A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

 Beowulf was a 5th/6th grader this past year.  His meds are now balanced, but the year behind us was tough because they weren't balanced then.   He wasn't too much of a danger to himself or others, but he struggled with keeping his temper and managing big feelings in safe ways.  He left home several times (never for more than a few hours, but the wondering and looking took their toll on us), broke through the drywall of several rooms in the house, and resorted a great deal of the time to throwing things--rocks, bricks, tools, lawn chairs, tires, anything heavy enough to be satisfying to heft and throw--to relieve the emotions raging through him.  This affected his ability to complete school work, so while I am proud of the progress he made, it was limited by the instability of his brain chemicals. How grateful I am for a vigilant and compassionate psychiatrist who has helped our boy calm down and feel good in his skin!! It was a struggle for him to be a pha...

 I had to use this video of Beowulf! Each of the circles on the windows in the museum has a direction to act like an animal in the display.  He's reading them and trying to do what they say without making any noise in the museum.   Nature Angel filmed him. This video is just so perfect for describing my boy! He's willing to give anything a try.   He's good-natured. He's silly. He's creative and funny and awkward and all of the good things there are to be when you're an 11-year-old boy. He has a lot of mental health struggles--some as severe as Brother's--but Beowulf is somehow just a tad more optimistic and easy to comfort than Brother is. He's huge. Probably not as huge as you're imagining. He outweighs both of his older brothers, even though he's shorter than both of them.  He's not one bit fat though.  He's just big and strong. (My three older boys wear the same size clothing!) He's totally unable to control his body in space. (I...

 I have tried innumerable ways to write the kids' assessments individually, but this year does not lend itself to individual recording.  It was a kind of sabbatical year. We rested from our usual labors, and we employed ourselves in an array of activities that all blended together into general growth. Morning Meeting This continued as usual because it is one of the anchors of our days--keeps us from flying away into chaos.   Half of this school year included the end of our Come, Follow Me Old Testament studies.  We also read the Old Testament portion of Egermeier's Bible Story Book as well as our usual rereading of The Jesus Storybook Bible in December.  As part of our studies, we sang a hymn or primary song every week at every Morning Meeting.  We memorized the primary scripture of the month And I chose a scripture each week to go with the  Come, Follow Me  lesson that we recited 3 times during each meeting.  We didn't really memoriz...

  This was a difficult year for Beowulf.  The trauma with Brother affected him deeply, and when the dust settled enough for us all to breathe again, his behaviors ramped up dangerously high.  For the majority of the school year, we focused on finding the right med regimen, and his progress shows that focus. He is on a (mostly) working regimen at the moment.  His ADHD is not under control, but his anxiety and violence are (mostly).  Stimulant meds are best at helping him focus, but their effect doesn't last over time.  Each one we've tried has had great effect for a month, 2 months, or even 6 months, but after that, the effect drops to nil.  In addition, as the meds leave his system each day, he is driven to violent outbursts.  At the moment, he has been prescribed an extended-release stimulant med, but we're taking a summer break from it.  I'll be reintroducing it to his regimen in the last week of July in preparation for his August psych ap...

  This is Beowulf.  He turned 8 during this school year, and if push comes to shove, and I must categorize him in a grade, it was second grade for him.   This was a year of unending pharmaceutical trauma for Beowulf.  On meds, off meds, changing meds, trying meds, breaks from meds, tests for meds, withdrawal from meds.  If it weren't for the fact that he desperately needs to find the right meds in order to function, I would turn and walk away from them all. But I've seen what happens to him when they work.   And I'm not willing to leave him bereft of a tool that has the potential to unlock the world for him. Here was his plan last August: Academy Eclectic Foundations Level B Arithmetic 2 , Rod and Staff The Beginner's Bible   As of the end of June, he has read The Beginner's Bible from beginning to end, and his reading fluency is quite good. He's working on book 5 of 5 in Arithmetic 2 by Rod and Staff .  He understands the concepts perfec...

Beowulf started the school year at age 6, turning 7 along the way. If I had to choose a dominant theme for the year, it would be Managing ADHD . The phenomenal medication fails for Ladybug and Brother left us very frightened of trying stimulant meds for Beowulf, but the Guanfacine he was on, while it did help regulate his DMDD, did not help the ADHD. Beowulf, a bright kid, could not do any schoolwork independently. Not even a coloring page. And he was increasingly unhappy, self-deprecatory, and dangerous to himself and others. So we dove into the world of stimulant meds. And we found success! In a single school year, Beowulf learned to read with age-appropriate fluency, learned to control a pencil, became capable of gathering school supplies and sitting at the table, developed enough focus to complete an age-appropriate school assignment, began participating in group discussions in meaningful ways, became much, much, much happier and far less self-deprecatory. ...

I wish I had a simple, happy homeschool week to report. The "It was a hard week" pattern is getting very old. But . . . It was a hard week. As in 911 calls, police escorts, and a helicopter search for my child hard. Plus more. There are a lot of emotional and behavioral ramifications for the whole family when Brother dissociates. A friend--who dropped everything when I called--found Brother at a local park.  Two incredibly kind police officers helped us get him safely to his room where Super Star and I saw him through the raging end of his episode. Our insurance case manager recommended that we turn to CPS for help because we're not making progress on our own, and the Regional Office still hasn't assigned us a Resource Case Manager. My therapist and I discussed the idea, and we agree that calling CPS is actually not a good idea.  She gave us some suggestions for guiding a decision-making process, and Sir Walter Scott and I are praying fervently for he...