I don't know about you, but I look at life as a learning experience. Everywhere we go can be made into some sort of teachable moment or segue to a whole weeks worth of learning on a particular topic.
It seems lately, with school being out for the summer that I'm getting a lot of questions about how I home school and if we are "on vacation" like kids that go to "regular" school.
A friend recently commented that since her daughter was now done with preschool, we must be too. That is not the case. While we may have backed off the structured book work; we still do a far amount as well as practice writing and reading. We are also always on the go and each place we go, I find something to teach them about and we go to the library and research or hop on-line and find more information about.
As a parent, I've always felt I was the most important teacher in my kids lives. Even if I had decided on traditional school, I'd still be doing this stuff in the summers with them for retention. It is interesting to see how other parents feel and what they do (or don't do) for time off school.
What about you? What do you do for school breaks? If you are homeschooling do you take a vacation period or do you just keep on going? If your child goes to traditional school do you work with them in the summer or do you take a hands off approach?
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Homeschool Mind Struggle
I'm moving forward with creating an overview of what I want to teach the twinadoes for their Kindergarten year. I think, no, I know, I was meant to be an elementary school teacher or librarian because I'm having way to much fun planning and creating activities we will do. I worked in a library for 10 years and originally started college with elementary education as the goal, but life took a different road. Little did I know it would merge back up 20 years later. Reminds me of the poem, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.
I've struggled a lot with the thought of "will I be teaching the right things they need to know to be successful in life". The bigger question is, Who decides what the right things are? I think I've done a good job teaching them thus far. I think about the things I had to learn in school and how much of it I actually use in real life. The more I think, the more I come to terms with the fact that it is not the subject I am specifically teaching them about, but how they arrived at that learning place. Do they know how to research to find answers? Do they know how to think outside the box to get an answer or try another solution? Are they interested in it? Sure I could sit down and have them memorize facts about the Underground Railroad, but in the end is it more important to know those facts or to have a more general understanding of why an Underground Railroad was necessary.
I've also found that the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, The Natural History Museum, and Lake Metroparks have homeschool programs that we'll be incorporating into our days to give the kids an opportunity to socialize with other kids.
At any rate, we'll go our best to have as much fun learning everything MY two 5 year olds want to know and all the things I feel they need to know.
The lesson planning continues......
I've struggled a lot with the thought of "will I be teaching the right things they need to know to be successful in life". The bigger question is, Who decides what the right things are? I think I've done a good job teaching them thus far. I think about the things I had to learn in school and how much of it I actually use in real life. The more I think, the more I come to terms with the fact that it is not the subject I am specifically teaching them about, but how they arrived at that learning place. Do they know how to research to find answers? Do they know how to think outside the box to get an answer or try another solution? Are they interested in it? Sure I could sit down and have them memorize facts about the Underground Railroad, but in the end is it more important to know those facts or to have a more general understanding of why an Underground Railroad was necessary.
I've also found that the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, The Natural History Museum, and Lake Metroparks have homeschool programs that we'll be incorporating into our days to give the kids an opportunity to socialize with other kids.
At any rate, we'll go our best to have as much fun learning everything MY two 5 year olds want to know and all the things I feel they need to know.
The lesson planning continues......
Friday, January 20, 2012
Anyone Out There
I have been very lax in posting, its not that I don't have anything to say, I just can't find the time to say it. My little photography business has taken off nicely and I find myself immersed in photoshop and lightroom in the spare time I was dedicating to blogging (even my personal blog for family and friends has suffered too!) There is a little lull in the action right now and several people have mentioned this News-Herald blog to me so I figured people must still be out there and reading!
My biggest worry and decision right now is about sending the twinadoes to school in the fall. I am leaning towards homeschooling and on most days I am really happy with that decision. The one day where I'm back to old insecure me keeps nagging that maybe it is not the right call. I enroll them in all sorts of activities so they get the social time. Anyone that spends 5 minutes with them knows they have no problems with their social skills, so I'm not worried about that. It's me worrying that I will not be teaching them all they need to know. When I sit down at the end of the day and think about it, I know that is not the case since they are pretty darn smart and are having no trouble working their way through the preschool/K/1st grade stuff we do at home. They are 4 1/2 and can read, write, and are working on addition and subtraction and telling time.
I'm exploring options now because the school registration starts soon. So fill me in.....if you homeschool, do you use a curriculm? If so, which one? What programs for home schoolers do you find useful? I know Willoughby Fine Arts and the Metroparks offer homeschool stuff, where else? What websites do you find most helpful?
Please, help a mother out!
My biggest worry and decision right now is about sending the twinadoes to school in the fall. I am leaning towards homeschooling and on most days I am really happy with that decision. The one day where I'm back to old insecure me keeps nagging that maybe it is not the right call. I enroll them in all sorts of activities so they get the social time. Anyone that spends 5 minutes with them knows they have no problems with their social skills, so I'm not worried about that. It's me worrying that I will not be teaching them all they need to know. When I sit down at the end of the day and think about it, I know that is not the case since they are pretty darn smart and are having no trouble working their way through the preschool/K/1st grade stuff we do at home. They are 4 1/2 and can read, write, and are working on addition and subtraction and telling time.
I'm exploring options now because the school registration starts soon. So fill me in.....if you homeschool, do you use a curriculm? If so, which one? What programs for home schoolers do you find useful? I know Willoughby Fine Arts and the Metroparks offer homeschool stuff, where else? What websites do you find most helpful?
Please, help a mother out!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Fall Means Back To Everything
Yeah, I suck at keeping this blog up to date. Late spring brought sickness to our house and we spent some time in the hospital with our son. He is all good now, but it was a scary couple of months.
Then came summer. Spray parks, sandboxes, roadtrips, and late nights catching fireflies. We crammed a lot into our summer.
I got busy towards the end of summer taking Senior pictures. I was very happy with the amount of business I had this year and hope it keeps on growing. I so enjoy seeing people happy with their portraits.
We ended our summer, literally, in the OBX. We ushered the first day of fall in by building a fort on the beach in Corolla. We learned so much there about lighthouses, mermaid purses, and the Wright Bros. First hand experiences beat sitting in a classroom anyday. Guess that is why I'm doing a little home-school preschool this year.
My goal is to get back to blogging a couple of times a week. So what do you want to talk about?
Then came summer. Spray parks, sandboxes, roadtrips, and late nights catching fireflies. We crammed a lot into our summer.
I got busy towards the end of summer taking Senior pictures. I was very happy with the amount of business I had this year and hope it keeps on growing. I so enjoy seeing people happy with their portraits.
We ended our summer, literally, in the OBX. We ushered the first day of fall in by building a fort on the beach in Corolla. We learned so much there about lighthouses, mermaid purses, and the Wright Bros. First hand experiences beat sitting in a classroom anyday. Guess that is why I'm doing a little home-school preschool this year.
My goal is to get back to blogging a couple of times a week. So what do you want to talk about?
Monday, June 6, 2011
Butterflies
For Easter, Reagan got the butterfly habitat she was so desperately wanting.
About 2 weeks ago, the larva arrived and they set up house. It was amazing how quickly they grew and then after about a week, they climbed to the top of the jar they had come in and turned into chrysalids.
They have just been hanging around on the side of the habitat for another week and yesterday I noticed one was breaking through. It is an interesting process to watch. I remember doing this in first grade as our final project for the year. However, I do not remember there being blood when the butterfly emerges.
This morning I noticed another butterfly trying to break free. We took a break from our morning chores (emptying the dishwasher for me; watching Curious George for the twinadoes) to watch.
Yesterdays butterfly started crawling up the side of the habitat and we watched the other one flap its wing trying to break free. Amazing.
I know you are surprised, but I had my camera. Nolan went to get his, of course, it was nowhere to be found. (Nolan has trouble putting this back where they belong. Sure, he picks up his mess, but who knows where it goes.)
Reagan found hers and starting taking pictures and asking me if she "had the right angle". Meanwhile, Nolan starts this radio announcer type voice, saying, "folks, we are watching it as it happens!"
Just another morning at our house.
It really is interesting to share this type of thing with your child. It's a learning moment for all of us!
About 2 weeks ago, the larva arrived and they set up house. It was amazing how quickly they grew and then after about a week, they climbed to the top of the jar they had come in and turned into chrysalids.
They have just been hanging around on the side of the habitat for another week and yesterday I noticed one was breaking through. It is an interesting process to watch. I remember doing this in first grade as our final project for the year. However, I do not remember there being blood when the butterfly emerges.
This morning I noticed another butterfly trying to break free. We took a break from our morning chores (emptying the dishwasher for me; watching Curious George for the twinadoes) to watch.
Yesterdays butterfly started crawling up the side of the habitat and we watched the other one flap its wing trying to break free. Amazing.
I know you are surprised, but I had my camera. Nolan went to get his, of course, it was nowhere to be found. (Nolan has trouble putting this back where they belong. Sure, he picks up his mess, but who knows where it goes.)
Reagan found hers and starting taking pictures and asking me if she "had the right angle". Meanwhile, Nolan starts this radio announcer type voice, saying, "folks, we are watching it as it happens!"
Just another morning at our house.
It really is interesting to share this type of thing with your child. It's a learning moment for all of us!
Monday, May 23, 2011
The Illness Turned Auto Immune Disease
So in my last post I mentioned that my son was super-sick. I never imagined it would lead us down the path it did, but here we are with a diagnosis of ITP- Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is the condition of having an abnormally low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) of no known cause (idiopathic) As most incidents of ITP appear to be related to the production of antibodies against platelets, immune thrombocytopenic purpura or immune thrombocytopenia are terms also used to describe this condition. Often ITP is asymptomatic (devoid of obvious symptoms), however a very low platelet count can lead to visible symptoms, such as purpura (large bruises), or more seriously, bleeding diathesis.
The twinadoes family birthday party was on Sunday, 5/8. That night my husband was dressing our son for bed and gasped when he pulled down his pants to put his jammies on. His lower legs were COVERED in tiny bruises. It bothered me, but I thought maybe he had just been playing especially hard and repeatedly hitting that area while climbing all over the swingset. The next morning, we were getting ready to walk to the library and he came out of the bathroom and showed me the "big purple spot" on his inner elbow. I knew right away this was not normal. Bill had stayed home from work that day because he didn't feel well. While I called our ped he began looking our boy over more closely. They asking me to look for a red pinpoint rash somewhere on his body, which we found under his left arm. They advised me to hang up and take him to the nearest ER. Luckily, I didn't have time to google anything, otherwise I might have self-diagnosed him with something much worse than ITP.
We headed to Hillcrest since they have a peds ER and after some bloodwork, the ER doc came in and calmly asked Nolan how he'd like to take an ambulance ride downtown to main campus. Luckily, I was sitting down, otherwise I might have passed out. I got a little light-headed when he mentioned his platelet count was extremely low. 11,000. Normal is 150,000-450,000. He quickly pointed out that all other numbers from the blood counts were normal. I had no idea at the time, but he was telling me he was ruling out leukemia. Even typing that just now, I get teary-eyed.
The lifeflight crew swept into the room, literally 4 people in black jumpsuits plus 2 other hospital personel came into the room and started firing questions about what was going on and explaining what was going to happen. And the most important question, what DVD did the boy want to watch in the rig? Th (He picked Thomas.) They couldn't have been nicer to us and really helped calm my nerves for (what seemed like) the endless ride to Cleveland Clinic Main.
We walked onto the floor at M20 and I quickly saw the signs "Hemotology/Oncology." Just 24 hours before that we were opening presents and signing Happy Birthday. How was this happening so fast? In hindsight, I've glad it happened that way and not a long drawn out diagnosis which I would have had no patience for.
Within 4 hours, he was getting his first dose of medicine, IVIG. He slept through it. I did not.
The next morning, a Child Life Specialist came into our room to talk to Nolan about how he wanted to celebrate his birthday. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was now Tuesday, May 10? My twins 4th birthday. I hated that I wasn't with my girl when she woke up and that he and I were in the least desirable place to be on your birthday, but you know what? I was wrong. Miss Sarah did everything she could to give my kids a proper birthday. The plan was that we would be in the hospital another night, so my hubby, mom, and daughter were on their way down. The boy's labs came back shortly before they arrived and the doctors were impressed enough with the result to let us check out. No typical boy rough play, no bike, no trampoline. No fun, but we were still going home to be together.
I figured the party would be cancelled, but I was wrong. They waited for everyone to arrive and then they brought in the cake, complete with candles and three gifts for each kid. I cried. We had only been there 1 day and they did this for us. I'm sure, on that particular floor, there are kids that celebrate a lot of holidays & milestones in the hospital. It made me so thankful that these people are there to do what they do.
We'd quickly learn that ITP is a roller coaster and as quickly as the platelet count went up, the would go down as well.
One week later, we were back downtown in the hemotology/oncology outpatient clinic. Nolan's counts were back down to 18,000 after peaking at 67,000. They were going to try a different drug, WINRHO. Getting the IV in was tricky. Hell, it was awful. Three sticks, screaming, and tears by a lot of people and finally it was in. The medication only took 30 minutes and we were on our way.
Three days later his counts rose to 203,000. Now the trick is keeping them there.
There will be bloodwork and more bloodwork in his future. We just pray that his numbers stay up and this is an acute case and in 6 months it will be another page in his baby book. He deserves that, the little guy hasn't had the easiest road, but he takes almost all of it with a smile.
If you take anything away from this, please donate blood. You don't think about it until you need it. I know I've driven by countless Red Cross signs and always say I'll do it next time. Someone needs that blood and its byproducts. Now.
The twinadoes family birthday party was on Sunday, 5/8. That night my husband was dressing our son for bed and gasped when he pulled down his pants to put his jammies on. His lower legs were COVERED in tiny bruises. It bothered me, but I thought maybe he had just been playing especially hard and repeatedly hitting that area while climbing all over the swingset. The next morning, we were getting ready to walk to the library and he came out of the bathroom and showed me the "big purple spot" on his inner elbow. I knew right away this was not normal. Bill had stayed home from work that day because he didn't feel well. While I called our ped he began looking our boy over more closely. They asking me to look for a red pinpoint rash somewhere on his body, which we found under his left arm. They advised me to hang up and take him to the nearest ER. Luckily, I didn't have time to google anything, otherwise I might have self-diagnosed him with something much worse than ITP.
We headed to Hillcrest since they have a peds ER and after some bloodwork, the ER doc came in and calmly asked Nolan how he'd like to take an ambulance ride downtown to main campus. Luckily, I was sitting down, otherwise I might have passed out. I got a little light-headed when he mentioned his platelet count was extremely low. 11,000. Normal is 150,000-450,000. He quickly pointed out that all other numbers from the blood counts were normal. I had no idea at the time, but he was telling me he was ruling out leukemia. Even typing that just now, I get teary-eyed.
The lifeflight crew swept into the room, literally 4 people in black jumpsuits plus 2 other hospital personel came into the room and started firing questions about what was going on and explaining what was going to happen. And the most important question, what DVD did the boy want to watch in the rig? Th (He picked Thomas.) They couldn't have been nicer to us and really helped calm my nerves for (what seemed like) the endless ride to Cleveland Clinic Main.
We walked onto the floor at M20 and I quickly saw the signs "Hemotology/Oncology." Just 24 hours before that we were opening presents and signing Happy Birthday. How was this happening so fast? In hindsight, I've glad it happened that way and not a long drawn out diagnosis which I would have had no patience for.
Within 4 hours, he was getting his first dose of medicine, IVIG. He slept through it. I did not.
The next morning, a Child Life Specialist came into our room to talk to Nolan about how he wanted to celebrate his birthday. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was now Tuesday, May 10? My twins 4th birthday. I hated that I wasn't with my girl when she woke up and that he and I were in the least desirable place to be on your birthday, but you know what? I was wrong. Miss Sarah did everything she could to give my kids a proper birthday. The plan was that we would be in the hospital another night, so my hubby, mom, and daughter were on their way down. The boy's labs came back shortly before they arrived and the doctors were impressed enough with the result to let us check out. No typical boy rough play, no bike, no trampoline. No fun, but we were still going home to be together.
I figured the party would be cancelled, but I was wrong. They waited for everyone to arrive and then they brought in the cake, complete with candles and three gifts for each kid. I cried. We had only been there 1 day and they did this for us. I'm sure, on that particular floor, there are kids that celebrate a lot of holidays & milestones in the hospital. It made me so thankful that these people are there to do what they do.
We'd quickly learn that ITP is a roller coaster and as quickly as the platelet count went up, the would go down as well.
One week later, we were back downtown in the hemotology/oncology outpatient clinic. Nolan's counts were back down to 18,000 after peaking at 67,000. They were going to try a different drug, WINRHO. Getting the IV in was tricky. Hell, it was awful. Three sticks, screaming, and tears by a lot of people and finally it was in. The medication only took 30 minutes and we were on our way.
Three days later his counts rose to 203,000. Now the trick is keeping them there.
There will be bloodwork and more bloodwork in his future. We just pray that his numbers stay up and this is an acute case and in 6 months it will be another page in his baby book. He deserves that, the little guy hasn't had the easiest road, but he takes almost all of it with a smile.
If you take anything away from this, please donate blood. You don't think about it until you need it. I know I've driven by countless Red Cross signs and always say I'll do it next time. Someone needs that blood and its byproducts. Now.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Sick Kids
Nolan got sick on Friday. We made a trip to the doctor on Saturday, but it was determined to be viral and we just had to wait it out.....and wait for the other twin to get it, because let's face it, as twins they do share just about everything.
To prove my point, Reagan got sick on Tuesday.
They have missed gymnastics, swimming, and their usual Wednesday lunch with Aunt Deb. I don't take them out when they are like this.
I wish other parents did the same.
I can probably tell you the exact moment Nolan got the germ. I dropped them in childwatch at the Y last Wednesday and a little girl promptly sneezed on him. She was coughing into her hands and then playing, just like kids do. She had no business being there and I'm sure the adult that brought her in that day knew that as well. I saw her in the cardio room chatting with her friends about how glad she was for a break from her kids coughing! Sure I'd like to be doing my weekly swimming workouts, but I have not been able to do that this week because I will not take my kids, who are ill, to a public place to infect more people.
I know germs can't be avoided, but a little common sense from ADULTS goes a long to keep our kids from getting sick.
Common sense, people. Besides washing hands and coughing into the elbow, KEEP YOUR SICK KIDS HOME!
At least the weather has been awful. It makes staying the house a little easier. If it were nice and sunny, I'd be thinking about how we were missing a chance to use our Farmpark or Zoo membership.
What fun indoor things do you with your kids when they are sick?
To prove my point, Reagan got sick on Tuesday.
They have missed gymnastics, swimming, and their usual Wednesday lunch with Aunt Deb. I don't take them out when they are like this.
I wish other parents did the same.
I can probably tell you the exact moment Nolan got the germ. I dropped them in childwatch at the Y last Wednesday and a little girl promptly sneezed on him. She was coughing into her hands and then playing, just like kids do. She had no business being there and I'm sure the adult that brought her in that day knew that as well. I saw her in the cardio room chatting with her friends about how glad she was for a break from her kids coughing! Sure I'd like to be doing my weekly swimming workouts, but I have not been able to do that this week because I will not take my kids, who are ill, to a public place to infect more people.
I know germs can't be avoided, but a little common sense from ADULTS goes a long to keep our kids from getting sick.
Common sense, people. Besides washing hands and coughing into the elbow, KEEP YOUR SICK KIDS HOME!
At least the weather has been awful. It makes staying the house a little easier. If it were nice and sunny, I'd be thinking about how we were missing a chance to use our Farmpark or Zoo membership.
What fun indoor things do you with your kids when they are sick?
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