How to Adjust Homeschool Curriculum to Fit Special Needs

We are just about to finish up week 2 of our newly restructured homeschool.

The most important change is our schedule.
We are working hard to do the same things in the same order every day.

We are using My Father's World- Kingergarten for curriculum.

I decided to take 6 weeks and follow it exactly as written, or at least the best we can before we evaluate and make changes.

Two weeks in, and I already know I'm going to have to tweak some things for Maddie's learning style.
We actually tried this curriculum a couple of years ago and I know now why I tossed it aside.
The pace of it all is a bit too overwhelming for Maddie.
For example, the activity to trace the letter in the salt (great idea!) is only set up to do two days of the week.
We followed that model, and by the second day Maddie was actually successful in writing the letter "s."
But this week, we were already moving on to the next letter and when I asked her to review the letter "s", that skill was gone.
It was like starting back over.
Maddie needs a lot more repetition than that.

I really like the themes and fun activities to go along with it, but I'm thinking a lot of it is a bit too advanced for her still.
For example, the first week is all about the sun.
The fact that the sun is 92 million miles away, is made of helium and hydrogen, and is big enough to fit a million earths inside is all lost on her.
We had to simplify to just learn that:
1. God made the sun.
2. The sun gives us light.
3. It hurts our eyes to look directly as the sun.
4. The sun is really hot.

They also have a spiritual component that correlates to the theme.
For the sun, it's Jesus is the light of the world.
We talked about it, but I felt like it was too abstract for her to understand.
I will stick with it, but now I know adjustments are going to have to be made.
I don't think two years ago I knew enough about Maddie's needs and learning style to do that.
I definitely think we can do that now.

Here's a tour of our homeschool room!
Maddie and I both love it.

Here's some photos of our activities from week one:

Reviewing the seasons. 

She says our current season is "snowball fights!"

Oh boy, scissors!  

I'm glad this is part of the weekly curriculum.  

We'll need the practice.

She counts the numbers each day.
Most of the time she can make it to twelve without any help.
Some days she may forget 10 and call it 8, but my favorite thing is when she calls twelve "two-teen!"
So cute!

She loved the salt tray!
What a great way to learn letter formations.

She was so proud of herself when she did it all by herself!

These envelopes are for her letter box.
Each week she cuts out pictures that begin with the letter of the week and we put them in the letter envelope.
Next week, there's a fun game we do with the two different letters.

We read several books about the sun...

After reading Moonbear's Shadow, we went outside and measured her shadow each hour.

And had some fun with chalk...

Another project was making raisins.
We were supposed to put the grapes out in the sun and chart them each day to see how they change.

This was one activity that I felt was a little too much for her attention span, so we just talked about the fact that raisins came from grapes and then we had a tasty snack!

I just wanted to say thank you to all who have been praying for us and wishing us well on this homeschool journey of ours.
I seems like we are at least heading in the right direction!

Maddie + Belle= Best Buddies

This budding, new friendship is such a joy to sit back and watch.

Since the beginning, we have always had intentions of training Belle to be a service or therapy dog for Maddie.  

For the first few months I found myself a wee bit overwhelmed working to potty train both dog and child, and as a result, much of the obedience training took a back seat.

With things going better in the potty training areas for both dependents, we are now able to focus on obedience training for Belle, step one of therapy training.

I have been really surprised however, how innately things have come to Belle.

Several weeks ago Maddie fell asleep on the couch.  

We went to bed and left her to sleep on the couch. 

At some point in the night, she began coughing with allergies and drainage.

I heard Belle in her kennel whimpering.

She only does that when she's sick and needs to go outside.

"Oh no, I wonder what she ate this time."

I got up to let her outside, thinking she would bolt for the door.  

Instead she came out of her kennel and headed straight for the couch.

With her tail straight out, she leaned over and smelled Maddie.  

I said, "See Belle, she's ok."

Satisfied, Belle went back into her kennel for the rest of the night.

Then, few weeks ago Maddie wanted Belle to sleep with her in her bedroom.
Maddie still needs one of us to be in there with her when she falls asleep, so it was the three of us on her little twin size mattress.
It worked out OK, since Belle stayed at the foot of the bed.

Maddie was particularly restless that night, rolling and tossing and turning.
She couldn't keep her legs still, and Belle went over and just laid right on top of her.
Before long, Maddie settled down and fell asleep.
It's like Belle was her weighted blanket for the night!

When Maddie talks about Belle she says they are best friends.
And she often says, "aw look Mom, she loves me!"
And I say, "yes she does.  She loves you very much."

Her only vice, so far, is the trash can!

She's a goofy little opportunist waiting for a tasty treat!

We really need to get a trash can with a lid. 😜

How's Maddie Doing?

A simple question.

Not so simple to answer.

How is she doing?

I don't know if all mothers evaluate this question around this time of year, or if it's a homeschooling thing, or a special needs thing, but it seems like January always begins the reflection of what the year has held and begs the question, how is Maddie?

In December we received a devastating reality check with the results of an assessment performed for Occupational Therapy.
I knew Maddie wasn't functioning at her chronological age in most areas, but I had no idea how far behind she was in fine motor skills.
It's true what they say, ignorance is bliss.

I've been trying to step outside our status quo and see ourselves from a fresh perspective.

I've been studying personality types and learning styles, and specifically how they affect homeschooling.
At 38, I can pretty well peg my personality type and learning style.
It's much more difficult to pinpoint Maddie's.
Sometimes it's hard to decipher if she does things as a compensation for her sensory processing disorder, or if that is her true self.
If I were the only figure in the equation of homeschooling, I can envision the most amazing homeschool, and it would more than likely resemble project based learning, or life learning, or "unschooling."

Of course, the trouble is this homeschooling thing is not really about me or for me, is it?
So, what's best for Maddie?

After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion what's best for her is exactly opposite of the natural way I'm wired.
"Isn't God so funny?"
"Hilarious", she answered sarcastically.

It's hard to know for certain what's best for Maddie, but I won't ever know if I don't experiment and see what works.
I feel like the last year and a half I've been trying to do it my way and now we've ended up with devastating results on an Occupational Therapy assessment.
Time for a new strategy.

A mentor once told me when trying new approaches, give it 6 weeks or 9 weeks or whatever period of time, and really commit to it. At the end of the time period, evaluate and see what's working and what needs tweaking.

So, I'm going to take that advice and step outside what feels natural in the attempt to enter into Maddie's world and how she sees things.
My hunch is she likes order, structure, the same things every day, knowing what to expect and when to expect them.
For me, I kind of get a little excited with some chaos, doing the same things over and over is absolute torture, and I feel dead inside when there is no spontaneity.
(I also tend to be a bit dramatic.)
I'm a romantic idealist.
However, I'm excited about these next 6 weeks.
If structure and routine and order are the keys that unlock her potential, sign me up!
I'll do whatever it takes.

And you know what?
I have a feeling God was not being sadistic when pairing two opposite personalities together for this journey.
There are so many things we can learn from each other.
It's really a grace-filled act of love to be given the opportunity to stretch and grow and appreciate each other for the unique ways God has created us.

See, I told you, romantic idealist through and through!

My Greatest Privilege and Biggest Challenge

Do you guys have that one issue that you think you've dealt with, but at of nowhere, it rises up and you find yourself back to square one?
The monkey on my back is insecurities with homeschool.
It's not that I doubt Maddie's capabilities.
Quite the opposite, actually.

I doubt mine.

Am I really cut out for this?
Am I doing her a disservice?
Should I be doing it differently?
Is she reaching her full potential?

These are the questions that get me up at 5:00 am for a run, as if the answers are hidden around the next curve.
In the quiet of the day, or while driving alone with my thoughts; most of the time, this is what I'm thinking about.

The crazy thing is, I've never doubted that homeschooling is what we should be doing.
I felt God call me into it, and believe me, I resisted at first.
But once I confirmed the call, I've never once doubted IF we should be homeschooling.

Now, ask me HOW we should go about homeschooling and my mind is riddled with doubts!

The trigger for the insecurities this time was an assessment from the Occupational Therapist.

The therapist began using the correct chronological age category for the assessment.
A couple of pages into it, and it was obvious this was way too advanced for Maddie.

She began again with what was intended for 3-5 year olds.
I know these things really don't matter, and the most important thing is that Maddie keeps improving on her own timetable, but this is always hard to hear.

And as a Mom with homeschool insecurities, it's like throwing fuel on the fire!
I've been through this cycle many times now, and my first instinct was to just try harder.
That only lead to a frustrated kiddo and an overwhelmed Mommy.

My second thought was to re-evaluate our curriculum.  Maybe the answers are in the shiny, new box over there! We have stacks and stacks of homeschooling materials and, of course, that wasn't the answer either.

I really don't know the answer to this one, except to pray for wisdom, keep on keeping on, and focus on raising a child with a kind heart and loving intentions.

In the meantime, we celebrate the small things...

like when she showed an interest in cutting after I began wrapping presents!

And we proceed with patience on the harder things.

I thought this would be a fun, easy activity for Maddie to work her fine motor skills.

It turned out to be extremely challenging!!

We had to break it down, step by step; practicing pincer grasp, holding the ornament in one hand with pincer grasp, taking the tree limb in the other had also using pincer grasp and then simultaneously hooking the ornament onto the branch.
What seemed like a simple activity, with skills that come easily to most children, are really quite complicated when you break it down!

We did have some success, but a couple of ornaments and she was done!

Play dough was easier and way more fun!

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be able to homeschool Maddie.
I consider it my greatest privilege in life.
At the same time, it's the one issue I just don't have all the answers, and my biggest challenge.

These years are passing so quickly, I don't want to look back on this time and remember angst and stress.
I want to remember the quality time we shared together mixed in with a lot of fun.
I want Maddie to look back and treasure this time with lots of good memories!

Is it a big challenge?
Yes.
Challenge accepted?
Absolutely.

Let's do this, and do this well!

Create Dreams That Scare You a Little

I've been writing this blog post in my head for weeks now.  

To start at the beginning takes me back to summer.  

I led a bible study group through the book The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson.

He talks about dreaming big dreams.  

Dreams that are so big they require supernatural intervention to achieve.

I have always admired marathon runners and have often thought they must possess some sort of mind-over matter-true-grit-magic that few of us ever experience.

That would be a big dream.

I've always loved running, in fact, you may be interested to know that in my dreams, I'm like super-duper, crazy fast!  I'm always running and no one can ever catch me. I've even jumped over buildings once! In my dreams I'm super awesome. Just sayin'. (perhaps I should explore why someone is always chasing me in my dreams. 😆) 

BUT, coming back to reality, the problem is, I haven't ran in years...actually...decades to be exact.

So, I thought I would ease into it.

Take 10 months to train for the Memorial Marathon.  

That should do it, I thought.

Actually, I have to back up in the timeline a bit to tell the full story. (Get comfortable, this story's a long one!)

I began in September 2015 going to the gym to get in shape. 

After a month or so of going to classes 2-3 times per week, I found myself on the Stairmaster one minute, and on the ground the next!

I almost passed out, and made a big enough scene to alert the medical team at the YMCA.

Turns out nothing at all was wrong with me except the fact that I was so out of shape, 10 minutes on the Stairmaster was enough to do me in!!  

Umm,  can you say embarrassing!

So now, fast forward July of 2016.  

I'm actually considering running a marathon.

Of course it will be 10 months away, a lot of training can take place in 10 months.

But then, I had a good friend who encouraged me to sign up for the Route 66 marathon, less than 5 months out.

I'll do the half, I thought.  

Get my feet wet, and then run the full in the Memorial Marathon.

Good, solid plan!

But for some crazy reason, I began training with Oklahoma Landrunners and started out with the full marathoners running 8 miles in August.

After that run, I was encouraged to forget the half and go for the full. 

Run the full, they said. It will be fun, they said! 

Not that was a dream that scared me a little.

10 months ago I couldn't even handle 10 minutes of Stairmaster.

Now, I'm going to sign up to run 26.2 miles?

Yes! Mark Batterson would approve.

It was the perfect dream!

A dream so big it was beyond my own reach.

A dream that would require supernatural intervention.

I was excited for the spiritual journey ahead!!

I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I had no idea what kind of hard was ahead.

I expected there to be some obstacles, because anytime you set out to get closer to God, there will always be fiery arrows thrown.

Still, I wasn't prepared for the hardship.

I had some health issues come up.

It turns out your body does weird things when you ask it to go above and beyond.

It's like a rebellious teenager that flat out says, "NO" right to your face!

I visited my doctor and everything serious was ruled out.

I guess I'm just weird (yeah, the story of my life!)

With the OK from the doc to continue training and a prescription in hand, I struggled on.

And this is where the story gets interesting...

Why, oh why, do we as humans insist on trying to fix things all by ourselves?

Things weren't going my way, and so I pouted.

I had to stop my training for a while.

I worried and stewed and wondered if I could do this.

I researched.

Perhaps I just needed the right goop, or energy drink, or gear.

Why couldn't I do this, I wondered?

And then one night, it's like Jesus finally hit me upside the head and said, FOCUS!

Remember your why.

Is this about your glory or Mine?

From that night on, my prayers changed. 

No longer did I pray to take away the affliction, but instead work through it.

I had to believe that He had the power not just to take away the ailments, but to provide supernatural strength despite them. 

I had to trust Him, rely on His strength and not my own, stupid weakness.

Everything changed from that moment on.

I ran with a lightness in my feet. 

I felt strong and able.

It was still difficult, but I also felt Him with me each step of the way.

I began listening to the Bible App.

I started in Galatians and listened through Revelation.

Then, I listened to Matthew.

Next, I went to the Old Testament and listened to Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Isaiah.

The Words came alive.

Running early in the morning before the sun came up, listening to scripture for hours on end, was like a super-concentrated cleaner where a little goes a long way.

These scriptures stayed with me throughout the week and brought new, vivid colors into tired, old, everyday scenes!

I can't say I've ever experienced anything like it.

I discovered verses that really helped me carry on like: 

Ecclesiastes 7:8 "Finishing is better than starting, Patience is better than pride."

And verses I had known, but found a new meaning like:

Isaiah 40:3 "but to those who hope in the Lord, they will soar on the wings of eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint."

Hebrews 12:1 "Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."

1 Corinthians 9:27 "but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."

Run a marathon and you'll find out what you're made of.

I found I'm not worth much without my Best Friend, my True North, my Savior.

You want to know what gives marathon runners that mind-over matter-true-grit-kind-of-magic?

In my experience?

It's Jesus. 😊

Want to experience it for yourself?  

Create a dream that scares you a little and see what happens!!

aw man, blisters are the worst!