The Laundry Girl

The Laundry Girl
a modern poem, by Talia

The Laundry Girl, o-o-oh the Laundry Girl
She carries clothes left and right
And everywhere she goes
She leaves a trail of laundry ...
Behind her

Happy Birthday, Mr. Benjamin

We celebrated Benjamin's 7th birthday with a Lego party. We had a great time playing Lego games and eating colorful treats.

 

Layered Jello cups were a hit! 

 Lego Cake designed by Benj

 The kids had a blast playing "Lego Creationary" (each kid chose a card telling them what to build and the other kids guessed)

 Another game: Tallest Lego Tower in 90 seconds

 Benj enjoyed his cake

 Talia kept building her tower while she ate cake

 Benj passed out party favors - Lego cookies for the little kids and minifigures for the big kids

Leila and her tower

 

Happy Birthday to our big boy. I can't believe you are 7, my Benja-Bear. We love you and are so proud of the young man you are becoming.

 



The Painful Process of Parenting

(From the Archives: a previously unpublished post mostly written in February 2012)

I have often wondered, when facing various situations that I encounter on a regular basis in my strange and wonderful career as a mama, "why didn't anyone ever tell me ... ?" No one ever told me, for example, that as a mom I might find chunks of poop in my washing machine after the load (a dark load, by the way, with no underwear in it) had been run ... TWICE. Or that I might forget basic points of grammar and become quite vocabulary deficient as the effects of sleep deprivation settled in. I'm not sure I ever really adequately grasped how quickly I could go from "zero to panic" when we are outside and I suddenly realize I'm not sure where my two year old went. Often I am surprised and exasperated and humbled and exhausted by the weighty task of parenting. The past two days have been those kinds of days.

Yesterday I started a new process in the ever-challenging realm of caring for my children's health: keeping a speech journal for my sweet Leila.

Let me back up. Back in October (2011) our very, very quiet little girl began suddenly to explode with speech. It seemed like one day she was barely putting two words together and the next she was speaking in 5 and 6 word phrases! Shortly thereafter, however, she began to develop a stammer that seemed to accelerate with each passing week. We weren't overly concerned, but at the same time we thought it would be a good idea to get an outside opinion on this completely new-to-us development. Fortunately, Leila was already in an early intervention program, seeing a physical therapist weekly for her significant gross motor delay so at our 6-month assessment meeting I asked about the possibility of qualifying for a speech evaluation. We were approved for an assessment that same day. Our initial visit with the speech therapist determined that Leila's stammer was not due to difficulty with the speech patterns themselves, which was good news. A limited number of speech therapy sessions were nonetheless recommended to allow us to better determine the cause and give us some strategies for helping Leila correct the pattern before it became a bigger issue.

So I find myself, after 2 sessions of speech therapy, faced with the task of documenting (as completely as I am able) each instance of stammering throughout Leila's day, recording the words or phrases on which she stumbles (and which parts of them) and the details of the situation (who is involved in the conversation, the noise level in the room, whether she is initiating interaction or answering a question, etc.) I was prepared for the fact that recording this information all day long would be a logistically difficult task. I was not prepared, however, for the emotional difficulty of my assignment. As my role at this stage is just to observe and gather data I am having to sit by and watch her struggle painfully to communicate. And not only to watch, but to focus on and pick apart and analyze and record the details.  I have patiently waited in silent tears for her to stumble as many as 15 or 20 times on a certain word or syllable before she was able to complete her thought. I can't adequately express what a painful process it has been to magnify my sweet little girl's struggle in this way.

Like so many tasks in parenting, keeping Leila's speech journal is something I am doing because I love her and I want to get her the help she needs to grow and succeed, not because it is in any way enjoyable to me. And yet, even as I strive to do what is best for her, God is using this process that brings me pain to do what is best for me. I am reminded of this biblical truth:

"No discipline [instruction, teaching] seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11)  

Earlier in this same chapter of Hebrews we are urged to, "endure hardship as discipline." (v. 7) This tells me that God can use this hardship to discipline and instruct me in selflessness, gentleness, love, and probably a hundred other heart attitudes He wants to work in my life. And it gives me hope that the sometimes painful process of parenting my children has a greater purpose. Yes, I am hoping that keeping Leila's speech journal will yield information that will help us give her the freedom of easier speech, but this season can also bring about an abundance of blessing as God uses this trial to train and mold my heart. I'm looking forward to that harvest!





Update on Leila's speech: She has now graduated from speech therapy and her stammer is nearly nonexistent. The process of keeping the journal helped us to determine that she was not having difficulty with any specific speech sounds and that her stammer was more developmental and situational in nature. Developmentally, she was having to learn the muscle movements associated with words she knew, but had not spoken. Her speech "exploded" so quickly that her mouth was sometimes just unable to keep up with her brain. Another layer to the problem was that she was just trying to be heard! She wanted to join the conversation, but wasn't always able to keep pace with the rest of the family (especially the more... ah-hem... talkative members) so she would "hold her space" by repeating a word or sound over and over until she could figure out how to say what she wanted to say. By employing strategies like slowing down the pace of our conversation, asking less direct questions, and making sure she knew we had time to listen to her, she improved greatly within the span of about 3 months. We had a huge "relapse" when Channah was born (which the speech therapist warned us might happen), but after about a month she was able, once again, to articulate and speak without a stammer. We are so thankful for the expertise of our wonderful therapist and that this issue was resolved so quickly.

Homeschooling Resources: 2012-2013 School Year

This summer I spent a lot of time perusing blogs, exploring rabbit trails, looking back through facebook conversations, and generally just searching for some great resources to use in our homeschooling this year. Since literally everything I know about homeschooling I have gleaned from the expertise of others who have put their experiences "out there" for the benefit of others, I like to occassionally share what we do in the hopes that it may, in turn, help or encourage someone else. So, for those who may be interested, here's what we are doing this year.

Multi-Level Resources

Morning Meeting
--Bible

• The Gospel for Children - A very thorough catechism-type outline presenting the gospel. Uses picture prompts as a memory aid. Even Leila (3) has memorized most of this.
• Get Wisdom! - 23 biblical character traits. Teacher helps, discussion questions & projects included. We will cover one per week after we complete The Gospel for Children.

--Calendar Time

• 1+1+1=1 - This is an amazing blog, in general. She has great ideas and printables. Be sure to check out Calendar...Part 2 (linked at the top of the post) also. I got most of my ideas here, including "...of the week" (she does "day"), song cards, and weather cards.
• Homeschool Creations - I got my "Days in School" poster here. I was so happy to find that she has a version that goes with our math curriculum! I went a step further and created the "Decimal Street" poster on my own to go along with this chart.

Creative Writing

• 10 Easy Steps to Introduce Journal Writing - The approach outlined on this blog is new to me but the kids are really enjoying it and excelling in putting their own thoughts on paper. She gives ideas for all levels, even the tiniest tots.

Handwriting

• Handwriting Without Tears - I am teaching Benj & Talia together this year, even though they are in different books. Leila is not putting pencil to paper yet, but is learning to build her letter of the week with the signature HWT wood pieces and we are starting to cover the HWT "language." I may order the pre-writing book for her to do the second half of the year.

"Read Alouds"
I put together our "read alouds" (books I read to the kids) list based on books we already own that I have been wanting to read to them. These books are a bit too involved to really capture Leila's full attention, but since I read during lunch she sits with us anyway.

This year we are reading:
The Little House on the Prairie series
The Boxcar Children series (We read the first book in the series last year and they loved it, so we will read at least book 2 this year)
Grandma's Attic series (Again, we read book 1 last year so we will continue on this year with book 2)
Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh
Henry Huggins
Beezus and Ramona
Greek Myths for Young Children (One of the few books I bought. It is part of the Sonlight Core B and I thought it looked interesting.)
Elmer and the Dragon (Another sequel. We read My Father's Dragon last year.)
Favorite Poems of Childhood

1st Grade Resources

Reading

I have compiled a list of possible readers mainly from two sources, listed below. We are working our way through the list at Benj's pace. I am borrowing many of the books from the library this year. I am planning to purchase some that I find the kids especially love for our permanent library. Benj reads aloud to all of us. Even Leila is enjoying most of the stories, so this ends up being multi-level in a way.

• Veritas Press readers
• Sonlight readers - Actually Grade 2 readers. We did Grade 1 last year.

Spelling

• Fry's Instant Word List - I pre-tested toward the end of last year and am basing his spelling lists on the words he missed.
• Prepared Dictation - An explanation of Charlotte Mason's approach to spelling. This approach is more for older students, but I am planning to review spelling using the sentences & phrases found here.
• spellingcity.com - Lots of options to teach & practice. As a teacher you can create and save lists for the student to use.

Copywork

• Bible
• Passages from favorite readers
• Lyrics to songs (esp. those we are trying to memorize)
• Copywork for Little Boys - I love this resource! So does Benj. The assignments are short!

Creative Writing

• Letters (including thank you notes)
• I'm a Writer! (and I Didn't Even Know It) - Benj loves the fun assignments in this book! There are books for different grade levels.
• ReadWriteThink.org - TONS of awesome lesson plans for all grade levels! We have done acrostic poems and an alphabet story so far and he has actually cheered when we get out a writing project. This is a complete 180 from last year, trust me. Use the filtering box in the left-hand sidebar to find specific lesson plans.

Typing

• Typing Instructor for Kids - We are taking it slow, but enjoying this fun program!

Math

• Math U See Alpha - I am so pleased with this curriculum! Watch a demo video here.

Kindergarten Resources

 

Reading, Copywork, Creative Writing

• Sonlight Core A w/ Language Arts 1

Computer Resources

• Starfall.com
• FunBrain.com - Go to the "Teacher" page and you can search for games by grade level.

Math

• Math U See Primer - Again, LOVE!

Preschool Resources

• ABC Jesus Loves Me
• Raising Rock Stars Preschool

I would love to hear about your favorite educational resources. What resources have been helpful to your family?

 

P.S. None of the links in this post are affiliate links. I just posted them for convenience. :)

Off to a Good Start

I always start out the school year thinking I'm going to blog through our year, documenting the kids' milestones and achievements. And I don't think I've ever documented much more than the first couple of weeks. This year for sure is going to be no exception, seeing as I'm only blogging about once a month, but I thought it would be fun to at least share the beginning of our homeschool year.

We have massaged our basic routine a bit just to smooth out a few kinks, shake things up a bit, and also accommodate the fact that Leila was ready for a bit more structure.

One of our new additions that we are all loving is Morning Meeting. During this time we sing, have our Bible lesson, review our calendar skills, talk about and graph the weather and work on basic math skills by tracking our days of school. We also have a letter, animal, color, and shape of the week (tracking along with Leila's preschool work) that we review some days. We also try to have time some days that the kids can share their previous journal entries, which they are always eager to do. We always end our Morning Meeting with prayer, which is something I hadn't really thought to include in our daily routine in past years. I like the sense of family unity and focus this time brings to our whole day. Sometimes it's hard to cut it off and not let it take up too much of our day!

We have Morning Meeting at the bottom of the stairs :)

 

Here's a close-up of our board: (L to R, top to bottom) ..."of the week" cards, song cards, weather/season cards, weather bar graph, hundreds chart, place value and number words cards, "decimal street"

My biggest challenge this year has been trying to figure out how to divide my time between my children, especially since none of them are very solidly in the self-directing camp yet. Each needs my help and attention for nearly everything they do, so I've had to get creative. I have been able to use various technological resources this year, which has been fun. Even Leila gets her little 15 minutes of computer time each day, which she spends on a phonics website (starfall.com - a phenominal free resource, by the way).

We are also attending a co-op one day a week this year (see this post, if you missed it.) We are all loving it!

Benj: Finding His Groove

Benj is in 1st grade this year. So far our transition into the school year has gone much more smoothly than last year. I am keeping essentially the same structure in place that he was used to all last year, so that has helped him to jump right in with enthusiasm. Last year I would write up little messages on our small chalkboard at the bottom of the stairs to greet them as they came down to school; things like "Are you excited to learn today?" I remember getting several flat out "No, not really"'s. This year Benj has told me several times: "I had so much fun in school today!" I am so thankful for his great attitude!

For the last 2 years (Preschool 4/5 and Kindergarten) I have used a full "boxed curriculum" for Benj. Even if you aren't familiar with curriculum lingo, you can probably guess that this means I received everything I needed for a complete year in a box and didn't have to do any planning on my own. This year I decided to branch out and tweak some things to fit our vision and Benj's style a little better. This means I spent a good deal of time this summer searching out and piecing together resources to fill his academic plate. Now that we are five weeks into our school year I am really enjoying the fruit of that labor. Subjects he despised last year (copywork!, creative writing!) have become some of his favorite tasks this year. I am really enjoying the freedom of using a wider selection of the many, many amazing resources out there.

Spelling with cereal box letters (I've been collecting them all summer!)

 

Completed spelling assignment

 

Bible copywork on Rule #8: Exercise self-control in all things

 

Talia: A Great Start

Talia is a Great Big Kindergartener this year. She is loving her new status as a grade-schooler. She is getting to participate in all the experiences that were new to Benj last year so she feels like big stuff. She is a much more naturally eager and willing student than Benj was as a new kindergartener. I originally wouldn't have pegged her as a born scholar (she seems like such a classic bubbly socialite), but she absolutely LOVES the challenges school presents and is meeting them with enthusiasm and skill. I am so proud of her!

I am using the same Kindergarten curriculum Benj used last year with Talia this year. It's a good feeling to have my feet under me from the very beginning. Not only am I familiar with it, but the curriculum fits Talia's academic personality well so things are going very smoothly with her. She loves math, declaring at math time on the first day of school, "Finally! Math! Now THIS is what I have been waiting for." Actually, I don't think there is a subject Talia doesn't love. She is eager to participate in pretty much any task I give her. It is a blessing to have such a willing student!

Coloring her Create-A-Calendar

 

Lost in a book. Talia is a great reader! She won "top reader" for her age group (complete with a $20 gift card prize!) in a summer reading program, logging 90 or more minutes most days!

Leila: Me Too!

Leila has grown up so much in the last few months! Maybe it's just my perception since she is no longer the baby of the family, but she has seemed to just explode with developmental milestones over the last few months. I knew she would definitely be ready for more academically this year, especially since she is really into being one of the "big kids" right now. She is really thriving with a more structured day.

Last year I tried putting together activities based on a few homeschooling blogs, which was a royal failure! It was so time consuming I didn't prepare well beyond the first 12 weeks or so, and didn't do it at all towards the end of the year. She ended up just kind of wandering around aimlessly, poor little lady. So this year I decided to go with a fully-planned-out-for-me (free!) curriculum. We are both having a great time with it. She is learning some basic Bible stories, memory verses, songs, and nursery rhymes. We are also working on her letter sounds (although I was shocked at how many she already knew when I pre-tested her at the beginning of the year) and numbers. We are working on fine motor skills as well with fun activities like cutting, building with blocks, and drawing and lots more. She is loving school this year!

Leila loves to cut! It is her favorite school activity

 

This was the result of a "draw what I draw" activity with Leila. Too cute!

 

And they call this school! We are clearly having way too much fun. :)

 

So there you have it: school for this year. It's not as smooth and perfect as it all looks on a blog (trust me!), but we have gotten into a good groove and are having a mostly enjoyable year so far. I am thankful for the privilege of seeing my children grow and develop before my very eyes.

 

Oh, and in case anyone is interested in what we are using this year (I love perusing what others are doing to get fresh ideas!), I am going to put together some links in a separate post, coming soon. ish.

 

 

 

 

 

Update on Miss Channah (and Pictures!)

Well, it's been too long again since I posted pictures for our poor parents 2,000 miles away. But it's always good to ask for forgiveness with a peace offering, right?

I am happy to report that overall, Channah is doing much better! She is definitely feeling much better, thanks to expensive drugs and her system maturing a bit. We are so thankful that her crying is a small fraction of what it used to be and we are having whole days of cheerfulness, even good weeks! She is a great nighttime sleeper, which I firmly believe has just been God's grace to us through these difficult first few months.

With the reduction in fussiness, it has been easier to observe all the sweet little things that make up her tiny personality. Maybe I just don't remember the infant stage very clearly, but Channah seems ultra-tuned-in to her environment. She is very intentional about playing with toys dangling above her, fussing or grunting her disapproval if their faces are pointed away from her. She definitely has preferences, this one. :) She smiles at the sound of voices she recognizes, even if the face is outside of her field of vision. She is also very interested in changes from her norm. For example, she normally has bare feet but yesterday her feet were cold so I put socks on her. She kept staring and staring at her feet and eventually grabbing at them. She seemed to be wondering what those white fuzzy things were that had taken the place of her toes. She has started laughing, which absolutely delights her siblings. It's a huge badge of honor to make Channah laugh. She also loves to "talk." We have lengthy conversations. About what, I'm not sure, but as long as I agree with her she's happy. :)

Homeschooling is still a bit rough with her unpredictable sleeping habits and her preference for complete isolation while nursing, but it has been going a little more smoothly each week.

 9 weeks

 

 11 weeks

 

12 weeks

 

 15 weeks

16 weeks

1st Day of School 2012-2013

I can't believe today was the first day of school! It's cliche, but really! Where did the summer go?

We actually planned to start school last week, but unfortunately after fighting it for over a week I came down with an infection last Sunday afternoon and was out of commission for a few days. The kids were especially disappointed to miss their first day of co-op, which is a new addition to our routine this year. They valiantly overcame their disappointment, however, and we spent our extra week in needed preparation for Take 2.

Yesterday we successfully made it to co-op, which was felt like a major accomplishment. Class starts at 9:00, which, considering the 30 minute drive, is a bit early for this crew. But we pulled in the parking lot at 8:48 and had everyone in class by starting time! Yay us! The kids all had an absolute blast in their various classes. The dinner table last night was a buzz as they told story after story about all the fun things they did. Benjamin and Talia are in the same 4 classes (Math Concepts, a literature class called "Five in a Row", PE, and Science: Birds & Butterflies.) Leila is in preschool classes (Letters/Numbers/Phonics, Music, Learning Through Senses, and Creative Movement) and to my surprise did quite well with the long day. I was in the nursery with Channah most of the day, which was actually kind of nice. Mamas of newborns are all assigned to work in the nursery so we each were able to sit and rock our own littlest ones and chat. You know that doesn't happen very often!

Today was our first day of school at home. Seth was able to go into work late so he could be here for breakfast and give the principal's beginning of school address. :)

We took our traditional First Day of School pictures:

 Note the half-grown-in front tooth (the other is also very loose)

SO proud to be in Kindergarten! (Talia told me yesterday as we were driving to co-op, "my heart is beating fast because I'm so excited!") 

 Happy girl, as usual :)

The goofy gang 

Mrs. Rodriquez with her class (I love that Benj & Talia are holding hands. :) )

The school kids with Channah before she went down for her morning nap

Well, here's the real deal: our first morning could have gone better. Channah slept for about an hour, but woke up about an hour early and screamed, despite my efforts to comfort. She flatly refused to nurse while I taught math, which lead to another hour of screaming. (And really, who can't learn place value while an irate baby cries?) On the other hand the big kids had positive attitudes and were cooperative so that was encouraging. After lunch Channah did finally go to sleep and we had a great afternoon, despite the fact that we didn't finish up until 3:00 (an hour and a half later than I planned).

I am excited about what I have planned for this year and I am encouraged that the kids are enthusiastic as well. I'm just praying that Channah will learn to adjust to our new routine and that soon we will be in a good groove. At the very least it should be interesting. :)