Homeschooling in the Midst of Chaos

My house is a total wreck. I didn't realize how long it's been since my husband started renovations until I read one of my previous blog posts! When a friend asked me about it last night, I told her we started the first week of January. Now I'm reminded by my blog that it was just after Thanksgiving! It all started with just making the opening to the kitchen wider, and that progressed into tiling the whole house (except the bedrooms).

The fact that I thought it's only been since January scares me that I may be getting used to living like this! Nooooo! I think it may also be a way of preparing myself for the fact that we may not be done for at least another month or so. I'm just trying not to keep track of time. 

Our work spaces have been moved to our beds. My daughter has a small table she pulls up to do her homeschool. She's used to doing her school at the dining room table. 

She spends a lot of time in her room reading also. That's her favorite thing to do. She could read all day if I let her. I'm not complaining. I do have other children that don't like to read. So I know it's a good thing. But sometimes I have to pull her out of there and bribe her into playing a game with me, going to the playground, taking our dog to the dog park, going for a walk. A few weeks ago we went strawberry picking with our homeschool group.

 Last Friday we went to a Valentine's Day party for our homeschool group where the kids decorated cupcakes and boxes to place their exchange Valentine's cards and candy. Saturday I took her to a girls' book club and then to a dance for families with kids with special needs. She had so much fun dancing with her friends. 

Today we went to the theater to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She loves dance and music. So she had a great time! Last month I took her to the Winter Jam concerts, which are 10 Christian bands. I think she talked about that for weeks. And next week we're going to see a play that I've coordinated for our homeschool group to attend. Sometimes she'll skype with a friend. And she can do that for quite a while, too. But I'm happy for her to spend time talking with a friend on Skype. For a child with Down syndrome communication skills practice like this is so helpful.

Fridays is a great day for outdoor fun with friends at her homeschool PE group. We live in Florida and this morning was unexpectedly cold. I know. It's not cold if you live in any one of the other states, but for us Floridians anything below 70 is too cold. So I'm glad we had other indoor plans for today because it was too cold for P.E.  It was 59 degrees!  We both left the house wearing boots, heavy sweaters and scarves. I'm sure you northerners would be laughing at us if I posted pictures. 

Well, you get the idea. Yes, she's working on her homeschool curriculum at least 4 days a week, but we're also trying to get out of the house a few times a week, which we normally wouldn't do if the house weren't under construction. We're also finding creative ways to incorporate homeschool outside of home. Like at the grocery store, she'll pay for a few things herself. Before we get to the register, I help her add up everything on a calculator and help her to count out the money. And of course, always try to go when it's not busy and there are no lines. On our way to her speech therapy, we listen to audio books. This helps her with comprehension. Her reading fluency and comprehension have really improved tremendously this year. 

She also likes to practice her writing on a Boogie Board that she got for Christmas. 

She sits in the passenger seat, writes out something, and then shows it to me. I'll give her hints on mistakes she may have made in spelling, punctuation or capitalization. She erases and writes it over again until she gets it right. This is much easier and a little more fun than doing it on paper and having to erase. She doesn't even realize that she has to erase the whole thing and write it all over again. She loves her Boogie Board, so that doesn't bother her. It's good handwriting practice. If it were on a notebook paper, she'd only erase the mistake.  This photo shows how she wrote about her speech therapist, Elle. Elle got a kick out of this.

 Of course she also uses handwriting worksheets when we're home. I have notebooks for each of my kids of their journals, essays, and handwriting practice throughout the years. These notebooks and their art work are our most precious keepsakes in their homeschool portfolios. 

Christmas At Our House

That vacation I told you about last week....well, I came home to a surprise from my husband. Kitchen renovation! This is a good thing and a bad thing. We've slowly been doing small renovations throughout the years. Well, not we; my husband.  He likes to do everything himself.  The only thing we've hired anyone for is refinishing our pool.  I'm actually proud of him and how he can do so much himself, even if he's learning as he's working. And the final project always looks great to me. It's also a good example for our sons. Our oldest is married and he's taken after his dad. He also likes to do most things himself. If he doesn't know how, he calls dad. And if dad doesn't know how, he goes to YouTube. :)

It also teaches our kids hard work. Hard work teaches good character. You see, my husband works long hours. This may take him longer than he'd planned or than he'd like it to take, but he still does a little bit of work when he comes home late and tired. And of course, even on weekends he's in the kitchen working to get it done. This is probably the one room with the most need for renovations. It's fairly small with a small entryway. Even with only two of us in the kitchen, it feels crowded and we're in each other's way. So my husband opened up the entryway by tearing down part of the wall. He also tore down a whole counter from one side of the kitchen and raised the drop-down ceiling. This makes the kitchen roomier, but it also opens up the rest of the house and makes it look a little bigger. This is a good thing. We've been wanting to get this done for years.

So what's the bad part? It's right before Christmas and our house is a mess. Our entire pantry, cookware and silverware....everything in our kitchen is now on our dining room table-slash-work table. Yes, that's where I work and that's where the kids do their school work. Oh, and it's also where we eat. Haha! Yes. My first thought of missing the table is schoolwork. That's a homeschool mom for you...and one that doesn't like to cook, even though I do it every night. Originally I told him I wouldn't be cooking until the kitchen was done. Well, that got expensive within just a few days....and I was only half teasing, anyway. So I'm back to cooking, and we're eating where we can. We're also doing schoolwork wherever we can. Here's a picture of Samantha doing her school work while I work on my laptop.  We've both found a spot in the living room. She's trying to get through her 4th grade Language Arts online homeschool curriculum so she can move on to her fifth grade curriculum. 

See our Christmas tree over there in the corner? We bought it last week and it stood outside until last night. We finally made a little space and brought it in today to decorate it. But we've had a busy day and it looks like it won't get done until Thursday. Today is Monday. My daughter insisted on the tree. I've been tempted to give it to a family in need. We just don't have the space for it. I know. Bah-humbug! No....I guess it'll be good for us. We need some festiveness around here. And besides, I need to wrap those Christmas presents I've been hiding and put them under the tree.

Oh, hey, the house across the street looks really nice. We have a great view every night. Look, doesn't it look nice? Every year they add something new to it.

And here's Samantha at the ballet. We went to see the Nutcracker.  
And today we went Christmas Caroling. We also have a Christmas party this week. See, we're trying to have Christmas spirit.
How about you? Are you feeling as unorganized at home as I am this Christmas? Or are you done with your shopping, have all your decorations up, and you've been baking those Christmas cookies? If you have, send some my way....no, really. I'd love to hear how your December is going. Maybe give me some tips to getting an unorganized under renovations home looking a little more festive.

Family Legacy

We couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving. It seems like each year it just gets better. I have 5 brothers and sisters. Including my mom, her 6 kids, spouses, and grandkids we total 35. About 26 plus a couple of friends made it out to our Thanksgiving family reunion. We rented a huge 10-bedroom house for all of us to stay in together. The house had a theater, a pool and a game room.  Did I say a theater?!  I mean, we live in Florida anyway, so the pool was no biggie for my family. And the game room was fun for the kids.  But a theater?! That was exciting. My own personal theater. Well, at least when the kids were out or in the game room it was my own personal theater.  It was also a favorite with the teenagers. My son actually slept in there a couple of nights. But when they were in the game room, the theater was mine! :) No, seriously, we had a couple of nights we all chose a movie and watched together. It was very nice.

Even though we were staying near the Disney parks, we had plenty of entertainment right in the house. Some days some of the families visited the parks, went to football games, and went shopping, but most days we just hung out at home. The guys watched the football games on TV or went swimming with the kids. My favorite was when we played Monopoly Deal or Uno. There were times that we had several games going at once because to have too many players in one game just made the game slow. And with a dining room table that sat 20, we could have several games going. We also had a blast playing Charades. Kids and adults together.

Thanksgiving dinner was catered, so we didn't even have to cook. Can you tell I don't like to cook? We do have some cooks in the family, though. Every day someone baked cookies or made some deliciously sugar-filled dessert, like bread pudding. My husband loves making big breakfasts consisting of pancakes, bacon, eggs...the works. 
This is a picture of our Thanksgiving buffet. There is an inset picture of the back of the house. I cannot imagine having to clean a home this size. We like our small house. :)

I can only tell you that we all gained so much weight in just a few days. We have a few athletic or fitness-minded family members, so there were quite a number of daily walks around the neighborhood. We actually had a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. And still we all gained a lot of weight.

Turkey Trot!  This is less than half of our group.

I'm the only one who homeschools my children.  So I thought my kids would not be able to get any schoolwork done. I was wrong, though. One of my sisters' kids are in private school, but they're very disciplined and did schoolwork each day. The house also had an office, so the kids and I would work in the office a couple of hours. Fortunately, I brought two of our laptops. So while I worked, Samantha also did her 4th grade curriculum online. It helped that my kids were not the only ones doing school and that I, too, had work to do so I could supervise them.

Even my teens got a little bit of schoolwork done. You can see Noah doing his homework while listening to music. I don't know how he does that!
And Amber is doing her math online. She's got a dry erase board where she does her math problems.

Isn't this an amazing chair?! We wanted to take it home. No-can-do. We looked it up online and it costs more than our couch!

All in all a great time was had by all. Most of us stayed up late and woke up early, trying to fit in as much time together as possible. Saying good-bye was difficult, but hopefully we'll do this again next year. Some live as far as Nebraska, Texas and Costa Rica. Only one of my sisters lives in Florida, but still a 4-hour drive.

We loved the time we had together and the legacy we're leaving our children of love for family.

Full Schedules, but never too full for......

It's August and school has started. If you're on social networks, like Facebook, you can see it by all the 'first day of school' pictures posted by parents. How about you homeschool mommies?  Did you take first day of school pictures, too?  I hope so. Why not?  It's a good way to see how the kids grow and change from year to year. We have a picture frame with a picture for each year of school. And it's so special to me because I can easily see their physical growth from the time they were five years old until their cap and gown graduation picture at eighteen years old. Yes, we have a homeschool graduation with cap and gown.  And they get to choose any color cap and gown that they want. Our daughter just graduated, and I'm surprised she didn't pick a tie-dye cap and gown. I'm telling you, she would've tie-dyed it herself, like she does with most of her T-shirts. She chose, instead, a pretty baby blue....although, I would've been fine with tie-dye. Homeschool graduations are far from boring, though, with our graduate slide shows and personal dedications.

So now my graduate has started college. Her plan is to stay home and attend our local college for her Associate in Arts degree. Then she plans to transfer to a university when she has a better idea of what she wants to do. Right now she's thinking of going into education or be a sign language interpreter, but that could change. This semester she's taking a sign language course, which may give her a better feel for that field. She's registered as a full time student this semester. She's also working part-time. And she now has a boyfriend. Yes, a boyfriend. If it were up to me, that would not be happening. Only because she will always be my little girl and it's a little hard to accept that she's growing up. Having said that, he's a really nice young man. Her mom and dad approve. ;)  We're really not concerned with her making a bad choice in that department. Dad doesn't have to put the fear of life into him. Instead, we trust we've raised her smart enough to be with someone who will honor and respect her. This week we got to see a lot less of her. She was either at school, at work, on a date with her boyfriend and friends, or with her nose in a book or computer. After a summer of just hanging out together at the beach, watching movies, going out for ice cream...or just hanging out at home, this is a new routine.  We will need to get used to her full schedule...but never too full for some family time here and there.

Moving right along to our next child still at home and homeschooling is our son in his last year of homeschool high school. He's got a full load as well. He's also working part time. He works with his sister, who is in a supervisory position at work and is the one who does the scheduling for all employees. This can be a benefit for both of them when they need a particular day off. It's also a benefit that they get to drive to work together or play tag with the car as one arrives to work while the other one is leaving work. Noah is also dual enrolled in high school at home and college. He's taking English 1101 at the same college as his sister. At home he's doing math, anatomy, pre-calculus, worldview, and a Literary course. He also meets with his local Sea Cadets on a weekly basis and serves in the children's worship team at our church. Full schedule for him, as well....but never too full for family time here and there.

Last but not least is our youngest, Samantha. We homeschool Samantha all year. Because of her Down syndrome, it's just best that we don't take time off from school for more than a week or two at a time. She did take a week off each summer month. Now that we're officially starting a new year, we're working on some lesson reviews. For math we're reviewing her first grade homeschool curriculum.  We use Time4Learning curriculum for Math, Language Arts, Science and Social studies.  In Language Arts we're reviewing 4th grade and then moving on to 5th grade. This is one of the things that I love about this curriculum. She can work at her own pace and at the grade level she is really at. She's not struggling to keep up or moving ahead before understanding a lesson.

We've added a P.E. day to her schedule this year, which she is really excited about. We have a homeschool sports organization that is simply amazing. There are about a hundred kids on each P.E. day meeting at different parks around the city. Kids are taught about almost every sport, including archery, which is a favorite. But most importantly, kids are taught to encourage and respect one another and work as a team. I'm also looking into adding a science day at the park with a group of kids from our homeschool support group. We did this a few year ago with a few families. The kids learned a lot from the park naturalist. It was nice to get out once a week and do school at the park.

As you can see, each of us has a pretty full schedule.  I don't know how people are still asking about homeschoolers and socialization. Looking at our homeschool support group's calendar, we're going to have a hard time saying no to a lot of events and activities planned for the year. Already this month we've registered for a field trip to the zoo.  Even my daughter in college is coming with us. We're excited about this field trip because it's been a long time since we've been to the zoo, it's been a long time since we'be been on a field trip with this group, and we'll be seeing lots of old friends we haven't seen in months. And we're happy to have a day planned ahead for family time.

What does your school year look like? What are you doing differently this year from last year?  Please comment below. I love new ideas or comments.

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Changes

Our daughter-in-law is starting to homeschool our 4-year-old granddaughter.  She's very excited and eager to start to homeschool preschool.  Today we both searched through my shelves of books and materials for things that she could use to teach the baby to read.  I know.  At four years old she's not a baby, but it's a hard habit to break. She's still the baby in the family.   So we started pulling out the books I used with my own babies.  I showed her how I used each one, even sampling one with the baby.  Just like our kids have different learning styles, we have different teaching styles.  So I wanted her to take a look at each one and choose which would be best for her.  For our older kids we used Alpha-Phonics, and with our youngest we used Phono-Graphix. We've homeschooled for thirteen years and have made many changes over the years. We've used so many different resources.  I have my favorites.  And actually, there are some books and resources that I may have a hard time surrendering, even after I'm done homeschooling all our kids.  But I'm happy that our daughter-in-law is homeschooling and we'll be keeping my favorite ones in the family.  So I'll be sharing with her,  and hopefully someday sharing them with our other kids if they homeschool.  Of course, as I say this, I'm reminded that  there's always new homeschool curriculum coming out.  Our youngest uses Time4Learning, and that wasn't around when our older ones were little. They would've loved it!

We've used so many different things over the years. Some have stayed with us and some haven't lasted more than a few weeks.  Through our elementary years we're more eclectic.  I'll use a little of this and a little of that, even getting creative with materials at times.  When our kids reach high school, it gets a little more structured, as we're more concerned with the credits needed for high school transcripts.  I just don't want to take a chance that I may mess them up if they want to take their education further. So structure equals less freedom and more discipline with our schedules.  It means more responsibilities. Especially once they're dual enrolled in college.  If they want to dual enroll, we start with one college class to be sure they can handle it.  If they're registered for a college class and homeschool writing courses, they know that the college class takes priority over any other course, extra-curricular activity or job.  The college course grade is one that will be on their record and affect their gpa, not just for high school, but also for college. For example, one of our kids took an online college class. That was not a good idea for this particular child.  The idea was that the online class would allow more flexibility, but instead, our student often forgot to check in for assignments and tests. Of course, our student got a less than acceptable grade. That was one lesson learned by our student and by us! 

This year two of our kids became drivers, started college classes and part-time jobs.  The changes have meant we've had to adjust in different ways.  We've had to be more mindful of our schedules.  We've had less freedom to take spontaneous trips or vacations.  Also, family dinners have always been important.   However, with additional activities, classes, jobs, friends and schedules, there have been fewer family dinners.  At times I'll cook a meal for six, and it'll end up being just three of us.  Sometimes the kids have been at work, in class, or even out at an event or with friends.  Sometimes they've planned to be home, and their schedule changes when they get called in to work. This summer they didn't take college classes, so it's meant more time to be together.  We're having some sweet times together.  At times we've had to intentionally plan it, and other times it's been spontaneous.  Either way, it's always fun to have time together, whether it be a planned trip to the beach for the day, the library for a few hours, or a game or movie at home for the evening.  Even if it's only for a few minutes, they'll take time to play two-player games with Sami.  The World Cup has also afforded us more time together, since our family loves soccer. We've watched games together either at our oldest son's place or at our home.  It's been fun cheering for our favorite teams together.  Also, our kids are making new friends at work, and we've had more opportunities to be intentional to invite them over more often to get to know them.

What about your family?  Some of you may just be starting out, but some may have older kids.  What brings your family together, if you have older ones?  And if you have little ones, what traditions are you starting in your family?  

Graduate Slideshow

Well, I've been talking about it for weeks and graduation day came and passed. It was a beautiful ceremony. We have a lot of homeschoolers in our church. So we have our own Graduation and Promotion Homeschool Ceremony.  We had five high school graduates and 3 kindergarten graduates. All girls. And we had approximately 35 kids promoted from one grade to the next. Our main focus in our graduation and promotion is character. Each child is given a certificate highlighting a character or two that they have shown growth in throughout the school year. Mom and Dad will have written out a short blurb regarding their child and their growth in these areas, and this is added to the certificate.

We invited all our family to the event. It was a big day for our daughter! We are the only homeschoolers in our family and this was everyone's first time at a homeschool graduation and promotion. I've participated and been in the audience of many graduations, and let's be honest. We wait and wait for our graduate to make it to the stage for his or her diploma. And once that's done, we can't wait for it all to be over.  At least the graduations I've been to have been a long drawn-out event where we just listened to names we don't know being called out.  A homeschool graduation and promotion is different. And maybe I'm a bit biased, but it was fun and interesting listening to each character trait being read for each student.  And to watch the expressions on the kids' faces and their reactions was priceless. Our family was impressed with the sweetness of the whole ceremony. And I even had one of my nieces ask me questions on how to homeschool her babies. The audience cheered and applauded each student as their character trait was read. The kids were eager to hear what their parents had written. And the parents were filled with joy to celebrate the end of another school year. In this case, the parents have played a major part in the character building of their children through much daily prayer and discipline, through highs and lows, through moment by moment opportunities to teach academics and good character. Of course, academics are important, but academics will only get you so far without good character. Wouldn't you agree?

The best part of the whole celebration were the much anticipated slide shows. Each homeschool high school graduate had a slide show for all to view, followed by the parents saying something to their graduate, and the graduate honoring and thanking their parents. It's safe to say that there wasn't a dry eye in the house. My daughter's slide show was a complete surprise for her because mom put it all together for her.  Well, actually, I selected the pictures and the songs, but my nephew did an amazing job of putting the whole thing together. And still, once I saw the finished work or art, I had to acknowledge that it was God who produced, directed and edited the whole thing...not just the slide show, but her life. In the end, all I could say to my daughter is this is the end of just one chapter of her life and I eagerly await to see what God will continue to do in her life.

Exhibit Hall Expedition

So remember that consistent practice I talked about last week?  Well, it's been a challenge this week.  Yes, the high school prom and the used curriculum sale have come and gone.  Our oldest son's wedding and all the planning and activities that came with that are over, but now my daughter graduates in two weeks and there is so much to do.  Our homeschool conference is also next week. Our kids look forward to the time away because they get to hang out with all their friends who also attend. I have a few days before and after the convention to get some pictures together for a slide show of my graduating daughter. In addition to that, I need to record a message from each of my kids and from us (her parents, slash, teachers) that will make it a memorable occasion for her.  I'm thankful for the option to record the messages because I'd probably break down in tears on stage. I know I'll be crying looking through old photographs!  Actually, today we attended the graduation of some of their friends at a local homeschool program, and I was crying through those slide shows! Our kids have grown up together, we parents have taught each others' kids in co-ops. These are all of 'our' kids. And time seems to pass so fast. It was bittersweet, indeed.

With all that's going on, we're able to still stay on task with Sam's handwriting practice.  I mentioned last week that I wanted to transition from the RediSpace notebook paper she's been using, which has dividers between letters, to regular notebook paper. As you can see from the picture, her handwriting still looks pretty good.  That RediSpace notebook paper has made all the difference.

The one thing I didn't anticipate is that it took her twice as long to finish her copy work using the regular notebook paper. She was being so careful to write neatly.  But I know that with more consistent practice (there it is again), she'll get more comfortable and confident, and her writing will become more fluent. At this point I don't think she'll need the RediSpace paper any longer. I'm glad we tried this now, before the convention. I won't need to buy it anymore. Now I'll be exploring the convention's exhibit hall in search for new things that will benefit her.
I've heard new homeschoolers say that the homeschool convention is so overwhelming.  I don't think they're talking about the speakers or workshops, but rather the exhibit hall.  There are so many options available to us, that one can get easily overwhelmed, especially someone who is new to homeschooling. There really are so many curricula to choose from, and so many resources....for our typical kids. For families with children who have special needs, who have learning or developmental challenges, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. For years I tried to use curricula with Sami that I had used with my other children or that were the most popular only to become frustrated trying to adapt it to her needs, making additional copies for more practice and adding to them to help her understand concepts. I realize there is no such thing as an all encompassing curriculum, but even more so if it's a struggle to homeschool central auditory processing disorder because your child doesn't process information like most typical children do, or to homeschool a child with Down syndrome who needs lots of repetition, or a child with ADHD who is very intelligent but cannot sit at a table writing in workbooks for an extended period of time.

So now I look forward to the homeschool convention in the hopes of finding a new resource to add to our homeschool, especially for math. Math is still a struggle for Sami. I discovered some new things this week as I was teaching her to count money. But more on that on my next blog entry. ;)  I'm always open to new ideas and look forward to my Exhibit Hall Expedition!

Science and Everyday Life

Wednesday is our science day and this week’s lesson had us working all week on finding ways to make jobs easier.  It all started with Samantha’s elementary physical science on her online science program.  We went to the library and enjoyed exploring the selection of books to bring home and pour over for further study.  I also found some short videos on YouTube to show Sam how pulleys, levers and other tools work.  But the different tasks and lessons she covered on her online science lessons were particularly fun.

Samantha’s first part of her simple machine lesson showed a short video clip of a man getting very tired as he cut a bucket full of oranges.  She then learned about different tools that could possibly be used to work smarter, not harder.  In one of her tasks, Sam had help unscrambling syllables with silly bulls. The program tells us the word and the definition of the word.  For example, reduce. Reduce means to make less or decrease. Then she has to unscramble the syllables to spell the vocabulary word correctly. If her answer is correct, then it confirms it by reading the word and then telling her how many syllables the word has. If her answer is incorrect, it tells her, “Still scrambled. Keep trying.”  The program reads the syllables as she is choosing them and unscrambling the syllables. This is helpful for new readers because it helps them learn to decode words, which is part of learning to read.

Each lesson builds on the previous lesson.  The second lesson showed us the Halfer 2000 machine, which was created to make cutting oranges smarter, not harder.  Here Sam had to drag labels to the right part of the machine to properly label each part of the machine. These were tools she had learned in the previous lesson.  As Sam picks up the label to drag it, it reads the label. If it’s incorrect, it will say, “Sorry,” or “Keep trying,” and then tell us the name of the part and the function of that part.  If Sam’s answer is correct, it will say, “Yes,” or “You got it,” and then tells us what the function of that part of the machine is.  Sam gets excited when she hears, “You got it!”  But she’s also encouraged when she hears, “keep trying,” when she gets the answer wrong.  And again, if she weren’t a good reader, it is helpful that the program reads the label for her as she picks it up to place it on the part of the machine. The program teaches us how much easier a job like cutting buckets of oranges can be with a machine that uses  6 different tools that work together.

On another lesson Jojo mixes up the words in the glossary, and they are no longer in alphabetical order. Oh-oh. It’s Sam’s job to fix what Jojo has done and put them in alphabetical order so they’re easier to look up. Science4Us doesn’t assume the student knows what it means to alphabetize. As you move the mouse around, there’s an area that says, “Tell me about alphabetizing.”  Although Sam has practiced ABC order before, it’s something Sam is still learning. So I have her click on this spot so she can hear an explanation again of what it means to alphabetize.  It’s helpful for her to hear the explanation and to see the alphabet line right in front of her as they unscramble a word list to teach how to alphabetize words.  She’s a visual learner, so this is so helpful.  It’s also helpful for auditory learners.  I appreciate that I’m able to pause the video so I can go over any portion that I feel she may need to hear again or review. Another feature I like is that the letters are highlighted in different colors as they’re being described. I know this is particularly helpful for kids with dyslexia or if they’re still learning to recognize the letter placement as they’re alphabetizing.  Once we went through the hows and whys of alphabetizing, Sam then started to work through putting the glossary in ABC order. Throughout the exercise, there are prompts that encouraged her and gave her tips.

In the last lesson and exercise, Pinky has several tasks for which he needs tools to make his job easier.  As he reaches each task, he asks for help on choosing the right tool.  If Sam chose the right tool, it told us the name of the tool and then Pinky showed us how he used the tool to accomplish the task. If Sam chose the wrong tool, then Pinky would say, “Umm, nope,” and the program would say the name of that tool and tell us how that tool would be more helpful.  Now the tools in this exercise were different tools, more everyday tools we find at home, like scissors, a door stop, a noodle, tinker toy and hammer.

The last task Sam learned was taking notes about the lesson. She learned to "analyze or think about the different machines and examine them really closely." This is how the program worded it.  I like how the program basically described what it means to analyze a lesson.  Then she learned to fill out a chart and organize details about the machine. Sam started by choosing the definition for the tool, in this case, a lever. Again, if the choice Sam makes is wrong, it tells her what that definition is actually for and tells her to try again. So even though she’s gotten it wrong, she’s still learning what word goes with that ‘wrong’ definition she chose.  The next task is to choose characteristics of that tool (lever), giving Sam choices.  Once she chooses the right characteristics, they place them on the correct place on the notepad. The next task is choosing examples of levers and non-examples of levers.  The final picture is the finished product she has put together on the notepad.  We see a picture of a notepad with a tool, in this case a lever, with the definition, characteristics, examples and non-examples.  I particularly loved this exercise because it taught Sam the importance of taking notes and a simple way of taking notes.  At the end of this task, it gave Sam the option of saving this note.

This was such a thorough lesson, but I still wanted to reinforce what she learned.  

These lessons could've been done over a week or several weeks. We chose to do them all in one day.  We also repeat the lessons another day because that's how Sam learns best.  I was able to find resources from our library and show examples of the use of simple tools in our daily life, like using a ramp for a wheel chair, or a door stop to keep the door open, or a magnet to pick up all the pins we dropped.  After doing laundry, the string in Sam’s sweatshirt fell out. So I used a simple tool to thread it through. I showed her how putting a safety pin on one end of the string and threading it through is a simple way of threading it back in place.  

This is an example of  homeschooling where lessons becomes part of our everyday life, or everyday life is homeschooling. We were able to incorporate things we use and do every day into part of our lessons.  If Sam were in school, these lessons would’ve possibly ended after an hour or so.  I’d love to hear some examples of how your homeschool blends in with your everyday activities. 

Friends LearnTogether

Samantha had her first sleepover last night.  She's been so excited! This is a big deal for her because one of the challenges for her with her Down syndrome is friendships. Samantha can do just about anything a typical child can do, it just takes her a little longer to learn things. Her milestones are a little later than most typical children. She learned to walk when she was 19 months old, she was fully potty trained when she was 6 years old, she learned to read when she was 9 years old.  Samantha's speech is good, but a little difficult to understand.  Her therapists and our family are working with her on her communications skills.

Because of the Down syndrome, Samantha's cognitive development is considerably slower than the typical child. So over the years, as her friends are maturing at a typical rate, she is maturing at a slower rate cognitively. Samantha is 15 years old now, but she looks like a 10-year-old and cognitively is maybe like an 8-year-old in some ways, like reasoning or problem solving.  So naturally, the friends she had when she was chronologically 8 years old and are now 16 years old, do not have a lot in common with Samantha. The typical children that are Samantha's developmental or cognitive age, say between 8 and 10 years old, are friendly, but they have a little bit of a hard time understanding her. So she doesn't have any close typical friends.

There are a couple of girls with Down syndrome who are Samantha's age who live close to us.  We invited one of these girls to spend the night. They've both been so excited. They could hardly sleep, talking late into the night in Sam's room like two teenage girls. Her friend is also homeschooled. So this morning we did some elementary science. They had so much fun learning about syllables with Silly Bulls. They giggled through a video lesson on molecules and atoms with Molly Cule and a couple of Adams. They also learned about mixtures, recycling, and materials. They took turns answering questions and working through the online activities together.  They helped each other as they learned how to put science vocabulary in ABC order. Now we've moved on to some copy work from their favorite books. I've found some 2-player games that are educational for them. I've promised to take them out for some frozen yogurt or Starbucks after lunch. For the rest of the afternoon I might take them over to the science museum to complete our science day. :)

Samantha and her friend doing science and copy work.

What does your science day look like for you and your kids? Do you do science every day or just once or twice a week?

Homeschooling in Florida Winter

Sometimes I feel a little guilty about enjoying the beautiful weather we're having here in Florida.  My sister and her family just moved here from Montana.  Yes, Montana! My sister was born and raised here in Florida.  I have no idea what came over them to move to Montana. The cost of living was a little lower and the kids were in better schools.  She doesn't homeschool.  But as soon as her oldest kids graduated, they left Montana. One is back here in Florida. So last year they decided to pack up and move back to Florida.  They're loving it!!!  Just about every day they're posting pictures of their outings here in Florida. Today my brother's-in-law post said that 49 out of 50 states are under snow, Florida being the one state where there is no snow.  I can't imagine.  I love snow, but I think I'm fine with just seeing it in pictures. I don't like the cold.

Right now it's 67 degrees and very sunny.  I'm wearing sweat pants, a warm sweater and fuzzy socks, because I'm cold.  Don't laugh at me.  I know you'd probably be out in the pool right now.  By the way, the water is ice cold.  Or you'd be in shorts and a T-shirt.  It does help that it's sunny out. Yesterday it was cloudy and felt much colder....okay, a little colder.  It's funny because up until just  few days ago it was in the mid-80s. But that's Florida for you.  Maybe that's why I'm sick right now.  My body is not used to the sudden weather change.  Last week the weather was so nice that I was able to take Samantha to the park to meet with some other families.  We looked for bugs and learned about the different kind of bugs there are.  We also covered a little bit about earth history. And it also went well with Samantha's second grade homeschool science.

What does school look like for those of you that are snowed in?  Although I'm sure since you all may have been raised experiencing cold winters, you're probably used to it and enjoy the time outside making snowmen and tossing snowballs.

Winter Camping in Florida....includes fun learning lessons

I'm thankful that my teen kids have flexible jobs that allow them to take the time off when we want to take a mini-vacation.  And because we homeschool high school, it makes it easier to take the time off from schoolwork, too.  So we went camping last weekend.  I know in most parts of the country you wouldn't even think of sleeping outside in a tent! Well, if it weren't because we had already planned this a few weeks ago with several other families, I may have chosen to stay home because it was soooo cold!! But my husband had already requested the time off work and he couldn't change it.  Oh, and have I mentioned we live in Florida?! Yes, I've lived here all my life.  So anything below 65 degrees is too cold for me. Well, it was as low as 34 degrees sleeping in our tent. Ahhhh!  It was not easy getting a full night's rest.  Even snuggled up close to my hubby, and with the kids' sleeping bags zipped up completely, we were freezing.  I think each of us slept with multiple pairs of socks on, gloves, and hats to keep our heads warm, and still we were cold.

I gotta tell you, though, we had soooo much fun. We went on hikes (yes, on flat ground), made s'mores, some went canoeing, and we took lots of pictures. My daughter and her cousin enjoy photography.  So they had fun taking some creative photographs on railroad tracks, abandoned boxcars, and some old shacks they found. They really impressed me with some of the photos they took.  My niece actually entered a photography contest with some of them and won several awards.

Some of my friends tease me that I love camping so much. I really love being out in nature. I love the night sky most of all.  We live in the city, so we don't get a nice open view of all the stars at home. One night one of the guys went to the store and purchased night sky lanterns for all the kids.  We had nine kids between all the families.  It was a little scary when after releasing one of the sky lanterns we noticed a hole on the side of it.  We were praying it would keep rising and not fall in the trees. Of course we had a lesson on the laws of physics, hot air being lighter than cold air and what makes the lanterns rise.  Well, thankfully all went well! The kids loved watching them rise together and separate in their soared in their own directions out of view.  The night sky was absolutely gorgeous.

Another reason I love camping is because the guys do everything! When we arrive at the campground, dad and the kids put the tents up.
Once the tent is up, I set up everything inside because I like to be organized and be able to find things easily. My son Noah is in charge of the fire and the husbands are in charge of the meals. Sometimes I wash the dishes, but this time the guys did that, too.  So it's really a vacation, especially from one of the things I like to do the least: cooking!  I also enjoy the little hikes we take through the trails. Samantha and I took several, just the two of us.  We talked about facts about animals we saw on the trails, like the alligators.  The week before we left her online science lessons online were on change in matter.  So every time she or I noticed a physical change in matter, we would point it out, like when my son was chopping wood, or when we made biscuits on a stick.

Noah chopping wood

Biscuits on a stick

Learning is just part of everyday life, isn't it?  I can't wait to go camping again!