Old Salem

We headed to Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC today. It is an old Moravian settlement. The weather was pretty icky with lots of rain but we still had a nice time. The price was right as each fall they put on a Homeschool Day with reduced rates.

A sample of Vogler House. I love sleigh beds.

The kids enjoyed some of the activities. Right here they are making what I think was called a Fraktur. It is basically a label for a book. It states who did the book. After they make the label, they went to another area to make the actual book. Folded papers punched with an awl and then linen string was used to bind them. The third portion was going to the last area where they used a quill pen to write in their book. These books were used as journals or diaries.

They had outside activities too. I don't remember what this is called but it was a very common toy in the 19th century. You try to keep the wheel rolling by hitting it with the stick. Pooh had fun with this one.

Not so much with trying to get the ball in the cup. The nice thing was that he didn't get upset about not being able to do it. He handled that well. After many attempts, he just decided he was done. He tried a lot longer than I thought he would. He's just not getting the coordinating down right.

I think Tigger managed to get his in on accident. LOL Plus, his was a tiny one with a very short string. He was quite proud though.

19th century fire fighters. Hmmm, nice but I daresay the building would still be in ruins at the end. There were kids and adults standing under the spray too. If you really look, you can see that the employees are dressed in period costumes. They are like that in all the houses.

We saw some guinea hens hanging out. They started calling loudly to each other for about 30 seconds. That was pretty cool to hear. Loud, but cool.

Tigger at the entrance to the toy museum. They have a fabulous toy museum here. Antique doll houses, circus trains and animals, boats, airplanes, dolls, etc.

We also saw a 20 minute puppet show that was based on Aesop's Fables. It was really cute! The Moravian Bakery was also rewarding. Sugar cake! Mmmmmmm.

Can't wait for the next time around! There were more places we didn't get to visit this year and each year is a different 'theme'.

Penalty Chores

I know. It doesn't sound pleasant does it? To tell you the truth, I'm not crazy about the fact that I had to implement this system. But it has helped with some issues we deal with here. I really prefer to use more natural consequences. Such as: "If daily work isn't done, it has to be done in the evening." "Not eating dinner (because they don't like something) can lead to going to bed hungry." etc.

However, we deal with some things with Pooh that just drive me batty. He's a yeller. His faulty emotional regulation can lead him into some awful fits of rage. (I say awful because to me they are. I do understand that other mothers of autistic children deal with rages that are a whole lot worse.) Just this past week he had worked himself into a fit about something. He was in his room but he was just doing his deep screaming (kind of lion roaring) and banging things around. I ended up going in there and very firmly telling him to STOP. I told him what he was going to do. "You are going to stop yelling, right now! You WILL get control of yourself! You will not scream and you will not damage anything in this room." He did it. He stopped yelling. He was still angry but he stopped the raging. After a few minutes, we were then able to actually talk about the problem and come to an understanding. Sometimes that's what I have to do to break through his one track thinking.

That's kind of what the penalty chores do for him too. For a while he has angrily yelled "You're Fired!" at me, Dad and even others who anger him. I've tried talking to him about it. We discussed what it means and that it's a disrespectful thing to say. Would he want others to say it to him? There are other ways to express anger. Etc. He didn't care. I tried understanding his need to express himself. But then I just got tired of it. One day I decided that was it. Enough was enough. (This isn't the only thing he yells when he's angry, just an example.)

Now if he says it he gets a penalty chore. If he yells "I hate you!" he gets a penalty chore. Those things are now totally not an option here. As soon as I instituted the penalty chores, you could see him working on stopping what he was doing. He'd start to say it and stop himself. Something finally got through. Do I wish it was something else? Yes, but I have to go with what is working right now.

The first week we started this new program he really threw some fits. He even told me very calmly one evening, "I command you to stop giving me penalty chores." LOL So we ended up having a 15 minute chat about my responsibilities as his mom and how some other things we tried weren't working. I would make a declarative statement, he would think about it and try to come up with something easier as a punishment. He was trying to negotiate a lighter sentence. ;D I wish I could remember the whole conversation because his reasoning on some things was very interesting! After that, he said in a very dejected voice, "Fine." He did his penalty chores the next day very quickly and was fine. Some times he'll go days without anything and then there have been a couple of days where he racked up 9 chores!

We don't use the penalty chores for everything. There are plenty of other consequences that can happen for other stuff. We basically use them for out and out disobedience and disrespect. He's allowed to be upset about stuff but not to the point of causing the whole house to be topsy turvy.

Here are some things that we use as Penalty Chores:

Washing various walls.
Wash doorknobs.
Wash lightswitches.
Wash doors (inside and out)
Clean windows.
Clean mirrors.
Baseboards
Door frames
Window sills
Raking pine needles
Sweeping porches/sidewalk
Clean doors of fridge/freezer/stove
Wash cabinet doors

None of these are very complicated. It's just the doing of them that hits home. It's either a soapy washcloth or vinegar spray and cloth that does the cleaning. I don't use harsh cleaners so that isn't something I have to worry about.

Yes, Tigger does get in on the action. He's a little spitfire and his mouth can get him into real trouble. He's done his share of wall washing. I think they must get the yelling from the King's side of the family. It CAN'T be from mine. ;D Really, though, some of Pooh's behavior has rubbed off onto Tigger. I do have a hard time knowing where to draw the line with Pooh's autistic acting out and just plain 'this isn't acceptable' behavior. Where does the autism end and the just plain being bratty begin?

I'll go with this system for as long as it works. I do have to say that we have had more conversations this summer about behavior and ways to do things than we ever did before. Not sure if it's the system, a maturing process or what. But I'm not going to change anything until I need to! Don't want to rock the boat.

Economics 101

Pooh is trying to convince Tigger to pool their money so he can buy a
George Washington hat tomorrow on our field trip. Evidently, Pooh has
had this in mind since last year when we went on this same trip. If I
remember correctly, the hat was expensive. I think it was $40. I'm
sooo not going to let them spend $40 on a hat. This conversation
started yesterday when I let Pooh know he didn't have enough money to
buy it himself. He wasn't happy.

This is the conversation we had today discussing it.

First I talked with Pooh about how he didn't have enough money to buy
the hat. Again. That he needs to save money for other things too.
There are other trips coming up and he also needs to set aside money for
donations. Later I heard them in the kitchen collaborating on how they
were going to work things out.

Pooh: Hey Mommy! We got it! Look, here's $20 (2 tens) plus $5 is $25.
(Now pointing to Tigger's money) $5 more is $30 and then another two $5
is ten and that makes $40! We can buy the hat!
I watch as they discuss the fact that they can share it (yeah, right).
I mentioned to them that it might be hard to share.
Pooh: But I shared that other hat, the one we got at Disney.
Me: You mean the pirate hat?
Pooh: Yeah.
Me: Well, that one wasn't $40! Besides, Tigger is going to have to
give at least two more dollars for taxes. You'll have to give the
cashier ALL this money, plus $2 more dollars.
Pooh: Don't you pay the taxes, Mommy?
Me: We all have to pay taxes when we buy stuff.
Pooh: Oh.
Tigger: (Isn't so sure he wants to give up more money.) I don't know,
Pooh. Then we won't have any money left at all!
Pooh: Maybe Gramma can send us another check and then I'll have money.
Me: Nooooo, we don't ask people for $$. Money is a gift.
Pooh: I know! We can sell something so people can buy it. Like
lemonade.
Me: Where are you going to sell it?
Pooh: Here-to people that pass by.
Me: Well, that's something people do in the summer. It's not hot
enough for lemonade now.
Tigger: Well, I know! We can sell soda or maybe some wine.
Me: You can't sell wine! (That was yelled with emphasis. LOL)
Tigger: I know. We can make model boats. You know, like Daddy made me
that boat, the catamaran.
Me: Oh no, if this is your business, then it's something you have to
make, not me and daddy.
Tigger: Well, we could get some of the yard sale stuff and put it on a
table.
Me: Nope, that yard sale stuff is for the homeschool group. So you
guys get free field trips.
Pooh & Tigger together: Oooohhhhhh
Pooh: How about Star trek pictures? I can write stories. There are
lots of trekkies out there.
Me: That's true
Pooh: I like to write.
Me: That's fine, but you'll have to do a lot of them. You can only
charge $1 per book.
Pooh: Well, I'll just do it when I don't have any money.
Tigger: Soo, how are we gonna do the books?
M: You have to use blank paper--not the lined paper and you CAN'T do it
today. You have chores to do and other stuff.

In the end I continued our conversation so that Pooh understood that
tomorrow we can see how much the hat is and if it's more than he has, we
can look online and buy one cheaper. We saw one yesterday similar to
what he wants and they called it a Napoleon hat. He loves Napoleon too
so that wasn't a problem at all.

Off my groove for the day--Grape Harvest

Yesterday evening I finally got around to harvesting the grapes from my back fence. I should have done this about 2 weeks ago, but with our camping trip and all it just didn't happen.

I started by bringing a big soup pot out there to collect them with. Then after I cut about 5-6 bunches realized that I was going to need something a lot bigger. I grabbed an empty 5 gallon bucket. Within 5 minutes that was getting close to being full. The Latin King came to help and bring more buckets.

We ended up with three 5 gallon buckets of grapes! I couldn't believe it! That's my biggest harvest ever!

I bought these little grape vines at Lowes. I think they were mislabeled because they all have seeds in them, even though I KNOW some of the tags said seedless. Therefore, even though they have a good taste, the boys won't eat them. They are seed phobic, especially Pooh who doesn't eat strawberries because of the seeds on the outside.

What am I going to do with all those grapes? Whatever I do has to be fairly easy and uncomplicated since I'm really not into details. My brain stops functioning when the process is too complicated. So, last night I processed one bucket into glass jars for cordial. Very easy. I just smoosh the grapes (either with hand or masher), fill into jars, add Vodka, top them and sit them on my counter. Then for about 2 weeks (or until I get around to the next step) I'll turn the bottle over to give a little shake each day (or when I remember). After two weeks you strain out the juice, add some sugar to it and put it back into clean jars to sit for at least two months. I usually let mine sit until winter and then will break open a jar on a cold winter evening for a nice little glass of grape cordial. So good and so easy!

Something new I'd like to try this year is to make grape jam/jelly. I have a juicer and I read about juicing the grapes (seeds, stems and all some say--but I think I'm leaving out the stems) and then making the jam/jelly. I don't think this will turn out like regular jelly because 1. my grapes are white and 2. juicing them will probably make it a little thicker (I don't have much patience for cheesecloth). I'm going to try it and see how it works. At the very least I can freeze the juice for drinks throughout the year and/or making fruit leathers with my dehydrator.

So I'll be off my schooling groove for the day as I process 10 more gallons of grapes. Better get to it!

Our School Day

Yesterday was like something out of the twilight zone. Granted, we started school around lunch time which didn't really stress me. But we didn't get done until 5:30!!!! What the ???? I have no idea what happened. I know we had a few interruptions (yard sale drop offs and phone calls), but still...

I've been organizing some still in the school room. I had to move some stuff around due to setting up the boys' work a bit differently (I'm testing out an extremely modified workbox system--more on that another day.) I had to transfer my school binder stuff into a new binder because mine was starting to crack under the pressure of all the papers. LOL I did that part in front of the tv last night where I had to chill for a while before I could even think about talking to anybody again. Thankfully, I had dinner cooking away since the morning and it was done when hubby came home. We have 3 qts of leftover soup in the fridge for FFYN (fend for yourself night). I cook in spurts.

Today went sooooo much better. The boys had their daily work in totes, their weekly work and their work with mom. Yesterday, I started with work with mom and went to daily, then weekly. Today I made them start with their daily stuff (I still supervise), then their weekly, then after lunch we did about an hour of stuff together. MUCH, MUCH smoother. We'll see tomorrow if it was just the day or if it was the method. I'm hoping for the method.

Another thing I did was have the morning snack and lunch ready before we started school. I had cut up broccoli with veggie dip on the table and had cooked mac n cheese (one dairy, one non-dairy) for lunch. I also had my winter squash cut up and baking in the oven to soften during the morning time. I managed to wash and fold 3 loads of laundry before lunch too. Whew! I know what we're having for dinner and I even started soaking beans for the dinner we'll have this weekend.

I guess I should divulge how seasonally motivated I am. This week the temps dropped into the upper sixties and lower seventies so I feel like cooking all day. I'll go for a while like that and then suddenly will switch to the 'be happy if I make you a sandwich' mode. It's sooo weird. You could say I'm inconsistent with all areas in my life. I prefer to see it as a seasonal disorder. :D As soon as spring hits, I start planting anything and everything I get my hands on.

My poor family. They never know who they're waking up to in the morning! Some days I'm so sluggish I can't stand it and other days I'm the Energizer Bunny barking out orders left and right.

Anyway, this post is turning into something of a hodge podge post, isn't it???

In the words of the Spaniard from The Princess Bride: "Let me splain. No, no. Let me sum up."

Wednesday bad. Thursday good. Organizing. Cooking. Off to garden. The end.

Bees. Again

It all started last summer. My Latin King had taken the boys into the woods with their axes and machetes to go exploring. A little while later the boys came running back into the house yelling. Pooh had hit a yellow jacket nest with his axe and gotten stung about 6 times. He handled it all really well, but ever since then he's been somewhat afraid of bees.

Then he got stung this summer by a honeybee he stepped on.

Then it was Tigger's turn. Evidently, when he was playing with his soccer ball on the patio the ball hit a wood ramp they use for their bikes. There was a wasp nest under there. Tigger told me that something on his stomach hurt and when I looked, there was evidence of a sting.

Ever since then, Tigger has been terrified to go outside by himself. Last week he had the responsibility of feeding the dog and rabbit and he was too scared to do it. Either Pooh or I had to be standing at the door telling him to keep going because he would see something flying around and get freaked out.

I'm not super sympathetic. I don't want to nourish the fear. I just explain they aren't after him, but after the honey (or whatever-depends on the insect). "Are they attacking you?" No. "Well, then just keep going. They won't bother you if you don't bother them. The only reason the wasp stung you is because he thought you were attacking his nest." So far the reasoning hasn't made much of an impression.

Tigger used to have nightmares about spiders. They have changed to being about bees. He woke up several nights yelling about them. Poor thing. I am a LITTLE sympathetic. :D

A couple of nights ago, Tigger is heading to his room when he says: "I think I saw a bee in the house." Me yelling from my room: "There's no bee in the house!" Me adding: "Besides, if a bee got in your room, the monster would eat him!"

Nope, not expecting that Mother of the Year Award any time soon.

He hasn't had any nightmares since then.

West Virginia Camping-Part 3

One of the days, the boys and I took off to Beckeley. Pooh wanted to see some kind of museum. That's his thing. I looked and found an Exhibition Coal Mine right in Beckeley. We were able to go on an underground tour of the mine.

Here the boys are on the little train cars that you ride into the mine. You stay on these the whole time and there are little places the guide will stop and show you interesting memorabilia. They are wearing jackets because it's always about 58F in the mine. Pretty chilly for a summer day.

Here's our guide. He was a coal miner for 39 years. One of the ladies in another car asked him if he had health problems. He gave an emphatic yes! He has a bad knee and lung issues. He said he figured if he stopped moving he'd die so he keeps moving.

We saw a 1 ton car that was used in this mine and a 2 ton car that was for show. Tigger really enjoyed when the guide showed us the various forms of lighting the miners used over the years. One of them almost seems like magic. You have to do a little movement with your hand, you hear a loud POP! and the light comes on. He gave a lot of little facts that showed how the 'company' owned you when you mined. You shopped at the 'company' store. You were given 'company' money. Most of the old timey miners never had real money, just company money. It's very sad.

Although, the same type of thing can happen nowadays, just in a different form. Enron anyone? Greed, pure and simple.


Another cool thing is the old buildings they had around the mine. They had the Superintendent's house and Schoolroom. All you Charlotte Mason lovers would die at the old books they had in there. Mostly books from the late 1800's and early 1900's.

There was also an older homestead. Here are the boys in the one room school house built in the 1830's. They are using feather pens to write their names. The tour guide told them how the kids had to do all their lessons with these feather pens. Tedious work! The liquid is made from Elderberries which I thought was interesting. That's the main ingredient in Sambucol--a product many take during the winter to boost their immune system.

After one try, Tigger managed to get all three wooden pieces moving at the same time on the little whirligig they had there! Determined and talented!! :D

In the house, she told them to go upstairs and look at the floor. Bear skin rug!

And, finally, don't they look like they've worked in a coal mine all day? LOL

Never a serious picture in this family.

By the way, if I were to recommend a time to go, it would be fall. The leaves would be beautiful and according to our coal mine guide, it's less wet in the fall. The mine was very wet and drippy. I think there was a part he couldn't take us to in there because of the water puddles.

And that's it for the West Virginia trip! Hope you enjoyed touring with us!

West Virginia Camping-Part 2

There were two waterfall areas that you can either walk or drive to. The first one we walked to and not too far from the creek area, we saw all these butterflies drinking. They are just so neat!

Here are my monkeys having fun in the icy cold water. I don't know how they do it! I got my feet wet but that's as far as I went.

This is the second waterfall area. This looked like a waterslide to Tigger so he went for it. (I think it reminded him of the Goonies movie. ;D)

The little booger kept trying to jump from one ledge to the other. Made me nervous! I love the look of pure joy on his face!

Pooh wasn't sure he wanted to get wet again. He knew they were running out of clothes. I ended up doing a load of wash at the campground. I would have let the clothes just dry in the sun, but it wouldn't stay sunny and dry long enough for anything to get completely done. Next time I'm remembering to bring some detergent and quarters for the machines.

The world of opposites in a photo...Pooh and Tigger.

Wouldn't you love this in your backyard? I know I would! It all renewed my desire to get out into nature more!

West Virginia Camping-Part 1

We joined up with several families we know to head to West Virginia for a camping trip. We were in the area between Princeton and Beckley. The camp is called Camp Creek which is also a state park. Beautiful country!!! Although, I do believe WV should be called 'Wild, WET, and Wonderful'. It rained a portion of every day.

The Latin King wasn't able to go with us, so it was just the boys and me. Setting up the tent was an event. First we had to wait till it stopped raining. Then trying to give directions in a nice voice while one is yelling "I can't do it!" and the other is asking "What do I do? What do I do?" makes for memorable family times. Once we got the main frame together though, it was smoother sailing. Those main poles are a bear for Pooh. He can't quite grasp the pushing up to bend, then insert into pin concept. It takes him few tries and he gets frustrated quickly. It's a learning experience. After the tent was up, I sent them to play so I could take care of the rest in peace. LOL

Here's Pooh enjoying a relaxing first night by the campfire. He's got soda and probably some form of snack. He's happy.

A big joy for Tigger was catching wildlife. The creek that runs all around the camp was full of crawdads. Tigger also told me about a 'water lizard' he saw but couldn't catch. When we got home we looked it up in our book and discovered it was a Marbled Salamander. Cool! This little guy in the picture with Tigger is a sub-adult Eastern Newt. His color was an amazing bright orange. I had never seen one before. I had to make Tigger let him go because all he wanted to do was hold him. A neighbor camper's daughter found a baby ringneck snake that she carried around the campground. With prompting from her mother, she let the other kids take a turn holding it. I didn't have my camera then. Darn!

There were lots of wildflowers around. These are what I had seen referred to as Joe-Pye Weed but are also known as Trumpetweed in my wildflower book.

There were tons of Spotted Touch Me Nots around.

Here's Pooh exploring the creek. He's probably engaged in his favorite activity of floating leaf boats down the stream and watching them as they go. His goal is to see how far they can go. He doesn't like them to crash or get stuck.

School Has Begun

We started doing a 'light' school this week. I was going to wait until the 31st but got impatient for getting the feel of it. I wanted to go ahead and start so I could then start working out the kinks. I really would like for the boys to be more focused and to be a little bit more independent with some things. They need to learn to move from one thing to the next without me telling them several times what to do.

I've looked at the new fad 'Workboxes' and while I don't necessarily wish for the extensive layout that goes into the system as designed, I do like how it seems to make the day flow a little better. That's what we need here, a better flow.

I had thought about doing some type of system similar to chore cards to have them move from one subject to the next, but I think what I'm in the process of setting up will be better. I'll take pictures eventually. Basically, they each will have a 7 drawer craft cart where their work will be stored. They will be working on the drawers systematically after we do our morning work together.

Our morning work consists of prayer, daily text, poems, recitation, spanish, spiritual reading and some math instruction. After that they will have boxes with books to narrate, copywork, phonics, calendar work, mapwork, etc.

What I've been doing so far is using a wipe off board for each of them and writing their assignments for the day. They like checking them off, so I think they'll like completing these boxes too. Formally they've each had one bin that all books, papers, math, etc go in. The bins are difficult to keep neat and organized as they are moving from one thing to the next. The drawers will keep their stuff a bit neater. And I can put a pencil in each box if I need to instead of hearing "What did I do with my pencil?" That's the hope anyway. LOL

With both of them needing a lot of time with mom, I'm hoping to streamline it so that one can be doing some independent stuff while the other is getting help.

I'm really sleepy so I hope this made sense. Once I get the whole thing under way, more details and photos will come.

New TV Rules

First I'll explain what we've tried before.

1. I've tried the 'get all work done first' bit. That led to Pooh hurrying through things without paying attention to what he was doing. He would fuss/tantrum about having to do 'something else' because that meant tv time would be delayed.

2. I've tried the 'each boy picks one show to watch each day' bit. Somehow this just always morphed into more than I bargained for. Next thing I knew the tv time would be way up again.

3. We've done tv-free weeks where the boys just knew that there would be no tv until a certain day. That went well.

I really wanted to cut out the daily bargaining for tv. I didn't want to have the tv conversations each and every day. I didn't want to wonder if I was getting compliance/obedience simply for tv purposes. I wanted them to have to think about doing other things with their free time rather than thinking about which movie they would watch next.

So my big idea was (drumroll please)...

No TV Monday through Thursdays each and every week. They are allowed to watch a total of 4 movies (they each pick two) from Friday to Saturday. They choose the order and number each day. If they decide to watch 2 movies Friday night, that only leaves one for Saturday and Sunday. They can also watch them Friday and Saturday and skip Sunday all together. That's up to them.

Amazingly, after the initial shock, the kids haven't really argued with it at all. They just accept the tv vs no tv days. Pooh even reminds Tigger with a "Noooo, it's a no tv day!" When we went camping recently, we brought our dvd player in case of torrential rain. There weren't any arguments about watching anything. On Friday night, we stayed up a little late by the fire and the boys watched Tom and Jerry on the player. That was one--the beginning of the countdown for the weekend.

I think it helps that mom and dad follow that rule most of the time too. Mom and Dad have/had tv issues themselves! (hangs head in shame) I really get sucked into crime shows. And some reality shows (American Idol!). Most of the time the tv never gets turned on during the no tv days. Now that doesn't mean that mom and dad can't watch a show here and there or the news. If I don't get any tv during the weekend, I may slip a show in on Monday or something. However, I don't even like turning it on because it sucks me in. I've always been like that. My mom used to comment on how I could tune out the world when the tv was on. With the news, I just check an online channel for the big updates and a couple times a week I'll catch the local news on the tv (especially if it's weather related).

As far as what we watch, the boys usually pick their movies from the library (FREE!) and I have my standing time slot for Masterpiece Theater. I've considered getting Netflix for variety, educational stuff and up to date movies for mom and dad, but just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I just can't decide on that for sure.

We're very happy with this set up. We're all watching less tv. The boys are finding other things to do with their time. There aren't any arguments over what is watched and when. No haggling. Chores are done regardless of tv time. In this aspect, things have relaxed and become a bit more peaceful. The boys can make decisions for themselves withing the framework we've set, allowing them the opportunity to make adjustments, respect each other's choices and live with the consequences of their choices.

It's very interesting to have Pooh come to me telling me how he's arranged to watch his movies for the weekend. Each weekend there are differences. He'll tell me "Ok, tonight I'll watch two movies and then one on Saturday and one on Sunday." Ok. Then the next weekend he'll watch two on Friday and come to me on Saturday and say he's getting ready to watch their 4th movie. My reply is something to the effect of "Well, that means there's no movie for Sunday." and he'll say "Yes, I know. That's ok." Or we'll discuss a couple different scenarios and he chooses what he'd like to do. Lot's of creative thinking going on! The boys even have to have discussions on whose movie comes first and how they'll arrange to fit each other's movies in on the weekend. Sometimes that requires a bit of moderation on the parents part, but mostly they work it out.

I'll even throw them a curve sometimes and let them know that during a specific time the tv is mine! Then they have to figure out if the movies they have are dvds or vhs and work around that little challenge. (They have the option of the portable dvd player.)

TV success at last!!!

Foreign Language-Spanish

I wanted to put together a list of free resources for teaching Spanish. There are a lot of links out there that lead nowhere (or to things that just don't click with me). These are things I've found interesting.

Printable Spanish Lessons/Worksheets (These look really good. I'm loving the variety. Not just the everyday numbers/colors. Includes some verb pages.)
Alphabet Coloring Pages (for the younger crowd. I like that they include an animal in spanish on each page.)
Spanish for Kids (some nice nursery rhymes to teach--also has other resources that I haven't checked out yet)
Enchanted Learning (a plethora of labeling worksheets--I don't use these too much but I may print out the ship ones for Pooh--one of his favorite subjects)
Online Free Spanish(A very useful tool! I just checked this out and I think it's great. It has audio with pictures. For instance, the one for How Is He Feeling? shows the different feelings with the word heard and read both quickly and slowly--then! they use it in a sentence like "Estoy cansado." Brilliant and free!) And here is the main page with other resources.
123 Teach Me (Beginning vocabulary categorized and spoken clearly in spanish.)

I have several other resources of my own. What I'm having trouble with is pulling it all together. How to do simple 5-10 minute sessions with the boys of things that they'll remember. I have a book that they enjoyed last year called La Tortuga Azul. It's a very pre-k type book but I tried using it to teach them some words. They can remember a word or two while we're doing it, but then forget the words once in a different situation or even from one day to the next. We also tried doing simple greetings such as "Me llamo _______." or "Como estas?" (I don't know how to show the accent marks on here.) We can practice it 3 times in a row and they forget one minute to the next.

I'm not sure if it's just lack of interest on their part or if there is something else that I could be doing. They do like these old spanish comedy shows we have on dvd about the comedian Cantinflas. Evidently, he was/is very popular in the spanish community. They have tried imitating several of the things they've heard on those dvd's. These are very silly, slapstick type humor. Fluff if you will. My Latin King loves it! LOL They learned how to say great, great, great, great, great grandfather from one of those dvd's. ;D Tigger was in here a little while ago telling me a word for thief (verifying it) that I'd never heard before. I told him to go ask Dad. (after asking dad-this was a slang way of saying thief (ratero) as opposed to the formal way I learned (ladron)).

Here is my list of books/resources that I have and yes, I know I have a lot:

Eres mi mama? P.D. Eastman board book
Pesca! Go Fish game cards
The Everything Spanish Phrase Book
Spanish on the Move for Kids-22 bilingual songs cd and booklet
El Patito Feo-2 versions-abridged
Salta y Sube by Alan Rogers
La Tortuga Azul by Alan Rogers
Corre, perro, corre -P.D. Eastman
El Sol y la Lluvia del Amazonas by Ximena de la Piedra
Yo tenia un hipopotomo by Hector Viveros Lee
Let's Sing and Learn in Spanish by Neraida Smith (very good songs)
El Canguru tiene mama? by Eric Carle
Hay un molillo en mi bolsillo! Dr Seuss
Hola, Hombre Mosca by Tedd Arnold
Ivasores Extraterrestres Lynn Huggins Cooper
Schaum's Foreign Language Course-Communicating in Spanish-Elementary Level
De Colores & Other Latin-American Folk Songs for children by Jose Luis Orozco (just a book of tunes which means I have to try to plunk away on the keyboard to see if I can figure out the tune. sigh)
Los Viajeritos Venturosos (book from 1957)
Huevos verdes con jamon Dr Seuss
Manana, Iguana by Ann Whitford Paul
Bizcocho by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Buenas Noches a Todos
La Mochila de Dora
Let's Speak Spanish-A first book of words
El Alfabeto
La gallanita roja
Chubby Books: Que color?; Vamos a comer; Vamos a jugar
Del uno al diez, cuenta otra vez board book
Spanish Vocab cards from VisEd--my grandmother owned these
Say Hola to Spanish by Susan Middleton Elya
Twin Sisters Spanish Activity book and cd
Two different translation dictionaries

So, ya know, I daresay I have enough to start. It's just knowing the best way to go about it so that they actually remember something. FYI--Several of these books I picked up recently at a Scholastic Warehouse Sale. A good resource if you have one close by.

I did have a bit of success with one book we worked on today. It's about numbers. The "Del uno al diez, cuenta otra vez" one. They were able to remember some of the numbers and a couple of the words that went with the numbers. For instance: dos changuitos and diez barquitos. I had them 'narrate' to dad when he got home. Pooh remembered how to say penguin (pinguinos). So maybe that's my answer--narrate to dad when he gets home.

Any other suggestions? Things you've tried that work? I really like free stuff. Especially since both parents know enough here to get by (well, the Latin King more than gets by LOL). Eventually, I'll need some type of course so I can teach proper sentence structure in Spanish (I wing it mainly. I learned 'on the fly' more than with books.) For now, however, I just need good, short ideas for two rambunctious boys who don't always want to learn it but are happy when they know a word. :D

Hanging Rock

Edited: Ya know, I thought I had put up some pictures of this hike but when I couldn't find them at first, I figured I had just dreamed it. (unfortunately that happens to me often) So I apologize. I just found where they were--in the exercise post! Silly Me!!!

This is the hike that started the Autism Conversation with Pooh. It's very beautiful there. But I decided my friend was trying to kill me. The hike she does all the time with no problem, had me huffing, puffing and nearly passed out by the time I got to the end. It *says* it's only one mile. I guess it is. The problem for me was that it was straight up a mountain for one mile. My calves were in revolt. My body was too. I guess I have a lot more work to do with my new habit of exercising. Yikes!

Here are Pooh and Tigger sitting in the shade once we reached the top. They, of course, had no problem climbing the mountain.

None of the boys did. Enjoying the scenery from up top.

Young man hanging over the edge of the hanging rock. Glad he's not mine. I would have have broken out in a cold sweat at seeing this if he was mine. Made me nervous enough!!!

My treat for reaching the top: Seeing a Black Vulture up close.

Barely made this photo! My settings were all wrong which is why the color is weird. Just glad I got him taking off! They sure are a lot larger looking when their wings are open!!

Explaining Autism to the Autistic

About a year to a year and a half ago, I mentioned to Pooh that he had autism. He asked "What is autism?" and my reply was something to the effect "It's when something is different about your brain that makes it hard for you to do/understand certain things." I mentioned it twice and after the second time he said: "No, I don't have autism." I left it at that.

At the beginning of August, we went with another family on a hike at a nearby mountain. While we were at the Welcome Center, I noticed another father there with his son. There were two reasons I noticed them. I heard loud, repetitive noises coming from the son, and I saw the father wearing some type of autism awareness t-shirt. Right after my noticing them, I heard Pooh say: "There's something wrong with that kid." He said it to me in a quiet way. It didn't reach the ears of said kid or parent, which I thought was significant on Pooh's part. He had enough awareness to just quietly tell me.

What an opportunity! I immediately explained to Pooh that "No, he has autism just like you do." I again got the "What's autism?" Now, my replies aren't exactly tactful. They aren't sugar coated. They just are what they are. Especially since I wasn't exactly prepared to have a 'conversation' about it. So I said "It's when something in your brain doesn't work right. For him, autism makes him make those noises. For you, it makes it hard to control your anger." Pooh accepted that.

And this was really sweet--I mentioned that I know sometimes those noises can be annoying. Pooh said, "No, they don't annoy me. I can just ignore them." Purple Puddles! as FLYLADY would say!

I know that different families have different ways of looking at Autism. Some would say it's not a disability. Some say it's just a different way of living. Some use the expression disABILITY. I'm all for looking for the positive as you'll see later in what we ended up doing. However, I want Pooh to understand that for him, it IS a disability. This is not the norm. It isn't how we're supposed to be made. This will be a challenge in his life. There are obstacles to overcome. I believe it's the first step in him seeing why he needs to work on certain things. To me it's no different than someone born without a leg or with diabetes. It's ok to say "I have a disability. I was born without a leg. These are the ways I deal with that challenge." I want Pooh to be able to say "I have autism. It makes it hard to do (fill in the blank). These are the ways I can cope/deal with that challenge." I want him to understand why it looks easy for his friends to do certain things while it's harder for him. I think acknowledgment needs to be made (if possible) for self-esteem purposes and for life in general. People with auto-immune illnesses tend to talk about wanting 'validation'. I think the same applies for understanding autism. Validate their difficulties by explaining it is a problem that has to be overcome/dealt with.

Anyway, for about a week and a half, we had a few conversations with Pooh on autism and how it affects him. The first few times he would try to remember the name of it and instead say "You know, that thing with my brain?" One time Tigger piped up, "OH! You mean Asthma!" Noooooo! It's not asthma! LOL It's Autism. "Oh yeah, autism."

We explained to Pooh that when he was little he would scream A LOT and he stopped talking. We decided to take him to the doctor and that's what the doctor told us, he has autism. He replied, "You mean I was born with it?!?" Yes, Pooh, you were born with it. That was quite a revelation to him.

We explained that autism is the reason that he wants to talk about history all the time. The reason he gets angry so much. The reason that he doesn't always understand what people are talking about.

He asked a few questions about it. He looked like he was going to cry and said he was worried his friends wouldn't like him because he had autism. We reassured him that his friends already know and that they still like him. He asked if I had it, if Dad had it, if Tigger had it. No to all of those. That bothered him a bit. I then explained that even though Tigger doesn't have autism he has a dairy allergy and he can't have cow milk. That even though Mom and Dad don't have autism, our brains make us forget stuff all the time, because we're getting old. ;D He grinned at that. We talked about how lots of people have different problems and that we (people with problems) have to learn how to deal with them.

As a family we sat and made a chart. On one side it lists Qualities and on the other Challenges. We all started by naming qualities that we liked about Pooh (he joined in). We also mentioned his challenges. At the end Tigger piped up and said "Mommy, there are more good things than bad things!" Pooh smiled, nodded yes and hugged his Dad.

Pooh has even already started using it as an excuse, much to our amazement. Reason for not listening: "That thing with my brain." After a bit of frustration on my part I say to him, "I don't understand what the deal is. You were fine all day and now all of a sudden you're all grumpy! What is the deal?!?" Pooh responds in his best teenager voice, "You know, I have auuuu-tismmmm." Choke back the laughter. I had to. :D

We've also discussed not using it as an excuse but instead working on those things that cause difficulties. Like anger, movie line quoting, etc.

We discussed our bible based hope for the future when "No resident will say 'I am sick.'" Is. 33:24. It was very comforting to him.

I consider this Phase 1 in our autism conversations. I am very satisfied with how they went. Hopefully, Phase 2 will go as smoothly.

Resilience and Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason was an amazingly deep thinker. Somehow she was able to really 'see' children. She thought of them as individuals, much to the contrary of many in her time period. These young individuals come with their own set of excellent qualities and challenges. Many children have the challenge of not having much in the way of Resilience, especially children with special needs. Pooh has autism and it is very evident that this is a difficult challenge for him.


Resilience is your typical "bounce back" from troubles quality. Most people when presented with a challenge have some type of copying mechanism that enables them to go on or continue with what they're doing or to overcome the challenge. For instance, you may be driving along and get a flat tire. What do you do? There are several options if you have resilience: change the tire yourself, call your husband, call AAA, slowly drive to a nearby gas station, etc. A person without resilience wouldn't know what to do. They may cry, scream, just sit there for hours until someone comes upon them or be scared out of their mind. Or they may have an idea of what to do but be unable to get themselves to the point of action.

Charlotte Mason wanted us to teach our children resilience. Read Charlotte Mason's Students Motto. Notice the language of the motto. "I am, I can, I ought, I will." What is this language doing? It is teaching resilience. It is giving children a mindset from which they can draw upon during the challenges they face daily.



Now read A Guide to Promoting Resilience. Notice the language there under the section Three Sources of Resilience. "I am, I can, I have." Does it blow your mind or what?!? Same stuff as Charlotte was talking about! This is one of the many reasons that a Charlotte Mason education fits so well for our family. I only wish I had discovered it and understood it's value years ago.

Here is an example of how Charlotte recommends teaching about the 'will':

Habit of Self-management.––Then, as was said before, let him know the secret of willing; let him know that, by an effort of will, he can turn his thoughts to the thing he wants to think of––his lessons, his prayers, his work, and away from the things he should not think of;––that, in fact, he can be such a brave strong little fellow, he can make himself think of what he likes; and let him try little experiments––that if he once get his thoughts right, the rest will take care of itself, he will be sure to do right then; that if he feels cross, naughty thoughts coming upon him, the plan is, to think hard about something else, something nice––his next birthday, what he means to do when he is a man. Not all this at once, of course;
(volume 1, page 328)

If your child has special needs, you could read this and think "That's nuts! How can I make my child think about something else when they're ready to have a meltdown?" I understand. Believe me. It's hard work.

In the world of RDI, you would first work on Guided Participation. Scaffolding is another tool--breaking down a project into parts that allow your child to feel that he/she can accomplish something gives them a basis upon which to feel a sense of self and of what they can accomplish.

You may use other tools as well. Teaching them to count to ten before they explode, that visual of a problem balloon floating away or going to a quiet place and returning when calm. Some parents even find doing sensory related activities to help with resilience in some situations. Recently I've been putting what I like to call 'motivational sentences' on the boys' white boards (they each have one). Sentences such as: I can...control my anger. I am...a good boy. I will...finish what I start. I will...learn to be obedient. My goal is to give them positive thoughts to combat the negative ones that naturally come to mind.



Obviously, I'm still a novice at this. I'm reading and learning right along with you. Maybe even more slowly. LOL The point, though, is to be resilient. Keep trying. Keep going. Keep learning. Keep practicing. It will get better and the challenge can be overcome. (Note to self.)

The above article on A Guide to Promoting Resilience, along with the links I've provided below, should give us all a good amount of things to consider and work on.

Parent Quiz (The proper answers are pretty obvious. However, I found it made me think and reexamine some of my faults as a parent. I'm very much in the "I told you so" camp. Not very helpful for resilience. Sigh.)
10 Tips for Building Resilience

Resilience for Children with Challenges
The Parent Coach (I like his analogy of the 'disappointment ditch'.)
Emotional Resilience (Some parts of this don't quite fit in with CM from my understanding of them. However, there is some good info and tips to glean.)
Teaching Resilience with Photography (a really neat program implemented to help autistic children)
Summarization of Research on Resilience I found this statement very much in line with what RDI does: "To this end, both authors emphasize the conceptualization of resilience as a dynamic developmental process, rather than as a static trait."

Death of a Bee

We take this opportunity to commemorate the life of a dear friend, the honeybee. He lived a short but busy life. His favorite activity was collecting nectar from the little white clover blossoms growing amongst the grass.



Sadly, he was stepped upon by a gentle giant. Pooh was innocently walking in his yard when he was surprised to find he had stepped on his dear friend. The pain in his foot took precedence for a short time.

However, soon he remembered his friend, the honeybee, and went to look for him. He was much saddened by his friend's demise. The honeybee was laid to rest upon the sidewalk.



Pooh's brother, Tigger, happily took great care to shoo away the looters, also known as ants.




Kind words were spoken by all. We remembered him fondly and spoke of his hard work and short life. Pooh even spoke on how his friend had given up his life to defend himself against an unknown enemy. Eventually, he was left in peace.

Update on Nephew in the NICU

He's 34 weeks now! (gestational age) He's made it to 3lbs 13 oz as of Sunday. The whole time I was there he was sleeping pretty soundly. He'd just stretch when Momma would mess with him and as he stretched he'd turn beet red. Too funny! The wedge they lay him on in the above picture is because he has reflux. When he refluxes he stops breathing and sometimes they have to shake him a little to remind him to breathe. He also has a hernia that will probably require an operation at some point.

Little R gets to wear clothes now! I was getting him a few preemie outfits this past week. This coming Saturday will be a little baby shower for him. It'll be neat to see what everyone has found for R and momma.

Here they are together. Momma got to hold him for 3 hours on Sunday.

'Objects in picture are smaller than they appear.' He's still very little. This time around I was able to hear him make some noises-little squeaks really. Too cute! And I was there for rounds which is when the team comes by to give a report on his current stats and the doctor makes his recommendations and answers parent questions. Very interesting the way they do that. The dr seemed nice and even introduced himself to me and shook my hand. (I think he may have been a little nosey too! ;D Wanting to know who I was.) One of the things recommended this time around was a visit from the P.T. They think he's getting a little stiff from laying on that wedge so he may be getting some baby exercises soon.

We are very happy with how R is doing lately. He's not out of the woods yet, but each day of life has been encouraging.

Exercise--A New Habit for Mom

I've been at it since the beginning of June, so I can say I've officially cultivated a new habit. I stuck to it! Whooo Hoooo! Go Me! (Where's a cheerleader when you need one? ;D)

A friend and I (we'll call her S.) have decided to really do it this time. Really get on the ball with an exercise program. We've been walking 2-3 evenings per week. We plan on 3 and sometimes we do get in 3 walks but then there's someone without a car, cramps, etc that cuts it down to an average of 2x per week. Our schedule is M, W, F and we walk *late*. We start between 7:30 and 8pm so that we can avoid the humid southern heat. Ick. Depending on our speed, we usually go for about 3-4 miles. That takes us about an hour, maybe a little more. It's so much easier to make yourself go when you have a partner to walk with!!! We wear out little music players so we can get a good walking rhythm and it also helps to wear it when S can't make it or vice versa.

I have not lost any weight whatsoever yet, but I do feel a bit more energy. I even jogged a little one evening last week when I was on my own. (Have ya gone bug eyed yet? LOL) To be honest, it was one of those jog for a hundred feet kind of things and I only did it three times, but it was a start.

I'm considering some Zumba classes. I've seen that the local community college will be offering some fall classes and I'm tempted to join. It's only one evening per week so I could walk the other two evenings. It's going to be interesting to see how S and I adjust our schedule as the light changes this year. Hopefully, we can keep on track and keep up our new habit.

Another friend, L, tried to kill me yesterday. She took us on a hike. Up a mountain. Up. Up. Up. They said it was one mile. It felt like 3. Up rocks. Up stairs. Up some more rocks. My calves cramped. I huffed. I puffed. I make it up there. Barely. Nice view as you can tell from the photos. I then rolled myself down. No really, the coming down was soooo much nicer.

The gang of boys who had no need for huffing and puffing.

Black vulture. We were about 40 feet away.

Barely caught him flying off as one of the boys made a move to get closer.

My two munchkins.

The one who enjoys terrifying mothers everywhere by believing he's a mountain goat. (Not mine thank goodness! ;D)

My long-term goal: To one day do the same hike without huffing and puffing.

Mental Block

We're still here. Lately, I've had a mental block as far as blogging. I think I've been too involved in the reorganizing I'm trying to do here at home to be able to think about composing a post. There are several posts that have either been started or will be in the works soon.

1. Some resources for teaching Spanish and I will also list what I hope to use here at home this coming year.

2. Resilience in children and how that coincides with some aspects of a Charlotte Mason education.

3. I spent some time re-vamping the boys chore system. I have all the cards printed out now and need to finish setting it up for them to use. I will be doing some more training on chores too. That will be a post in itself.

4. We have a new system of Penalty Chores in place for misbehavior. It's working.

5. New TV rules. About a month ago we set some new rules on TV watching. I've seen positive changes from that as well.

6. A garden update. A favorite I know.

At least this gives you something to look forward to, right? I do have one favor to ask. If any of you have used a free file share website that you like, please let me know. When I post about say the Chore Card system I'm using, I'd like to be able to share my cards so others can use them if they wish. I've seen a few file sharing websites but I'd like some recommendations from others who've had success with a specific one.

In other news, we are pretty busy. Cleaning house, reorganizing school stuff, weeding the garden, play dates and getting our Homeschool Co-op stuff ready for next year keeps me very busy. I was hoping to relax a bit this summer, but I guess that's out. LOL We'll be throwing a kids baseball party in a couple of weeks too. I guess the season is serving it's purpose though. Fun for the kids, restructuring for the teacher.

Thanks so much and hope everyone is having a great summer!

The Bubble Wrap Dance

You've heard many times how children will make toys out of boxes and whatever they find lying around. Here I present to you, The Bubble Wrap Dance...





They found this bubble wrap outside my little greenhouse. I had ripped it off the windows and thrown it on the driveway right before I started mulching. (It was waayyy to hot in there!) They had a grand ole time with it.