All of the Extras (Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018 - Week 4)

Welcome back for the fourth and final week of the Virtual Homeschool Fair, graciously hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds. This week we are all talking about what we do for enrichment, which is accomplished in a variety of ways for homeschoolers.

Over the years, our family has used an array of avenues to provide our sixteen year old daughter, Amber, with enrichment courses and activities that allow her to pursue her own interests. Now we primarily stick with three different routes for her extras.

The Past:
Amber was, once upon a time, a dancer. That was basically all she had time to do, since she was in competitive dance from a young age. The only other activity she had was piano, but to be fair she was also in parochial school at that time. Eventually she dropped dance in favor of horseback riding, then when we started homeschooling she resumed dance at a new studio that did not have competitive dance. The new studio also offered a number of other activities, such as musical theater and voice lessons. Amber tried all of these classes, while remaining faithful to her dance. However, when the dysautonomia was triggered in Amber and we discovered she has Ehlers Danlos, we were strongly encouraged to remove her from dance. And to be honest, she had been struggling for about six months anyway.

That left us looking for ways to allow Amber to be with other children, meet new friends, and participate in more than what I could offer at home.

Music Lessons & Creative Arts Group

Music has always been an important creative outlet for Amber. While piano was not her favorite instrument, she did well and took lessons for six years. About six months after leaving dance, Amber asked to change instruments and she selected the flute. She took to it amazingly and we have continued private weekly lessons since the start of sixth grade (that's four and a half years so far). Finding this flute teacher has been rather fortuitous, since not only does she have a fantastic rapport with Amber, she is also the artistic director of a local creative arts group.

Amber has been able to participate with the creative arts group in various ways over the years, even though she is not one of their regular musical actors. She was in their short-lived band, plays flute to accompany the choirs occasionally and at other events, and every summer is part of Project Write where the children write their own musical with the given theme for the year. Even now Amber is contemplating joining a weekly ensemble with the creative arts group, and is part of another ensemble to play the live music for one of the upcoming drama performances.

Our Church - Youth Group & Service

While this may seem like a no-brainer for some, it took us a while to find a congregation where Amber felt comfortable after the unpleasant experience at her last parochial school. Thankfully we found our current congregation where Amber was part of confirmation and is now in the high school youth. Not only does the youth group meet a few times a month on Sunday evenings, but she has Sunday morning Bible class every week. During the summers the group often has regular week day afternoon / evening activities.  Amber has met some of her best friends through our church, and can't imagine not being part of this youth group.

Amber also has found a multitude of ways to serve through our church. Given her physical restrictions, it is not always easy for Amber to find ways to serve our church or community. Everyone expects the young to be able to do physically arduous activities, and that just isn't possible for Amber. Thankfully, Amber has been able to serve at our church's VBS in the summers, serve at the sausage supper in the autumns, and various other small activities. She is contemplating occasionally assisting in the music ministry by playing flute. However, serving during worship time is affected by her physical limitations since she cannot make every service on Sunday mornings.

Lastly, through Thrivent Financial (a Lutheran based institution), we have been able to create and partially fund our own service project groups, like our weighted blanket project. This has allowed Amber and me to provide meaningful service to our community while still staying within both of our physical limitations.

Homeschool Co-op

This list would not be complete without talking about the role that homeschool co-op has played in providing enrichment for Amber over the years. When it became necessary to remove Amber from dance, I immediately looked for a group to join where Amber might take a few classes. Our first homeschool co-op met that need and introduced us to the Lutheran congregation where we are currently members. Although our time with that co-op came to an end last semester, we are members of another homeschool co-op along with the majority of Amber's close friends.

Both co-ops have allowed Amber to explore interests that I could not have provided at home. So often I am reminded that Amber may be similar to her dad and me in some respects, but she is her own unique person. We would never have expected our child to enjoy and thrive in drama classes, yet she looks forward to drama each semester. She also makes art a top priority course. Neither of these could I make happen at home given my skills in both areas and, of course, the lack of other players for drama.

Amber takes full days of co-op every semester and in addition to art and drama fills her schedule with courses that either I am teaching at her request, or courses that interest her greatly such as Bible study and Greek mythology. On a few occasions, she's even taken classes that she did not necessarily want, but that I taught solely so she could experience it in a group, like speech and health.

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I hope you have enjoyed this year's Virtual Homeschool Fair as much as all us participating. Thanks for joining us and we hope to see you around!

Please take a look at how the other participants have provided enrichment to their homeschooled students.

Note: all posts will be live after 8 am EST.

• Celebrating 7 Years of Homeschool Support & Encouragement by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
• All of the Extras by Christy Schaefer @ Unexpected Homeschool
• How To Explore Special Interests In Your Homeschool by Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
• Learning outside of the box by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
• Putting the Heart Back into our Homeschool by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
• Adding in the Fun by Michele @Family, Faith and Fridays
• The Electives We Use in Our Homeschool by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
• The Fun Parts of Homeschooling by Annette @ A Net in Time
• How we add in the fun stuff. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
• Running - for fitness & fun by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
• Adding in the Extras by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
• What About the Fun Stuff? by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
• And the Learning Goes On, And On, And On by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
• Let's See What's Out There! (Electives and Extras) by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Restful Days (Week 19, 10th Grade)

We've had an unusual week where I've spent half my time herding and medicating cats, or so it has felt. Milori has mostly recovered from his serotonin syndrome and is almost weaned from the Prozac too. He did develop an upper respiratory infection on Sunday after all the stress of the previous week. He's recovering from that now, and we hope this weekend can be allowed to socialize with his sister again. Since the upper respiratory infection is contagious, we've had to isolate him from the other cats. Although we spend a good deal of time with him, he still misses his sister.

The stress of a sick Milori has affected us all too; Amber and I have been overly tired this week. Most of our lessons this week have been the alternate types of lessons that I save for sick days or exhausted days. That means the majority of the lessons were history related, since those are the easiest for us to find video resources. Thankfully, we are reviewing Drive Thru History Adventures and now have more video lessons to work through.

I took almost no pictures this week. Amber drove us to Red Robin for lunch one day. She's getting much better at driving.

Amber has also worked on knitting projects while resting and while watching some of our history videos. While taking inventory of the yarn stashed about the house for my projects, I noticed we have quite a few individual skeins of yarn. Quite a few. Remembering that our church has a yearly warming tree in November and early December, Amber has decided to make hats and scarves to donate this year. It is the perfect way to use up these individual skeins and to give her a service project to occupy her resting time.

I had a good checkup with my rheumatologist this week and have definitely reached therapeutic levels of the Plaquenil. Although I would love it if the Plaquenil did a great deal more for me, I am aware of how much better I feel from this time last year. I will learn, eventually, to accept that I'm not going to have the energy I once had. I've still got two more medical appointments next week and then, hopefully, I'm finished for a few months. 

Amber had a fantastic PT and OT session today. Her PT hasn't seen her looking this good in quite a while. Her OT reported that she is improving with her executive function skills. All around good reports from Amber's specialists too. 

No pictures of the almost recovered Milori. Instead I took a picture of Biscotti leisurely stretching.

We are still greatly enjoying our new homeschool co-op and Amber absolutely loves the art class. I am more than pleased that she finally has met the art teacher that speaks her language. Amber adores art, but never quite was able to grasp how to draw and most of her teachers did not give drawing instructions, instead assuming the students knew basic drawing techniques. 

My writer child especially loved this past week's lesson in the essay class I teach. We were working on thesis statements and Amber could not stop talking after class about how much she loved writing them. I do believe the rest of the class thinks she is a bit wonky. 

We're hoping for a more productive book work week next week, yet I am not displeased with the progress Amber made this week. I have a couple of appointments next week, but Amber will not need to attend with me and can work at home during them. Hopefully all our kitties stay healthy and we can focus on school.

Linking With:

   

Our 10th Grade Plans (Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018 - Week 3)

Welcome back for the third week of the Virtual Homeschool Fair, graciously hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds. This week we are focusing on our homeschool curriculum, or in other words, how we cover it all.

I have rather detailed curriculum plans already up on my blog that cover the majority of our homeschooling years, including this school year for tenth grade. If you're interested in every piece of curriculum we're using this year, then follow the link to see Amber's tenth grade curricula. However, today I'm going to address how we help Amber pursue her passions and why we cover the subjects that we do (and don't).

If you read last week's post about our homeschooling style, you saw that we have returned to a more eclectic style of homeschooling. As much as we would like to be classical, Amber learns differently for each of the wide array of subjects a high school student is expected to study. Oddly enough, one area that has remained fairly classical in study is language. 

Pursing Her Passions:

Amber loves language. She would study only language in some format all day, every day, if I let her. English grammar, expository writing, creative writing, literature, and foreign languages are what she enjoys best of all the subjects offered. In our minds, we have always thought she was skilled with languages too, although as her parents we could be biased. Then earlier this school year we had neuropsychology testing performed on Amber to help sort out her needed accommodations and learning issues. The test results clearly showed she is phenomenal with language, while math provides challenges her brain cannot comprehend.

Amber had already set a goal and has been going on the assumption she will major in English with a creative writing emphasis along with a minor in one or more foreign languages and possibly music. All of these use the language portion of her brain. When planning this school year, I had many discussions with Amber about her goals and the credits she needs to complete. The result of our conversations is a slightly modified high school plan. Our plans for tenth grade are fundamentally different than the well rounded approach we were trying to take in ninth grade.

The universities where Amber intends to apply do not require more than the state minimum requirements in math and science for their incoming English or language majors. We saw no need to force math and science on Amber when it is unnecessary for her future goals, hence she will be working towards only three credits of each. This gives her more time to pursue electives in creative writing and several foreign languages. While she still needs to get her social studies (history) credits and government credit, Amber does not find this task as frustrating as math and math based science.

Surviving Math:

Besides giving permission for Amber to only attempt the bare minimum number of credits in math and science, I've also helped Amber find creative ways to earn those credits. 

Math truly is the bane of Amber's existence. As a younger student, Amber excelled in math and was far ahead of her peers. However, it was always inexplicably anxiety producing. We now know that she made her way through math by sheer force of will. She may have managed to excel, however she worked significantly harder than the average person to understand the concepts. She also does better with abstract concepts than concrete math numbers. Now, even with her dysautonomia fairly stable, the energy required for math is beyond her daily amount and the math anxiety is ever present. Testing showed she has significantly slowed cognitive responses to math; it's like her brain suddenly is going at a snail's pace. She can feel it happen and this results in increased anxiety.

After trying an array of math curriculum with very little positive results, the neuropsychology testing gave us such great insights as to why switching curriculum was not successful. Thankfully, Amber made it through algebra 2 by the midway point of ninth grade, which we counted that as her first math credit. Geometry has been attempted twice and both times were an utter failure, and now we finally understand why. Within the first month of tenth grade, we quickly switched Amber to consumer math. And although it has not been easy, she is making steady progress through consumer math. At least she sees a reason to do it and it doesn't matter if she is slow. In an effort limit the exhaustion that comes from her brain struggling with math, I often reduce the number of problems she needs to complete and sit with her for encouragement.

Amber will still need another credit of math after consumer math, however I expect she will need a total of three semesters to finish consumer math, which puts her at the midway point of eleventh grade. We're hoping she will find statistics a useful class and can complete it in the last three semester of high school. Honestly, if you have any ideas of another course that qualifies as a mathematics credit, we are happy to listen.

Science - Alternative Choices:

Unlike math, Amber enjoys science for the most part. Biological sciences are difficult for her and often trigger unpleasant psychosomatic responses. Seriously just looking at cell pictures causes problems. While she is interested in the broad topics covered by physical science, chemistry, and some physics, she is terrified of the math necessary. 

After struggling her way through physical science using a textbook series, I decided we needed to take a different path. Since then, her science has been more topical while covering the major high school science categories. I would love to give Amber high school credit for the physical science course that required so much effort, however she did the majority of the work in eighth grade and counting it as a credit is iffy.

Instead we began ninth grade with a semester of botany that included lab work and earned her 1/2 credit of a biological science. Then, I taught forensic science at our homeschool co-op specifically for Amber. Again it was a lab course, and actually covered biology, chemistry, and physics. If I had to categorize it, I would place it half under chemistry and half under biology.

Tenth grade began with a review of Apologia's Marine Biology course, and Amber found it interesting if she was allowed to skip the labs and a few rather disturbing (to her) chapters. She stuck with it past the review period and will eventually earn herself a half credit of biology just from the book work. Way to go kiddo.

At Amber's request, I also taught meteorology with labs at our homeschool co-op first semester of tenth grade. I would probably place that class under physics if forced to give it a category, as well as the astronomy that I am teaching this semester at co-op. This means Amber will have 2.5 credits of science by the end of tenth grade and two credits are from laboratory classes. Therefore, she has exceeded the minimum requirement of one lab course, and meets the occasional request for two lab courses.

Amber is intrigued by chemistry, but has come to realize there is so much math in it, that anything at the high school level will not be to her liking. Instead we have decided to go with the Survey of Science History & Concepts course from Master Books for the last part of Amber's science credits. I'm still unsure if she will earn a full credit or half credit for Survey of Science. It does cover biology, chemistry, physics and math, however if we drop any of those topics she definitely can only earn half a credit.

At any rate, the Survey of Science course will be enough work to complete the last portion of her science credits. Amber has even opted to work on it over the upcoming summer, so she can be completely finished with science before she starts eleventh grade, thus giving her additional time for her languages. 

Staying Well Rounded

If you've taken a peek at Amber's tenth grade curricula, you saw she also takes quite a few electives at our homeschool co-op besides the science classes I've been teaching. Even though her education may be focused on her natural ability and love of languages, Amber still seeks out and enjoys many other topics, especially in the fine arts. There are no worries about neglecting the arts and elective portion of her education.

Next week is the final week of the 2018 Virtual Homeschool Fair, during which I'll be talking about how we fit in all of the fun electives and extras that are not part of her academic life at home.

This his how we have been able to cover all the necessary high school credits with our daughter. Please take a look at how the other participants addressed their homeschool curriculum.

Note: all posts will be live after 8 am EST.

• Our Homeschool Plan for 3rd, 6th, 8th, & 12th Grades by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
• Our 10th Grade Plans by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
• Planning Out Our Unschooling Studies by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
• The Details of Curriculum by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
• Reflections of a Curriculum Junkie by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
• Freedom through nature journaling. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
• How I pull together a homeschool curriculum without packaged curriculum by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
• Our Favorite Curriculum and Resources - An Annotated Bibliography by Sabrina @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
• Our 2018 Homeschool Curriculum Choices by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
• Top Home Educating Resources by Sarah @ DeliveringGrace
• Homeschooling Curriculum We Are Using This Year by Laura O @ Day by Day in Our World
• Use the Force and Complete the Course by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
• Choices, choices - how to choose your curriculum wisely by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
• Our Curriculum Needs - grade seven by Annette @ A Net in Time
• The Heart of Our School by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
• What I Use with 7th and 9th Grader - Virtual Homeschool Fair -Week 3 by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
• How to Avoid Gaps in Education by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset
• Tricky Subjects and Starting the Decision Making Process by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
• High School Syllabus by TrueNorthHomeschoolAcademy @ GoldenGrasses

Resuming for Second Semester (Week 18 - 10th)

It's back to the full time lessons! Actually, we were back last week, but it was too crazy for me to get a weekly wrap-up post written. To be honest, last week was one of the most productive school weeks we've had in a long time. We were both awake on time, started school before lunch, and finished everything scheduled. It was impressive.

We've tried this week. Truly. It hasn't been bad, while it also hasn't been spectacular. Life stacked the cards against us this week anyway. So, I'm feeling rather proud of us to get as much done as we did.

Sunday before it all went wrong. Milori was coherent for a short while to watch Amber play her new video game.

The Details:

Starting with last week, excepting Friday, Amber followed our planned school schedule perfectly. All lessons on the appropriate days. Well, I guess that's not true. We had not yet started back up for co-op, so I put our Friday schedule onto the co-op day. Otherwise, it was a perfectly completed week. 

Amber's 16th birthday was last Friday and Daddy even took off from work. We had a fun family time, since Amber's party was back in December. The day was terribly cold and we had gotten a little snow/ice the night before. The three of us met my mom for lunch on our way to one of the remaining local malls. I had devised a treasure hunt for Amber by giving her written clues and gift cards. She had to guess the location from the clue before we could go to that store for her present. Amber absolutely loves these types of activities. And it was a fun day all around. 

LEGO store and birthday cake with Galadriel's circlet she receive as a present.

We took Monday of this week off since Daddy was home for MLK. We also took Thursday off except for flute lesson, because by the time it came around everyone was exhausted to the point of illness. Tuesday we were gone for roughly third of the day for my neurology checkup. Amber did take half of her assigned school work along and completed everything she took, then continued to work at home until we were called to pick up Milori.

This week our brand-new co-op had its first day of classes!! I'm not sure why, but it felt brand new too. It probably shouldn't since we meet in the same location as our old co-op, and we have many of the same people. However, procedures were different - more streamlined, and the atmosphere was just more peaceful. Amber enjoyed her classes immensely and very much appreciated the smaller sized co-op. I enjoyed the classes I lead and was happy to meet a few new students who had not been members of our old co-op. Despite all the fun, we were utterly wiped at the end of the day.

16 years old! And her traditional birthday celebration at Texas Roadhouse.

However, the over-arching theme of this week has been Milori, one of our cats. I became distracted last week with preparations for and then Amber's actual birthday. It did not dawn on me that Milori was acting a bit strange. It really wasn't until Saturday afternoon that I decided he was maybe not using the litter box as he should. Sunday I was positive he was not using it at all and he had become lethargic. Monday morning at 8:00 am I was rushing him to our vet to confirm and treat his blocked bladder. He spent the whole of Monday with them including overnight and most of Tuesday. We brought him home and followed the medications prescribed, however he had an unusual reaction to an appetite stimulant. It's like the poor cat was on speed, or something. He couldn't stop moving long enough to even eat a single kibble.

Milori: Tuesday evening when we brought him home he was so drugged up he fell asleep on the water bowl. A few hours later he went crazy after the appetite stimulant. The other pictures are from Thursday evening. Every pic I have he is blurred because he can't be still.

By Wednesday mid-afternoon Milori still was not using a litter box, which meant I ran him back to the vet as soon as I was finished teaching at our new co-op. Thankfully, he was not blocked again, yet he was still unwilling to attempt litter box usage. The vet added an anti-nausea drug to see if it would help him eat, since he was not eating or drinking either. That did the trick for the eating and drinking, along with the advice to try tuna water and even the tuna itself. Milori can't get enough of the tuna.

Unfortunately, he was still acting crazy and weird by this morning. He continues to twitch while awake and during the five minutes he sleeps at a time. It looked like serotonin syndrome, and although rare the appetite stimulant can cause it and the other medications exacerbate it. At 8:00 am this morning I had him back at the vet, and he's being treated for serotonin syndrome since they saw the symptoms too, especially the twitching. He should have been well past any side effects of the appetite stimulant. He also won't even attempt to empty his bladder. We're still waiting to hear how he is doing, on the antidote for serotonin syndrome, but I was at the vet until about 11:30 this morning and I know he is in good hands.

Update: I've picked Milori up from the vet (Friday evening), and it has been all figured out. It was his Prozac that was started on Dec. 29th. He is one of the rare ones that can't tolerate it and it caused urinary retention. Then, with the other meds he did end up with serotonin syndrome. He is hypersensitive to the entire class of medication and can't have any of them. He's on the antidote and we're weaning him from the Prozac, because even though he's been on it for only 3 weeks he still needs to wean to prevent further problems. Whew. He was / is one sick kitty with a strange body chemistry.

I'm still learning to relax. I am doing two Crochet-A-Longs(CALs). The Moogly CAL (left) just released the first block of the year yesterday. The Elements CAL (right) started in November and I'm catching up. I'm still on the second week and the seventh week is out. I'll get there if I ever sleep enough to make sense of the pattern.

Since I slept a grand total of three hours last night due to worrying about Milori and then getting up early to get him to the vet, Amber is only doing school lessons today that are independent of me. I'm fairly worthless in this state. She is also, understandably, very concerned about her beloved Milori. He's her little guy and this week has been very hard on her.


Lessons Completed:

• History - 6 lessons + 3 hours watched today of Victoria and Albert
• U.S. Government - 5 lessons
• Grammar - 12 lessons
• Writing (IEW & Creative writing) - 9 sessions (including her essay class at co-op)
• Literature - One lesson, with an assignment given to complete the reading of the play. Due next week. She's been working on that reading in her free time.
• Greek - 5 lessons
• German - 3 sessions, 5 lessons.
• Consumer Math - 2 lessons (yes... we skipped the days she should have had math this week)
• Astronomy - 1 lesson day at co-op, homework to be completed still.
• Art & Drama - 3 hours of classes at co-op

If you didn't notice, Amber had 10+ inches cut off last week. She had it layered, so it varies between 10 and 13 inches off of her previous length.

Hopefully we see improvement in Milori over the weekend, assuming he comes home tonight (he did). Amber and I need to work on homework and lesson prep for next week's co-op classes, and we all need to sleep. We are all very short on sleep because of Milori.

Linking With:

   

Finding Our Homeschool Method (Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018 - Week 2)

Welcome back for the second week of the Virtual Homeschool Fair, graciously hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds. This week we are all talking about how we homeschool. This covers a broad range of topics from schooling methods to organization. I'm going to talk about how we came our homeschool method.

I'm homeschooling our only child, Amber, who is now at the midway point of 10th grade. We've tried several educational methods over the years before coming to what we use now. I guess the broad term for our educational style now is eclectic. A more detailed term might be: classical wannabe, adaptable, language heavy, eclectic education.

How did we get to where we are?

When we first started homeschooling in January of fourth grade, we basically were doing school at home out of necessity. It was a rather quick decision to pull Amber from her parochial school, and we were not entirely prepared. However, I did have a copy of all of her current fourth grade text books, which made a great place to start. It didn't take long to start replacing curriculum and doing things are own way. Still, for that first semester it more fit the school at home style than anything else.

School at Home to Eclectic
By the time Amber had started fifth grade, I had done more research and felt like I could branch out a little bit in our method. We never used a complete box set, but I did use quite a few resources from BJU. It suited us for the moment. Eventually during fifth grade we began moving to a more eclectic style, as I learned how Amber best learned. We tweaked constantly, or at least it seemed that way.

Classical Education
During fifth grade I read The Well Trained Mind and decided this definitely suited me and I thought Amber would do well with it too. We began migrating over to a classical style of education for sixth grade. Although it had more work to it, the style definitely worked better for Amber and I enjoyed it more as well. Unfortunately, it was during this time period that Amber's dysautonomia worsened / became a visible problem.

The rigors of a classical education were honestly too much for Amber in her frequent dysautonomia and EDS flares. Once it became clear that Amber could not keep up with our prescribed lessons, I had to adapt her schooling method once again. This was heartbreaking for me, because I was so invested in the classical method. Amber had enjoyed the classical style, but mostly she felt sick and didn't really care what we were doing. I decided to lessen her load some and go with a mostly-classical style, or classically influenced style.

Project Based
We even tried adding project-based learning with the classical style, which sorta worked for a while. Amber enjoyed some of the projects, however her energy levels did not allow for her to be project based all the time. Many days we would do her limited reading assignment and skip the project, even if I had purchased all of the supplies. You simply cannot conjure the energy or enthusiasm for a project when there is barely energy to sit upright.

After a year of trying to make the classically influenced style / project-based classical work for Amber, I finally had a realization that we were doing the classical method for me. It is how I learn best. It may have been a great method for Amber at one point, but not any more. Amber was also back in occupational therapy for her sensory processing disorder, and all of the other issues she has as a result of EDS and dysautonomia. Her therapist is a wonderfully patient lady, who truly works with us as a family to find the ways for Amber to best function, including educational methods.

Adaptable, Eclectic Education
Through information provided to us at occupational therapy and neuropsychology, I began to see Amber's needs more clearly. No one method is going to work for Amber in all subjects. She is extraordinarily gifted in languages, but has slowed cognitive processing in mathematics. Science is interesting to her, but the math will hold her back every time. Anxiety over slowed cognitive responses plays a huge factor in Amber's daily lessons too. Reading on electronic devices is a no-go for Amber; she needs a more tactile experience in order to retain and comprehend what she reads. Reading for information also drains her body of physical and mental energy, so huge amounts of reading for multiple subjects is not going to be successful.

In time, I've learned Amber needs a highly individualized and adaptable approach to each subject. She loves to study languages and we are rather fond of Memoria Press for the classical languages of Greek and Latin. In fact, Amber loves their curriculum. For math we've had to leave main stream topics after algebra 2, and it requires that I am very hands on with Amber for every lesson. I shorten the assignments and almost always have to re-word the lessons in terms that make sense to her. We've deviated from the standard science path to special topics that interest Amber, without using more than simple math. History has gone back to a textbook with chapter questions and the occasional project. Amber's daily focus, though, is on English writing, literature, grammar, and foreign languages.

Where we are now

Now we are back to almost where we started, a highly eclectic method using curriculum that can be adapted to abilities that change with her health. However, this time it is based on my student's rather diverse needs instead of indecision on a method, or choosing what looks shiny and pretty in the moment. It took time, nevertheless I finally learned how to evaluate curriculum based on Amber's rather fluid cognitive needs, rather than on how I learn or even teach best.

That's how we found our current homeschool method. Please take a look at how the other participants homeschool their students. 

Note: all posts will be live after 8 am EST.

• How Our Academic Co-op Completes Our Eclectic Homeschool by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
• A Method to Our Madness by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
• Finding Our Homeschool Method by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
• How We Homeschool by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
• Give Us.... by Annette @ A Net in Time
• A day in our Home by Sarah@DeliveringGrace
• Lit-Based Education: How We Homeschool by Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
• Overhauling Our Homeschool - Adjusting our "How" to fit our "Why" by Sabrina Scheerer @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
• A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler: Expectation Vs. Reality by Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
• How Charlotte Mason Transformed Our Homeschool by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
• Captain's Log, Supplemental - Our Homeschool Days by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
• How we get it done. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
• How to Organize Daily Curriculum with the School Cart by Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
• Learning For LIfe by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
• Eclectic Homeschooling: When It All Comes Together by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
• A Typical Day? by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
• This is the Way We Do Our School, So Early in the Morning by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
• A Little of This and a Little of That: Eclectic Homeschooling by Laura O @ Day by Day in Our World
• Still Classically Educating After All These Years by True North Homeschool Academy
• So what exactly is Life Led Homeschooling? by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
• The way we learn ~ 2018 Virtual Homeschool Fair by Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
• Our Homeschool Routine by Joelle @Homeschooling For His Glory
• Homeschool Methods - 8 Tips for the Journey by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset

A New Attitude

I'm not a big proponent of new year's resolutions. Personally, the flip from December 31 to January 1 does not invoke in me the need to assess life and make changes. Usually, other catalysts make that happen at more natural points in my life.  I'm not saying that people who use the new year as a turning point in their life are incorrect; it's simply not effective for me. I need more than January first coming around to propel changes.

Similarly, choosing a word for the year is not an effective tool for me. I tend to float along in my life happily, until I'm not happy or until it becomes clear change is needed. At that point, I work toward a goal that I've determined is the best coarse.

My new Furls crochet hook - and it feels so nice in my hand.

In late 2017 I came to a realization that I needed to slow down. Sjorgren's is currently winning and my body is not happy most days. I'm failing at simple, basic daily tasks that we need to function at home - like making healthy meals. Although slowing down isn't exactly quite enough. I'm not the type of person that can sit still and be without projects, so I needed to come to an understanding of my varying limitations.

After mentally dissecting my daily life and my attitude toward Sjogren's, I came to see that I honestly have no resting periods except night time sleep. Even if I sit down, I'm still mentally planning or working on things - online or on paper. I'm always doing something that tires out my brain and body. I've also tended to ignore that I have an autoimmune disease (or two or three...).

I've spent so much time concentrating on Amber and her illnesses: working on medical solutions, helping her come to terms with her conditions, and ensuring she has the proper mental support. Amber has hobbies to keep her active and her mind engaged that I fully support and encourage. Even though he works all day, Fred also has hobbies he enjoys and regularly spends time engaged in. However, I have hobbies I rarely work on, unless the hobby coincides with another project or need. It's a rare thing for me to simply relax with a hobby.

My brand new, Needlework System 4 floor stand. It hurt too much to hold my embroidery and still stitch. Unfortunately, I use q-snaps as opposed to scrolls or hoops, which made it difficult to find a stand.

That telling fact is where I started. We took a nice break from school in December during which I picked up some of my old hobbies when possible. I even let a few things slide in order to sit and crochet. My computers were turned on for specific tasks only, instead of being turned on by default each day. The last few weeks haven't been perfect, but I'm feeling more relaxed even while having a Sjogren's flare.

My goal is to be more mindful in relaxing with my hobbies: reading, crochet, cross stitch, and even video games with Amber. There are going to need to be other changes because of my health, although my doctors are still working that all out. However, relaxation and restful living will hopefully go along way to helping my body and mind heal.

Fred and Amber have been lovingly supportive, and encourage me often to take time for myself, no matter how guilty I feel for not being busy with household tasks every waking moment. It turns out, both of them are rather willing to take on a few additional items around the house that I always felt were my job and I shouldn't ask for help with my jobs. I even received some fun cross stitch and crochet tools for Christmas that will make it easier for me to enjoy my hobbies without pain. I couldn't be more thankful for what my family had done to support my life changes.

Even though I'm not one for new year's resolution, it seems my goal of a more relaxed attitude does somewhat coincide with the start of 2018. So, for once it seems I have a new year's resolution, of sorts.

I loved my Furls hook so much that Fred urged me to order more of them. Furls is still sold out of some of the Candy Shop line after all the Christmas orders, so I'm waiting for a couple more sizes to be available. But look at these lovely hooks that do not hurt my hand or wrists!

Our Ever Evolving Homeschool Story (Virtual Homeschool Fair - Week 1)

Welcome to week one of the Virtual Homeschool Fair, graciously hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds. As I mentioned in my little introductory post, this year the Virtual Curriculum Fair has been renamed and re-envisioned. We will be addressing multiple facets of homeschooling, as well as a week dedicated to curriculum.

This week we are all talking about why we homeschool, which is quite possibly a slightly different reason for every family. Our little family started for one reason, but have continued much longer than intended for a host of other equally valid reasons.

Background:

Our sixteen year old daughter, Amber, began her school career in parochial school. We were happy with her in the Lutheran pre-school and growing into the elementary school. However, the school she attended started having some internal and financial difficulties during second grade, and we had already switched our church membership to another Lutheran church that also had a school. We made the decision to switch Amber to the school attached to our current church congregation. This was possibly a mistake, or simply a progression that needed to be made. 

The second school seemed perfect on the outside, but the people (kids and adults) on the inside were less than welcoming to a new girl - who technically wasn't that new since she had been a member of the church congregation and going to their Sunday school for over a year. Amber survived third grade, but was not thrilled with learning like she had been. Fourth grade was horrid. We found out fairly early on that Amber had been bullied from almost day one at this school and she could not take it anymore. We worked with the school for a good portion of first semester trying to remedy the situation.

"L" for last day, 4th grade (parochial school)

Getting Started:

Unfortunately, the school administrators did not truly feel they had a bullying problem, although all the parents we spoke with knew it was an unspoken and large problem. We decided over Christmas break of fourth grade to homeschool Amber starting in fifth grade. Amber kept asking why we couldn't start immediately, but we were not as sure in our decision as we made it sound to her. It was a hard thing to break away and do, when we honestly only knew a few people who homeschooled.

The situation became unbearable only a week into second semester, with the kids bullying Amber and insulting her directly in front of me - knowing full well I was her mother. We withdrew her from school in January of fourth grade with the intention of homeschooling on a year-by-year basis. We would re-evaluate her emotional state and the school each year. That idea didn't last long, because we absolutely LOVED homeschooling. 

It took us a while to realize that we could basically do whatever we wanted. We didn't have to study what her school would have been studying. Amber did not have to take social studies and learn the same map reading skills every year. Instead, we could learn about actual American history and not only the Colonial time and Native American tribes. We could study earth science and physical science, instead of emphasizing biological sciences and throwing in a few physical science tidbits here and there. It was empowering!

Amber had dreamed of studying Latin - I know, she is a bit kooky for languages, but the best her second elementary school did was a Spanish club after school that cost additional money. I tried to put her off a little, but we started Latin in February, one mere month after our homeschooling journey began. Since then Amber has also studied German and Greek, and is now preparing to work on Hebrew.  What began as a way to save our child from the terror of being bullied became the conduit for her to develop her love of languages - English and foreign.

Evolving Reasons:

Just as we were becoming more sure of ourselves as homeschoolers and considering homeschooling through high school, Amber began having more than her normal level of quirky eating issues. And some of her other slightly different bodily reactions became more pronounced. Over a few months she became so sick that people who had never met her before could tell she was sick simply by looking at her. All in all, it took a couple of years to get her full diagnoses, and I've documented most of that story already. However, the end result is that she has a genetic connective tissue disease (Ehlers Danlos), which greatly limits her physical abilities. Additionally, she gets to be one of the people with this genetic disease to also have the comorbid dysautonomia - meaning her autonomic nervous system is broken and does not do what it should. There are also several other side conditions that come with both of those. 

I cannot imagine the difficulty we would have sending Amber to either a public or private high school with any of these medical conditions. Actually, I am part of support groups for parents of kids like Amber, and their school experiences are horror stories. 

Physical therapy: just one of her regular appointments

Even if we had not be sold on homeschooling prior to each stage of her diagnosis and ensuing treatment plans, we are now. Finding time for all of the medical appointments while still managing to attend school is a difficult situation. Managing Amber's health and medications is made simpler when we can structure school around her, and not her around the school's schedule. 

Additionally, the dysautonomia and some of the other resulting conditions from the EDS have affected Amber's cognitive abilities. The term used by Amber's medical team for her slow days is brain fog. She cannot make her brain work. On those days, we school the best we can and avoid overtaxing subjects since mental exhaustion equates to physical exhaustion for her. She also has documented slowed cognitive abilities in specific areas and needs extra time and patience with those subjects - particularly math. 

High School:
Although we no longer do the fun, hands-on projects from elementary school, high school has been much more enjoyable for Amber than I remember it being. She still studies the subjects that interest her within the framework of the credits she needs to graduate. We have been able to work with Amber's occupational therapist to determine Amber's best learning methods, and then were steered to neuropsychology when it was time to document and further assess Amber's cognitive abilities.

Homeschooling high school has allowed us to follow those best learning practices suggested by OT and neuropsychology without having to jump through the hoops to create an IEP.  It also has given us the ability to create unique courses to fulfill credit requirements and to provide Amber with electives not usually available in your average public or parochial school.

***

What started out in fourth grade as the means to rescue our child for a short while, has become our way of life. Now when asked why we homeschool, we might answer: in order to accommodate Amber's fluctuating learning abilities and assist her in learning all that she needs to know, while still letting her follow her own interests and strengths. Although, in truth we have found each homeschooling year to be more enjoyable than the previous, and homeschooling high school has been a joyous adventure.

Now that you've read our story, take a look at how the other participants in the Virtual Homeschool Fair came to homeschooling. 

Note: all posts will be live after 8 am EST.

• 5 Reasons to Homeschool High School by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
• Weird Homeschoolers by Kim R. @ Good Sweet Love
• How We Make Homeschooling a Lifestyle by Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
• Our Ever Evolving Homeschool Story by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
• 5 Reasons You Will Want to Homeschool by Michele@ Family, Faith and Fridays
• How Our Homeschool Came To Be (and why we continue) by Sabrina @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
• Home Education - 10 Reasons we keep going...even when it's hard by Lizzy @ Peaches@HomeSo... Tell Me Again Why You Homeschool? by Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
• Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018 - Week 1 - Why do I Homeschool  by Joelle@Homeschooling For His Glory
• Homeschool Reasons: Bullies, Faith and More by Annette @ A Net In Time
• In Pursuit of Purpose by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
• A Long Time Ago . . . Why We Decided To Homeschool by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
• The Why Behind Hopkins Homeschool by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
• 5 Reasons We Love Homeschooling by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
• Why We Homeschool - It's What We Do by Kristen H @ Sunrise to Sunset
• Why we Home Educate and Extra Benefits by Sarah@Delivering Grace
• Homeschooling: The Big WHY? by Lisa @ True North Homeschool Academy at Golden Grasses
• Regaining Your Homeschool Focus by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
• Why do we homeschool? by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
• Our “Homeschool” Why by Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
• It's Worth it! Why We Homeschool, Even After All These Years by Hillary @ Walking Fruitfully
• Because Life is Precious by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
• 1998 vs. 2018: Why We Homeschool by Debra @ Footprints in the Butter

Lazy Winter Break Days

We're still on Christmas vacation until Monday and thus I have no scholarly updates to make this week. However, we've been keeping plenty busy with fun activities and rest during our break.

Amber has been reading up a storm with the new books she received for Christmas (and early birthday).  I think they have all been read, but she now is going to start on the Tolkien Lost Tales after finishing the Silmarillion. However, she's really been busy playing the PS4 since Monday. On Sunday, New Year's Eve, I managed to get her big Christmas present set up. We gave Amber her very own PS4 Slim for her spare / media / Sanctum room. Now she can play games and it doesn't affect our TV / movie watching on the main TV.

The Princess Bride and one of the Sarah J. Maas books.

In honor of her new PS4, we also let her get a Playstation Network account and she started playing Horizon Zero Dawn again from the beginning on her own PSN account. Not like she needed a reason to replay the game, considering she had already run through it five times on New Game+, however this time she started from scratch without all of her cool weapons from finishing the game. She is definitely enjoying her Christmas present. Too bad on Monday she goes back to school, which means more limited playing time.

Amber also kept up on her flute practice and lessons, but this week it felt odd switching her flute day to accommodate the new homeschool co-op. Along with the new year holiday, the changed flute lesson day really threw off how we viewed the week.

Baking snickerdoodles at home and the annual Christmas baking at Grandma's. Amber made my favorite toffee cookies all by herself.

Today we did take a field trip to the St. Louis Science Center for the King Tut exhibit. We've been meaning to go since August, but something always came up. Then I realized earlier this week the exhibit ends on Sunday, the 7th. Oops. Today was the only day we could possibly make it, so we picked up my mom and took a field trip. Grandma has been going on many of our homeschool field trips since we started homeschooling. Not all of them, but enough that Amber thinks it's odd to take one without Grandma.

The exhibit was very enjoyable, but I didn't take a single picture. Unlike some of the other exhibits we have seen, this one required an audio device for every attendee in order to fully participate. There were three sections: the first had optional audio portions, the second was a video portion that required the audio, and the third was audio guided to a point. It was an odd combination. Honestly, I prefer to go at my own speed and not have to proceed through the sections like that. Still it was a good exhibit and very interesting.

Fred's new custom La-Z-boy recliner arrived this week. Yes, it looks shockingly like the old one. He really doesn't like change. (Amber got to sit in the chair before Daddy, who was at work).

This weekend we are taking down Christmas decorations, relaxing, and attempting to avoid the possible ice storm coming in Sunday. Amber's 16th birthday is a week from today! I'm making plans for her birthday (shhh! it's a surprise activity), while also making plans in case the weather turns nasty and we have to stay home. Her birthday is always a bit of a gamble, weather-wise. She's already had her party, this is just fun with Mom and Dad (and maybe Grandma) on her actual birthday. I'll see how it works out.

Linking With:

   

Virtual Homeschool Fair 2018 - Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

The annual Virtual Curriculum Fair hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds, has grown up and changed its name! Instead of discussing the various types of curriculum for studying specific topics, we will address multiple homeschooling topics in additional to curriculum. 

In honor of this new direction, the VCF name has been changed to the Virtual Homeschool Fair.

Come back each week to see how some of your favorite and some new-to-you homeschool bloggers respond to each of the topics below.

January 8th - The Reasons We Homeschool
Perhaps some of the stories will be similar to your own, or perhaps you are considering homeschooling and need to hear how others came to this educational decision.

January 15th - Our Method of Homeschooling
Are you looking others who use a specific homeschool method? Have you been hearing about Charlotte Mason or Classical homeschooling, but have no idea what people actually do on a daily basis? Then join us on January 15th to see how our eclectic group homeschools.

January 22nd - Our Homeschool Curriculum
If you miss the Virtual Curriculum Fair, then this week is for you. We will hit the highlights of our chosen curriculum, and perhaps given a little advice as to why each product works for us.

January 29th - Enriching Our Learning
Life is more than book work. Come see how we encourage and support our children in learning away from the book.

Visit the bloggers participating in the Virtual Homeschool Fair:

Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
Jenn K. @ A Peace of Mind
Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset
Kim @ Good Sweet Love
Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Jen Duncan @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Amanda H @ Hopkins Homeschool
Annette @ A Net In Time
Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
Sabrina @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
Michele Pleasants @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Brittney @ Mom's Heart
Sarah @ Delivering Grace