Mama Prep Time

I am giving thank to the Lord above for the freedom to homeschool my children!  I am so excited about this year and I really think it is going to be an amazing year for everyone!!!!  I have started the PREP time which means the house fall apart because I am so obsessed with working on school! LOL  After I get it all ready I will do end of summer massive clean and organize.  I really want this year to be wonderful!

working on making file boxes to store units for MY FATHER'S WORLD K!

Folders for each unit of MFWK

Thought I would share this picture from Easter!  The boys have grown so much since the pics up on this blog :)

We have been doing alot of praying and decision making!  My hubby (THE PRINCIPAL) of our school has had to step in and help me make some wise choices so as not to over commit.  It is funny to me that so many people talk about how the kids will be cooped up at home and have no socialization and all but for me the issue is finding time to actually do the main school around all the opportunities for them outside our home.  We really did want to do Classical Conversations and that desire will probably always be here but for now financially it is impossible.  There are 2 Co-Op's that I am close to families and have had such a hard time deciding if I could handle doing both!  Hubby says NO!  At least not now.  He says see how it goes with one Co-op, play dates, field trips, homeschool outings, in home school therapy for J, and our own K curriculum before adding a second Co-Op! I am very excited about attending MAD Co-Op as part of our Caffe Homeschool Group!  The Ladies there have really been wonderful in our lives before we have ever even been in MAD.  They are very accomodating for boys special needs and Jeremiah's wheelchair and everything :)  I thank God for hubby stepping in and making the decision about the 2nd Co-op though I really am sad to not be a part of it.  

I am trying to find more and more ways to help the boys learn or should I say to help me guide them in learning and help me to teach them!  I am excited about My Father's World and I do believe this curriculum will be great for them.  I am also trying to find some Montessori resources second hand such as the movable alphabet and other hands on things to help in teaching.  I am trying to decide how I will incorporate Jeremiah into our school days and expose him to as much as I can.  I am also praying that the time will come that I can get at least Jeremiah back into private therapy.  I have to look at him and see things differently about what School for him will mean!

I saw the picture below and had a fit!  The very first Homeschool Tshirt I ever had for me and Celeste had this exact picture on it!!!  It is so very true!!! 

 My First student Celeste graduated with her 2nd College Degree (this one a Bachelor of Arts in Youth Ministry!) in May right before her 25th Birthday!!!!  Proud MAMA here!!!

I can't wait to see what God does through her!! 

I appreciate any prayer you may have for us as we prepare for the 2013-2014 school year here at Destiny Christian Academy! :)

KINDERGARTEN is racing our way!! 2013- 2014

I am trying to get everything ready for our new school year!! I can firmly say that deciding last year Noah was NOT ready for Kindergarten was very wise and I must say WHAT a  difference a year makes!!  Emotionally this boy is SOO ready for K this year!  And I really think he is going to do quite well!  I was blessed with a large portion of an AMAZING Curriculum from a friend whose children were really needing first grade so she did not use this.  I was excited at the time but now that we are ready for K and I have really started looking at it and preparing and all I am ever MORE excited!  I LOVE it and I think Noah will too!  Jeremiah will be as involved as I can make him with adaptations as necessary!  So for our main curriculum this year we are doing My Father's World!

I am in LOVE with this curriculum!!  It has units that cover Bible, learning to read, light math, science and social studies concepts and everything!  I love that we willl read so many books this year.  It is a challenge to find all the specific books I need and then others as well for each units theme but I know it will be worth it.  I found Thriftbook.com and that helped alot with the first 9 weeks books.  There are still a few I do not have but I got a good bit of them.  

In addition to this we willl be doing Bible Memory verse with each letter is learned from this book :)

and I made the following from resources I found so that I can put a tiny sticker each time one is memorized :)

We also will be doing a good handwriting program that has been advised by OT friends.  Noah really has a hard time with writing so I am praying this helps him and that he is ready this year!

and we will also be doing a separate Math Curriculum because I feel like Noah needs a bit more than what is in the My Father's World to help him learn the concepts and a friend was selling a copy of McRuffy Color Math she used last year with her children.  

So far it looks good and I really hope Noah responds well to it :)

We will be doing THEMES again this year that are part of the MY Father's World and we will add a few fun projects in to fit seasons and holidays.  I have found some lapbooks to go along with some of the themes and some of the books we are reading so I think it is going to be a very fun year! I so want it to be and I PRAY Noah takes off this year and can learn the things he really wants too.  He is hitting a point where he is very emotional about how hard things are for him and it is hurting both our hearts :(

I am trying so hard to be more faithful to this blog this year and all my blogs so please keep checkin in :)

Pray for me as I try to do all the planning, printing, laminating, cutting, organzing and getting ready for the new year and still tend to all I have to with the kids, house, etc and give the kids a fun summer!

I will post the themes and all later for those interested :)

Changes! :) God's will is always best!

So I wanted to come and post on our school blog about the changes in our school! :)  Jeremiah was attending a 5 morning a week therapy program at a local school since the beginning of the school year while Noah and were having our school at home.  Well, Jeremiah began to show us physically that he was not doing well with the school program and so after much thought, prayer, and discussion with Dr.'s we decided that Jeremiah is better off at home in our little school! :)  It is such a hard thing as a parent to struggle so hard to try and make what you have been convinced is the BEST thing for your child and then find out that very thing was detrimental physically to him.  I am not saying the program was not good, it was.  I am not saying the folks working with Jeremiah were not wonderful, they were.  I am just saying his fragile little self could not handle it.  Those who know me know the fact we even tried the school program goes against the way we feel the Lord leading us to raise our children, but I allowed myself to get caught up in the hope that they could help him learn to communicate with devises.  Well, I guess Jeremiah showed me he could communicate with his health and his actions :)  I have a total peace that it is best for Jeremiah to be home.  YES I have some guilt that I made a mistake in sending him at all, but I would never have known it would not be the PERFECT thing for him if I had not tried, I would have always wondered if they could do better for him.  Having been through this has shown me the Lord has equipped me with exactly what each of my boys need, even if I do not feel able, through HIM I am able! :)  I will make what I have to make, or find someone to help me make it, learn what I have to learn, buy what I have to buy, to give them both the best for them individually :)  Please keep Jeremiah in prayer as he did loose 2 lbs, have increased seizure's and some other physical issues that have come up during the time he was going to show the Dr.'s and us that it was just too much for him.  Please pray he will bounce back quickly and this decline will stop. 

Noah is THRILLED to have Jeremiah back home.  It bothered him so much and there were nights he cried saying I want Miah stay home.  It was heartbreaking.  He has not asked one time why Jeremiah is not going to school anymore.  He loves his brother and so missed him when he was there. 

I am currently trying to come up with things that I can do to give Jeremiah more than Just therapy in our school  , though of course the therapy and medical things he has to have are important but I want to enrich and give him more and more.  NObody really knows inside where he is so even though he is trapped in there and can't tell me what he knows, what he enjoys, what is sinking in, or anything does not mean I should not still expose him to as much in life as I can. :)  My goal right now is finding ways to expose him to letters, numbers, shapes, etc that he can feel and touch, and activities using those things that he can experience.  Little by little as I can buy what I need and figure out what to make and buy his world will open up more and more.  And bonus Noah will get added fun himself because he likes to be right up in whatever Jeremiah is doing as well :) 

Anyway, lots of changes, and when you are in the will of God you know they are good! :)  If nothing else trying to hard to do what is best has definitly made me spend ALOT more time on my knees! :)  and that is good too :) 

I will try and post a bit more often!  My laptop died and so I am sharing Bobby's that is not in much better shape and has no sound card :(  which is awful for homeschool and using starfall.com or anything like that with the kids!  I keep telling myself this too shall pass! :) 

Happy Schooling to those on this journey with us!  Have a great weekend everybody :)

Learning Noah

Well, we are now 4 weeks down in our Preschool Year!  I am learning more and more about Noah and where he is, how he is going to learn, what he can handle and so it became clear that he is so ready to learn more and more :)  God has totally reshaped my plans of what I thought the year was going to be like, what are activities were going to be like and everything but oh I can tell you what it has worked out to be is awesome and Noah and I both are loving it and so blessed! :)  Now for some pictures :)

I know we are not the first parents to battle is my 5 year old ready for Kindergarten!  We did not want to "hold him back"  as some would say is pretty common for families to do.  But we prayed and spent some time working with Noah, took into account his developmental testing and several other factors and all of this brought us to the conclusion that Noah IS a Preschooler!  We are meeting him where he is and going from there! :)  When I think back to that 17 and a half old baby boy that was placed in my arms and all he has overcome since then it amazes me he is ready for Preschool at all :)  God is so good!

I am learning even after so may years of teaching my daughter, teaching preschool and Kindergarten, being a children's Pastor and working with so many children that my own sweet Panda Boy is showing me new things and ways of doing things! :) One thing I am having to learn and that I do so much better with Noah than I did Celeste is that its HIS work.  I do not need to cut everything out for him before he does a project because it might not be cut just right, and I do not have to worry if he is out of the lines and such!  I am so much more mellow in my old age!  :)  Thank God because NOAH needs it :)

I am often really learning more and more about HOW children learn and what true education really is! 

P.E :)

 

I was mid post on this when my laptopDIED!  So the other collages and things I had ready for you are not to be seen ever :(  anyway I just realized blogger kept this so I will post it now, even though in the middle of a new post with changes in our school now, so stay tuned :)

Noah's 2012-2013 School Year has begun! :)

The sad face is one he made when he began shutting down because it was hard and he did not want to repeat the Pledge of allegiance.  He did later after getting upset come back and say it after us.  We were blessed Daddy's schedule today worked where he was home when we first started the day and he was able to open us in prayer!

This was last night but I had to share :)

TOMORROW!! 2012- 2013 school year starts!

Tomorrow we start our 2012-2013 School Year!  :)  Noah has been growing and changing in so many ways lately so I just can not wait to see how he does this year!!!  I can't believe how big he is getting.  :)  Please be in prayer for him and for me as we begin! :) 

Getting ready for 2012-2013

So getting ready for Noah's school year this coming year!  Jeremiah will be attending a therapy program 5 mornings a week at the local school and Noah will of course be home with me for school.  His speech and hearing are improving so much so I am very excited to see how well he will do this year!  He has made GREAT strides with therapy this past year and I think this coming year is going to be his year to just blossom! :)  I thought I would share our subjects and our theme's this year :)
Bible
Letters and Sounds/ Handwriting
K5 Math
Sing, Spell Read and Write Pre K Readiness
and then we will have themes that we will do something each day of the week to learn about the themes.  Here is our list of themes for the year :)

Noah’s 2012-2013 Themes

August 20-24^th ~ All About Me and Trains

August 27-31^st~ All About Me and Trains

Septmber 4th-7^th~Apples and Johnny Appleseed

September 10-14~ Apples

September 17-21~ Zoo Animals

September 24-28~ Zoo Animals

October 1-5~ Fall

October 8~ Colombus

October 9-12~ Fire Safety/Prevention

October 15-19~ Harvest/Pumpkins

October 22-26~ Harvest/Pumpkins

October 29-November 2~ National Child Safety Month (Police Officer unit)

November 5-9~ Pilgrams and Native Americans

November 12-16~ Thanksgiving theme

Thanksgiving Holiday

November 26-30~ Christmas/Advent

December 3-7~ Christmas/Advent

December 10-14~Christmas/Advent

December 17-19~ Christmas Advent

January 7-11~ Winter

January 14-18~ Winter Animals

January 22- 25~ Winter Animals

January 28- Feb 1~ Chinese New Year

February 4-8~ Lincoln and Log cabins

February 11-15~ Valentines

February 18-22~ Washington and Cherry Trees

February 25-March 1~ Chinese Kite Festival and Kites

March 4-8~ Dr. Suess Week (Dr. Suess bday)

March 11-15 St. Patrick’s Day

March 18-22~ Easter

Easter/spring break

April 2-5~ Farm Animals

April 8-12 Farm Animals

April 15-18~ Spring

April 22-26~ Spring

April 29-May 2^nd~ National Transportation Month( Air Transportation)

May 6 – 10~ Land Transportation

May 13 – 17~ Water Transportation

May 20- 24~ Summer Fun

So excited for this coming year :)  Please comment if you are following along! :)  

This was taken Father's Day!