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!"

Two Steps Forward....One Step sideways

Melodie has been responding very well to the SI diet. I have to remember, when her meds don't seem to work, it's a sensory problem not a attention problem. We aren't just teaching the kids, we are teaching ourselves. 

We've had chicken pox and survived. Lilly has been down with a nasty UTI and we survived. I won't even begin to pretend like I did it all by myself. My friends and family are an amazing support system. Really I think our story would be much different if it wasn't for them all. 

We did have a sleepless night with Melodie a few nights ago. First full sleepless night since the change in medication. I am hoping it was just a fluke. I really wish we could have a sleep study done. But that's a whole different story. Currently Melodie takes 5 mg Time Release Melotonin and .05 mg Clonidine. It really is the best we've found. I could list everything we've tried but that's a long list. You know all those old wives tales and over the counter remedies? We tried them all, no matter how far fetched it sounded. This has been our battle. Our biggest battle. And we are so much closer than we were a year ago.

We are taking our first family vacation this summer. Melodie will get a real break of school work. 4 days of camping at Beverly Beach, then to Portland to the Zoo and OMSI. And if all works out a trip to The Enchanted Forest for Melodie. She absolutely LOVES amusement parks and carnivals.