Struggles of this Homeschooling Mom

When you wake up to the trash man driving down the street...realizing you forgot to put the trash down....you know it is NOT going to be a good day!

Well that is how my day started out...Then one kid woke up with fever and not feeling well...then the other....then the other!  REALLY????  On top of the HUGE list of things I needed to get done the last thing I needed was 3 sick kids!  I had it all worked out so I could have the car today to do grocery shopping even!  AAAGGHHH!!!!!

So as I sat at the table sobbing into my cup of coffee I prayed for strength and a good attitude.  Now as some of you know I got back on my diet this week...off sugar/carbs and back on my workout routine.  If any of you have EVER gone off sugar you can understand my week.  MAJOR crabby and SORE!  Who would think 3 months off diet and exercise would be such a drastic thing!  So my prayer for strength and a good attitude was no small request! (at least in my mind)  I mean who ever changes their crabby attitude so drastically?  Especially someone who has been GORGING on sugar for the past 3 months!

I must add a paragraph here on my AWESOME husband.  I sometimes don't know how he survives me (although he dishes it out quite a lot!)  LOL!!!  The first night I was off sugar I was HYSTERICALLY laughing one second then SOBBING the next!  Poor guy was so confused...I kept sobbing...go get me an oreo bon bon!  PLEASE!!!  ( I know I am pathetic!)  But he didn't...he just sat there (major confused with my laughing/crying episode) and held me!  He is such a great hubby...I am totally blessed!

So how is my day going?  TOTALLY AWESOME!  God totally answered my MAJOR request.  I am in a great mood, the girls got ALL their school done for today and tomorrow (so we get a day off tomorrow)!  They all got showers/baths...they are all feeling better...I almost have all my laundry done...and it is after lunch and I am going to get my grocery shopping done.  PRAISE GOD!

I know some of you probably are going back to my comment...I am so pathetic.  I am...I admit it ;-)  To you it might seem a small request and small answer to prayer...but if you would have seen me this week...and this morning...it is a MAJOR answer to prayer ;-)  So all I have to say is THANK YOU GOD FOR ANSWERING THIS PATHETIC GIRLS PUNY REQUEST!  GOD YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

Well I am not sure if anyone is following this anymore.  I probably would have given up by now if it were me :-)  Things have been just SUPER crazy in our lives lately.  As most of you know we just moved across country....from South Dakota to Michigan.  We are WAY closer to family now which is a great blessing.  We were able to go home for Thanksgiving last week.  5 1/2 hours is much more doable than 16 1/2 :-)

The week and a half after we moved (up until Thanksgiving) we were only doing half days of school.  It was a big adjustment for the girls and a VERY sad experience.  We lived in South Dakota for 3 years, and we made WONDERFUL friends there.  The girls are 7, 8, and 9, so they had also made some very close friends.  It was a really rough move for all of us.  So I tried to make the adjustment as smoothly as I could.  I figured doing half days would not stress them out too much, but also keep us in some sort of routine.  Also we were a bit ahead in school, and some subjects more than others, so it worked out nicely.

We are unpacked and settled as much as we can I think.  I still need to cross a few things off my list...find the board of education and register my girls for home schooling, get new driver's license, license plates....all that fun stuff :-(  With only 1 car it makes it hard for me to do "running around" while Allan is at work....but we will adjust!

With Christmas quickly approaching it is getting stressful.  We just had the youngest 2 birthday's last week...and I never got them a present :-(  MAJOR GUILT AS A MOM!!!  Now trying to Christmas Shop in an area you don't know...and without a car...and with the kids with you 24/7 makes it a lot harder.  I have been doing a lot of shopping online, but you just can't do it all online...at least I can't :-)  I must say I am about 75% done with my shopping...so that is good...I hope :-)

So I am finding as I meet people I am getting the whole "so how long are you going to home school?", "the schools here are great, aren't you going to put them in school?", "are you going to home school ALL the way through High School?".  I am finding with all these questions I am starting to doubt my home schooling decision.  I start wanting to "fit in" and be the "normal" mom who sends her kids to school and goes to work. ( I was going to say sits around all day eating bon bon's ).  So as I started full days of school this week I have all these doubts going around in my head.

Today I came across this verse in my devotional. (God ALWAYS confirms me home schooling whenever I doubt)
Romans 12:2 (Phillips)

Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity.

WOW...smack in the head!  I love when God does that for me :-)  Everything I have been struggling with the past week or so...God took care of in 1 small verse!  I think this is one I am going to have to memorize.

Now total confession time....(not excuses) I have been HORRIBLE with my devotions and bible time since I started packing for our move...so about a month or 2.  I have just been struggling emotionally and physically with all the stresses of moving.  You would think by now I would know better and KEEP in my bible during these stressful times.  But when time gets stretched it seems that my time with God is the first thing to get squeezed out...WHY IS THAT???  Am I the only one?  I feel HORRIBLE. 

I just got a new devotional book  Fresh Grounded Faith.  It is a small daily devotional.  A quick reading (2 small pages) and a verse and then an area to write a few things you got out of it, a prayer, and a praise.  Now I am only on day 3, but I feel SOOOO much better.  I know it is a short devotion and I owe God WAY much more time than this, but I have found over the last day or 2 that I am reading extra in my bible throughout the day, and listening to worship music.  It has made all the difference. 

All the doubt and worries of home schooling are gone (for now...Satan knows it is a foothold for me).  It has been an AWESOME week.  The girls are doing awesome with school...despite their disability!  I am REALLY needing to start all the dyslexia stuff.  I keep making excuses as to why I haven't yet!  I also REALLY need to get hooked into a home school group.  The one I found is on break for the holiday's, but I need to register now so after the holiday's we will be all set to go.  Also, we are still looking for a church.  We tried 1 and really liked it, so we will go there again this Sunday.  I think once I get to meeting people things will get better.

We are all really struggling with this move.  We had some really great, wonderful friends in South Dakota which has made this move SUPER hard.  Also we had a GREAT church family.  So it will be hard to find a church to stand up to the standards we are used to :-)  I know God has a wonderful plan for our family...I am just trying to trust in Him daily....some days are easier than others I must say!

Hopefully I will also be much better with updating my blog.  Like I said things have been SUPER crazy!  I am praying after Christmas and New Year's things will get into a "normal" routine :-)

Well I feel super horrible for not keeping up with my blog!  Things are just so crazy here I don't know what to write about. 

As some of you know I am USUALLY on a strict diet!  Well for the past 3 months I have totally not been on ANY kind of diet...or workout routine :-(  So I am a super crab and feel super yuck and super chubby!

So today I decided ENOUGH!!!  I started this morning on my old sugar free/low carb diet.  It seems to be what always works best for me!  But after 3 months of eating carbs and TONS of sugar....today was NOT a happy day in our house.  I have been yelling and screaming and I have a HORRIBLE headache....who would think 3 months of eating crap would equal feeling this yucky! 

I am expecting a VERY rough week!  Trying to detox from sugar and carbs can make for a super cranky mom...and with homeschooling....LOTS OF PRAYERS APPRECIATED :-)

I will let you know Friday how the week went...but please pray all week for our household!

WOW!!!!  It sure has been a long time since I have posted anything!  Sorry about that all!  I know you are all just following this blog so diligently and have been in such distress from not hearing from me in so long!  HA HA HA!!!

Things have just been SOOOOO crazy and busy lately!  I just don't know where to start!  Our family is going through some personal struggles right now that I cannot really talk about yet.  Believe me I will be blogging about it all shortly!  Why stress alone?  HA! 

School has been going super well!  Everyone seems to be in their routine.  I STILL have not started any of the dyslexia stuff.  I am wanting to take a week off of our regular school work and work on just the clay stuff.  I am just waiting a few weeks to see what all transpires with everything we are dealing with....as I said I am sure to blog about it in a few weeks ;-) 

Just keeping you all interested! 

Sorry for the long wait and the short blog.  My birthday is tomorrow...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! So I am just trying to get lots done today so I can relax a bit tomorrow :-) 

Well we made it through another week!  All my attempts to start the clay failed!  I found many excuses and "reasons" and distractions this week to put it off another week!  I know I am TERRIBLE!  Although I am DETERMINED to get it started this coming week ;-)

We had a great week though...besides the guilt of not starting the dyslexia stuff :-)  School got done daily with very little resistance, we had time to play with new friends, I FINALLY made my doctor appointment (under duress!).  So it was a good week! except for the dr. appointment.

Nothing against doctors...I just don't like them, and I don't like going.  They never listen to me and they WEIGH me!  I mean really how necessary is that?  But as some of you know I have some "health" issues related with my "female" stuff!  Since Cuckles is almost 7...I figured it was time to go!  I also asked for bloodwork to be done.  Everything came back normal except my cholesterol was high (Thanks Grandma)...but my cholesterol is ALWAYS high...my good cholesterol is so high, it is never an issue...and is not this time!  But also my bilirubin level was high.  I can't remember the number she told me, but I am ASSUMING it is not high enough to be a big issue...since she didn't say I had to come in or anything.  But those of you who know me and my "thinking" (thanks mom) I am major stressed over it.  I had bloodwork done a month and a half ago and my bilirubin level was normal....so I am not sure why it is elevated....the nurse said it could be due to some of the sinus issues I am having, it could be because I forgot during my fast and took my tylenol pm, could be lower water intake due to the cold weather (I ALWAYS drink less water when it is cold out...and more coffee) But I did fast...so no coffee, but I didn't drink a lot of water!  Who knows?  I am going to call Monday and ask if I can get the number of the level and see if there is anything that might be the cause.  I am also going to take a liver detox tea for a month....and GET BACK ON MY DIET!!!

I know it is sad...but the past 2 weeks I have been TOTALLY off my diet :-(  Starting tomorrow I am getting back on it full force :-)  Although it might make a crabby school week :-)

Also my disappointment with my doctor appointment....I HATE TAKING MEDICATION!  Those who know me well know I have some MAJOR pms issues since I had my tubes tied.  So they are trying a birth control pill to try to regulate my emotions and pain during that time...although I have to take a pill EVERY DAY!  YUCK!!!  I told her I would try it for 2 months (that is what she gave me samples for) and if it didn't help by then I was not going to take it anymore.  She thought I would notice a difference within 2 months....so we will see!  If it does help me during that time (2 weeks for me) I think everyone in this house will appreciate it...so it will be worth it if it does help. 

I sense my babbling taking over since none of this really has anything to do with my homeschooling :-)

On the home schooling note...I took the girls to the library yesterday to find some reading books for Hunter...she is in 4th grade, but with her dyslexia I was told to not use the 4th grade readers with her, but to go down a grade level or 2 until we can get her caught up.  So I was looking at some books...I got a Spiderwick Book (suggested by my sister) which we started yesterday.  It is a 4th grade level book, but she is doing rather well with it....although she does struggle a bit.  I also got a younger Nancy Drew book....it is a mid 3rd grade level.  So we will read that one after this next week!  I am anxious to see how it goes....if there are any other suggestions please let me know :-)  She LOVES the Candy Fairy books, but she has read them all except the new one...which is a halloween story, so I was trying to wait till mid October to read that...and October is her book report, so I was going to have her use the Candy Fairy book for that :-) 

Well that was our week!  Hunter is spending the night at a friends house and we are FREELAXING at home with a houseful of "fwaps" (wasps)!  We have called the house manager and are waiting for the maintenance guy...Allan has killed about 50 within 2 days now, and was stung 3 times.  Cuckles has an allergy to stings and her epi-pen is expired (and they won't refill without a doctor visit)  So I am praying she does not get stung...with the freeze the other night they are rather slow...but you never know when you will come across a feisty one!

Well off to get the girls out of the tub!  Then an evening of Star Trek....lucky me!!!

2 Timothy 1:7-11

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

So you must never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord.  And don't be ashamed of me, either, even though I'm in prison for Christ.  With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the proclamation of the Good News.

It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life.  He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began-to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus.

And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the Good News.

And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.




While "thinking" in bed last night this verse kept popping into my head....so first thing this morning I got up and looked it up :-)

I have really been struggling with the dyslexia stuff.  I just have been procrastinating for WEEKS!  It is so sad to admit, but it is true :-(  The main reason I have been putting it off is due to fear.  I am afraid I cannot do it....or do it properly.  I am afraid I am not equipped enough to help them,  that I will do more damage than good. Partly, also, I totally do not understand this way of thinking....it frustrates me!  But Allan said something to me last night that really made sense (don't tell him I said that).  "If you get frustrated because you don't think like they do, then you can understand how frustrated they are, because they don't think like you do!"  DUH!!!  LOL!  But it would definitely be EASIER for me to pay the lady to have her do it :-)  Then I wouldn't have to face my fears...sounds good to me :-)

What I have learned (the hard way of course) is that God usually doesn't call me to do the easy stuff!  LOL!!! 

Lucky for me I have the promise of Matthew 6:33   and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.

Well I am not sure about all of you other home schoolers, but I don't usually take off the little holidays!  But today we did not do school!

Allan worked all weekend, and decided to stay home today, so I figured I would take the day off!

I slept in, didn't do my workout...and we just sluffed around all day :-)

I did my workout at 2:30 this afternoon!  Now after a full week of not doing my yoga workout it totally kicked my tush today!  My arms are still shaking at 5PM!  I got a shower then decided to make gluten free chocolate chip cookies and make a hot chocolate tea party for the girls :-)  It was a lot of fun I must say!

Now we are all playing wii sports and having a blast!  I must say if the holiday off is always like this I might just keep taking them off ;-)  We would still finish school the same time as the school system...but I like to be done by Hunter's birthday May 17th.  So we will see how the rest of the school year goes! 

Although I could make up the school day on Saturday!  LOL!!!  My OCD is kicking in full gear!

HA HA HA!  Well TGIF is all I can say :-) 

School has gone really well this week I must say.  My routine and some of our attitudes have been a TAD off ;-)

Logan has had some MAJOR behavioral issues this week.  Not quite sure if it is her diet, or just the routine/schedule change.  She is my one that does really well with a set schedule.  But I think the transition from our summer schedule to our school schedule has really messed with her.  I am going to give it another week before I rearrange her diet again.  The gluten free has really helped her, but I think maybe she needs a bit more protein in her diet.

I also have had some attitude issues (I know that is a shock to some of you...but sadly I am not perfect).  I know the majority of them have been hormonal...but that is no excuse for my behavior.  I know some of you know the severity of my pms problems.  I have been considering doing all year round school and only doing school 3 weeks out of a month, so I don't have to stress so much during my "bad" week!  I am a not quite sold on that idea yet, as it would cause issues with holiday schedules and traveling schedules.  It is an option I am considering though....also Allan has been BUGGING me to go to the doctor...those who know me know I HATE DOCTORS!!!  LOL....although the past few months have been really rough, so I am considering that also ;-)  My argument with that though...we just had blood work done for life insurance and I came back "super preferred" so I should be fine right?  HA HA HA

So the past 3 days I have slept in and not done my workout :-(  SUPER SAD!  But I am just really dragging, so I figured 3 days is not going to kill me right?  If I keep posting that I am missing my workouts I will need someone to come over and kick my rear in gear :-)  I did my online devotionals today, but not my personal bible time...which I NEED to do.  I do better doing it first thing in the morning, but anytime is better than not doing it at all....so I am going to do that on our next school break! 

I am really glad it is Friday :-)  I also am hoping this weekend to get the girls started with their clay.  I keep procrastinating with it...I think out of fear :-(  I know once I get started on it, it will be fine!  So prayers in this area are greatly appreciated!

The weather is AWESOME today...a perfect Autumn day :-)  So I have a roast in the crock pot with carrots and potatoes for dinner...so that makes my day MUCH easier....and hopefully I can get the girls to the Children's Museum this afternoon!

The past few days have not gone well around here!  Not really with school...we have gotten all our school done in fine time.  MY schedule on the other hand has not bee going well at all. Also SOMEONE has been struggling with her attitude and behavior.  (well that specific someone I was talking about was Logan, but I think I have been struggling with that myself)

My "normal" school week schedule is I get up at 6AM...do my workout, read my bible, get a shower, make breakfast, clean up breakfast, then start school by 9.  Well yesterday I woke up not feeling well, so I went back to bed.  Didn't do my workout and embarrassed to say didn't read my bible :-(  I got up and laid on the couch while the girls finished a movie, then I had the girls get their own breakfast :-(  I don't think we started school until 10!!!  But we did get it all done!  That is one good thing about home schooling....we can always make it work. 

Today I woke up again....not feeling well :-(  So I didn't do my workout...but I am hoping to get it in this afternoon!  I did read my bible though :-)  I am sitting here writing while having the girls make their own breakfast again :-(  One good thing about your kids getting older is the independence they learn!  Cuckles is still in bed, but I am hoping to start school a little early with the other 2!

Logan has also been a bit "off" the past few days.  We had friends over for a cookout Monday and had some potato chips (which I ASSUMED were gluten free...due to knowing that brand having gluten free chips)  So late Monday night Logan had a MAJOR emotional/behavioral breakdown.  It just breaks my heart to see her that way.  Not thinking it was the chips we had the rest of the chips Tuesday night with dinner!  After another evening of breakdowns I thought...what has she had both nights to do this to her.  The only thing I could think of was the chips.  So I am ASSUMING it was that...I already threw the bag away to check the ingredients...I figured I could go online and look it up...but I haven't done that yet!

Also this week we got a bit of irritating news.  Without getting TOO into it...and some of you know....but we are having a few issues where we rent.  Hunter has been suffering recently with asthma.  After finding a bunch of mold in the house I am ASSUMING that is what is causing her asthma.  I have asked for the mold to be taken care of and the air ducts to be cleaned before winter.  I was answered with a NO and if we are not happy we can move out....without breaking our lease.  SO....now what?  We are trying to figure out the best option for us at this point....do we spend our own money to fix the issues on a house that is not ours?  Do we find a new place to rent...which is hard at this time in a college town...and who knows what conditions we would get with a new landlord.  Or do we buy?  So all these decisions add stress to an already rough week.

But this is all LIFE right?  Everyone has upsetting things happen...everybody has "off" weeks...everybody misses reading their bible sometimes (I hope)....right?  I know God will help us through all these things (even if I missed a day reading the bible..I hope)!  I know with this house situation it is in God's hands.  Allan and I both are following what we feel God is leading us toward and so far the doors are opening....but we are staying aware that at any time a door can be closed!  That is what following God is right?  Our schooling is in God's hands.  I have seen AMAZING things the past few weeks with my girls and their dyslexia....I have seen light bulbs go off, I have seen struggles...I have been discouraged that it is going to take longer than I expected....but they are learning, and they are moving forward and that is what it is all about right?

So even though it has been an "off" week and we have had some "rough" days....it has been an AWESOME week!  I have seen God move in so many different ways this week...and the week is not over yet ;-)   And even if God closes a door...He will take care of us!


PS....I got my clay yesterday....SUPER excited!

Thank Goodness it's Saturday :-)

Well our first full week of school is complete!  I must say it was a super busy day.  With it being Saturday I had a ton to do....besides school! 

I let myself sleep in(8AM), made breakfast, got everyone dressed, did dishes, got the laundry started, started school...in between subjects I worked on laundry, got the floors swept and mopped, made lunch, finished school, finished laundry, made laundry soap, got 2 kids in the tub, did my workout, got 2 kids out of tub, put laundry away, got my shower, started, dinner, finished eating, 1 girl now in the shower, and I am taking a break before I do the dinner dishes!  WHEW!!!

Hopefully we will not need to do school on Saturday's too often ;-)

I did get my clay ordered...supposed to be here on the 6th.  I am hoping to start the clay stuff next week with the clay I have.  I am sure we will get some done before all the other clay comes ;-)

I have to say this week went a lot better than I was expecting.  We were all a tad tired from the routine change( I am sure I was affected the most...COULDN'T be my age) LOL!!!   I am hoping tomorrow will be a true Sabbath!  I am sure we ALL could use a total day of rest ;-)  Although I have trouble just resting...so we will see!

We are also going to be having some new friends over Monday evening for a cookout!  I am super excited!  They were at the home school group picnic...a whole family of adorable red heads :-)  The one little boy took a liking to Logan and she has been asking for 2 days for Joshua to come over to play.  So I finally got their number, called, and invited them all over.  I know how I am so I ASSUMED they would not just drop their kid off at some stranger's house ;-)  So I figured it would be great to have everyone over and get to know them.  They have a daughter Hunter's age, the boy Logan's age, and I think 1 around 5ish...so Cuckles will definitely get along with her...I think they have a total of 5...it could just be 4!  I am super excited though...I LOVE having people over ;-)  So Monday we will have to hurry and get school done and start getting ready!  I am sure I will be posting about that later!

As for our first week....I am pretty pleased so far with my curriculum choices.  I am really not happy with the spelling program for Hunter, so I am going to adjust that.  I know it is one of her dyslexia issues, so she struggles more with spelling.  I also need to figure out some readers for Hunter...the 4th grade readers I got seem a bit too much for her.  Right now I have her reading one of her Candy Fairy books.  She loves them, but it is the last one of the series...so far :-)   I also have her doing some book reports this year, so I need to find extra books for her to read for those :-)

There were also a few odds and ends I didn't have....as I thought I was all prepared :-)  So I had to go out to Wally World and get those this week.  I am hoping Allan will help me later today or tomorrow to get it all put up :-) 

Besides the little stuff it was a VERY successful first week of school!  I am glad I don't have to do it tomorrow, but I am excited for next week...and the whole year!

OH...SUPER EXCITING!  As some of you know Hunter is considered Severe Dyslexic...she struggles a lot with reading, spelling and math.  All summer we worked SOOOO hard on all her math facts...addition, subtraction, and multiplication.  She was supposed to start division this year...but I decided to take her back to the beginning and get her really good on her math facts!  (after all summer of drilling her with flashcards (which I found is horrible for dyslexics) we didn't do them for 1 week and she forgot them ALL)  SOOOO frustrating for me and discouraging for her....she worked SO hard!  So I was going to do an accelerated course on addition, subtraction, and multiplication.  Using of course my math curriculum correctly (as I found I didn't use it correctly the first time).  Well I was a bit discouraged that it was not going as fast as I was hoping...I had it mapped out to do 3 lessons a day to get through all 3 books this school year...but I finally had to talk to myself (yes I do that sometimes) and realize that she really needs to get these math facts down  So I need to give her the time she needs....once it clicks it will go smoother...and if need be we will get through the other book over the summer :-) 

So anyways....she got up to the +2's pretty quickly, then we stalled...she just couldn't grasp it...so I had her watch the DVD of the guy talking, then we did it just like he did.  After 2 days of practicing, she knows her +2's!  SUPER excited...if you knew how much she has been struggling just with the +2's, then seeing her accomplish it and seeing the look of pride in her face...it was WONDERFUL!  I can see that she really gets it too...it clicked...it makes me SOOOO happy and just confirms that I am doing what God wants me to be doing....If you have a kid with a learning disability and have experienced this...I know you know how I am feeling...ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!!  Praise God!!!

Well I just had to post about this super quick! (now I am Sicilian so my "super quick" might be different than yours!)

My first week has not gone as planned at all!  I have not started my dyslexia stuff yet and I REALLY need to!  I am noticing with all 3 girls major struggles with reading...even Cuckles!  She is holding her head and rubbing her eyes constantly!  So I am so upset that she is showing more severe symptoms of the dyslexia.  I feel like I was kicked in the stomach.  I know dyslexia is not a major problem.  I was just hoping for 1 easy kid :-)  No such luck I guess!  I am just feeling SO discouraged today :-(  Although I am a TAD hormonal and Satan really attacks me during this time with discouraging thoughts...so I am going to fight it this afternoon with some MAJOR bible time ;-)

Now yesterday we did not do school...well Cuckles and I did, but Hunter and Logan did not.  One of the downsides of home schooling is you are home all day and friends ask you to watch kids and such.  Which I really don't mind...with home schooling I am flexible that way and I LOVE helping my friends :-)  But I know with myself I have trouble saying NO to people...well not my husband ;-)  HA HA HA! 
So Hunter and Logan will have to do school tomorrow on Saturday...so tomorrow I am sure to post a TGIS and probably post more about our first week :-)

Today's post is going to be about something totally different...if I ever get to my point! 

We had our annual home school group Fall Kick Off Picnic last night.  It was a lot of fun!  It is great to come together as a group and just fellowship.  During the year you don't always get to see everyone because kids are in different grades and different programs.  So it is really nice to talk to everyone and see what has worked for them and vice versa.  The only problem this year for us was our diet!

As many of you know we started everyone on a gluten free diet months ago.  Mainly for Logan as she has many behavioral issues and I have been trying to keep her off medication.  So in desperation we went gluten free and it has been the best thing for her.  And with a whole family I decided to have everyone on the same diet so I didn't have to buy different things and worry about Logan eating the wrong bread or such as she is older and is able to get a lot of her own food.  So it is much easier for everyone to be on the same diet. 

With a pot luck kind of menu you never know what is going to be there or if we will be able to eat anything.  So Allan and I had a plan before we went...if there was nothing we could eat, we would visit for an hour or 2 then go out to eat later.  Well someone brought pizza and all bets were off :-)  Allan went right for the pizza and the kids of course followed.  By that time everyone was eating gluten :-(  I must admit I too ate some pizza....it was yummy at the time, but by bedtime I was SUPER sick!  (Allan and I have also gotten rid of dairy in our diet so the pizza was a combination of both ) 

Now I am not sure how Allan is feeling today, but I feel like total BLAH!!!  Logan woke up crying this morning and everything has been a fight and just tears all morning.  She has been super defiant over the silliest things and just super angry.  I have also noticed Dillan is a lot more emotional today too.  So I am sure the gluten is definitely bothering her also.  Hunter does not seem bothered by it, but she has a stomach of steel!  I don't think it really affects her at all...although she has bumps all over her tongue today, so I am thinking that is from something she ate.

So my day has been super hard today with school.  And I know it is going to take a good 2 - 3 days for her to get it out of her system and get regulated.  So many prayers are greatly appreciated....also for Allan...a hormonal wife and a glutened up Logan is going to make for a super ROUGH weekend ;-)

WHEW!!!  What a busy week so far!  We have completed 3 full days of school and it has gone very well.  We have been ahead of my time schedule all week, which as been totally awesome with the nicer weather :-)  Although I am still going to keep my schedule so as things get harder we will have the time.  It is always good to have extra time just in case :-)

I must say we are ALL worn out this week.  Especially me!  I have been SOOOOO tired by the end of the day!  I can't imagine how the girls all feel. 

I have not started any of the dyslexia stuff yet!  I really need to.  I am seeing a lot of areas where the girls are struggling, so I am hoping to start some of that this weekend.  I really need to call and order more clay so everyone has their own...and enough.  I am hoping to do that today, then depending on how long it takes to ship...but I should have enough for them all to have a little to get started.  I think it was just too much all at once to start it this week.  I SHOULD have started the clay stuff first...but too late now ;-)  I don't think it really matters, just would have been my personal preference! 

So my day starts at 6AM and I crawl into bed sometime after 10PM.  On top of my morning workout the girls and I have been playing Just Dance 2 every afternoon during one of our breaks.  So I am getting TONS of exercise ;-)  I am hoping after a week or 2 I won't be so tired or feeling drained.  I just forgot how involved it all is :-)

It has been a totally awesome week so far...but I am glad we are over half way through....I really need a break ;-)  And if I am needing one, I am sure the girls will be happy for the weekend too!

Well our first day of school is done!  It was not a perfect day by any means...but it was TOTALLY AWESOME!  We had a total blast!  Although there are definitely areas to improve!

The first few days you seem to realize you don't have all the supplies you thought you would need.  And some of the programs you use (at least online) don't seem to work properly, or you forgot to set up separate accounts for each kid!  OOPS :-)

Our morning went super smooth...we were WAY ahead...got all our morning classes done an hour early.  Now I know as the weeks go on and the work gets harder it will take more time, so I am going to keep to my schedule as it is.

So we took a SUPER long break...I called my mom to chat and I sat outside while the girls played!  Then I realized we took TOO long of a break...I didn't keep to my lunch schedule, so our afternoon was a tad behind.

Although when we were done, we all plugged in the wii and played Just Dance 2!  What a perfect way to get some PE in ;-)  

I am pretty pleased with our first day of school!  Like I said...it wasn't perfect but it was AWESOME!!!

WOO HOO!!!!! 

Super excited to start our school year tomorrow morning!  I am a tad nervous though with implementing all the dyslexia stuff.  I know it will help, and I know it will become easier as we go.  I am sure the first few days will be an adjustment! 

My day will begin at 6AM
Do my hour workout
Bible time
Shower
Breakfast
School to start by 9AM
Done by 2:30

Now those of you who know me don't worry...I will fit in my coffee breaks throughout there.

I have a schedule set up for the "school day".  I have it broken down into 30 minute intervals.  Cuckles is doing 1st grade, and she will be done with school by 1PM where the other 2 will go until 2:30. 

I have found with my girls that we have to do reading FIRST thing in the morning.  Since Hunter is my most severe with the dyslexia, I have her reading first.  But also for Hunter, this year, for her writing I have her reading a number of verses in proverbs every day and journaling.  That she has to do BEFORE school starts.(There are 36 official school weeks, so if we do 1 chapter a week it will be ALMOST perfect)  Since she is up early, she can do it while I do my workout, do my bible study, or make breakfast.  I am also anticipating that we will be done with school earlier as some things are not going to take a full 30 minutes to do.

Now math is going to be a different story :-)  I have a full hour blocked off for Math.  It is complicated what I have decided to do for math, but I will explain it the best I can ;-)  The math program I use is Math U See.  Now I am admitting that I NEVER watched the videos.  So for the past 3 years I have been doing it wrong...well not wrong, just not beneficial...as the program was designed.  So I FINALLY watched the DVD and I have decided to put them all in the same math class.  I ordered Hunter and Logan the same book as Dillan and we will work through it all together.  Although a lot will be super easy for Hunter....so I am going to have her do 3 lessons a day, then only test her on the unit tests....then she will get through all 3 books (addition, subtraction, and multiplication) this school year.  I figured with her struggling so much it would just be worse if I introduced Division this year with her so behind with her math facts.  But I think I can catch her up just fine this year. 

Now the stuff I learned at my dyslexia class I have decided to do in the evenings.  That way Allan can join as he is dyslexic, he will definitely benefit from these exercises :-) Although going over the schedule with Allan I might have to readjust this decision...our evenings seem to be filling up..Church Wednesday, Science Thursday...

I asked Allan to take over the science for this year.  It is a 2 day/week program, so he is going to do that with the girls Thursday evenings, and Saturday's. So I am thinking the dyslexia stuff will be 4 evenings a week!  I am relieved that Allan was willing to take over the Science...It is 1 thing off my plate :-)  He is SOOOOO wonderful!

Also we are starting a family Tae Kwon Do class on Friday afternoons.  I am SUPER excited for this.  It is offered through the home school group and it is nice we can take the class together as a family.  I am sure it will be beneficial for us all :-)

I hope my next blog post is a positive one.  I am excited to share with you what all happens with the dyslexia stuff...and my own abilities ;-)

Well, while I am waiting for my turn on the TV (to do my workout) I figured it would be the perfect time to pour a cup of coffee and update my blog :-)

I know it has been a while since I have been on here, we just spent a nice long weekend visiting my sister in Illinois.  It was a nice to just get away and not have to think about anything :-)  Although I do have a hard time turning my head off! 

My first plan was to start school when we got home...yesterday the 16th.  I always like to start school early so we can be done by my oldest daughter's birthday...May 17th.  This year I will have to do Standardized testing with my oldest 2, so I would like to be administering the tests the week before her birthday, so we can do the testing and be done....but we will see :-)

We got home late Monday night, so Tuesday was spent with grocery shopping, unpacking, and starting laundry.  Today is finishing laundry, so my SECOND plan was to start the girls this week with the clay.  Just playing with it and showing them how to roll it and such so they can get used to it.  But that has not started yet...and it is Wednesday :-)  I wanted to get the girls place mats to do their clay stuff on, so I still need to get those.  I decided to have the girls do the clay work in the basement on the old table....instead of my new dining room table (smart decision I know) So that brings me to.....

My THIRD plan ;-)  Today I am PLANNING on, well finishing laundry of course, and moving the "school room" down to the basement.  I have been doing school at the dining room table (which I like because I can do a bit more around the house that way).  I thought though if I am going to have all the clay stuff down there it would be a lot easier to just do all of school down there.  It is a big room, and I think it will work out nicely.  Also I thought it might lessen distractions for the girls and myself!  Also I am planning on turning my phone off during "school hours" as that causes a lot of distractions too! 

So this morning I have cleaned up the basement and vacuumed...now I just need to move stuff around!  Which might be a workout in itself!  Then I need to rearrange things...I have a bed down there (for when we have guests...which has not happened yet, so I might give up on that as no one really WANTS to visit us in SD! which I don't understand because SD is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!), a sewing area and all the toys.  So I need to figure out how to organize all that, then move all my school stuff down there...books, bookshelf, supplies, (those who home school know how much "stuff" there is going to be)  Then I need to do a tiny bit of shopping, then HOPEFULLY I can start the clay work tomorrow afternoon and Friday...even over the weekend, so I can "officially" start school on Monday! 

I don't usually take all the 1 day holiday's off like the public schools, and I don't have to do teacher conferences (unless by that point I am regularly talking to myself and answering myself...which might happen), and I don't take a full Christmas Break or an official Spring Break, so I am confident we can be done by mid-May :-)

Now if I am posting again tomorrow with yet another plan...I might need prayers :-)  HA! 

PS....can you PS on a blog?  Don't know, but I just did ;-)

I have been "THINKING" of all the stuff I learned in my class a few weeks ago!  I am not sure about you, but sometimes I HATE my thinking!  Satan really attacks me with a lot of this stuff.  I have been going over in my head everything I learned, so when I go to start it all with my girls I will HOPEFULLY know to some degree what I am doing :-)  Well I keep struggling with thoughts of "I am not going to be able to do this", or "my girls are so severe that this little bit I learned is not going to help".  So I could really use prayers in this area!  I know with all my heart that God has called me to home school, and I know with all my heart that HE will help me teach my girls how they need to be taught.  But sometimes I get so discouraged with these thoughts of inadequacy.  I know I cannot do it on my own, but with God all things are possible....I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. 

Prayers are GREATLY appreciated ;-)

I am SOOOOO excited!  I just finished my 2 day class on different learning techniques and strategies.  I am just overflowing with thoughts and ideas, so please accept my apologies if I am jumping around topic to topic and totally confusing you!  Be assured it is not confusing in my head ;-) 

Now to start off I was a little disappointed.  As this class was held mainly for teachers with a class room full of kids, it was not on the level I was hoping for.  As a home schooling mom, I am able to accomplish a TON more in a day with my 3 girls than a teacher can in a class room of 23-30 kids!  I am not saying anything against teachers, it is just common sense that you can accomplish more with a smaller amount of kids.  So the class was not on the level I was hoping for!

With that being said, I did get a TON of strategies and techniques.  I also did stay after the last day and talked a little bit with the instructor one on one, and she did give me some advise on extra things I can do with my girls that she didn't go over in class.  Which I REALLY appreciated!  The class was mainly on relaxation and focus techniques...which I think would benefit EVERYONE...not only adults ;-)  Then she went over the alphabet and reading.  She didn't really touch on math or spelling which are areas I need help with also...which I said she did go over those personally with me. 

Also, in my personal conversation with the instructor we talked a little about my girls...mainly Hunter and Logan, but we did talk on Cuckles a bit.  She told me that from what I am saying (without her meeting them and personally assessing them) that Hunter AND Logan both sound severe.  Where Cuckles is only 6 1/2 she is showing some signs of dyslexia, but it could be just normal reversals and such.  Because she did not work with them personally she could not say for sure...but it was just what it sounded like from things I was telling her they were doing.  So my first assessment of the girls might not be as accurate as I though.  She also told me, if I do decide to get them professionally diagnosed to see a speech and language doctor...not a regular physician.   So if you are thinking about that course for your own family you might want to make sure it is a speech and language professional.  She said you want to look for CCC after their name.

With all that being said....On with the show :-)  HA! 

Like I said the class started out with some relaxation and focusing exercises.  Now the class was a lot of roll playing and practicing on each other...which I totally HATE!  Especially in this kind of "creative" atmosphere...I was VERY uncomfortable.  Now when you are working with a dyslexic person they have NO trouble with these exercises, because they are picture thinkers.  I..as the whole class found out...am NOT at ALL a picture thinker :-) 

The one exercise you have to imagine yourself walking around and you have to focus your imaginary person behind you (so in short you can focus your imaginary person to pay attention too)  After the class that day I did the exercise with Hunter and she could REALLY see herself in her mind walking around, playing on the swing set, and focusing her behind her!  TOTALLY AMAZING for a person who cannot do that.  After this class I really think I am the learning disabled one :-)  Oh if I could see things the way my girls do!  They get so much more out of life!  I am SOOOO Jealous!

We did a lot of exercises in clay...making letters and words and pictures and such.  Again we had to make these things, and again EVERYONE in the class got to see what a loser I am in this area :-)  Trying to make everything perfect, CONSTANTLY cleaning up my area because the mess the clay made on the table!  HA HA HA...We even had to make up our own word, spelling, pronunciation, and clay model and present it to the class...I will NOT go into that catastrophe :-)  Lets just say my husband is embarrassed for me...which he NEVER gets embarrassed ;-)

I can see how a lot of these techniques are really going to help and strengthen my girls.  I am going to do my best with what I have learned, but I am thinking Hunter and possibly Logan will need some one on one work because of their severity.  Although I might be underestimating my abilities :-)  I am going to hopefully start today with some things, and get these things implemented before I actually start our school year.  But they are easy to incorporate into any curriculum, which is great.  I am also hoping my husband will join as he is dyslexic, and I am sure will benefit from some of these exercises ;-) 

I am super excited to share with you how my girls do with all this. 

If you are interested...the website of the guy who started this program is www.dyslexia.com  And the site for the lady I took the class from is http://www.smartstartcenter.com  There is a ton of information on those sites!

From some of the things people have been "talking" to me about, I figured I should clarify a few things...mainly  my reason for this blog.  Now PLEASE all be aware...My back has been out for a week and I am SUPER pms-y.  Thank you all for your finger violin solos!  HA!!!  I am not making excuses, but I wanted you all prepared in case I might come across as a TAD crabby ;-)

Now the reason I stared this blog was to help.  Help me going through some difficult home school "issues" and to help other home schooling mom's who might be struggling with something and feeling all alone.  I did not start this blog to open myself up for criticism, "advise", or opinions of what I need to do. 

I know not everyone home schools, and not every one supports home schooling.  I know that not every one who home schools does so to the best of their abilities.  But for those of us who take home schooling our children seriously....we should not be condemned because there are some out there who don't.  This is not a perfect world...there are some crappy parents out there, there are people who take advantage of welfare, there are people who home school, but do nothing for their kids.  That does not mean that home schooling needs to be a police state, or government involved. 

Not everyone is a Christian, so they might not agree with my reasons for home schooling, but as long as I do what God has called me to do, to the best of my ability, that is all I can do. I answer to God...not man!  Now my girls do have a legitimate learning disability.  It has nothing to do with how I have taught them...they would still be dyslexic had they been in the public school system!  I don't understand how it is more acceptable for a child to have a learning disability because they were in "school" rather than home schooled. 

Now I must add...I have had a lot of positive feed back, I have had a lot of support, and a lot of encouragement since starting this blog...but I guess it is human nature to focus on the bad rather than the good :-( 

There is a good way to criticize, advise, and give your opinions...it is called RESPECT!  We all need to respect others and their decision...if you agree with them or not.  That way you can give CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and advise and your opinions and not offend the receiving person.

Since I found out 2 of my girls are dyslexic...what have I done?

Well a TON of online research...which can get confusing.  One site says one thing, another site says something different, then another site says something completely different than the other 2!  AAAGGGHHH!!!!  What is a person to do?

In our home school group...the day I was at my wits end with home schooling....I got an email from the group about a class here in town on different learning styles...mainly dyslexia.  I thought like probably many of you, dyslexia is only transposing numbers and letters...I had no idea what it all entailed.  That weekend I did so much online research on dyslexia.  I found out that it is not just transposing letters and numbers.  On all the sites (even with the contradictions) I saw all the symptoms of my oldest daughter.  The light bulb went on and I called the lady Monday morning asking questions about this class.  I didn't really talk much to her then, but she said she would mail me information on the class and the information on the guy who started this teaching method.

Upon getting the information on the class I looked up this guys website...www.dyslexia.com.  On his site I saw he had 2 books that he wrote...The Gift of Dyslexia....and...The Gift of Learning (which is more about ADD, Math, and Handwriting problems).  So of course I ordered those books!  While waiting I searched this guy Ron Davis site.  I found an online assessment you can take...so of course I took that for both Hunter and Logan.  Now those are not "official" assessments, but it is a good starting point.  Both Hunter and Logan ranged in the Moderate to Severe area.  So after even MORE research and getting myself all worked up I called this lady again that teaches the class.

We talked and talked for hours (and she was on vacation...I felt so bad after I found that out)  I told her what all I have been dealing with the past school year and all the frustrations and all my fears and she was so patient and reassuring...which is what I totally needed :-)  She suggested getting the Gift of Dyslexia book (which I had already done.....my brilliance precedes me).  A few days later I got the book!

OH MY GOODNESS!  I read the one book in a day!  I was SOOOOO into it and seeing Hunter in every page.  I was excited and sad at the same time.  Realizing what all she has been going through the past school year was so heart breaking.  There is a section of this book I want to copy into this post...but I am so afraid of the legalities...so I am going to do my best to properly note it and everything...if you are a lawyer and I did something wrong please let me know ;-)

From the book The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald D. Davis pgs 22-24

To put the puzzle pieces together, let's look at a typical scenario of a dyslexic child trying to read aloud.

A simple sentence like the one below would be easy to read for a ten-year-old who thinks with the sounds of words.  But for a ten-year-old dyslexic who constructs mental pictures of the scene as each word is read, the process is more difficult.

                         The brown horse jumped over the stone fence and ran through the pasture.

For the ten-year-old dyslexic, the first word, THE, caused the mental imagery to go bland, because there was no picture for it.  A blank picture is the essence of confusion; nothing a person experiences can match the confusion it causes.  Using concentration, however, the child pushes past the blank picture and says "the" and forces himself to skip to the next word.

The word BROWN produces a mental image of a color, but it has no defined shape.  Continuing to concentrate, the says "brown".

The word HORSE transforms the brown picture into a horse of that color.  Concentration continues and "horse" is said.

The word JUMPED causes the front of the brown horse to rise into the air.  He continues concentrating as he says "jumped".

The word OVER causes the back of the brown horse to rise.  Still concentrating, he says "over".

The next word, anther THE, causes the picture to go blank again.  confusion for the reader has increased, but the threshold of confusion has not yet been reached.  He must now double his concentration so he can push on to the next work.  In doing so, he may or may not omit saying "the".

The word STONE produces a picture of a rock.  With concentration doubled, he says "stone".

The next word, FENCE, turns the rock into a rock fence.  Still with doubled concentration, he says "fence".

The next word, AND, blanks out the picture again.  This time, the threshold for confusion is reached.  So the child becomes disoriented.  The child is stopped again, more confused, doubly concentrating, and now disoriented.  The only way he can continue is to increase his concentration effort.  But now because he is also disoriented, the dyslexic symptoms will appear.  It is very likely that he will omit saying the word AND, or just as likely that he will substitute A, AN or THE instead.  At this point, he is no longer getting an accurate perception of the words on the page.

He is now expending a tremendous amount of effort and energy on concentrating, just to continue.

The next word, RAN, because he is now disoriented, is altered into the word RUNS.  He sees an image of himself running, entirely unrelated to the picture of the hovering horse.  Then he says "runs".

The word THROUGH is altered into THROWS.  He sees himself throwing a ball and says "throws".

The next word, THE, blanks out the picture again.  The child is stopped again, even more confused, and still disoriented.  His only recourse is to quadruple his concentration.  In doing so, he omits saying "the".

By now his disorientation has created a feeling like dizziness.  He is feeling sick to his stomach, and the words and letters are swimming around on the page.

For the last word, PASTURE, he must track down each letter, one at a time, so he can sound out the word.  Once he does, he sees a picture of a grassy place.  Even though he is disoriented, because of the extra effort and energy he put forth in catching and sounding out each letter, he says it right, "pasture".

Having completed the sentence, he closes the book and pushes it away.  That's enough of that!

When asked what he just read, he is likely to answer with something like "a place where grass grows."  He has a picture of a horse in the air, a stone fence, himself playing ball and a grassy place, but cannot relate the separate elements in the sentence to form a mental image of the scene described.

To everyone who saw or heard him read the sentence or heard his answer to what it was about, it is obvious that he didn't understand any of what he just read.  As for him, he doesn't care that he didn't understand it.  He's just thankful that he survived the ordeal of reading out loud.



Now I know that was a long thing to read (and type out) but it is EXACTLY how Hunter reads.  Once I read that...another light bulb went off in my head...and another guilt/sadness of knowing she feels like that :-(  Every time we read she gets a stomach ache..she skips words, she adds words...it is WAY more than just transposing letters and numbers!

Since this post is so long...I will end here for now...but don't fret...I have TONS more to share ;-)

Well I am finally starting to blog about this...the whole reason I decided to start blogging.  A few months ago I was struck with the realization that 2 of my 3 girls have a learning disability.  (the 3rd we are not sure about yet).  I had a total emotional break down!  But I figured I needed to start with a little back story!

My husband has ADD/ADHD and is dyslexic.  I have known this for a LONG time.  I have always feared one of my kids would be dyslexic.  Now my middle daughter of course is ADD!  I always tell people she is cursed with the worst traits from both her parents.  She gets her dads ADD and TEMPER (all of you who know me know I have no such temper!  HA)  and she gets my OCD and perfectionism...which is a VERY rough mixture...for everyone in the house :-)  She is a GREAT kid though and VERY loving (she gets that from me!)  I had always thought Logan would be the one who is severe dyslexic.  She was assessed and is dyslexic, but not SEVERE...Like Hunter! 

From all the research I have been doing I have found that dyslexic people are VERY successful and VERY brilliant!  I have also discovered that dyslexia is not a BAD thing.  It is just a different learning style!  They are more creative, and see things 3 dimensionally.  Which to me seems totally cool!  Funny thing is that my husband, a dyslexic, is a 3D graphic artist :-)

Now those of you who know me know I am NOT a creative thinker by any means.  I am not crafty and am VERY logical and black and white kind of thinking (now you probably will never hear me admit this again...and don't tell my husband...although I am sure he knows this!)  I HATED playing dolls and barbies as a kid...making the dolls talk back and forth made absolutely no sense to me...it was totally stupid...they were not actually talking, they are plastic dolls!  So I have NO imagination and NO creativity...so how in the world am I going to help these creative, imaginative kids succeed????

Now, I totally LOVE watching my girls play.  Logan especially!  She totally leaves this world and is transported to her land of unicorns and fairies, and whatever goes on in her head!  I totally envy it at times!  She flies around the room and is oblivious to her surroundings!  Also watching this girl do a puzzle is beyond my capability.  Now..puzzles...doesn't EVERYONE do the edges first?  Then fill in the middle?  That is the way you are SUPPOSED to do it right?  Just common sense...to me :-)  Logan just picks up a piece and looks at the picture and puts the piece where it is supposed to go....then she picks up another piece, looks at the picture and puts it where it is supposed to go!  TOTALLY BLOWS MY MIND!  Logan also does what some call "mirror writing"  where she writes perfectly backward...so if you held it up to the mirror you can read it!  AWESOME!  I am told this is a sign of genius (must be from mom)! 

So, how did I come to these realizations?  And what am I going to do about it?

Well first of all, Hunter (my oldest) just completed 3rd grade.  From all the research, I found 3rd grade is when the symptoms of dyslexia seem to surface.  This past school year she really struggled and we had MANY frustrating days.  I first noticed with math...she would verbally answer 16 but write 61 on her paper.  Then she had a review page...counting by 10's and they gave her the first number...5.  Now she verbally said 5, 15, 25, 35...but she wrote 5, 51, 52, 53...!  Now of course I stopped her and we erased and re-wrote them the correct way (which now I wish I had not done as everyone wants to see her school work)  She also struggled greatly with spelling, which Allan is a HORRIBLE speller, so I just thought she was just going to be a HORRIBLE speller.  I didn't realize spelling had anything to do with dyslexia!  I never really knew what dyslexia was except transposing letters and numbers!

Now Hunter has always struggled with reading from the start.  I would talk to friends and family and everyone would say.."don't worry, one day it will click and she will be fine!"  Which I guess is good advise...I know kids all learn at different times and different levels, but completing 3rd grade, she should be reading MUCH better than she was.  She mixed up a lot of things...was/saw, put/but, resume/remuse, going/doing, ever/never, every/very...!  She also would put words in a sentence that were in different parts of the page, and she never really understood what all she was reading!  She would read 1 page perfectly, then mess up the same words on the next page!  OH YOU CAN'T IMAGINE HOW FRUSTRATING THIS WAS!!!  It was like every time we read it was the first time!  I ended up taking her to the eye doctor thinking maybe it was something with her glasses...and he told me "she is just being lazy, lets just up her prescription and see how she does!"  I told him of my concerns about dyslexia and he really shot me down!

Now after realizing all this of course I was over flooded with guilt!  All the times I yelled at her for not remembering things, and all the frustrations we shared!  I felt SOOOOO guilty :-(   What a HORRIBLE mom I am...or so I felt!  I also struggled with my home schooling methods and abilities.  Satan really knows how to get to me :-(  If 2 of my 3 kids (so far) are having trouble...it MUST be something I am doing, or not doing!  So I was so ready to stick them in school...before I figured out the dyslexia issues.  Of course it would be SO much easier if they were in school, and then if they failed I would have someone else to blame :-)  Perfectly sound thinking right?  LOL...of course Satan will make anything sound right when trying to get you to stray from God's calling!

Now this post seems to be getting lengthy, and I am hoping it all makes sense as I have SO much to talk about :-)  I have started a journal so I won't forget anything and so I will have stuff to show the "professionals" when they want to see things or have questions :-)  I have also started keeping some of Hunter's work...un-corrected!  I am also signed up for a class here in town, Aug. 2 and 3, on different teaching methods.  The lady I have been talking to leads the class, and seems very supportive and helpful.  Very optimistic, which I needed as I started my breakdown!  God really has provided people right when I need them :-)

I still struggle with doubts and fears...James 1:6b for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  Boy do I feel like that often...back and forth over these fears and feelings.  I just ordered a book from Proverbs 31 Ministries...A Confident Heart...and I am hoping to work on these doubts and such :-)  One would think if you are doing God's will it will all be easy and fall into place...RIGHT!!!!  LOL...I know in the end it will all be worth it...and who better to help my girls than their mom?

I also wanted to add a side note about my husband....He has struggled with ADD/ADHD and dyslexia for a long time.  I see him as an adult struggling still...and I just don't want my girls to have to struggle with this their whole lives!  I want them to be able to overcome these things and lead a fulfilling and successful life...not saying that my husband doesn't lead a fulfilling and successful life(he has me!)...but he struggles daily with these issues!  As a kid in school they just drugged him up with Riddlin and shoved him in a corner!  How sad!  I know the medication does help people, but they never took the time to HELP Allan :-(  I am praying this class will give me the tools to help my girls, but also Allan!

Well after 2 days of crying and stomach aches, Hunter finally broke down and told me what was bothering her.  As a mom, I totally know my girls, and I know when something is bothering them.  I knew it was more than her just missing me!  So finally yesterday afternoon through sobs and a horrible stomach ache, she confided in me.  I don't mean to publicize her problem, but this is our first dealing with bullying and I am really not quite sure how to handle it all.

I guess while at camp there was this girl...who did not attend our church, but was from a different church ( So I felt better about this situation knowing it was not going to be a weekly thing that Hunter would have to deal with).  This girl was younger than Hunter (well in a lower grade, but might not have been younger in age).  She had told Hunter to carry all her luggage to her cabin....why I have no idea!  But Hunter told her no.  This girl proceeded to tell Hunter she was STUPID (which is a bad word in our house) and twisted her arm :-(  My heart BROKE hearing her tell me this through her sobs!  Now luckily for Hunter her friend was there with her and took care of her and took her away from this girl.  I am so blessed that Hunter has some really good friends who will watch out for her :-)

Now the second incident was by a girl who WAS from our church...close to the same age, but in a lower grade.  Now this little girl has been to our house and played....sleepovers...very sweet little girl.  I hear that she was a tad of trouble at camp, and I know it was not an attack against Hunter personally, but she screamed at Hunter and told her she was an IDIOT!  Again my heart broke!

Now some of you know that Hunter has had a rough year this past year (3rd grade)...and a lot of you don't.  It was the main reason for starting this blog in the first place.  I know I have made a few hints about a later post and such :-)  I was trying to wait a little bit longer, but I think it will help with this bullying and my struggles with how to handle it.

After a VERY frustrating year of home schooling with Hunter...and seeing her struggle more than normal with school this past year...I started doing some research!  Those of you who know me well know how OCD I can get :-)  I spent WEEKS up late on the internet, talking to friends, talking to more mature home schooling parents, talking to "professionals" and such.  After all this research, and knowing my husbands history, I had Hunter and Logan assessed for Dyslexia!  I am still planning a later post...probably next week...to go over this more in depth.  How I came to figure it all out and such....but for now...for this post...both Hunter and Logan are dyslexic...Hunter is considered severe dyslexic.  I am going to be taking a class the beginning of August that will help me learn to teach them the way they need to be taught  I am super excited about this class and very excited to share all this with you! (Like I said before I have MUCH wisdom and knowledge to share with EVERYONE!)

Now back to this whole bullying problem.  Over the past months I have seen Hunter struggle with playing with her friends...just seeing the look on her face, that she is not at the same level as her friends.  Now I am by no means saying she is stupid or slow...but the look in her eyes was that of "I'm stupid"...which totally broke my heart...knowing she felt this way...which is when I started on my quest of trying to help her.  Those who know Hunter knows she is VERY intelligent and super smart.  And even talking to the professional who assessed the girls...she told me by no means hold her back a year (which I was considering) because she is so intelligent...it would hurt her more than help her if I held her back.  So we are working on a 4th grade plan for her with a few adjustments to some subjects...again getting ahead of myself.

But with these 2 comments of her being stupid and an idiot really really hurt her deeply...which breaks my heart!  I am at a loss on how to help her.  I talked to her about how God sees her and how beautiful and smart she is.  I told her that sometimes people are just mean and sometimes friends hurt your feelings.  Now the 1 girl does go to our church and was considered her "friend".  So how do we deal with this?  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.  I know she needs to learn how to handle this and I can't always just call up the girls mom's and such...but what does a mom do to guide her daughter in the godly way to handle situations like this?  I know this is a learning experience for both of us...but with learning to deal with this learning disability and her knowing she is not up to par with her friends...I am just afraid to do more damage :-)

Just thought I would post an update!  My beautiful Hunter got home around 10 PM last night!  It was SOOOO wonderful to see her :-)  My hubby ended up giving up his spot on the bed and slept on the couch so she could snuggle with me.  We were up super late as she chatted and chatted about all the fun stuff she did.  It was an AWESOME bonding time! 

Today we have a fun "spa" day planned.  I made an appointment for 2 of the girls to get their hair done and all 3 to get mani/pedi's!  They are super excited!  I am just so happy she is home and we are back to our family :-)   I never realized how much of a difference 1 kid out of the loop would make! 

Best thing she told me last night "I had a good time mom, but I am SO happy to be home!"  I am glad she was able to have a good time.  She told me she was a bit home sick, but her 1 friend helped her...that makes me so happy that she has a friend that would help her through such a rough time!

Well just a quick post today.  I wanted you all to know she got home safely and is healthy...besides a belly ache from being upset!  God really came through and helped me through a really rough week!  PRAISING GOD!!!!

Sorry, as I typed that title, that Aretha Franklin song just popped into my head ;-)  Then I decided to look up the lyrics and found some of them really fit to how I was feeling...

At first I was afraid,
I was petrified,
Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side,

LOL...Now if I were a bit wittier I would come up with my own lyrics for the rest of the song to go along with missing my girl while she is at camp, and God getting me through it ;-)  (side note...is wittier a word?  or would it be more witty?)  LOL...as we go along in the posts you will notice I have my own language to some degree...my husband always makes fun of me because he THINKS I make up words...although I think they are perfectly good words and make a lot of sense...maybe soon we will all be buying the Onderick Dictionary! 

I must say the past 4 days have been SUPER hard!  Everyone here has missed Hunter SOOOOO much.  Her younger sisters have woken up in the morning crying because she is not in her bed.  I have been up late nights worrying about her having fun, being ok, blah blah blah.  Although each day has gotten a tad easier.  Probably knowing she is coming home tonight helps a bit too!

With these past 4 days of stress and worry, I have decided a few things...some good some bad!  As I posted before, I realized my walk with God seems to be stronger when I am going through a certain "issue" of some sort.  Although it is good to go to God for these "issues" I feel guilty that I am not as passionate and searching HIM regularly.  I really need to fix that!  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated ;-)

I have also found myself yet a "freak" again during all this.  And some friends were not as supportive as I would have hoped.  I know they try to make me feel better, and as I said before I CAN be a TAD sarcastic, so maybe they were trying to help sarcastically...not quite sure!  I am not sure if it is "weird" that my child is 9 and never been away from home....but for some they have already gone through it...I thought those friends would have been a bit more sympathetic and helpful.  I have had a few hurtful comments the past few days about Hunter being away and such.  Lets just all remember...everyone goes through different stages of life at different times.  I have never worked since I have had kids...I am with them 24/7.  I have never traveled without them, I am not happy to send them away with friends...does that make me a "freak"?  To love my kids and want to be with them?  ( I am sure this will bite me in the butt when they go off to college too)

Now I must admit...I have been a TINY BIT emotional through all this...so I might be taking things wrong...and they might just be joking and sarcastic...which I usually can take :-)  But I must say my feelings have been a bit hurt :-(

But that is okay...Hunter comes home today and we are all SUPER HAPPY here!  I am praising God for getting me through this rough time.  I have learned so many things...Even though my friends didn't come through as I expected...GOD DID!  HE always does :-)  That makes me super happy...even though I might not have been as faithful the past few months with my quiet times and bible readings and alone time with God...HE still came through for me! 

SO....I WILL SURVIVE!  With God by my side!

PS....yesterday was my 10 year wedding anniversary with my best friend of 22 years :-)  God has blessed me SO much with a wonderful husband...he is really great and helpful and a lot of fun!  We ended up taking the other 2 girls to Sioux Falls for an afternoon of shopping at the mall and dinner at Olive Garden....to those of you who know we are on a strict 30 day diet...we totally broke it last night!  I must say I feel a bit BLAH today, but we had a ton of fun, so it was all worth it....I did an extra workout this morning too to help ;-)

Well as I reflect on the happenings of this past weekend and this morning I have come to realize I am one of "those" mom's.  You know...those crazy emotional mom's who cry over every little part of their kids growing up?  One of those mom's who hide notes in their kids lunches as suitcase as you send them off to camp....YUP...one of "those" mom's!

I'm not sure about all of you, but growing up I thought my mom was EMBARRASSING!!!!  (now mom, don't get your feelings hurt...I think all kids think that of their mom)  I always told myself "When I have kids I am going to be the COOLEST mom ever!  I am not going to embarrass them, or make them feel weird.  I am going to be confident and totally AWESOME!"  Now some of you might be thinking this is some of that sarcasm I was talking about...but sadly no...this is what I thought :-)

Well I still think I am a pretty COOL/AWESOME mom ;-)! (please don't burst my bubble) But this past weekend/Monday brought a lot of milestones I was not ready for :-( 

My youngest Cuckles lost her first tooth!  Now I know it is a cool thing, and she was SUPER excited and all...but it was my LAST first tooth ever! (unless by God's grace we can save up enough money to adopt)  No more "first" lost teeth :-(  EVER!!!!  Do you hear what I am saying???  EVER!!!!  Alright...now some of you might think I have totally lost it...or am totally crazy!  I must admit it is a little of both :-)

Today I put my oldest Hunter on a bus to go to church camp!  In Rapid City...6 1/2 hours away!!!  Now I know she is going to have a totally awesome time!  I am praying so hard that she sees God in a way she has never before.  I know she believes in God and she was baptized, and she loves God....but I don't think she has ever EXPERIENCED God!  Not sure if you all know what I mean...but I hope so :-)  So I am praying that she experiences God in a personal way :-) 

Now she is 9 and this is the FIRST time EVER she has been away from home (for more than 4 hours).  We have always had slumber parties over here...probably because I have achieved that COOL MOM status ( again don't burst my bubble)!  She has gone to play at friends houses and such...but like I said no longer than 4 hours....and she was IN TOWN!!!!  So today we reached the milestone of sending my child off to camp....6 1/2 HOURS AWAY!!!!!  I know I have said that before, but I really think this is helping me :-)

So yesterday ALL afternoon I cried knowing she was going to be gone....It took EVERYTHING in my (God's) power to have me not follow the bus out of the church parking lot this morning :-)  So...why am I having such a hard time?

This whole ordeal has got me talking pretty honestly with God :-)  But unfortunately He has talked VERY honestly back to me!  But I guess if you can dish it out you better be prepared to take it right????

First off...since all these milestones have gotten me totally emotional....I have noticed I have been praying a lot more :-)  Which is good yes...but I realized....I need to be talking to God like this ALL the time...not just when I am upset and desperate and totally insane!  Don't get me wrong...those are GREAT times to go to God...but shouldn't be the ONLY time....well in my case it is not the only time, but I am more passionate about those times :-)

Second...God is in control...Hunter is God's child, not mine...He gave her to me to take care of and teach and love...but ultimately she is His Child.  Now I have heard "you must give your children back to God"  Which I have done....mentally :-)  I have never had to physically GIVE my child over to God's care!  And it is KILLING me :-)  Not that I don't know HE will protect her and be with her and take care of her...I know that....so why is it so hard? 

Also....I seemed to notice in the parking lot at the church this morning...most parents were excited to send their kids to camp...to get a break and relax and such....which to me seems pretty normal.  So again I find myself as one of "those" moms...totally crazy and sad because my daughter is gone...I have 2 more here at home who will keep me VERY busy....so why am I missing 1 so much...knowing she is safe, and having the time of her life? 

Now I must point out...I did NOT cry as she got on the bus and as the bus pulled out...and I did NOT follow the bus ;-)  So I am making some sort of progress....right?  And those notes I hid in her suitcase and lunch box and journal...and everywhere I could think of :-)  Won't send her to therapy...they will help her!  Because I am sure when it is bedtime if she is not TOTALLY wiped out...she will miss me...a little...right??? (if you don't think so please keep that comment to yourself) 

In my last post I had mentioned how I never wanted to home school.  I just wanted to clarify that I would not change it for the world!  I have seen such wonderful things with my girls....things and experiences I would have missed had they been in school.  It was rough at first for sure...trying to figure out what curriculum worked, figuring out a schedule that worked for us....and all that changes every year!  I used 1 curriculum and LOVED it for 3 years!  Last year not so much, so now I am back figuring out what to do for this next school year :-)  Plus with 3 kids...one might work well for one, but not the other.  That is one nice thing about home schooling...you can cater to your kids individual needs!  Which is where I am finding myself in my current struggle....which will be a later post :-)  (See what I am doing?  Building up suspense for this "later post"! LOL)

So why did I title this post...Why did God have to call me to be a FREAK??? 

I am not sure about all of you....but I was not what one would call in the "popular" crowd growing up!  I explained to my husband once....I have spent my WHOLE life trying to "fit in" and then God calls me to be a freak!  Why couldn't God call me to be NORMAL???   Now, I totally understand my thinking was worldly...and I should not be trying to "fit in" to the world....but even in the church (sad to say) there can be "clicks" and such.  Also, which I didn't realize until I started home schooling, there are a lot of people NOT supportive of home schooling at all!  So yet again I am not on the "in" crowd...in the world standards :-)

When talking to people who don't believe in God, they really don't understand my reasons to home school.  They don't understand the whole "I felt this was what God was calling me to do" thinking.  They DO understand my NON-religious reasons though :-)  My middle daughter Logan has ADD/ADHD...I am not very big on the medications for that!  I have seen the medication do some really bad things in kids with ADD/ADHD, and I didn't want that for her.( don't get me wrong, I have seen the medications help a lot of kids too)  I have been able to regulate her pretty well through supplements and diet, but she would still NOT survive in a class room setting!  At home we can do 5 math problems and she can go play for 5 minutes, then do 5 more problems and so on.  We can do a lot more "hands on" work which will keep her attention better.  Nothing against the school, but it is hard for them to help 1 kid when they have 20 kids in the class room.  Then if she were too disruptive they would put her in a "special ed" class...and what would that do to her self esteem?

Alright...I feel like I am getting off topic :-)  Back to me being a freak :-)  (I know that statement is not shocking to some) In my earlier post I had mentioned that I had my own plans for my life.  I was going to have the "normal" family life....kids in school, I was going to go back to school, be home in time to have warm cookies ready for the kids when they got home from school, yummy dinner, then homework :-)  Sounds PERFECT doesn't it?  Well perfect in my mind :-)  Although my new plan is...go back to school when Cuckles goes to college!  She will TOTALLY love that....mom going to school with her :-)  Talk about a kid needing therapy!

So here I am a total "FREAK" to the world....but how does God see me?  When I get in that mode of feeling like that I really need to focus on what God thinks of me...that is who I am to please...not the world, not my family, not my friends, not even the "church"....but God....and if at the end of the day I can say....Today I have done what God has asked me to....then it was a PERFECT day!

Well here I am sitting this morning pondering this whole "blog thing".  I am absolutely positive that I am the last person on earth starting a blog :-)!  So...should I blog once a week?  Every day?  I don't mean to brag...BUT I have SOOOO much wisdom and knowledge to share with the blogging world to post every day! (that statement MIGHT be some of that sarcasm I was talking about)

I know not everyone who will be reading this blog will be a home schooling parent, or might not even be that supportive of home schooling.  But home schooling is my life, so I figured that would be the best place to start.  With home schooling 3 girls, there is not much room for anything else in my life....although my life is not really mine...it is God's!

I have had a few people recently ask me why I chose to home school?  Now I also know not everyone reading this blog will be a Christian, or believe in God, or any religion for that matter.  But I am a Christian, I live for God, and I let HIM lead my life.  So some of my reasons for home schooling might not be understood by all....or might even be thought as stupid for some....but that is okay :-)

As I mentioned my husband and I both grew up in Northeast Ohio.  We lived there our whole lives and were comfortable sending our kids to school there.  Right when my oldest, Hunter, was starting pre-school, we moved to upstate New York.  Now being in a new place, we were not really comfortable with putting our kids in the public schools there.  Since we were thinking we would be living there for quite some time we figured we should find out more about the schooling options.  We would have LOVED to put them in a private school, but finances were a bit tight at that time.  So we decided to look into home schooling. 

At first I was NOT interested in home schooling at all!  We had moved in the middle of the pre-school school year, so we had Hunter enrolled in a pre-K class right when we moved.  Now the school she was in in Ohio taught the alphabet out of order...and the school in NY taught it in order...so there were a few letters Hunter didn't know.  Also Hunter had broken her arm and got the cast off right before we moved...so she was a little behind in handwriting.  Although she was 5....so how behind can you be in handwriting???? 

The pre-K teacher assessed her on her first day....and told me "your daughter is way behind...you are going to need to work with her at home!"  So I got my supplies and started working with her at home.  She was doing GREAT!  We worked and worked and she was actually ahead of her class.  I was driving home from picking Hunter up from school, when God spoke to my heart!  I can remember the time and place perfectly!  We were at a stoplight and God clearly spoke to me....See how well she did while you were teaching her?  I want you to pull her out of pre-school and home school!  Of course I didn't talk to Allan about this quite yet, because I didn't want to home school!  I had my plan of how things were going to go and home school was NOWHERE in MY plan :-)  So....I ignored that conversation :-)  I am not sure about everyone reading this...but I seem to like to learn my lessons the HARD way :-)

With only living 5 hours from our families in Ohio the first few months we lived in NY we made a few trips back home...so Hunter missed quite a bit of school.  A few weeks after my ignoring God's calling....he spoke to me again driving back from Ohio....well not really spoke TO me as THROUGH me :-)  Let me explain....we were driving back and Allan was in the car with me.  We were talking about this that and another thing when all of a sudden I heard (out of MY mouth)...I really feel I should home school the girls!  Now I am thinking in my head....did I just say that???  Where did that come from???  So that comment opened a whole door of conversations between Allan and me!  I ended up telling Allan about my conversation with God a few weeks earlier and how I was working with Hunter at home and how well she was doing, and how she was missing so much school...blah blah blah....I did NOT want to be having this conversation :-) 

So we decided to give it a try...she was just finishing pre-K and start Kindergarten, so I couldn't mess her up too bad if we decided it wasn't going to work...right???  LoL!!!  I must say it was totally AWESOME!  Although I still struggle to this day with my decision to home school...are they behind, are they social enough (if you know my girls that is a BIG joke)....if you home school...I am sure you know all these nagging questions :-)

Am I rambling yet????  If so I am sorry :-)  I just wanted to add 1 more thing :-)  At first Allan was NOT very supportive of the whole home schooling thing...as I must admit I was not either :-)  But I really felt strongly that God had called me to this.  The first 2 years Allan and I had quite a number of arguments about it.  Not that he ever told me I couldn't do it...He realized that God was speaking to me.  During that time I prayed that if this is what HE wanted me to do then HE was going to have to change Allan's heart toward this.  Allan did let me home school even though he didn't agree with me, but it still caused stress having my husband not support me.  God did answer my prayer....although secretly I was hoping he wouldn't so I could get out of home schooling :-)  I remember that "conversation" with Allan so vividly too :-)  I quoted that conversation, because it was more of an argument :-) 

We had just moved to South Dakota and we had this "conversation" after the girls went to bed.  We were actually talking in bed and I was so stressed with moving so far away and feeling so alone and he was not helping by not supporting me with the home schooling....not that I wanted him to do any teaching, but just have his support!  I remember sitting on our bed sobbing and talking (loudly) about all my feelings and such.  I remember Allan making me defend myself and reasons for home schooling.  Which at the time I was angry about, but to this day I am glad, because whenever I get upset and doubt myself Allan always brings up those reasons :-)  I gave him bible verses, I gave him examples, I showed him how well the girls were doing, and how loving and helpful they were.  He was so shocked that I threw all this at him!  I am not sure if he was shocked at all my answers or because of how I was speaking to him :-)  But that night he sat down next to me and apologized for being that way and told me how great of a job I was doing and how he was going to support me from here on out!  Then the next morning he apologized again and told me that he felt God had really changed his heart about the whole home schooling thing :-)  ....I am crying just typing it...it brings back such wonderful memories and again just makes me feel no doubts about my decision to home school :-)

So...I just read my preview and it is a bit lengthy :-)  Sorry...but I did start out saying I had SOOOO much knowledge and wisdom to share with you all!  HA HA HA HA!!!

I figured my first post should be a little bit of an introduction....or warning, whichever you prefer :-) 

I think I will first start out with a warning....I am Sicilian, so I do have a tendency to ramble on and on and get off topic!  I am also a TAD sarcastic....so please don't take offense to anything I say :-) 

I am happily  married to my High School best friend!  We have been friends going on 22 years now!  We are also coming up on our 10 year Wedding Anniversary!  CONGRATULATIONS TO US!!!

I have 3 beautiful girls...Hunter age 9, Logan age 7 1/2, and Dillan age 6 1/2.  Now as many of you know...the 1/2 is VERY important :-)  If you see me talking about Cuckles, that would be Dillan!  My sister nicknamed her as Dilly Pickles, which was shortened to Pickles and Logan couldn't say Pickles and called her Cuckles and of course that is what stuck!  I just figured I would add that in because everyone asks me how we came up with that nickname!

Both my husband and I grew up in Northeast Ohio, so all our family is there.  We also lived in Upstate New York for about 2 years.  We have been in Brookings, South Dakota for 2 1/2 years now and we are pretty certain we want to plant ourselves here! (as long as it is in God's plan)  It is hard living so far away from family, and because of the distance trips back home are not as often as we would like, but South Dakota is a beautiful state, and we have made awesome friends and have a great church family. 

There is also a WONDERFUL home school group I am involved in here.  http://foches.org/  If you are in the area and interested :-)  We do quite a bit of activities and it is great being in a community where you can share and freely ask questions and concerns.  In some of my current "struggles" many other mom's have reached out to me and helped me greatly.  (don't worry, I will get into that struggle later as it is the main reason I started this blog)

I am trying REALLY hard not to ramble on, so I think I will end here for now :-)