Back to School…

Well tomorrow is the day! Danielle starts goes back to school tomorrow.

We have processed through a lot of thoughts and nerves over the last month or so. I think we are in a good place. Some of her original fears and concerns are disappearing. I am sure new ones will creep up, but that is OK. We have talked about submitting to this path God has her on and keeping an open mind, even if things don’t go the way she is used to. We are working on starting our day with a prayer of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for those things that don’t really look like things we should be thankful for. Thanking God for those trials and difficult situations that shape and mold us into a better person as we grow and mature. I am hoping that starting her day off trying to turn negatives into positives will create a culture where she can turn her negatives into positives. Danielle needs that. Her nature is to be negative, so I pray that she can start to see the positive to situations. That she can be that positive light for others.

Danielle says she is excited and I know that she is excited. However, I know tomorrow will also be filled with some nerves and some change. I just pray it is a good day.

We have made some great progress this summer. Actually we have made some great progress this year. Some things don’t seem that different but some definitely are. I am so thankful for this year of homeschooling. This year that I had so much time with her. Time that we really needed. Times that were tough, times that we both learned a lot, but good times. I know with out a doubt that we needed that year away from distractions, away from worldly influences. I know she is stronger and I know I understand her better. I hope she also understands things better, understands herself better.

So now I have to give up some control. I can’t be involved in every situation. I can’t always be the answer. I hope that she is able to communicate about her day and her interactions so I can help her process through things and help her continue to grow as a person.

Emily and I won’t start homeschooling till after Labor Day. So it is nice to have some extra time just her and I. She is a little less high maintenance so she sometimes doesn’t get the attention she deserves 🙂

 

The DECISION

Do you think we could have as much press as Lebron? Ha ha, I don’t think so either.

Well we have made our decision. We are trusting God that this is the right path for our family. There are still unanswered questions. But then again, if we had all the answers, we wouldn’t need faith would we?

If you remember, I felt the appropriate questions was – which path would further Danielle’s grow the most?

We had different concerns to work through. In the end I think the Holy Spirit has given us comfort with our decision. I will try to put my fears behind me and fully trust God on this. I still have the “what if I didn’t hear right syndrome”, but am hoping that I work through that with God as well.

So for the next school year, Danielle will be going back to Perry High School. She will be in the self contained classrooms that I believe, in the past at least, is called “Environmental Services”.

The couple of meeting I have had with people from Perry and BVR have answered some of our questions and addressed our concerns. No situation is perfect but we think that with all the resources and training the staff at Perry and BVR have, this will be the best chance for her. I feel that she will get more exposure to a lot of jobs and situations with this program. I think BVR will be more involved with her being at the school than at home.

I had at times questioned why we learned about this late and not when she was a sophomore. Then we could have tried it before homeschooling. I believe the transition from resource room classes to this Environmental Services program would have been too hard on Danielle and her self-esteem, which is already a challenge. I also believe that the year of home schooling we had was awesome for her development. I can sometimes forget where we came from and how much progress we have made. I tend to look at where we aren’t rather than looking at where we were.

We feel that her strength in character and faith will help her to be more successful in a public school setting. It will not be easy and she will still have her struggles but we think this will be better. We also feel that we are all doing a better job of being on the same page as family and expressing to our children what is expected of them and this will allow her to be more successful. Her values are different as well. We have seen a lot of growth in the area of values and what is important to her.

She is already telling us she trusts us, she is also worried about worldly influence and she sees no need for new school clothes! I know we are doing something right 🙂

Jack Everetts was able to answer some questions for us as far as academics go. I feel good about the ability to cater the curriculum to her needs. I was happy to hear that they are able and willing to reevaluate at any time during the school year and tweak what they are doing and how they are teaching it.

We feel that putting her in a controlled environment with limited influence and interaction is a good first step. Rather than going full blast when she some days enters the works force. Small amounts of exposure to build up her pragmatic judgment, decision making skills, social skills and strength in her values and faith.

We realize that we probably won’t be able to make as much progress in some areas, not being around her as much as I would had she been homeschooling. I will continue to work with her and have many conversations with her at home. We feel that her academics and transition skills are very important to get now and we can continue to work on the other areas for years to come.

At the end of the day, we felt that we could always take her back out of the program if it isn’t working or causing too much of a backslide. We won’t really know how the program will benefit her until we try. So that is what we are going to do. Continue to pray for us during this transition.

 

There is a fork in the road….which path to take?

I feel like I am caught in one of the “Choose your Own Adventure” stories from when I was a kid. I am at the end of the page and now we have to choose how the story goes next.

If you would like Danielle to go to Perry High School again, turn to page 98.

If you would like Danielle to keep being homeschooled, turn to page 124.

Which path would we choose?

So back to that day- at lunch  – when my friend told me about the program. She was so excited to tell me about. She knows our family, our struggles, our plans, our challenges, all of it. She knows Danielle and what she needs and where she struggles, etc. She was excited because she thought this was a great program for Danielle. She knew what I had wanted, what I wasn’t happy with, why we did what we did and she saw this as an opportunity for Danielle.  It wasn’t that she just didn’t like us homeschooling – it was about what she saw as a golden opportunity. 

My reaction was different. It wasn’t that the program didn’t sound good. My first reaction was WHAT? How do I NOT know about this. It was frustration. I had always wondered why there was not a self contained classroom setting for children with special needs. It seemed odd to me to not offer that. I never came out and asked. I was frustrated with the lack of transitional skills and the focus on purely academics. They said they would help with resume writing and job  applications, but no real life/transitional skills were being addressed. We knew that some of the academics were over her head and not really relevant for her. We knew she needed life skills. I still don’t understand why we were never told, but I accept that it wasn’t for us at that time.

My next reaction was more like nervous fear. What? Put her BACK in school? That was not possible, not an option. We are homeschooling now! I can’t let her back in the public school system with people that don’t know her like I do. They don’t know what she needs, I do! I can’t let her go back to school where I don’t know everything she does and says all day long! I can’t let her out of my protection. Or could I?

I listened to what my friend knew and how to get more information as I processed if this was even something I was willing to entertain. I listened as I considered that there might be something out there better for Danielle than what we were currently doing. I was skeptical but I listened. Then I started the research process.

I kept thinking – well if this isn’t something I should listen to (or do) then why am I finding out about it. Of course there was also the complication of our plans to move at some point in the near future. That is more complicated when kids are enrolled in school.

So now is the time I present this to God and ask for guidance. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t looking for the easy way out. I wanted to make sure I just wasn’t being tempted and I caved when presented with another option. I wanted to make sure I was doing what I could for Danielle. The one constant in this is that this is about Danielle and what is best for her. I feel confident that this entire time her best interest were what we considered, not ourselves.

I had some selfish thoughts. I really like our flexible schedule. I like not having to deal with a school schedule to plan whatever I want. I couldn’t stop homeschooling. That would be like saying I failed or something. What would people think of me? Would they think I can’t handle it. Would they think I couldn’t do it? Would people think it was hard and I was taking the easy way out? In the end I knew I couldn’t let any of this influence my thought process. Again, it had to be about Danielle, not me.

I began my quest for information and guidance for answers.

We decided to homeschool Danielle for many different reasons and I needed to take a look at all of those. I needed to figure out what path was better for Danielle and her future. How can she develop the most to be most successful a year from now.

Influence – We worked hard limiting her influence for the past year. She is very impressionable. Our culture teaches a lot of things that we do not approve of. We want to make sure we are setting an example for – one that isn’t complicated by the opposite approach. We spent a lot of time and energy fixing past habits and behavior. Just because most people do something or think a certain way doesn’t make it correct. The thought of putting her back into the environment we felt was hurting the situation made me extremely nervous. How can THAT be what is best for Danielle? Again Danielle is impressionable, even more so than a typical teenager.

But it wasn’t just influence because we didn’t want Danielle to pick up on bad behaviors. We want to protect her. Danielle doesn’t think things through. She acts in the here and now without consideration for the past or the future. She also doesn’t look at a situation as a whole, but a single aspect. Therefore we felt she was a target to be taken advantage of or convinced to do something that with proper thought process she would know she shouldn’t do. The last thing we want is for Danielle to do something questionable because she wasn’t protected or because she wants to make friends and be accepted. She needs someone looking out for her, per se.

Danielle’s brain development is delayed in regards to other students her age, therefore she isn’t at the same understanding and maturity level as the other students. It is like sticking a younger kid with older kids and not watching over to make sure those older kids are “corrupting” the younger kids (for lack of a better term).

Academics – Perry didn’t seem to be too in tune with Danielle’s academic level or what she needed. We have a lot of flexibility with academics when we homeschool. We don’t have a certain pace to go at I don’t have to teach at a certain grade level. I don’t have standards to worry about or anyone telling me what to teach and how much time to spend on it. I could make it more personal for Danielle and what she needs. We had one on one teaching which really helps Danielle process and learn. What would this program involved academics wise?

Processing – There is a complexity to Danielle and her thinking process. One that taken some time to get a handle on. It deals a lot with her frontal lobe and its development. Danielle and I spend a lot of time talking things out. We figure things out together. Because she may only see one aspect of a situation, we spend time talking about the whole picture. We may also talk about a situation after the fact. We discuss some of the things she didn’t consider.  I hope that some of our conversations stick and that they help her in the future. For me this is huge. A huge piece that will be missing. This is something that I feel has really helped her development over the past year. What will that look like when we won’t have as many opportunities for this.

These are the things we need to consider. Danielle is a different person than she was a year ago. When Danielle was told we were considering sending her back to school, she didn’t feel strongly one way or another. At the end of the initial conversation, I asked her if she trusted us to make the right decision for her future and she said she did. I knew she meant it and wasn’t saying what I wanted to hear. This was huge for us. I think it speaks volumes on the changes that have been made. Danielle is a stronger person that she was a year ago. Danielle understands the world and our family values better than she did a year ago. Does that mean that she will be more successful in public school, because she has a stronger foundation and understanding? Will putting her in public school influence the path we are on? Will she backslide because of the interruption in the routine we had going and all the extra time we had to invest in her?

At the end of the day, the appropriate question is still, what path helps Danielle be more successful a year from now? Which path helps her get further on her path for her life?

There is WHAT kind of program?

Life is funny. Last spring we decided to homeschool. This is definitely something I NEVER thought I would do. I don’t know if she remembers or not, but I have a friend from high school that once told me she thought about homeschooling. I don’t remember what my exact reaction was to her, but I am certain I shot that idea down. I thought it was crazy. Then God laughed, placed a group of homeschooling families right in front of me and probably kept laughing, knowing what was around the corner.

So we were convinced we would be a homeschooling family. It certainly felt very right for us. We knew it was what Danielle needed and certainly seemed like a good idea for Emily as well. Funny this is, now I find myself wishing I was homeschooled. Well maybe not wishing, because I don’t regret the experiences that shaped whom I am. However, I am able to see how much I could have learned and flourished had I been homeschooled and left to learn at my own pace.

So here we are one year later on the verge of possibly amending our path again. I definitely didn’t think after a year (of a pretty successful homeschooling year) that I would be listening intently to whether or not Danielle was meant to go back to school. Yet, that is exactly where we find ourselves.

In the spring, I started worrying about graduation. Danielle will be a senior this fall. I know that because of Danielle’s disabilities she isn’t able to take the regular state required classes for graduation. However, in school, she has an IEP. An plan that allows her to take a modified curriculum and still graduate. I never wanted homeschool to put her at a disadvantage. I don’t want to say, sorry, you can’t graduate, however if you stayed in public school you could have. I started worrying that her IEP wouldn’t translate to home and that I wouldn’t be able to say she graduated and be confident she did. I know realistically we could say she did and no one would probably ever question it. After all we don’t anticipate college. I don’t think anyone has ever asked to see mine. I wanted to make sure I could honestly say she was done and she had graduated. In my head I think I am probably just analyzing it too much. Looking back, I think maybe this was a seed planted to make me think and get this ball rolling. If in fact, That is our path. I probably wouldn’t have entertained the idea of her going back to school, without this conflict in my head.

A friend told me she knew someone in the special education field and that she would see if she knew anything (about graduation/homeschooling/special needs). In my mind I was still not considering her going back to school. I was just trying to think how I was going to accomplish getting her graduated. I thought this person might have some insight and calm my fears. At one point I even thought about just teaching her what is on the GED And having her take it and move away from academics to real life skills. In all reality, that is what Danielle needed. She needed a practical education. She needed life application, functional skills, life skills. We did that at home but the hours spent on school work got in the way. Danielle needs something to feel good about, something that makes her feel accomplished. In the end I decided the GED was probably too complex of a route to go.

So one day in  May I was having lunch with my friend and she had talked to her friend who was in special education. Turns out on an IEP there are two paths. One is cognitive. They deal with modified curriculum, maybe some behavior issues. Then there is another path that is cognitive AND functional. A program that was in a self contained classroom. Not all districts have this program (but have access to it) but Perry DOES!!!! Wait WHAT? How have I not heard of this before? Did I not have paperwork from doctors that said Danielle needed more functional skills and less academics? “…Danielle will need additional assistance with life skills, pragmatic language and social skills, and assistance with higher-level problem solving.” How was this not enough for me to even know about this program. This was what I had wanted for Danielle. A self contained protected environment where the academics were a little easier and she was able to learn some real life job skills and some independent living skills.

Here it was May and the school year was ending soon. I needed to gather information. I needed some answers to so many questions. There was a program at Perry that I knew nothing about. There was also a program for most of Stark County that my friend’s friend worked at and thought was fabulous. The other kicker – we considered moving in either November this year or next spring. That was not a big deal at all when homeschooling. If public school was involved then it did matter. So now I needed to find out about 2 programs – and to determine if either was right for Danielle and if so which one and where should we live???

I had some conversations with the guy the runs the Stark County Program and had a meeting with ARC of Stark County. They helped us schedule a meeting with Perry on the LAST day of school!!! I was pretty fortunate to get it. It was the end of the day, very last day of school.

What I needed was to learn about this program and make sure they understood Danielle a lit bit better (and our concerns about public school) and determine what was best for her. Turns out a family friend oversees the program. Someone that used to go to our church. Someone that knew of Danielle. Someone we could trust.

There are two levels in this program. They are in two self contained classrooms. They switch between the two classes. They do academics with life application. They learn transitional skills to transfer from school to work with actual real life skills. Last year they opened up a coffee shop kiosk for the staff. The students ran the shop, ordered products, made coffee, etc. BVR is heavily involved to assess the students and see what is out there, what matches with their abilities and interests. Job coaching and job shadowing is involved. It is a fairly protected environment in the new wing of the school. The students all go to lunch at the same time. They have the option of sitting together with a teacher’s aide. They can take electives in main stream classes if they choose, but they don’t have to. Many of the students don’t. If they do, it can take away from some of the job/life skills portion of the day. If kids are excelling the in the academics they have in the self contained classrooms, they can (with IEP team approval) bump them up to resource room classes (what Danielle had before).

I like the concept of the program. I like the protection and easier workload. The life/job skills are something Danielle very much is in need of. I know BVR will work with her either way but this way she gets more, I think. Plus the Transitional Coordinator would also be working with her. However, it is still public school. It is still the influence we are trying to avoid. It is still not me – someone that knows her better than anyone else – her best advocate for what she truly needs. I won’t be there to walk her through a situation, to help her think it through and really see the whole picture and not just the single aspect that she is considering. I won’t be there to coach her after a situation so she can see how she should deal with others or act.

I can see the positives to going back and the positives to staying home. So the question is what path furthers Danielle? What path would help Danielle the most for her future? What path gets Danielle the closes to point B. What path is God leading us on?

It is a little easier to make a decision when it affects yourself. I can fix it if it is wrong. I can live with it. However, when it is your daughter’s future, it gets a little more important.

I know that I won’t have a problem or fear sending her (or keeping her home), if in fact I know this is God’s path. That is the current dilemma. Whose voice am I hearing, my own or God’s.

What a difference a year makes…

Here we are a year later – guess I am not such a good blogger since I hardly posted 🙂 I am the type of person that has thoughts roaming through my mind pretty much at all times. It is pretty impossible for me to do ONE thing at a time instead of multiple. I cannot turn off the thoughts! So you would think that type of person would have plenty to blog about – I need to work on that. Maybe I need a more general theme for my blog 🙂

Homeschooling year 1 was so good for our family! Some things were harder than I thought and some were easier. It had its ups and downs but I am very thankful that is the path we took. The flexible schedule was really nice for our family and to develop relationships with each other. There were challenges but also rewards. Anything worth its weight has its challenges, right?

Teaching a student that learns basically the total opposite of you can be a challenge. I know,  however, that Danielle learned more at home this year than she would have at school and that much of it was more important to her future than what she would have learned at school. Homeschooling also allowed me to see her on a daily basis and how she reacts to situations and what helps and what is an hindrance to her. It is nice to really understand your child. Although, there are things, that I still don’t understand, it does help to see things happening and not hearing about it later. We clashed at times and some days were spent more “talking it out” than learning academics – but we made it through it and are both better people for it! We have a ways to go with social situations, life skills, behavior and academics but the improvement is so nice to see!

I believe the year we spent in which Danielle had very little interaction and influence of other teenagers really helped our family. Some may feel we are just overprotective, but it became clear to us that Danielle needed a level of protection higher than the typical teenager. Many things needed to be taught and understood. While she was in public school, it was very difficult to give her structure and a foundation for what we believe and how she is expected to behave. The constant interaction with what we were specifically trying to avoid was a challenge. It was very confusing and overwhelming to her. I know coming from lack of structure growing up and then us trying to provide it was very tough on Danielle. Then going to school or seeing what she had seen on TV or in movies and us trying to teach her something totally different which was not very accepted by our culture seemed impossible at times. I truly believe that the year of just seeing our example, our rules and our culture was very helpful. She has a better understanding of how one really should act and just because she sees others doing it or acting a certain way doesn’t make it right. Majority does NOT always rule! It also was good opportunity to work on her faith and the right traits of a Christian, again which usually does not match up with what culture tells you.

I was able to see Emily blossom as a reader. Much of the year she struggled with putting sounds together. She knew all the sounds but just wasn’t connecting it to reading. She could memorize some words and did many many exercises in phonics, but it wasn’t translating to reading. Then, all of the sudden, her reading took off and we were amazed at how well she read. It was very clear and flowed very well. She loves learning about time and money. School comes easy for her so far. She accomplished a lot this year. She never seemed to be unhappy that she wasn’t in school, which is something I feared.

Emily spent part of the year learning Kindergarten material. When we felt she mastered most of what we had for Kindergarten, we moved on to 1st grade. We will have to see what is out there for her this year. I am certain there are some Kindergarten type things we didn’t do as well as some more first grade work to tackle!

Both girls were able to learn where all 50 states are on a map and in what order they entered the USA. Danielle also learned the capitals and nicknames. We also talked about State Birds, Trees and Flowers but didn’t memorize those. We also learned (and yes I am including myself) all of the presidents in order.

As you can see this year made a huge impact on our family and we were able to see a lot of change in this year. That however isn’t the only thing that has changed for us this year. We are now praying (seeking God’s clear voice) and strongly considering sending Danielle back to Perry High School after learning about a self contained program for special needs that we didn’t know existed as an option for us. It is a mix of academics and cognitive skills as well as functional learning for life skills. I have been learning more about it over the last 6 weeks and we are coming closer to making our decision. For us it is a matter of which path can make the biggest impact on Danielle’s future. Which path can help her get further along, in one year, to be more successful in life.

Look for a post soon with more information on that path that God might be leading us on!

Still getting ready…

It is weird to see/hear about all the children going back to school and not starting our own yet. We won’t be starting till about mid September. We are taking a trip to Niagara Falls (which I guess can be educational) on the 9th of September, so we decided to wait. It is also very nice to have some extra time the three of us, without school.

I am still getting everything ready. I have ordered and received some of the text books. The rest I am working on getting the best deal and figuring out what I need to purchase and what I can just use from the library when the time comes. I went to the Wise Owl this week. I will have to go back alone. I couldn’t believe how big it was! It was overwhelming, but what a great resource.

I haven’t made a full plan on daily schedule so I guess I should get moving on that. Although I know I can’t perfect that until we actually start. I work very quickly and Danielle does not. I am not sure I can even guess on how much time I need per subject at this point. I might have to ease in some of the subjects.

It will be quite the challenge trying to figure out how to balance the time I need to devote to Danielle to really help her learn and also devote time to Emily whose work will be simple and not very time consuming. Hopefully Emily is patient 🙂 It will be sort of backwards. Danielle will actually require more of my time.

I am fairly surprised that I haven’t dealt with much back lash from our decision. I imagined that many people would think we were crazy and possibly bad controlling parents to remove our 16 year old from public school to teach her ourselves. I know that this is definitely best for us. I have no doubts. I just figured most people would not understand. Unless you fully understand Danielle, I can see why that seems pretty unusual.

I am excited yet nervous. It is such a good feeling to know how instrumental I will be in their education, yet also intimidating.

I feel good knowing that I will help Danielle way more than they could at school. However I try not to put too much pressure on myself. It is a big responsibility. I can’t count on Danielle to learn things on our own. I have to teach her. I don’t have the luxury of a student that just learns some basic skills by observing. Everything (mostly) needs to be pointed out and taught. I won’t lie, it can be exhausting and frustrating. But I have learned that even when I think I don’t come close to having the patience of not getting frustrated. I do have the right mind for her. I know her so well. I know her better than she knows her self (or will admit to). My mind works in a way that allows me to think with/for her, which she needs. So even when I think, Lord, I don’t have the patience to deal with her. I tell myself, she needs me. God has put me in her life because although she might not like how involved I am in every decision and thought process, she needs it, she needs me. I just pray I can be what she needs. That I can help her be the person she wants to be. That I don’t let her down. I know it sounds controlling and in some aspects it probably is. However, I do think she needs it. She needs to be controlled until she can think through things on her own. I know that might sound bad and I can’t expect you to understand but I really think that is what she needs. So it is a lot of pressure (most of which I put on myself). I might end up being responsible for this young life learning how to function in society. I just try to just tell myself that I am giving her way more than she would get in the public school setting. I am also going backwards and teaching her some much needed things that she either missed all together or just never fully learned. I have big plans to teach her a lot of life skills. Things that would definitely be missed in a school setting.

I probably have made plans for the year that we can’t quite accomplish. I have lofty goals I think. I am not sure we will get to all of it. Some of the science and social studies we are doing, we will be doing together. The people reading my proposed curriculum and subjects probably think I am pretty crazy for some of the things I plan to teach my Kindergartner. I don’t really expect much of it to stick, but I feel if I expose her, it can only help.

I am excited to be able to teach Emily. Right now I think I can teach her more than she could learn in a class of 20-30 students. For one, we won’t be “playing” near the amount of time she would at school. I can teach a lot more in a few hours than they can in public schools. It will also allow Emily to work at her own pace. So far she is pretty much the spitting image of myself, so I expect she will probably learn pretty quickly (and so far has). I can probably teach her quite a bit in the early years. It is the later years that worry me. Can I challenge her enough? Can I keep up with the pace she is capable of learning? Can I prepare her for college? I also do worry that I won’t do enough “fun” things that might happen at school. I hope I keep her interest. I do feel bad at times for some of those things she will miss out on. Not sure art projects will be near as much fun at home as it would at school, especially with a mom that has no creative bones in her body 🙂

As happy as I am with our decision and excited for it to actually begin, I do get a little jealous of the parents that are sending their kids off to school. Well I can’t really say jealous. I haven’t felt those feelings really. Although I do think, wow that won’t be me, maybe ever. Posting of Facebook, how excited and ready I am for school to start.  I love my kids to death but can see the appeal in the summer ending and fall beginning and the children going off to school. I haven’t felt the I can’t wait for school to begin feeling, but maybe because I know it won’t. We had a good summer and I don’t find myself wishing they were going off to school at this point. I guess that say a lot. God really has changed my heart a lot although it needs more change, I am sure. Danielle and I have had our moments and sometimes many of them over the last couple of years. It is pretty amazing that after a whole summer together I am not dreading school and wishing she was going to school. Those thoughts don’t really enter my head. The idea of having time to myself is appealing but not really because my kids drive me crazy, mainly just because my only time to myself comes after 11 pm  🙂

This post was pretty scattered. I hadn’t posted in a few days. Last week was a busy week for me and trying to get all the curriculum and books decided on was a little stressful. I am very glad that I have that taken care of and can breathe a bit this week.

My curriculum search

This has not been an easy quest to find which curriculum is best for us. First I have the challenge of Danielle not being at age level academically. I knew that going in. I know that through her IEP, things are taught to her at different level and easier material. I know also that she still struggled in school. I know that the testing she did with doctors, let me know that she was pretty far behind. However, I knew that she was tossed a bunch of material for the last several years, that although above her head, may have stuck at some point. I knew Danielle needed more life lessons and skills than some other stuff she would get in a regular curriculum. So I knew going in I couldn’t just say oh OK this 11th grade curriculum looks good (to me). We started some placements tests. That was more time consuming than I thought and the results were lower than I had anticipated. She was a trooper though, she took every test I asked her to take. I still have one I would like her to take but mainly for my own knowledge. I have done a lot of research and I am getting closer.

I am finding that as a general rule 5th grade seems to be where she is at. Some of it is above her and some is below her but I think overall she fits about 5th grade. It saddens me that she has probably felt like she has been in a haze for years being taught things that are clearly above her. It saddens me that there are probably more kids at school just as lost in the system.

Another challenge I have is how Danielle learns. She doesn’t learn by seeing or observing. She sometimes will learn by doing. Mainly she learns by hearing. For a typical teenager you might find that the work can be done independently or via computer. For Danielle this isn’t ideal and we go back to her not really learning the material. She needs it to be taught to her. She needs it to be told multiple times and mainly in different ways. I have to look at each curriculum and make sure it will work for her and her style of learning and my style of teaching.

Balancing my time between Danielle and Emily will be a challenge, but I think it will work out, in time.

I had determined early that I knew a huge focus would be on grammar and math. She struggles with both of these subjects. Math was worse than I thought because they have allowed her to use a calculator for so long. She has totally lost a lot of concepts. Concepts she will need for everyday life. Grammar is pretty close to what I thought but we do need to go back several years to teach some fundamentals. The things is Danielle has the potential to be a good writer. She is great at creating a story or an idea. It is the writing that gets her. Her concepts are good but she isn’t organized and doesn’t use good grammar. I would love to enhance her grammar so that writing would be something she would explore. Writing and grammar will be a big focus for us this year.

She appears to have one more year of science that is needed. However, I believe she has the required physical science. As I realize Danielle won’t learn much in a normal science class to use for life, I have decided to try to find something that either interests her or that will be of some value to her. I also want to incorporate Emily into some of it and teach them together. Then making it more complex for Danielle. I think I will do some astronomy, weather and oceans. I will mix in some “how things work” kind of science because I know this does interest Danielle. I won’t be using too many text books but mostly many many books.

Danielle needs both government and economics before she is finished. We may do them both this year or I may save one for next year. I will start with government. I have found some workbooks for grades 4-8 that I plan to use along with some books that explain some things (like the Constitution, Bill or Rights, etc) in a more kid friendly way. I also want to spend quite a bit of time on the election coming up and that process and the three branches of government. I also thought learning the presidents and some things about them would be good during this year of government. I will mix in some geography this year as we learn the states and capitals, as I don’t think she has learned them. I plan to involve Emily in all of this as well as I think there is some definite things she can learn. Maybe she won’t remember any of it, but maybe she will. If we get through with Government we will move on to Economics.

I also am going to do vocabulary and spelling with Danielle as I think these are both areas in need of improvement. I will start making a list of words she doesn’t seem to know the meaning of for my own vocabulary but will also use a curriculum for it. I have noticed she can tell when she sees a wrong word and a correct word together, which one is correct. However when she hears the word, her spelling is very poor.

Of course we will mix in some reading/literature as she needs to improve her reading level.

I also want to teach her typing. I think it is sad that they don’t place a bigger importance on this in the schools. Cooking will also be something we learn throughout the year. I would like to review Health as I think she missed many key things.

I would be interested in doing some photography with her as part of her arts but I have no idea how to go about doing that.

So these are the curriculum’s I plan to use (so far):

Easy Grammer 6 and Daily Grams 6
Saxon Math 65
Vocabulit 6
Apples Daily Spelling Drills
Economic Literarcy, Middle/Upper Grades: A Simplified Method for Teaching Economic Concepts
Jump Starters for the US Constitution
We The People, Government in America (possibly)
Weather!
The Kids Book of Weather Forecasting
Usborne Weather and Climate Change
Meteorology Grades 5-8
Astronomy Grades 5-8
Usborne Astronomy
Christian Girl’s guide to Money
Money Matters Workbook for Teens

With multiple books and extra helps along the way

For Emily my main goal is reading this year. I have many ideas on simple science and social studies she can learn along the way. She loves math so we will enhance that. I have gotten two large workbooks from BJ’s that we will work out of and many many small ones. I have many books on science, health and social studies that I will be reading to Emily as well.

I think it will be a good year once I get it all figured out 🙂

My journey

I am going to try this blogging thing! I always wanted to but I didn’t think I had enough interesting things to say. I am still not sure I do, but I think that I will give it a try. This is about my journey over the last 3 years that has just changed my life so much. Many of those changes have happen in the last year to year and a half, but I see that it has been coming. God has been working with me gradually. For many, they may not even notice what great things He is doing in my life because they are so gradual and natural. However, I have been on a tremendous journey that I know is just starting. I was not a person I ever thought would EVER want to home school, especially in such a unique situation.

It isn’t going to be easy, but there is no doubt in my mind that God has planned for me to home school.

My oldest, Danielle, is actually my step daughter that has lived with us for about 3 years. She is 16 (17 in October). She has a very minimal relationship with her biological mom. She will be a junior this year. She has some developmental disabilities. I thought she might have high functioning Autism or Asperger’s but the doctors tell me she doesn’t. She has Tuberous Sclerosis which is a condition in which tubers grow on various parts of her body. Her main issue is ones on her brain which cause seizures. She had brain surgery in 2006 to remove some, but not all. She takes medicine to control them. She also has to watch her kidney’s as that is the next are that could be a problem. She had an IEP at school to help with some of the learning issues. After testing and doing my own assessments, academically she is about 5-6 years behind. School was tough on her academically and emotionally. She is also quite a bit behind socially. We felt she was at risk to be taken advantage of or bullied, which was one of the main reasons we wanted her out of public schools. We also know that due to her not always thinking before she does something, that she is far too impressionable and it would be too easy for someone to lead her down a wrong path. It also helped when I had a neurological psychologist tell me that home schooling would probably be best for her.  We also saw how hard it was for her and she really wasn’t learning a whole lot. She learns best one on one and with time taken to present the material in alternate way or multiple times. It has been a challenge to find the right curriculum and I am not done deciding but I know whatever I teach this year is more than she will get at school. I also know she needs a lot of real life skills. I once heard that the difference between a typical developing child and a child whose development isn’t typical is that they lack an inside voice, their Jimney Cricket, per se. This totally made sense to me. Danielle definitely lacks that voice inside that sorta tells her what to do and what to think throughout the day. We find ourselves having to be that voice for her and think for her while teaching her to think for herself. She also doesn’t learn by observing so everything needs to be taught for the most part. She won’t just pick up on stuff she sees around her. A doctor told me that most of her problems deal with the lack of development of her frontal lobe and we have to be that frontal lobe for her until it develops more. You can imagine how much fun it is to tell a teenager how to think 🙂

Emily, will be 6 in September. I did preschool at home with her last year. I had thought of putting her in Kindergarten and found out she missed the cutoff (Sept 1). Since we had already decided that I needed to be at home with my girls, we decided I would just home school her for preschool to save money. It went very well and I know she learned way more than she would have at preschool. When I looked for what to teach her this year, I found that she already knows a lot of what they teach in Kindergarten. This year we will be doing Kindergarten and 1st grade combined. She’s a quick learner and loves to learn. She is my mini me so it is easier to know how she thinks and what helps her. She looks and acts just like I did at that age.

It won’t be easy trying to teach such different ages, especially since Danielle needs a lot of assistance and independent work won’t happen as often as a typical home schooled teenager, but we will make it work. Emily will probably gain some extra knowledge just based on hearing me teach Danielle some things.

Homeschooling was NEVER in MY plan, but God had other plans. I am just trying to let him lead.

They say that having kids changes you and it for sure does. However, gaining a relationship with Jesus has changed my life more than anything. It is hard to even remember that person and that life we/I used to have but I know that 3 years ago everything was VERY different than it is now and I couldn’t be happier!