hide-n-(sensory)-seeking

It's not an epidemic. It's not a disease. It's not a death sentence. Nor even necessary a life sentence. It is hard. It is different. It can even be scary at times. But if you look deeper, there is amazing beauty. I choose to focus on the beauty!

This program is awesome. This should be part of regular school. This should be part of regular life!

There are certain things that only happen at the point when all the elements come together. Creating an in-house obstacle course was, for us, one of those things. It sounds really easy. And is so awesome, everybody really should try it sometime. And I have been wanting to make a more large scale one for the kids for a long time.  But in order for this to happen, the house has to be decently in order, the kids have to be relatively rested, I have to have a small surplus of energy because my kids are not at all self-sufficient at organizing this kind of thing yet, and vast amounts of coffee have to have already been consumed before we start.  These are great rainy/snowy/step-outside-and-your-boogers-instantly-freeze day activities.  Ours is highly sensory organized, but remember that a lot of kids are not really getting the real amount of sensory input that their bodies really need on a daily basis. My kids just literally fall apart if they don't, while th...

What this math teacher has to say might surprise you!

I don't listen to the radio very often. But I did the other day. So it was the first time I heard this song. I almost switched the station, but the first line caught me, then the rest took me by storm and left me in tears.  But maybe not in the way one might think. It actually made me think of all the empty words that we  "let fall out", and how much damage has been done by these words. I am no exception. I have stabbed others with words myself. I have forgotten too many times that shouted words often fall on shut-down ears and hurt hearts. And it made me think about the real meaning of bravery. Those whose courage I admire. I'm not talking about stupidity - the kind of brave where you try to see how long you can hold your hand over a flame or teasing an alligator.  I mean real bravery.  The kind that most of us don't actually see because it takes place quietly in the shadows. Or after everyone else has left. Or when all eyes ...

We went bowling. It went much smoother than the last time which ended in tears and leaving early. Zak beat us all both games in a row! Kit only tried to run down the lanes a couple of times. But she LOVED the dinosaur thing to use as a slide when she wasn't using it to help get her ball to the pins! Between that and lining up the balls as they came back, she was mostly content to stick close by and not bolt as much as before. Her squeals of joy when she pushed the ball down the lane could have shattered glass, but were so crazy happy! And she was the best cheerleader! Clapping and telling everybody, "Great job!!" Grace is the cutest thing ever bowling, but we can't laugh out loud at her adorableness because she gets embarrassed and mad. Which I totally understand. So we quietly chuckled to ourselves at her undeniable style and flare! Which is what makes her her! And to everyone's surprise, Grandpa not only enjoye...

Our little break from the old routine seems to have had a positive effect. Both the kids have been much more excited about rekindling some of our previous subjects and focusing more attention on them once again. They were especially giddy about science this week. And conducted several projects. Here's a sampling of the "coolest" stuff. Zak found some swimming creatures in a puddle and captured a few for study. He looked them up online on the suspicion that they were most likely mosquito larvae. They were indeed. So we allowed him to keep them and observe their transformation. He had caught twelve. And after about four days, he insisted on releasing the six surviving adults. I told him only outside. He agreed. It was 34 degrees outside. No, I did not feel sorry for them. They are mosquitoes ! Later in the week Grace wanted to do "fun" science. I wanted to avoid a huge mess. "Want to play with the food coloring in wat...

Below is a very blurry, very zoomed in picture of my baby. I took it from the door without going in the room. I almost didn't take it at all for fear of waking her just by being there! Today, for the first time ever, on purpose, for me, she fell asleep all by herself for a nap on a day that Daddy is at work. Without nursing. And without me in the room! After lunch and a fresh diaper. I took her to the room. We read If You Give a Pig a Party. Then I asked her if she wanted to read books or lay down and I sing her a song. She wanted to lay down. I gave her the option of putting her blanket on or putting pants on. After several attemps she wouldn't cooperate. So I told her, 'no pants, no song.' She still refused. So I gave her stack of books and told her to stay in her bed, "first, look at books. Then, lay down and rest." When I came to check on her later, much to my astonishment, she was asleep! Totally doing the silent happy dance!!!! She definitely ...

I love libraries! I distinctly remember the first library I went to. I was little, three or four. It was a tiny room with a single desk for the librarian, inside the community center, but it was huge to me. The bookshelves towered over me, seeming to touch the ceiling. Someone, probably my mom or oldest sister showed me the children's section. Instant love! I remember every library I've visited since,  from my grandfather's den which smelled like leather and always felt chilly, to drinking coffee with my middle school librarian (the first of, sadly, very few men whom I have met in that profession) who saw me nearly everyday for two years and still couldn't believe that that was my favorite place in the entire school (even beating out the orchestra room!). Victor loves to tell the story of when we were in high school together and I wouldn't let him borrow my library card when he forgot his because, gasp!, he might incur late fees on my card! (And I wi...

Here are just a couple gems of awesomeness that I ran across this week via a couple of other awesome blogs. Thanks  Penelope Trunk  and  Deb  for sharing these! This is amazing and a huge boost in confidence for all of us homeschoolers! Source: TopMastersInEducation.com And check out this amazing article  about what modern day public education should be moving toward, starting right now ! (Hint, it looks a lot like what many homeschooler's educations already is!)