in  -ent

Hannah & Max - ( 6th & 8th gd.) words ending in -tion

Raphael - (10th gd.) SAT vocabulary words, Spelling and definition practice

Math:

Eliana - (gd. K) Basic Skills Workbook Adding & Subtracting

Abigail - (5th gd.) math Skills Wbk./Division

Hannah - Saxon 6/5 Reading the Centimeter Scale to the Nearest 10th

Max - Saxon 8/7 How to Write Division Problems

Raphael - Saxon Algebra 1/2, Advanced Equations

English:

Eliana - (gd. K) nouns

Abigail - (5th gd.) different kinds of sentences

Hannah - (6th gd.) singular, plural, possesive nouns

Max - ( 8th gd.) quotation marks and italics

Raphael - (10 gd.) reading Ivanhoe for Historical Fiction book report

Every Friday we read about a particular artist and do a related art project.

We also pick an African Country and read about it and take notes, color the flag, etc. and we are watching a 5 part series: The Human Journey: Out Of Africa

 

My Back Is Up Against the Wall

Today, I spent most of the day rearranging and organizing the classroom. It was a much needed change because my desk was absolutely in the wrong place.

My desk now faces the kiddos and my back faces the wall. Oh yeh, now I can see everything!! When my mother and I first set up the room my desk was near the window and I was facing outside.

I had a nice view of the road but not a view of what was going on behind my back. Most of the time the kids work independently and come to me when they have a question. For the most part they are well behaved but there is a bit of room for mischeviousness when mama can't see. them. I don't have eyes in the back of my head but my ears are quite keen. (lol)

My desk is not that big and neither is the room but it works out well when things are organized properly. Now all my paper, calendar, answer keys, printer and daily lesson binder are in the right hand corner by my desk. Before some things were on my right and some on my left making it harder to access.

This will be my new workstation, a nice cozy corner of the room. I like my calendar laid out on the fourth shelf, wide open because if I do not look at it throughout the day I will forget certain important things.

I added this bookcase because we had all of our games, activity books, atlases, dictionaries, etc all on different shelves. Now this is the central location for all of most of our weekly resourses.

Lastly, the new positon makes me closer and more available to the little ones. There desk is now directly across from theirs. I think this was a needed change and will be an all around better situation for all of our needs. Hopefully, my back being against the wall is a good thing!!

 

Home Grown

 Our little Malcolm is making so many strides especially since he has his siblings of various ages to inspire and instruct him in his everyday endevours. He has so much stimulation and support from all of us here at home that he is confident when it comes to being out in the community. Over the years of homeschooling, I have come to realize we have the ideal situation when it comes to so called "peer group" situation. I am not a believer in same age peer groups because I have seen the negative effects and dependency it can cause on children. It is not a realistic situation for real world communication, for when do we ever encounter a group made up only of one age on a day to day basis once we have left the school system. Hardly ever.

There is so much co-dependency these days and I find many people are afraid to reach out to others and make new aquaintances, I feel this is because we become complacecent in these "peer groups" and do not become comfortable with reaching out from that same age group approach. Children are especially impressionable at these young ages and become attatched to these type of settings. What I am finding is that younger ones strive to become more like the ones they are surrounded with and if that entails people of different ages they will have a repitiore of ideas and ideals to strive toward. I also find that older children of middle and high school age grow and become strengthened by being a mentor and example for younger people. This increases their confidence and sense of responsibility rather than  just trying to fit in with ones of their own age.
I am in awe of the interaction that I see on a daily basis when it comes to the benefits of homeschooling. When I was called to this vocation, a little over 14 years ago, I could never have guessed at how blessed our family would be and that we would be given such a special gift by God.

I have had my blinders removed and seen the glory of God Himself! He has given us a pure gift and has shown us by being open to life and educating these children according to His laws and His ways is a contradiction to the world. Family is the first and foremost community and from there we are called to go out to build up society not the other way around. Taking apart the family and sending them many different directions when they are still young and influentual is not the ideal situation. To have a father, mother, brothers and sisters in the home who can nuture and build up their children in love gives them and their offspring the confidence they need to become "successful" and loving citizens.

To have each other and teach each other in a home environment is just like homegrown fresh veggies.  God has always provided for us and we are not rich by any means. I believe if we live simply and humbly and strive to live in His ways by His commandments, even though we fall short of his glory He will help us along the way! 

( Malcie signing 'star')

Having a large family, a special little boy with Down Syndrome, homeschooling, and my Catholic faith have  shown me so many wonderful eye opening treasures. It shows me that I do not have to follow the crowd or the main stream but to follow God, Jesus Christ Himself, who is real in proof that in following what He says to do brings true eternal life and happiness beginning with us right here and now.

 

 

 

 

 

Filled to the Brim Homeschooling

Our homeschool days are filled to the brim with many different ages and curriculums. We have a :

• 2 yr old, with Down Syndrome
• 5 yr old, kindergartener
• 10 yr old, 5th grader
• 11 yr old, 6th grader
• 13 yr old, 8th grader
• 15 yr old, 10th grader

Each day the children are responsible for pulling out their own books and doing the assigned work. They have a weekly chart ,with each day of the week on it, to fill in. At the end of each day they hand it in and I fill out my daily curriculum page. All except the 2 and 5 year old do this on their own. This fosters a sense of independent learning and responsibitity. I am available when questions arise or difficulties with any lessons.

On Hannah's desk is her chart and her history assignment for the day, She is reading about early American History in "From Sea to Shining Sea" put out by CHC.

 All of the children have been working on figuring out the main ideas of paragraphs appropriate to their grade level. There is a great website called K12Reader.com and it has a lot of great literary worksheets and advice.

There are even high school level worksheets which exphose students to classic literary works. They have pargraphs from Moby Dick, Romeo and Juliet, The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to name a few. It can be used for an introduction to a longer novel or alone for those who may get overwhelmed by reading.

This is the science book my 8th grader is using, "  Life Science, All Creatures Great and Small". I spread this book out over a two year period and am excited to learn they are coming out with a new updated color version of this text at CHC, soon.

My little kindergartener has been working on the typical grade K work, phonics, addition, sequencing, the seasons, pilgrims, etc.  She used stamps to fill in the letters on the above worksheet, a fun way to encourage phonics and spelling.

She also takes up helping her little brother as well. Unfortunately, seasonal colds have been making their way through our homeschool as well.

 The kids display some of their favorite papers or activities on our show and tell bar we have hanging on our wall. Right now we have a leaf collection, a pilgrim coloring page and...

a drawing and description of a lion, part of our African study...

a "Lord of the Rings" coloring page. We are reading this as a group and our  kidergartener did this while listening to us.

Here is another part of the leaf collection by our 5th grader, she is also drawing flowers for her nature notebook. The kids do are quite good at keeping themselves on track in their individual subjects, they are interested learners and their lives are filled to the brim with learning opportunities.

Praying with Lior, a Catholic View

 I really enjoy watching documentaries especially the ones about people's lives. People are so different and yet so much alike in many ways. Last night, it took me about 10 minutes to scroll through the choices offered on Netflix in this genre but I really wanted  something that popped out at me. When I came upon "Praying with Lior", I knew immediatlely that this was the right choice. First of all, it appealed to me because Lior has Down Syndrome, just like my lil' Malcie boy. Second,  it was about religion and a spiritual journey. Lior is Jewish and he was about to make his  Bar Mitvah.

 

 The moment I heard Lior's voice I was hooked. It is very difficult for kids with D.S. to speak but I love the way they talk. It is kind of slurry husky sound but knowing they are trying so hard makes me want to listen to them even more. I know my child will speak in this manner as well but I cannot wait to hear that voice of his someday. I never knew I could be so in love with a child with Down Syndrome. It is an experience like no other in my life.

 The movie put me on an emotional roller coaster in a good way. It made me laugh, cry, celebrate, grieve and ponder. It provoked a lot of thinking about my connections and approaches in life with my kids, family and others. I love when the Holy Spirit inspires me through a specific learning experiences. I saw such family bonding, love and responsibility in this families' life. Lior's biological mother had died but she left her family with such a sense of love for God and each other. Her spirit was more alive than ever throughout the movie I could sense her presence.

 Life can be so stressful, routine and fast-paced it is sometimes hard for me to see the beauty that is coming from  God within my own home. I want to be a mother who nurtures more than lectures and connects with my childern. Forming relationships with each one of these special gifts from God and showing them His love is supposed to be my goal in life.

  I want to be a holy person for my children, to be a good example of the love that God has for them and for me that comes from Jesus. I have been blessed with the Catholic faith and its beautiful teachings on life.

 This film has brought me even closer to God in my Catholic Faith. It has enkindled in me the need and want to sing the praises of my Lord. He is such a powerful yet humble, personal God who wants us to engage and connect with in private and in public. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

 I will remember this film each time I view the tabernacle and recieve Jesus in Holy Communion remembering my Confirmation. I am a soldier for Christ and that I have been confirmed and anointed as a priest, prophet  and king. He has given His life in the flesh for us all and I want to do the same for him. Lior, means my light, and we are all called to bring the light of God to the world!

Elohim Adonai, the name of God Most High!

Giving Thanks to God

I am very blessed to be able to serve God everyday in my vocation. He has blessed me with a beautiful family and a wonderful opportunity of homeschooling. We are now in the full swing with: school, soccer, and early intervention with LIl' Malcolm. Here are some of the things we are working on in our lives:

Our home is going through a decor transformation, a new look is always good once in a while. I want our home to be a clean, comfortable, cozy place for love and learing to take place.

These are Malcie's orthodics, he got them yesterday, the pattern on them is called the tornado! Maybe he will be walking soon and be like a "lil' tornado". These insert into his shoes and give him ankle and knee support. I love having this special boy in my life. I never understood how beautiful it is to have a child with Down Syndrome. He is such a joy and works hard at getting around. I thank God for him and all my wonderful children.

This  is another aid called a gate trainer. It is a fancy walker for kids who need extra support walking.This one is on loan to us for a week for a trail run. He will probably only need this for 6 mths. or less.

Rice play has become a daily activity for these two, it is for sensory intergration and stimulation, not only does Malcie like it but big sis gets into it as well.

Homeschooling is off to a good start and we have grades K, 5, 6, 8 and 10th grades going on. I will list each students curriculum in seperate posts later this week. The art program we are doing together a couple times a week is, World's Greatest Artists, created by a very generous homeschooling mother @ Confessions of a Homeschooler blog.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, His mercy endures forever!