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Feb. 4, 2010
Stupid Stupid Stupid
When we got here, we listened to our friends and family and tried to put Princess Belle in Public school! There are not that many children around here, it is a much smaller school and they seemed willing to work with us to make it easier for her. But truthfully it has been a disaster of monstrous proportions. I wish I had trusted my instincts and never done this.
It has broken my heart to see just how hard it has been for her. Every day, she is getting notes about how "defiant and disruptive" she has been. On two separate occasions, she has ended up under furniture, crying and screaming hysterically, trying to hide and wanting to be left alone. I knew this was NOT normal behavior for any 8 year old child. And I knew that she had to be under extreme stress to be acting this way. We have decided to try to get her through the remainder of the year but we will be returning to homeschooling starting in September.
We finally got our ADOS test which tests where children are on the Autism Spectrum Scale. An average child would get a score of about 0 or 1 and a child with an extreme case of Autism would get a 22. Princess Belle got a 10, which puts her smack dab where a child with Aspergers would be. They said that they also feel she was ADHD but wanted to primarily work with the Aspergers at this point. I am glad to have a diagnosis so that we can work with her. She is my special girl, and I am sad that life can't be easy for her, but I want to do what I can to make it easier for her. Homeschooling will help with that. I wanted her to get socialization, but all she is learning right now is that she is "a bad girl and she is weird". (It is heartbreaking, but those are her words.) I don't want her to go through her school years feeling that was. I want her to know how special and smart she really is. The Pediatric Development Specialist said that she agrees with our decision to homeschool and that the majority of patients she has with this condition are homeschooled.
Following the diagnosis, the principal suggested that we keep her home and homeschool her until they made arrangements for her needs. This may be for weeks yet!! Then we find out our next appointment to find out what to do for her and how to best work with her isn't until June 3!
Now I am trying to pick up her education after having had someone else do it for a few months. I wish I had never sent her there. I don't know where to start anymore. And then . . . . she will be going back to finish out the year. This is SUCH a huge mess. UGH, next year I am homeschooling and I am NOT letting anyone talk me out of it. I know my girl, I know what is best and if they don't agree . . . then too bad for them!
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Oct. 10, 2009
Fire Prevention Week
Oct. 8, 2009
Thursday Thoughts
There are days when we have a rough start to our homeschooling day or when she is particularly tired and restless that I wonder if I am doing the right thing for my girl. Not so much if the school is a better place for her, her teachers, her Principal, Prince Charming and even Princess Belle herself all agree that the school environment is not the best place for her. But I am sometimes scared that I am going to screw this up, that I am not going to do it right. I just want so badly to do right by her.
Then there are days like today when things go so well, and she is happily working away on her science project, skipping back and forth to show me what she has accomplished and when we have to search high and low to find her science and social studies text books because she has been reading them in her spare time and I am so happy to be doing this. I am so glad that I get to foster that love of learning. I have never seen her take such joy in learning new things before. She comes up to me with shows she wants to see because she can learn about things while she watches them, she has projects she wants to try, she takes time from playing and watching tv and doing other things to read text books and plan for things she wants to try later.
On those days I know that however tired I get, no matter how hard it is for me sometimes doing this while caring for her sister and being 6 1/2 months pregnant, I am doing right by her. I remind myself that this is the only year I will be pregnant and homeschooling and this is the only year I will be homeschooling with a toddler and a newborn. When we make it through this year, I will never be doing this as tired as I am now. And I remind myself how lucky I am that I get to see those lightbulb moments when she finally gets a hard concept, or when she is taking pride in her work, or when I say she did something well and her face lights up and she hugs me. I would never give up those moments and certainly not for extra sleep and more time!
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Sep. 23, 2009
Homeschool update
I just got back from our meeting with the assistant director of the board of education. It went really well. The official approval will come from the director himself, but I have a feeling we got it. They were arranging our next meeting, explaining the reporting process, and providing us with all sorts of resources that we will be able to use. They were very positive and helpful. They apologized for our last meeting (the one that upset me so much), said that any negative things said last time about our homeschooling were said in error and have arranged that all records of that meeting be destroyed and this more positive meeting be the one that goes on the record so that there will be nothing to hinder our homeschooling in the future.
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Sep. 23, 2009
heading out
We are heading out to our meeting with the assistant director of the board of education. Wish us Luck!! Princess Belle said that she didn't want us to go because, "What if he says, NO". I reassured her I thought it would be okay, now I need someone to reassure me!
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Sep. 22, 2009
Long day
It has been a long day today and I am too tired to think of something interesting to post right now. I got up and went to the healthy baby club. After I got home, I tidied up the house a bit. Then after that Princess Belle and I did homeschooling. Now I am blogging before I get up to make supper. Usually on days I have healthy baby club, we take the day off school and make it up on Saturday, but I have another meeting tomorrow with the board of education and didn't want to miss two days in a row. I am super tired, but I am glad we got everything accomplished. If I get the energy later, I will throw a load of laundry on too.
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Sep. 21, 2009
Woohoo!!
It looks like the hold on our application to homeschool is going to be lifted!!!!! I am so happy! I don't know whether my lawyer has anything to do with this, but I am thrilled. Things should be okay after all. I am so glad I decided to spend the weekend not stressing about it.
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Sep. 19, 2009
A New Day
I am feeling better and confident today. I trust my HSLDA lawyer to take care of things as he has assured us he will and in the meantime I am goingt to continue to educate my girl. I spent today organizing my homeschool books, papers and files and doing research for new and more interesting things to add to our curriculum. I am feeling really good about where we are. Prince Charming and I have talked and we have decided that we will do whatever it takes to make sure we can do this for our girl. She needs it. She needs the extra help I can give her. She needs the extra attention she can get from me that she can't get in a public school. And for her, we will do what it takes.
Tomorrow, I hope to make a nice family breakfast, do some extra housework and enjoy a day with my family. I will not let anyone get me down. I am loving my family too much.
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Sep. 19, 2009
A New Day
I am feeling better and confident today. I trust my HSLDA lawyer to take care of things as he has assured us he will and in the meantime I am goingt to continue to educate my girl. I spent today organizing my homeschool books, papers and files and doing research for new and more interesting things to add to our curriculum. I am feeling really good about where we are. Prince Charming and I have talked and we have decided that we will do whatever it takes to make sure we can do this for our girl. She needs it. She needs the extra help I can give her. She needs the extra attention she can get from me that she can't get in a public school. And for her, we will do what it takes.
Tomorrow, I hope to make a nice family breakfast, do some extra housework and enjoy a day with my family. I will not let anyone get me down. I am loving my family too much.
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Sep. 18, 2009
Sooo Frustrated!! (updated)
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am being forced to enroll my girl in public school for the time being. I am contacting my lawyer and making some phone calls to get this straightened out. But it all goes back to those same harrassing neighbours who are the reason we are moving!!! Will they ever stop causing us troubles???? I am so done. So now my girl is crying, she doesn't want to go to school, she says she likes how I help her learn. I am telling her that it is temporary and that we will do what we can to get her home as soon as possible.
I am really upset and stressed and as we speak right now, I believe Prince Charming is talking to our lawyer. But why do people have to make things such a hassle.
EDITED TO ADD: I was right, Prince Charming was talking to our lawyer. He has advised that we are completely within our legal rights to disregard the instructions we received today and we are NOT to send Princess Belle back to school. He has given me confidence that we can rely on him and this will all be taken care of. I tell you, retaining this legal counsel when we decided to homeschool is the best thing we have ever done.
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Sep. 15, 2009
This week
Big things are going on in my world right now. I have two really important meetings going on this week:
- I am meeting with the board of education to get my official approval to homeschool.
- My house is getting inspected to see if I can get approval to get a transfer to a house owned by the same people in the town I am moving to. This would make moving SOOOO much easier!
I am kind of nervous about both of them, but I am doing everything to make sure I am completely prepared. Or at least as prepared as I can be.
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Sep. 13, 2009
Sunday Sum up
Well today is our day off homeschooling and I am enjoying it and taking advantage. I made a big breakfast. It would be nice to do this more often. Today I made, ham, bacon, bacon cheese biscuits, and pancakes. Prince Charming my meat-a-holic is so in his glee!
I have been working hard the last two days to get laundry done. I don't know how I got so behind, but I am working my butt off to get it done.
I have done our homeschedule for this week. Just a little tweaking but I like how our weeks are progressing. My next two goals are:
- include more fun things in our day
- include some outings in our homeschooling
I have gotten caught up on my visiting my blogging friends. I have found a few homeschooling blogs that I enjoy and added those to my sidebar as well.
I still need to get more laundry done, clean the kitchen, do my menu for the upcoming week, get started on packing and I know there was more, but my preggo brain won't let me remember right now.
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Sep. 11, 2009
Friday Five
- Well the neighbour stress is getting to me and I had crazy nightmares all night long. For once I was glad when Princess Belle woke me because she had been sneaking drinks before bed and peed her bed for the first time in a while. I had been dreaming that I had the swine flu and I was worried about losing my baby and my mother and sister were telling me to give up on the baby, move on and just view it as a terrible tragedy and I was soooo angry at them.
- Schooling is actually going great. We have come into our own now and I am happy with our balance. She is enjoying it and still learning. I intersperse parts of the harder subjects with interesting related projects or related shows that can illustrate what we are learning. I find related worksheets and activities on-line that I can supplement our bookwork with so that we are not just glued to the book all the time. We do our spelling on the computer which makes it so she doesn't have to write out the words. (speaking of spelling she went from knowing 10 our of 20 words on Monday to knowing 17 out of 20 today!!!) I had a moment this week where I saw her finally get a math idea that she had been struggling with and I was so excited for her, I gave her a big hug and kiss! She loved it.
- We learned about Mexico yesterday so I am making Mexican Lasagna for supper tonight. Just a little something that I thought she would like. We went to the library last week and Princess Belle loved it. I told her that once we move, we will be doing more and more outings as a part of our schooling. I want her to learn about the world around her. I want to make these lessons feel real to her.
- We are making strides towards our move. We are having an inspection on our place done soon so we can transfer to a new unit in our new town. I am thrilled a little nervous about that, but I did find our inspection for when we came in and I can fix most things really quickly as there has been no big damage since we moved in.
- I am losing my memory these days. I had a 5th point all thought out and then I lost it. Oh well . . . I have a long list of things I need to accomplish and I just wish I just had more energy in this 5 1/2 month pregnant body of mine. I want to paint our cupboards, do our laundry, wash our floor, pack some boxes, get outside with the kids and enjoy some fresh air, avoid the people that are the reason I am moving while still talking with the ones that I like. I can't wait until this move is over.
- (OH I remember number 5 now . . . so now you get a bonus ramble) I had a doctors appointment this week with my OB-GYN. He was really proactive and had a list of tests he wanted to do on me because of my previous complications. I really like that. The other doctor I have been seeing seems not to know anything really about pregnancy and I had to request some things. When I told my OB-GYN what I had requested he exclaimed, "GOOD GIRL!" which made me laugh. He heard my baby no problem and he said she sounded like a girl. LOL He is going to order another U/S to check on her and he ordered some blood work to check on me. I wish I could take him with me when I move.
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Sep. 6, 2009
Poor Princess Belle and homeschool stuff
Poor Princess Belle. She has had a rough weekend. Here is how it has gone for her:
- The last couple of nights, she woken up every night, crying with nightmares or pains in her legs, creating grouchy days for us all.
- Yesterday, one of the neighbour kids had a birthday party with a big bouncy house and invited every single child on our street and the next street over EXCEPT Princess Belle. She saw the bouncy house, got excited and the boy wouldn't let her in.
- Aunt Notso came to town to visit (that was a good thing and she even brought presents) and when she was leaving our house, Princess Belle went running to the window to watch, stepped on some glass that the cats had knocked over and broke and cut her foot.
- This morning, the first thing she said when she got up was, "When is Aunt Notso coming back?" I told her a little later today (I thought that was true) and she went and put on a pretty skirt for when she came. Then when I checked to see when Aunt Notsosnowwhite was coming, I found out I was wrong and she had already left and gone home without coming back. Thus tears and heartbreak.
- And not to be done with just that, she was out playing with a little neighbour boy, climbing a tree (in her SKIRT!) she fell down and scraped her belly.
Her weekend has felt like one bad thing after another and I just feel bad for her.
I have spent some time trying to rework our schedule and our school work. I have been thinking that I am trying to hard to get too much done. I am making the tough subjects too much doing school at home instead of homeschooling. I need to make this a little more fun, a little more relaxed and a little less time spent on each subject. I looked around at some other blogs and the schedules they have, I looked at the A Beka website (I am not doing their curriculum this year, but I want to next year) and looked at their recommendations for the amount of time spent on each subject and I reworked our schedule. I did add in extra art slots because Princess Belle is a very creative child who loves to be creative.
I found this really great educational site for teaching kids about music that Princess Belle really likes. So much so that when she was drawing pictures later, she came back and asked me the sound of certain notes she couldn't remember so that she could draw them on her picture.
I am looking for fun things to add to our science and social studies curriculum as well as different ways to approach our math. I want to make learning fun, I don't want her to be stressed about it. She has spent all her public school life stressed about her schooling, I WILL NOT have her homeschooling life be that way.
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Sep. 4, 2009
Friday Five
Sep. 3, 2009
Random Thoughts.
I am thinking of our upcoming move to a new town now and making plans. It does feel good to at least be moving ahead, making plans, putting things in action. I really look forward to living in my new home town, I only dread the actual move. I plan on packing a little at a time over the next two months, so that should make things better.
On the Princess Magpie front, she is cuter than ever. She loves music and loves to dance and wiggle and do the boogaloo every time she hears it.
Princess Belle is still loving homeschool. We are still adjusting our schedule to best fit her personality. I am learning more about her. I know that we need to do her hardest subjects first and that we need to have the hardest subjects done before her first break. I learned that she has a hard time with math and understanding the concepts. I learned that she does a lot better in subjects that she can avoid having to write things out by hand. I learned that she is a fabulous reader and there is not much we have come across that she can't read.
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Sep. 2, 2009
Tuesday Tickles
Aug. 31, 2009
Good Things
Princess Belle was watching the movie, "Over the Hedge" last night. And suddenly she came running down the stairs so excited, "Mommy, guess what?" When I answered, she said, "I was watching the Hedge movie and they said that turtles were reptiles!" She remembered our lessons on animal groups and was excited to see one mentioned in her movie! I was happy to see her so excited about her lessons.
Today we woke up and it was an awful day. She woke up in an awful mood. She gave me a hard time about every little thing, her breakfast, her clothes, her various body parts hurting, every little things she could think of. She looked at me and said, "It is going to be a bad day!" I was dreading starting her schooling today and considered reconsidering our plans for today. When I sent her to public school on days like that in the past, I was always called in for a meeting with the teacher and the principal and the school psychologist to see what we could do about the horrible behavior she had had in school that day, some horrible, outrageous thing she did that day. But, today, I took the plunge and started right in and got to work. And surprisingly, when we started our schooling and the bad behavior just stopped. She was so interested in her work, she just got right to it. After about an hour, she looked up and said, "Mommy, I thought it was going to be a bad day, but it's not. It is a great day." After our day was over, I looked at her and asked her how her day was and she put her hands over her face and said, "I thought it was going to be like this" and she opened her hands revealing a grumpy face. She covered her face with her hands again and said, "But it was actually like this" opening her hands to reveal a great big grin on her face." She had fun. I know we are doing something right when we can turn a day around like that.
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Aug. 29, 2009
One Full Week of Homeschooling
One full week of homeschooling went by fast. I have to say I am really enjoying it. We are still learning and adjusting but all in all it has been good. We had one rough day when she hadn't gotten enough sleep because she got up early and refused to go back to bed. She has always had days like that and those are the days when I used to dread sending her to public school. It never failed that I would hear from the teacher on those days, she would get nothing done, she would be disruptive. After our day was over, I looked back on it and we had still gotten things done, so I still felt a like even that was a success. Then I hugged her, I told her I was sorry we had had a rough day and asked her how we could make it better for next time. We came up with a plan that we were both happy with. In that way we were able to exercise a flexibility they could never do in public school.
I am learning so much about her and that is the part I am loving the best. She shares things while we work. She tells me her thoughts. And I am learning her strengths and weaknesses. I learned that she is really good at language, reading and social studies and science. She has some difficulties in Math, but that with the introduction of manipulatives, she has really gotten a lot more confidence in Math. Today, I even gave her a gold star for doing a whole page with no help and getting it all right. I learned that writing things out is hard for her and if I can avoid her having to write things out all time we get a lot further. She loves when she has to do anything creative. She blossoms when she can be creative and she remembers so much more when she has to draw out examples and illustrations. We learned that trying different methods of learning also help. We do some things in the books, some things on work sheets, some things in game format, some things creatively and some things on the computer. It breaks it up for her and helps to keep it fun for her.
We also added to our School wall.
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Aug. 28, 2009
delay
I had intended to do a post full of info about my first week of homeschooling, but I had kind of a yucky day (nothing to do with homeschooling) and I am just not up to it. So, I will delay that post until I can be my normal cheery self. Talk at ya later
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