Home of the frugal, eclectic, hands on, parent led, child driven and special needs learning. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:21:00 -0600 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:21:00 -0600 As part of The TOS Crew, I was sent a complimentary copy of "Gymathtics" from Explormania, for the purpose of giving my honest opinion about the product.  As a parent of special needs children, I have been exposed to the idea that movement can help a child retain otherwise difficult to retain information.  So, when I read a bit about this program, I thought that they were indeed putting to practice what I had learned about. In fact, the creator of 'Gymathtics' is addressing the idea that when a child uses several senses they will have a better understanding of what they are learning. I have seen this to be true with my family. I have often said that my children have had to see, hear, touch, smell, do , eat and create in order to learn something! I used this DVD with my 5th grader. I was not sure how it was going to fly. If it was going to feel babyish or if she would enjoy it.  Well, let me tell you I had decided to do the program with her. At first she wanted to do it in a room, where just the 2 of us were.... she was a little embarrassed to do it in front of her siblings. Well that completely changed when while her and I were working out, she thought I was making funny sounds!  There are a few stretches that made me groan! She quickly told all the siblings! So guess what, the next time we did the DVD, guess who joined us! That's right, the rest of my kiddos! (teenagers)   We really did have some good family fun doing the DVD workout together.  The program did help to concrete some of the math concepts in my daughters mind. The program is divided into several different sections. First is the 'Shape  Stretches Warm Up', you will get your body ready to work out, and learn about shapes and angles!   Next is 'Counting Calisthenics', you will be getting your heart rate up while skip counting, counting with prime numbers and place values. Next on the line up is Pattern Power. Here you will use your body to make different kinds of patterns. And finally, you have the 'Well Being Wind Down'. Here while you are cooling your body down, Ms Karrie gives positive words of encouragement on how to help maintain a calm peaceful attitude. This is clearly a supplemental program. If you have children in the K-5th grade range, you would have use for this in your home. Especially if your kids are active. In the beginning my daughter thought it was all a bit silly, though she did enjoy doing the program. Doing it together has proven to be fun for all. You can visit their website to see excerpts of the video.  You can purchase from Exploramania directly for $24.99, which includes free shipping. Or from several online retailers. ( Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Glammatoys and Can Doo Products) Please visit the crew blog to see what my crew mates thought of this product! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/745900/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:21:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/745900/ At our homeschool groups Mom’s Night Out this month, I had shared about something I had listened to a few weeks ago. I had downloaded a seminar from Values Driven Family . On my download it did not give me a title, so I just listened blindly. As it turns out he was discussing the myth of “me time”. And he was discussing moms in particular. Society tells us that we need to have alone time, that we need to get away from our kids and our family in order to feel fulfilled and regenerated. Many of us have bought in to that mindset. He shared that from a father’s point of view that that can be very discouraging. They are out in the world all day, all week long, and they are fighting their way to get BACK home, and so many mom’s want to ‘check out’ as soon as dad arrives. However, what I learned, I should say what I was reminded of, is that it is not ‘me’ time that we so desperately need. What we need is “He” time. Alone time with our Lord and Savior. Oh that is so true. As homeshool mom’s we have quite a lot on our plates. And we naturally begin to feel the stress of doing our best to ensure that our children grow up loving the Lord, serving Him in whatever capacity He sees fit, to do the best they can at academics. Not to mention maintaining the house, keeping food on the table… and sometimes just keeping it in the cupboard (can you say teenagers?). Making time for our husband, then add on our outside duties that we may have at church, or at the local little league. When you add all of these things, it is no wonder so many feel as though the need to run and escape into “me” time.  If we are to accomplish all the things listed, and sometimes more, we need to do it with God’s help, with His power. What is that saying, “Your walk talks louder than your talk talks!” When we talk about growing our children spiritually, we need to do that every single day. It cannot be accomplished sitting in a church pew on Sundays and then living our daily life without any any thought of our Lord. We need to live out our Christianity every single day of our life. And as we do that, our children will see us living out our relationship. And through that process, we will be empowered to do that which we have been called to do. Phil 4:13, “ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”.  When we feel like we need to retreat into our own personal bubble, that is when we need to find alone time with the Lord. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/744764/ Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:09:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/744764/ This is the perfect “idea book” to get your family ready for the upcoming holidays! And it’s yours at no charge—no strings attached. This 180-page Digital Holiday Magazine is not your typical E-Book. Created with the same high-quality format that’s used in the digital version of our print magazine, you can even “turn” the lavishly illustrated, full-color pages of this supplement. And we hope you will enjoy this timeless, practical, and beautiful resource for years to come—all at no charge. There’s so much included in this exciting supplement! Make this the gift that keeps on giving—link your friends and family up to receive their own fantastic copies! Simply go to the link below to get your free copy. Again, no strings attached. Feel free to share it with your site or blog visitors, newsletter subscribers, or Facebook friends. Download your FREE  Digital Holiday Magazine  Here!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/744213/ Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:35:01 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/744213/ "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be" Thomas Jefferson This review for the TOS Crew is right up my alley, not only was it FREE to me! It would be FREE for you! Now you can't beat that price point. For many years now, I have heard people talk about how they cannot possibly homeschool because they cannot afford it. They cannot afford to purchase curriculum, etc.. Then they often think if they did find themselves homeschooling the only opportunity for them would be through a public charter program. I would like to encourage all families, before you sign up with a charter school, check out what is available to you, for free or low cost! And here in this review you will learn about a product you can use for FREE!! We were shipped a CD from The American Heritage Education Foundation, Inc.  On the CD you will find American History texts, in the form of ebooks. There are 4 textbooks on the CD. Elementary, Middle and High School, as well as, an Elementary School Spanish Edition (ESL). What is The American Heritage Education Foundation? Here is their mission; AHEF is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation dedicated to the understanding and teaching of America's factual and philosophical heritage to promote constructive citizenship and Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility among our students and citizens. AHEF accomplishes this patriotic mission by writing, producing, and distributing FREE K-12 lesson plans to teachers, students, and families in all 50 states and through additional initiatives, programs, and partnerships. I have printed out all three textbooks, as I have all three levels of students in my house. I wanted to compare them side by side. Each textbook is is approx. 185 pages long. The elementary level really covers between 1776- 1895. The Middle School level covers between 1776-1892. And the High School Level covers 1622-1988. This curriculum correlates with NCSS and Core Knowledge Standards. From the get go, I would say that this program is not for current events, (as  you can see from the years it covers) it is indeed to teach your student/s about our American Heritage. Which I do feel is lacking in so many classrooms. The textbooks are broken up in units, and each unit covers one or more of the themes; Freedom, Unity, Progress and Responsibility. At the end of each unit, there are activities given that will help to reinforce what was learned in that unit. They are age appropriate for the grade levels, which is a plus. One thing to be mindful of, is that this was a curriculum that was designed for classroom use. However, with some adaptation you could easily use this in your homeschool. Many times when you find a free resource online, the resource is  not complete, or it is simply a cursory look on a subject, that is not the case with this CD from The American Heritage Foundation. While we did not have the time to complete the curriculum, it does appear that it is a complete study on our American Heritage. And it is something that we will be using in our homeschool. I believe it would be a welcome addition to any homeschool!  Please visit The American Heritage Foundation and request your free copy today!!! No Strings Attached!!!!!                   Take a moment to check out the crew blog to see what my crew mates have to say about this resource! ** I was sent a free copy of  America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty for the express purpose to use the product and give my honest opinion. All opinions contained in this review are my own, and are indeed, my honest opinions. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/742965/ Sat, 7 Nov 2009 18:18:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/742965/ As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I recieved a free 30 day subscription to the ACT, Discover Online Career Planning Program in order to review. This program essentially plays the role of the high school guidance counselor. Just as a guidance counselor, the Discover program guides students down a career path, something that can seem like a difficult task for a parent who perhaps has not gone to college, or if this is your first high school student, where do you begin? Here is how ACT describes their program; ACT Advantage offers DISCOVER—the career planning system developed for professional career counselors and used by millions of students to develop a comprehensive career path. "DISCOVER is jam packed with career tips and uses a proven developmental guidance process to help students: Assess interests, abilities and job values. Explore occupations, majors and schools. Build an education plan that relates to career plans. Improve job-seeking skills and develop a resume. The DISCOVER career planning process begins with a research-based assessment system that allows students to assess their interests, abilities and values—a critical step to building a career plan based on personal strengths. Students can then explore multiple career paths using DISCOVER's up-to-date databases of occupations (including military), majors and colleges. DISCOVER also includes the latest information about financial aid and scholarships. Price: $19.95 for a three-month license, $24.95 for a six-month license."   All of this sounds fabulous, however, I was a bit turned off by the program before I even had my son try it out. As I have done with my others review, I tried the program out before even introducing it to my son. I want to have a working knowledge of the product, as well!   So, I signed into the program and began to take the inventories they offer, in order to "Discover" what career path would be a good fit. However, as I took the inventories, following the directions they gave, I found that the career choices they gave me, were not anything close to what I would actually enjoy. I was given things like refuse collector, paper hanger, plumber, butcher, among many other crazy things that do not fit what I would see as my ideal line of work! I continued through all of the inventories, and was not pleased with the outcome all the way through. I felt that the reports at the end of the inventories were not helpful whatsoever. They were long lists of jobs, that seem to be disconnected.  If my high schoolers had this result it would not give them guidance, it would cause more confusion.   We have been able to look at their interests and their talents on our own, and come up with a career path that is much more suitable then what was 'discovered' through the 'Discover' program.   The one thing that I did like about the program was the resume section, which gave a tutorial and examples of how to write a resume.  If you do not have any idea on how to guide your child, or what direction they might want to go in, then this may be a helpful tool.  Please visit their website to see if it would be a fit for your family. And please visit the crew blog for varying points of view! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/742228/ Wed, 4 Nov 2009 22:21:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/742228/ For many years now I have loved The Old Schoolhouse Magazine! And it is NOT because I am a part of the TOS Crew!!!  TOS has blessed my family, myself and my homeschool for many years now. Long before the crew was a glimmer in their eyes! If you have toyed with the thought of subscribing, now really is a great time! Times are tough for so many, especially families living on one income! I usually have paid $39 for 2 years. Right now their special is $7.95 for 1 year, plus 10 free gifts. Please see the ad below to see how to redeem this offer!!! Happy Homeschooling!!! We are a magazine with a heart for homeschooling. Through the years, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine has reached thousands of homeschooling families like yours around the world--each with different homeschooling styles and needs, but the same goal of providing the best education possible for your children. Each family is unique and TOS Magazine provides a variety of content from experts and homeschooing families just like yours. They share their triumphs and trials, ideas and resources. Now, you can enjoy a one-year subscription for only $7.95! The Real Deal--Get at least $100 worth of gifts for FREE! These are tight economic times. Many homeschooling families are sacrificing extra income to provide an education for their children. At TOS Magazine we support and stand with you, in your convictions and in this economy. That is why we are delivering big savings on subscriptions and at least $100 worth of free gifts! Subscribe or renew for one year (U.S., print) and pay only $7.95. PLUS, receive 10 FREE gifts--while supplies last! There are 19 gifts from which to choose and you won't even have to pay shipping--that's free too. Here is a sampling of the available gifts--while supplies last: How about a portrait from Sears®? Or a $20 gift card from Franklin Springs Media? Maybe one year of writing instruction from I Can Write Online? Or $49 worth of science software? Hurry! The 10 gifts are gone at midnight on October 30! How do you get the 68% savings and 10 free gifts of your choice? It is so easy to get all of these goodies! Here's what you need to do: Place the one-year, print (U.S.) subscription in your cart. Or you can purchase a one-year subscription plus current issue (U.S.) for only $5.00 more. Or purchase a gift sub for friends! Enter coupon code 10GIFTS at checkout. Complete the checkout process. We will email you a gift selection form after your purchase. Complete and return this form via email. We'll U.S. mail you 10 gift cards which can be redeemed for the gifts via U.S. mail, though several companies will allow you to redeem online or by phone. All of the companies will pay the shipping to get the product to you--no strings attached.  For our returning customers, you'll enjoy a FREE bonus gift. With your renewal, you'll receive a FREE copy of Dreams and Designs--Homemade Supplies to Complement Your Homeschool! This bonus E-Book is in addition to the 10 FREE gifts! Renew now!   You'll receive one year of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine at a 40% savings and the E-Book Dreams and Designs for FREE! With a spark of low-cost creativity and a few simple instructions . . . you'll be amazed! Design fun, easy-to-make learning aids and imaginative organizing tools using household items--and dream of your best homeschool year yet! Read more about the Dreams and Designs: Homemade Supplies to Complement Your Homeschool E-Book.This $12.45 value is yours FREE, when you renew your Canadian or international subscription. Do you know someone with whom you would like to share this fantastic deal? Our Winter 2009 issue is absolutely packed with articles on support groups, preschoolers, and tips and tricks for teaching writing! Winter is a wonderful time to get cozy and catch up on YOUR homeschool reading. You'll find all the support and information you need to get re-energized for the upcoming new year inside each issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. Just take a look at what's inside the crisp, cool cover of the Winter 2009 issue: Speech & Debate by Chris Jeub The Fast Track to Memorization by Carol Barnier Conflict in a Homeschool Group by Carol Topp World War I: The War to End All Wars, a Unit Study by Jennifer Steward The Spiritual Instruction of Preschoolers by Mike and Carolyn Riggs Leadership Education for Followers: "Freedomship Education" Defined by Andrea Newitt Top 10 Tips for Teaching Writing by Fran Santoro Hamilton Support Groups: Cultivating a Garden of Friendship by Cheryl A. Bastian Three Keys to Teaching Writing by Danielle Olander The Three Flavors of Speech Communication by JoJo Tabares The Princess or the Pack Mule by Denise Mira Preschool: Start at the Very Beginning by Kendra Fletcher Helping the Reluctant Writer by Lee Roddy Homeschooling: Growing and Thriving in the 21st Century by Amelia Harper Mix It Up . . . From Scratch! by Lisa Barthuly When "No" Is Beautiful--And When God Changes It by Melissa Culver Contemporary Classical Education: It Really Can Work for You! by Andrea Newitt Magnetic Books by Jan Bloom Ten Writing Tips by Ruth Beechick Seven Gifts to Give Yourself by Molly Green "Every issue is just like attending a homeschool conference--motivation galore! I receive many homeschool magazines, etc., but yours really stands heads above the rest." --Katrina V. Spring 2007 ". . . The pages of TOS overflow with ideas and thoughts that make me feel right at home . . . I've always been annoyed by magazines that are full of advertising, but with TOS, I find resources that make sense for real life . . . You have helped me to have the best year of homeschool I've had yet!" --Vicky Spring 2007 Why should you subscribe or renew NOW? The 10 FREE gifts are gone at  midnight on October 30! These low prices won't be around forever! You don't want to miss having our Winter 2009 issue delivered right to your mailbox. You'll receive a FREE copy of Dreams and Designs with your renewal! The Winter issue and your next 3 issues will be right there to provide you with information, ideas, advice, and encouragement for the coming year!    Hurry! Friday, October 30, the  10 FREE gifts  are gone! Remember, use coupon code 10GIFTS to get the special price and 10 gifts. Share this offer with a friend!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/740651/ Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/740651/ We are a ver conservative Christian family. We strive to do all we can to live a modest and godly life. And in this world, that can sometimes be quite difficult. I am not a seamstress, which means we must search for clothes we deem appropriate. In this time of Hannah Montana and baggy clothes, not to mention the provactive clothing they try to sell preteen and teen girls this is not easy to accomplish. It is, however, well worth the effort. Another area where we are quite conservative is our music choices. Many years ago, I had made the decision that we would listen to  conservative Christian Music primarily. We would not listen to the radio, we would purchase the music we would like to listen to, and we would make sure that it was God honoring, and not worldy in nature. I have seen a difference in myself after switching over to conservative Christian music. I also see a difference in my kids. They were small when I made the choice. And now that they are teens, I can see that they do not fall into many of the same traps I see other young people fall into. Not to mention some of the traps I fell into as a young person. And they love the music that we listen to. Actually, they request it. It is on theri Ipods and MP3 players! On our family trip to Disneyworld, they each had headphones listening to the music of their choice... conserative Christian music! We now have an awesome resource at our fingertips! Our church has established an internet radio site. Please visit http://www.lancasterbaptist.org/internet-radio.asp to find 24 hour God honoring Christian Music!  This amazing resource if FREE!!! I pray that your family will be blessed by this  new ministry!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/740470/ Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:33:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/740470/ As a member of TOS Homeschool Crew we received a complimentary sampler from Virginia Soaps and Scents, in order to complete this review.  I had read about them in The Old Schoolhouse magazine and had been interested in trying their products. So, I was excited to hear that I would be reviewing them this year! I have a friend who began making soaps, so I am a little bit familiar with hand made soaps. Well, only familiar enough to know that I like them. I watched part of the soap making process and  it looks very labor intensive... a labor of love. In our sampler we received 'bed and breakfast' size versions of the larger bar. The bar you purchase is 4 times the size of what I held in my hand and weighs in at 4.75 ounces. Virginia Soaps and Scents has based their business on their 'Handcrafted Olive Oil Soap'. I have learned that this is a real soap, not a detergent. Most of what you would find on the shelves in the stores are detergent bars rather than soap. They use all natural ingredients with no added chemicals for hardening or lathering properties.  The bars are extremely hard and long lasting due to the recipe they created. The bars do have a fluffy lather from the generous amount of coconut oil that is added.  I received  Fresh Orange, Coconut Lemon grass and Oatmeal, Milk and Honey. Now, I have only tried the Fresh Orange bar of soap. That is because it is indeed long lasting. I did not want to open and use all of them at once. However, I have smelled the other scents and they also are very pleasant. I really enjoy the fragrance. It is not too over powering and not too faint. It is just... right! You can purchase one bar for $4.50. However they have several different discounts offered;              3 bars for $12      Buy 4 get 1 FREE                 Buy 10 Bars  for $35 The next item I received was a sample Shampoo Bar. I received the Ginger Lime Scent, though it is also available in Cherry Almond and Coconut Lemongrass.  They even have one specially formulated for Oily Hair in the scent of Tangerine Grapefruit.  Their shampoo bar contains no added color. It is also olive oil based  but also contains castor oil which helps to hold in moisture. I was very curious about the shampoo bar, it is so different than what we are accustom to using. The full size shampoo bar is 5.5 oz.  It will give you the same number of shampoos as a 32 oz. bottle of shampoo. They also recommend that you can use it all over if you have dry skin, and that it is also great to shave with.  I did try the bar. I liked it the more that I used it.  It did clean my hair.... it even had a "squeak" to it!  The Shampoo Bars are available for $5.50 or 2 for $10. The last thing that we received was the Laundry Soap Kit. Now I am going to be honest with you, I have been making my own laundry soap for quite some time. So this was not foriegn to me.  I did try their product and it made up a nice batch of Laundry Soap. My clothes came out clean! And with 5 kids  I have plenty of laundry to try it on !! You have two options with the Laundry Soap. You can purchase it in the kit form, as they gave it to us. Which includes the grated cleaning soap and a pre measured amount of Borax and Washing Soda.  That will make two gallons of a gel form soap. The cost for that is $4.95. Or you can purchase the cleaning bar, which is just the soap, ungrated. And you would then add Borax and Washing Soda to it, and follow the same recipe. The cleaning Bar costs $3.95. And it will make 2 batches.  Each batch should give you between 64 and 72 loads of laundry. I really have enjoyed using all of the products from Virginia Soaps & Scents.  I find all of their prices very reasonable. If you put a priority on high quality products that do not contain chemicals, then this is the company for you. I do not think you will find a higher quality, more reasonably priced product. On a side note, this is a long time Christian Homeschooling Family. It is a joy to support like minded families! Please take some time to peruse their site. And as always, please visit the crew blog to see what others have to say about Virginia Soaps & Scents. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/739690/ Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:51:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/739690/ Several years ago I came to know AVKO. I actually wrote a post about it on my blog way back when... you can see the brief post here.  So, when I saw the list of vendors for this years crew voyage, I was thrilled to see AVKO listed!  As a member of the Homeschool Crew, we were each given a complimentary one year membership to AVKO, in exchange I would provide an honest review. Not familiar with AVKO? AVKO is a non-profit, 501(C)3 membership organization that focuses on the development and production of materials and especially techniques to teach reading and spelling, handwriting (manuscript and cursive), and keyboarding.  AVKO is dedicated to the teaching everyone how to read and spell, regardless of their mild to moderate learning disabilities, dyslexia, poverty, or opportunity.  Visit The History of AVKO for more information. Mission Statement The AVKO Educational Research Foundation, founded in 1974, has as its mission the following: To determine what makes the learning of reading and spelling so difficult for some and so easy for others. To determine what it is about our language that good readers learn without being taught that poor readers don't. To determine whether or not that which poor readers don't learn is ever systematically taught and if it isn't, if it can be. To devise techniques and materials to enable teachers (or parents) to systematically teach poor readers and/or poor spellers that which schools presently are not teaching. To widely disseminate its discoveries of techniques and materials that enable dyslexics to learn to read and to spell. I had a struggling reader, he was dyslexic. I had read many books trying to figure out how to help him. It wasn't until I read To Teach a Dyslexic, by Don McCabe that I was really able to help him. After reading Don's book, I went on to purchase a membership to their website, as well as, purchase the entire set of Sequential Spelling.  Those few steps opened up a world of words for my son, who was struggling so.  AVKO, is very confident that their method of teaching will help most, if not all students. One of the quotes from their website is this; "AVKO claims the underlying cause of illiteracy or dyslexia is a failure of our educational system to teach" This is a bold statement to make. Except in a situation where there is a reason why a child is not learning to read... learning to read... brain damage, seizures, autism, just to name a few, I believe this statement is spot on.  Especially when you look at learning in a classroom setting. I have a high respect for classroom teachers. I am not sure how they can balance trying to meet all the needs of all the children in their classroom. While I believe they do the best they can, if you have a child with dyslexia, or other reading issues, you may not be able to give them the time they need, and they will then struggle and perhaps  not learn.  Also, I want to also point out, that I had a child who struggled with reading, and once we followed the methods from AVKO, my son was able to make progress in reading that he had not been able to make prior. Is AVKO the answer to every reading problem a child might have? Probably not. Though I do believe that AVKO will be a piece of the puzzle! When you purchase a membership to AVKO you gain access to their members only site. As well as receive a discount on purchases you make through the site.   Even if you are not using Sequential Spelling, and even if you do not have a child with learning disabilities, you will benefit from all that is offered to members. Using these resources you will be able to put together your own spelling program using the methods that was used to design the Sequential Spelling Program. Also, you recieve  an e-book version of To Teach a Dyslexic ( a $14.95 value). If you do have a child that you are unsure how to reach, I highly recommend you read this book. The Teaching of Reading and Spelling from K- College....$59.95 value The Reading Teacher's List of Over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words.....$29.95 value The Patterns of English Spelling... $359 value ( this is an awesome resource and something that it referred to throughout Sequential Spelling. It is not necessary to do the curriculum, though it would be a great supplement) Also, would benefit you with spellng in general. That is just a few of the ebooks. Now in addition he has workshop recordings, teaching tips, pre tests and placements tests and much more! Purchasing a one year membership  will help you in the realm of reading and spelling with your kids, even if your child does not have a learning disability. If you suspect dyslexia or a different disability it just might be the answer. As it was for us. Also, if you never purchase Sequential Spelling, you would benefit from the materials. Please visit the crew blog to see what my crew mates have to say about AVKO!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/739474/ Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:41:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/739474/ I can remember the day, like it was yesterday. Although it was nearly 17 years ago. It was the day I was told that what I was witnessing, was my 6 month old baby having seizures. And that he has been having them since he was 4 months old. Are you kidding me??? When did I get run over by this MAC truck? When did the room start spinning? How did this happen? You know when I was growing up, our family, and I mean my extended family, really did enjoy good health. And relative good fortune. I think if you were to ask all of my cousins..... we would all say we had a grand time with each other growing up. We were all overall healthy kids. Playing sports, hanging out with friends, and basically living care free lives. When we thought about having a family, I never in my wildest dreams thought one of my children, let alone 4 of them, would struggle with any health problems. The Lord had a way of preparing me, although at the time I did not realize it. I remember seeing a segment on one of the news magazine shows, about having a neo natal unit in the hospital where you deliver raises your child chance at survival if there were to be an emergency. We did choose a hospital with a neo natal unit. We did not need, but we wanted to be sure our child would have all that he or she would need. Enter our oldest child.... he was a healthy baby boy, no complications or signs of distress. The first four months were wonderful. He was meeting all his developmental milestones. And then we started noticing something strange. The doctor assumed we were the 'typical' first time parents, over cautious. He was wrong! What we were seeing were seizures. It took 2 months to get a diagnosis. It was not until he was having a status epilepticus event (prolonged seizure) that we received a diagnosis. Our lives, and his, would never be the same. Our dear boy has struggled with seizures his whole life. In his 17  years, he has probably had a total of 3 seizure free years. 2 while on the ketogenic diet, and one last year. In spite of the many years he has been plagued with seizures, he is one happy boy, who loves the Lord. I know that the Lord has had His hand on our boy, on our family all of these 17 years. Helping us, by placing things in our path that we needed. I am so thankful. I am thankful for the lessons that I have learned from my son. I have learned the true meaning of unconditional love. I have learned to live in the moment. To be present in whatever it is we are doing... whether it is good or bad... Living that way allows you to experience the purest joy... the joy of a child... the joy that my boy experiences.  And above all we have learned to lean solely on the Lord. Leaning on the Lord through our rough years have made the burden light. For that I am thankful. I am thankful for the love my son has for the Lord. I love to listen to him tell me about his Sunday School Lessons. Or how his heart was stirred in preaching. Or to watch him be so moved, that he goes forward at the end of a service, to have time with the Lord in prayer. If the Lord did not bless us with a son with these specific needs, I am not sure what kind of parent I would be. I fear that I would be one of those keeping up with the Joneses types.  Trials of any kind, especially long term health trials have a way of putting that into perspective. On a side note-4 of our 5 children have had to deal with epilepsy. Currently only our oldest is still battling seizures. We are thankful that 3 of our children have been able to receive treatment (the ketogenic diet) and have been able to resume life...with seizures being nothing more than a bump in the road for them.  Our oldest is still in the throws of epilepsy. I am thankful to have the arms of our Lord to lean on. November is Epilepsy Awareness Month. Take some time and learn about Epilepsy. Here are some facts most people don't know about Epilepsy; Epilepsy Facts Epilepsy affects over 3 million Americans of all ages – more than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and Parkinson’s disease combined. Almost 500 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed every day in the United States. Epilepsy affects 50,000,000 people worldwide. In two-thirds of patients diagnosed with epilepsy, the cause is unknown. Epilepsy can develop at any age and can be a result of genetics, stroke, head injury, and many other factors. In over thirty percent of patients, seizures cannot be controlled with treatment. Uncontrolled seizures may lead to brain damage and death. Many more have only partial control of their seizures. The severe epilepsy syndromes of childhood can cause developmental delay and brain damage, leading to a lifetime of dependency and continually accruing costs—both medical and societal. It is estimated that up to 50,000 deaths occur annually in the U.S. from status epilepticus (prolonged seizures), Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), and other seizure-related causes such as drowning and other accidents. The mortality rate among people with epilepsy is two to three times higher than the general population and the risk of sudden death is twenty-four times greater.   If you would like to help further research for a cure for epilepsy, please visit Citizen's United for Research in Epilepsy for information on how to help!   Thank you for taking the time to learn more about epilepsy!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/739231/ Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:41:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/creativelearners/739231/