Friday, August 31, 2012

Peek-A-Boo

It dawned on me today, I haven't post anything in awhile. If you have read earlier post you know that we chose to educate our kids at home, with the help of the ALE programs. I made a change this year from CVA to Three Rivers Homelink.

 I felt like some people were pressuring me into putting Melodie in to traditional public school. So to compromise I chose Homelink, it offers her 6 onsite workshops. Socialization.

SOCIALIZATION as defined in the dictionary:
socialization or socialisation  (ˌsəʊʃəlaɪˈzeɪʃən) 
— n
1.psychol  the modification from infancy of an individual'sbehaviour to conform with the demands of social life
2.the act of socializing or the state of being socialized
socialisation or socialisation
 I am beginning to HATE that word. People really throw it out there  as soon as they hear "homeschool", without knowing a child. Like my kid is some kind of shut in because we don't put her in a class with 25 other kids for 8 hours a day. Because I enjoy being the one who see's that  AH'HA moment. Melodie does get a little nervous around LARGE groups of unknown people. However she makes friends very quickly, with kids her own age, older and likes to care for those who are younger. She does have some social issues, but they were there LONG before she was school aged. I don't think it's because we didn't put her in traditional public school for kindergarten.

This is starting to sound like a rant. I apologize. It just hits a nerve.

The point being, there is a lot required for starting the school year, the program is only in it's 5th year of existence with about 400 K-12 students. Due to lack of funding, and space they share a building with a local church, as the district doesn't have enough room to house the program.

So in the last week we have had group consultant meeting, orientation, open house, school pictures, wrote her WSLP as required by the state, and started at home class.

I also babysit three days a week and we have therapy once a week. My plate has been a little full.

I'm still waiting on her Science, Language Arts and Math curriculum. Part of that was my fault, but thanks to my mom things should arrive shortly. So far this year we have spent $715 out of the $800 we get for the year. I hope to be able to save the rest for a field trip or two.

Melodie's compression suit arrived, I think the pants are too big. we are going to send them back for a smaller size.  She loves her compression suit, and I think it is going to be a HUGE help for he onsite classes.
She has been able to stop taking the Clonidine at night. She takes a 5 mg time release melotonin.

She isn't taking Focalin every afternoon, but most. Still every morning. I can say that I never expected to be off or reducing ANY meds yet, this is amazing.

As me make leaps we begin to change the norm again. Again we enter a state of transition. With the help of my support system, and Katie our SID OT, we shall survive.


"Well why was your fork IN your EYE!"


Friday, August 10, 2012

Little Boy Lost

It's been a while and so much has happened in that time!

We have been doing our OT and I am happy to report that Kaiden is completely off daytime meds. No more Focalin!!

We do still have some problems with sleep, not nearly as much as we were. A Benadryl and a Melatonin solve that issue. But they are not needed every night!

















A little that has happened this month. We missed our therapy appointments twice, once for out of town and once for illness. Man, as skeptical as I was of therapy, I can definitely tell a difference when we don't go. 

Kaiden is almost back to his old tricks if we skip even just one appointment or one day of home therapy. 


Needless to say, we are trying our best to avoid those situations again.










Kaiden is starting football! This is his first year and he is very excited to get started.


We have been steadily getting our curriculum for the year, each box that is delivered gets the kids (and us) that much more ready to get started. I am in love with the Language Arts curriculum Kaiden and Sarea are starting this year. It's Michael Clay Thompson and is more of a classical approach than the norm. There is no worksheets, or busy work. The literature is novel based, group reading of Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, etc. Then discussions of what we've read. My favorite approach to literature.
Grammar is also story based for Kaiden. It is taught in novel form, a story about a fish named Mud who wants to know how to write a sentence. He learns about structure and parts of speech from other animals.

The vocabulary is Latin based. Teaching them the "stems" of words so that they can decipher any new word they come across.
He is starting Poetry, and the way they introduce it is just fantastic. First, they learn about the sounds and beauty of written and spoken language. The cadence and such. I am such a big believer in the music of spoken and written language. 

We also got our Usborne Encyclopedia and Kingfisher book as well. These are the spine to our History and the kids poured over them for quite a while fascinated and getting very excited about History. I am a big lover of History and looking forward to it myself.


All in all, we are almost ready to start our new school year. Minus some curriculum we are still waiting on. Language Arts and Math are ready to go!
We have been enjoying our Summer and I am very much enjoying having my son coming back to me. I am forever thankful for our therapist and the woman who introduced us to the idea of SID. 








Hope everyone is having a great Summer and wishing everyone a wonderful school year!

Quote of the day:

I hear running in the hall, Kaid throws open my door :
"Don't be surprised if you hear squealing"
Door slammed, running down the hall, thump, SQUEAL!



Friday, August 3, 2012

5 Cups

I've made the right choice. My family is about to undergo a very big change. Although it's not and easy journey we are about to take it is a necessary one. Nothing worth doing is easy. Although so far, besides some moments alone of very mixed emotions, things have been going well.

I have concerns about Melodie's level of understanding the situation. Although she blows me away sometimes with how well she can understand a very complex situation. And I have amazing friends who are going to help me continue to help Melodie, by allowing us to stay in HomeLink.

I will no longer be a stay at home mom. I will be rejoining the workforce, and I am excited.

When I started this post I didn't really know what I was going to say. This is about the kids right. No this is about LIFE with a SID kid. And this is LIFE happening. So I chose to document it here. With whom ever decides to read it.

I haven't made any decision lightly when it comes to my children. And this one took a lot of soul searching. But the reaction, and level of cooperation have well exceeded my expectation.

I look forward to the wonderful opportunities around me, and I AM moving forward.