A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

  Mister Man had kind of a rough year.  He's bright and articulate, but the trauma we've had around our house has taken a toll on my oldest boy.  I also gave him a lot of independent work in addition to our family studies, and he might have liked a little more mom-interaction to help him along his way.   Here was his plan as of last August: Academy Literature Grade 3 , Memoria Press Writing with Ease Level 2 , Well-Trained Mind Language Arts 3 , Core Skills English Recitation I , Memoria Press Cursive Kickoff , Handwriting Without Tears Arithmetic 3 , Rod and Staff Latina Christiana I , Memoria Press  (He will finish what he started last year, and then we will see if we can find a usable copy of Latina Christiana II --Memoria Press has revised the program and does not sell the separate versions any more.) Book of Mormon   No one is more fun to teach than Mister Man.  He is enthusiastic about everything!  He understands.  He makes connections....

  Brother has the spirit of an angel . . . and the face of one, too.     He started this school year in his best place.  He was emotionally stable, learning at a rapid pace, meeting therapy goals every week, and happy every day.  However, small boys grow quickly, med adjustments need to be made, and Brother is no longer in his best place.  His sweet spirit is now often hidden by rages, and we're really struggling to find the balance we once had. Here's the academic goal list we started with: Academy Phonics Grade 2 , Rod and Staff Reading Grade 2 , Rod and Staff (includes Bible readings) Language Arts Grade 2 , Rod and Staff Explode the Code 3 and 3 1/2 Arithmetic 2 (finish) Arithmetic 3 (start), Rod and Staff   He worked so well at the beginning of the year.  We scheduled his RBT time during his independent school hours, and with so much support, he raced through both Explode the Code books, finished up Arithmetic 2 ,  got a great s...

  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...

  Lola is scheduled for a psychiatric/behavioral evaluation starting July 16th.  I've done the two initial consultations, and I am grateful to finally get this ball rolling for my darling girl.  She is bright, funny, creative, energetic, and feisty.  However, she has clear symptoms of ADHD which are interfering with her quality of life and her ability to learn. This past school year has been both delightful and frustrating with Lola.  She's so capable of learning and so incapable of gathering her focus long enough to do the actual learning.  We've adapted and changed curriculum plans trying to meet her where she is with some success but not nearly as much as I know she could have with more than environmental support.   Supports in place:    Brief lessons    Textured sensory cushion for her chair    Chair bands for her to bounce her feet    Sitting in my lap for lessons    Including movement as much as p...

 The heat wave broke.   Lola responded to the 66 degree morning temperatures by dressing like this:    (Please don't judge us for our broken swing--our kids are hard on stuff, and I have good intentions about repairing it!) While the west is suffering from a drought, we've had so. much. rain.    A lot of tents/forts have been built this week. Mister Man finished Grammar Recitation for the year.  His only subject left is arithmetic. Nature Angel took pictures of kids playing with water one afternoon.  And she finished her Koine Greek curriculum!  She continues to work on modern Greek via Duolingo, and she faithfully studies the scriptures each day, but she's done with 8th grade!!!! Life has been beyond hard with Beowulf and Brother.  Both boys had slight med adjustments this week which has made them a little bit sleepy.  This side effect will wear off in a couple more days, and then we'll know if the adjustments are working. We read...

  My baby boy is not a baby. Cliche, I know.  But what words are there adequate to describe the writhings of a mother's heart when she looks at the end of baby-hood? How grateful I am that this boy still grabs my face and hugs my neck as he kisses me goodnight after prayers! How grateful I am that he still tries to climb into my lap for a cuddle even though he is far too big to fit! He's had an entirely adequate kindergarten year, and even though we are lightly schooling through the summer, he's definitely finished what he needs to finish for this season of his academic education. Reading He's reading. He's not fluent. He does not enjoy it (at least in a formal setting). But he has moved from First Start Reading A-C (which transitioned from joyful learning to drudgery) to Primary Phonics level 1 (something to which we will return for spelling practice) to reading from classic children's literature, narrating what he read, dictating a sentence for copywork, and...

 “If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.” ― Margaret Atwood, Lady Oracle   Here are some nice things I can say:      *We read some Ananse stories      *We continued reading Listening for Lions      *We cuddled lots of babies      *Belle and Nature Angel were able to go to the amusement park/water park for a summer play day      *Nature Angel finished her entire language arts curriculum for the year      *The kids like watering the garden      *There are such things as painkillers and antibiotics      *We switched to our summer school schedule of play in the mornings, school in the afternoons      *I've begun our yearly assessments      *We had a nice morning at the park      *No one threw up      *I started installing t...