Jack-Jack is AMAZING!

Jack is just 5 years old and has "learning disabilities", for lack of a better term. I hate comparing him and try not to, but he is just not your typical 5yo boy. He has a genetic duplication that has caused delays, the most obvious being speech, so most everything has been a challenge for him.....well, if I were to push him to "keep up" with other kids his age, then it would be a challenge. I don't do that, I let him be himself.

The other day he wanted to draw. He has really been into drawing for about a year now, and I must say, he is pretty good at it! He amazes me with pictures of dinosaurs, choo-choo trains, airplanes, etc.....all the typical interests of a little boy.

He also likes to "draw" the letters of the alphabet! And I know for him it really is drawing, not writing, as with most kids his age. He doesn't draw numbers very often, but he likes them too.

So the other day, he wrote drew a "P" on the back of an envelope, then he asked me how to spell my name.

To my surprise, he drew every letter correctly! Then he asked how to spell Jonathan's name, and he did really well with that one too! So I got out a piece of paper (since he was really enjoying this) and had him draw the entire alphabet as I gave him one letter at a time. Then we did the numbers.

Mind you, he has had little to no formal training on how to write/draw, this is something he just enjoys and has picked up completely on his own. I guess he just has a knack for drawing!

You can see in the photo that I wrote some numbers on the side to help him know what they look like (mine are circled), and on the envelope, the "N" at the bottom left is also mine. Everything else is his. He started turning letters upside down in the 2nd half of the alphabet. I thought this was interesting since he ALWAYS "reads" books upside down. I don't know what that means though! I know his little brain just works differently, but is this a sign of a "problem" that can be corrected, or should it just be considered normal???  None of my other children have done this! I don't normally worry about it though, I just turn the book around for him and he happily continues to read. :)

So when he was drawing the alphabet the other day. I really tried not to interfere because I wanted to see how he drew them all on his own. I had to show him what a few of them looked like, but otherwise I didn't correct him when he drew one upside down or backwards. He did great! I'm proud of my little man! :)

Jack is about to start speech again this week, probably twice a week. We're hoping it helps, and I'm sure it will some, but we are also working more on sign language so that he can more easily communicate with us. He is getting frustrated when we can't understand him. His vocabulary is getting really big, but he still sounds like a 2-year-old. In fact, his 20-month-old brother sounds very much like him!

Jack-Jack is also about to start horse riding therapy! We are so excited about this, especially since they are only about a mile down the road from us! He still has weaker muscles than most kids his age and still often trips or falls. This therapy riding should strengthen his muscles and improve his balance, so I cannot wait to see how he likes it and how much it helps him!

Transition phase, part 2

So I am trying to decide which direction to go in regards to curriculum, if I even follow any. My over all philosophy is TJEd, and I also love the Charlotte Mason philosophy. As far as curriculum, I am really LOVING Heart of Wisdom, and it is all free!

My original intent a year or two ago, when I first decided it was time to do *something* a little more intentional with the kids.....something more than "just playing" since they are getting older and need more (and are playing less), was to teach exclusively (or as exclusively as possible) from the bible itself. I still intend to do that, but I am also learning, about myself, that I am not really creative when it comes to making up "lesson plans" from scratch! So now I am trying to be careful not to rely too heavily on non-bible curriculums, but to simply use them as a guide. I want to teach history straight from the bible, and hand writing will be copying down verses and passages of Scripture. We have done a lot of scrapbooking, and I think I will also incorporate some lapbooking. There are many, many numbers in the bible, so planning math lessons should come fairly easily! There is all kinds of science in the bible. I may use this site a lot for ideas!

I also have the Keepers and Contenders books for them to go through, and I am really loving them so far! They seem very biblical and practical to helping them learn how to be a good husband/wife and father/mother someday, which is something I want them to be great at! Many of the skills the boys will get from it are similar to the Scouting skills. We may just "award" them some badges for things they have already done, but some of them will be done again, depending on the particular skill and the need.

We also have bible maps as well as current maps that the kids really LOVE to look at, and we can do a lot with those as well! Geography, world missions, unit studies on certain countries, etc.

I think that covers most all of the basics. As they continue to get older, I will help them learn how to seek out information to be able to study whatever area they are interested in and help them reach their specific goals.

In addition to all of this, there are tons of free things on the internet. I do make use of them quite often, but I want to do more! There are educational games as well as an almost unlimited number of free printable materials of all kinds. And of course, any time the kids ask me some off-the-wall question, we just search the 'net and find out all kinds of fascinating information!

Whew! I do feel better now that all this is out! I just really love homeschooling. :)

Right now Jacob and Jack are playing with cars and their new bridge (some PVC trim left over from trimming the door). Jacob just drew a circle on a piece of paper and described to me that it is a racetrack and showed me where the cars drive on it (like one of those little maps in the bottome corner of a video game). He has been playing with cars and his new bridge all morning!

Jayla is still watching cooking shows. She has seen bits and pieces of some before, but this morning she has been glued to the TV like she can't get enough of it! She even told me in great detail about how to make this one particular cake. I was surprised at how much she remembered! Right now they are mashing avocadoes.....it looks like guacamole, which she hates, but she LOVES plain avocado. It is one of her favorite foods.

Jonathan is having a hard time getting along with others this morning, so I sent him to his bed for a few minutes to calm down and read. He was reading about sharks, but I think he is watching the cooking show right now (in the same room). He just asked me if we could finish his super-hero story (I just type out what he makes up), so I guess we'll do that now.

Without any formal training in spelling, grammar or handwriting, Jonathan is working on his first "official" comic book. (He has written a story before, but this one is comic book form with lots of pictures and bubbles, etc.) Super-heroes are his passion in life, apparently, that and animals of all kinds (we caught a snake today, in fact). He has created over 20 super heroes and villains. Some are still being developed and some he created a couple of years ago.

So just now, Jonathan got a quick lesson in writing. Daddy was reading his comic book and just *had* to correct him. There really weren't that many errors, but he spelled two words wrong ('arownd' and 'thru'....they look right, at least!) and was hyphenating words incorrectly. We didn't mention the misspelled words. In about 2 minutes though (maybe less), he learned about syllables and hyphenating and correctly hyphenated about 5 words! He's a quick learner, especially since we didn't push it on him but waited until he was ready! Now it will stick, and he doesn't feel horrible for doing it wrong! :)

Jonathan's first recorded original story

Jonathan wrote a story last night, without us even suggesting it. This was just something he wanted to do. I thought I'd post it here. I'll retype it exactly as he wrote it, so just keep in mind the spelling and punctuation may not be correct in some places! I had to turn the flash off to get a better picture. If you click on it to enlarge it, you can see the details really well.

ONCe UPON A TiMe THeR WAS A GEKO SOAP WAS ON A PORCH, SLIPNIG AND SLIDING WeNT The GEKO. The GeKO SLiPT OVeR TO A TORTOiSe. The GeKO THOHT He COULD BE BETTER THeN THe TORTOiSe. The CLeVeR TURTLe HAD A TRiCK UP HiS SHeLL CAN YOU SWiM He AKS The TORTOiSe, The GEKO SiAD Yes He TryED BUT The GEKO DrOWWNED AND THAT WAS The END OF The GEKO

Whew! Spell check is going to have a hay day with this one! LOL!