Makes sense...

Crazy three-year-old!

This afternoon we went outside to play for a bit. For J, playing means running around in circles in our front yard. The girls chose to push their "babies" in their strollers. At one point V went inside to get something to put in her hoodie pockets. Apparently, her pockets needed filling !?!

She came out with pockets bulging. In one was the play thermometer. I could see why she would want to bring that outside, since her baby was scantily clad and could get cold. Or get a fever. Maybe?

In her other pocket, she had the toilet from her doll house. When I said, "The toilet?" she said, "It fits."

Oh.

Okay.

Yeah. That makes sense.

Sort of.

:)

How's the Homeschooling Going?

Well, thanks for asking! It's going great!

I finally have chosen to believe all those veteran homeschooling moms: the best way to get started is to do one subject at a time, adding on as the teacher feels ready.

I started out (last year, was it?) with a full schedule for J and the girls. I planned for everything, from PE to music appreciation. Yeah, that lasted all of one or two days. So, I would start and stop, start and stop. It just felt all so...impossible.

Recently (last month?), I decided to pare "everything" down to one "thing" - phonics. I worked on doing phonics with J daily, right at the beginning of the girls' naptime. Reading, to me, is the most important and foundational skill a kid needs to learn. We go over one page in Phonics Pathways. It takes all of five minutes to complete. Once we got phonics down to daily, I added in math, but only Mon/Wed/Fri. This is where we currently are. I find that's it's so much more...possible...with this lighter, more realistic goal. If all goes to plan, I will begin handwriting after Christmas (third quarter) and geography, which is a pre-cursor to history, in the fourth quarter.

Also, V had asked me to start her on phonics last month. So, we're at the beginning of Phonics Pathways, working currently on the short vowel sounds. Already, I see that she learns differently. She needs the games, the books, the flashcards. J is so content and willing to do whatever, even if it's just reading through a list of words. But V needs interaction! My goal with her is to get phonics in daily.

H is working on colors. Right now, every color is purple. In fact, her baby doll is named Purple Baby. I got books on the colors yellow and blue from the library yesterday. I'm hoping to increase her palate :)

So, yes, homeschooling is going well.

Slow and steady wins the race, apparently!

Speech Therapy

J had a speech therapy evaluation last week. It went really well, if speech therapy evaluations can go well...

:)

Miss Jane is J's new therapist. Nice lady. She was surprised at how well J spoke. She had prepared one test but realized after talking with J for 2 seconds that she needed the other one, the one she uses only "once every five years or so". She couldn't find it but improvised to get "a score". J, she maintains, is the highest functioning Aspie she's met in a looooong time :)

I think it's because we sold/gave away all our TVs. (We still watch DVDs and videos on our computer, though. But only on weekends!)

J and V have recently begun communicating more together on their own. I enjoy listening to their playful chatter as they interact. Miss Jane says it's wonderful that J has a playmate like his sister and that we should continue to encourage and direct role playing to help him (and her!) learn how to handle everyday social situations.

So, since we have insurance that covers it, we're going to take J to speech therapy once a week for half an hour...for maybe six months? J just needs some help brushing up the finer points of communication :)

I guess he has a lisp, too. I never realized it, but Miss Jane's going to work on it.

If J had been born 20 years ago, Miss Jane tells me, he would've been mainstreamed, become an engineer, and been considered quirky! This is why I am coming to the belief that Asperger's is not a syndrome, but an extreme personality type (especially since I believe I'm an Aspie, too, but that's for another post).

:)

Bible Time

Hubby is in charge of family Bible time. Sometimes he'll come home after PT and we'll get a short Bible time in. But we definitely have Bible time every night before bed. Hence the heart PJs and funky hair on H.

We've been reviewing the lessons from VBS. Below is a picture of the kids learning about Peter's faith, or lack thereof, in this case. The kids are rowing out in the middle of the "sea", see the blue blanky?

They each got a turn getting out of the "boat" and walking toward Jesus (played wonderfully by the hub), "sinking", and then crying out, "Lord, save me!" It was quite humorous.



It's our hope that our kiddies remember these lessons and take to heart the truths from God's Word. I think Hubby is doing a great job laying the foundations, don't you agree?

Olive Tree Academy

Olive Tree Academy was founded in April 2004. Its former name is the Kim Family Training Institute. The new school name is taken from Psalm 128:3 - "Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table."

We hope to nurture and grow our young olive shoots into strong and fruitful trees! It's our joy and our pleasure!



Not accepting new students at this time. Our present student body consists of J, V, and H.




Notice our school uniforms. We encourage freedom of expression and easy access for potty needs.

Both our kindergartner and our pre-k'er are using Handwriting Without Tears. We also do shapes, the date, weather, numbers, and memory verses/songs together.





We are focusing alot on life skills with our pre-k'er, including making bread and cleaning up the bedroom. Life skills photos will be posted in the near future.






This is our toddler; please pardon the hair-do (or hair-undone, in this case). We are currently learning first-time obedience and potty training.







Our classroom supplies and books are kept here near our workstation (aka the kitchen table). We have a binder where we keep all the verses we are memorizing; our math curriculum (Right Start Math); Phonics Pathways; a listening skills book; an Usborne animals book and Eric Carle's Animals, Animals. We also have coloring books and a lined-pages workbook for copywork.

Moon sand, it was discovered by this teacher, is horrendous to clean up and has therefore been relegated to the babylocked part of the cabinet until students gain maturity or the teacher gains confidence.






The play area includes a kitchen put together in 2 hours by this teacher BY HERSELF while the students were making impossible-to-clean-up "snow" with the styrofoam from the packaging, baby furniture and babies, a table and pretty, shiny, spray-painted purple stools.










The school library is stocked with quality literature on easy-to-access shelves for the little students. Story time takes place daily in the one-on-one tutoring center (aka the couch).










Our kindergartner loves his abacus. In this photo J is learning how to make numbers on the abacus. We also enjoy tally sticks and singing "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe".












Physical education is an important part of our curriculum and encouraged in a variety of ways. Besides climbing on, jumping off, and walking between couches, we go to the park, play with the water table on the deck, dance to John Waller, and jump on the spare bed.

We hope you enjoyed this first tour of the Olive Tree Academy, located in lovely TN!

J's Diagnosis

(I picked this picture in spite of the dirt that he enjoyed throwing all over his head, not because of it :) )
It's official - Asperger's, a mild form of autism characterized by social awkwardness and obsessive interests (sea creatures, in J's case). It's a relief to know, on many levels.

We need to see the developmental pediatrician on post to get enrolled in EFMP (Exceptional Family Members Program). We need to call the local school system about a full evaluation, though I don't know how that all works with homeschooling.

I talked with a long-time friend of mine who is a pediatric occupational therapist. She works mostly with autistic children and reminded me of several things:

1. God knows what He's doing and has great plans for J.
2. Hubby and I are Judah's best teachers and therapists since we know him best and love him most.
3. Good therapists will be a great help in showing us issues we don't see and giving us strategies to help him overcome obstacles.

It's not hard or overwhelming to think about these things, just different. We're ready and willing to do whatever it takes to give J a good education (spiritually, academically, socially, etc) and the same shot in life we're going to give his younger sisters. It's not going to be bad or burdensome, this new journey, just different...and very, very rewarding, I have the feeling.

Sooooo....here we go!

Moving Sale!

We are having a huge moving sale tomorrow, as long as the rain falls after 12pm!

For sale items include:

2 TVs
1 VCR
all kiddie VHS
My First Leap Pad
Hubby's beloved Playstation, plus games
J's beloved Gameboy, plus games
all electronic/battery-operated kid toys (except "musical" instruments or vehicles)

We're selling lots of other stuff, too, but this decision to sell most of our electronic entertainment things is HUGE!

I really don't want to give up my free babysitters, but I know it's best for my kids...I've known for a while. Don't get me wrong, we've tried many times to wean ourselves off electronics, but it's just too easy to put a video on when I'm getting dinner ready and the kids are bored! I don't think it's bad to have kids watch one or two educational videos daily, but I can't do just one. Incidently, I also can't eat just one potato chip. Curse my sanguine tendencies!

But the decision to get rid of most electronics (we're keeping our portable DVD player and DVDs for the ridiculous drives we make to see family) was finalized when we took J to the psychologist on Tuesday.

Together Hubby and I decided that TV is bad for all kids, but it's worse for kids who (might) have autism or sensory processing issues.

We're going to replace the electronic toys with a nice play kitchen I hope to purchase with the money made at the sale. I'm also scouring our local yard sale website for cheap, creative play toys.

It's best for our kids. It'll work! We'll make it work...

Please pass the Motrin.

Where You Been, Girl?

I don't know why I haven't written anything in a while...but here I am again!


The moms' group I started attending at church put up a blog to record thoughts and continue our discussions...AWESOME! Thanks, Cayla!

Reminded me to re-start my blog.

Hmmm, why do people start and stop blogging? Okay, why do I do that?

Well, sometimes I get busy and don't take the time...sometimes there is so much going on that trying to focus on one or two events/issues/thoughts is difficult...sometimes I feel that nothing new is going on (in my life or in my brain!)...sometimes I compare myself to others and lose, everytime...and then, sometimes I experience something that I want to share, and I come to the conclusion that blogging is the way to share, or a friend starts a new blog and I get inspired again!

Anywho, enough of that...

We, as a family, are in a transition period...potentially quite stressful.

We're in the process of getting J evaluated for autism and related disorders; we're getting ready to move (though we still don't know where or when, not that I am complaining, I don't mind short notices...maybe that's why things always take me by surprise!), We've registered with our umbrella school for K, so there's no turning back on homeschooling, though we would never dream of that.

And Hubby just told me yesterday H's birthday is in less than two weeks?

HUH?

What? We have to plan a yard sale and a birthday party?

Yikes!

CAR Starts with C

This morning J was writing on his magnadoodle, like he loves to do, and informed me he had written "car". I looked excitedly over at the word and laughed out loud. He had written "COUNTRY", as in Town & Country!!! I thought that was hilarious! Unfortunately, he had erased it by the time I got the camera...I need to keep that thing in a more accessible spot!

We love our Town & Country, by the way, even though it's in the body shop right now as I type, getting some expected and unexpected repairs done on it. The passenger side window's motor died at the end of last week, and we have been driving around with a garbage bag duct-taped to the window! It was fun the first day, you know, a novelty? It was like riding in a helicopter. You could just picture the rotors moving faster and faster as we went from 0 to 60 on 41-A. By the end of the weekend, however, we were ready to take it in!

Way back when we bought it, we named our 2001 silver van Mini-Mobi, as in mini-mobile-home. We've put a lot of miles on our dear vehicle, even though she came to us with over 100,000! She's a good van and responds well to positive encouragement, like "go, Mini-Mobi, you can make it up the slippery slope of Grandma's driveway without snow tires! You go, girl!!!" And up she goes!

Here's a mini photo of Mini-Mobi (I imported this photo from Snapfish; I don't know why I can't make it bigger):

V's 3yr Doctor Visit

All five of us went to the new pediatrician's office yesterday for V's 3yr well-child check-up. Our appt was for 10:15am; we left the office around noon. but long wait aside, it was a great visit!

For J, there was this huge fish tank filled with pink fish that kissed each other and striped fish that dug holes.

For H, there were people to see, corridors to explore (and to be extracted from) and a video to watch.

For V, there was the anticipation of seeing the doctor!!!

She was really excited about going to the doctor's, probably because we borrowed The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor's from the library. She was a little nervous about getting a "shock", but I wasn't even sure she needed one. Indeed, she did - her Hep A booster. But she took it like a champ and got a princess sticker out of the deal!

V is in the 10th percentile for weight and height, which, as the doctor said, is not a big deal because "someone has to be there" and it's not like V has "giants for parents".

:)

I watched her sit trustingly and contentedly on the examining table, swinging her baby legs to a tune in her head and allowing the aide and doctor do whatever they needed to do. My pre-school-aged daughter didn't need Mommy right there, holding her hand, even if she did need me "close by". It felt like she took a miniscule step toward independence - a healthy, necessary part of growing up. It was a bittersweet moment.

Training Time

I've been slacking on our training times, but picked it back up again this morning.

Today I focused on manners with J and V. I gave each a plate with 5 goldfish crackers, 5 chocolate chips, and 5 raisins on it. They sat across from each other at the coffee table. They took turns asking each other for a treat. It was supposed to go something like this:

J: May I have a goldfish, please?
V: Yes, you may!
J holds out his hand.
V gives him the treat.
J: Thank you.
V: You're welcome.

And we did it until all their treats were gone (20-30 minutes).

I had to remind them about each line and action, but I'm not disappointed. It's just something we'll work on for the next week!

I'm glad the kids have each other to practice manners on!

With H, I worked on obeying the simple command: come here.

She did okay, but I'm seeing the need for consistent training and follow-up with her! She's in that very impressionable age (1 1/2), perfect for training!

I set her down somewhere in the living room with a toy and went into the kitchen area. I called her and made eye contact with her, holding out my arms. She came sometimes, with a huge happy grin on her face, which, of course, made me smile. And sometimes, she did an about-face and toddled off in the opposite direction. She's still in that cute-waddling stage, so I giggled as she wandered off, but still went after her, brought her back to the toy and called her again. We did this for about 10 minutes.

Even though the kids didn't do the tasks perfectly, it was good to focus on these skills for the short time we did today. It's an investment in their futures. Thank You, Lord, for my children!

Missed the Boat; Taking the Ferry

Well, I never did get out the Christmas letter/card and traditional family photo! Oops.

So, yesterday morning, I dressed the kids up and took pics of them to get on a Valentine's card. I put the pics on Snapfish and picked up my completed photo cards by 11am at Walgreens! I love online and one-hour photo services!!!

Here are some pics that didn't make the cut:

I thought it'd be cool if the action shot would work out. It didn't. Still cute, though!

For obvious reasons, I did not choose this photo.

Isn't this a darling photo? We borrowed The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight from the library last night, but from this photo, it's hard to imagine why we'd need to read it! If you were here 24/7, though, you'd see why.

:)

And here are the photos that made it on the card:

What, Where, When?

We'll be moving after 5 good years in Tennessee. I'm excited for the move, but it is such a weird feeling not knowing what my husband's new job will be (cross-training), where we will be moving or when.

Even though we don't have a set time-frame, I'm working on decluttering and reorganizing the house, so that when we do have to put it up for sale, it'll be (more) ready to show.

Something I've realized about the kids' toys: they just empty the toy boxes (esp. J) for no reason and make huge messes on the floor. It is super annoying to have to pick up block upon block and lego upon lego. It's even more annoying to train and supervise the kids to do it! The worst part is that they don't even play with the blocks or legos. They just use them to make messes! If the toys were being used in a creative fashion in play, then the messes would be tolerated and training the kids to pick them up would be less annoying. But since they are not used, I find no reason why not to store them in a bin when not in use. That way, if the kids want to make messes, at least it will be with toys they play with!!! I've already stored away the puzzles (pieces, pieces, everywhere!) and books that are for when they are older.

I will still get the blocks/legos or puzzles out when we all want to play with them and then I'll make sure we all help clean up. But for unsupervised play, they'll be out of sight, out of mind.

In this way, I'm decluttering/reorganizing and I'm saving a wee bit of sanity (which will be sorely needed coming moving time, I'm sure!)

Back to thoughts on the move: I've begun to think about not only the how's and what's of moving, but also about closure. My friendships will change, not end, necessarily, just change; I've seen this already with friends who've moved before us. I want to take time with my friends to think through what we've experienced together, what we've learned from one another, etc.

Also, I want to remember all the events that took place while here and consider the significance of each. Where does this time in Tennnessee fit in the timeline of my life?

What was God teaching me through these times? Did I learn? Did I grow? How?

Closure not only includes considering the past, but also looking forward to the future. What do I expect things to be like in our new place? What are my goals? Have they changed at all?

I don't think closure is a process that ends when we leave Tennessee; I think it continues for a while (it took me a few years to make closure on our time in Korea)...but it all starts now.

Exciting, huh?

V is Three

This was the first kid birthday we didn't celebrate with a huge party with five thousand of our best friends. I had a baby shower to help coordinate and attend 4 days after getting back from NY. V's birthday was 2 days later. So, no party. But it was a precious family time, for sure.

V was tickled pink by her birthday cupcakes with sprinkles!!! She also enjoyed the strawberries we bought at the commissary earlier that evening.

The whole evening was relaxed and fun. Is there any kind of evening that can't be bettered by family, chocolate cupcakes, and a video camera?

V received a Peter Rabbit book, which I got on clearance; a Disney princess camera that had those little movie still frames (or whatever you call them) when you looked in it, which I got for free from a friend having a yard sale; and an aquarium purse, with wee sea creatures inside, which we bought at the aquarium in South Carolina.

She was pleased as punch with her three little gifts and carried them everywhere for the next week. It's amazing how happy children are, even (especially?) in the absence of excess.

V, my firstborn girl, my drama queen...articulate, surprisingly gentle and kind (at unexpected times), a beautiful little girl.

I'm so thankful for her!

Christmas in Northern New York

Highlights of Christmas

(I believe they are okay to recount until the end of January; after that, I would've missed the boat.)

1. V called my mom "my mom" or "mom-mom". This is because I told her that grandma is my mom. It was the cutest thing ever!






2. H learned to navigate stairs and it was (of course) very difficult to keep her away from them. (We don't have stairs in our house.) Also, she was intensely interested in the cats and would pursue them even after being swiped by them.







3. J loves to go to Grandma's house because she makes waffles with butter. He also likes her home-made bread with butter. Any complex carb with butter is appreciated, in fact!!!



(No pic, bummer!)


4. We had a visit by my dear friend and her hubby. I call her Master Chef because she directed all us sous-chefs in making a delicious Korean meal. More friends from our time in Korea joined us for the meal.





5. My sis and her boyfriend came to visit, too! He made an absolutely delightful buche de noel. We used it as a birthday cake for Grandma, V, and Grandpa, all with January birthdays!





6. and, of course, there was the playing in snow!!!






7. Then there was the flight back home with the girls...another story completely...ha!!!



Hope your Christmasses were just as bright!!!