We are half way through summer!  This is the time of year  when homeschool parents start planning for the Fall.  This time of year can also be a great time to start working on some fun review items with your kids to get them ready for the new school year.  Here are some great Math items we just added to the schoolhouse Store.

E-Book: "Adding Alligators" and Other Easy-to-Read Math Stories 

25 Engaging, Reproducible Stories with Math Problems That Build Early Math Skills.  Kids read easy and adorable math stories, then solve companion word problems! Reinforces addition, subtraction, shapes, patterns, time, money & more!

E-Book: 15 Easy & Irresistible Math Mini-Books 

Reproducible easy-to-read stories and activities that invite kids to add, subtract, measure, tell time, and practice other important early math skills.

E-Book: 15 Fun and Easy Games for Young Learners: Math 

Reproducible, Easy-to-Play Learning Games That Help Kids Build Essential Math Skills
Play Hickory Dickory Clock, Pocket Change, and other games to build skills, such as time, money, patterns, and more!

To view our Mathematics Category click HERE.

The Pre-K Act (HR 3289) and Education Begins at Home (HR 2343) are two bills that if made into law could give the government control over how to raise your own children. Click on the links above to read the full bill or you can go to World Net Daily to read a summary of the bills.

Education does begin at home but the teachers are the parents, not the government. While this bill seeks to intervene for those infants that may be at risk, the bill does not clarify whether or not a parent has the right to say no.  Instead it reads that if the child fits under this category or that category they are at risk and must be given help. Not everyone with a low-income is a drug addict or an abusive parent.

The Pre-K Act would encourage parents to put their children in a government approved pre-school, with a degree holding pre-school teacher, so that the government can raise them up.  This of course would happen with a visit by a state trained employee who will know how to make preschool sound like a wonder no child should miss and make you feel neglectful for not even considering it.

As it stands right now, many hospitals already have a visiting nurse come to your home after you have had a baby, on the premise "to help you if you need it".  I had a friend who lived just across the street from me who had a visiting nurse come by and then turn her in for child abuse because her house was a mess.  Imagine that, a mom with a newborn baby and a three year old running around in a messy house. The nurse claimed that it was unhealthy for the baby.  There was no mention of how unhealhty it was for the three year old and the baby couldn't even roll over yet or pick up things off the floor to put into its mouth. I asked my friend why she had even allowed the woman to come visit her.  She said, "I didn't know that I could tell her no." The charges were later dropped and my friend learned a lesson, it's your house, it's your child, you can say no.  Especially to someone who isn't there just for the purpose they are claiming to be there for.

Both bills point out that states, teachers, and parents must comply with the law in order to gain the funds and services, as always.  It's their way or no way.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

We expect a painless delivery on August 4th!

The teens are learning to drive on our old vehicle.

You've been officially warned!

I wasn't sure whether to address this at all, not sure if I should waste precious time, frankly. Many of you may have heard of a certain media personality's recent comments regarding autistic children. There are many reactions one could have to such an ignorant tirade, & I decided to share some thoughts.

Outrage is understandable. Our children (& the parents) suffer enough just living in the state they are, then to have abusive language heaped on them on top of that seems inexcusable. Yes, it can hurt to have someone judge our children, & us as parents, based on no reason or fact at all, so harshly. The comments were almost so cruel it feels like a physical assault of sorts.

Another reaction would be sadness, hurt, & deep concern. The callousness of such comments could cause so many who don't know any better, & won't take a moment to find out the truth, to judge us & our children the same way. What kind of treatment does this set up our families for out in society?  There are so many people who choose to listen to & believe such negative comments, so words such as these can have far reaching consequences for many of us.

Unbelievably, I actually found myself chuckling a bit over this at times. It's so incredibly off the mark that when not taking anything else into account, it's almost laughable how a person can speak as such an arrogant authority on something he obviously knows nothing about.

Let's take this apart a bit, from my own point of view...

My own observations of certain comments (that I will not repost here; see link for ugly details):

Now, number one, I never would have asked his opinion on this, but he felt some inclination to give it, despite not having any apparent knowledge on the subject, & obviously not having any personal experience at all.

As a side note on the asthma comments, asthma is also a growing condition that is a by product of vaccinations, & can be most often alleviated by giving up dairy products (our practitioners agree Little Guy would probably be asthmatic if I hadn't cut out offending foods from his diet), but I digress...

Now, most families with autistic children that I know of, are not benefiting from it in any way, in particularly, not financially. Many have given up or lost almost everything in an effort to finance their children's recovery. DAN! doctors cost thousands of dollars, & many of them are not covered by insurance. Our homeopaths also cost thousands, & are not covered by insurance. Guess what? No one is paying for our children's needs except us, as best we can.

I also don't see autistic kiddos benefiting off the educational system, as most schools cannot provide the individual attention each child with autism needs. Many of the kids are just falling through the cracks. Unless he considers "extra help" being confined in a restraint for hours a day, then we might be talking here.

Regarding autistic children really just being "brats" (again see link for ugly details):

Whew, what a relief. I thought maybe Big Guy was still soiling his diaper, at almost 14yrs old, because he had sensory issues & auditory processing disorders, as well as leaky gut, parasites, candida, & the titers that tell us he has very high viral activity in his body. I thought he pounded his head on the wall because he was having pain & frustration over that pain & the fact he couldn't share that information with us so we could effectively help him, since he is non verbal. 

But maybe he's really not non verbal after all! Maybe he's just a "brat" refusing to talk! That must be why he makes all those odd noises all day long. Wouldn't anyone much rather live like that then carry on a conversation with another human being? I bet the commentor would too! (I bet he'd even still have an active audience).

Hmmmm... I just told Big Guy to "cut the act out". It didn't work. He's still busy waving that toy around in front of his face, which of course is much more fun than reading a book or playing a game.

My children do have a father around by the way, as so many autistic children still do, & I bet if he was to say that to our autistic children, they would probably still give him a smile & hug, even if they can't say "Okay dad." (Or, again, maybe they're only pretending to be non verbal).

On the screaming comment... maybe if the hum of a light sounded like an airplane going through your head you'd scream too...

And, just a thought... since when is it okay to call a child who can't speak for himself, even though the words might be there in their head, but the connection can't be made between the brain & the mouth because of neurological damage, a "moron"?

By the way, how do all those comments about "being a man" apply when the autistic child is a girl?

Oh, right, he believes autism doesn't exist. So how about the girls that act like my Big Guy, & worse? I guess they're just pretending too, because it's much more fun for a school age girl to sit in a dirty diaper, wave a toy in front of her face, slam her head into a wall, or glass window or door, & babble or make loud odd noises than play with other kids, right?

"Don't act like a girl." Is what my Big Guy does what girls do normally? Not from my rather limited experience in seeing other girls, or having been one myself at one time.

I can say that my children's father does not encourage his boys to act like girls, but again neither one of us realized that's the way girls act. Hmmmmm... maybe he's not just insulting autistic children, but girls as well.

I need to consider what the Bible says about folks like this:

A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue.
(Proverbs 11:12)

He who guards his lips guards his soul, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.
Proverbs 13:3

But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
Matthew 12:36

 A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings himself harm.
Proverbs 11:17

Another reaction could be pity. Pity for someone with such anger that he can so easily lash out at those helpless & unable to retaliate. As a follower of Jesus I'm commanded to forgive & pray...
 
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
Matthew 5:44

In the end, it will all be sorted out in front of the Lord. 

This person needs prayers, because right now I can at least say that I know my kiddos will be seated around our Lord someday, where nothing more can hurt them.

For another commentary from another autism mom, please visit my dear friend, Karla's blog.

Our next stop after visiting our dear friends in Sweet Home Alabama was Louisiana, where we “Laisser les bons temps rouler” (Less lay bohn tohn roo lay) that’s Cajun for “Let the good times roll!”. And the good times did roll. When we left Alabama on Sunday afternoon around noon after spending the morning spending more time with the Lirette’s and pack up the van. A great deal of time and effort went into sweeping out all the food that the Littles had managed to spew all over the entire van. We had tears of sorrow and tears of joy, we left the Lirette’s and made our way to Louisiana near Baton Rouge. We were going to stay with my dad’s aunt, uncle, and Grandfather. I’d only met Grandpa Hill and Aunt Barbara once when I was six-months-old so it was kinda like we were meeting them for the first time.

It took us forever to get there, and one of the reason being because the Highway Department had eight guys out at 9 o’clock at night sticking reflectors on the road while traffic was stopped up for an hour. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they had moved the “lane closed” sign up about 10 miles so everyone knew that’s not where you had to drive at 20 miles an hour in a single lane. We were only forty-five minutes away but it took us over an hour to get past the “road construction”. Oh, we were so mad when we saw the hooligans with the stickers.

At about 10-11pm we arrived at Aunt Barbara’s. We were all so happy to get to of the van and even more so knowing we’d be there for a few days. Aunt Barbara was so sweet and kind to us when we all got there. She welcomed us with a cheery smile and open arms. She accommodated us in any possible way and let us cook for her (and when then rest of the family that came over). I was so happy we could do that for her. She takes care of Uncle Leo and Grandpa Hill while working a 8hr job so it was nice for her to get a break.

We had a nice time having fellowship and “meeting” our extended family. My dad was happy to see his Grandpa Hill again after nearly 17 years. Grandpa is in his eighties, and I’m glad we got to see him again before he passed on. He’s still mobile and likes to sit out on the porch, reading the newspaper or enjoying nature. While we were there Eric and the other Littles sat out with him, which I think he enjoyed a lot.

My Uncle Leo is quite a character. He likes to tease people and make conversation… haha that went well with me. He kept calling me Curly Sue since I had curly hair and he couldn’t remember my name. It was interesting being around him. He also couldn’t believe I was 17. I wasn’t surprised. No body ever believes me when I tell them I’m 17. They always assume I’m either 12-13, and Rachel is an inch or two taller than me so that doesn’t help. I decided to start telling people I’m 22 when they ask that way when I say “naw, I’m kidding. I’m 17″ so it won’t be that big of a shock when I tell them my real age. hehe

Uncle Leo asked all of us girls if we had a boyfriend. When we told him “no” he looked at us oddly and said, “well why not?” My reply was simple, “I only need one and I don’t need him right now.” He was baffled and just couldn’t understand it. I hope we were able to be a witness to him in more ways than one.

Uncle Leo took pleasure in showing us all the different canes he made out of trees from the backyard. Some of them were quite interesting. He gave Eric, Hannah, and Isaac each their own cane to fit their size, and they’ve been having fun with them ever since.

We were all sad when we had to leave. We said goodbye to Aunt Barbara early on Tuesday morning before she had to go to work. She is such a sweet person. She was always smiling or making someone else smile. She loved having our big family there and was just so kind. She is definitely one relative I wouldn’t mind seeing again soon. Uncle Leo was sad when we’re getting all of our stuff into the van. He wanted us to stay a few more days. Takes a few days to get used to him and we had to leave right when we did! Haha, he was such a curious character, and I’m glad we got to meet them all and spend some time with them.

Blessings!

I’ve felt completely helpless since December 2007 when I moved from my HSB blog to this one because I didn’t know anything about wordpress. I couldn’t change fonts, colours, photos, or add any plugins. Thankfully God has sent me several people who know how to do it and are willing to teach me. I’m learning a lot of about setting up domains, sites, and themes (wordpress templates), which had been both challenging and interesting. I’m still figuring out a few things about domains and setting them up, but it’s all a learning experience. I’m going to have to remind myself of that and not expect to get everything the first time.

I had been told by a few people that designing 3-column wordpress themes was hard to do, but I didn’t seem to have a problem with them. I’m in the process of doing two, which are almost completed. Really CSS is just like HTML. There are a few differences, which in time you just learn how to read. When I first looked at my CSS I was like “It’s in German!” Haha… now I know exactly what it means and can easily figure out how to change something.

I’m working on getting my designing site set-up. I just need to do a few more things and then I need to work out what I’d charge for different services. I have to collect photos of all the templates I’ve done for “show”. I’m hoping to really get this going as a business, and I think I may have my first real “job” too!

I recently finished my first completed wordpress theme for my little sister. It didn’t take me very long to design the actual theme, but figuring out what graphics to use was tricky. This was my finally product:

click for larger image

Blessings!

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