Comfy cozy and Crazy socks!

Day two and three of International Homeschool Spirit Week have been a blast! Tuesday was comfy cozy day, and we made sure we were comfy cozy! A was in his pajamas and we did lessons on the couch, the recliner, and in our cozy homeschool reading corner!

Today (Wed.) is crazy sock day! So we pulled out our crazy socks! 

We wore our crazy socks to a awesome field trip to a local Apple Orchard.

 We are doing a unit on Johnny Appleseed and Apples, we will end the week with a field trip to a local celebration! The Apple Festival! 

Homeschool Away From Home Day!!

We are celebrating "International Homeschool Spirit Week" this week.

Today was homeschool away from home day! We took it to the park and then we joined some local homeschoolers for some 4-H fun!

 I took some photo's to enter them into a contest sponsered by "Great Homeschool Conventions".

Here are some photo's from our day!

EXHAUSTION

I am so tired, and I don't just mean normal end of the day tired. I mean I am exhausted, dragging, can't keep my eyes open (but have no choice) tired. Why am I so tired?

Well A and his brother little E (who may or may not have a ASD diagnosis in his future) have both decided they don't need sleep any more. I don't mean they are pushing their limits by staying up a hour past bedtime. I mean they really, truly do not seem to need sleep, so where does that leave me? You've got it...exhausted. No matter what I do, A does not want to go to bed, when I finally do get him in bed he usually starts crying...then I hear about every little thing that has been bothering him for the past six months...for example, last night (or should I say at 2:00 AM this morning) A was in tears... "I want a parrot...pig....monkey", "why won't Bubba (big brother) let me play on his computer", "I don't want to do lessons" and "why do I need to sleep? I can stay up all night....". 

Little E (read more about his story here), he will go to sleep, and he will sleep good for a couple of hours, then he gets up.  I tell him "E back to bed" and he goes back to bed, only to pop up again in about a hour. The last thing I remember is hearing E talking and laughing in his room at approximately 3:00 this morning. A's crying spells doesn't help and usually they wake little E up!

I remember when my boy's were newborns, I remember the exhaustion of waking every two hours, well I feel like that, except maybe worse. I sure hope this is just a phase, I wonder how long a person can go without sleep before totally going bonkers!  Ugh!

Actually, I am almost used to it! I guess the body adapts!

Back to school photo shoot!

To cute for words!! 

Curriculum, curriculum, and more curriculum!

Wow, I have done a lot of shopping in the past few weeks.  Mainly online, though I have picked up a few workbooks at a local book store, and some Mozart and Beethoven CD's at Goodwill! I think I  have finally (one week before we start school) got my curriculum. So here is a quick list of some of the fun and amazing things we we are going to learn this year!

• Math- This is the subject we struggle with the most. I admit  that math is not my favorite subject, so I do stress about it. I have changed curricula multiple times, searching for the right  math for "A". He likes structure, and is a hands on learner.  I have researched and read, and I have finally decided to use Singapore Math- Primary Math. We will be using the teacher's manual, workbooks, and manipulatives with this curriculum. 
• Reading- One of our favorite subjects! I am sticking with the Pecci Reading Method, "A" made such wonderful progress in reading last year and I feel that he is currently performing above grade level. I also plan to add in spelling and basic grammar. 
• Science- For science I will be creating our curriculum using, library books, the internet, and I will probably order kits from the Young Scientists Club. I also plan to continue using  Moving Beyond the Page, and of course simply getting outside to learn about nature through experience!
• Social Studies/History- I am so excited about this! We will be using Beautiful Feet Early American History- History Through Literature. 
• Art- For art we will do creative activities, and read about famous artists and view their works. 
• Music- For music we will start the year off with The Story of the Orchestra, book and CD. We will also discuss and listen to the works of famous composers, and will use the Classic for Kids web page.  We hope to start piano lessons this year! 

I plan on lots of learning and fun. We love field trips and hope to visit the zoo, the park, the theater, and some museums! I really want to take A to see a performance by the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, if they offer performances for children that is!

Finally planning!

I am finally starting to get some planning done for the upcoming school year. I am finding it easier to plan each unit/subject one at a time and am planning for the first month right now.  I just finished planning our first Science unit. I decided to (loosely) follow the Virginia standards to give me a starting point, and I would like A to  learn things that are similar to what his peers are learning, but I am skipping around. I am also going above and beyond the state standards, simply to keep A from becoming bored! That doesn't mean I'm tying myself to standards, if there is something A wants to learn that isn't in the standards, well then we'll do it (like dinosaurs, monster trucks,  or Spanish)!

I wanted to share our first Science unit with you. I have decided to do Science on Tuesdays and Thursdays and alternate with History/Social Studies on Mondays and Wednesdays, I may change my mind though and do one week of Science and one week of Social studies to keep things consistent.  I'm just not sure how that will work yet! If you homeschool your elementary aged children, how do you schedule units like Social Studies and Science?

Our first Science unit for first grade will be "All About Animals"!

Materials
"Animals" published by  American Education Publishing. 
Large folding project board to use for charts 
Two smaller poster boards( also for charts)
Glue and scissors  
Poster Paint or Markers
Various books about animals, habitats, etc. 
Pictures of different animals cut from a magazine or printed from Internet, or you could even use pictures that  you take at the zoo! 
Computer or IPAD with Internet access- for related videos and websites 


Day one

• Discuss animal safety and how we stay safe around animals. 
• Discuss life needs of animals and humans 
• Read "All about Penguins" in "Animals"/grades 2-3
• Discuss Penguins, discuss their needs and their habitats. 
• Introduce descriptive word chart, paste a picture of a penguin on the chart 
• using descriptive words describe penguins, write the words under the penguin picture on chart 
• Color penguin activity page

Day Two

• Animal Habitats- discuss and review what he learned in Kindergarten ( we did a whole unit on habitats in K, complete with a field trip to the State Park) 
• Start our Habitat Chart- Chart will have the following pictures, Forest, pond, desert, ocean, arctic, and a house (for our tame animals/pets). 
• Discuss animal adaptations and defenses using pages 228 "Animals"/grade 2-3.
• Watch a video or read a book about Penguins (habitats and adaptations).

Day three

If weather permits we will take this lesson outside, to enjoy with our pets!

• Read about Gray Wolves (p32) in "Animals", Bald Eagle(p30), and Giraffes(p99), add each of these animals to descriptive word chart, and habitat chart. 
• Talk about animals we have around our home (pets), discuss the difference between tame and wild animals. 
• Read page 176 Cats, page 187 dogs, and page. 190 Guinea Pigs ( all pets we have). 
• Add Cats, Dog, and Guinea pig to habitat page (lives with people as pets), and descriptive word chart. 

Day four

• Read pull out story about frogs in "Animals" p193. 
• Compare and Contrast frogs and toads using Venn diagram 
• discuss the life cycle of a frog. 
• Make life cycle of frog book found a Enchanted Learning

Day five

• In "Animals" read about: Jellyfish, Lobster, Octopus ,Sea Horse, Shark, Starfish, and Whales 
• Add these animals to habitat chart and descriptive word chart, discuss adaptations. 
• Go to National Geographic Kids and learn about ocean animals. 
• Go online and find pictures of favorite animals and finish chart, make sure each habitat has at least one animal under it!

Field trip to zoo!! 

A not so relaxed stay at home mom!

I don't know how many times I have heard "you are so lucky to be able to stay at home with your kids", and I know I am. I am very thankful that I am able to be here for my boy's, I am thankful that I am able to home-school "A". I am thankful that I am able to meet his unique needs, and help him learn and grow, he is after all a very intelligent little boy! I am not a stay at home mom by choice, but I am not complaining.

When my youngest son Elijah was born at 24 weeks, we brought home a very sick four month old. "A" was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism about a year later. It didn't take me long to figure out that life was going to change drastically! I know that many of you special needs mommies know how it is. The appointments, often traveling hundreds of miles to get the medical care your child needs.  Dealing with the schools, which is often a major heartache and headache, and the way it feels to hand your home over to strangers. Early intervention, therapists, social workers, nurses, aides, all of the people who spend hours a day in your home, to help with your child. I have almost forgot what it is like to just kick back on the couch while the kids take a nap.

So when I say I am a stay at home mom I am sure some people think that I do my housework, put the kids down for a nap and then turn on my favorite television show or soap. Or maybe I kick back and read for a couple of hours. That isn't how it is, at least not for me.

Housework, well that is something that I do in between appointments, sometimes I reserve housework for after the kids go to bed. Needless to say, I will not be winning any awards for the cleanest, best decorated home. The wallpaper is still half off the walls in the kitchen where I have been meaning to repaint, it has been that way for a long time! You won't find flowers in my flower bed, but you may find a few weeds! If you stop by without calling first there may even be a few dishes in the sink and my living room will probably look like a preschool! I don't even want to talk about the basement area!

Television, well what few shows I do watch I DVR, and I try not to fall asleep as I am watching at midnight or possibly later.  Most days I enjoy bits of Nick Jr. and Mario jumping across the screen. I love to read, but that is something I don't do near as much as I used to.

During the school year our day is a blur of lessons, appointments, and running errands. Some days I catch myself in "survival mode", where it feels like I am just doing what I need to do to get through the day. I really try not to do that . I try every day to recognize my blessings, I realize there are others who are so much worse off. I get to wake up every morning to my boys sweet voices, many never hear their child speak. I am able to teach A at home. Many parents have no choice but go work, send their child to school, often not knowing for sure if their child's needs are really being met. I see Elijah improving every day, far past the doctors expectations. I have a wonderful 17 year old son who makes me so proud!

 I know how fast things can change. I know, because I've been there. So my plan is to strive to find a blessing in each and every day, because the blessings are always there!

 A and his newest pet

A and baby brother

A and big brother