Just posting to see how everyone is doing.  We started our school year the last week in July.  Patrick does not like the heat, so he would rather be doing school type activities than be outside.  We take off most of December and January and end our year the middle of May.

We do use our county school system to provide speech therapy and remedial reading.  The speech therapist gives me stuff to work on with him, and the reading class lets him hang out with some of his deaf friends as none of his deaf friends are homeschooled. The school is wonderfully supportive of his homeschooling.

This year Patrick, 16, is also doing a vocational internship - he was hired by Safeway as a courtesy clerk. I count his work hours as vocational training. Then, he does some reading work for fluency and comprehension, some grammar and writing skills, and consumer and career math from an old textbook, which is soon to be supplemented by the Boy Scout Personal Management merit badge. When we have time, we are exploring Ninth grade physical science through the LifePac series - really to give him some independent study skills and to present topics I know that he will be forced to ask me about because he needs to learn to ask for help. Then, we have created our own very eclectic social studies curriculum based on the fact that Mom and Dad at least love rennaissance festivals(Middle Ages), genealogy (Our European Heritage) and local history (light reading about colonial times up to current events in the paper), and Patrick is willing to learn about things we can share. Another focus later in the year will be the Boy Scout Merit badges Citizenship in the Community and Citz. in the Nation. For health and PE, we will be having him earn the Personal Fitness merit badge.

We love the Scouting program for boys for it's variety. Even though Patrick is not an outdoor person, he can still find activities he enjoys and people who respect him for who he is.

Okay, so 2007 kind of started out slow for us.  We've been trading colds around here so doing more reading than anything else.  We saw Eragon, the movie, so Patrick chose the sequel as his next thick reading book.  Not bad for a kid the school said wouldn't reach 3rd grade reading level.

He is still trying to bargain his way back into the school for the deaf. I told him he can go back as soon as he can read and write at least at an eighth grade level.  Don't think that will happen this year, but it's a great motivator for him.

One thing I've noticed is that he is less regimented about how much reading he is doing. He has a One Year Bible for Kids with daily readings.  He often forgets to stop, and just keeps reading.  What fun, especially when he comes to me with questions. He and his dad read Luke just after we saw the Nativity movie.  I am so thankful for captioned movies!!  We didn't have this help with his older brother.

I'm trying to get all of our materials on a computer list.  Supposedly our county is to contact us to have a portfolio review twice a year.  I sent in the letter notifiying the School Superintendent of our intent to homeschool, but have not been asked to set up a time for the review.

Patrick had his second post op follow up visit today.  Doc says he's doing great.  He actually ate food yesterday for the first time since Wednesday.  This afternoon he started to teach his older brother about Dungeons and Dragons - how cool! No schooling since Wednesday night, and no more formal stuff till next Wednesday.  But I'll still have him do some reading, and Bible work, especially since he misplaced his Bible for three weeks :(

Patrick had his tonsils out today.  Went pretty well.  He already said it's easier to breathe.  Luckily, being deaf, a sore throat doesn't interfere with talking, just the IV needle does :)  We see the ENT tomorrow for a follow up appointment. He'll miss the Dungeons and Dragons game this week, but, that's life.

First of all, blessed Veteran's Day for all of our fantastic service members!  We have a Desert Storm veteran (hubby) who served 10 years active duty, and a current National Guard soldier (big brother) in the house.

 

It's been a little frantic around here the last month.  Patrick is feeling better, but is scheduled for a tonsil and adenoidectomy in Dec.  Just can't get the swelling down, and he is not comfortable.

 

He's back to a full schedule though.  This is what we are doing now.

First of all, he is taking a remedial reading class with a signing teacher of the deaf on "B" days, so those can occur any of the five days of school days, changing from MWF to TTH and then altering depending on days off.  They are NOT consistent, so any given week is totally different from the preceding week, most of the time. His class runs from 10 45 to 12 20 except on Thursdays when class goes from 11 00 to 12 30.

Usually though our week looks like this:

 

Mondays: Mornings are either class or book/video work. 1-3pm Pick up Sports with local homeschool group. One of the dads runs football games with whoever shows up.  Great physical activity and good social skills on how to cope with hearing peers and adults.  I don't stay to interpret any more to encourage independence.

 

Tuesdays: Right now, I have a consistent job interpreting in the morning, so I leave him a list of things to do.  When he has class on Tuesdays, it gets chaotic.  Sometimes we join other homeschoolers for bowling in the afternoon.

 

Wednesdays: This is our let's really get stuff done day. We do a lot more face to face interaction in all areas. Sometimes we visit the hearing Boy Scout troop at night for him to work on Merit badges.

 

Thursdays: Same as Tuesdays, except the deaf Boy Scout troop meets 45 minutes away.  If he doesn't have class, I'll drag him out with me in the morning, and we work in the library out where the troop meets in the afternoon, have a fun dinner at his favorite restaurant, Golden Corral, and then go to Scouts.

 

Friday: Mornings are often devoted to housework, with him if no class, by myself if he has class. Dungeons and Dragons day in the afternoon from 12 to 3.  Not so much writing work, just reading in the car on the way to and from.  His older brother is back from his army deployment, so most likely the two of them will do this activity without me (HURRAY!)

Patrick is finally feeling better.  He's still not well, but much better.  We actually did somd real work today instead of just keeping his mind active. I love the stuff on TV. We found a special on volcanos, talking about what could happen if the magma under Yellowstone National Park were to explode into a supervolcano.  He asks such great questions.

Patrick has been sick now for eleven days.  Still running a fever and so lethargic it makes me tired.  Not able to do much of anything.  He's reading a chapter or two a day of his books, but not writing.  He is coming up with some great insights while watching TV.  He asked why the WB network was now named CW, and added, "Was it for business reasons?"  YIPPEE!!

Poor kid, took him to see the doctor who started him on some meds, and now he's even sicker.  I'm trying to convince him that reading is better for him than video games.  I think it's true because the reading puts him to sleep and the video games excite him. 

Went with a homeschool group to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center last week.  Patrick didn't want to go, complained the entire trip there, yet once he was there and participating, he had a terrific time!

He seined the Rhode River for macroscopic wildlife, looked under a microscope for microscopic wildlife, then attended a presentation on global warming.  If only he understood how much he likes to learn about things, this would be more fun for all of us. 

Patrick has been sick off and on for the past two weeks.  Not sending him to school is great, but what do I do about the work?  Sometimes he's fine, up and moving, but as soon as I give him some work to do, he complains of being sick again.  I thought he was bluffing, but now he's running a fever.

Generally, I figure if he's well enough to be up watching TV - he can read a book; if he's up to emailing friends, he can write a report or do some math; if he's actively playing video games, he can work on some new skills. Make sense to anyone else out there?

We had a visit at the school for the deaf with the psychiatrist.  He feels Patrick is an Asberger's child.  I just don't think so.  May be, but... I felt better about the psychologist's perspective of OCD. Both said the same medication should help. Shouldn't make that much difference then.  Now I'm waiting for the psychiatrist to contact my PCP doctor to recommend a low dose. Also trying to find a therapist to help him talk out how he feels about whatever it is that's affecting him.  Not too many that know ASL that take insurance that are within a reasonable commuting distance. He's been with this school since '96 except for a brief stint in public school.  NOW they say he needs help from a therapist, after they no longer have him on their rolls. 

I'm also waiting to see if the local school can help with any Language Arts related activities and with speech therapy Ho Hum

Gotten a few comments I'd love to respond to, how do I do that?? Help, Anyone?

This summer is speeding by way too quickly.  Patrick is still doing the math club, and enjoying himself.  The school psychologist and then the school contract psychiatrist did their evals on Patrick; both agree that homeschooling is a good option for him.

We took Patrick's friend to our family reunion in NY.  They had a nice time.  Good thing his mom lent us a portable TV/VCR though, it poured nearly the entire time.

I thought I would blog more, but life is keeping me too busy.  We went to Connecticut this past weekend.  We stayed with my husband's sister and her family. 
Saturday we took two of the cousins to the Southern Connecticut Renaissance Festival in Ansonia. Maggie and Jimmy had a great time, and Patrick even asked me to interpret one of the performances.  I've decided he should request interpreting services even from me, cuz it's too exhausting interpreting when he doesn't want to watch.
Sunday we visited Nanny who is not doing well after this latest broken bone.  She is 90 after all. Patrick was bored, but that is par for the course. He enjoyed driving through Stamford and seeing the headquarters of WWE
Patrick is having at least one overnight guest a week for peer socialization over the week.  He's doing okay in the math class, but not great. 

Getting started with homeschooling again, this time with my youngest.  Patrick is 15, profoundly deaf, very bright, with multiple learning disabilities. This should be interesting.  Thankfully, there is a very active homeschooling community here.  Never used a group before, but I think with this child, I will need it.  The other two just seemed to want to learn, this one resists it.