Catch-up

This last Tuesday, I decided to take some time to update my blog from the past week.  Unfortunately, as I got up from the computer, in one graceful movement, I caught my foot on the cord that connects the keyboard to the computer, and yanked on the cord hard enough as I was walking away, that  I broke the keyboard.  Hubby saved the day, and I can now type again!  :)  This will most likely be a long post that covers the last two weeks.  Sorry, you have been warned.  :)

On the 17th, our family celebrated Constitution Day.  Two of my kids are studying early American History, and I think one of the themes for me of the upcoming Presidential Election is following the Constitution.  We had never Celebrated Constitution Day before, and so we asked the kids how we should celebrate.  They suggested chili-dogs and cupcakes.  I'm not sure that is exactly what the founding father's would have chosen, but they sure enjoyed it.

We have been studying the first 3 presidents this week.  It is kind of interesting to see how some views and philosophies have endured.  John Adams felt that the role of government was to save people from their own greed and faults.  He felt that people needed to be governed in order to save them from themselves.  He was a Federalist.  Thomas Jefferson felt that the role of the government was to get out of the way and let people govern themselves.  He belonged to the Democratic-Republican Party.  We have had a lot of fun reading about how opposite these two presidents were, but in spite of their differences, they were still best friends.  They both died on the same day, July 4th 1826, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed.

For Music we have been focusing on patriotic songs, and on songs that will help us remember things we are learning.  We have been working on learning basic sight singing skills, chord progressions and some guitar and xyolophone skills so we can accompany ourselves.  We have been learrning This Land is Your Land, The Star Spangled Banner, and this little gem.  I have a whole new appreciation for the Animaniacs now. 

This week we discovered that Larry is now tall enough to reach stuff on the table tops.  He is pretty excited about his newfound skills.  We have also discovered that he likes slimy things, Vaseline and Butter were favorites for this week.  (Vaseline is VERY hard to get out of hair!)  He loves playing with washcloths and diapers (clean ones luckily!)  He thinks he is a dog.  He growls when he is talking to Max, and he stands at the front window with Max, and barks at cats, dogs and neighbors. 

We have been doing some fun lessons these past few weeks.  In Art, we have been studying pointilism.  We read several book about George Seurat, and studied several of his paintings.  I have a large box of mostly used crayons, and the inspiration for this lesson came from Pinterest and this blog here.  I am not an artist, and so our art lessons scare me quite a bit.  I always wanted to be good at art, but I'm grown up enough to know that I am really not good.  I do have fun creating things though.  Here are a couple of our pointilism projects.

Hubby teaches the kids Science every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  I love seeing him work with the kids.  They have been studying Life Science, and they have been talking about animal adaptations for the last few weeks.  He pointed out examples of animal adaptations in nature, and then the kids had to create imaginary creatures.  They had to explain where the creature lived and what adaptations it had that helped it live in that environment.  They even made a skeleton of their imaginary creatures using chicken bones and clay.  This is what our science class looked like this week.

 

I love this last picture!  That is what I pictured when I pictured homeschooling.  For this Science lesson, they needed to have a birdfeeder that would hold 4 different types of birdseed.  Hubby looked at several different ideas, did a little research, and designed this one.  The kids have science journals, and Hubby has them taking data to analyze.  We bought 3 different types of bird food, and then the kids each got to come up with a food they thought the birds would like.  They are supposed to record what types of seed the birds prefer, and what types of birds visit the birdfeeder.  So far, we haven't had any customers.  Hopefully, we will soon.

The last two weeks have been pretty brutal schedule-wise.  Michael has been doing 12+ hours of school almost every day.  We have been medicating him, but it has become less and less effective as time goes on.  He is as frustrated as we are.  Last Thursday, I finally sat him down, and showed him the recommended times for each class.  He was taking 3 to 4 hours to accomplish a 60 minute class.  He has classes called "Class Connect" sessions.  For two to three hours each day, he attends virtual classes.  Then he has to get all the work done for all his classes.  On Friday he doesn't have any virtual classes scheduled, and he usually has less work scheduled.  I am pretty sure they do this so the kids can get caught up.  Last Friday, we tried setting a timer for each class that he worked on to see if he could accomplish the work in the recommended time.  For most of his classes, he finished the work in half the time, or less!!  He was very excited, and so were we.  Hubby brought him home a timer, and so we will see if this trick continues to work for him next week.

Allen has been asked to do MANY things this year that have been very hard for him.  Most kids with Aspergers have a very hard time with summarizing and inferences.  In the past, when he came to an assignment that was incredibly difficult for him, he would simply choose not to do the assignment, and take a 0 on it.  He has had many classes this year where he has been asked to do things that he really didn't think he could do.  We have spent many hours sitting on the couch trying to talk out our frustrations.  I think we are both learning quite a bit.  It is really hard for me to see him struggle so much, but I know that the things he is being asked to do are not optional.  He needs to power through and get them done.  I have seen a lot of maturity in him lately.  There have been several experiences this week where I was able to share with him struggles that I have had in my life.  I think that he is seeing that everyone has trials in their lives, and by powering through them, and learning something in the process, we grow and mature and become better people.  He is learning to do the assignments that he is asked to do, and he is learning to do them in his own way.  I am learning to step back, and let them be his assignments.  I have learned that we can talk through assignments, and we can talk out ideas, but his ideas are what make the paper, or assignment his.  I'm having the kids post their assignments on their blogs to publish them.  Allen has an autobiographical paper that he has posted on his blog.  I love how his personality comes through in it.  He has also been working through social skills with his speech therapist.  She is working on getting him ready for job interviews and dating.  I've gotten to do a couple of role playing assignments with him, and I really love the Allen that I see coming out.  He is gaining confidence, and trying so hard.

This past month of homeschooling been incredibly tough. I am learning that many things in life that are worthwhile are.  I think I have experienced equal amounts of frustration and satisfaction. I think I am growing as much as my kids are through this process.