Keep On, Keepin' On

I think we will definitely be trying a do over spring break although I am not sure it will be this week because...well it's supposed to SNOW! I haven't told the kids yet but I am hoping we can go to one of their favorite indoor waterparks for a night or two in the next couple of weeks.

Z~girl took a week off from her online curriculum but that never keeps her from pursuing the things that interest her and trying to learn more about them. Still, we will start back with our sit down school work on Monday as the routine of it is definitely good for A~man. (as well as the learning itself) We slept in a bit more last week (even for homeschoolers haha) and that just does not work for him and his need to differentiate between breakfast/lunch/dinner. Too many days of "brunch"....even though the food amounts are the same for the day, do not work for him.

Last night was a super fun event in our week though! We went to see a play of Charlotte's Web locally and it was awesome! (although The Little Prince we saw awhile back is still my all time favorite play!) I love to combine actually reading literature with seeing plays and movies based on the classics. This really helps A~man as his reading level is not high enough to read a book like Charlotte's Web but with the movie or play he is able to understand what is going on.  I know including literature from various sources such as plays and movies must also help with his reading comprehension. (Plus we just did a matchbox literature exchange based on Charlotte's Webb....can't remember if I shared pictures yet? I may have to add later)

I will share what happened previous to our unfortunate day. Big PWS drama doesn't happen that often thankfully...but hopefully our experiences can help others.

OH and we are very much still doing our 40 Bags in 40 Days...the awesome thing is everyone is helping me out too! Sometimes it feels like a slow progress and my living room looks like a garage sale right now but we have come so far!! If I am brave maybe I will post all we have gotten rid of! 

What type of homeschooler are you?

When we began our homeschool journey (it's been 6 years this month woohoo!) I tried to follow a very structured course of action with all that we did. We took our son out of public school a little over halfway through his kindergarten year and at the time my daughter was in preschool in the morning so that made it easy to work with my son in the mornings. This really helped in getting him caught up in some areas that he wasn't being taught at school but was capable of. The next fall I started homeschooling both of them. I really wanted to try classical homeschooling. Also I wanted to buy a boxed set of certain subjects to simplify things but instead it complicated things for me as I had to do a lot of prep work. Having a child with a  learning disability requires a lot of extra time with physical therapy,occupational therapy, and a lot of specialized doctors. Add in the fact that a child with special needs requires a lot of extra time period. I'm not complaining (ask anyone that knows me) but that is a fact.

If I had to put a type on us I would say we are eclectic homeschoolers. I always start each year out with a plan of action still but often a few months into it I have to switch my approach, even if we are learning the same goals, to something different. A good example would be that for years I have used a certain series of math curriculum that focusses on one skill alone at a time until it is mastered. This worked well with both children for several years but a month ago we were able to try out a different math curriculum that focusses on a wider range of math skills at one time. Guess what? For now it is a great fit!

Another hurdle I have encountered that has gotten bigger this year is that it is pretty much impossible to teach both kids simultaneously. I have to work with them one on one.  It seems to be working itself into a groove though that works for our family. In the last four months my 10 year old daughter has started doing a lot of her work on her own. She likes to wake up early  (before me I'm a night owl;) and independently does her Time4Learning school work. She gets it done a lot easier also as normally her brother sleeps later than she does so the house is completely quiet for her. So then I get up and get breakfast for everyone (sometimes she cooks as she likes to make breakfast) and then I sit down to do A~man's computer work with him. Meanwhile she either reads, crochets, or writes letters to family and friends. I like our online curriculum as it covers pretty much everything but in the afternoon we often do a lot of hands on activities like using our Lego education kits or get books from the library to back up our T4L stuff. Right now A~man is studying about Eskimos/inuits and Z~girl is studying about the Incas and Aztecs.

Another thing we like to do is field trips! Last week hubby took both children with our homeschool group to see a play about the underground railroad. I was disappointed not to go but I was sick and didn't want to share cooties. We go to several plays a year and lots of other learning adventures with our friends. Girl Scouts also has opened up such a learning opportunity over the years as we have a wonderfully creative leader.

So that is how we approach our learning adventure! I must say things rariliy get boring in our home with this approach. Sometimes I do find myself envious of my friends that are classical homeschoolers or those that have a neat and orderly way of doing things. We tried one year having a room JUST for school...but it just didn't work for us. I guess that is the neat thing about homeschooling, tailoring it to meet your own families needs!