School Update...

SO WE'VE NOW completed almost 2 weeks of school. I think we are off to a great start! I have to say for most of my career I've had an only student to teach. For me teaching an only was much harder! I really enjoy having multiple children to teach at the same time. This year I have the two little boys 5 and 7 years. Our only tricky part is the two old toddler, who likes to disrupt our lessons. So far however, we've managed and she seems to be settling down as long as I can find some way to include her.

The other thing I've noticed this year is, when I have a car all day, it's nice to take off and take our learning on the road. However, my children enjoy more structure than I do. So that isn't always a great thing to do. We've only had one vehicle for more than a year now and that has really helped keep the structure and routine to our day. We can't go anywhere until after 2:30pm, so we are able to get all our work done and then run around in the afternoon. This seems to be a much more workable schedule for the children, so when we do get another car mom will have to be better at sticking to our routine.

 

The best thing I've instituted this school year is our Monday Clean! Each Monday we get up have breakfast, say our morning prayers and then everyone gets on with their chores. I set the timer for one hour and we all work. This way all the big cleaning from the weekend is done at one time. I don't know about you, but after the weekend my house seems to be a wreck. When Monday morning comes mom just can't take it and needs to take care of it BEFORE I can do school. I just can't concentrate and feel settled when things are in disarray. This way all the those things are done and I'm not doing it alone. Before I would do it all and then school would start to late and kids would be to hard to corral. This way is working much better!! Don't you just love it when a plan comes together!! :) I think I'm dating myself. Ha! Ha!

Anway, I'm thrilled with how well it's going with our Touchtile Reading System! He's finally getting it and is beginning to blend sounds! We are making forward progress each day and I'm extremely pleased!! I can see reading in the very near future!!

How are your school plans coming together? Have you started back to school yet? I love to read your comments so let me know what you're up to! Enjoy your day!

Great First Day!

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT the first day of school, or at least there was when I was a child. All the nerves of finding a friendly face on the bus and praying I would get to sit next to a friend in class. It's funny to me that my children, as of yet, have never had that experience. I so looked forward to using all my new school supplies and organizing my desk just so. Looking back I guess I did enjoy school some what, but there are so many things that I'll never miss.

Today was our first day of school, or at least our 'official' first day. I mean when you homeschool aren't you really doing school all the time without knowing it, or intending to? I feel like during a good week I learn something new every day! And I have to say that raising children most days ARE great days!!

I find it fascinating watching my children learn. Amazing to watch how they process things and rejoicing with them when they finally get it! Today was one of those days. We tried our new Touchtile Reading System today and I was amazed and delighted at how well it went. I could almost see the wheels turning and he seemed to be finally getting it. This was the first day so we have a long road to go before he's reading, but it definitely seems promising!

Using this system the child takes a dot paint marker and has to cross across their body saying a letter and sound. This may seem silly, but by doing this they have to use both hemispheres of the brain. By doing these exercises they are sparking new pathways that helps the information process better in their brain. This Touchtile System comes with all the instruction to help you help your child learn the letters and sounds and then finally to blend. For my 'guesser' the blending is the tricky part, so in a few weeks we will see how he progresses.

We are trying all we can to work on fine motor to help with writing. At least his coloring is improving. Staying inside lines is such a challenge, but we have to work on one thing at a time. What I know from teaching another child with 'special needs' is that often times when it comes together it can come all at once. So you just have to celebrate the small victories along the way!

Hope you are having a wonderful start to your school year! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

 



In the final days of summer...

NOW THAT WE ARE over half way through August we are wrapping up the last of our summer fun! Today we spent a fun afternoon at my husband's employer's 'family day'. We all had a great time! A tour of the facilities, which was yet another educational opportunity. Walking through a factory and seeing all the processes that are involved to create small pieces of a larger whole is so interesting! I think the kids really enjoyed that.

Then on to a lovely lunch, face paint, and fun kid friendly activities!!! Even I had to take part in the festivities, much to my teenagers chargrin! Why do we parents enjoy teasing our kids so much? Maybe it's just me. What a bad mom!! ha! ha!



Tomorrow is our 'official' first day of school. I'm really excited to get started on our new Touchtile Reading System. It claims to turn 'guessers into readers' by stimulating both hemispheres of the brain. It sounds so promising and makes sense to me on so many levels I'm hoping it's a good fit! With my oldest we did occupational therapy and eye therapy to accomplish what this program claims to accomplish, so we will see. I will be blogging about our progress so stay tuned! If you have a struggling learner visiting Learning Technologies might be a great site for you. They offer many promising programs!

What fun things are you up to as we wind down these last weeks of summer! Drop me a note in my comments I'd love to hear!!

Thanks for stopping by and spending some of your valuable time with me! Enjoy your day!

Shifting gears...

SHIFTING GEARS...with the way things have been going I'm amazed I haven't been stripping gears! What a whirl wind it's been. All good mind you, but a whirl wind none the less. I think it's about time to "grab the bull by the horns" so to speak and get my act together.

I think we're done with visitors, so now I can get my curriculum organized and begin some lesson planning. I think my hands will be more full this year since I feel like I have to actually school three children. I mean my little guys have been "learning" all along, however they will need more traditional schooling this year to get their reading and writing well in hand. For those of you out there who have been schooling multiple kids at a time for years, my hat is off to you. It is definitely not an easy job! However, I think my job might be a little easier if I wasn't shifting between high school and grade school. This year I will be teaching 11th grade and 1st/2nd grades. Talking about shifting gears...What's nice is my oldest is pretty much an independent learner, so that is a huge help!

I'm hoping to have more crafts to show you this week and activities we'll be getting into. I'm also excited to begin our Learning Technologies reading curriculum. If you're new to my blog, a few posts back I wrote about a webniar I attended called "Turning Guessers into Readers". After attending the webinar I decided to give their Touchtile Reading program a try and will be sharing our progress in future posts. So there will be lots coming up.

I love to hear your comments. So please feel free to share your thoughts and what you're up to! I try to respond to all the comments I receive. Hope you are enjoying these last few weeks of summer! God bless your day!