I'm Back, I've Grown, I've Changed, I'm the Same

Hi everyone,

Well it's been almost a year and a half since I last blogged and what a roller coaster ride it has been. It has been a time of great personal change and growth, I've come out the other side bruised and battered but stronger and more confident in myself.

I've learned I can't love someone enough if they don't love themselves, I can set boundaries for myself of what I am willing to do and that is my right as a person. I can listen to others but don't have to make their reality my own. I am worth fighting for.

I am again becoming the same strong confident person I was when I was younger and I have missed me. I don't know how I got lost, I think it was incrementally, powered by emotional and physical exhaustion and guilt.

I still have a long ways to go in combating negative self talk but feel I have the tools and support to get me back to the woman I know I can be, for myself and for my children.

AlphaTots App Review

AlphaTots by Spinlight Studio

Price: $2.99

This is one of Yellow and Reds favorite apps! They can easily navigate through it without adult help, which I am finding out is a very good quality. Once the child picks a letter, the letter is shown in upper and lowercase and the narrator repeats the letter name and sound. Then there is an activity associated with it using the chosen letter. The activities are interesting enough to keep the child's attention and keeps them coming back for more. There is also an alphabet song that shows the upper and lower case letters as it is sung. I was surprised how much my kids like the song and will listen to it over and over again. Graphics are very cute and child appropriate. This is definitely worth $2.99. 

Skills Reviewed: A-Z letters and sounds, upper and lower case letters, alphabet song.

Endless ABC App Review

 Endless ABC by Callaway Digital Arts Inc.

Price: Free for limited time 

This is a ridiculously adorable app the kids and I both enjoy! Each letter of the alphabet has a vocabulary word starting with that letter the child can choose from. Once the child chooses a letter the monsters bring in the letters and scatter them across the page. In the center is an outline of the word and the child moves the letter into it's proper position. As they are moving the letter it wiggles and makes a monstery letter sound. Once they place the letter in the correct position a woman's voice names the letter. Once the word is completed, the word is repeated and the monsters act out the word as the definition is read by the narrator.

Skills reviewed: Letter sounds, letter names, vocabulary (more advanced then most ABC apps)

Bought an iPad

I took the plunge and bought an iPad. I knew the battle was futile as soon as I walked into the Apple Store. All those smiling faces and friendly salespeople were just too much for my already weakened condition.

So as you can imagine I have spent the last few days at the iTunes store looking at educational apps for the kids. It didn't help that we are all feeling a little under the weathers so it was a cuddling and movie watching weekend.

I am going to try to write reviews on the apps we're using. Looking on-line and in the app store I was completely overwhelmed by the choices available! I hope they will help others in their quest through the mountain of educational apps.

Goodbye Enbrel, Hello Humira

Enbrel and I have parted ways after I developed a fairly severe site-injection reaction. Oddly enough, I didn't have a reaction in the beginning when most people get them, but started getting it around month 5. My Rheumatologist had me start taking Benadryl and Zantac on shot day (in addition to the Claritin I already took daily). That worked for a couple of weeks but then I had to start taking them the day before, day of, AND the day after my injection. So for 3 days of every week I was a very drowsy/loopy lady :-). The last shot I injected ended up with a 5" diameter injection site reaction and the beginning of swelling in my hands and feet. As you can imagine, my Rheumy said I was done with Enbrel.

So Humira and I have been dating for the past 8 weeks. So far, we are starting off slow, but I am hopeful it could lead to something more. So far no site-injection reactions! Please keep your fingers crossed that it starts working soon AND I don't have an allergic reaction to it!

Bedtime Math

I stumbled across Bedtime Math while reading the It's Working for Me Blog, and was intrigued by the name. Bedtime math, what in the world could that be?

Each day there is a new word math problem presented and three challenge levels: Wee Ones (preK), Little Ones (K-2nd) and Big Kids (2nd +). Obviously those grades are approximate and you can choose whichever problem(s) would be a good fit for your child.

They also offer a free PDF calendar that you can add your own stickers too, to show which days your child completed the problem.

I think Blue might really enjoy this and the word problems are on fun topics and don't feel too "school-y".

History Odyssey Timelines

I just received my History Odyssey Timelines from Rainbow Resource and they are lovely! I ordered both the HO Timelines and the HO Prehistory Timeline.

The HO Timelines has 4 timelines included: Ancients (6,000 BCE to 500 AD), Middle Ages (AD 500- 1600), Early Modern (AD 1600-1850) and Modern TImes (AD 1850 to 2020). Each timeline has 7 rows with small labels on the far right and left:

-Treaties/Agreements
-Wars and Conflicts
-Inventions and Discoveries
-Eras/Reigns Dynasties
-General Events
-Men and Women
-Art/Architecture and Literature

I also purchased the HO Timeline Sticker Pack with 200 black and white stickers. There are 50 stickers for each time period covered and has an explanation on the back of who/what the sticker is and the dates associated with it. There are no stickers for the prehistory timeline.

The Prehistory Timeline covers 2 milion BC to 7,000 BC. It is approximately 4 inches longer than the other timelines and does not have the titled rows.

After receiving the timelines I took them straight to Office Depot and had them laminated, hopefully this will increase their chance of survival with my three little ones! The total for all five timelines to be laminated was $42.29. I used my Office Depot Star Teacher reward card and saved about $7.50, this is a benefit available to homeschoolers and is easy to sign up for online.

Next step is to find a wall space big enough for all of them!

Waldorf Window Stars

I was introduced to these Window Stars when we were living in Alaska. They are easy to make, colorful and brighten up even the dreariest days. These are still a little advanced for my little ones so I made a few for them to enjoy this holiday season. I bought the craft book and paper at a wonderful store in Fairbanks, AK, Enchanted Forest Toys. They specialize in Waldorf inspired arts and crafts, toys, games and homeschooling curricula and the best part is it's owned by two homeschooling moms!

Tools needed:
-Scissors and/or paper cutter
-Clear glue or transparent tape
-Ruler
-Colored wax paper
-"Crafts Through the Year" by Thomas and Petra Berger

I wish I had some better pictures of the finished product but here you go:

Synchronizing Math Programs Part I

So, I may have gone a little overboard with the math curricula for Blue. We have Rightstart A and B, Singapore Essentials A and B, Singapore Standard 1A and 1B, and all the Miquon books! I have also heard great things about Mathematics Enhancement Programme (MEP) but think I need to get the first three under control before adding a fourth.

At this point we are using RightStart as our spine and the others as supplements. I've been struggling with how to synchronize the three programs since they cover materials in different orders. Today I decided to disassemble Miquon Orange and Singapore Essentials (this is a big step for me because I hate taking pages out of books, it feels almost sacrilegious!). The Miquon pages tear our nicely but a razor blade and I have a hot date with Singapore Essentials later.

After all the pages are out of the books I am going to try to divide them into an order that makes sense for our family, update Homeschool Tracker with the order sequence and then slip them into page protectors.

 

Phonics Pathways

Now that our household goods have arrived and we've unpacked, I am trying to get our homeschooling prep work done so we can get started again. I am also going to try to make a teachers guide and daily lesson plans so any adult can teach the kids, in case I'm not feeling well. So here are my preps for Phonics Pathways by Dolores G. Hiskes:

Supplies:

• Cardstock
• Copy paper
• Laminate and machine
• Scissors
• Notebook
• Ziplock bags or clear sleeves for game pieces
• Hole punch/clear sleeves/laminate for game instruction

To Do:

• Read introduction
• Short Vowel Stick - page 4 - copy onto card-stock and laminate (4 "sticks", one for each child and one for teacher notebook)
• Short Sheet of Vowels - pages 5, 256 - (not sure how many copies yet of sheet), and 1 copy of instructions from page 5.
• Short Vowel Shuffle and Shoo-Fly Shuffle - pages 5, 6, 257 - make 1 copy of instructions on page 5, make 4 copies of page 6 onto card-stock, laminate and cut apart. Page 257 is a master copy to add syllables and/or words to later in the book (optional).  
• The Train Game - pages 20, 258, 259 - make 2 copies of each page onto card-stock, laminate and cut apart. Put copy of instruction in teacher notebook.
• Blendit! - pages 16, 260 - make 3 copies of page 16 and cut apart 2 of them, the 3rd one will be used as the board. Put copy of instruction in teacher notebook. Page 260 is a blank master sheet to be used later in the book (optional).
• Star Search - pages 37, 38, 261 - make 2 copies of page 38 onto card-stock, laminate and cut apart. Make 1 copy of page 37 and put in teacher notebook. Page 261 is a blank master sheet to be used later in the book (optional).
• Bag of Bugs - pages 48, 49, 262 - make 2 copies of page 49 onto card-stock, laminate and cut apart. Make 1 copy of page 48 and put in teacher notebook. Page 262 is a blank master sheet to be used later in the book (optional).

Now to get to work....

Thanksgiving

It's funny how once you have kids you start to think more about the assumptions you've made during your life. What is Thanksgiving? Why do we celebrate it? What really happened between the pilgrims and Native Americans

I told my kids it is a time to give thanks for our family, friends, home, food and health. I just don't think they are old enough for the ugly truth of the history of this holiday. Maybe in a couple of years, but right now I want them to be innocent a little longer. 

Once they are a little older I may share these with them:

-Plimoth Plantation - Thanksgiving Interactive: You are the Historian
There is also a great teachers guide that goes along with it.

-The Plymoth Plantation Story by Chuck Larsen
The last narrative is written for kids, but if you scroll up there are two narratives written for adults that include "more" of the history of Thanksgiving.

Book It!

I saw this program mentioned on the Well Trained Mind forum and thought I would check it out. Book It! is a reading incentive program for K (age 5 by Sept 1st) - 6th graders and homeschoolers are eligible to participate. The program runs from October 1st and ends March 31st and during that time children can earn free pizzas for reaching their reading goals. I think Blue would really enjoy this incentive and it could be some nice mommy alone time for him, maybe it will become our monthly "date"!

How to SMILE (Science and Math Informal Learning Educators)

How to Smile is another great free site for STEM focused hands-on-activities. From their site:

Howtosmile.org is collecting the best informal science and math education activities on the web, and creating tools to help those who teach school-aged kids in non-classroom settings.

This site is free to register and free to contribute. They have an in depth advanced search function with age, subject, material costs and even a special search by chemical. I did a quick search for Acetic acid (vinegar) and it came up with several fun experiments using this household item.

I think this resource along with Teachers Domain will be a wonderful supplement to Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, since Blue loves hands on experiments.

 

Living Math Books

LivingMath has some wonderful living math book lists, everything from early concepts to geometry to spacial ideas. From their site:

This site is dedicated to sharing resources for learning, exploring and enjoying math in a dynamic and holistic manner, for all ages.

They also have a Yahoo groups page LivingMathForum,which I plan on joining. I can't wait to delve into this site and Yahoo group and will report back!

A Beautiful Evening

We have a beautiful pond right off of our deck and last night while eating dinner outside we had one of our first springtime visitors. A beautiful Mallard that splashed and preened in front of us while eating all the goodies out of the pond. The kids were fascinated and spent a half an hour looking at her and asking questions. I found an old copy of a field guide for birds and we looked her up, discussing why she wasn't a certain duck and how we determined she was a Mallard. Blue grabbed his nature journal and drew picture of the pond and duck and practiced writing his name and date on his paper. Red showed some interest in drawing in her journal and Yellow just enjoyed taking in the scene. I'm looking forward to many more days like this.

Teachers Domain

I just found this wonderful site called Teachers Domain! Here is some information from their website:

Teachers' Domain is a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and its partners. You’ll find thousands of media resources, support materials, and tools for classroom lessons, individualized learning programs, and teacher professional learning communities.

They receive major funding from the National Science Foundation and seem to have an especially rich collection of science resources. As a registered member (which is free!) you have the ability to create folders to organize your resources, by child, by topic, etc. There are also several ways to filter which I think are particularly helpful for educations: Grade Level, Content, Media Type, Permitted Use and Accessibility Features. There is also the ability to join groups and create your own groups which I have not had the opportunity to look at.

*Thanks to Only Small Things blog for posting about this fantastic site!*

Update:
It looks like the groups are for pre-formed groups, I have not figured out how to join one or create one yet. Does anyone else know anything about the group feature?

Also, Blue watched several videos and loves them! He even asked to watch one several times and then asked for the same materials they were using and did his own experiment.

New Medication

Well, it is that time again to try a new medication, but this time I will be injecting myself! I will be starting Enbrel next week and am keeping my fingers crossed it will help. I went to the Rheumatologist yesterday and had labs done, chest x-ray, TB test, Pneumonia vaccination, and a little class on how to inject myself. My immune system will be lowered so I am going to have to be careful not to catch any infections, easier said than done with three children under the age of 6. Please let this medication work!

It's been a while...

A lot has transpired since the last time I posted here. We moved 2500 miles away and are now back in the "lower 48", as Alaskans like to call the continental United States. This has been a really good move for us and I hope the military doesn't change our plans. We are now close to family, old friends and a lot more resources for my health problems. The children are still adjusting to all the changes but like being with Grandma and Papa so that helps. We've found a really great homeschooling group with kids their age, and it is fairly active so we are staying busy. I am looking forward to spring (which will be here a lot sooner than in Alaska) and starting this next phase of our life!

Yearly Celebrations

Now that life has settled down a little I am going to put together a list of monthly celebrations. I checked out a really lovely book called "Days to Celebrate" by Lee Bennett Hopkins. Each month is a chapter and starts with a calendar of birthdays, important events, and holidays listed for each day. Following is several pages of poems by authors who were born during the month or commemorating events that occurred during the month. The book is mostly Euro-centric, so I hope to find a multicultural resource that is similar.

I'm also using a book I found at a 2nd hand store the other day "Every Day a Holiday" by Silvana Clark. Like the title says It has a celebration for almost everyday of the year! They range from super silly, like Play in the Sand Day (Aug 11th), and National Day of Puppetry (last Sat in April) to the more traditional holidays we are used to celebrating. There are one page descriptions for each day with fun activities, crafts and food ideas. This book has focus on US holidays and is more oriented to Christian holidays.

I'm hoping the book "Festivals Together" by Sue Fitzjohn, Minda Weston and Judy Large will help fill the large multicultural voids. I may also contact some of my Muslim and Jewish friends for suggestions from them.

These are some of the subject areas I plan on including in my list:

• Holidays
• Festivals
• Famous authors birthdays (if they are age appropriate)
• Famous poets birthdays (if they are age appropriate)
• Historical events, including inventions, discoveries
• Musician birthdays
• Season changes

I don't plan on doing a celebration everyday, or even all those on this list, but a few sprinkled here and there could be a fun addition to our school days.

January

4th Thursday - National Clashing Clothes Day

1 - New Years Day
14 - National Volunteer Day
15 - Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday
18 - Winnie the Pooh Day
19 - National Popcorn Day
29 - National Puzzle Day

February

3rd Monday - Presidents' Day
2nd Full Week - Random Acts of Kindness Week

14 - Valentines Day
19 - Solar System Day
 24 (2013) - Chinese Lantern Festival

March

40 Days before Easter - Mardi Gras

2 - Dr. Seuss' Birthday
14 - National Kids' Craft Day
17 - St Patrick's Day
20 - World Storytelling Day
21 - World Poetry Day
27 (2013) - Holi
30 - Van Gogh's Birthday

April

Easter (sometimes in March)

2 - International Children's Book Day
20 - International Astronomy Day
22 - Earth Day
26 - National Bird Day

May

2nd Sunday - Mother's Day
Last Monday - Memorial Day
Last Tues/Wed - National Geographic Bee Finals

1 - May Day
1 - Mother Goose Day
5 - Cinco De Mayo
12 - Limerick Day

June

1st Saturday - National Trails Day
3rd Sunday - Father's Day

1 - Superman's Birthday
7 - National Crayon Day
9 - Donald Duck's Birthday
14 - Flag Day
19 - Butterfly Day
21 - First day of Summer
23 - National Pink Day
25 - Eric Carle's Birthday

July

4 - Independence Day
10 - Teddy Bear Picnic Day
24 - Cousin's Day

August

2 - Friendship Day
3 - Parks Day
29 - Mary Poppin's Birthday
30 - National Toasted Marshmellow Day

September

1st Monday - Labor Day
1st Sunday after Labor Day - Grandparent's Day
4th Sunday - National Good Neighbor Day

7 - Backwards Day
18 - National Play-Doh Day
22 - National Family Day
22/23 - First Day of Autumn
29 - Pumpkin Day

October

2nd Monday - Columbus Day

1 - World Vegetarian Day
16 - Dictionary Day
31 - Halloween

November

Thanksgiving Week - National Game and Puzzle Week

4th Thursday - Thanksgiving

3 - National Sandwich Day
11 - Veterans Day
14 - National Teddy Bear Day
15 - American Recycle Day
16 - The Sound of Music Day
17 - Homemade Bread Day

December

8 Days between November 25 - December 26 - Hanukkah 
December 26 - January 1 - Kwanzaa

21 - First Day of Winter/Winter Solstice
22 - Flashlight Day
25 - Christmas
26 - Boxing Day
31 - New Year's Eve

Welcome to Holland

I saw this on the blog Letters From Holland and thought it was a wonderful description of not only the experience of raising a disabled child but also the grief of living with a disability. When you are young you have dreams of what your life will be like and living with a chronic disability is isn't one of them. You don't necessarily want to change your experience because of everything you DO have, but there is a loss of your dreams and it can be difficult to let those go.

Welcome to Holland

by Emily Perl Kingsley (c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved)

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...... 

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
 

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
 

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.