• Mar. 24, 2007
Home, Sweet Home
Cincinnati was great, but East or West, home is best.
Honeybee and I went to the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention this weekend. I learned so much...and I'm so very tired.
The highlight was hearing Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler speak on history. If you've never seen or heard him, I'd encourage you to visit his website by clicking here. He makes history come to life--with the empahasis on providence and HIS Story.
I bought several books and educational toys for the girls. We must have walked through the vendors' booths a bizillion times, seeing something new with each pass.
The whole thing was a bit overwhelming, but I'm still looking forward to next year's convention!
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• Jan. 22, 2007
Reminder to Myself: She's Only Three!
Breathe deeply and repeat slowly....
"She's only three..."
"She's only three..."
"She's only three..."
Why do I put pressure on MYSELF to teach things to Brandie that she may not be ready for? For some reason, I expect her to be able to do things that most kindergarteners can't!
Today we worked on cutting. (See the post on the trials of working with a left-handed kidlet when you are not!) She did fairly well--for about 90 seconds--and then she got frustrated. I then worked with her on how to hold the scissors (with her left hand...) and we tried it again. In the end we did cut paper into little pieces. She ended up having more fun gluing the pieces to another piece of green paper. At least she'll remember having fun.
I need to constantly remind myself that she is ONLY three! We have a long time to master things like cutting, addresses, phone numbers, the alphabet, counting, memorizing short Bible verses, and so on. I want her to have a childhood that isn't totally focused on learning new things purposefully. I want her to have FUN! It isn't fun when Mom is constantly worried that you need to be learning something new. Every experience does not have to be a learning experience. I don't want her childhood to slip away and be regretful that we didn't have more fun.
"She's only three..."
"She's only three..."
"She's only three..."
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• Jan. 4, 2007
What's in a Name?
I've been giving serious thought to naming our homeschool. Does anyone else name their schools? I've read online that if you have a name, you can make stationery, business cards, IDs, etc. that help with discounts and such.
I want our name to have meaning. Preferably, a Biblical meaning. "Academy" sounds classier than "school".....and it should have "Christian" in it also. In other words, I want the name to end in "Christian Academy".
I've thought about something with Lighthouse, Beacon, Light, or maybe Eagle. DH is a BIG Ronald Reagan fan and he's in favor of "Reagan Memorial Christian Academy". A friend suggested "Bonzo School" when she heard about the Reagan thing. DH would NOT laugh! Lighthouse Christian Academy sounds good, but there's one nearby.
Does anyone have any suggestions or comments? Am I trying too hard? Does it matter if we have a name? I'd like the girls to have a name to use when they are asked what school they attend.
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• Nov. 17, 2006
Sensory Integration and Things that are Icky
H (who is now almost 17 months old) has problems with sensory integration. Although we can't be sure of the cause, possible reasons are because she was exposed to drugs prenatally or that she wasn't held as a baby. (For those of you who don't know, we are adopting B and H. They are half maternal siblings.)
Children with sensory problems can have all kinds of symptoms: not liking certain textures (grass, squishy), textures of foods (cottage cheese, jello), touches (caresses, patting), and so on.
H has two therapists who come to our home every week. Dee is her speech therapist and Mechelle is her developmental therapist. Both are working with H's sensory problems.
So far, we've identified that H doesn't like squishy things like jello, textures like grass, rubbery things (a koosh ball), or most touches. We've been trying to introduce her to these things and let her get used to them in her own time.
Icky Things
We've introduced her to infant massage and she's beginning to like it. In fact, when I was massaging her legs after changing her diaper yesterday, she did the sign for "more". (We are also teaching the girls beginning sign language as a way to help H communicate.) So, I did more....and more....and more!
The signs the therapists have taught us are "more", "stop", "go", "no", "yes", "slow", "play", "please", "thank you", and "baby". B is proficient with all of them. H has "more" down really well! We'll keep working with her and add more as they're ready to learn them.
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• Nov. 11, 2006
Less than Two Weeks until Thanksgiving?
I can't believe how fast time is flying. November is almost 30% gone!
We had to go out of town for a few days for a funeral. DH's aunt passed away. The funeral was truly a celebration of her life!
As far as homeschool-lite goes, we've been talking about Thanksgiving and reading books about the first Thanksgiving. I'm not sure B really understands what we're talking about, but she's enjoying hanging the decorations (cut-outs of Pilgims, Indians, etc.) and reading the books. In the next week or so we'll do some Thanksgiving crafts and try to talk more about being thankful and what that means.
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• Oct. 25, 2006
Homeschool Lite!
I've never had a blog before. I've never homeschooled before either. We're just beginning this journey of homeschooling. B is now 3 and H is 1. We have a long way to go! Right now I see our homeschooling philosophy as "Homeschool Lite"--it's less filling than regular homeschool.
