Jordan's latest new skills and more

So, I don't consider any child under the age of 4yo to be doing lessons of any sort, however I do work with them casually through games and such. Lately, I've been working with Jordan on naming some of her body parts through fun little games, and left/right discrimination. Yes, they will learn to tell left from right at 2yo if you make it a part of daily language. Well, today I was playing piggies with Jordan (you know, that fun little toes game, "this little piggy went to market......." that always ends in a tickle and the little dear squealing with laughter) and when we finished she stuck her left foot in my hand and said "fee! mo!" (translation: Feet! More!) so I quizzed her a little bit. She can identify her feet, nose, and hands when asked. Well, not so consistent on HER nose, when I ask her where JoJo's nose is she sticks her finger up mine instead LOL and she says the body part when we ask her where it is. So now we are working on belly, hair, and mouth. She is so cute, there's definitely no speech delays with her thank goodness!

Also, with Kimmy we've been working on colors and shapes. She's starting to get there, she can identify yellow, blue, and red with a fair amount of accuracy, and she knows circle, square, heart, and star. We also have started working on teaching her to recognize her name when its printed so that I can start putting her name on things for her to find instead of having one of her big sisters get things for her or my getting it for her. We also are working on getting her to talk around other people, she's still not too sure of herself with speaking if we're not at home or if new people are around. But she's getting there, she's come a long way in the past year with her speech delays thanks to the work we've been doing with her (no speech therapist involved for the most part, that's just not in our budget and insurance won't cover it for some reason)

Lydia's making progress too. She's been mastering a few things lately in the motor skills department, especially her ability to maneuver silverware. Yesterday at breakfast, she took on the challenge of trying to cut her pancakes with a plastic knife. She actually managed to cut them up (ok more like tear them up, but its definitely improvement) We're still working on her pencil grip and getting her fingers to work for her to start drawing and writing more, as she gets really tired fast when she tries (I'm talking 30 seconds fast normally) but that will come in time. That's the beauty of being able to homeschool, I can write for her when she gets tired, and she can type instead if she wants (or use my voice-recognition program that I use on my worst days for typing when it hurts too much to really type)

Melissa, well she's doing good in school from what I'm seeing with stuff she brings home every day. I just have to trust that she is doing as well as I think she is, and I'm still working with her daily on her reading. That's the only place she's not quite there yet, except for money recognition. But the money thing will come in time (and I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with her money knowledge, she got $10 from Scott's mom and $5 from my mom and stepdad for her birthday and was able to tell us exactly what they were, and she reads the price labels at the store for me on the lower shelves that I can't bend down to read some days, she also enjoys trying to sort and count all the change in our HUGE jar that we have sometimes if she has nothing else that she wants to do and doesn't want to tell me she's bored because she knows I'll give her a rag and tell her to clean the bathroom floor or some other horrible chore, its amazing how fast they learn to be imaginative when you do that kind of thing in response to "I'm bored mom!" LOL)

its official!

OK it is official, we are now enrolled in OHVA for the 2009-2010 school year. I got the confirmations in my e-mail about an hour ago, we are now members of the OHVA school and in the world of public schooling at home (face it, that's pretty much what OHVA and other virtual academies are, but I'm allowed to say that as a parent of OHVA kids) Anyway, all I will need to do is mail in a copy of Melissa's last report card when we get it, and then she'll be set to go.

Now we just wait for placement testing and to get our materials. I wonder how long that will take to be done..........................

call from OHVA

They are definitely on the ball, that's for sure. After Melissa got out of school today, I was getting the little kids out of their seats when I got a call fro OHVA. It was my person that is handling our registration process. She was calling to touch base with us and to remind me about the documents they need us to send in. I told her about the letter we got AGAIN saying that they are recommending that Melissa repeat K (yes we got another one today, despite the teacher saying that she may pass assessment if she keeps making progress at the current pace) and she told me that it would be no problem, if she's held back and we agree that she'll just change her grade and if not, then she'll leave it at 1st grade. Anyway, we had a nice little chat about the school and how things are done and what I can expect as the primary "instructional parent", and about the testing the girls will have to do. No problem at all, we're in process so far and all is well. I'm feeling better about this decision every day, and I know that its the perfect choice for us right now. The contact that has been made so far by OHVA is really helping me to feel more comfortable with this decision. I mean, I felt good about it when we first made the decision, but today's call really helped to cement that great feeling I'm having.

things are moving forward for fall

Well, yesterday I did the enrollment application for Melissa and Lydia to OHVA for fall, and I printed up all the paperwork that I had to fill out by hand and mail in with the documentation they need/want. So, all the paperwork was filled out and documents were copied. Except one. I could NOT find Lydia's immunization record from the health department. I searched all day, everywheer that I could think of that it may be. Then last night I went to bed without finding it.

This morning I got up at 5:15 with Scott, and after he left I logged on the laptop and started reading my e-mail and a few other things online. Then it hit me. The day after Lydia got her booster shots, I had to take her to the doctor for a bad ear infection. I had taken her shot record to the doctor to give them the information on her shots the day before, and it was in my diaper backpack! lol That was easy enough................... So the paperwork all went into an envelope and to the mailbox for pickup. The papers are now on their way to Maumee, Ohio for the registration to continue.

And then, an hour or so ago I logged into the OHVA admissions portal to check something else, and I found that they had already assigned us a person to handle the registration and testing until we are assigned our teacher. Cool beans, its definitely moving forward now!

Now I just have to wait for the next step, which is placement testing I think. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what the site said is next after the peperwork is recieved and processed. That won't be too bad for Lydia, but I have a feeling Melissa won't do too well with it when its her turn for testing................................ But I'll have to wait and see how she does when its time for her to be tested.

I just hope I got all the documentation they asked for, I don't want to have to mail more paperwork to them next week LOL

Ohio Virtual Academy

Remember how I posted about praying for the knowledge to know exactly what we need to do this upcoming fall? Well, I got the answer and its NOTHING like what I was thinking about.

For the last several days, every day a flier for the Ohio Virtual Academy or another virtual school for our area would be in the mailbox. I would glance at the fliers just long enough to see which one it was from, and then drop them in our recycling bin. I'm not a fan of the virtual academies, they feel too much like public school to me (oh wait, they ARE public school, just at home instead of in a building) Anyway, last night I had a dream, and the ONLY thing I can remember was that it was involving me schooling Melissa and Lydia this upcoming fall.

When I woke up this morning, I thought about that little I remembered from the dream, and I knew it was His way of telling me something but I didn't get what it was. Then I thought to myself "hmmmmm OHVA, I wonder............" and decided that after I got Melissa to school I'd look at their site a little just for kicks. So I got Melissa up and into the shower, then she got dressed and I got her Cheerios at the table. She ate, got shoes on, finished her homework, and then sat and colored with her little sisters for a couple minutes before time to leave.

I walked her across the street like usual so she could walk the 200 or so yards to the school (this is a new thing for us) and then I went back inside once I was sure she was in the school (I can watch kids go inside from my porch) I got on my laptop, and the internet wasn't working. So I went and fiddled with the main computer and the wireless hub and the modem, and ended up having to reboot the whole thing for it to work again. (we have to do this every few months for some reason) By the time I got back to the laptop and online, I forgot about checking out OHVA. I checked my e-mail, then read a few chat boards I go to regularly. On one, a lady was talking about unschooling, asking who was unschooling their kids and such. Now, Scott and I were discussing taking a more unschooling type of approach for the next several years to make it easier on ourselves, and so I responded to her with that. The next discussion I read was talking about a virtual academy in FL, and wanting to know what people thought about doing virtual schooling. Then I remembered that I was going to check out OHVA lol

So I checked out OHVA, and instantly it hit me like a load of bricks. THIS is what we're supposed to do in the fall. I need the rigid structure that it gives us for assignments, the materials are excellent (OHVA uses the K12 curriculum), and it gives us things that we can't get ourselves right now (we are out of hs budget money for math and LA materials, and we wanted the girls to start learning typing and gaining more computer skills) Melissa is a very worksheet-oriented child, and needs structure also. There is a ton of accountability involved since it is technically a public school, but it gives me the ability to be 100% involved in their education right now when they need that the most. If I don't have that strict accountability, then I won't do it usually. I'm really bad about that kind of thing. And best of all, my father approves of it since its public education and I have to answer to a teacher and do all the standardized testing and all that stuff. His biggest thing about my homeschooling is the fact that I have a hard time sticking with stuff unless I absolutely have to, and that I have health problems that require me to have stuff set up so that anyone can pick up right where I leave off without a problem. With our Sonlight stuff, we can't just pick up and go right now, handing over everything to my father or Scott's mom if needed because I'm in the hospital. By using OHVA for the time being, starting this fall, it will meet all our needs and still give the girls a great education and the one on one time that they need. And best of all, I won't have to coordinate times for bus pickups and dropoffs with the two oldest going to K and 1st grade in the fall while Kimmy is going to Head Start a couple days a week at the same time.

I'm still going to use the Sonlight materials we have though, as supplement to our OHVA education. One can NEVER have too many great books!

I love this time of year

Have you ever looked out the window and felt truly ALIVE? I'm having one of those days right now, in fact this is the second day in a row I've had this particular feeling. The sun is shining, there are no clouds that I can see, and I turned off my furnace yesterday and it STILL is off (those big windows are really good at heating this house when its this time of year, overnight it only got down to 65 in here except the bedrooms where we had the electic heaters running) The kids are happier, things are blooming, and allergies are flaring big time. So why do I feel so peaceful and great today? Well, its an interesting story..................

Two days ago I e-mailed a friend of mine. See, this week is K registration at the public schools, and I haven't gone to register Lydia since we are planning on homeschooling in the fall (including bringing Melissa back home) Well, I've had so many doubts about my ability to just do this, I was considering going up to register her for this fall. So anyway, I e-mailed her to get a little boost that I can do this, and then I went to read the Homeschool Share forums. My friend posts over there, and I read a post about how she'd prayed about next school year and how she felt led to doing something completely different for the upcoming year instead of creating her own unit studies and lapbooking them. It made me stop and think a moment, and I realized that I hadn't PRAYED about this fall at all really. So I stopped right then and prayed, at 5:30 or something in the morning. I asked God what His plan was for their education at this point, and I asked him to give me total peace about whatever decision is the right one and to help me remain convicted and strong in the decision, no matter what it may be. Well, the rest of that day I started feeling calmer, and then yesterday morning I felt this odd peace as I read stuff on the homeschool forums I go to and I filled my shopping cart at amazon and Sonlight with the last couple things I need for the school year so that when its time I can just order it without thinking. I haven't felt this confident and peaceful about a decision in a long time, except for the decision that Scott and I made to not have any more children right now. It is a very refreshing feeling.

I know part of this feeling is because I know God wants us to do this, and part of it is because we have me on meds that work. I'm no longer in *constant* pain (although I have pleanty of that still but it is liveable), I don't get the cycles of depressions and angry periods, I can sleep at night, and I'm actually feeling like there is a reason to get out of bed and try to shower and get dressed every day. It is truly amazing, I've been slowly handing more over to His control and I'm seeing the benefits of it in many MANY areas of my life. Its not just the homeschooling part, His fingerprints are in all areas of my life right now. I am so happy right now to have this ability to put my trust and life in His hands, and know that I will be taken care of and led the right way. In fact, on Wednesday when I was doubting myself so much, I told myself that I just need to FROG more. (if you don't know, FROG is "fully rely on God" and its something I was taught as a kid and that silly saying still follws me as an adult) I am starting to really see the fruits of that FROGing, and I wish I had done it sooner.

OK so I went waaaaaay off on a tangent here today. But I really felt like I needed to post this, so I did. And now I will leave you to chew on my post, if you so desire.

more reading success

Melissa is required to be able to read books at a certain level to pass K in school. Well, this has been a struggle for her. A few times last month, her teacher would send home a book that level as her baggy book for the evening, and it would literally have her in tears because its too hard. Well, today's baggy book is that level again. I sat her down on a stool in the kitchen to read to me in private, and she immediately went into meltdown mode. Started crying and covering her face and slumping down, saying she can't do it. I managed to calm her down, took a couple minutes though. I talked to her about it. I told her that I'll never think she's dumb if she can't do it, that its ok to not be able to read it if she tries to, and that I'll help her with the words if she needs it. She finally stopped, and started to read it. She only needed help with ONE WORD! She missed the word "tie", which is totally understandable since we never really did much with double vowels and other goodies (we were still struggling on cvc words) She even managed to nail the words "special" and "basketball" without any trouble, just a slight pause before she said them. It appears that my girl may be passing the reading part of the K assessment after all......................... Now we just have to get her counting solidly without any help so that she can pass that area, then we'll be set for the year.

Reading!!!!! she's really reading!

This week is Spring Break for ps. So I've had the joy of working with Melissa the last few days one on one for much more time than I could with her in school. Today, I decided to break out our K12 readers (obtained from a friend) and I handed her one. She just read 2 stories from the 3rd book to me. We obviously still have a LONG way to go in reading, but its proof that she's getting there. Every word she didn't kno by sight, she said the individual sounds for the letters and then blended them to make the right word (we're still on words like nap and mat) She even recognized words like "the", "and", and "on" without hesitating.

She has definitely come a long way in reading recently, the readers that she was bringing home I thought she probably memorized the stories at school that day but she's never read this book before around me, so now I know for sure that she's really reading it and not just reciting from her memory. I am so proud of my little girl for the progress she's making.