Blessings

                                                                  

Inspiration!

Hello, I read an inspiring article this morning that I wanted to share......my children both have dyspraxia, which is a neuro-developmental disorder that effects motor planning and the way the brain processes information coming in and going out. One of the ways it manifests in my son is horrible, laborious handwriting and spelling. When he was in public school, we had to make it a point on his iep that he was not graded on handwriting but content only! He would often get marked wrong in spelling tests even if he spelled the words correctly as the teacher couldn't read what he wrote! Thank God we are home schooling! =) Anyway, read the article below, it shows how that handwriting has nothing to do with the intelligence or potential of the person.

Bright teenager gains highest English A-level in the country despite predictions she would fail after doctors diagnosed her with dyspraxia

Frederica Drewer, 18, of Bristol, had been expecting to get a D in her exam, until she was allowed to use her laptop because she had been diagnosed with the neurological disorder.

Full Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2328391/Bright-teenager-gains-highest-English-A-level-country-despite-predictions-fail-doctors-diagnosed-dyspraxia.html

19 February 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Presidents day links and ideas

History Channel on Presidents Day

Print outs from DLTK

Liberty's kids on George Washington

George Washington from Liberty's Kids

Lincoln from Liberty's Kids

Adventures from the book of virtues, Lincoln

Photos from our week!

Every week, we go to occupational therapy. Here are a few photos from this weeks visit. I take turns with the kids. So while my daughter is in therapy, my son and I go to the snack bar and walk around, and while my son is in therapy, my daughter and I go exploring.......

For Valentines day, I gave them a few gifts in the morning with some chocolate and then I took the kids out to lunch. They were soooooo good! I splurged and let them get milk shakes. They were a great lunch date. =)

One week down.....

Well, we made it through our first week of homeschool. Other than the sprained foot, it went pretty well! We took it really slow, I didn't want to overwhelm my son the first week, so we took one days worth of curriculum and broke it up over the week. Next week, we will be doing  half days and then the following week we will doing the whole curriculum as scheduled.

I have to say I am a bit amazed at the change I see in my son. Before we were homeschooling, him and his sister were always at each others throat. They were always arguing. He wanted to be out playing with his friends most of the time and it was as if he felt like he couldn't relate to his little sister. He also expressed a lot of anger here at home. He would have angry outbursts daily and was very moody. The moment he passed his last day of school he became a different child. He is happy, carefree even! He is doing what I ask willingly without argument. He is just a happy child.

What is behind this transformation? At first I thought it would  last maybe a day or so. But no, this new, happy child is still here, a week later! I think we underestimated the stress and anxiety he was going through at school. Also, he is connecting with us much more. He is sitting down and talking with us all the time now! He is being kind to his sister and telling us how much he appreciates us! It is amazing. My son has dyspraxia. And I think that he was having a level of stress and anxiety at school that we really did not even begin to understand. He acts like a weight has been lifted! It makes me feel bad for the stress he must have been feeling all this time at school.

So, this has been a good week! I am so thankful and even more certain that we made the right decision.

Uh oh!

Well, day two of homeschool was yesterday and didn't turn out so well. I decided to create an indoor obstacle course so the kids could get some energy out. We have a ton of slushy melting snow outside so going out wasn't really an option. 

Here is my son running down the stairs, getting ready to jump off the last few......

And here he is at the ER waiting to be seen for a strained foot!

Yup, right after he jumped he had a lot of pain in his foot and couldn't walk on it at all! I don't normally rush him to the er for a sore foot, but I thought the fact that he wouldn't put even a little weight on it was worriesome. So we got an xray!

Of course, no fracture was seen, but they said he should stay off it for awhile and if it is still painful after a week, we should go see his doctor. What a day! :)

Valentines ideas

History of Valentines Day!

video

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/88312842667231830/

I love you sign language card.

http://www.busykidshappymom.org/i-love-you-sign-language-card/

5 reasons

http://www.howweelearn.com/preschool-valentine-craft-grandma/

http://www.examiner.com/article/valentine-crafts-for-toddlers

paper love bugs

First day of homeschool!

So, our first day of homeschool went really well! We started off slow, just one subject each. I want to ease them into the routine. One thing I have been worried about is how the two of them would get along. Sometimes, weekends and summer days can be unbearable with the two of them arguing. But it is as of they feel a kinship they didn't feel before. They got along really well, and I was so proud.

At one moment we were standing in the kitchen together dancing and singing to "what does the fox say" and I just thought, wow, I really like these two, how lucky am I to be able to stay home with them? 

Here are a few pics from our first day!

First day smiles!

Working hard!

School pride! :)

Welcome to our homeschool page!

Hello, my name is Julie, I am creating this blog to share our homeschool experience! I am homeschooling my 5 year old and 9 year old. We are using Easy Peasy homeschool or our curriculum, located at Allinonehomeschool.com.

Check back soon for updates!