Sunday, August 23, 2009
another great picture (literally) of therapy and progress
it’s so neat seeing em's progress in a drawing! in AT, she had to fill in a circle of her life, picking emotions she felt now, half happy, some love, some mad, little sad, lots of blank (which is sad itself, but true). but then she did her old life, and it was mostly scared, some sad, some blank, and a dot of happy. but it’s more, and there IS love, so we’re getting there!! :)
Monday, August 17, 2009
week 1 of homeschooling
i can't decide if i want to just journal on my own, or post, to this blog or another... so i'm getting it down, and we'll see!
monday, aug 17
monday, aug 17
· on our 1st official day of homeschool, or the school of hard knocks, we learned not to leave a tent up to dry if it's windy. poor tent, poor soy crops.
· cj fixed the trigger mechanism in his $2 heelies for engineering class, then skated with them for gym class.
· i learned if they go out and play, they argue, but if it's called recess, they get along. go figure! :)
· we practiced subtraction with cookies, and addition with subs... gotta love that kind of math.
· they read chapter 1 of little house in the big woods & answered questions. we talked about interrupting (big issue here) and proverbs 18:13. i love the biblical references in the book & little house curriculum!
· i had to stop the kids from working too hard. they loved it & were shocked it was so fun. of course cookies help.
where have i been?!
i used to get SO annoyed that i couldn't find many RADical success stories and that few parents who were making progress would post on the forums and boards i was scouring for help. and i've realized i'm becoming one of those annoying people! which is good for us of course. we're still on the roller coaster ride, with higher highs and lower lows, but i get them, for the most part! now i'm NOT the best RADical mom, but i don't think i'm the worst. somewhere on the low end i'm sure, but less frazzled than i used to be.
so after our month-long (too-long, but wonderful) vacation, we've spent a very family-intense summer doing very little besides spending time together. mr was "downgraded" (no idea what you'd call it) to case management (his file is open and the AT will consult as needed, but he won't come in for therapy). so that's great! he's really doing so well, and at least in attachment terms is much more "normal" for his emotional age (which is still below his 7 physical years). but a big YAY there!
em still needs much but we are seeing progress! she's beginning to have the wild emotions that she doesn't understand (nor do any of us), but they're starting to surface. she's giving occasional hugs or holding my hand ON HER OWN, which is amazing.
so we're still here, just busy doing nothing, and mentally exhausted from trying to do a good job! i wish this came naturally to me. i'd think RADical moms should be the super compassionate, patient, and understanding type, seems it would be so much easier for them. so i'm not sure why God thought i should be one! and no, i've never prayed for patience, because i know how you learn that!! though it appears i'm supposed to learn it anyway.
this year we're homeschooling all three kids (gasp). it went so well with em last year, and we BARELY worked on actual academics. we concentrated on attaching, and simply time together and the learning just came naturally and easily. with her progress in ALL areas with little effort, it wasn't hard to decide to try it with all three. we're just committing to this year, and we'll see afterwards. but with our flexible, crazy, adventurous lifestyle, it'll be so fun to have the kids with us, and learning while we play. and hopefully just increase their stability and help with attachment. we're also planning to concentrate on sitting still (mr), shutting up (cj) and believing in herself (em) so they are ready to go back to school, if they do.
so that's where we are. i hope to catch up on some of my blog reading soon too. i miss the encouragement and sometimes entertainment from the blogs i follow!
so after our month-long (too-long, but wonderful) vacation, we've spent a very family-intense summer doing very little besides spending time together. mr was "downgraded" (no idea what you'd call it) to case management (his file is open and the AT will consult as needed, but he won't come in for therapy). so that's great! he's really doing so well, and at least in attachment terms is much more "normal" for his emotional age (which is still below his 7 physical years). but a big YAY there!
em still needs much but we are seeing progress! she's beginning to have the wild emotions that she doesn't understand (nor do any of us), but they're starting to surface. she's giving occasional hugs or holding my hand ON HER OWN, which is amazing.
so we're still here, just busy doing nothing, and mentally exhausted from trying to do a good job! i wish this came naturally to me. i'd think RADical moms should be the super compassionate, patient, and understanding type, seems it would be so much easier for them. so i'm not sure why God thought i should be one! and no, i've never prayed for patience, because i know how you learn that!! though it appears i'm supposed to learn it anyway.
this year we're homeschooling all three kids (gasp). it went so well with em last year, and we BARELY worked on actual academics. we concentrated on attaching, and simply time together and the learning just came naturally and easily. with her progress in ALL areas with little effort, it wasn't hard to decide to try it with all three. we're just committing to this year, and we'll see afterwards. but with our flexible, crazy, adventurous lifestyle, it'll be so fun to have the kids with us, and learning while we play. and hopefully just increase their stability and help with attachment. we're also planning to concentrate on sitting still (mr), shutting up (cj) and believing in herself (em) so they are ready to go back to school, if they do.
so that's where we are. i hope to catch up on some of my blog reading soon too. i miss the encouragement and sometimes entertainment from the blogs i follow!
