This is a March AND April in review! We have been quite busy over the last couple of months. Some health stuff came up (including a surgery), we had some house guests for a month, and Dad changed jobs, just to name a FEW of the very many things we have been going through the last two months.
We are loving our Time4Learning curriculum, however, now that we have been homeschooling for awhile and have grown more comfortable, we have also added in some supplements as well. We are using Science4Us for science, we have a subscription to National Geographic to use which comes in very handy for all kinds of things, we also started using Reading Eggs and Math Seeds which has been AMAZING for the kids. The kids actually ASK to do their Reading Eggs and Math Seeds lessons, and that is pretty cool to see! Grandbaby Ricky (and even the big kids but don't tell them that I told you!) use ABC mouse too.
Since we school year round we have gone ahead and cut our days down to half a day now that we are nearing summer. We can do this and still maintain our required days and hours BECAUSE we school year round, we don't take weekends off (instead we take days off when we are sick, have an appointment or when Dad, who is a truck driver, is home from work). This is going over very well with the kids. It is so funny because even though they are not "officially" doing schoolwork, they are always asking me to look something up for them on the computer (questions about bug habitats, how a flower grows, bird species questions, etc, etc,), so they are ALWAYS learning. They are both READING a lot more than they EVER did when they attended public school, and even Jacob who has had the reading delays has come a VERY VERY long way! He is reading EVERYTHING! And he is doing it happily and on his own! Just last year it would take us an hour (and a complete meltdown) to get him to read a short children's book. I am so very pleased at their progress! My ONE AND ONLY concern is math. I know they are both a little bit behind on math, but that is OK. We are going to work on that, and I know it will be fine. I refuse to stress (for more than 5 minutes a day lol) about them falling too far behind on math. In the end, they will be just fine. That I can say with 100% confidence these days.
I know I probably say this at the conclusion of every monthly update, but I will say it again anyway, I am SOOOOOO happy we made this decision to homeschool, I am SOOOOOO glad I stuck it out that first year when I thought for sure I was going to rip my hair out, their hair out and run away to a beach a million miles away (EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.). I am SO glad that I get to spend every day with my kids even if they do drive me completely bonkers on the rare occasions my husband is gone at work for extended periods and I don't get a break after almost two weeks. It did NOT start off easy, it is NOT easy every day, but it IS rewarding and it IS worth it.
My hope in writing these blog posts is that if there is a Mommy who is trying to make the decision whether or not she could homeschool, my answer is YES. YES you can!!! Your child will benefit so much! My kids spent preschool through 1st grade in Public School and I totally regret them going even that long. Had my son not been diagnosed with Autism they would have never started in the first place. I thought by putting the twins in public school it would help the twin with Autism thrive. The doctors said it would be "critical to his social development". Let me tell you, it did nothing but tear him down and make things worse! It took me a YEAR and a half to "fix" him after pulling him from public school and it is a work in progress. Kids at school bullied him and stripped what little self confidence he had. I have worked for TWO years to get that back and he has finally made friends in the neighborhood. My twins are now healthy and happy and SMART little boys, and I (a regular Mom) am teaching them all they need to know! I don't have a degree, hell, I didn't even finish college. I use spell check to write my blog posts and facebook statuses, and the only friends I have live in my computer! I make it work, and my kids are normal, noisy, loud, smart a$$. loving, sometimes spoiled kids!
I wouldn't change this adventure for the world!
Twin 1 is hugging me now, this blog post is much longer than I intended, maybe I can come back and add some pictures after night time cuddles are done and kids are tucked in bed, but for now, Mommy duties call again!
