Happy New Year!

For your entertainment heehee here is a video that Z~girl and her dad made.

Prader-willi syndrome

I saw this on my facebook tonight and I'm going to try and post a link - Prader-Willi Syndrome Awareness . Today I had a bad afternoon. Why? Well to start out with a haircut gone wayyyy to short. Then my son A~man threw a humdinger of a rage/tantrum. Let's see....bad haircut/VS the struggle of always being hungry,always wanting more (of whatever), always wanting to feel control when your little world is out of control. Add in a splash of autism and adhd. Sheesh....give me the crummy mama award for today seriously. Seeing this list that this other young man with PWS posted puts things completely in perspective.

Could you give up the things on this list?

**~~Merry Christmas~~**

December has been a roller coaster ride that is for sure. I heard somewhere that the holiday season is one of the most stressful events for a person. While I definitely understand that I also think it's a bit sad that celebrating Jesus birth (for Christians) would cause such stress. Add in special needs and all that comes with learning disabilities and at least double the stress! We went to so many fun events this month, did lots of shopping and decorating but through it all I noticed that most of the pictures of A~man are similar to the one below which I could title "bah humbug"!.

I know it's overwhelming for me but add in all the issues that go along with Prader-willi syndrome and autism and it's more than a kid can handle! For holiday food we have kept it simple. I admit to getting jealous with the description of all the sweets people are baking. I LOVE to bake...but I only ended up baking one treat and it was for a cookie exchange. Our late lunch was YUM but we kept it to ham, dressing, cranberries, green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole! (that still sounds like a lot haha!)

Oh but last night Z~girl and I did make a birthday cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

All in all today really has been a fun day with only one short lived meltdown. (no it wasn't me;) The kids enjoyed their presents but I think their favorite was the beanbag chairs Santa brought. I had "thought" hubby and I were going to keep things simple with each others gifts but he ended up shamelessly spoiling me with a new lens for my camera and a handmade wool scarf made by one of our favorite farmers market friends. . I will get even. :)

The above picture was a "Play/Concert" that the kids have been secretively been planning all week. It involved four skits, violin/fiddle music by Z and guitar by A~man. We were able to record part of it. It was so much fun and our dog "Slick" played the part of a donkey. (I'm surprised they didn't bring the bunnies in and have them be sheep)

I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas! Stay tuned next week as I have an exciting blog that is a sequel to my "Traveling through SD" entry from months ago. It will be about roadschooling at its finest!!

I confess...

Since we started in the fall I have really been lax about reading aloud to A and Z. Now with Z this just means she reads independently but A~man will not. (at least not that I have observed although he does like to look at picture books and magazines alone) For him he is still learning to read bigger and more advanced words and it is always two steps forward one step back with him. He has to read with his online curriculum and he has to read independently to his dad and I but reading aloud to both children with words they might not know yet gives them the perfect opportunity to ask what new words mean. Besides reading together is such good family time!

So..after Christmas (right now we are trying to finish up some math before we take a week break) I'm going to start reading either Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming (A~man's current favorite movie hahah) or the Borrowers by Mary Norton. I still haven't decided yet but I picked those as I know Z hasn't read either of them yet and I know they would both be interested in them. There is even a literature word list already made at spelling city that I will be including in their lessons.

Since we are talking about books make sure and check out Homeschoolliterature.com! The books on that site are about homeschoolers and there is something for any age. Plus I have a few reviews over there that I have done on some excellent books!

HAPPY READING!!

I See Cards-Fractazmic review

The I See Cards have a variety of games available but we were given the opportunity through The Old Schoolhouse to try out and review the Fractazmic game. I was very excited to be able to participate in this review but soon realized my children are not quite to the level to actually play the game. My daughter is at a 4th grade level in math and my son who has special needs is at about a 2nd grade level in math.Their exposure to fractions has been limited so far but it will be a subject we jump fully into in the new year! The game appears to be a fun way to reinforce and practice skills that a child already knows.

This is some information from the Fractazmic website about their product!

 When children play Fractazmic, they know they're having fun, and you know that they're learning! Fractazmic is a comprehensive interactive fun lesson in fractions that gives your child unlimited practice at their individual level.


Each brightly colored card displays fractions, along with eye catching graphics, to ensure reinforcement. Players will quickly identify the fractions on their cards and calculate their way to fun and learning! Fractazmic teaches fractions, numbers and measurement.


Ensure the mathematical success of your children with Fractazmic!

Fractazmic Decks Include:

60 Math Learning Cards

Each card clearly numbered


Each card clearly labeled with the fraction and reinforcing graphic.


What makes Fractazmic Decks Special:


Quickly learn to convert and add fractions.


Reinforces relationship between fractions and measurements.


Shows real world use of fractions.

I really love how bright and colorful the cards are with cute engaging pictures! Since my kids are not quite ready for this deck I plan on some of the other games they have available as my children love to use games to learn and reinforce what they already know. They have other cards games for math and language skills!  I highly recommend this product and at a price of $6.95 it is very reasonable!

To read what other TOS Crew members thought of this product, click HERE.

Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions are mine alone and I received no other compensation for my opinion.

PIG

PIG

Thought it was a dog,
a fat dog with strange coarse hair,
everyone watches.


I used to LOVE blogging about our local extremely quaint downtown district and did it often as my husband worked many years downtown. Nowadays we are rarely there unless we are getting A~man's hair cut, going to the game store or visiting Narnia Studios. On the rare occasion of a date night we have a difficult time picking a place as there are so many great restaurants. My old blog has many entries about our walking adventures before picking up hubby at work. Well today we all headed downtown and hubby took A~man to the barber shop while my fellow elf Z and I bought a few presents. (Where? I will never say ;) On our way back to the barbershop I noticed this really big "dog" in front of us and Z whispered to me "is that a pig?" I honestly thought she was joking until it along with it's two owners turned to go on the crosswalk. I think my jaw dropped to the sidewalk. I've seen a LOT of things in this town but I have never seen someone take a pig for a walk downtown. I walked into the barbershop and asked "did you see THAT?" My husband said that everyone in the barbershop was pressed to the glass looking out the window at the sight. I only wish I would have either had a camera or thought to pull myself together and take a picture of it with my phone.

THAT was some pig!!

Here is a picture of our downtown to give you some idea.

gonna HAVE to get in better shape.

Today was a challenging day as dear son had three meltdowns. They were about a 6 on the richter scale. The first one happened when we took a walk which was about 3 miles but all flat so not too bad. It's been a long time since we have walked as in good weather we try to walk 3-4 miles five times a week. The weather has not cooperated and we have taken turns being sick the last month. Despite this A~man had lots of energy on our walk. There is a place in the trail towards the end where he likes to take a path through the trees and run up a steep hill to beat us all. Pretty remarkable really that he is able to do this. NORMALLY though as he reaches the top of the hill first he is so tired he has to stop. Not today. He kept on going and the trail has a busy road that runs through it. He had his mp3 going, he was ignoring us too, and would not stop and we were both yelling. I felt a panic. Hubby rolled a rock down the path (not at him mind you ahahah!) but to get his attention to look at us. He turned around and kept on going! I will say in all the years of walking with him when I yell stop (and I KNOW he heard us!) I have never had him not stop. So what did one of us need to do? RUN. Which I ended up doing meanwhile thinking of how much pain I was gonna be in after. He wasn't real close to the road but close enough to have me concerned as he cannot cross the road alone. I was able to get to him with plenty of time but he was furious! (over me having to cross with him? because dad threw the rock?) I'm still not sure but after I got him across the road he started screaming at us. There is a park maintenance building we pass and he was loud enough everyone came out of the building to see what was going on. He was yelling at me and I was telling him why we were upset that he wouldn't stop.

Needless to say it made me even more aware that I need to lose weight. Not a lot. But even 20 pounds. The way it is now I'm pretty much always hurting somewhere. I know I would feel better and not think twice about taking off at a run. I need to be able to keep up with this boy!!