I walk into the kitchen this morning and find my daughter shoving her brother into the pantry and closing the doors. Nice to know some things carry over into the home from public school.
I am anticipating a science project for March. The kids are excited. They are going to start a garden. They are happy they get to help choose the vegetables.
We are studying the 50 states in history - a new one every week. They get so excited because they take turns choosing which state they will study next.
I find that if they get to help choose their own curriculum they are more likely to enjoy it.
I was at my witts-end a couple days ago. Having to pull curriculum out of the air every week was too taxing. Hubby ordered AOP for me to finish out the year. That will help. I will be better prepared next school year since I know I have to teach.
Off to school!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Painful
It is getting harder to teach. The swelling and pain in my hands are getting worse. It is hard to hold a pencil or paper. To write is painful. Not sure what is happening. Maybe the doc can help tomorrow. Typing is getting to be too much.
I will continue to homeschool until I can't do it anymore. Then my husband will have to step in.
I will continue to homeschool until I can't do it anymore. Then my husband will have to step in.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Printer down
Had a mechanical glitch today. Made teaching a bit difficult. The printer went down. I couldn't make copies of lessons. I eventually got it working just for it to go down again tonight...this time for good. I have no idea what I am going to do for school tomorrow. Hmmm....
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
A Life Outside the Home?
I woke up yesterday all prepared. I had made sure the night before that all was ready. It felt good. There was no pressure in the morning. It made for a better class time.
But today I am back to panicking a bit because I am not prepared. I allowed myself to get too busy yesterday and by the time I was able to look over today's lessons I was too exhausted. Will I ever learn? hahaha
I have found that the kids like Math better than Language Arts. Science experiments are pretty cool too.
I wonder if it is possible to homeschool and still have a life outside the home. I have yet to find a way. I don't even have a moment to myself. I must find a way to remedy that.
But today I am back to panicking a bit because I am not prepared. I allowed myself to get too busy yesterday and by the time I was able to look over today's lessons I was too exhausted. Will I ever learn? hahaha
I have found that the kids like Math better than Language Arts. Science experiments are pretty cool too.
I wonder if it is possible to homeschool and still have a life outside the home. I have yet to find a way. I don't even have a moment to myself. I must find a way to remedy that.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Yet Again...
Another procrastination disaster! You would think I would have learned my lesson. I am sure I will get around to that someday...hahaha.
I partied all weekend with my church pals. Then when it was past time to get this weeks curriculum prepared, I was too exhausted to do anything. Therefore I woke up today in a bit of a panic. I knew I had much to do in little time.
It takes me more than an hour to fully wake up, that is to be able to function beyond drinking a coke and reading my email. Putting together curriculum takes much thought. I didn't have much thought in my first hour. I looked pitiful as I hovered over the books and computer trying to make sense out of it all.
Eventually the caffeine kicked in and I was able to pull it off. The kids did start late though. And it made for no patience from me. I had spent all that in my first hour of gathering worksheets for cause/effect. Haha.
We struggled through the day; not what I wanted. Tomorrow I will be better prepared. At least that is my goal.
My challenge today was trying to teach an autistic child the logic in cause and effect. She just doesn't seem to process that; never really has. I will have to learn a different technique, a different approach.
I partied all weekend with my church pals. Then when it was past time to get this weeks curriculum prepared, I was too exhausted to do anything. Therefore I woke up today in a bit of a panic. I knew I had much to do in little time.
It takes me more than an hour to fully wake up, that is to be able to function beyond drinking a coke and reading my email. Putting together curriculum takes much thought. I didn't have much thought in my first hour. I looked pitiful as I hovered over the books and computer trying to make sense out of it all.
Eventually the caffeine kicked in and I was able to pull it off. The kids did start late though. And it made for no patience from me. I had spent all that in my first hour of gathering worksheets for cause/effect. Haha.
We struggled through the day; not what I wanted. Tomorrow I will be better prepared. At least that is my goal.
My challenge today was trying to teach an autistic child the logic in cause and effect. She just doesn't seem to process that; never really has. I will have to learn a different technique, a different approach.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Procrastination
Yea, it's the weekend. I am supposed to log in grades on the weekend but I seem to find myself putting it off until a couple of weeks pass by and I have a mountain of paperwork to do. So the papers lay there. They will stay there for another week waiting patiently, and piling up.
We finished early yesterday. Sometimes I feel like I don't teach enough. Then I have to remind myself that they are learning way more than they did in public school. And they finish quicker.
We finished early yesterday. Sometimes I feel like I don't teach enough. Then I have to remind myself that they are learning way more than they did in public school. And they finish quicker.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Migraine day
Today I woke up not wanting to teach. I had/still have a migraine and it is hard to teach, with patience, and feel like we are accomplishing anything.
Things are progressing inspite of it all. It is hard to teach logic to an autistic child. Therefore, repetition is our method. I never liked repeating myself to a child as the role of mom. It is annoying to tell a child something and then tell them again because they ignored you the first time.
But with Hayla it is different. I know that if I keep repeating myself a lightbulb will eventually shine bright and she will get it. I like watching her mind grow.
Noah is trying to be patient with us. He progresses so fast that we can't keep up. I will have to revamp school later to suit his growing brain. Until then he will learn patience.
Things are progressing inspite of it all. It is hard to teach logic to an autistic child. Therefore, repetition is our method. I never liked repeating myself to a child as the role of mom. It is annoying to tell a child something and then tell them again because they ignored you the first time.
But with Hayla it is different. I know that if I keep repeating myself a lightbulb will eventually shine bright and she will get it. I like watching her mind grow.
Noah is trying to be patient with us. He progresses so fast that we can't keep up. I will have to revamp school later to suit his growing brain. Until then he will learn patience.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Meet the Huffs
Hello. Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Renee. I have a wonderful husband of over 16 years and 4 wonderful children.
Each one of my children are unique. My oldest son, Siah, is 15 years old. Although he is as Caucasian as one can be, he sports an Afro. I do have curly hair but not like his. All the girls love it. Therefore he does too.
Besides his unique hair, Siah has Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D.). It has worsened over the past year to the point that he gave in to trying some medication. We are awaiting change.
We try to look for the fun in his disorder since it can be most troubling at times. He feels off-balance if he doesn't have the correct amount of the right items in his pant pockets.
My oldest daughter, Ren, is now 13 years old. She is a beautiful young lady. She was just healed of a birth defect, praise God! She did not get the lucky curly hair. But she is still beautiful.
Ren battles weird migraines. They affect her sense of smell and cause her eye to go blind. Weird!
My youngest daughter, Hayla, is quite the character. Really! She has a slew of health problems. One of which is Autism. It affects her social skills and comprehension. Therefore she has us in tears from laughter much of the time.
Hayla is 11 years old and I homeschool her. I feel she does much better at home receiving the one-on-one that she was not getting in public school.
Noah is my youngest, truly the baby of the family. He is spoiled in every way, but I wouldn't have it any other way. He is 6 years old and I also homeschool him.
Noah is a very bright young man, beyond his years. He is 6 years old but working at a 3rd grade level. He gags at the sight of stickers (not sure why). Noah has a severe peanut and egg allergy and public school was just too dangerous.
Homeschooling is an adventure. It has its rocky days and it has its soaring days. My hope is to get through the rest of this school year and better prepare for next year so I can have more soaring days than rocky.
The negligence of the public school forced me to pull my two youngest out in the middle of the school year and begin teaching without having any curriculum. It was very frustrating but I dove in and got right to work.
Enough about us! My desire is to give you a glimpse of a typical day. Later!
Each one of my children are unique. My oldest son, Siah, is 15 years old. Although he is as Caucasian as one can be, he sports an Afro. I do have curly hair but not like his. All the girls love it. Therefore he does too.
Besides his unique hair, Siah has Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D.). It has worsened over the past year to the point that he gave in to trying some medication. We are awaiting change.
We try to look for the fun in his disorder since it can be most troubling at times. He feels off-balance if he doesn't have the correct amount of the right items in his pant pockets.
My oldest daughter, Ren, is now 13 years old. She is a beautiful young lady. She was just healed of a birth defect, praise God! She did not get the lucky curly hair. But she is still beautiful.
Ren battles weird migraines. They affect her sense of smell and cause her eye to go blind. Weird!
My youngest daughter, Hayla, is quite the character. Really! She has a slew of health problems. One of which is Autism. It affects her social skills and comprehension. Therefore she has us in tears from laughter much of the time.
Hayla is 11 years old and I homeschool her. I feel she does much better at home receiving the one-on-one that she was not getting in public school.
Noah is my youngest, truly the baby of the family. He is spoiled in every way, but I wouldn't have it any other way. He is 6 years old and I also homeschool him.
Noah is a very bright young man, beyond his years. He is 6 years old but working at a 3rd grade level. He gags at the sight of stickers (not sure why). Noah has a severe peanut and egg allergy and public school was just too dangerous.
Homeschooling is an adventure. It has its rocky days and it has its soaring days. My hope is to get through the rest of this school year and better prepare for next year so I can have more soaring days than rocky.
The negligence of the public school forced me to pull my two youngest out in the middle of the school year and begin teaching without having any curriculum. It was very frustrating but I dove in and got right to work.
Enough about us! My desire is to give you a glimpse of a typical day. Later!
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