So many new opportunities!

So this week has been a very eventful & informative (to say the least!)...  The boys have had a blast this week, primarily because we received snow again, which caused them to have a "snow day," I know, many of you are asking "how do homeschoolers have a snow day?"  Well, there's two ways in which that can happen, the first, and most important to the boys, is the fact that on Thursday's they go to their ALE (alternative Learning Environment) that is provided through the school district.  Since the district deemed the roads "unsafe to travel on" that meant that their school was closed for the day.  I had planned on having the boys finish up some work they didn't do on Wednesday, but trying to convince three boys that even though everyone else is out of school for a "snow day" but they have to go, well that isn't too easy.  Especially since we get snow so very infrequently.  Last week when we had a little snow, I had them stay in and work and by the time they could go outside it had all melted, so there was no way they were going to let that happen again!  So, being the "ultra-cool" mom that I am (yeah, I know, laugh, I am) I had them throw clothes on over their jammies and we headed out.  The boys had a blast! 

Of course I had to take Sampson out too, (Sara would have nothing to do with the snow) I think he had more fun than the boys, he was running like mad and also got to play with the kids and the "big dogs!"  All in all we had a blast!

The one item that wasn't so much fun happened a little later in the afternoon, when Sampson decided to run out the front door and took off running down the road.  It took the boys and I over thirty minutes to catch him, he would come run up to us, as soon as we would reach for him, he would dart off.  Needless to say, by the time we caught him, we were not too happy!  That was the moment that I decided it was time to enroll him in "puppy training" courses.  So I called our local PetSmart to see when the next class was scheduled for and found it was that night.  We signed up and that evening the boys and I took Sam in for training.  It was actually quite a bit of fun, and Matthew really seemed to enjoy it!  I was surprised to see that Sam actually seemed to pick up quite quickly on some of the commands, granted so far it's just to look at us, make eye contact and to sit, but hey, that's more than he did a week ago!  So, we are now signed up for weekly "puppy training" every Thursday night! 

Friday, I was the one hoping for a "snow day."  Not because the kids had school but because Lucas had speech and I was really not wanting to go...  Earlier in the week, I had come across an invitation to join a local home school co-op that was in town.  It is made up of about 4 or 5 families from Vancouver and I thought it would be fun to meet some other people who are home schooling too.  So I had emailed the leader and made arrangements to attend the meeting on Friday, the only problem?  The meeting started at 10 and Lucas had speech until 10.  So hoping for a snow day was mainly so I could go to the meeting, on time (I know, a novel concept for me!)  To my dismay, it wasn't a snow day though so we had to go to speech.

The morning did not go well, boys had a harder than normal time following instructions that morning, I was running late (for everything) and was about to pull my hair out.  I had pretty much decided not to go to the co-op, and had every reason in the world to justify my decision.  I took Lil' man to speech, ran home picked up the house really quick (after the previous day of snow it looked like a tornado went through it!) and then picked Lucas back up.  It was that moment that I decided to attend the co-op even if I was late and I didn't know anyone there! 

We got to the meeting and luckily they were all running late too.  The meeting began with singing and show & tell.  Followed by one of the children teaching all the kids how to make "twisted yarn bracelets."  Afterwards the kids had some free time to play.  Well, my boys were pretty much just sticking together, not really saying anything to anyone but having fun playing with some of the toys.  I started talking to the mom's and something came out about Matthew having AS (Asperger Syndrome).  The mom's, who seemed really nice, looked at me and said they were going to ask me about it, come to find out, two out of the three mom's that were their  have "AS" affected kids.  There AS kids are older though so they were not at the group.  However, it was so great meeting others who have some of the same experiences as I have.  They also told me about a local AS Game Night that meets monthly in Battle Ground.  This is an opportunity for AS kids to play games (board games, video games as well as bingo) and just try to associate with one another (which we all know is not easy for AS kids as their biggest delay is in social skills) while the parents get to network with other parents who "get it!" 

I was so excited to get this information as I have been wanting to find a group of some sort for AS.  I had come across one previously but it was in West Linn and would be quite a commute for me, so finding one that is local is such a blessing.  Our first "game night" is next month and I am so excited for it!

I was catching up on some emails this weekend and came across a couple that were very interesting, one of which was for another LEGO group.  It is called LEGO Quest Kids and has monthly challenges for kids using LEGOS.  This month's challenge (Feb) is to make a Maze or Labyrinth.  The challenge is due tomorrow (Feb 28) and since I just found it this morning it doesn't leave the boys that much time to work on it but they still gave it a shot.  Once they complete their mazes I will take a picture and post it to the blog.  Basically, once the child completes the challenge they submit it the LEGO Quest Kids blog.  There are no winners and no commitments, just a chance for kids to do what they love, build LEGOS, and share their creations with a group of other kids.  It also is a chance for kids to "think outside the box" and create things they may have never even imagined before now!  The boys, at first apprehensive about it (maybe that had something to do with me presenting the idea during their video game time) ended up having a blast with the challenge and are looking forward to completing their mazes tomorrow after school.

Another email I cam across was for a new facebook group called "Homeschool swapping adventures."  This is a group dedicated to helping home school families connect with other families throughout the world and to participate in swaps that will enrich our children's education.  One of the swaps they are hosting is called the "Flat Traveler" swap.  This is based on the popular book series "Flat Stanley" in which a paper doll travels the world.  In this swap you make a paper doll and connect with another family and mail you "flat traveler" to them, they then fill out a simple form you send with your traveler and then take your traveler to different areas and take pictures of him/her.  The family then sends your traveler back to you with the pictures, information sheet and anything else they want to share.  This is a fun way to learn about geography, history, communities, people, cultures....and more!

I signed up for the "Flat Traveler" swap today and we connected with a family in the UK.  Since we had a family to send out traveler to we figured that we better get a traveler made, so the boys and I all sat down and decided what we wanted our traveler to look like (we are only sending one at this time but are able to send more however, one of the rules in the group is, that for every traveler you send out you need to host one as well, so until we figure this out we are only sending one.)  The boys were unanimous on what they wanted our traveler to look like, they wanted him to look like "Link" from the "Legend of Zelda."  I know, your "shocked," right?  I mean, who would have thought my kids would want to make a "Link?" (heavy sarcasm).  So that's what we did, I printed off bodies and found patterns and we pulled out the construction paper, scissors and glue and went to work.  Of course, I was smart enough to be sure that everyone made a "flat traveler" as I knew the boys would not want to send theirs off in the mail.  So we spent the majority of this evening cutting, gluing and drawing.  I have to say, it was a lot of fun and I am very excited for the first package to arrive.  Tomorrow, we will make (actually, probably purchase) a passport to send along with our "flat traveler" just to make it a little more fun!  I will definitely keep you posted on the excursions our little guy takes!

Finally, the last email I read, (I told you I was behind in reading!) was for the Wee-Cycle sale that is coming up the beginning of April.  This is a consignment sale that will be at one of the hotels by the Portland airport.  Along with kids items (clothes, toys, books, games, strollers and the like) they also have a HUGE consignment craft area specifically for stamping and scrapbooking!  You can sign up to "sell" and all you have to do is package your items up, price them and drop them off before the sale and they will sell the items for you and send you a check.  You make between 70 - 80% commission (depending on if you volunteer or not).  I still have quite a bit of stamping and scrapping stuff left over from my last yard sale so I decided to sign up for this event.  It was did cost $10 to sign up, but to me it's worth it.  So this month, I have to get all of my items ready to sell.  I'm hoping to get rid of a ton of items I know longer use.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Well, that's about it, I'm sure I've forgotten something (like the house showing but still not selling, darn it!) but my mind is turning to jelly and my arms are getting tired, so I guess I will be ending.  I told you there was a lot going!  Thanks for reading!

Homeschooling 3 boys? what was i thinking...

I was reading a blog this morning about homeschooling, the writer was saying what got her started on her home school journey and I have to say, it sounded very, very familiar as it pretty much resembled my reasoning's!  I was the mom who was never going to "home school."  Quite frankly the idea of homeschooling seemed ridiculous to me!  There are many families in our church who have chosen to home school and I remember asking them the same question that I've been asked hundreds of times, "what about socialization?"  As a non-homeschooler, I just didn't get why you would not send your kids to school.  All of that changed suddenly last year, when my oldest had what could be termed as a "break down" at school that could have been avoided had the administration handled situations differently.  It was that day that I pulled him out of school, to my surprise, he kept saying "no, i don't want to be home schooled" however he hated school.  I felt in my heart of hearts though that I needed to do this for his own well being, so I did!

That day I brought him home and called a dear friend who home schools her kids and said, "okay, now what?"  I had no idea where to begin.  I had spoken with my friend about homeschooling before and had briefly contemplated it, but nothing more than a passing thought, primarily when dealing with some of the social issues that my oldest has.  I really didn't think I would take the step though, and I especially didn't think it would be such a sudden decision.  I still remember the day, Ray was in Iraq and I had no way to contact him, my mom was unavailable and basically I was all alone.  I was so mad at the administration at the school for the way a situation was being handled when I received a call from the school counselor telling me I needed to come up to the school to calm my son down right away.  It was that moment that I knew that sending him there was not good for him. 

That day, after talking to my friend, I signed him up for "time for learning" as it was a complete curriculum that was grade specific, an I didn't know what else to do.  Later that day I made an appt with Home Choice Academy and met with the principal to see what options I had there.  I also contacted a local art school and signed him up for art classes as he loves to draw.  By the end of the following week he was enrolled at Home Choice in a writing class, typing class and P.E. as well as being in the drawing classes at the art school.  The best thing, he was happy!  I can't tell you how long it had been since I had seen this child "happy."  Plus, probably the best thing was that he was wanting to "socialize" with people.  He had never really cared about playing with others before, he was content just having his brothers.  But now, he was actually asking for friends to come over.  He was also socializing in some of his classes, something that he had not done previously. 

What I realized is that the idea of "socialization" in his public school was forced.  He was forced to only socialize with a specific group of people everyday, he did not get to choose who he would like to be around, it was chosen for him.  What I have noticed is that he has an easier time socializing with people older than him as well as people younger than he is, it's his peers he has problems with.  I believe it's because he can't really figure out the "hierarchy" of the relationship.  So in PS he would just "shut down" and not talk.  Taking him out of PS and deciding to home school him along with placing him in several of the classes I did, allowed him to interact with a group of different people who were different ages, some older, some younger and some the same.  Therefore, his social skills flourished.  And people were afraid that homeschooling him would keep him from "socializing..."

I also found a variety of "extra" classes/field trips offered that we took advantage of.  He had some great opportunities for "hands on learning" which we both loved! 

I was so happy that everything worked out and he seemed to thrive at home it was an easy decision for me to keep him home for his 5th grade year.  However the decision that was not as easy was what to do with my other two children.  My middle son was in second grade and loved school, mainly because he had a great teacher who he had for the previous year as well and he had a lot of friends at school.  My youngest was scheduled to start kindergarten this last fall, and as silly as it sounds, I was afraid of doing him a "disservice" not sending him to school.  After all, think of all the great "kindergarten memories..."  Yeah, I know, you can stop laughing, but it was a concern I had.  Upon a lot praying I finally decided to take the chance and keep all the boys home this year. 

I am so happy that I made this choice.  As I stated on an earlier blog post, keeping them home and working with them has helped me discover things about each of them I may not have ever noticed.  For example, J is being tested for an "auditory processing disorder" in the next few weeks, I would not have had any idea about this had I not had him home and been able to see right away what he was doing and struggling with. 

As for being afraid that L was going to miss out on things if I didn't keep him home, I have noticed just the opposite happening.  He is getting to experience so many more things!  He is learning constantly and is so happy about it. 

The most important thing?  I'm getting to spend time with my boys that would have been lost!  For that I will always be thankful!

brrr... it's cold!

I went to bed listening to the news last night stating there was a slight chance of snow today, well, living in the Pacific Northwest that usually means one thing...  Rain... and when I woke up that's exactly what I saw, rain and tons of it...  I didn't think too much of it and started getting ready for my day.  About 20 minutes later I went to open the blinds and was shocked when I saw some giant white flakes falling!  I was even more shocked when I left about 20 minutes after that only to see that the flakes were actually sticking and growing in size!  To me it looked like giant feathers floating down from the sky!  It was so beautiful! 

Of course I had to text Ray and let him know, as he is the one who LOVES THE SNOW (which I normally do not!).  His response to me?  "Ha, ha, it's like 70 here and supposed to be in the 80's on Friday."  Nice, huh?  As if that wasn't bad enough, he then calls me and tells me that since it is "so warm" he thinks he might "go to the pool."  Yeah, I know, let's beat him!

The boys are chomping at the bit to get out and play in it but due to school work, ot and meetings at Home Choice meetings coupled  with the fact that they all have colds I'm being mean and keeping them indoors today.  Not a popular mom! 

According to the weather men we should have snow throughout the week and weekend so hopefully they will get a chance to play!

Today was started by our weekly appointment for Occupational Therapy  for Joshua.  I was excited to go see Julia, his therapist, as I came across some info last week that I wanted her input on.  I was reading some homeschooling blogs and came across one called "the arrowed zoo" in which Kayla, the mom, discusses something called "CAPD" I was curious as to what that was so decided to read a little further. 

"CAPD" is short for "Central Auditory Processing Disorder."  It's a disorder the affects the way children (and adults) process information they hear.  Children with this disorder tend to have problems in many areas, including focus, writing, spelling, reading, math (word problems) as well as other issues.  Many times this disorder is confused for ADHD but children can be affected with both.

As most of you know, Joshua suffers from ADHD and has been diagnosed since he was in kindergarten.  He is on medication for this but there is still something else going on.  We have not been able to pinpoint what it is though and that is one of the reasons we take him to OT.  So once I came across this information I instantly wanted to call Julia and ask what she thought.  So I did and left her a message stating that I wanted to talk to her about it today.  When I arrived at OT she cam out with some information, some of which I had already seen online, regarding "CAPD" and also stated that she had the same thoughts as I did regarding this.  As messed up as it sounds I was excited to think someone else, who had experience with this, saw the same things I did.

I had also called my pediatrician to see about getting an authorization to have Joshua seen by and audiologist and tested.  Today I received the call that the auth was approved and we have an appointment for next month.  Of course it's a four hour appointment so we will be spending the better part of our day there.  However, I am excited that we may be able to figure out what's going on and have some tools to help him!

It's another of the many reasons that I am so glad to have taken on this journey of homeschooling.  If I had not, who knows how much longer he would have gone struggling without us really knowing. 

Well, that's all for now.  We have to go make lunch and head to Home Choice for our "DRA" which is a "District Reading Assessment" (you do not want to know how long it took me to figure out what "DRA" meant!)

In the mean time, here are some pics for you to enjoy of the boys doing their work today, what is left of the snow (I took pics of the snow falling earlier but they are on my cell and I don't know how to import them).  Have a good day and stay warm!

Joshua building his words using the All About Spelling curriculum

Joshua showing off the word that he built.

Matthew re-writing his 5 paragraph paper about "Three Wishes"

Lucas watching/listening to the mightybookjr.com website with Sara

Sampson (our supposed 5lb pom chi - not!) wanting to get in on the action!

Happy Monday... oh yeah, Happy Valentine's Day!

So today is the day that I hear more people complaining about that not.  I think Valentine's Day loses it's appeal the older you get.  I remember being so excited about it when I was younger, being depressed by it when I was in my teens & twenties either because I didn't have anyone to spend it with or because I did have someone but whatever we did didn't measure up to my expectations...  I know, I was never happy.  Then I became a wife/mom and the holiday now means running around getting Valentine's for the kids to pass out, trying to make sure they all get filled out and delivered and all the other fun things that go along with "V-day."  All along I'm telling Ray not to spend money on the overpriced flowers but then giving a hard time for not sending me anything, however, if for one year, we could actually be in the same state for Valentine's Day things might be a little different! 

All in all though today was a good day.  I took the boys to school, where they go 2 days a week, and they were able to pass out their Valentine's at lunch.  Then I headed to Portland where I spent the morning with my mom doing our new favorite activity...  Thrift store shopping...  I'm telling you, nothing says "Love" more than purchasing someone Else's junk!  Yes, I do think I have a problem as I absolutely LOVE going to thrift stores.  You never know what you are going to find. 

Today happened to be a very, very good day for feeding my habit.  At least for the boys it was.  I came upon a HUGE bag of Legos at one of the stores!  I debated for about 30 seconds on purchasing them as the boys have a ton of Legos but I couldn't pass up this deal!  When I brought the package home (I had already started going through it to see what great treasures could be found) the kids were in heaven!   They dumped them out onto the kitchen table and sat their building for hours.  At one point in time they were told they could play some video games and although Matthew and Joshua ran to the games, Mr. L stayed at the table and just continued building.  A while later (after the games were turned off) Matthew and Joshua went back to the Lego pile and continued building.  It wasn't long until their friends were down and they all joined in on the fun!!! 

Besides the impromptu Lego purchase today the boys also received balloons and candy for Valentine's Day from their dad and I.  I was in the Dollar Tree today and they had these adorable monkey balloons.  Well, I had to have them.  You see, last Friday the boys and I went to the zoo with some friends for school.  As we approached the monkey exhibit, Matthew yells out "there's my real dad, the hairy one" and right inside the exhibit was a huge orangutan  sitting on top of a post.  Well there was about six or seven people there who heard Matthew and they all started laughing.  So, when I saw the monkey balloons I just had to get them!  The boys were quite happy, well at least after I explained to them that the balloons were representing their dad and not them.  Along with the balloons they also each received a box of gummy Mario bros candy.  Not sure which was the bigger hit!

Finally we ended the night with the boys' favorite dinner, orange french toast.  It is so easy to make and they absolutely love eating it! 

That was the end of our Valentine's Day.  Probably not the most exciting to some but it was a fun day for us!  Hope you all have had a good day too!

What's Gnu? - Sunday - Game Night...

So I'm trying to implement a Sunday Family Game Night for the boys and I.  I figured it is a good way to end the weekend and get ready for bed, so the last few weeks we've been gathering in my room and playing a board game.  I try to choose games that involve some type of "learning" and that will be fun for all of us to play, this is not always the easiest as we are dealing with boys ranging in age from 6 to 11 and skills from just learning to read to reading at high school levels.  Needless to say it can be interesting. 

Tonight we played a new game that I purchased at my favorite shopping spot for games (Goodwill!).  It is called "What's Gnu" and it's from "Think Fun."  The age on the box says from 5-8 but we all played our version of it and we actually all enjoyed it. 

The game consists of cards in which you spell 3 letter words on, on letter is filled in on the card and you get the other two letters from the "GNU Stand."  On your turn you try to spell a 3 letter word, once you spell your word you take the card.  If the letters you draw will not spell a word you place them on the tiles and then anyone who can complete the word gets the card.  Whoever has the most cards after all of the tiles are used is the winner.

Tonight's winner was Joshua, followed by Matthew and then Lucas and I tied for last place. 

When I purchased the game I did so with Lucas in mind, however I did find that it was actually quite good for Joshua as well.  He has a horrible time with spelling and even though these are just three letter words he had to really think on some of them. 

I was especially proud of Matthew, who normally gets his nose "out of joint" when he doesn't win a game or when he has to wait on his brothers who are not as advanced in spelling/reading as he is, but tonight he was very patient and helped out a lot.  I guess our little boy is growing up.

All in all it was a great way to end a weekend, well except for the slight meltdown that Lucas had when Angel, one of our cats, scratched him.  We had an all out tear fest for about 2 minutes and he insisted I take a picture of his "owie." 

Of course, if we were going to take pictures of "owies" (still not sure how to spell that) then Joshua had to get in on the action and show us his foot. 

Yeah, I know, you can't see anything, but I told him I'd upload the pic anyhow...  Gotta love my "Drama King..." 

Anyhow, that's it for tonight, I've sent the boys to bed and can hear Matthew in his room playing with Legos.  So I guess I better get off of here and get him to bed.  Tomorrow is a "school day" at Home Choice so that means we all have to get up early to make it to school on time and as most of you know, mornings in our house are, how should I say it, "calmest" of times...  Goodnight!

Sunday morning/um i guess afternoon, and i'm still working on this...

Okay, so I jumped in and got this blog thing going and had a great idea to set up seperate pages for each of the boys to blog on...  Thinking that this would be a great writing opportunity for them as well as a chance for them to share what is important to them...  well, obviously I know nothing about blogging because when I went to have Matthew write his post it showed up on the main page...  Upon further investigating it appears that the pages are "stand alone" which I think means they are for info, not for blogging.  So now, I have to figure out another way to get the boys' personal blogging up...  Anyone with any suggestions please feel free to share with me as my hope is to have a page for each of them to share what they are doing and to show off all of the creations they make!  Thinking it may be time to invest in "Blogging for dummies" or some other book to show me how to do this!  Oh well...  Guess it's time to get up and get to "to do" list done today...  Until next time... 

Let's see if I can do this...

So, I've been thinking for a while that I would like to try my hand at creating a "family blog" to share with our friends and family about what's happening in our lives. My thoughts were that if I was to start it now it would become a "habit" and therefore easier to keep going once we move, so here goes. My hopes is that we will be able to blog about both the exciting as well as the ordinary happenings in our day to day life. I am hoping to figure out how to have a special section for each of the boys to "blog" about what interests them as well. We'll see how that works!

Wish me luck that this is something that I can actually do and keep up on!