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Homeschooling in the Desert with Intention and Hope and Special Needs

Monthly Archives: August 2012

When things work it feels so good!

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I have set up a reading tutor that works with the Lips program, Seeing stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing found thru Gander Publishing and Lindamood Bell. All intensive phonemic awareness programs that are especially helpful to those that have speech/language issues, auditory processing issues, dyslexia, etc. The program seems to be a good fit for Dylan because he is tends to learn with movement and lots of physical feedback, and visual aids. We tried this program for a short time several years ago and found it to be a good fit, but couldn’t keep up with the cost. This time we attend once a week and I have ordered the program to use myself and am going to get training. In the mean time I can watch and take notes in his session. You know when you see something that clicks for your child, especially when clicking isn’t something that happens very often, it just feels so satisfying! So, today is full of hope and promise. I take these moments as they come and move through the others knowing that another day of hope and promise is around the corner, hang on…breathe, meditate, believe, visualize, exercise, watch TED, look at your chickens, go to a museum, go to the library, eat chocolate, pray, find a friend, and don’t open your mouth for any length of time because all the wrong stuff comes out at these dark times. If you do, give fair warning that what comes out may be guided by a current craziness, that although valid, will not be staying long. Soon, you will be back on track and patience will return. The in the moment joy will emerge and the fear that wells up inside will be overpowered by the presence of those moments for a time. It is all to easy to be consumed with worry and dread, add in Menopause, and financial dispair and well,…. grateful for the roof over my head, the food in my fridge, the kindness of dear friends and a loving and healthy family. Take that! Shot down with gratitude! Well, really I came to this post to share this power point I ran into from another help teacher blog. (this downloads, I can’t figure out how to not have it download.  It is a Power Point presentation on the various sound labels and mouth formations.DAy 2_LiP  Hope it helps.


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Wish: Inclusive Education . Learning Disabilities . Education | PBS Parents

Inclusive Education . Learning Disabilities . Education | PBS Parents.


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Composting the scraps of goodness

I never knew a chicken could have so much personality! Watching our 3 chickens outside my window at breakfast brings a surprising amount of joy. This has been a terrific addition to the family in so many ways. Dylan is learning how to care for them and I’m learning to acknowledge his contributions without the tempting corrections that will surely discourage future attempts. I purposely ignore the negative chatter in my own head that pops up, that can build into fear, then reveal itself as frustration and disappointment. Instead I try focus on what is going well, and know this is not the last time, and then I picture him doing his chores in his own way, well and independently. That keeps me busy enough that nothing “well intended” leaks out to spoil the efforts. He usually needs a little reminding, so I stick with saying something like “you have already done “this” and “that”, now all you need to do is….Sometimes “this” and “that” may be as simple as “you have already gotten up and made your breakfast, now you just need to do your chores”. Currently he feeds the animals, 2 Guinea Pigs and 3 chickens from school, 4 fish 1 Tibetan Terrier mix and a speckled grey cat…how did that happen? He picks up the floor in his room and brings down his laundry, empties the recycling and takes out the trash. For this he earns TV time. These simple shifts in the way I communicate with him have gone miles toward a positive response and less power struggles. With The Nurtured Heart Approach, I am finding more and more opportunities to acknowledge the many efforts he makes in life, even if they are just a micro moments. It feels so much better to turn these genuine moments of positive action, no matter how small, into “teachable moments”. It’s like composting, give a little goodness and nourish the soul. Nothing good is wasted! It’s been worth seeing him beam with pride, like my flowers look when the soil is rich. Then again, don’t look at my flowers lately, no rich soil going on there….perhaps I should say like my flowers would look, if I would nourish the soil…well, forgive me, I’m still learning.
A friend of mine posted this. These are some very happy faces. Joy is unmistakeable, it can happen in any circumstance and it’s power immeasurable.
The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.
George William Curtis


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Arizona Science Center – Phoenix, Arizona

Now that I’m homeschooling it will be nice to spend time with Dylan learning about where our food comes from, and what else we can do to create a more sustainable lifestyle. I think just the experience of having the chickens in our back yard, and being aware of them as fellow creatures changes the way we respect and honor the food that is provided by them. Something I would not have realized until living with these funny fellows.

Still gathering information on materials and curriculum for the year. We are enjoying Right Start Math www.rightstartmath.com very much. It is a lot of review for him right now, but I feel that coupled with his Montessori background her approach has lots of well thought out exercises layering repetition and with elements that fix in the mind visually. I beginning to see Dylan use these visual elements to help him navigate his challenges with sequence and working memory. Working in with the numbers on the RS abacus helps him with his difficulties with counting. He is able to see the quantities up to 5, then after that it’s 5 with additional to 10, then 10 with 1-5 and so on. It is such a small thing but it is what is working for him. He already understands place value, and the operations, but this stumbling block has prevented him from moving forward in math. In right start she begins the second level with a lot of partitioning numbers and using story problems for real life application which Dylan has been very fond of. It’s much more fun to practice something when you know what your are applying it to, this will also help him generalize his learning right away to practical applications. I am so thrilled to see him enjoying what he is doing! Small bites, freedom within limits that are specific to his needs, tons of patience and trust that if I observe him and what he gravitates to and what motivates him and meet him where he is, I will be better able to provide those materials that he will both learn from and enjoy. Though harder to observe, not as straight forward because avoidance is an abundant force, that has built up over the years, I still feel like when I stay in the moment with him, and don’t live in my fears, or expectations, I am present enough to see those moments when he is engaged and learning, and that is what I need to pay attention to to tell me what is next. For the first time, his Dad came home and he was excited to tell him about his accomplishments with a program called Reading Naturally-http://www.readnaturally.com/products/readlive.htm. Mini moments that feel like trumpets are sounding through the heavens. Little lifelines of hope.

Here are some reviews from a homeschool website- be sure to read many for clear view and know what your goal is. http://www.homeschoolmath.net/curriculum_reviews/rightstart.php

Arizona Science Center – Phoenix, Arizona

Free series on food and it’s impact on ourselves and the world around us. Screening FRESH the film, and lots of great speakers. Check out the schedule. All held at 4:45-6:45pm

Aug 18th FRESH film and Lecture- Carole De Cosmo

 

Sept 8- Film American Meat -Lecture TBA

Oct 13th Urban Farming Greg Peterson

Nov 17th Film-Truck Farm

Jan 19th-The Lorax or What’s On your Plate

Feb 16th- What is Organic

March 16th Queen of the Sun

April 20th-Earth Day and Food Festival


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Curriculum for teaching children with dyslexia reading at home / homeschool – overcoming dyslexia – Learning Abled Kids

Curriculum for teaching children with dyslexia reading at home / homeschool – overcoming dyslexia – Learning Abled Kids.


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Homeschooling Success: One Mother’s Story * Yale Center For Dyslexia & Creativity

This story from the Yale center for Dyslexia and Creativity was very inspiring.  Reminded me of the importance of getting out to a wide variety of experiences and places to aid in building vocabulary among other things. A I look for the right curriculum for his needs, this site has been helpful in spelling the needs out. I appreciated the articles on reading and especially the series of articles on math, memory, language etc.  Homeschooling Success: One Mother’s Story * Yale Center For Dyslexia & Creativity.