School Update

Hi everyone!  It's been quite a while since I posted an update about what the kids are doing in school.  Grab a drink and settle in for a long read :)

The Professor:

Math:
We've covered:

• addition and subtraction of up to 4 places with borrowing and carrying to multiple places.
• measurements (inches, centimeters, liters, quarts, etc) actual and estimates
• rounding to the nearest one, five and ten
• perimeter
• a bit on areas
• temperatures
• we're now on multiplication and division to the power of 5.  We'll finish this before the end of the school year.
• money
• time, dates
• fractions

Spelling:  

We're just about done with the 3rd grade spelling book (we'll finish it before we break).
Fairly typical spelling book covering all the letter sounds, blends, signal e, etc.  We'll be doing plurals, suffixes, prefixes and homonyms before the break.
Honestly the book seems to bore him, so I'm hoping next year's book will hold his attention better and be more of a challenge.

Vocabulary:

We're using a book called 240 Vocabulary Words 3rd grade Kids Need to Know.  We've done synonyms, antonyms, compound words and homophones.  We'll get through irregular plurals (goose/geese) and some rhyming words before we break.  It's a really great book, they also have them for 4-6th grades too.

Grammar:

The 3rd grade book is more in depth into parts of speech, as well as plurals, possessives, contractions, titles, capitalization, prefixes, suffixes, past/future/present tenses, sentence parts (subject, predicate), building more interesting sentences and a bit of creative writing.  We'll finish the book before we break covering alphabetizing to the second letter, dictionary guide words, letter writing, envelope addressing, reading tables of contents, abbreviations, initials, titles,  pronouns, adjectives, syllables and rhyming.

Geography:

So far we've only covered Delaware.  The Professor is putting together a scrapbook of the states (I'll post a few pictures soon) as well as a notebook.  The "plan" is to cover a state every 2 weeks or so.  It took us a while to get into the swing of things what with changes with VB's schedule and changing our schooling around.  We'll cover the states in order of statehood.  We'll cover Pennsylvania and New Jersey before we break.

American History: 

We've covered the Pilgrims trip across the pond in depth, so we delved into the other nationalities that settled over here (Dutch, French, English).  Then we covered a bit about each of the colonies as they became states.  This was a great segue into Geography!  This naturally led into the American Revolution.  We've been on this for about 2 weeks now and we'll probably stay here until we break.  We'll move westward from there :)  As our evening read-aloud we're reading Johnny Tremain.  I read this when I was in school, I have no idea what grade, and really enjoyed it.  He is so far too.

World History:

We started with Creation and are finishing up Unit 2 ending with 1675 BC.  The Rise of Assyrian power, Sumerians, Jacob, Joseph and their move into Egypt.  We'll make our way through Unit 3 before we break and end up in 1275 BC ending with the Exodus.  We have a bunch of supplemental projects that we can work on (and most likely will do most of), I can't wait to post pictures as we do them.  We're also making a notebook of all our projects.

In addition, we'll be adding all the events we cover this year, and years to come, in a timeline notebook. 

Map Studies:

Basic map reading and using a globe.  Pretty basic stuff that The Professor knew most of to begin with.  It's hard to determine what you've already informally taught until you sit down with a book!

Religion: 

We've made out way through the second grade Image of God book.  We've covered Adam and Eve and original sin.  The Tower of Babel, Moses, Noah, the beginning of Jesus' ministry (baptism, temptation, Cana, Centurion's Servant) as well as the Passion.  We've learned how Jesus instituted the Church through Peter and the institution of baptism, reconciliation and the Eucharist as sacraments.  We'll be learning about some of the saints, Holy days and the Rosary before we finish.  Of course we've taken a healthy look at Christmas, Easter, Advent and Lent along the way :)

Science:

We stumbled around a bit the first half of the year.  We did some plants, water, the body and a few other things.  Since then we've found a few things he REALLY likes.

Physics:
My parents picked him up a physics course written on a 2-4th grade level.  Fairly deep stuff written on an understandable level.  It's a great course by real science 4 kids.  We just started delving into it with the intro chapter on "What is Physics?"  It covered the basic laws and the scientific method.  We'll be delving into:

• force
• energy
• work
• potential and kinetic energy
• motion
• atoms and molecules
• electrical energy and charge
• moving electric charges and heat
• magnets and electromagnets 
• light and sound
• conservation of energy

The Way Things Work:
This is a GREAT book!!!!  It's a "visual guide to the world of machines".  It looks at all the every day stuff we use (can openers, scales, cars, door locks, etc), sorts them by the type of action that they use and details how they work.  The Professor can't get enough.  I'm also supplementing with books from the library.  So far we've covered:

• the inclined plane
• the wedge
• locks and keys
• cutting machines
• the can opener
• the zipper
• levers
• scales, bottle openers, excavators, nail clippers
• pianos, parking meters

Next is wheels and axles and hydroelectric turbines :)(Dad, you wouldn't happen to have a spare one, would you ;)

Exploring Creation with Astronomy: 

We've just started this book.  We're working on the intro chapter "what is Astronomy?".  We'll be doing a notebook and doing several projects as we go along as well as creating a lapbook.  We'll be covering all the planets, the asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt, galaxies and stars and space travel.

We'll be rotating between each of these texts over the next two years or so.  After we finish the physics book, I'm going to introduce Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology (I'm really excited about this one!)

Our current plan is to finish up by the end of July, targeting July 31 roughly.  We'll take the first few weeks of August off and restart with third grade on or about August 23rd.

The next few months look to be fairly busy, when aren't they?!?

The Professor will be starting cub scouts in the fall.  There is an informational meeting on Aug 27th.
Velcro Boy will be starting soccer in mid August with games starting Sept 11th.  The season ends 11/20.
I found swimming lessons for all three of them for the month of July, every Saturday, for less then $100.  Plus we'll get a family membership to the YMCA.  Sign ups are June 27th.
Prof goes to see the allergist on the 9th.
August will see the kids at the dentist, all the kids at the doctor, VB's first day of school on the 17th, The Professor and Velcro Boy's birthday party (hubby too!).
The Professor and Doodlebug starting school. 
And of course soccer and cub scouts.
Busy, busy, busy!

Velcro Boy: 

It's amazing how much progress he's made in so many areas this past year.  We're just about done with the alphabet.  We just did an easy introduction to each letter, the plan is/was to start again and do more in-depth letter related unit studies, crafts, etc, but... {sigh}  He does several worksheets each day (3-4 days per week).  He traces the letter of the week, tracing numbers (he's identifying and counting well too), doing a few dot to dots (letters and numbers) as well as some others with following directions (write an x on this item, etc).  He really likes them.  We practice his words/sounds nearly every day (he has a lot now).  We're constantly modeling for him as well as correcting his speech as we go.  So we're really working with him constantly on it.  He knows his alphabet upper case and most of the lower case.  He can identify his numbers to 10, and can count well to 29.  He stumbles over 30 (twenty-ten), then fine to 40 (thirty-ten).  The eggs we had hanging helped a lot!  We counted them every day.  He knows his colors and some shapes.  I've neglected the shapes for some reason, guess we had other things to focus on :)

Of course, we do Image of God.  He's using workbook pre-school B, we'll use the Kindergarten book starting in fall.  If he's with us when I'm working with Prof, he knows most of the answers to the material.  Needless to say I like to keep him in the room while I work with The Professor.  Even though he's playing, he's still absorbing.

We also rotate days between puzzles, games, scissor practice, play-doh, coloring and various fine motor skills.

Doodlebug: 

Such a sweetie! He just kind of hangs out with us sometimes.  He loves to read and doesn't even let me sit down unless I'm going to read to him.  He sees me anywhere near the couch and he runs for a book!  We've been doing most of our school in the afternoon during his naps, so he's not getting the benefit like he did earlier in the year, but I know that will change with Jake going out to Kindergarten every day.  I'll have him reading before he's 3 ;)

When he is around, he colors or pretends to do a worksheet (I make an extra copy for him).  It's so cute!  He holds the crayon well for a 2 year-old (and does quite a decent job brushing his teeth too).  Like The Professor at his age, he likes to put things together, "help" me around the house (Velcro Boy did/does too), and soak in everything he sees.  He also loves to climb and is constantly sending me running.

That's about it (IT?!?)  I'm starting to work on material for next year, so I'll let you know what I come up with. :)

Getting better!

I can't believe how much progress Velcro Boy has made in the past 4 months (just under anyway).  I had an actual conversation with him the other night.  In itself this is not remarkable.  What IS remarkable is that I understood every.single.word.  It actually moved me to tears (and is again as I type :).  These types of conversations are happening on a more and more frequent basis and I love it!  It allows me to see just how smart he really is and how much he's absorbed over the years.

He still has a lot of errors, but he's working and trying soooo hard that progress is being made.  We need to work on speed and volume (he's too fast and too quiet - those that know him in real life will find this hard to believe :).  He'll be going (probably) to therapy over the summer, 30 minutes once per week.  We still don't know what the schedule will be, which is making it hard to plan the schedule for the rest of the family.  Therapy will also continue over the next school year, 30 minutes per day 4 days per week.  Since he'll be there so often and it'll be hard to coordinate everything else around the sessions, we've decided to put him in Kindergarten full-time.  The plan is to homeschool him after Kindergarten is done.  It's my deep down hope that he'll make so much progress in therapy that he won't need to be there the whole year and I can bring him back home.  I'm not holding my breath though.

This was a really tough decision to make.  I've recently begun to see just how much I've taught him and seeing some light bulbs coming on in incredibly rewarding.  I'm seeing some early addition and reading skills starting and it's amazing.  His fine motor skills are developing rapidly and he's doing very well tracing letters and numbers, coloring, doing puzzles, etc.  We'll continue to work over the summer, but I'm nervous about bringing him along too far and him being ahead of his classmates.  We'll continue religious education here at home, of course (though he answers questions about his brother's 2nd grade book.

I dread the time away from him, and while I worry about the influence of public school, it is only Kindergarten.  How much damage can they do at that age??? 

Velcro Boy's Speech Progress

Hi everyone,

I realized it's been some time since I've posted about VB's progress. He's adjusting well to his class. He likes his teacher and she says he's interacting well with the other kids (all 6 of them) and talking quite a bit more than before.

She works on a sound for a few days, then moves onto a new one while still stressing the other sounds previously covered. This way they cycle through the sounds over and over again, eventually building to mastery. So far they've worked on /w/, /t/, /s/, /c/k/, /d/, /h/ and a few others that I'm forgetting. They're also stressing "closing your words", where the ending sound is stressed in pronunciation. When saying single words, he's quite a bit more understandable than before. But when telling a story or saying a sentence, he reverts to the old way of running the sounds and words together. This is normal. His teacher says they work first on individual words, the work up from there.

Several exercises have been sent home. Including a few matching cards. One day we sat down to play (I combined the ones that she sent home into one big set) and VB wanted to lay out the first set of cards. Little smartie sets them up like the game Memory! I let him go first. He flips two cards. Then I go, also flipping 2 cards. His turn again. Well, he figured out that he could see the picture through the card (it was printed on plain paper)! So he cleans up all the matches! Stinker.

So, progress is being made. It's slow, very slow. The goal is to get him to "normal" by the end of the school year ~June 3rd. He was evaluated at about half of that. This program is his best chance of meeting that goal. I spoke with his teacher about what would happen if therapy needed to be continued into the next school year. She wasn't too clear on the Kindergarten aspect of it, but she did say that the therapist would work with him (and others at the same time) for about 90 minutes each week. That's probably not 90 consecutive minutes. More like 30 minutes 3 times per week. In a group. Not one on one. Which means progress could/would slow considerably. In the meantime it also means public school Kindergarten attendance. This may not be what we want for him. I mentioned summer school. She said that's about 30 minutes per week and it's usually reserved for the most needy kids, those with autism and other handicaps. So I don't think it's an option for him. Please pray that he makes the necessary strides quickly.

Velcro Boy's First Day of "school"

 Sorry, I just can't bring myself to call it school.   I know, the class is in a public school building, There are other kids, not related to him, there.   He does educational-type-pre-school things.   But I just can't call it school.

Anyway, the first day went well.   I think bringing him on Tuesday was an enormous help.   We brought breakfast with us.   He didn't want to finish at home, and some of the other kids eat there as well through the low-income free meals program.   Hubby was off today, so the other boys stayed home with him, and I took VB myself.   Lucky kids, they were just waking up when he and I were leaving at 7:30.   It took about 20 minutes to get there, and I stayed with him while he ate and got him settled with the toys, then said my good-byes.   He didn't really want me to go, but...   No tears, though I did expect to see his little face looking out the window in the classroom door as I walked away - no he didn't.

I went grocery shopping.   When I picked him up she said he did very well.   He even talked!   Most of his answers were "I don't know", like they are for us.   I just wonder if she got to see the same playful grin we see when he gives us those answers.  

She asks that each child bring a backpack every day to class (even though it's usually empty!), it's a good way to send things home to me and vise versa if there's something I need to send in.   Velcro Boy was so happy to go pick out a backpack, he wouldn't let me go today and do it myself, we had to make a special trip on Tuesday so he could be there.  

 

  

Is he cute or what?!?

Observation & Registration

I got to fill in another 5 pages of forms today!  I hate bureaucracies!  Too many forms...  Anyway, after a fiasco with getting shot records from 2 different doctor's offices (if you ever change pediatricians, make sure the current one has all the records!), Velcro Boy is registered at B Farms.  We also spent a little over an hour watching the group today. 

His new teacher is awesome!!!!  Good energy, great engagement with the kids.  Actively tried to engage him in the activities without pushing him.  He did finally sit down for circle time (with me next to him), then he did some coloring.  She was able to get him to talk to her after a while and I think he's going to open up to her quickly.  I think he's going to have a lot of fun there. 

BUT...this isn't about having fun (these are all activities we do here anyway!), it's about learning to talk.  She and I went through the evaluation report and the IEP.  She said that over the next week or so as she gets to know him and his various deficiencies, she will get a better picture as to what she needs to do with him.  After that, she would have some activities to send home.  Until then, she said to continue to model for him (repeat what he says correctly and slowly), enunciate and watch the speed of our speech (sometimes I do talk too fast - too many kids to yell at I suppose :) ).

The room is fantastic.  Bright, open and well stocked with toys, books and learning stuff :)  I want this room for my home!  They have various centers set up (kitchen, art/crafts, computers, vehicles, animals, dress up, reading, tons of puzzles) and probably several more I failed to identify.  They have their own playground where they go almost daily (except when wet), they do circle time, crafts etc.  She also has an aide (very nice lady) and she works with each kid one-on-one. 

His first day will be Thursday, then he will go Monday through Thursday each week.

For Today...

February 1, 2010

Where has the year gone?!?

Outside my window... wet. wet. wet.  Need I say more???  It's been raining all.day.long.  UUGH!

I am thinking...that I may actually get most of the to-do list done today!  I'm so excited.

I am thankful for...my friends.

From the learning rooms... same thing different day :)  Velcro Boy's going to be starting a speech therapy program this week, so I've been getting ready for that.  The Professor's moving from double-digit addition/subtraction to triple digits. 

From the kitchen...terryaki chicken, rice & salad.

On weight-loss...Back up to my baseline.  Doodlebug's birthday was celebrated several times.  Much, too much eating this past week.
 
I am wearing... blue shorts, gray t-shirt, barefeet.

I am creating...a liturgical notebook.  I'm busily pulling ideas from others' blogs to create a notebook of ideas of things to do for the various feast days that we celebrate.  We haven't been very successful at doing much for them in the past, I want to do better this year.  Part of living more deliberately. 

The Jesus tree will be started in the next few days.  Lent is coming!



I'm also revising the schedule to reflect the time we'll spend in the car for speech therapy, getting up earlier, etc.

I am going...to start a Jesus tree soon!

I am reading...nothing at the moment!

I am hoping...that my schedule will work.  I'll post it soon.

I am hearing...kids arguing...

Around the house...decorating for Valentine's Day, not that there's much to put out...


The Nativity has been put away.  Today's the last day...

One of my favorite things...listening to the sound of rain while curled up in bed.  Something I'm not doing right now. :(

A few plans for the rest of the week: 3 days of school, registering Velcro Boy in school, observing his new class, Doodlebugs 2 year check up, first day of school for Velcro Boy, grocery shopping, Doodlebug's portraits, cleaning day.  And maybe, just maybe, a trip to the science museum for the Science of Chocolate sponsored by Hoffman's Chocolates.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...


nada.  They're all in the camera right now.


To check out more daybooks visit Peggy!

We have a decission

Velcro Boy will be attending a communication/pre-K program at B Elementary 2.5 hours per day Monday through Thursday 8-10:30 am.   On his test, he scored a 48, 85 is "normal" for his age.   So there is a significant deficit.   His problems are only in articulation, otherwise he is a very smart "quiet, shy and polite little boy" (therapist's words).   No big surprise here.  

His errors:
final consonant deletion (cu for cup)
stopping (diding for fishing)
cluster reduction (pane for plane)
sound substitutions (dy for cry)
sound assimilations (mum for drum and thumb)
gliding (wabbit for rabbit)

We wrote an IEP.   His goal is to produce targeted speech sounds and patterns in words by the end of the school year (June 3) with 80% mastery.   Assessed by weekly logs and observation by speech pathologist (SLP).

Short term goals:
1. to imitate sound patters of c(C)onsonant/v(V)owel, CV, CVC, CVCV
2. produce strident sounds s, sh, f, v
3. produce final consonants in simple words
4. produce velars (k,g)

An assessment will be made at the end of the school year to determine if we need to continue over the summer.   Another IEP will be written for next school year if necessary.  

How fast he makes progress is entirely decided by Velcro Boy.   They will have exercises to do at home that will help and we will continue to do what we're doing to try to get things moving. (repeating what he says correctly, insisting that he try to say things right, learning letter sounds, etc).

I have to collect the paperwork and register him at the school (waiting on doctor's offices now).   The teacher/SLP should be calling back later today to schedule a time to come observe.   He should be starting next week.   We will be transporting him to and from school.

Given the hours he will be attending, this is going to put a severe dent in our household/schooling schedule.   I'm currently trying to figure that part out.

Making this decision was very difficult for me and has involved a GREAT deal of stress and a lot of praying.   I will provide updates and information as it comes available.   Please pray that he makes speedy progress as this is going to be a very demanding few months.

Daybook January 25, 2010

For Today...

January 25, 2010


Outside my window... icky looking skies and cooler weather.  Yuck to the first, but Yippee to the second :)  We've been having warmer weather lately, so the return to cooler is nice.  The skies preceding the cold front aren't so nice though.  It's been raining most of the day today, so we're inside :(

I am thinking...that I'm totally overwhelmed and not sure where to go from here.  But this is another post in itself.

I am thankful for...tylenol and ibuprophen.  Other wise I couldn't deal with my TMJ pain.

From the learning rooms... we started on some American History via living books.  We're working on moving from the Pilgrims to the colonies.  The Professor is enjoying it so far.  The World History and timeline programs came in recently.  Now to find the time to review them and get them set-up for use.  I also got a Teach yourself Piano program that just came in.  I need to review that too.


From the kitchen...baked chicken and pasta casserole & salad for dinner.

On weight-loss...I'm even with where I was the week before last.  Down 2.8 total.
 
I am wearing... black shorts and blue v-neck shirt.  Barefeet.  Tomorrow may be pants and long sleeves.

I am creating...trying to create order.  And a liturgical notebook.  I'm busily pulling ideas from others' blogs to create a notebook of ideas of things to do for the various feast days that we celebrate.  We haven't been very successful at doing much for them in the past, I want to do better this year.  Part of living more deliberately.

I am going...to start a Jesus tree soon!

I am reading...nothing at the moment!

I am hoping...to get some clarity soon.  I've been feeling very frustrated, and disordered lately.

I am hearing...kids complaining. 

Around the house...starting to prepare for Lent.

One of my favorite things..."eating" my baby.  He has the cutest giggle!

A few plans for the rest of the week: school, grocery shopping, a meeting to determine the intervention Velcro Boy needs for speech therapy.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

The Professor reading the Atlas!

To view more daybooks, please visit Peggy!

Qualified!

We heard back from our case worker today. From the message hubby passed along...Velcro Boy qualifies for therapy by the school district. Now, what *that* means, I have no idea. She wanted to schedule an appointment to meet with us, but hubby didn't know my schedule and I was out. So...I left a message and should hear back Monday.

Speech Therapy evaluation

We first met with the case manager (Bonnie) and she looked at the paperwork and asked a few questions.   Then she did a hearing screening.   As my SIL predicted, playful, biting the bottom lip, smiley, silent Velcro Boy came out.   She turned on the machine (it makes a "tweeting" sound) and tried to get him to put up his hand when he heard it.   No cooperation.   Then she had him drop a block into a bucket when he heard it.   Took a few tries, but this worked!   And he cooperated.   They practiced for a bit with the headphones off to get him used to it.   Then she put the headphones on.   He did fine on the test, and passed.  

Then she did a vision screening.   UUGH!   She had him stand facing an eye chart with pictures rather than letters (house, umbrella and apple).   No cooperation what so ever!   Finally he cooperated under threat of my having to leave the room.   Not sure how well that would have worked...but I didn't need to go.   Vision's fine ( knew these two things already anyway!).

Off to the speech therapist's room.   Nice lady too!   She bribed good behavior with truck stickers.   She must know my boy :)   She showed him a few pictures and asked some questions and had him point to certain specific things that required some thought and differentiation.   Passed this section fine too.

Finally, she showed him a (long) series of pictures and had him name the items.   Some she needed very specific names (telephone instead of phone, etc).   She ran him though every letter sound and combo and letter position (beginning, middle, end) I could imagine.   She was making notes the whole time and it looked like she was trying to write down how he said each thing.   She came to the same conclusion that I did months ago (without   a degree or fancy paycheck) that he has articulation issues and everything else looks fine.   She has to score the test, review the results with Bonnie, and Bonnie will call in about a week to schedule to review the results with us and go over our options.

Overall it took about 40 minutes, not too bad.   During the part with the therapist, Jake was sitting in a little kid sized chair.   Boys really don't sit still well for any length of time.   He just HAD to get the chair in the exact spot that he could get it to rock back and forth!   Annoying.  

So we're probably looking at about 2 more weeks until we know something.

We have a date!

The agency that we're going through for a speech therapy evaluation for Velcro Boy finally got back to us yesterday.  Only 1 day short of 8 weeks!  There's government efficiency in action for 'ya!  Anyway...we're scheduled for Thursday morning, my MIL is coming to watch the other 2 kids.  Hopefully all will go well.  I (think) hope they decide he needs therapy, but that it's something easy to correct that won't lead us to months of work and appointments.  We have to bring "the book" that I filled out a while ago, his birth certificate, utility bills and a pint of blood (just kidding!).

Speech Therapy update

I just realized that I hadn't updated with the latest about Velcro Boy's speech therapy. I finally got in touch with the case worker (this was a while back), and there is a 6-8 week delay in scheduling the appointment for an evaluation. Then the wait on the schedule, the eval and the follow-up on that. Then 2-3 weeks to start therapy. So...this could be quite a wait to get a hopefully simple problem to resolve.

Speech Therapy update

The book interrogation  information packet is done!   It took several hours.   There was also a packet of the statutes applicable to this type of educational screening.   It is fairly age-appropriate, though not all the questions really pertained to him.   It's a social and developmental history form.   They ask the normal questions (age, name, address, who does the child live with, marital status, etc.), reason for screening, others in the household.   Medical history (prenatal, delivery details,complications), current medical information (illnesses, pediatrition).   Developmental history (motor-sit, crawl, walking, potty), language (babble, 1st words, putting them together, sentences, questions), social development (changes in lifestyle-divorce, births, etc, getting along with others, behavior problems), daycare.   Then financial info (Medicaid eligible, insurance, etc).   Then Parental observations, development as compared to other kids the same age, 3 or 4 things about your child that you consider to be strengths (things your child does well, personality traits, etc).   Any other information that you feel is important in order for us to better understand your child. I tell you, I REALLY have earned the worst parent award!   I was looking back through Velcro Boy's journal (no baby book for child #2) to answer some of the questions.   I noticed some gaps between what I noted for Velcro Boy vs. The Professor.   I knew there was a lot of things I didn't keep track of for him that I noted for The Professor.   Well, I really dropped the ball for Doodlebug.   There were a ton of things that I noted for Velcro Boy that I *know* Doodlebug has already done and I didn't note, journal or post about.  Thank God he's a boy, they don't usually look back at baby books and journals etc :)   I can't imagine a 4th or 5th child.   They would be lucky to have records of their births! :) Now to wait to hear from the case worker.