So. There's the little matter of the entirely unplanned four month hiatus from blogging and I can't promise that things will get better any time soon. I did spontaneously decide to pop in and let you all know that I am fine. Still here. No sudden accident or illness to blame. Life just got ahead of me.
I shifted into preparing for homeschooling mode. The end of the school year was coming for me and I knew I wanted to begin homeschooling mid-May. I needed to prepare a schoolroom and get a curriculum ready to go. To be honest, I had also pushed a little too hard on the blogging front and burned out.
So, updates... let me think.
Ava was discharged from speech therapy. Discharged. Really, who would have thought that about two years after beginning to receive services that she would no longer qualify? She still has speech errors, but her remaining errors are now in the "age appropriate zone". Honestly, it was ok with me. Next year she will be at home with me, and we will begin incorporating speech work into our homeschooling schedule.
I have a school room. It is a mess, but I love it. It has been recently repainted a cheerful yellow thanks to the hard work of my husband. The old ceiling fan with its three dim bulbs has been replaced with a fancy light fixture that closely resembles a giant spider on the ceiling, but provides tons of light (Eight 60 watt bulbs from one light fixture - let there be light!) Soon there will be new curtains that will provide a cheerful splash of color. There's shelving for storage, a table for school work, a desk for me and a computer station cobbled together from bits and pieces of old computers for the children. We have a circle shaped rug by a calendar for circle time. I will show you all pictures at some point when things are a bit less messy and I'm a bit more organized.
I reworked my homeschool planner a little and it is working super well for me. Again, I will try to provide pictures at some point for anyone who is interested. After about 6 weeks of full-time homeschooling we're falling into something of a predictable routine. We begin our morning at about 8:30 am with circle time. During the approximately 20 minutes of circle time we sing a welcome song (a completely dorky song I made up, but we all like it), do calendar work, graph the weather, and learn a word, poem, and song of the day. After circle time we complete two pages of our writing journals (again, pictures and sharing to come later...). Their writing journals have a handwriting page on the left and a writing prompt with space to draw a picture and write a sentence or two underneath on the right. Then we do a math lesson (RightStart Math Level A).
At that point we are about two hours in and we all need a break. We have a small nutritious snack and then come back to the school room for reading/spelling. The children take turns now. Ava goes first with her All About Reading Pre-Reading lesson which I supplement with some great alphabet songs I got from Scholastic. Then Michael does an All About Spelling Level 1 lesson and an All About Reading Level 2 lesson. I cannot say enough good things about the All About Reading and All About Spelling programs and I hope to find the time to share more about them in the future.
After reading we take an extended break for lunch and free time. I admit it. I often throw in a little television here. After our lunch/sanity break, depending on the day of the week, we meet up with some friends for play or do bonus lessons in science, social studies, art music, etc.
I squeeze in lesson planning and the creation of new materials here and there. I'm also still trying to whip the school room into a completely organized state that doesn't involve huge piles of random supplies piled up on level surfaces and in corners. Notice, this new schedule leaves no time left over for blogging. I will try to work on it. I'd love to share our homeschooling adventures and materials with those who would find them useful. I'd also love to finally wrap up the newest speech kit and maybe even find time to create more.
But for now, hello. :-) Don't worry about us. We are fine over here. I hope all of you are enjoying your summer as well.
Oh, yay, very glad to read this! Congrats on your school room!
ReplyDeleteI was able to overcome senile dementia via a complete naturopathic process.
DeleteAbout two years ago, when I was 56, I started feeling foggy and had occasional memory lapses. My wife, Mary, started to notice it, too, but I also have hearing issues so she thought that was the problem. My memory problems worsened very gradually over the years, and we lived with it, compensating as needed. I became less social. After some months thereafter, it got to the point where we couldn’t keep making excuses or ignoring it. I had gone from doing our grocery shopping without a list to going with a list, to having the list but not buying what was on it.
Mary went online to do some research, and it was during this process we had been fortunate enough to come across Dr. Utu Herbal Cure: an African herbalist and witch doctor whose professional works had majored on the eradication of certain viral conditions, especially dementia, ( improving the memory capacity positively), via a traditional, naturopathic process and distinguished diet plan. It was by the administration of this herbal specialist that I had been able to improve my condition for better. So to say, the encounter with the above-mentioned herbal practitioner was the first time we ever heard there was something that possibly can be done to improve my memory functionality.
By the existence of such an encounter, I was able to learn of the new approach by which this herbalist successfully treated dementia conditions, which included a distinguished herbal therapy and lifestyle changes of which I had undergone to a tremendous, positive effect.
It was after the completion of the herbal therapy I had started to experience a great deal of cognitive improvement when it came to rational decision making.
In brief, I was able to go through the dreadful hollows of senile dementia without any further hazardous damage to my health condition, and within a short period. Had it not been for the support of my wife, of whom had encouraged me to undergo the above-mentioned therapy and that of the herbal practitioner of whom now happens to be benefactor - I would have been long exposed to the further perils of this condition and of which had been apt to result to a calamitous end.
I would also wish for the same positiveness upon patients who may happen to be suffering from this debilitating disease, and would warmly beseech them to find a confidant like this herbal doctor with whose professional services I was able to attain a divine healing.
For more information concerning this African traditional cure for Alzheimer's disorder; feel free to contact Dr. Utu directly via email: drutuherbalcure@gmail.com
Hi, there. I am Tom Neil and I want to describe how life had been for my younger brother living with schizophrenia and how he had been permanently able to overcome this debilitating disease via a naturopathic, herbal method.
ReplyDeleteMaicon - my kid brother was twenty years old when he was brought to the emergency room by the campus police of the college from which he had been suspended several months ago. A professor had phoned and reported that he had walked into his classroom, accused him of taking his tuition money, and refused to leave.
Although he had much academic achievement as a teenager, his attitude had become increasingly unusual during the past year. He quit seeing his friends and no longer seemed to care about his appearance or social pursuits. He began wearing the same clothes each day and seldom bathed. He lived with several family members but rarely spoke to any of them. When he did talk to them, he said he had found clues that his college was just a front for an organized crime operation. He had been suspended from college because of missing many classes. My sister said that she had often seen him mumbling quietly to himself and at times he seemed to be talking to people who were not there. He would emerge from my room and ask my family to be quiet even when they were not making any noise.
My father and sister told the staff that Maicon's great-grandmother had had a serious illness and had lived for 30 years in a state hospital, which they believed was a mental hospital. Our mother left the family when Maicon was very young. She has been out of touch with us, and they thought she might have been treated for mental health problems.
Maicon agreed to sign himself into the psychiatric unit for treatment. The whole family except I had agreed to have Maicon transferred to a mental asylum. I knew inwardly there was still some plausible means by which my kid brother could overcome this condition. I knew botanical means of treatment will be more favorable than any other type of treatment, and as such, I had taken a keen interest in the research of naturopathic alternative measures suitable for the treatment of schizophrenia. I had pleaded for some little patience from the family in the delay of the transfer, I was looking forward to proving a point to the entire family, of a positive botanical remedy for this condition.
It was during my ceaseless search on the internet I had been fortunate enough to come across Dr. Utu Herbal Cure: an African herbalist and witch doctor whose professional works had majored on the eradication of certain viral conditions, especially schizophrenia, ( improving the memory capacity positively), via a traditional, naturopathic process and distinguished diet plan. It was by the administration of this herbal specialist that my brother had been able to improve his condition for better.
Before the naturopathic remedy - Maicon's story had reflected a common case, in which a high-functioning young adult goes through a major decline in day-to-day skills. Although family and friends may feel this is a loss of the person they knew, the illness can be treated and a good outcome is possible.
My brother Maicon is just like many other patients out there suffering from this disease. Although he was able to overcome this condition via a naturopathic herbal remedy administered by this African herbal physician and saved completely thus, rekindling the lost joy which had been experienced by the family members.
I wish to use this opportunity to reach across to anyone who may happen to be diagnosed with this disastrous condition to spread the hope of an everlasting herbal remedy that is capable of imposing a permanent end to this disease.
For more information concerning this naturopathic herbal remedy, feel free to contact this African herbal practitioner via email:
drutuherbalcure@gmail.com