Teaching Money

Samantha has most of my attention this year since her sister and brother are more independent with their college and high school homeschool. She's doing well with her third grade curriculum for science and social studies. Language Arts is her favorite subject, so she's moved up to the fourth grade. She loves to read. So between all the reading she does on her own, and her Language Arts curriculum, her comprehension is improving considerably.  She's been practicing cursive on an app we purchased on her iPad.  Cursive Writing Wizard.  She likes it because it's colorful and engaging. We haven't transitioned to cursive writing on paper yet.  She's enjoying the practice on the iPad.

It really helps that I'm able to tailor her curriculum to her needs.  She's in third and fourth grade levels in most subjects, but we're still pedaling along with math at first grade level. We've been having to do quite a bit of review for math. I don't know about other kids with Down syndrome, but math is so hard for her. It's a struggle. This week she was learning money on her online math curriculum. To make it more concrete, I layed out some coins for her. She had coins on the screen, but I thought it would help if she could also physically see the coins and handle them as she counted out the change as outlined in her lesson. She was still struggling. So I brought out some manipulatives that I had used with my older children.  I showed her how 10 cents is the same as 10 pennies. And a nickel is the same as 5 pennies. Using the blocks, the '10' block is the same as 10 single blocks (also known as 1 units). I did the same with the nickels and quarters. This took some time, but it really helped!  I know it clicked for her.  That's the good news. The bad news is that I know that if we don't continue to practice this every day, she will lose it. She'll forget.

While a 'typical' child can do these problems or repeat this concept for a few lessons before it becomes concrete, it will take Sami weeks and maybe months of repetition to make it concrete because of her Down syndrome. And if we miss a few days, it could set us back to point one.  Though she doesn't really like worksheets and workbooks, I'll throw some of those in every now and then. But since she likes her online lessons and those are more engaging and fun, she'll be doing that every day. One way she's been practicing is at the grocery store. When we're at the store, I let her pay for something that she wants for herself. Before we get to the register, I tell her how much it costs. I give her some coins and have her count it out. It takes her a few minutes, and I usually have to help her a little, but I think the more we practice like this, the more she will be able to grasp the concept.

This is homeschooling. Tailoring lessons, playing with different methods, making it part of our life, incorporating our lessons into our daily activities. It's a way of life. People who don't homeschool sometimes say to me, "I don't know how you do it," to which I respond, "If I can do it, so can you." It really is the most natural thing. You don't think you have the patience?  Neither did I...let me rephrase that...Neither DO I.  Sometimes I have to walk away and rethink 'how' I can help her understand. We're both learning and growing. We teach our children the alphabet and how to count to ten before they even start 'school' officially. So why can't we just continue to teach them everything else they need to learn?  The one-on-one attention we can give our children as we teach them is invaluable. I remember being nervous when I started, but only because I was afraid of the unknown. Homeschooling was a new adventure. Did you feel like that when you were considering homeschooling? Looking back, what would you say to yourself knowing what you know now?

Thanks for visiting and reading my blog. I'd love to know you were here. Let me know your thoughts, your experiences, and I'd even welcome any suggestions or tips! :)

Homeschool Vacation

It's pretty obvious that our homeschool is in full swing. I haven't blogged as much as I'd like.  We've been busy doing school....doing life, and even squeezing in a vacation. We were all able to take time off from work for a few days at the same time. I'm so thankful that my kids, who are now working part-time jobs, work for a company that is flexible enough to give them a week off at the same time. Yes, they both work for the same company.  And my husband, who's employer is not as flexible, was also able to take an entire week off. I, on the other hand, still managed to get my work in. But that's okay because I love my job. Besides, when does a mommy really get time off?! :) But I'm not complaining.

Do we need a reason for a vacation at the beginning of our homeschool year? It's too early to be burned out or overwhelmed.  We're just starting to get adjusted to our new schedules, and yet here we are taking a vacation. And yet it's a perfect time for homeschoolers to take a vacation. When all the kids are in school and there are no long lines at the amusement parks. We've been taking this vacation for the last few years in celebration of Amber's birthday.  It's also at the same time as Rock the Universe, which are concerts of some of our favorite Christian rock bands all in one place: Universal Studios.  Amber and Noah saved their money and purchased park hopper passes so they could enjoy the rides at Islands of Adventure as well as Universal Studios.  We stayed at a timeshare resort with lots of amenities and activities, which Samantha, my husband and I enjoyed while the older kids were at the park. I think my favorite was the lazy river (pool). Samantha will tell you that her favorite was getting to sing Karaoke by the pool each evening.  I wish I had taken a picture of that. I didn't get many pictures of us at the parks or the resort, but I did take a ton of pictures at the Museum of Science, which are good keepsakes in our homeschool portfolios.

What's a vacation for a homeschooling family without getting in some educational fun? I wanted to find something else to do with my kids other than the amusement parks, and we hit the jackpot with our choice of the Science Museum. I think it was one of the most memorable times of the whole week. The first thing we walked up on was a giant chess board. My older kids didn't get past that until they played a game, which took them a good 40 minutes or so. In the meantime, Samantha and I visited every station that was close to the chess game. There were so many hands-on exhibits for all ages. None of us were bored. Samantha's favorite was the weather station where she got to be the weather reporter in front of a live camera.  She enjoyed watching herself on screen as she read the prompter and reported the weather.  Once done with the chess game, we moved on to other hands on activities, like the flight simulator and the race cars.

There was a Whisper Dish that held our attention for some time. This was a large dish that you would whisper into, and then across the room was another similar dish where you could hear what that person was whispering. We learned that before World War II, and before the invention of the radar, acoustic mirrors were used to detect incoming enemy aircraft by the sound of their engines.  My son found this most interesting.

            

                     
My daughters were enthralled with the Laser Harp. No strings. Rather than plucking strings to produce sound, we plucked laser beams, which lit up in beautiful colors. Another favorite was the Anatomy Challenge, which was actually a giant Operation game. Remember those? You need to have a steady hand to remove the organs from the 'patient' without setting off the buzzer. This one got Samantha a bit frustrated, as she couldn't quite get it.  Amber, Noah and their friend Jeremy challenged each other on who would be the best surgeon.  It hasn't been that long since they did an online science program, which included anatomy, so they were familiar with the lessons in these exhibits. It was definitely a fun day and money well spent, teacher's discount and all.

Independence Day...lessons learned

Yes, here it is, Independence Day, 4th of July, and I'm blogging.  I'm so excited to share our day with you so far. It's three in the afternoon and it feels like I should be getting ready for bed and like my day should be over. I'll tell you why.  I'm not a morning person. It's one of the many benefits of being homeschoolers, in my humble opinion, that we get to set our own schedules and work at our own pace. We don't normally start our school until late morning. I'm not saying we wake up that late, but by the time we have breakfast (my favorite meal of the day), have our quiet time and do some chores, it's late morning or early afternoon before we actually start with our 'academics'.  Well, yesterday we made plans to go to the beach today. But more than that, my daughter suggested we wake up at 5am so we could get to the beach before sunrise!  We all joked about who would change their mind come 5am or who wouldn't be able to get out of bed. My husband said it would be easy for him because he's up early every morning for work anyway. But I questioned whether he'd be tempted to sleep in since he had the day off.  Our teenage son, Noah, who likes to sleep in and doesn't like the beach, said there was no way he was getting up. And I told him even if we had to carry him to the car, he was going. All in good fun, though. I was the first one up, and as I went to wake Amber up, her alarm went off. She loves the beach and it was her idea to begin with, so I had no doubt she'd be ready in no time.

Our original plan was to be up at 5 and be at the beach by 6:30, in time to see the sunrise. We should've gotten up a lot earlier because we didn't get out of the house and on our way until 6:30! So we got to see the sunrise on the way to the beach. It took longer than we had expected to get the kayak strapped to the top of our van. And to be quite honest, our family tends to be late more often than I care to admit. Our son Noah is the only one who is punctual. He's the one who wants to be a Marine. I'd like to simply grab some towels and the umbrella and just head to the beach. But some in my family, who will remained unnamed (cough*cough* hubby), want to pack like we're going camping. It was a little stressful just getting things together and trying to get out of the house and on our way. When we all (I) decided to just surrender the idea of getting to the beach before sunrise, and be happy with just the fact that we were going to spend the day together, whether we saw the sunrise outside our house or on the way to the beach, 'we' were able to just live in the moment and have joy. Lesson learned.

So we finally made it to the beach and with arms full of coolers, towels, bags, umbrellas, chairs, and, of course, the kayak, we found a nice spot on an empty beach. Sunrise is definitely a good time to arrive at the beach on a busy holiday. The water was perfect for kayaking. Amber bought this kayak several months ago. She's my adventurous child. Today was the first time we all got to use it. And and best of all, Samantha got to use it!! Samantha, for those of you new to our blog, is our daughter with Down syndrome. My husband and Amber gave her a few tips on how to turn the kayak in the direction she wanted it to go. It didn't take but a couple of minutes before she was off on her own and loving it! I was a bit scared of drifting out to the middle of the ocean, but once I saw her doing it and having such a great time, I knew I had to try it too.  We each had our turn kayaking. Kayaking out on the ocean, especially when the water is so calm, with no waves, is so relaxing. Of course, I didn't go out too far. And knowing my husband would swim out to rescue me if I needed him, was nice too.

We really had a great time together. At one point I saw something floating in the ocean. It kind of looked like a ball.  Amber thought it was a coconut, though there are no coconut trees on the beach. So she swam out to see (sea).  Haha.  I had to put that pun in there.  Sorry.  Anyway, would you believe it was a whole watermelon?!  I cannot imagine how that got out there...maybe it fell in the water from one of the boats we saw out there. Maybe even a cruise ship. We had a good laugh about that one. We wondered if it would be good to eat, but we just left it at the beach when we packed up to go home. On our drive home we talked about the meaning of Independence Day. And it was actually Samantha who started the conversation by asking what the holiday means. She's always so curious and eager to learn. We each shared what rights we personally think are most important to us and what a blessing it is to have been born in America and enjoy the freedom that we have, especially the freedom of religion.

We made it to the beach by 7am and back home by 1:30, just in time for the our teens to have lunch, shower and head out to work for a few hours. And now that we're home Samantha is playing some matching vocabulary games. She's getting ready and excited for our American Girl book club, which starts next week. Although I'm ready to just call it a day, it's far from over. The Colombia vs Brasil soccer game is starting soon.  Have I mentioned how much our family loves 'futbol'?   My husband's and my parents are Colombian, so this is one game we CANNOT miss! And then tonight, of course, we'll be going out to see the fireworks. Our kids will be home from work by 7, just in time to go out and meet our older son and his wife and baby at the park for the fireworks show and some more fun. I'm so glad that even with all these changes we're going through with our older kids growing more independent, that we can still make time to be together and enjoy each other. The many years of homeschooling have created a bond with each other. My kids are close. They are best friends. And even if one of us doesn't like the beach, we don't mind it so much, as long as we're together. We're thankful for the memories.

What about your family? What did you all do for the 4th of July weekend?  Any new lessons learned?

Breaking the Mold

It’s getting closer to homeschool graduation day for my oldest daughter.  It’s a bitter-sweet time. One of our friends is a photographer, so last week we went to a local park/beach and she took pictures in her graduation gown, with her best friends, and some pictures doing the things she loves most, which is soccer and long-boarding. Some of the pictures were near the beach because she loves the beach so much.  As I posted some of the pictures on Facebook, some of my friends who don’t homeschool commented on how different her pictures were from the average graduation pictures they’ve seen. And each of the girls were wearing different colored graduation gowns.  I explained that as homeschoolers, we think outside the box and break the mold.

Our homeschool support group has a graduation and promotion ceremony every year. As a matter of fact, we also have a yearbook.  For the graduation we have the option of standing with our graduate and speaking or pre-recording a message to her.  I’m going to opt for the pre-recorded message because I’m afraid I’ll start crying.  I realize I’m done with her academic education.  And I’m closing that chapter of our lives. That doesn’t mean she’s done with her own education, though. Whether she chooses to continue with college and university immediately, later, or not at all, she will continue to learn and grow in so many ways. She is just beginning a new chapter in her life, but learning will never end.  I am excited for her and I am looking forward to this new phase in our lives and in our relationship.

As homeschoolers, we realize that education does not need to be confined to what we learn within four walls. Whether you’re homeschooling, roadschooling, worldschooling or unschooling, there is a vast amount of information to soak in.  As our kids are growing, the trick is to foster a love for reading and learning, to encourage the inquisitive minds kids have and to get excited to learn new things with them.  Show them by example how to get excited about new things. We’ve made and are continuing to make beautiful memories learning together.

My son and his friends had a blast this week with their science experiments.  I didn’t mean to make a pun there.  There were no explosions, but it was fun.  In his Chemistry course he was learning about Kinetics and Catalysts. He was so excited as he took videos and pictures of the different reactions to the mixtures.

In one experiment he and his friends mixed Hydrogen peroxide using yeast as the catalyst. They also used different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. They added soap and watched the reaction of the oxygen being released as the process was sped up by the yeast and the oxygen escaped into soapy bubbles. The soap was used to make the release of the oxygen observable.

These are the kinds of memories I will always treasure. Our curiosity spills over into learning as we research, experiment and have adventures together.  Homeschooling is more than a way to educate my children. It’s  a way of life for us. It’s natural learning. And when it’s graduation day and you put a slide show together,  it’ll be so much fun to have all those pictures that reflect the fun, the memories and who your children are. Like our daughter’s graduation pictures reflect who she is and the many things she enjoys doing. 

The Universe in Perspective

After having spent time last week on a study of the universe with Sam, I knew that it was something we would need to review. My husband brought home a movie about astronauts in outer space. He didn't know about our science lesson from last week and that Sam had some trouble understanding some of it. So it wasn't something he planned, but the timing was perfect.  Sam got to watch the movie with us and she observed some of the things that were in the book she read in her lesson on Exploring the Universe. She was able to see what an astronaut wears in space. She watched a girl putting on a space suit and noticed that the suit is bulky, heavy and thick. In one of the scenes the astronauts were in trouble as they were running out of oxygen, so she understood that the space mask supplied the oxygen for the astronauts, which helped them to breathe. She saw that they didn't need to wear their space suits or masks if they were in the shuttle. And she also noticed items floating around in the space shuttle, like a clipboard and a pencil, just as her lesson had spoken of last week.

In addition to watching the movie about space, the shuttle, and the astronauts, this week we had a lunar eclipse, or what's been described as the blood moon. Sam didn't stay up to watch it at three in the morning, but we talked in simple terms about what an eclipse means. I showed her videos and pictures how the moon looked to help her understand, since she is a visual spacial learner.  Some of the pictures showed planet Mars and the star Spica near the moon.  Sam recognized that a star and a planet look the same to us from this distance.  So together we looked up how to tell the difference between a star and a planet. I've never liked just giving my kids an answer.  When they ask a question, we look it up.  I guess it's the researcher in me.  I love looking up things.  So Sam learned that planets revolve around the sun and they almost never twinkle. She said, "Like the song, twinkle, twinkle little star?"  Exactly!  So Sam got to learn a little more than we had bargained for or than her lesson of the universe covers, thanks to the eclipse.

As I looked up pictures and videos for her, my thirst to learn more got the best of me. I mean, it's not every day we have a blood moon. So as Sam repeated the lesson from last week and moved forward a little more with it, I continued some research of my own. Her online lessons free me up to do things like this sometimes. She also likes the feeling of being able to work independently at times, while having me close enough to observe her or help her if needed.  Some of the things I found in my research were so interesting. Certainly more than I could share with Sam, but they were things that I could talk to my high schoolers about. Homeschooling my kids has give me such a thirst for learning. I've never enjoyed reading, writing and learning as much as I have the last 15 years. I wish I'd had more freedom as a kid and a teenager to discover the world of learning, but my years in school consisted of rushing to get homework done and sticking to the curriculum placed before me. Homeschooling is more natural learning, at least in our home it is. Foster a love of reading, and the world is your oyster. I have to add that I think it is so cool that I didn't plan to rent that movie my husband brought home, nor did I plan a lunar eclipse, yet it helped Sam to understand the very lessons she was having trouble with last week. This just confirms for us that homeschooling is God's plan for our family.

Learning With and About Our Children

As I observed Samantha doing her  physical science lesson on Motion, I learned some things....not so much about science, but about my daughter and areas that we need to improve on.  There were vocabulary words in her lesson that I thought she should know already, but because they're not words that we use every day, like slither and burrow, she was not familiar with them.  So in addition to adding these words to her weekly vocabulary, I'll also have some homework for myself and the rest of the family to use these words whenever possible in conversation. Because Sam has Down syndrome, if she doesn't use or hear a word on a regular basis, it's more reasonable to understand that she is not going to be familiar and, therefore, not understand the meaning of the word. So when she was given a selection of vocabulary words and asked to select which of these words indicated motion, she was not sure when she came to slither and burrow whether or not to select them.

At her age, she likes to work independently. But even if our kids are older and don't want mom looking over their shoulder at all times, we're still their parent and teacher and we need to be close by for guidance. Before I get off subject (because I do have an opinion on the 'helicopter mom' metaphor), it's because I was looking over her shoulder that I noticed she was having trouble with some of the words. So I used my handy dandy Google tool and found some pictures of burrowing. This helped her to decide on her own whether burrow is a type of motion. I try not to give my kids the answers; I want to help them find the answer on their own. See, I'm the type of homeschool mom that when my kids ask me how to spell a word, I have them sound it out.  As a matter of fact, even if it's my husband, I'll have him sound it out.  This mom doesn't take her homeschooling teacher hat off for dad either. ;)

As we were doing the lesson, there is something else I learned. I need to get Samantha started with an art curriculum. There was a portion of the lesson where I left her alone because she was asked to draw pictures of something in motion.  As I was taking the towels out of the wash and putting them in the dryer, I heard Sam laughing so hard that I had to go see what was so funny.  I mean, I thought she was doing science! Well, I just have to post a picture here of her drawing.

She thought her picture of her dog was so funny, she couldn't stop laughing.

Next she was asked to draw a picture of an animal in motion, so she chose a bunny rabbit. This time I helped her out by showing her the different colors and tools she could use within the program to help her with her drawing.  I gave her some tips here and there on how to draw the bunny, too. I'm sorry.  I'm not such a great artist either. I'm looking forward to starting the art curriculum, not just for Sam, but for myself too.  We may learn a thing or two together.  I'll keep you all posted on how that goes. But in the meantime, what are you learning about your kids as you are teaching them? As we go through curriculum teaching our kids, sometimes we learn right along with them, and sometimes we learn about our kids.

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. 

Homeschooling

My husband and I embarked on this homeschooling journey 13 years ago.  We will be graduating our first homeschooled child this year. Our two older children attended a brick and mortar school. They're in their late 20's now.  Our daughter is married with 3 young daughters, and our son is engaged to be married in the Spring.  When we started homeschooling back in 2000, I don't think I thought this far ahead to homeschooling the high school years.  I remember a few years into homeschooling, saying that I didn't know how I was going to do the high school years. It scared me to think about it.  But God called us to homeschool, and God equips us each step of the way.

Our oldest homeschooled daughter is dual enrolled, taking some college classes at our local college. This year she started working and is driving.  She wants to study elementary education and sign language interpretation. Our son has two more years of school at home, but will soon start dual enrolment with one or two college classes. This year he's attending a home-education program where he attends once a week for classes like math, science, and English,  He then does all his assignments at home the rest of the week.  I also teach him other subjects.  In previous years they have also participated in public speaking and debate among other extracurricular activities. Our youngest is our son's twin. She has Down syndrome. Because of her DS, she's learning at an early elementary grade level, but she's showing continual progress and growth. Last year she participated in a similar homeschool program where she attended once a week. This year her core curriculum is Time4Learning, which she has been doing for the last several years.  By the way, these local homeschool programs allow and encourage parents to sit in the classroom.  Parents are still the primary educator and teach or reinforce the concepts or lessons that were covered in the classroom.

It is my desire to share what we have learned and are learning from our experience in teaching our children.  Through our local homeschool support group, I met several veteran homeschoolers who taught me so much and were my support system in the early years of homeschooling.  Now I can give back in the same way.  And the neat thing is, that the internet allows me to reach more homeschoolers.  We only had one family with a child with Down syndrome in our homeschool community.  I learned a lot from other homeschoolers, but I also learned from trial and error.  If I can help you avoid errors from sharing my experiences, then the mistakes serve a purpose.

It seems that in this journey we've had times where we've felt like we were dragging our feet through the valley, climbing up mountains on our hands and knees, feeling our way around a dark forest. But there have been times where we've also felt like we were just skiing down a mountain with the cool wind hitting our face, splashing in a clear blue ocean, and running through a field of beautiful wild flowers.  Through the highs and the lows, there have been lessons. Mostly lessons that have grown us in character and drawn us closer to God and to each other.  I've picked up some treasures along this winding homeschooling road.  I'd love to share them with you.  At the same time, I'm still on this journey and would love to hear what treasures you're carrying that may be new to me.  Join me.  Let's join arms and walk this road together.
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.  ~Proverbs 27:17