Week 29 ~ April Already

On My Mind ~ Wow! It is April already. Time just keeps flying by me like a wind storm. This week felt like one of those weeks where nothing much happened, but actually plenty happened. I am glad I write down everything we did each night. That is a nice habit I developed years ago when we started homeschooling. Accumulated over the last 14 years, I have a stack of notebooks filled with lesson plans and notes that I have written.

Most Exciting to Me ~ On Easter Sunday we explored a new church. I understand that Easter Sunday is not the best day to explore a new church, but I really did not want to attend the one we have been attending this past year. It is boring and not meeting our needs very well. Much to my delight, the kids and I loved the new church. My husband will try it with us for the next few weeks and maybe we will make the switch. I hope it stays as wonderful as it was on Easter Sunday. I really enjoyed the music and message. The kids loved how friendly everyone was and how welcome they felt in service (kids are expected to attend service and they actually seem wanted there).

Most Exciting to the Kids ~ The kids loved Easter! We managed to squeeze in two more public Easter egg hunts and one more "official" hunt at home. The kids conducted several unofficial hunts all by themselves. We went to a huge hunt that was supported by our local health food store which had safe candy for Tom Sawyer. They even had safe cotton candy he could eat! It was so much fun watching Tom Sawyer eat that safe bag of cotton candy. He LOVED it. It was the first carnival food he has had in three years.

Books We Listened to or Read ~

• Here Lies the Librarian
• The Bobsy Twins (Little Red Riding Hood likes these.)
• Nancy Drew (Goldilocks is reading these)
• The Story of George Washington Carver (Our new FIAR book)
• Fantastic Antone Succeeds Experiences in Educating Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (This is what I am reading and it has some great ideas.)
• Ragweed (Tom Sawyer finished this.)
• Basher books
• Scooby Doo books
• Life of Fred Dogs

What We Are Watching ~

• Iron Chef U.S.A (The kids love this show.)
• Forks Over Knives (Continued research on the food we consume)
• 19 Kids and Counting (Season 12 on Amazon)

Where We Are Going ~ This was a "get back in the swing" of things week. We went to dance four days of the week. We also have neurofeedback later today for three of the kids. We also attended a special program at the library about how to become a backyard scientist. The kids liked petting the snakes and turtles.

Goldilocks ~ Goldilocks got on a wait list for a free reading and writing specialist with the literacy council. It will most likely be late summer before she is matched with a tutor. However, we are delighted to be on a list. I have talked to several tutors who would not take Goldilocks because she was too complex or delayed. The woman at the literacy council was not at all surprised by Goldilocks's diagnosis and delays. She said they had lots of qualified tutors who could work with her. As for math, she continues to struggle. I have decided to only work on addition with her for the next few weeks. She gets 2 minutes of media time for each correct worksheet. I want adding to be automatic instead of her counting on her fingers to solve problems. This is my holding pattern while I research the best options for her. I am looking at Math U See, a math program for Down Syndrome (that is supposed to be good for FASD kids) and a private tutor.

All the Rest ~ We started the next level of All About Spelling this week. The kids continue to like it and they really retain what they are learning. We also learned about cells in Real Science 4 Kids. The children have a special time set aside for doing workbooks each day. They all really like workbooks! I never have understood why. However, it is good reinforcement and gives me time to work on how to help Goldilocks more.

Blessings, Dawn