Fun School

Sometimes school is sitting down and just working on things like

handwriting

Ellie working on her Handwriting Without Tears book

or the computer

Alina working on math and language arts in a program called IXL

or coloring

Veronika works on her fine motor skills with coloring

 BUT

Sometimes school looks like this....

sorting apples by color, checking which has more/less, adding green+red

Tasting different apples to see which kind was our favorite: Fuji was Alina's, Ellie liked the Granny Smith the best

Peeling an apple - We did hand over hand

Trying to peel the apples, We did hand over hand

Ellie was able to peel two apples on her own!

Alina peeled two apples on her own!

Veronika and Gavyn helped put the apple slices in the crock pot

Apples with some cinnamon added ready for cooking!

Turning into applesauce

Ellie also helped cook dinner by peeling the carrots! 

So, sometimes we just have to sit and get things done, but we also get to have Fun at school too!

Falling into Homeschooling

So we gave public schools a good try. We fought for things in their IEP, we called extra meetings, we emailed teachers on a regular basis, but honestly, they are not use to the situation our older girls present.
They enrolled one of our girls into a remedial math program, but remedial math assumes that you have had those subjects before, and now you are just working on making those skills stronger.
Unfortunately for our daughter that is NOT the case. She has not worked on most of those skills before, so spending a few days on this or that and then moving on to the next thing does not give her enough time to have the information sink in.
With reading, we explained that while she can read at a 2-3 grade level in English, she by no means has that level of reading comprehension. When they said that the kids needed to do a book report I KNEW there would be trouble.
For one of our other girls we explained to the school that she needed a preschool-kindergarten curriculum since she had never attended school in her life. Instead, they just worked on life skills. I get that life skills are great, but she has never had anyone try to teach her reading and writing before and that is what she needs. She needs to know how to count and add and subtract. She needs all the basics, not just life skills.
So, we have started to work on homeschooling with the girls, and they are really getting it!! I am so proud of them!!
Our little ones are learning so much too!! They are working on fine motor, gross motor, and following directions.

Working on shapes

 Working on putting numbers in order

Working on grouping by colors

Matching word and picture for the correct letter

 Quiet Reading time

Counting

 Addition and subtraction

 Journal work

Writing down her math problems after she solves them

 Yoga

Working on matching shapes

 Cutting skills

Putting numbers in order

finding blends/rhyming words

Copying visual directions

USA puzzle with states in correct shape

 More Math work

 

Learning while at Play

 Veronika spent some time working with these word puzzle boards. They have proven to be great for fine motor skills, letter recognition, and even practicing spelling words.

 Veronika has a new job at home, putting away the silverware. This is great for teaching her sorting and directional order since Mommy likes the silverware to face certain ways.

 Pouring water, watching it go down the slides and through the funnels might seem just like playtime, but it builds awareness of cause and effect

 This little mower has to be pushed for a little ways before it starts to shoot out the bubbles, hence more cause and effect learning

Learning about plants, vegetables, and fruits can be fun when you are involved. Veronika helps by watering the blueberry bush, strawberries, and broccoli

Reality

So, we have been doing the public school thing with Ellie and Alina since February. In some ways I am impressed, other ways not so much.
I think with Ellie's hearing that a typical public school is just not what she needs. Because of her hearing loss and her preference for signing, she will be attending a school for the deaf so she can work on her communication skills, and she will continue to do private speech therapy.
The girls are certainly around other children a lot. They are in Sunday school every Sunday, church choir every Wednesday night, gymnastics every Wednesday night, then they are both training for the Special Olympics. Ellie is doing track and Alina is doing swimming. It certainly keeps us busy!
Tonight they will both be attending a birthday party for one of their friends from Gymnastics. Thankfully, we were able to get her out before she aged out.
In a sense still homeschooling both girls in addition to them attending public school. After chores are done for the day, and they have had a chance to play for a while, instead of jumping in front of the tv, we will work on workbooks, reading for Alina, pre-reading for Ellie, colors, shapes, numbers, and as much as we can think of.
Some things we work on at home with the kids are speech programs like Gemiini.  For reading we have programs like BrillKids, we also have educational songs the kids LOVE and beg for all the time for both phonics and math called Heidi Songs. For worksheets that are made pretty much just for kids with Down syndrome, and are from skill levels beginner to more advanced we LOVE Mrs. Brown and her So Happy to Learn at Home program!!

We are doing speech therapy for all four kids and intensive PT session every couple of months. Since I still want the kids to be challenged my amazing husband designed a playground for the kids that would help target some of those gross motor needs.

 

 

 So what is the reality of having four children with special needs? It's just like having non-special needs kids.
We are thankful every single day and one of the songs I sing at night to the kids is, "I thank God for this day, for the sun in the sky, for my mom and my dad, for my piece of apple pie, for my home on the ground, and the love that's all around. That's why we say thanks, every day. Because a thankful heart is a happy heart, I'm glad for what I have, that's an easy way to start for a God who cares and who listens to our prayers, that's why we say thanks for this day." - Veggie Tale song....
It may sound corny, but it is so true, no matter how much or how little we have, we should be thankful for whatever it is.
When I think of people in 3rd world countries, people who have so very little, and they can still find a reason in their day to smile, HOW can we NOT be thankful? When I think of children who have no families, people who are homeless, or people who are suffering and in terrible pain every day, how can we NOT be thankful?
Is life always easy for us? Nope :) But whose life is easy ALL the time? With the love and support of each other, and through the grace of God, we make it work. And it is Oh so Worth it!!