Long Time no Blog!!

Sorry, it has been so long since I blogged. I started school on Sept 1rst myself and I have been very busy between working (full-time), homeschooling and taking my college classes (full-time, and yes, insane) but, with everything going on, on the whole we are doing really well. We have developed a good morning routine that is helpful for Aaron to get his work done and even though we do have meltdowns still, they are not as bad. We are using a combination of Atime4Learning and traditional worksheets and that seems to be working really well. He is also taking Art, doing 2 different book clubs at a local library, and music class with some other homeschoolers and will be starting dance this week. Oh, yeah and 4H starts in a week and we are all excited for that. It sounds like a lot but actually isn't. He is out for a while everyday but, since we are close to everything it isn't an issue for us. Besides, Aaron loves to go so he makes sure he is ready.
Really so many wonderful things are happening with us. I will post pics soon, maybe tonight if I remember but, thank you for your patience and I commit to writing at least 2x a week with pictures :)
<3 ~ Heather

A week in...

        Well, we are week into homeschooling this year and I have to say it is going okay. I am not going to lie it is work and work isn't always easy. The easy go with the flow kid is gone this week. Aaron, my dear wonderful child, isn't always easy either. Neither am I. That being said we are having more good times then bad and he is learning a lot already.
        My style of schooling is a little more easy going then his. He puts a lot of pressure on himself which in some ways is good but other ways not so much. I think it is this pressure what makes him not want to start the work. He totally expects to able to do things on the first try and gets frustrated when he has to practice things...piano, multiplication, spelling....etc. Then he starts to act out his frustration by yelling and whining and eventually goes into his room, in theory to calm down. He does get calmed down but it makes it so hard for us to keep going on with the lesson. Or get it started as the case may be. I knew the first week was going to be hard and I know that a big part of the reason Aaron is home with us is so that we can address these issue, I just worry that is is going to be the entire year. It is hard to say upbeat and positive when simply mentioning work brings on a fuss. Anyone have any advice?
When I started homeschooling, I thought I was going to be an unschooler and everything would just flow along, but, Aaron rebelled against that just as badly as he does work. Sometimes I wonder which is the right way but the truth is, Matt sorta made the choice for us this year. He was willing to home school but absolutely against unschooling he did not care for it last year. It was a compromise I agreed to because I wanted to keep Aaron home so badly. Matt has gotten very laid back but still expects Aaron to do a certain amount of work each day. I guess, maybe, I have having first week jitters and worries. This will be the first full year of homeschooling so I think we are stilling feeling a little out of sorts.

Going with the flow....

School has started officially at The Lyon's Den, Monday we just eased into Science on the subject of Beavers, Aaron had fun watching a BBC video about beavers vs a construction team, then did a couple of worksheets with fill in the blank questions. And yesterday, while I worked, Matt took him to the local children's museum which features a replica of a beaver lodge and has a few little activities around it. They also have a make-shift stream which they used to make dams with. He will finish up the unit today with a writing assignment and word search. Matt said Aaron had a lot of fun at the museum and was able to play with a few of the children there as well. We have also worked on: Math, Geography and History.  We are sorta easing into things so we don't overwhelm.

Aaron said he has a new motto: Go with the flow...he said this as he started doing his first Math worksheet. He said "I don't like it but I decided to just go with the flow, if I just do it and don't complain, I can get it done much faster". I think my jaw may have dropped to the floor. In the past he has really thrown a fit around school, and while we understand his behavior and worked through it, we were sometimes discouraged by his attitude. So, this isn't a jump up and down reaction that we would like, it is an improvement.

As a family we have started to work out and get into shape the last few weeks and I have to say that it is helping everybody's attitude. Matt and Aaron can bike and swim for miles outside and having been taking the bikes everywhere but, neither of them like to walk. I like to walk but, prefer to bike and swim at the gym but, since they like to swim at the gym too we have been able to do that together. Aaron said he is really loving the extra exercise and I think it is helping with a better attitude. 

Aaron has been making houses out of cardboard boxes, not for him to play in but as models of house he would like to build. I can't wait to get my camera working so I can take some pictures, he has some crazy ideas but seems to really love it.

Now, that school has started I will be writing more frequently and hope to start getting some pictures too. 

~HB

Behind and ahead....

I have gotten behind on the blog. I knew it would happen since I am just starting out but to be fair to myself, we have been having a couple of ho-hum weeks. Basically,since my work has been short staffed I have worked 40-50 hours a week and Matt had a change in his shifts which we are getting adjusted to as well. Aaron did get to go stay with Matt's parents for a few days. He super loves to go there because they just have a great way with him and show such unconditional love. Every kid needs someplace and someone outside of their parents that makes them feel totally accepted and that is Matt's parents house. He comes home with such a great and happy attitude. I am grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.
 We did decide on a school starting date, August 13th. Basically, it gives us a week to finish up prep and that is probably more then we need.We have decided to use Time 4 Learning and a variety of free sites. Basically going to be covering: Geography, Science, Math, History, Spelling, Writing and Reading, as well as moving on with Chinese. We have plotted out a number of different lesson and both Matt and I are looking forward to teaching. Matt will also cover Art and Gym. Aaron already takes piano lesson so Music is covered. This is our first full year and we are excited to get started. Aaron on the other hand could care less about any of it. I don't know if it is his age or what but he just seems so uninterested in everything we bring up. He says he is happy to be staying home but other then that he has made very little comment on anything we have shown him. My Mother says it is his age and that once we get started he will be more excited. I hope so.  I love to read about all the kids who do all this spectacular learning and extra projects and how excited and advanced they are just Naturally but that is not Aaron. We are hoping to inspire Aaron to more this year and battle less.
Cheers and good hopes all!
~<3~ HB

A long weekend and Various Ramblings

It was a sort of a  long and awesome weekend, with various points of exhaustion and frustration. It was my first taste of our new life starting next week. My husband who works in private care is having a shift change from 12 hour shifts 3 days a week to a live-in position. He will work from am Thursday to am Saturday. He worked from am Friday to am Sunday this week and I have to admit, I hope it goes better working Thursday and Friday, then it did working Friday and Saturday. It was a very L---O---N---G weekend.  It wasn’t all bad. But it seemed like all I did was run around doing household work. I don’t know if I am just spoiled to having Matt to do things or bounce ideas off from. And, I stayed up way too late. Which I do not do if Matt is there reminding me it is time for bed.

Aaron was actually okay with the change. He did say a couple of times he missed Daddy but that is not unusual. We painted a house he had been working on and made furniture for it out of play-doh (I will take pictures of it as soon as I get a new camera) and he played Sims Moon Colony and listened to 80’s music. We mostly just hung out and played and went to the pool.

When Matt got home we went to the pool again and Aaron finally got up the nerve to take the test to swim in the deep end of the outdoor pool. I am not sure why it may be the size of the outdoor pool but he never wanted to take it before but on Sunday he said he wanted to swim with us so he went and got the life guard and did the test and passed. We always knew he would but, he was so excited he did a little dance and then he hung out on the deep end all afternoon. None of the other kids his age there were in the deep end but he really just wanted to play with us anyway.

After supper we played a game of Scrabble and Aaron loved it, he kept score (math!! HAHAHA) and played some pretty tricky words, I was very proud of him. He has always loved to play games but for a long time we couldn’t play a whole game without him throwing a temper either over the changing score or because he didn’t like the rules and wanted to make up new ones. It was so frustrating to play with him but over the last few months he has come a long way.

Money has been on my mind a lot this week actually, our lack of money has been on my mind. We pay our bills fine but we don’t really have a lot for extras right now but we also don’t use credit cards and it is worth it to us to miss out on a few things because of finances. There are times I wish we had a credit card but I know we are much better without one. This weekend was one of the times I wished we had a card because it was Farm Weekend, when all the farms in the area open up to the public and give tours, that part is free but they always have stuff that cost money to buy  and  I hate to go and not have money to buy something from each one. SO we missed out going because we were broke. BOO! Am I the only one? Sometimes I feel like I am especially when I see friends and family running around and spending money on trips and new things for their kids. *Sigh* I know I shouldn’t compare with other people but being a real person it is hard not to have that feeling at least in passing. “Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.” –Buddha and I am working on it and I am already letting it go…letting it go…letting it go.
So, basically it was a good weekend. Some more changes are coming to our schedule but I think it will be good, I know it will be good because for the first time in 5 years, we will all be together for almost 2 whole days a week!!!

The Perpetually Dirty Bathtub, Some Background History and Changing Dynamics

Today started like any other in The Lyon's Den, alarm went off and Aaron went straight to the TV without blinking....turned on Arthur and proceeded to spend the next hour playing with Play-Doh and periodically looking at the screen or singing the theme song over and over. Most days start like this because I need to stumble into the kitchen for either tea or coffee, and get to work on the bathtub. Now, before I go too much further let me tell you that we rent a second story apartment in a building that is a little under 100 years old, the attic that runs the entire length of the house is our as well as an entry way the size of a garage and a sun room is ours too. We have large place and since we rent from a friend we have a cheap rent. He has tried his hardest to fix the bathtub so that it drains properly and there were a couple of weeks that it did, 2-3 glorious weeks I might add, but the only real way for the problem to be fixed is by pulling out all the piping and basically starting over. He is not able to afford this expense and since it is the only real issue we have we don't fight him on it. Also, a few weeks after we moved in the bathtub leaked into the downstairs neighbors so the maintenance man came over and spread this opaque goo along the sides and down the middle where there was a crack, and while it doesn't leak anymore it looks awful because it is totally a different color then the tub and it dried solid but not smooth. So what we have is a tub that doesn't drain and looks disgusting even when it does drain. Of course, we put a mat down to cover the goo mess but the draining causes real issues. Matt and I both have long hair and Aaron is able to get dirty doing nothing, so here is the dirty shower water sitting in the tub while it slowly drains, so yeah, not much of the dirt gets anywhere but along the sides of the tub, making an already disgusting tub even worse. That is why each morning I get up and clean the tub, I wipe it down and clean it to it is as clean as possible but of course after everyone has a shower the tub is back to looking disgusting, and then it starts all over again. I wipe it down in the morning now because Matt takes his shower at night usually, I know I should do it after I take my own shower but usually I am running out the door to work.

After I cleaned the tub Aaron and I made pancakes from a homemade mix that a friend gave us. It was so good and I was happy that Aaron was able to read the instructions and knew how to make it for the right amount of servings. The mix container made 2 servings but the instructions were for one serving. It is such and improvement for him to be able to figure that out himself. When we took him out of school last year he really had no logically thinking process. I think that is the best thing about having him at home being able to help him think things out in a logically way instead of him just learning a rule and sticking to it or memorizing something and repeating it. Certainly some of education is that but what he was missing was the why? I love the why? now. It shows me that he is taking an active part in his own education. He is learning to question things not just at random but thinking something through and then asking. He was not able to do that before. Actually, Aaron was being left behind at school, he had just reached the point where he no longer cared what he was doing or why he just did the least he could get away with. I don't know where that attitude came from but I know he was set up to fail with the way the classes were run. It started because he was partially deaf when he was born so he had to have speech therapy in K and 1rst grade, then he had to have speech and reading the first part of 1rst grade and the second half of 1rst grade speech,reading and math. He continued this through 2nd grade but by the end of the year his teacher said he was caught up. We had him do summer program to keep up his skills and then 3rd grade came, the first day they took him to speech and then said he was behind in all the same things. We felt a little weird about that but we didn't put up too much of a fuss figuring that we must have missed something, but in the back of our minds were wondering what. Then he got his report card and it looked fine. Then they called us in for meeting and told us that he was a great kid, how he got along great with everyone and what a good helper he was and how happy and oh btw, he might need even more special ed this year. I asked why and they said "oh in the afternoon he looks a little tired and when we ask him if he is tired and he says yes we just don't make him do anything". I think I literally dropped my jaw. I could not believe it. This was the same group who had said moment earlier that he was working too hard at school and we couldn't expect him to do anymore at home when I had asked what I could do to help with his math and reading. I didn't say much because my 20 minutes was up and I went home and started looking over Aaron's work a little closer. I noticed big C's on his papers which I assumed meant CORRECT. Upon closer examination, the problems and answer were all wrong. We called Aaron to us, and I am not proud of this moment as a parent but, we yelled basically WHAT ARE YOU THINKING??? ARGH!!!! Rant-rant-r-a-n-t, r---a---nn------t. And Aaron just looked at us and said...they said it was ok and it says correct and I am so bored. But, after we apologized for our little outburst we realized, he could have shown more initiative but what kid wouldn't want to get out of work if they could, the school made it ok.

Now, going back a little further about 2 year ago, I made a claim for homeschooling and Matt was not even close to allowing it. He was very hard to deal with about and eventually I let the subject close because it was making our relationship bad. I knew there was no way I could do it without his support. I had secretly hoped he would someday come to it on his own and the day I came home and told him about the meeting he did. On his own. He went into his room, came back out about 30 minutes later and said, lets make this his last week. We have close friends that homeschooled their kids, one right up to college, and they got us in contact with the right people to fill the paper work out. Aaron said good bye to his friends and the week of Thanksgiving was his last week. He does enough outside activities that he is in contact with his friends often which brings me to the final subject....

Changing Dynamics...over the last month or so I have noticed that Aaron, who has always been kind of a follower, has been stepping out on his own a little more. Not playing games with kids who are being mean to him or other people and just kinda doing his own thing when he felt like it. The first couple of months homeschooling he seemed a little desperate to please when he got together with kids he use to go to school with but tonight I definitely saw the difference. One boy he always tagged along with was at the pool and started to boss Aaron around and Aaron was kindly standing up to him and then the kid got out of the pool and was like.."Aaron I am a getting out!" and Aaron was like "ok, see ya later" and the kid said it like 3 times, I think expecting Aaron to follow, then the kid came back like 3-4 times to check and see if Aaron was going to follow him but, by then, Aaron had started playing with some other kids. The boy came back and started playing with Aaron again but it was a little different. He wasn't bossy or pushy with Aaron and the two of them played for about 45 minutes evenly. Aaron wasn't pushy or bossy and neither was the other kid. It was a very proud moment for me.

Now it is off to bed!

Sweet dreams out there :)

~Heather

Hi!

I am a homeschooling Mom to a 9yr old son. Brand new to homeschooling and loving every minute of it. I work full time and am very fortunate that my husband and most of my family and friends are 100% supportive. My husband works 3 days a week and I work 3 1/2 days a week so we split homeschooling duties and get along most of the time. We are extremely eco, social and socially conscious and our son has already started to show an interest in some political and social issues. We are big believers in waste not want not and are working hard to teach Aaron that as well.
I plan on using this blog to keep track of the adventures that we share as a small family getting use to the homeschooling life style. We have been homeschooling about 9 months and are on a summer break currently. We were planning on studying year round but found that the month of July was just so packed full of activities and family gatherings that it was not reasonable to try to keep a schedule of any sort. 
We have as a family been back and forth on the type and style of homeschooling we do, or if we are UN-schooling or just laid back eclectic homeschooling but we decided that we were not going to worry about trying to fit into one style versus another because we are just being ourselves and loving it.
I look forward to getting to know some new people and making some new friends!
Warmest,
Heather