When one begins the foster and/or adoptive home study process, there are many (hundreds, maybe?) questions asked.
One thing that always seemed awkward was family traditions. When you create your home life, most habits & traditions happen so naturally, that you never even think of them as "traditions".
Even so, you have to rack your brain to make it sound like some tasks are traditions... even though it seems odd.
For example, praying before eating a meal can be considered a tradition. Reading a story or having a routine at bedtime can be considered a tradition. Reading the nativity scene on Christmas Eve as a family. Attending the local Pumpkin Festival each fall as a family. You get the picture!
One of the traditions we created after becoming a foster home was Friday Family Fun Night. If you know me, you know I like to have silly and/or obnoxious names for things. But, it sticks, right? About a year ago, my husband & I decided to keep every Friday night a family night for just us three. Sometimes, we are invited to eat dinner or share another activity with someone else & we will modify our FFF Night, but we always try to honor family time whatever we end up doing on Friday evenings.
Recently, a few things made me think that maybe the Family Fun Night wasn't so silly.
Our nephews live in a small town about 1.5hrs away from us. Because they are also home schooled, we get to see them on occasion during the weekdays. A few months ago, we spent a Friday afternoon with them. When the afternoon ended, I was chatting with Little Bit & his Daddy about what we should do that night. It was our first FFF Night since J joined our family so it meant an extra special celebration. That night, the nephews couldn't join us, but we loved spending the time with them earlier. Now, fast forward to just a few weeks ago. We, again, saw them on a Friday afternoon & they had been asking their parents about joining us for Family Fun Night! I thought it was very sweet. So, last week, we were able to visit them in THEIR home & had a crazy evening of all five kids RUNNING around shooting Nerf guns at each other, singing, you name it!
The second "event" was the phone call when I met our daughter. She doesn't speak much on the phone & because I was also a stranger, it became a one-sided conversation! When I'm especially nervous (which I was), I can speak way too fast. And ramble. And, my husband will slightly roll his eyes & point out something that was completely un-related or weird in my tone/action. LOL. There were several adults on the conference call with K, so they prompted me with questions. One thing I felt silly about saying was that we have Friday Family Fun Night & explained that we sometimes watch movies at home, or go for a walk at the park, or whatever. I chatted about swimming in our local Springs, that we loved to hang outside as much as we could, I even mentioned Downtown Getdown. I still chuckle at all the stuff I was mentioning to explain our family life & traditions.
But...
But...
Family Fun Night stuck out to her!
When we met her & then she decided to come live with us not even 48 hours later, we began slowly getting to know each other. It was awkward, but wonderful. Knowing that we had chosen her & that she had chosen us gave us all a sense of comfort. When we returned to our home, she began making comments about Family Fun Night. Excited about what we'd do. Excited about spending time with Dad. She wanted to make sure to remind us that she wanted us to celebrate her entry into the family, too. I thought it was very cute & sweet & made me happy we made this silly-named tradition.
Now, we couldn't break Family Fun Night even if we wanted to! Our eldest son knows it's a scheduled activity so he doesn't complain much about it; our daughter looks forward it; & our youngest just enjoys it. (He doesn't really have the concept down yet about the days of the weeks & all, but I always remind him on Friday.)
Tonight is Family Fun Night. I'm not sure what we are doing, but I do know we'll be together. We will probably rent a movie & buy a few pizzas. But, we can officially add this to our family traditions when we renew our foster license in a few months. ;)
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! We are spending tomorrow afternoon celebrating the birthday of a sweet baby girl we brought home from the hospital last year. She's adopted & thriving with her mama & daddy & I'm so honored to have been a part of their adoption journey.
{I do hope to update throughout the next few days about the challenges & joys we've experienced thus far with the placement of our sibling group J & K. It has been hard. There's been lots of tears, lots of laughs, lots of fear, lots of love. And, we're just starting...}
Friday, August 22, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Table for Five?
For a little over a month, we have had J living with us for the intention of adopting him.
He has one biological siblinrg, K. We met K yesterday & spent a few hours hanging out with the two kids along with our biological son, E.
Okay, confused yet? :)
More than likely, you are reading this because you know us "IRL" & this serves as the easiest way to update our family & friends. We haven't tracked the progress of this adoption journey yet, but it has been a complete roller coaster of emotions.
J was so excited to see K. They've been separated since November 2013 & have seen each other twice since then. Neither of them care to talk on the phone, so they've not had much contact either. J hugged K for about 5 minutes while he told her he loved her. She brought him a gift: a new wallet & two framed photos. J spent the first 30 minutes or so talking to her about our dogs, our home, our extended family, & so many other things! We ordered our meal & once the conversation died down, we were able to ask K some questions. She was very sweet, but very quiet. She smiled a lot, but it was hard to wonder if she was accepting us or not. When we gave her the choice of going home or heading to the park, she wanted to go to the park. So, I interpreted that as meaning she wanted to continue the visit (for J or us, or both even).
Overall, the visit was pleasant. J remained engaged & active, E was able to speak to K some, & K seemed content. We found out she usually just watches TV on the weekends because her foster parents do not engage in activities with the children. During the week, she attends summer camp. Because we were trying to find out more about her, we asked if she'd ever been to an amusement park. She said no. I'm not sure she's been on any family vacations, either. J has been to Universal Studios once on a school field trip.
I realize amusement parks are a luxury, but... it hurts my heart to know these kids have been in foster homes for nearly 8 years & it seems they've only existed in the foster homes. No family trips. No family involvement in the inner workings of WHO these children are. Just getting by. No concept of unconditional love. No grandmas or grandpas. No cousins to grow up with & form memories. And, no trips to Disney. Even the short times we've had foster babies, we've included them in each activity of our lives.
Each step, or obstacle, of this journey has only emphasized to me the need of good, loving, foster homes. Homes that will love these children, even if they're only in the home for a month. Even if it hurts more than you can imagine. Because, each of these children need LOVE. Need a hug or kiss & someone to be excited about them. Someone to support them & make them feel worthy of love. That these children are not an inconvenience or a bother, but the apple of your eye. There is a serious need for loving parents & siblings. (I'm not sure how we can squeeze more beds in, but I've already told N that we will need to figure out how to take it at least one more foster kid at a time.)
Back to the current situation...
Both kids wants to be together. J feels a tremendous amount of pressure to have this work for his sister. Not pressure placed by anyone but himself. I think he feels this is his last chance to be adopted & also be adopted with his sister. It's his way of taking care of his sister. He has made it clear on several occasions that if this doesn't work with K, he doesn't want to be adopted alone. We respect that. And, after seeing their bond in action yesterday, we think they need to be together, too. We know K wants to be adopted with J, but we do not know how K feels about the visit. I'm sure she's meeting with her therapist to share her perspective & decide what she wants to happen from here.
We have a court hearing in the morning to update the court on our time with J. Both kids will be there so that their voice is heard. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about either child changing their mind about adoption or if anyone else in attendance could cause issues. But, at this point, we've done the best we can do. We have to trust that the outcome of the hearing tomorrow is God's leading. We hope that we will be awarded adoptive placement dates for both children.
I plan to update once the court hearing is done.
Thanks for your prayers, everyone!
He has one biological siblinrg, K. We met K yesterday & spent a few hours hanging out with the two kids along with our biological son, E.
Okay, confused yet? :)
More than likely, you are reading this because you know us "IRL" & this serves as the easiest way to update our family & friends. We haven't tracked the progress of this adoption journey yet, but it has been a complete roller coaster of emotions.
J was so excited to see K. They've been separated since November 2013 & have seen each other twice since then. Neither of them care to talk on the phone, so they've not had much contact either. J hugged K for about 5 minutes while he told her he loved her. She brought him a gift: a new wallet & two framed photos. J spent the first 30 minutes or so talking to her about our dogs, our home, our extended family, & so many other things! We ordered our meal & once the conversation died down, we were able to ask K some questions. She was very sweet, but very quiet. She smiled a lot, but it was hard to wonder if she was accepting us or not. When we gave her the choice of going home or heading to the park, she wanted to go to the park. So, I interpreted that as meaning she wanted to continue the visit (for J or us, or both even).
Overall, the visit was pleasant. J remained engaged & active, E was able to speak to K some, & K seemed content. We found out she usually just watches TV on the weekends because her foster parents do not engage in activities with the children. During the week, she attends summer camp. Because we were trying to find out more about her, we asked if she'd ever been to an amusement park. She said no. I'm not sure she's been on any family vacations, either. J has been to Universal Studios once on a school field trip.
I realize amusement parks are a luxury, but... it hurts my heart to know these kids have been in foster homes for nearly 8 years & it seems they've only existed in the foster homes. No family trips. No family involvement in the inner workings of WHO these children are. Just getting by. No concept of unconditional love. No grandmas or grandpas. No cousins to grow up with & form memories. And, no trips to Disney. Even the short times we've had foster babies, we've included them in each activity of our lives.
Each step, or obstacle, of this journey has only emphasized to me the need of good, loving, foster homes. Homes that will love these children, even if they're only in the home for a month. Even if it hurts more than you can imagine. Because, each of these children need LOVE. Need a hug or kiss & someone to be excited about them. Someone to support them & make them feel worthy of love. That these children are not an inconvenience or a bother, but the apple of your eye. There is a serious need for loving parents & siblings. (I'm not sure how we can squeeze more beds in, but I've already told N that we will need to figure out how to take it at least one more foster kid at a time.)
Back to the current situation...
Both kids wants to be together. J feels a tremendous amount of pressure to have this work for his sister. Not pressure placed by anyone but himself. I think he feels this is his last chance to be adopted & also be adopted with his sister. It's his way of taking care of his sister. He has made it clear on several occasions that if this doesn't work with K, he doesn't want to be adopted alone. We respect that. And, after seeing their bond in action yesterday, we think they need to be together, too. We know K wants to be adopted with J, but we do not know how K feels about the visit. I'm sure she's meeting with her therapist to share her perspective & decide what she wants to happen from here.
We have a court hearing in the morning to update the court on our time with J. Both kids will be there so that their voice is heard. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about either child changing their mind about adoption or if anyone else in attendance could cause issues. But, at this point, we've done the best we can do. We have to trust that the outcome of the hearing tomorrow is God's leading. We hope that we will be awarded adoptive placement dates for both children.
I plan to update once the court hearing is done.
Thanks for your prayers, everyone!
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Update Overdue
I'm taking a bit of a break from Facebook & hoping to rekindle some of my former loves...
Journaling Through Our Blog!
Throughout 2013, we experienced a lot of change. A lot of upheavals in the inner workings of our home through foster care. We brought in & out 5 foster children. We learned a lot through the process. We have cried a lot through the process. And laughed. And loved. And hurt.
We did renew our foster license, but haven't received any placement calls/requests since our last foster child went to her adoptive home right before Christmas. Although I'm not sure we would accept a placement right now, I still feel a little eager knowing they could call anytime. It would be hard to say "no", but hard to say "yes", too. Hmm... Does that make sense?
We have defined our strengths & weaknesses regarding foster children during this past year. I'm sure this will vary placement to placement or even month to month. We seem to have a difficult time getting placement calls because we request that the children NOT be forced to go to daycare. As a stay at home mom, we prefer the foster child/ren stay at home with me & little E to facilitate a sense of normalcy as our family unit operates.
This seems to be an issue, because most children seem to be required to be in daycare. (One aspect of this makes sense: If the child is local to our area & is already established in a daycare facility, it would be best to keep the child in the same daycare to keep at least one aspect stable. This has not been the case in our placements.)
And, in theory, that is best. I'm sure it is in reality, also, but can functionally be difficult.
Because we participate in a Classical Conversations community that has completely full childcare, it makes our meeting time more difficult. One week, towards the end of our semester, I had both our sweet 2mth baby girl (we'll call her TAB) & a short-term placement of a 20mth boy. I had to take both of them along with little E into the 3hr teaching portion of our coop meeting. Talk about stressful. With advanced notice (like months & months), I would've been able to get the toddler into the host church's childcare. With fostercare, I don't know literally day-to-day sometimes if I will need childcare or not. With the baby, it is understandable that most moms of teeny littles would take their child into the coop time. But, again, with planning this is much easier. The knowledge of a child coming into a family allows better preparation for the arrangements.
I felt like I spent the first semester of little E's "official" home schooling experience just getting used to all of the many home visits & additional appointments TAB required. Not her fault, certainly, & still worth caring for that sweet girl... But, stressful. Discouraging. Overwhelming.
In our normal lives, I like to be able to plan a bit in advance. This is difficult to do in our experiences thus far with fostercare. These children still need a loving home, no doubt, but it is definitely an aspect I hadn't been forewarned about or thought about until we were in the mix. And we have been honored & humbled to care for these children. We don't regret any of the placements we were given & accepted!!
Like the first foster placement we had of 18mth twins that were court-ordered to attend daycare. At no time during our MA.PP courses or home study visits was this mentioned as a possibility. At nearly midnight, when the children were dropped off, that was the only concern the case manager had... For me to get them in daycare. I was able to find a wonderful facility that was amazing & I would recommend in a heart beat, but driving 300 miles a week solely for daycare was draining!
I could describe our experiences further, but truly... the negative aspects pale in comparison to the impact these children have had on our lives. I am not sure what fostercare will look like for us this year... Will we go more than half of the year without a placement? Will we simply help other foster parents by watching their foster children during a hospital stay or trip? Will we become a permanent home for a foster child waiting?
We just received notice, yesterday, that our adoptive home study has been approved. This is a different home study than our foster home study, but lots of the same questions & visits.
We've already expressed interested in several sibling groups & a few single children available in the State. Now that we have our adoptive home study, we send it out, receive information from our agency & the children's agency, & see if we may be a match for each other. We could have nothing come from any of the cases we emailed about or we could potentially be matched & meet a child in the next few months.
We are both excited & anxious at the thought of adopting. We've grown to be tender towards the children that are more difficult to place in adoptive homes... older children & sibling groups, specifically. It is heart wrenching to hear children asking for a home with no more requirements of the family than to "take both of us" or "be loving, be good". Wow.
We are praying & remaining as open as we can to what the Lord may have in store for us. Adoption will make our lives messier, more inconvenient, crazier... But, if He wants us doing that, we will. We will love another's child as our own, we will take them in with open hearts, & trust that His plan is amazing for us & for the child or children.
Our one & only, for now, little E has been amazing. He's taking workshop classes with his Nana J & has already made a bird house, a name plate, & several car projects. He loves using his personal, sized-for-little-hands, hand drill, saw, sand paper, scr.ewdriver, hammer, & saw to create things. He can recite his safety rules & loves going over to spend time "working like Daddy". He is a sponge full of knowledge & loves going to our CC meetings each Monday; his tutor, Ms. Natalie is like a rock star. He participates in the classroom recitations & does a presentation (aka speech) each meeting. But, really, he mostly is looking forward to going to the playground afterwards to play. :)
As far as goals go for 2014, we are hoping to go camping more. I'd like to complete a half-marathon (in April). We will be heading out of town for trips (another perk of home schooling). I'd like to journal a lot more. I am ashamed of the things I've already forgot that little E did a year or two ago... I want to write these things down so that I can remember. And he can. Other than that, I'd like to enjoy our lives each day. I want to say yes anytime my child asks me if I can help him or read to him or see the beautiful watercolor creations he made. I want to invest each day. Because, even though in foster care, we know we may only impact that child for a day... it is true of our child, too. Any day could be our last day with him & I want to cherish each day for the miracle it is. The miracle of a son that we weren't sure we'd ever have. And God has given us an opportunity to teach him & love him each day we spend together.
Love to you all!
Journaling Through Our Blog!
Throughout 2013, we experienced a lot of change. A lot of upheavals in the inner workings of our home through foster care. We brought in & out 5 foster children. We learned a lot through the process. We have cried a lot through the process. And laughed. And loved. And hurt.
We did renew our foster license, but haven't received any placement calls/requests since our last foster child went to her adoptive home right before Christmas. Although I'm not sure we would accept a placement right now, I still feel a little eager knowing they could call anytime. It would be hard to say "no", but hard to say "yes", too. Hmm... Does that make sense?
We have defined our strengths & weaknesses regarding foster children during this past year. I'm sure this will vary placement to placement or even month to month. We seem to have a difficult time getting placement calls because we request that the children NOT be forced to go to daycare. As a stay at home mom, we prefer the foster child/ren stay at home with me & little E to facilitate a sense of normalcy as our family unit operates.
This seems to be an issue, because most children seem to be required to be in daycare. (One aspect of this makes sense: If the child is local to our area & is already established in a daycare facility, it would be best to keep the child in the same daycare to keep at least one aspect stable. This has not been the case in our placements.)
And, in theory, that is best. I'm sure it is in reality, also, but can functionally be difficult.
Because we participate in a Classical Conversations community that has completely full childcare, it makes our meeting time more difficult. One week, towards the end of our semester, I had both our sweet 2mth baby girl (we'll call her TAB) & a short-term placement of a 20mth boy. I had to take both of them along with little E into the 3hr teaching portion of our coop meeting. Talk about stressful. With advanced notice (like months & months), I would've been able to get the toddler into the host church's childcare. With fostercare, I don't know literally day-to-day sometimes if I will need childcare or not. With the baby, it is understandable that most moms of teeny littles would take their child into the coop time. But, again, with planning this is much easier. The knowledge of a child coming into a family allows better preparation for the arrangements.
I felt like I spent the first semester of little E's "official" home schooling experience just getting used to all of the many home visits & additional appointments TAB required. Not her fault, certainly, & still worth caring for that sweet girl... But, stressful. Discouraging. Overwhelming.
In our normal lives, I like to be able to plan a bit in advance. This is difficult to do in our experiences thus far with fostercare. These children still need a loving home, no doubt, but it is definitely an aspect I hadn't been forewarned about or thought about until we were in the mix. And we have been honored & humbled to care for these children. We don't regret any of the placements we were given & accepted!!
Like the first foster placement we had of 18mth twins that were court-ordered to attend daycare. At no time during our MA.PP courses or home study visits was this mentioned as a possibility. At nearly midnight, when the children were dropped off, that was the only concern the case manager had... For me to get them in daycare. I was able to find a wonderful facility that was amazing & I would recommend in a heart beat, but driving 300 miles a week solely for daycare was draining!
I could describe our experiences further, but truly... the negative aspects pale in comparison to the impact these children have had on our lives. I am not sure what fostercare will look like for us this year... Will we go more than half of the year without a placement? Will we simply help other foster parents by watching their foster children during a hospital stay or trip? Will we become a permanent home for a foster child waiting?
We just received notice, yesterday, that our adoptive home study has been approved. This is a different home study than our foster home study, but lots of the same questions & visits.
We've already expressed interested in several sibling groups & a few single children available in the State. Now that we have our adoptive home study, we send it out, receive information from our agency & the children's agency, & see if we may be a match for each other. We could have nothing come from any of the cases we emailed about or we could potentially be matched & meet a child in the next few months.
We are both excited & anxious at the thought of adopting. We've grown to be tender towards the children that are more difficult to place in adoptive homes... older children & sibling groups, specifically. It is heart wrenching to hear children asking for a home with no more requirements of the family than to "take both of us" or "be loving, be good". Wow.
We are praying & remaining as open as we can to what the Lord may have in store for us. Adoption will make our lives messier, more inconvenient, crazier... But, if He wants us doing that, we will. We will love another's child as our own, we will take them in with open hearts, & trust that His plan is amazing for us & for the child or children.
Our one & only, for now, little E has been amazing. He's taking workshop classes with his Nana J & has already made a bird house, a name plate, & several car projects. He loves using his personal, sized-for-little-hands, hand drill, saw, sand paper, scr.ewdriver, hammer, & saw to create things. He can recite his safety rules & loves going over to spend time "working like Daddy". He is a sponge full of knowledge & loves going to our CC meetings each Monday; his tutor, Ms. Natalie is like a rock star. He participates in the classroom recitations & does a presentation (aka speech) each meeting. But, really, he mostly is looking forward to going to the playground afterwards to play. :)
As far as goals go for 2014, we are hoping to go camping more. I'd like to complete a half-marathon (in April). We will be heading out of town for trips (another perk of home schooling). I'd like to journal a lot more. I am ashamed of the things I've already forgot that little E did a year or two ago... I want to write these things down so that I can remember. And he can. Other than that, I'd like to enjoy our lives each day. I want to say yes anytime my child asks me if I can help him or read to him or see the beautiful watercolor creations he made. I want to invest each day. Because, even though in foster care, we know we may only impact that child for a day... it is true of our child, too. Any day could be our last day with him & I want to cherish each day for the miracle it is. The miracle of a son that we weren't sure we'd ever have. And God has given us an opportunity to teach him & love him each day we spend together.
Love to you all!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Announcing to the World...
That we are planning to homeschool our son.
This may not seem to be that big of a deal, but it is.
And I've been so worried about other people knowing because I don't want them to treat our son differently. I think homeschooling has become more mainstream than when we were growing up, but it is still not common. We have been so thrilled to have found such a large, local, community of support!
E will not legally have to be in education until he turns 6 years (entering 1st grade) which will be 2015-2016 school year. But, here in Florida, most kids head to preschool for free (aka VPK) for K4. We had decided to send E to our local Christian school for the VPK portion & then decide from there about further education.
Then we decided to homeschool him for this year. I am still nervous about him learning to read & all jazz, but I am so excited, too! We are looking forward to taking trips as often as possible to provide as much hands-on learning as possible, we are thrilled to have both a flexible AND structured environment for him to learn, we are happy to be able to focus on his strengths & his weaknesses, & so many other aspects.
{I feel as though I need to add some disclaimers here... We made a completely informed, individual, decision. We have thoroughly researched the benefits of homeschooling our child & are more than happy to share those resources with anyone genuinely interested in learning more about it. We aren't saying this will work forever, but for this year... it's the plan! There is no person, governmental entity, or program/school that will ever be as invested or motivated for E to learn all that he has the potential to learn than his father & I. Period. We are very honored to have family & friend support for this journey. Also, I plan to share our homeschooling journey here so that others may be encouraged to make- or not make- the decision to educate their child at home; this will never be a condemnation for those that decide to educate their child in a school setting & comments of the such will be deleted.}
I thought I could share what we are currently planning for this first semester/year; I'm sure it will evolve as we move along!
We are using Classical Conversations as a portion of our experience. If you're not familiar with "CC", you should check it out! CC uses the classical model of education. We will meet every Monday morning for 3 hours of guided education by a private tutor. During this meeting, E will review his memory work (Biblical passages, science, Latin, math, history, art, among others), have a science experiment + art project, & have opportunities to make "presentations" (small speeches) EACH week. He will have a small class of other children his age & I will be with him the whole time. After the session is over, many families stay & enjoy the playground along with a picnic lunch. They also schedule related field trips every month for us to take!
I am looking forward to utilizing Classical Conversations not only for the educational pathway it provides, but for the social support for E & myself. Even though we feel this is the right decision for our son, it doesn't make it easy to feel isolated & different. CC will provide friends for E that are also homeschooled & will provide mama friends for me, too. They have already been so helpful to guide us into curriculum & resources & our school year hasn't even started!!
In addition to the CC portion of our home education, we will be working lots of phonics + reading + writing. E already knows all of the sounds of the alphabet & can write nearly every letter. We are beginning BOB books to help him meld all those sounds into letters forming words. Pretty exciting! We have some Preschool Prep Series DVD + workbook sets for sight words. We are also probably going to be using Phonics Pathways, too.
We will be doing lots of letter recognition worksheets, coloring, writing, drawing, art, & more. We are already planning a trip to the Kennedy Space Center (two of the science subjects focused this year at CC are physics & astronomy... PERFECT for the Kennedy Space Center!) in the next few months. We are planning to start/plant/harvest a garden. We will be adding chickens to our property which E will help care for.
One aspect I am very excited about is E's woodworking classes. My MIL is a master crafts(wo)man & has agreed to teach our little one once a week! He already has his own safety glasses, screwdrivers, hammers, hand-powered-drill, saw, & tape measurer! They will be working on building various projects at her discretion. She said initially they will be working on him sanding the wood pieces down, then sawing & nailing/screwing together. How awesome to be learning these skills at 4 years old!? And, he gets to spend time with his grandmother at the same time!!
For math, we will be concentrating on counting, multiplication/skip counting, clock/time recognition, money counting/recognition, & anything else we find! We will cook to practice math & reading. We will garden to learn math, we will use any opportunity we can to learn math & reading.
We will read a lot together. Most of this year will probably consist of me reading to E, but I'm sure the transition will slowly occur to him reading much of the books. We will get a membership to the much larger county library in the town near us so that we can access as many DVDs, books, & classes as possible.
We have a membership to a local museum that has several animals, an old homestead with buildings, a train caboose, a playground, & weekly homeschool lessons. We hope to attend as many of these classes for homeschoolers as possible (one or two hours per lesson). This a very hands-on museum & has been wonderful to visit. E already has learned the difference between cold-blooded & warm-blooded animals (among other lessons) because of walking around & talking about the animals.
I'm sure I'm forgetting lots, but we have lots of plans. I am a little overwhelmed at some of the tasks I need to finish before starting our CC in September, but I have a Mentor Mom that has been helping me & I think once we are doing it... it'll be easier & flow better. I'm trying to take it day by day & have been working on our homeschool cubbies. I'll plan out lessons & leave room for spontaneity & flexibility. There is also a weekly local homeschool group that meets at a playground each week & has a very active Facebook group. Lots of people to interact with & ask questions to... I hope we can jump right into that community meeting, too!
I plan to be sharing photos & details about our journey. And his little uniform?! Adorable... ;)
Much love to you all! Have a wonderful Tuesday!!
This may not seem to be that big of a deal, but it is.
And I've been so worried about other people knowing because I don't want them to treat our son differently. I think homeschooling has become more mainstream than when we were growing up, but it is still not common. We have been so thrilled to have found such a large, local, community of support!
E will not legally have to be in education until he turns 6 years (entering 1st grade) which will be 2015-2016 school year. But, here in Florida, most kids head to preschool for free (aka VPK) for K4. We had decided to send E to our local Christian school for the VPK portion & then decide from there about further education.
Then we decided to homeschool him for this year. I am still nervous about him learning to read & all jazz, but I am so excited, too! We are looking forward to taking trips as often as possible to provide as much hands-on learning as possible, we are thrilled to have both a flexible AND structured environment for him to learn, we are happy to be able to focus on his strengths & his weaknesses, & so many other aspects.
{I feel as though I need to add some disclaimers here... We made a completely informed, individual, decision. We have thoroughly researched the benefits of homeschooling our child & are more than happy to share those resources with anyone genuinely interested in learning more about it. We aren't saying this will work forever, but for this year... it's the plan! There is no person, governmental entity, or program/school that will ever be as invested or motivated for E to learn all that he has the potential to learn than his father & I. Period. We are very honored to have family & friend support for this journey. Also, I plan to share our homeschooling journey here so that others may be encouraged to make- or not make- the decision to educate their child at home; this will never be a condemnation for those that decide to educate their child in a school setting & comments of the such will be deleted.}
I thought I could share what we are currently planning for this first semester/year; I'm sure it will evolve as we move along!
We are using Classical Conversations as a portion of our experience. If you're not familiar with "CC", you should check it out! CC uses the classical model of education. We will meet every Monday morning for 3 hours of guided education by a private tutor. During this meeting, E will review his memory work (Biblical passages, science, Latin, math, history, art, among others), have a science experiment + art project, & have opportunities to make "presentations" (small speeches) EACH week. He will have a small class of other children his age & I will be with him the whole time. After the session is over, many families stay & enjoy the playground along with a picnic lunch. They also schedule related field trips every month for us to take!
I am looking forward to utilizing Classical Conversations not only for the educational pathway it provides, but for the social support for E & myself. Even though we feel this is the right decision for our son, it doesn't make it easy to feel isolated & different. CC will provide friends for E that are also homeschooled & will provide mama friends for me, too. They have already been so helpful to guide us into curriculum & resources & our school year hasn't even started!!
In addition to the CC portion of our home education, we will be working lots of phonics + reading + writing. E already knows all of the sounds of the alphabet & can write nearly every letter. We are beginning BOB books to help him meld all those sounds into letters forming words. Pretty exciting! We have some Preschool Prep Series DVD + workbook sets for sight words. We are also probably going to be using Phonics Pathways, too.
We will be doing lots of letter recognition worksheets, coloring, writing, drawing, art, & more. We are already planning a trip to the Kennedy Space Center (two of the science subjects focused this year at CC are physics & astronomy... PERFECT for the Kennedy Space Center!) in the next few months. We are planning to start/plant/harvest a garden. We will be adding chickens to our property which E will help care for.
One aspect I am very excited about is E's woodworking classes. My MIL is a master crafts(wo)man & has agreed to teach our little one once a week! He already has his own safety glasses, screwdrivers, hammers, hand-powered-drill, saw, & tape measurer! They will be working on building various projects at her discretion. She said initially they will be working on him sanding the wood pieces down, then sawing & nailing/screwing together. How awesome to be learning these skills at 4 years old!? And, he gets to spend time with his grandmother at the same time!!
For math, we will be concentrating on counting, multiplication/skip counting, clock/time recognition, money counting/recognition, & anything else we find! We will cook to practice math & reading. We will garden to learn math, we will use any opportunity we can to learn math & reading.
We will read a lot together. Most of this year will probably consist of me reading to E, but I'm sure the transition will slowly occur to him reading much of the books. We will get a membership to the much larger county library in the town near us so that we can access as many DVDs, books, & classes as possible.
We have a membership to a local museum that has several animals, an old homestead with buildings, a train caboose, a playground, & weekly homeschool lessons. We hope to attend as many of these classes for homeschoolers as possible (one or two hours per lesson). This a very hands-on museum & has been wonderful to visit. E already has learned the difference between cold-blooded & warm-blooded animals (among other lessons) because of walking around & talking about the animals.
I'm sure I'm forgetting lots, but we have lots of plans. I am a little overwhelmed at some of the tasks I need to finish before starting our CC in September, but I have a Mentor Mom that has been helping me & I think once we are doing it... it'll be easier & flow better. I'm trying to take it day by day & have been working on our homeschool cubbies. I'll plan out lessons & leave room for spontaneity & flexibility. There is also a weekly local homeschool group that meets at a playground each week & has a very active Facebook group. Lots of people to interact with & ask questions to... I hope we can jump right into that community meeting, too!
I plan to be sharing photos & details about our journey. And his little uniform?! Adorable... ;)
Much love to you all! Have a wonderful Tuesday!!
Friday, June 14, 2013
Blueberry Season!
This afternoon, in nearly 100* heat, Little Guy & I went blueberry picking. We went this afternoon for two reasons... I obligated myself to bring some to the Ladies Luncheon at our church tomorrow AND we'd been talking about for over a week. We've had swim lessons this week, so no morning pickin' was possible. :) {More on those swim lessons later.}
We've been going to this particular blueberry farm for over 5 years off & on. The last three summers we have taken Little Guy. I'm sure the progression of pictures would be cute to see together! The owners are wonderful & the blueberries are organically raised, priced cheap, & super yummy.
We've been going to this particular blueberry farm for over 5 years off & on. The last three summers we have taken Little Guy. I'm sure the progression of pictures would be cute to see together! The owners are wonderful & the blueberries are organically raised, priced cheap, & super yummy.
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| "Momma!" |
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| Can you consider this an action shot? :) |
We had a somewhat traumatic experience during this visit. Well, traumatic for Momma... Not so much for Little Guy. I may write about it later & just wait to publish... One of those experiences that you think you may laugh about in the future, vow to embarrass your child later for it, & cry for a while about, too!
We ended up picking 4 pounds of blueberries that will be eaten at the Ladies Luncheon, given to my parents, & baked into some sweet treats. I'm hoping we can knock out one or two recipes with our first "harvest" of blueberries. Little Guy LOVES to help in the kitchen, so I'm sure I'll have some photos to share of our prep & product.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! We have a few events at church, but plan to head to the beach on Sunday to relax & celebrate Father's Day. Very excited about that!
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