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Who is studying who? Blessings, Dawn |
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Tom Sawyer(6)finished Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons today! He really is super great at sounding out words and is really doing well in reading. He is very excited about moving on to early readers. I really believe in this program but it was not all smooth sailing. For my little guy it was just very dry. He is a very creative soul and found the lessons boring. Some days he would use his toes to follow along instead of his fingers and even read upside down for variety. We celebrated by making him a cake and giving him a reading certificate.
Now, I will try to teach Goldilocks (7) again. This will be attempt number 4. Fetal Alcohol is so damaging on so many levels. I am torn between trying 100 Easy Lesson or another phonics program. She couldn't get 100 Easy Lessons the last time or Museum Phonics or The Bob Books. She is motivated to get the cake this time though so maybe I should try the 100 Easy Lessons again. Blessings, Dawn |
It came very easily to him though and we finally made it through!
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Ok, duckygirl because you tagged me with the 6 word title to my memoir. Here it goes. All is well, Eat more brownies!!! Here are the rules: bbullard~ Because she always has great posts so I bet her memoir will be sensational. denisbp~ Because I want to know what she would say. kellieann~ Because you always make me laugh and I bet this one will be good. Sisterchicksteph~ Always funny and ejoyable to read Jayne~ Because you always amaze me. Enjoy folk~ and brownies really do make the world go around!! Blessings, Dawn |
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Dawn |
(Learning how a heart pumps with the heaving heart science kit).|
I just got the nice award from blessedwith2angels. I am going to pass it on to the following; lapazhome I love this blog. They are always up to exciting stuff around there. HarmonyArtMom She always has the greatest nature studies going on. Well, there are are several others that I would like to mention but the computer is being difficult so before I loose this again I better post. Blessings, Dawn
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I get asked all the time by strangers, family, friends and our doctors what it looks like to homeschool 4 children when three have special needs. Well, the truth is everyday looks different just as it does for most of us who are on this remarkable journey. I thought I would try to record one of our days. 7:15 am~ This is late for me to get up. Tom Sawyer usually wakes me up at 6:30 and my husband rises at 6 am. 8:30 am~ everyone is up, dressed, fed (mini bagels with cream cheese and applesauce), and finishing up their chores. 8:30-9:30 ~ the littles do their copywork (thank you notes, spelling words, and full name for the youngest). They also did a math sheet, calender skills, and phonics songs. The big teen checked on his Biology experiments and recorded the needed data. He also checked and responded to his email. (creative writing) 9:30~ Off to Tomatis/OT. The Tomatis method of auditory stimulation is designed to reawaken the ear's natural ability to listen and ultimately stimulate the brain's desire to communitcate. They each have a one on one OT while they are listening to the music and sounds coming from the headphones. They do many acitivities besides what are mentioned below and the kids really love going there. This program is helpful for autistism, Sensory Integration disorders, PDD and learning disabilities. My three oldest have one or more of these labels. We have seen dramatic improvement in two of them and some mild improvement in the third. We are so blessed to have this program with in driving distance, there are only about 7 such programs in the whole country. It is also a reality check for me. Yes, I have plenty on my plate (my children have 19 diagnosis between them) but seeing some of the other kids reminds me that it could be so much harder. I am very blessed to have a supportive family, loving husband, great special children and a strong faith. There are days when I am completely overwhelmed trying to meet their special needs but it is all worth it. 10:00-12:00~ We are lucky that this loop (which lasts 10 days everyday except Sundays) all three got in together. Yippie!!!
Tom Sawyer and Goldilocks playing in rice and bean buckets.
Shaving cream on a mirror.
Microphone work~ He repeats the sounds that come through the headset.
Swing and balance work~The big teen did about an hour of creative writing while here today too! I consider all of Tomatis as school but it is great when they get the big teen to do is course work with them.
Little Red Ridinghood got to play in one of the empty OT rooms. She sometimes feels left out of the fun. It is hard to be the normal one~LOL. 12:00 pm~ Lunch on the way home. (Goldfish, cranberry juice, and organic ham sandwiches)
1:00-2:00 pm~ We made brownies and watched a Veggie Tales dvd. Lots of hands on math and life skills for the little ones. The big teen read in his room.
2:00-2:30~The little ones played outside while the big teen played Oregon Trail on the computer. 2:30-4:00~ Everyone in their own room doing their own thing. I took one child out at a time to do reading lessons with the little ones and math with the big teen (We are reading Rich Dad Poor Dad for Consumer Math at the moment). I also talked to my mom of the phone. The Big teen also read several articles for Current Affairs.
Well that about does it for us today. The kids are now watching Cheaper by the Dozen and I am off to make dinner. Later tonight the big teen and I will watch a Biology video and we plan on looking at some pond scum under the microscope that we collected yesturday, but that will be all for today. I left out the two loads of laundry, the boy who wanted to make his own fish net and all of the trial around that, tending the strawberry garden and teaching a few kiddos how to roller skate a little bit better, not to mention kissing boo boos and all those other mothering things. Sheesh! No wonder I am tired by 5 pm. Blessings, Dawn |
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My little Tom Sawyer is 6 years old! Where do the years go?!?!? As many of you know my little guy loves anything art. When it came to planning his party there was no doubt that we were going to have an art themed party. The question was how to please the little guy and keep it reasonable. He thought a fun event would be to paint the Sistine Chapel on our ceiling and make a cake with a Monet painted on it. WHAT!!! That was a bit beyond my ability. Luckily he had a blast with what we came up with and it was a great party. We made a pinata and it took the kids longer to break it than I thought it would. Then they decorated cookies, made their own party hats, and painted pictures. They also played outside alot. My little guy really likes some modern artists and agreed to let me make a Modrian cake. This artist is much closer to my ability. LOL!
  Blessings, Dawn |
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Did I mention that I love yard saling. I really don't get to go very often but today I got to go to a mega church sale with an attached preschool. I figured it would be a good place to find some great stuff. I never imagined I would do so well. Here is a list and pics of what I got.
(roller skates, vidoes on the story of Moses and division, a learning to tell time board game, winter boots, sight word cards, play food, disney knee and elbow pads, a sand shovel, ballet shoes, light fixtures and 8 pieces of clothes for the girls plus a skirt for me)
(6 workbooks new, a multiplication placemat, tracing letter set, 3 Bible/feeling workbooks)
(Marble raceway thingy) Guess how much I paid for all of this. I PAID ONLY $7. Can you believe it. I love yard sales!!!! Blessings, Dawn |
Posted in the big teen
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We did the starfish the other day. As usual this dissection was really to benefit the big teen since it is his course work, but every one got in on the action. I probably should have done the starfish first since it has such a simple system but alas I did not.
(Before we started the dissection.)
Studying the digestive system... The mouth is for taking in food and removing waste. Yuck!
We examined the reproductive system under the microscope to determine if we had a boy or girl starfish. It was a boy.
Everyone loves the microscope. This brings us to the end of our dissections. We were able to do a cow's heart, cow's eye, frog, and a starfish. I wanted to do a fetal pig but time and funds didn't allow this time around. The big teen is more than happy to watch a pig dissection on the internet anyway. My little ones will do all of these and more in about 8 more years so we will get to do this all again. Blessings, Dawn |
Posted in Homeschooling
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Computer games you ask? No! Do your children play board and card games? Is this becoming a lost pastime in our modern world? Should games be included in our academic time? I have noticed among some of my friends that their children do not know how to play any non-computer games. In some cases they don't even own any board games in their homes. However, I know many others that do have games and play them often. I personally think that games have a valuable place in our homes. They provide turn taking, cooperation skills, thinking skills, dealing with being the winner and the looser, just to name a few. I love games and teach my kids early to play them. Favorites around here for the younger set are War, Go Fish, Candyland, and Teddies on Tour. The big people never get tired of Apples to Apples, Scrabble and Worst Case Scenario. Today was a game day around here. The little kids played lots of games today after they had made it through reading and math and yes I counted it as school. Here is a look at them in action.
Also, for my mothers birthday we played scrabble. I just had to take a photo of this because I mangaged to get rid of a Q and a Z on the same word. I thought that was a pretty good feat. LOL!
So here's the question~Do you play board games and which are your favorites??? I am always looking for new games to add to the shelves. Blessings, Dawn |
Posted in Family Funnies and happenings
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I thought only cats were know to bring little "gifts" to their owners. However, our dog brought us a "gift" today. The kids were very pleased with the "gift" but me not so much! So the dog brought the snake to my ds who promptly put it into a bug jar. They then researched it on the internet to decide what kind of snake it was. A few years ago my oldest son kept a nest of baby snakes in his room for a whole week before he figured out that they were copperheads!
THe little guy was released to a vacant lot up the street from our house. So do any of you let unknown critters live in your home or do they have to go bye, bye? |
Posted in Family Funnies and happenings
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My Big teen got a GPS reciever for his birthday and he is having alot of fun learning how to use it. This weekend we decided to go on a geocaching hunt. We had so much fun and will probably become a fun family hobby. Basically, you go to the site above and become a member for free. You then find a geocache in your area that you want to find. Then you lock in the coordinates and off you go on a quest. The coordinates take you very close to the geocache (a box with little knick knacks in it) and then you have to search for it. Some are easier to find than others. We found two on Saturday and stuck to easy ones since we were wandering around with littles. The first box was a tiny plastic container that we never would have found with out the gps and clues even though it was right on a major road. The second was on a park trail and was in plain view with the coordinates. It was an amo-box and had lots of little toys in it. The kids traded in marbles and magnets for a match box car and my little pony brush. I forgot to take a picture of the second one.
THe first Geocache we found.
I have no idea why Tom Sawyer looks so grouchy he really did have fun.
The big teen! Blessings, Dawn |
THis was a fun activity for everyone but for different reasons. My big teen loved wandering around in the woods and playing with the gps. My dh loved the new gadget and the kids loved trading in old trinkets for new ones. I of course loved seeing my family have fun but now I have a new secret desire! THese geocaches are like my new goodwill. I can get rid of all kinds of little things (like McDonald toys) in these boxes. My kids won't even notice if we put more in the boxes than we take out. So actually geocaching can be another way of getting rid of stuff!!! Yippie! The last box even had kid videos and cd's in it. Now I know where to put those videos I don't want anymore. LOL!!! What's more they have Flat Stanly boxes in our area and a friend told me that their Flat Stanly made it all the way to a geocache in Canada. How cool is that. We plan on doing a Flat Stanly next school year and I was wondering how to make him travel. Anyway, if you don't know what I am talking about go check out Geocaching.com, it really is fun.
Posted in Family Funnies and happenings
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We started using Managers of Their Chores almost two weeks ago and so far so good. THe kids were already doing chores but not always to the standard I wanted and the house was not really organized. I usually just looked around and saw what needed to be done and barked out orders to do it or got fed up with the state of the house and canceled school for the day to clean. What's more the kids are doing an average of two more chores a day than before and most of them are loving it. Tom Sawyer has never been much for chores and needs lots of training around doing his chores with a happy heart. However, even he is stepping up the the plate and getting it done. SO what is so different about this system than others? Well I think one big mistake I was making was doing sweeps instead of the same list of chores. Somehow things were never complete. Also, THis program really helps the challenged housekeeper like me really break down the chores. I used to tell my teen~ "Go clean the kitchen." instead of breaking it down into seperate jobs. Breaking everything down has really helped all my kiddos do a better job. THe other thing I love is adding in some personal chores like getting dressed and coming out of your room with a good attitude. My Goldilock's first card has a smiley face on it to reminder her that I expect a good attitude out of her. That leads me to the cards. Instead of the chores being posted somewhere the kids wear their chores in little packets that clip onto their clothes. Their chores are with them so that they can check and see what to do next. THis gives them excellent accountabilty and saves alot of yelling up and down the stairs about what to do next. My non readers have picture cards that tell them what to do. Also, I love how I can rotate the cards to meet the days needs. All the cards are numbered so they know the order to work through them so I have a lot of cards with the number 6 on them. THat way I can rotate the six chore each day and we get some of those weekly things taken care of. There have been some problems of course. I had to rework the cards twice because of "traffic jams" or kids waiting for others to get something done so that they could do their chore. Also, about 5 days into it the work got a bit sloppy and I had to go back and do a better job checking their chores. Also, Tom Sawyer doesn't like wearing his and has managed to loose it twice. But because the house is so much more put together I found it quickly
(clearing the table~you can see her chore pack on her dress)
(emptying the dishwasher)
(laundry)
Blessings, Dawn |
With this system I was forced to sit down and figure out what really had to happen in a day and who was up to doing it. Now everything that has to be done is done before little ones go to bed and I have more time to get extra stuff done. I also have more time to (GASP) rest in the evening. 
. Anyway, I am super excited about this routine. Hey, my dh asked me to make him a chore pack to wear around too. Can you believe it!?!?!?
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This may be a regional post but if you have a Home Depot around you their kids club is great. Every month they hold a building club on Saturdays for kids to come and build with a parent. THe club is FREE and they get do build something new each month. In our area you do not even need to sign up because there is always plenty of materials. This has become a great daddy and son activity in my family that both my dh and younger son look forward too. If you have a Home Depot in your area check it out. Here is what "Tom Sawyer" has made in the past month.
He loves his apron almost as much as his projects.
He made a planter, castle money bank, race car and stool. Blessings, Dawn |
Posted in the big teen
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That my firstborn is 18 years old today!?!?!?! Happy Birthday my amazing son. I can hardly believe it. What a long road it has been getting you here safe and sound son. When you were placed in my arms 18 years ago, as every mother, I had great dreams for my sweet little bundle. You were so tiny and very quickly we realized that you were very sick and might not stay on this earth very long with us. What a crushing blow that information was. While other mothers left the hospital dreaming of their little bundles potentials I was on my knees
After the big teens open heart surgery at 6 months of age.
The birthday boy!!! Blessings, Dawn |
Posted in FIAR
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We had a great time reading and doing a mini-unit study on Stellaluna. For math the littles learned about pairs, counted by two's and practiced counting past 50. They also tested their senses by smelling fruit with their eyes closed to see if they could figure out what it was. Also for science they learned about Carnivores, Omnivores, and Herbivores and the Anatomy of bats. THey learned more about continents as they trace fruit bats around the world. The kids really liked working on their second lapbook for copywork. I love the way lapbooks reinforce what the kids have learned and give them a permanent record in a nice book that they can look back at. Here is a look at our latest lapbook.
We are doing The Grouchy Ladybug next week. I can't wait to see that lapbook. BLessings, Dawn |
Posted in the big teen
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If dissecting is gross to you, skip this entry or at least the pics at the end. We finally got around to dissecting the frog. The littles wanted in on the big teen project so we made it a family event. Everyone got in on the act except Dad and Goldilocks. They have no interest in such things. We ended up with a boy frog. I was amazed how much Tom Sawyer and Little Red Ridinghood were interested and they even dissected the muscles in the legs. The big teen did most of the cutting and he managed to find most of the organs. The line of the day~ You know you are homeschooling when you come back into the room and everyone is under the table looking for the missing frog eyeball.
(Grandma and Little Red Ridinghood checking out the frog.)
(The first cut)
(The organs)
(The dissecting crew) Blessings, Dawn |
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I am very excited about joining my first Tightwad Tuesday hosted by Canadagirl. Sometimes you get lucky and find something that will make a real difference in your homeschool and save lots of money. This is what happened to me last week. I found 5 Great Museums of The World art books at a library sale. They were filled with almost 100 prints each. I paid $3.00 for each book. I then took the books and cut out all the prints that were bigger than 4' x 6', appropriate for all ages in my home, and famous by artist or painting. I then clued the prints to old 8x10 cardstock that was laying around the house and pasted the name of artist, year, and name of painting to the back of the cardstock. The result is that I now have 76 prints for my children to do Charlotte Mason picture studies. I have wanted to buy some prints for a long time now but they are very costly and often small. For the cost of $15 dollars and a few hours effort I have more prints than I could ever have afforded! Yeah!! I also still have many prints still in the books that can be used for other projects in the future. I had wanted to show you the completed project but life happens and I didn't get it finished. Perhaps it is more fun to look at photos of the process anyway. So here we go~
(The books I found at the sale)
(cut out of the books and waiting for cardstock)
(The finished product) Since this is Tightwad Tuesday I would love to ask you all a tightwad question. My younger ds turns 6 this month and wants an art themed birthday. Any ideas on cheap art projects for 8 kids 3 to 7 years of age? I would love to hear your ideas. Blessings, Dawn |
Posted in Homeschooling
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We did the book, A Chair For My Mother, by Vera Williams. This is a very nice book about a family saving to buy mother a new chair after they lost everything in a fire. We focused on two things this week from this book. First the kids learned the value of each coin and to identify them. Everyday we counted out a pile of coins and played games like~Give me 30 cents in 4 coins. THis was easier for some than others but they all understand money much better. We then put the change into a jar to save money for Dad's fathers day gift. We will continue this lesson over the next weeks. Hopefully they will understand coins very well by the end. Secondly, we did many activities around fire safety. We developed an escape plan, learned how to Stop, Drop and Roll, many fire drills from all parts of the house (crawling of course) and meeting at the tree, and going over fire safety rules. We also learned what to do if you are trapped in a room. THe kids did a great job of testing the door and then stuffing clothes in the cracks to keep the smoke out. They did kinda freak out a neighbor calling out their window fire. Luckily I was standing right there and able to say we were doing a fire drill. LOL! Lastly, we did our first Lapbook and I am pleased with how much of the work they did themselves on it. Pictures to follow.
Blessings, Dawn |
Posted in Family Funnies and happenings
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Yes, you see right! The tempature reached 72 Degrees today and of course that means break out the sprinkler, right. According to two of my little ones that is plenty warm enough. I honestly didn't think that they would stick with it since the water in the hose was very cold. After all we had a high of 49 degrees earlier this week. They stuck with it for about 30 minutes though.
"Run for your life"
"What! Daddy's turning off the sprinkler! Boo Hoo!" Not everyone thought it was a grand idea to get wet, but we all enjoyed the sunshine.
Here is the wet version of my son! Notice the T-shirt...(It says Future President). Hmmm...Could this be our future president? I asked him what he would do if he were president. His reply~ "I would bring peace to the earth and everyone would get along and be happy." Hmmm and how would you do that son? Reply~ "Easy mom, I would make a giant house of candy and everyone would sit down and do art lessons and eat lots of candy and remember that God wants us to love eachother." Ahhh, If only it was that easy.
Dawn |
Blessings,