This is a very good article that is in the monthly newsletter that All About Spelling publishes. It interviews Diane Allen ,who is a homeschool mom and an educational testing expert.

I can relate to this article with my daughter. She has a hard time remembering the letters and sound relationship. Ann knows her phonemes extremely well. Putting them together to read is a task for her. I am so glad that in the beginning of my homeschool journey I was introduced to the Orthon Gillingham philosophy of teaching phonics. I don't have to go back and reteach her something new. Which is a plus for me with All About Spelling with the teaching of the letter sounds. They use the same philosophy. I know that it has worked well with Ann. Her speech therapist and others have told me that Ann is advanced for her age in her knowledge of phonemes. She just has such a hard time pronouncing the sounds clearly and accurately with her speech issues. She can recognize the sounds, she just can't say them well.

At the end of last year I had Ann tested by an educational specialist and the results showed that Ann has a hard time with sequencing, letter and sound relationship and other issues. Which all of this was hindering the way she decodes words to read. Her cognitive impairments are considered severe.

It was recommended that I approach Ann's education learning the same way you would with a child who has Dyslexia. A lot of Ann's disabilities are of a neurological nature. Which, if you are not aware Dyslexia is considered neurological. Here is an article on "What is Dyslexia" I was informed that Ann has several symptoms of Dyslexia but because of her age and medical issues it is hard to say at this time. When I read the symptoms of Dyslexia I see Ann in so much of it.

I know that Ann is learning so well with the Multi-sensory approach and its just not spelling that I have been using this approach. All About Spelling is one curriculum that I know will not get shelved! Unfortunately, I already have a few curriculum's that are collecting dust. I feel confidant with AAS to say that this is one area in the academics that I don't have to worry about and I won't have to second guess myself if this is the right choice. I love the fact that AAS works on mastery of the spelling skills, which in turn will help her with reading. It has already built up Ann's confidence with her own abilities.

All About Spelling was truly an answered prayer-you can read about it on an earlier post. She is doing so good with her spelling. Her reading has been a complete turn around from all the tears from last year (on both ends). I agree with Diane Allen that this is just not a spelling program-it is also a reading program. The only thing I would add to her article is that this is also a wonderful phonics program! Ann still gets excited every time she pulls out her AAS book from her workbox drawers. She says, "Mom get the white board out!" Trust me not every subject is such a happy one with her.

I do have one problem with AAS. David wants, to "play spelling with Ann" So he can be a little distracting. Now, I give him his own mini-white board with a few tiles on it to practice his ABC's. He gets to excited. I may have to work with him alone with the board!

I thought this was a good article to share with others who may be struggling in this area. May the Lord richly bless you as He has me with this article. Blessings

I think my kids have really enjoyed and learned even more than I could of imagined during our study of Egypt. The other day ago I walked into the classroom and both kids had the tangram blocks out and had them erected up like a triangle. I had no idea what they were doing. When I asked, Ann said, "mom these are all pyramids, over here is the Valley of the kings and this here is the pyramids at Giza with the queens pyramids. Can't you tell Mom? It made me smile. Sometimes I wonder how much they really pay attention. It is so refreshing when something like this happens. As a mom who educates her children it's moments like these that you know that all the hard work is paying off. I wish I would have had my camera ready. David decided to do a demolition to the site- much to Ann's dismay.

This is our latest lapbook we have been working on. It's a mini-lapbook. This lapbook is from Handle on the Arts. It focus on just the pyramids. It is part of the activities for Hands on History Core 1 that has been created just for Sonlight Core 1. It has lots of different hands on activities that the kids are loving.

We are studying Egypt with the Sonlight curriculum Introduction to World History Core 1 and also in Mystery of History- Creation to the Resurrection. The kids are really enjoying learning about Egypt. Tomorrow we are going to the museum of World Treasures. They are excited to see some real things from Egypt. I have never been to the museum out here. I hope that they have lots of artifacts from Egypt.

I love listening to my children's conversation with each other. After a long afternoon of running errands David said, "Ann look we are almost home! I am so happy, at last we can just be home and play all night." Ann, was very serious and said, "this is not our real home. You see this is just a temporary home. The real home is in heaven with Jesus. He gave us this home to live in now. In heaven it will be no more tears, hurts and the place will be sparkled clean and shiny like mom's ring and Jesus will take care of us." David yelled, "that means I will not have to pick up my toys no more because, Jesus will clean it all up!"

I had to laugh out loud! You got to love it. Only from the mouth of a child can that sound so adorable. I love the fact that Ann recognizes that our home is going to be with the Lord some day and that she is teaching her brother some of the things that she has learned. So, I told David when we came inside that everything that we own is going to stay here and toys are not going to be something we are going to be to concerned about. He was not so keen on that idea.

 

David is pretty proud showing off his name. This is his first time freestyle on a sheet of paper. He has done some freestyle letters of sorts for awhile. He has been tracing his name on a sheet that I laminated. I used construction paper with two sentence strips. The top strip I wrote his name and the bottom strip is blank. He traces it and then writes in on the bottom strip. I love my laminator and it has been one of the best investments that I have made. Then again I have to laminate just about everything with Ann. I think I will start having David more involved with the wood pieces for Handwriting Without Tears, he has pretty good motor skills and he should pick it up real fast. Ann is still doing so good with her handwriting. It is not as much of a struggle for her.
David wanted me to post his picture with his handwriting-so here it is David. Mommy is so proud of you!

We are loving the books this year with the Sonlight Introduction to World History Core 1. As soon as I seen the book Archaeologists dig for clues I knew I had to do a lapbook. We also checked out the Kids dig reed and followed them along an adventure.

This is not a new concept for the little ones learning their letters, numbers and other skills. There are a lot of different programs out on the web and even books you can buy. This is just my version of how I am teaching David and Sierra. I also used this concept with Ann, it just was not as well organized. With her we just kinda picked something for that week and went from there. I had nothing hung up as a visual for her to see all week. With David and Sierra we will also have coloring sheets and activities that go along with that week. I am also doing some Rod and Staff workbooks with them. Everything came from the dollar store, except the flashcards which I already had. I really like the pockets for the cards. They are the perfect size for the flashcards and David likes to pull them out throughout the day and look at them. So, it makes many teaching moments. Which with David I need many because, he doesn't want to sit for long.

 

Making the incision to remove the organs. Ann has a Barbie knife. I used a red permanent marker for the cut.

I have had a few people ask me how I prepared my crafts for the whole year. This is where I keep all 36 wks of the school year assignments. It's just not for my crafts but includes everything I need for the school year. It has a lid also, I just took it off so you could see it. I have 36 file folders and in each week I have the manila folder labeled. I labeled the files by the curriculum. I have double copies of pages that I found off the Internet that I plan on using for David when he is in 1st grade. When I am done with this year, I will put it in another box until it is David’s turn and its all ready and I don’t have to search again. If that lesson has a worksheet or is asking for paper it goes in the file. I have my lapbooks cut up and in a ziplock bag ready to go. I found some neat coloring, notebooking and activity sheets to go with Mystery of History and God’s Design for Science which I want to reuse. I also have the directions of how to do the craft if needed and a list of what I need to gather to complete the craft (glue, paint, ect..) I have the library books and the books out of my own library listed in each file . If you see the pages sticking up it means I am missing something. I still need some wrapping paper rolls, and a certain size of empty cereal box and a few other things. Also, if I need to buy something. I made up a calendar that has all of this so I can prepare a week earlier.

We have been growing beans in science this year. Ann is learning about what a seed needs to grow. We have glass jars all over our kitchen. Five jars in all, no make that six we just started a corn seed jar yesterday. Two of them are in the refrigerator.

Ann is very much enjoying watching the seeds sprout. Did I say very much! So much so that I have to admit that it is driving Jeff and me a little stir crazy. At least once or even twice an hour or even more- we have to look at it. It starts when she wakes up until she goes to bed. She is obsessive with the plants.

Here in a few day we will plant them in the soil. They will still be in the house since it is starting to get colder outside. Maybe they won't be as exciting in the soil.

Don't get me wrong I am so glad that she is this excited about her science experiment. I will continue to grow other things even after having to look at the plants all day long.

Last week, we dissecting bean and corn seeds. I think every time I soak beans to cook them we will have to open up some of them with Ann. She begs me everyday to soak a few so she can open them up and to see the baby's inside of the seed.

David and Sierra think the plants are going to grow into giant bean stalks to climb up to get the the castle up in the sky. Except this story has a monster in it and they have to keep him up in the castle so he won't climb down into the house. Such imagination.

I continue to act very excited every time Ann shows me the plants. Jeff even gets a silly excited with her. I will be very excited when they are gone. Sigh, I know that sounds horrid.

I think we are finally getting into our school schedule. I just started David and Sierra last week also. Sierra has been demanded to do school. I wish my kids had her zeal. I had to laugh at her demanding to start school. She just loves to sit with Ann and listen. Much to Davids dismay. He trys to pull her out of the classroom to play and he ends up crying when she refusing to go. What am I ever going to do next year when she goes to public school. David will be so lost without her.
Ann is still doing good with the workboxes. She gets so excited when she sees the games and crafts that are in the drawers. Major motivation to complete her school work.
We are loving the Hand on History for Core 1 that goes with Sonlight. It is from Handle from the Arts. I hope they make some for the next Cores. We did a cave painting and made a Masai beaded necklace from East Africa out of beans and noddles and all kinds of odds and ends. Then we did an Aboriginal bark painting.
This week we will be making a cuneiform tablet with Mystery of History. I am so glad that I spent the summer preparing everything. It has truly made life easier and much funner for the kids.
Her reading is coming along with the longer stories. I was a bit worried how she would hold up. She has asked me to tag read some. Which, I am okay with. I just point out what I will read and how much when she asks. She doesn't ask me to do it with every story. Yea, for Ann I am so proud of her.
Last Friday we we did and Art/History class with our homeschool support group. I wasn't sure how Ann would do with sitting an hour and half with 18 kids all her age. She did so good. Julie did such a good job with George Washington and presenting the images. Ann remembered so much of it. She told me all about it on the way home. We are using the "Picture of America for the National Endowment of Arts", that 3 of us won the grant. I am one of the three who won the grant. I can't believe the quality of the prints and how large the pictures are. The teachers book is also amazing. I am glad that I was able to see how someone else did it for the first class. Next month, I will be doing Paul Revere. That's bad-I know. I just like to see how others do things first and then build on it and take what works and throw out what doesn't work.
We have another busy week with appointments and field trips. Its been hard to post lately these last few weeks. I thought I would try and get a few things out while they are fresh on my mind.

We attend a Messianic Synagogue and someone made the kids a shofar out of a ram's horn. The kid's were so excited to have their very own shofar. David yelled, "Mommy, this is the sound we will hear when Jesus comes to take us home frpm the east."
It took me awhile to actually figure out to blow it. David can get a small sound out of it. Ann just doesn't quite understand how to make it sound. She has her own way to do it. She puts it up by her mouth and makes the sound with her voice. Its too cute.
David is very passionate about it. I am surprised he didn't want to sleep with it. Which he does with new things. So instead he tried to hide it in my dresser to protect it from others using it.
During the Feast of Trumpets he wore his kippot proudly and took the shofar to services that night. He wanted to wear a suit with a white shirt.
He was so amazed at all the shofars blowing that night. I don't think I have ever heard so many shofars at once. It was a beautiful sound. My kids just loved the whole night. I think it will be a night they will remember for a long time. Having their very own shofar was a big plus.

 

We finally got all the results back on the MRI and EEG and a genetic testing we had done in June. The good news is that they seen no tumors, aneurysms, seizure activity or any recent strokes. The blood test on a certain seizure activity didn't show anything also. I am very relieved that it came out the way it did. As Ann's Dr. put it, "it still is a big mystery to us, with so many unanswered questions. Ann is just going to remain a mystery in so many ways for now." That's kinda how I feel. You want your questions answered. I like knowing what to expect. We are kinda at a crossroad at this point. Basically, something dramatic has to happen or they find another child that has the same deletion in their chromosome.

Ann did real good being sleep deprived during the whole ordeal. The night time staying up until midnight was easy. We just got some movies from the lib ray and watched them. She wanted to stay up all night. So she slept form 12-4 that night. At 4 I got here up and put her in the bathtub. A friend let us use their portable DVD player for the 3 hour drive. She tried to drift off a few times.( I did too, good thing we both did it at different times) The worst part for her was putting on all the buttons for the EEG. The glue and the time putting them on was hard. She fell asleep right away for the sleeping part. We had a heck of a time waking her for the rest of the test and she cried. I don't blame her she had to keep her eyes opened while they flashed this light into your face. I was laying in her bed the whole time and it helped her alot. I almost forgot-the MRI showed a foreign object in her nose. When we took her in to the Dr. she couldn't see anything. Jeff prayed for her that the object would either go away or come out easy. Our last object up the nose was not very pleasant.
Praise Yeshua that the test results where all good. I have to admit some part of me is frustrated with the not knowing. I just need to remember that He is in control.

The first week after having a summer school schedule went good overall. We only did three days this week instead of four. That's okay. I was thinking it would be more of a hit and miss week with me starting off and doing something new-the workboxes. My mother-in-law broke her shoulder this week and we went over to help out one day. I am grateful that I am home to be able to do it. I love homeschooling and the flexabilty.
Next week, we go the the Children's hospital to have the EEG and MRI done on Ann. At first, I was thinking I would start after we came back from the hospital. I am glad I didn't. I figure next week I will only get three days done of school also.
Ann loved the workboxes it made so much sense to her and it motivated her. We even did some crafts and she was able to see them in the drawers and wanted to finish each drawer to get to the crafts. I even had games and puppets. We made some ancient clay pots this week and did a few cut and paste crafts.
School took longer than I expected-around three hours. I was thinking our day would be two hours on a good day. I didn't even start David and Sierra this week. Maybe, it's just the new routine and getting adjusted. Time will tell.
The best part was her reading. I had some reading books from last year we didn't use. She fell apart with these readers and we had to put them up. She picked up the book and read the stories like a pro. All three days she did so good. She was excited that she read all by herself. Now she feels like a big girl.
She just needed to mature in that area. That is one thing I am learning with homeschooling is that you don't need to worry yourself if it goes bad the first time-just step back and try again later if it fails the first time. The stories start getting longer here real soon and it will be interesting how she reacts. We will cross that road later.
We are loving the Mystery of History and she likes the notebooking part. I am doing most of the writing at this point until she is ready to do more.
She is so far flying thru All About Spelling. I expected that during the first few steps. I am still using the Tatras "Teach America to Read by Frank Rogers" with the AAS. With Ann's speech issues I mix both programs together when I do the review at the beginning of each lesson of AAS(which is the phonics part of AAS)I actually separate the two. In other words, I do phonics first-then she reads and then I do the step in AAS and don't do the phonics review like they say to in the book at that time.
I think I would get sick of it if I was her with speech therapy weekly and then me drilling her at home. It only adds and extra 10 minutes to our schedule and we go pretty quick. She knows just about all of her sounds it's just saying them the correct way which is hard for her.
Praise the Lord that we had a good week. I will have to tell you more about the other programs later. I don't like reading long post myself. I could keep going but I will spare you the agony.

I am so proud of Ann this summer. Her handwriting looks wonderful. Writing has been so hard for her and it is still a challenge.

Last year, for kindergarten we used- A reason for writing book A. We both loved it. She never complained and she was always excited to color the back page. When I started looking at the next workbook in the series, I knew it would be very difficult for her. The lines got much smaller. I also knew it was not working for her even if we loved it. It made me look at her handwriting and I realized that it was so messy and unrecognizable.

Before, we started kindergarten her occupational therapist recommended Handwriting Without Tears. I blew it off. I had looked over it previously and thought that the writing looked so different from others and all the manipulative's in a handwriting program seemed like a waste of time and money. It's handwriting not math!
I went to her OT to inquire more about Handwriting without Tears and I wanted to see and touch it and find something bad about it.

She convinced me that it would work and I ended up ordering the wood pieces for capital letters, mat for the wood pieces, capital letter cards, stamp and see screen, small pencils for little hands, chalk bits,gray block paper and the wide double line paper, and the slate and double line chalk boards. We opted out on the Roll-A-dough letters and the play-doh cards. With Ann already knowing her letters and the drooling issues that play-doh does to her. Her mouth turns into a faucet. It's hard to turn it off even after using play-doh. Paper and drool just don't go to well together.

I ordered both kindergarten and the 1st grade book. We have been working on the kindergarten book over the summer. Her writing looks so good, its 100% better. I can't believe how hard headed I was not to use this program in the beginning. The small pencils are pretty much golf pencils with erasers. Her hands don't shake anymore. I guess small pencils are great for using with kids with low muscle tone. I have used many different types of pencil grips also which are now collecting dust.
This has been a wonderful handwriting program for Ann. It's hard to believe that after 2 1/2 months her handwriting has improved that much. Her therapist has even noticed how much her handwriting as improved. For all you hard headed moms out their not liking the way the style looks-give it a try. I have also asked on some of the forums how kids do with the transition to other programs when they are done with HWT and it has been very positive.

If you want to know how this program works. It starts out teaching upper case letters rather than lower case. It does letters that have the same types of strokes together. Its a great multi-sensory program. In the beginning it starts out with the hands on stuff. It mixes it up often so it's not the same thing every time. I can see how it helps with letter reversal with "b and d". The hands on really reinforce those skills. None of the letters are slanted and even when you get to cursive the letters do not slant. It only takes around 15 minutes to do daily.
Next year Ann will start the 1st grade book. I look forward to using it with her and I will even start David with it when his time comes.

We did this lapbook last year with our Sonlight read-out-loud. Its available on Homeschool Shares. I just copied the map in the book to make the cover. 





We had a lot of fun with this book. It amazes me how much she remembers about the book. I know the Lapbook made all the difference

It's official Ann is now a library card holder. She was so excited to have her own card. Except, I think she was a little confused with what you actually do with. We do go to the library quite often. When we went to go pick out her books last night she started just grabbing all kinds of books off the shelf without really looking at them. She had Spiderman, football and subjects that I know she would not have much interest in. When I asked her what she was doing, she informed me that she is,
"buying them with her new credit card." I had to explain to her that it was not a credit card that we are still just borrowing the books from the library. Also, that even if we have a credit card we just don't buy everything. I thought she understood the concept of not buying things if you don't have the money. I guess we will have to revisit that subject again.
She informed several people in the library that she has a card now and was very proud to hand the librarian her card when we checked out. She wanted to hold her card all the way home so she could show daddy it. When we got home she was so excited that she jumped out of the van and fell down and bruised and scraped up her knees really bad. I had to carry her in. She still wanted to share her excitement in all of the tears and show daddy that her card has her first, middle and last name on it. Then when we were bandaging all her scrapes she made me read every word on the card. I don't think the library needs to worry about any late or missing books with Ann. She informed me of how important it is to take care of and to be responsible for her books. She also told me to, "be very careful not to lose her card. That she doesn't want someone to take it."
I just had to share that story. Ann was so cute.

David is growing up so quick. It's hard to believe he will be four in a few month. We have had a hard time potty training him. I think Ann still being in diapers was one of the reasons. He had also mentioned that he didn't want to grow up. That being said, a few weeks back Daddy wanted to reward him for being so good with his potty training and offered to take him to the big toy store to buy something for him. Not Walmart but Toys R US. Which around here is a big treat. He asked David what he wanted he told Daddy, "I want a wallet, watch and a belt" We just happened to have one of Jeff's old wallets around and we are still need to get the watch.We bought a belt at Walmart. Walmart does not carry kids watches anymore!
Last week Jeff wanted to take him somewhere to reward him again for sitting for 2 1/2hours at Torah study. Which is a big issue we have with Ann, who trying to make her sit still for 5 minutes is pure torture for her and when he is with her he follows her example. We thought that we would have Jeff take him to the study alone to work on sitting outside of the home. I was so happy that he sat still. Its so hard with Ann trying to train David in certain areas. He asked for a tie! Mind you Jeff does not wear a tie to church to often except when he teaches. We have been so surprised at his choices. We thought he would want a toy. I guess now he is ready to pretend to be a grown up. He walks around now with keys in his pocket, a wallet that is to big for him stuffed in his pants because it won't fit in his pocket. He had to put real money inside of it also. Now he has a tie that he wants to wear with a t-shirt. He puts on his fake watch. Its so funny watching him. Except last night he informed me that he still needs a real watch. I love watching the kids explore the world. It will be interesting to see what his next request will be.

I jumped on board the newest fade that is all over the homeschool community. At first I thought the idea was crazy and not something I would be interested in. How could you ignore all the talk on it. It was in every forum, homeschool discussion and every ones blogs. That being said,you couldn't avoid not reading more about it.After seeing how so many families are using the system and adjusting it to meet their needs it just dawned on me that this might be a very good fit for Ann. The homeschool community always amazes me at how creative they are.



I opted to do drawers. I just couldn't justify the cost and space on doing it with the shoe boxes and the rack or shelves. I made one for Ann and I will start David with it this year. He will share with Sierra for now.



I also wanted to make it very colorful and fit each of the kid's personality. Ann's card has the bugs and the colors she likes. David has a jungle theme and Sierra I decided to do butterflies and flowers since she is a girly girl.



The card will go in a pocket on the side of the drawers when they are not using them. I put Sierra's numbers on the side. Ann and David's numbers are in the front on the drawer.



When they finish a drawer the completed work will go into this.

Most of you already know what the workbox system is. I am sure some of my family and friends who don't homeschool are a little lost with this post. I will try to explain.
This is a creation of Sue Patrick. From what I have heard from other bloggers is that she created the workboxes for her homeschool to help her son with special needs. Sue Patrick recommends using 12 boxes. The shoebox sterlite containers are the most common ones used. Some use magazine files, large envelopes and magazine racks that you hang on a wall. That's just naming a few ideas out there.
The idea is that you load each drawer with your core subjects.(math,language arts, ect..) Along with all the supplies they will need. (Pencils, glue)You put a pencil and supplies in each box. I will put one pencil in each drawer.(Maybe, this will help in the "I can't find my pencil")Then comes the extras like file folder games, puzzles, snacks,books and other learning games. The kiddos then work through the boxes in numerical order. When you are done with a drawer you put your number on your card.
You have laminated cards that you can put in the drawers if needed, "help card", "work with mom" and also cards for breaks and exercise. I still need to finish my cards.

Now you are wondering why?

1. This system is suppose to help your child work more independently in their schoolwork, but they still will get help from mom when needed. I am not sure how the cards will work with Ann. I hope this system will help her to be more independent in some areas. I think it is a good skill that needs to be taught to kids.
2. I do feel that it will help Ann in several areas. One being able to see the whole picture. My hope is that I won't have to hear the constant whining of "are we done yet" or "how much more mommy,I am hungry" She will see how much is expected from her each day.
3. You put the things they like in a drawer also. I will put a snack or a snack card in a drawer. She will know that after she does 2 or 3 drawers it is snack time.
4. It will somewhat put her in control of her day.Or make her feel like she has some control of her schoolwork.
5. I hope she sees all the fun and tasty things to look forward too. Last year, I planned to do things but, it didn't happen as much as I had wanted it to. It will help me do the things that sit on my shelves and collect dust. It should motivate me also.

That is the system in a nut shell.I will have to load the drawers everyday. That's not to different from what I already do. It just won't be in a form of a stack on the floor.
I plan on buying the book here soon. I just bought all of my curriculum for the year and the book is a want item at this time. The book has alot of ideas on how to use the system. I only have 7 drawers. For now it should do the job. If not we will get a larger one with more drawers and have more storage for crafts in the old ones.
Here are just a few ideas file folder games, which we already use alot in our school. My favorite homeschool site homeschool shares now has ideas for workboxes with file folder games.
The best part of the workboxes is seeing other put the games together and passing them on. LOL! It give me an excuse to use my laminator even more!
Most of my friends know that I am pretty organized. I guess this is just another excuse for me to organize even more. For those who are not so organized just think how it could help you out. I will keep you posted on how this adventure goes.