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.

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?  

Handwriting Secrets

This week we were still recovering from our last week and weekend. We were very busy last week with last-minute wedding arrangements, the wedding rehearsal, bachelorette and bachelor getaways, a used curriculum sale, and finally the wedding, which was on Saturday.  It was beautiful. It was an outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect.  The party followed indoors where everyone enjoyed good music and had a blast taking pictures in the photo booth.  I'm so happy to have a new daughter...and a new granddaughter, as she has a sweet 3-yo baby girl.  They are wonderful additions to our family.  Our son's mother-in-law lives a few blocks away from me and we are best friends. We work out together and go on walks together.  And her younger daughter is good friends with our daughter and our other son.  So our families have already blended well together.

I am so thankful for the homeschool curriculum we finally found for Samantha.  I don't have to worry about planning the lessons for the week.  It's been such a crazy few weeks, but she's been able to work independently when I've needed her to. Sam needs so much repetition and consistency that to miss a whole week of school work would set us back weeks.  It would be like taking 2 steps forward only to take 10 steps back. We homeschool her year-round. If you have a child with special needs, then you understand that not all curricula works in homeschooling special needs. And we tried MANY!

For the entire last week she did not do any copy work or writing, so this week we needed to catch up and get some student writing practice in. We use Mead Transitional notebook paper, which has been so helpful for Samantha.  She's learning to space her letters appropriately. Before finding this paper at the homeschool convention, it was frustrating her as she had to focus on the size of her letters, the distance of her letters, as well as punctuation and capitalization.  It's been so much easier to have a guide that helps her keep the letters within spaces. We've been using this paper all year.  If you look closely at this picture, you'll notice the blocks for each letter. It trains her to space her letters correctly. It also trains her where to start and stop so she doesn't try to go too far off the page.

I think she'll be ready soon to write without it. If she still has trouble writing without it, I'll have her write at least once a week on regular notebook paper as we slowly make the transition.

Something else I'd like to start teaching Sam is to write short paragraphs. This will be our new goal. I don't yet know how I'm going to handle teaching her the types of sentences or when to place commas in a sentence, but I don't think it's necessary to teach Sam things like comma rules or the complex details of grammar.  Yes, I taught my other children all these things, but I don't think Samantha will need to know these things. My main focus with Sam is that she would learn to communicate as clearly and effectively as is possible for her, whether orally or in writing. So for now, I'll need to keep this as basic as possible.

You see, while it takes a typical child a few months of handwriting practice to develop good handwriting skills, it takes a child with Down syndrome a little longer.  It may take Sam a few months longer, or maybe even a year or two longer, but she will get it. She learned to read when she was 9 years old, but she is an avid reader now and would rather sit in bed and read than sit and watch TV. Progress may be slow, but there's progress. Consistent practice makes better learning.

What To Do With Homechool Used Curriculum

When we go to homeschool conferences, we lug around a suitcase on wheels to carry all the books we purchase. And when my kids were little, we'd receive a delivery of our new curriculum in the mail and we'd excitedly open the box to browse through our new material, and sometimes that excitement would wane as we realized it wasn't a good fit for us.  I have one history program I purchased about 4 years ago, which was pretty expensive, and it's still in a box because it was just too overwhelming for us. So over the years I have accumulated a lot of books and curriculum. For several reasons, I have decided to sort through all our materials and books, and gather them all for our used curriculum sale this week. Well, it's not 'our' used curriculum sale. It's our homeschool support group's used curriculum sale. If it were mine, I would've scheduled it at a later date, since Saturday is my oldest son's wedding. Yes, as if I don't have enough to do, I add this to my to-do list, right? Well, to tell you the truth, I wasn't given an option. You see, I've had some boxes of books sitting in the garage (my husband's man cave) and my husband said I need to do something with these boxes.  

Normally I take things I don't use or need to the local Goodwill store or give it away to friends, but what to do with used curriculum?  We have several support groups in our area that have used curriculum sales, so that's one option. If you'd like to find one in your area, this is a good site to start your search for a homeschool support group.  Most support groups hold a used curriculum sale just before the homeschool conventions, which are usually in May. This way families have had a chance to sell old materials and now have money to purchase new. Also, families have had the chance to look for books and used curriculum that we need for the coming year and can be ready to purchase what we have not found at the homeschool conference.

Another option, which is what I'll do with whatever doesn't sell, is to post them for sale online. There are several websites that I've used in the past for purchases and for selling. Like I said, most of our curriculum is now online. Even our books are online.  The only exception to that is my youngest daughter. Although most of her curriculum is online, she loves her books.  She likes to look through her book shelves, pick a book, and curl up in her bed or the sofa and just read.  And she reads out loud for everyone to hear. Right now she's playing hangman online using the word list from the book she's been reading this week. 

I don't know what I'll do if I come back home with all these boxes.  I don't think my husband will let me take them out of the car and back in the house. I wish we had a homeschool curriculum library where I could donate them.  We don't have that in our area.  Well, before my mind starts to wander to the thought of starting a lending library for homeschoolers, I'll close now and go pack those boxes into my van for tomorrow's sale! But I'd love to hear what you all do with your used curriculum!