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.