One month down!

Well this was not the month I expected. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, so I am learning the fast way how to eat healthier! My goal is to learn good habits that I keep after the baby is born so that I will continue to lose weight and be healthier. I have a few friends that are keeping me accountable which is a huge help. For now I am following this diet- which seems to keep me satisfied and my sugar at the right levels.

I am still continuing with the 3650 reading program, I haven't been every day but it's been consistent and I've enjoyed it a lot! It's hard to believe I've read nearly 300 chapters of the Bible in just one month.

We did two field trips this month, one to the Tobacco Museum in Durham and one to the Wastewater treatment plant in New Bern (it's actually today, so I can't share how umm. interesting it is yet.)

Since meal planning is still going great on Google, I am going to work on morning routines this month for me and the kids.

Halfway through January thoughts

So we are halfway through January, and I thought I'd share how I'm doing so far. We have been to the park twice this month so far! One time to a high-tech park in Swansboro and the other to the Commons Park in Jacksonville. '

I did pull Daniel out of school and we are so far using Preschool handwriting without tears with him and lots of play. Hopefully we will find more he enjoys soon. He is so little I don't worry about it much yet.

Meal planning is coming along nicely! I found out I can use my google calendar to "schedule" my meals. It helps to get the e-mail reminder to plan for it and see it on my igoogle!

I've been doing a daily Bible reading, based on Professor Grant Horner's 3650 challenge that is reading ten chapters a day in different books. I didn't think I could do it, but I am really enjoying it!

Finally, I got a straw cup for Christmas, and drink a ton of water with it now! Hopefully that will continue :)

2012 Goals

I don't like New Years Resolutions, they don't work. But I recently read an article explaining that if you have goals and a plan for your year, it tends to be more productive and directed. I liked that concept. I have a lot of things floating around in my brain that I want to accomplish or change, but I figure I'll get around to it someday. So this is my record of things I want to accomplish this year. I hope to update occasionally my progress.

Spiritually:

1. join a Bible study

2. follow through with a regular quiet time

3. finish the study Earl and I are doing

4. read through the entire Bible

Relationally:

1. monthly date nights

2. read power of a praying wife and 5 love languages (use what I learn)

3. make his lunch

4. SHMILY surprises more often

Household projects:

1. plant a successful garden

2. redecorate master bedroom

3. redecorate/add shelves to laundry room

4. redo hallway

5. find Caroline a twin bed, and maybe one more for Alex?

6. make and use cloth napkins

Monthly Habits

1. meal planning

2. laundry system

3. "swish and swipe" bathrooms

4. morning routines

5. evening routines

6. baking bread weekly

7. eating meals in the kitchen (teaching kids better table manners)

8. Waking up early, getting dressed and ready

9. finding healthy breakfast options, making a list they can choose from and having it available

10. finding healthy lunch options, making a list they can choose from and having it available (no more ramen noodles and spaghettio-s

Personal:

1. using WII fit or some kind of exercise 3x a week

2. drink more water

3. start eating cleaner/healthier

Homeschooling goals:

1. find a workable schedule for Brian and keep at it

2. teach Alex to be more independent

3. teach Caroline how to read

4. bring Daniel home and teach him/therapy followup

5. park times at least twice a month

6. 1 special day/field trip a month

Kid raising goals:

1. better manners

2. more consistent discipline

3. more spiritually "heavy"

a. daily Bible time

b. family Bible time

c. memorize verses

d. special lessons and activities to teach

Thanksgiving Advent Project

So it's been a while, a LONG while, since I've been on here. But we've been busy with life. I started a Thanksgiving Advent Project today, and wanted to share! We are a bit late to start with November 1st, so our first project today was to start a Thankfulness Jar. This is just a mason jar, that we are filling every day with something we are each thankful for. This is our list, with ideas borrowed from here and here. I put each days activity into a cup like this although mine probably won't turn out as cute :) You are supposed to fill the cups with treats, but I don't have any, so I don't think I will. Happy Thanksgiving!

3 – Popcorn estimates, turkey math

4 – Symmetrical pattern block turkeys

5 - Make hand print Turkeys.

6 -Bible Lesson: The 10 Lepers (Luke 17:11-19).

7 - Make Indian Tepees and Pilgrim forts out of blankets and household furniture.

8 - Election Day - Go to the poll to vote and pray for Godly leadership.

9- Mayflower Day!

10 - Make cornucopia craft and snack.

11 - Veteran's Day - write thank you letters to our veterans and soldiers.

12 - Learn about giving.

13 - Say "Thank You" as many times as you can day

14 - Pilgrim Project

15 - Turkey placemats (from Oriental Trade), also cut out food from grocery store ads and glue the food on a construction paper made table to make a Thanksgiving feast.

16 - Tell the story of the first Thanksgiving and then act it out with our little people. Create a mayflower boat for little people to ride in.

17 - Dress Up! Make these Pilgrim hats and Indian headbands.

18 - Make homemade thanksgiving day cards and thankful cards to give to teachers 19 - Thanksgiving Movie (Charlie Brown)

20 - Bible Lesson: King David constantly was giving thanks to the Lord in the book of Psalm (Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever)

21- Make these adorable pilgrim hat treats

22 – Make thankful tree.

23 -. Make my assigned thanksgiving dish for Thanksgiving

24 - THANKSGIVING......Gobble until you Wobble

25- Black Friday SHOPPING!!

Homeschooling with Auditory Processing Disorder

We suspect that our six year old, Brian has auditory processing disorder. This means he cannot hear and process information easily. Our speech therapist noticed this, because she does what is called speech babble with Daniel to work on his language. She'll say bee bop bay (or a million other combinations) and Daniel has to repeat it. When Brian sits with us to help Daniel, she'll ask him to repeat the babble first to help Daniel understand what to do. He cannot repeat it. So our speech therapist recommended Earobics. This is just a simple game that builds the child's auditory processing skills. Brian's favorite game is a drummer that plays his drum and you have to count the number of beats and then repeat it. Right now we are focusing on his hearing and vision before we stress the academics. If he can't hear or see well, how can he learn?

Is it better to homeschool a special needs child?

ABSOLUTELY!

Of course I do believe in homeschooling all of my children, but having 2 special needs children now are presenting a unique challenge. With these challenges come the question, wouldn't school be better for them? And believe me, I have been asking that. Maybe if my 6 year old had been in kindergarten last year he would have done better, or maybe they would have caught his problems earlier. And how can I possibly find the time to do all the therapies at home for him and his baby brother. Wouldn't a public school teacher be better equipped to handle all of this?

To give you a better idea of what "all of this is" I'll share my chart, it's not quite complete yet. When I look at it, I know I won't be perfect at getting all of this done, but how would a public school teacher be able to accomplish three hours of work with Brian a day not during regular school time? And if I had to do it when he got off of the bus at 4:00 what kind of life would he have? Plus, no school system offers vision therapy like Brian needs. It's not universally accepted yet, so they wouldn't do any of the other activities with him. He would be treated for visual processing delays, without the correction of mechanical difficulties that will always be a problem for him. So tell me, why is public school better than personal tutoring with someone who loves him and wants what is best for him? This is only my first of many reasons why I believe homeschooling is best for a special needs child!

Brian (6)	Daniel (2)
Patch right eye for 3 hours 4 days a week and left eye 2 days a week for 3 hours (not during regular learning time) while doing fine motor activities	Patch eye 2 hours a day
15 minutes of handwriting	Read a book
Wheel barrel walking, arm exercises, upper body exercises	Sing songs
Auditory practice (on computer 15-30 minutes	Stringing beads, puzzles,
Brain training (crossing the midline)	Jumping, stairs, rotating
A variety of eye exercises after patching	Speech babble, “wh” questions, story sequencing
	Oral motor strengthening

Backyard Bird, weeks 3-9?

I haven't remembered to post weekly for our bird class, but we've been doing simple projects and learning lots! We played a memory game using soft birds I had that chirped like a real bird. We practiced identifying birds by sounds. We did boys vs. girls on the various birds, then questions about what we've learned so far. The three best projects though were:

Peanut butter bird feeders on pine cones! These were really easy, very messy and lots of fun! We talked about how bird feeders should be visible, but not in a high traffic area and should be near bushes or trees to give the birds a safe area.

Next was bird house gourds. The kids were really creative with their painting and designing. This time I had the kids run around in the yard and pretend they were birds looking for a place to live. Then we talked about why each choice was good or bad. The worst was several boys who wanted nests at the top of the playground slide!

The best thing we did though, was dissecting owl pellets! By class vote the last bird they wanted to learn was an owl. Owl pellets are what owls vomit after

eating

an small animal-birds, rodents, moles and voles. It is the skeleton and fur of these animals. The kids really enjoyed it, and were only slightly grossed out! We found lots of cool bones, including whole skulls! This was a great class to teach, and I hope you take the time to learn

more about the birds our wonderful Creator made for us to enjoy!