Our 5th Year Begins.

We are now half way through term one of our fifth year of home education. We have had a flying start! I feel like I am really beginning to settle into who I am as a home educating mum. The first few years I was overtaken by my new found passion. There was so very much to learn, and I loved every minute. Now, however, I feel more relaxed and I know where we are headed. I no longer feel the need to read everything I can get my hands one about home education.

In preparation for this year, I did not spend hours planning our curriculum and timetable. Past years have seen me attempt to fill our days with many wonderful plans, many of which were shelved after a week or two when I realised that we just would not have the time to do them justice. So this year we are simply covering religion, maths, english and spelling and Sonlight 5. We have kept Wednesdays light. We will cover spelling, science, religion lapbooks and hopefully art appreciation. On Friday afternoons we will have tea-time with home made treats and we will listen to to Classics for Kids.

I am learning the value of listening to the voice of reason within. For example, in Sonlight 5 there is a geography section called Eastern Hemisphere Explorer. It's basically a fill in the blanks type activity along with several fun projects to be completed. Rather than rush in headlong I listened to that part of me which was whispering that it would be stressful and somewhat pointless. That we would be stressed trying to complete it all. So I listened. We will simply gather a few books from the library and learn about each country in a very relaxed manner whilst snuggling on the lounge. I am also planning to complete Sonlight 5 in 18 months to 2 years, rather than the recommended 1 year. I want to enjoy all the wonderful books that are in the curriculum, not stress over a timetable!

I am also loving the new maths curriculum that I have chosen for Bilby. We had been using Maths-U-See, which I still think is a fantastic programme. However, we hit a bit of a wall in Delta. I had always planned to swap to Teaching Textbooks for the high school years, but decided to switch now as the grade 6 text was available. I love that Bilby doesn't need me to sit with him to complete the lesson. He loves the fact that he can do maths on the computer. It has certainly made our day easier. Bilby can complete maths independently, which I love! Koala is keen to switch too, but we will wait until he has completed MUS Gamma, which he is half way through.

This year has seen Roo begin school. The school he is attending is for children with an autistic spectrum disorder who will go onto a mainstream school, but who need a little extra support before they move on to regular school. At the moment there are only 5 other children in Roo's group. This will change as the year progresses, but the maximum number of children will be 12 or 13. The children's day is highly structured, everything they do has visual support and the children's sensory needs are catered for. Naturally all the staff have a fantastic understanding of autism, so we don't need to worry about educating his teachers about what ASD means for Roo. We feel very fortunate that Roo has the opportunity to attend this school, as there are so many families who do not have this option due to a lack of places and schools.

Since starting school, Roo, has begun writing words independently. His teacher showed me a sheet he has completed where he had written the word tree on his own in a scaffold box! I was so excited by this as Roo hadn't shown the least inclination for writing or drawing. Now he often asks me to write his brothers' names so he can trace them. He even had a go at writing his own name in a scaffold box which I drew.

Roo will of course eventually be home educated, but for the moment this is the best setting for him.

Hopefully the rest of our year will be as successful as our first 5 weeks!

Leaps and Bounds.

Over the years we have tried many ways to help Koala to achieve his potential. Occupational therapy, speech therapy, chiropractic, kinesiology, diet, psychological assessments. Some of these have been a waste of time and money, others were more beneficial.

One intervention, however, has yielded more fruit than I ever dreamed possible. For well over a year now, Koala and Roo, have been seeing a GP (family doctor) who practises from a bio-medical model known as Mindd. Not possessing a scientific brain, I will not attempt to explain Mindd, but I encourage you to visit their site.

After blood tests, the boys were given natural supplements to stabilise their bio-chemistry. The copper zinc ratio of both boys was not what it should have been.

The Doctor thought that Koala's meltdowns might be attributed to excess heavy metals in his system. A hair analysis was performed which confirmed the Doctor's suspicions. Koala had elevated aluminium and other heavy metals.

When Koala's bio-chemistry was stable he began to take a natural supplement designed to remove the heavy metals from his body. At first there was little change so the dose was increased. We began to notice an improvement in his ability to deal with difficult situations. As the metals began to leave his body, meltdowns became a thing of the past. At first Koala was surprised when a meltdown didn't automatically happen! Instead of a screaming violent child we had a minor temper tantrum. Bliss!

Lately we have noticed that things which would have caused Koala much anxiety and upset do not matter anymore. For example this morning Koala lost a lolly under the seat of Grandma's car. A few months ago this would have caused a flood of tears and much yelling. Today he was able to let it go without the least sign of anxiety. Many times I have steeled myself for a meltdown which simply does not materialise.

The meltdowns have been the most difficult part of Aspergers for Koala, and our family to deal with. The last mammoth meltdown we experienced as at a crowded country fair. After realising that Koala was not going to be able to calm down quickly, James put him over his shoulder and began the long walk back to the car. Following behind, I witnessed the astonished stares and comments of the crowd. I enlightened a few people as to the reason for this spectacle lest they think they were witnessing an abduction! We sat in the car for well over an hour before we were able to drive away.

Needless to say life without this kind of stress makes a huge difference to our family. Recently I realised that I have chosen to withdraw from certain activities because it is easier. Past rejection has caused me to back away from opportunities to make new friends due to the fear of what might happen if Koala has a meltdown. We had begun to put off family outings rather than risk a public display of Aspergers.

So it is a wonderful blessing to be able to see our little boy happy and content. We are able to enjoy him without the fear of a Vesuvius style eruption!

The same doctor has also helped Roo. A stool test revealed the reason for his consistently loose bowel movements. He had almost no good bacteria in this gut. We have been slowly been working to improve this with diet and supplements. Vitamin B12 has also helped to stimulate his language which has greatly improved. He is not yet word perfect, but we can understand everything he says, and he talks as much as the next 5 year old.

We have indeed been blessed to have found this doctor. I never dared to hope that we could see such positive results.

Language Arts Liberation!

Ever since we began home education I have struggled with finding the right balance for language arts. There are just so many areas which seemed essential to a good education: reading; writing; spelling; handwriting; poetry; literature read-alouds; grammar. Covering all these sub topics could easily fill a whole day not to mention religion, maths and so on.

In the beginning I tried to fit them all in. Much stress ensued! As I waded through curriculum forums, review sites and discussed curriculum with other mums, I always felt that I wasn't getting it right. Child x was memorising poetry, child y was diagramming sentences, child z was writing a thesis (or so it seemed!)

In my effort to find the right balance I tried many programmes. You name it I have either tried it or know something about it! With every curriculum switch I was sure I had found the perfect fit. But filling our mornings with 4 or 5 language arts lessons lead to disjointedness and stress. Bilby would complain and I would find something else, or he would like one programme, but I thought it was too schooly!

Late last year I decided enough was enough! Four years of chopping and changing had done none of us any good. After reading this wonderful blog post and other sources related to grammar, writing and keeping things simple, I decided to pare down my language arts expectations once and for all.

Our school year begins in a week and I am adamant that I will break the cycle of curriculum jumping! This year I have decided that the boys will continue their spelling programme (Phonetic Zoo) and return to Emma Serl's Intermediate Language Lessons. That's it! We will not change after a few weeks or months, and I will not read about other programmes or listen with too much enthusiasm to the choices of others.

And now that I've told the world, I better follow through!

You Know Your 5 Year Old is Catholic When...

Last week end we once again visited the beach. Roo spotted a common green weed that is found in rock pools, which resembles a string of beads. He picked it up and exclaimed "Rosary beads!"

Too cute.

He's Done it!

The last few weeks have seen Roo achieve two long awaited goals.

For months now, Roo has been using the echolalic phrase"Yes Sir," in response to every question that requires a simple "yes" and many other questions or comments that don't require a "yes." It all began innocently enough while Bilby and Roo were playing, and Bilby thought it sounded cute when Roo said "Yes Sir!" Bilby encouraged Roo to say it a few times and it stuck despite many, many attempts to dissuade him. Every time he said "Yes Sir," we would model the correct response. I was beginning to wonder if he would ever abandon it! This week I have noticed that he is simply saying "Yes." I have to restrain myself from praising him for not saying "Yes Sir," which could bring us back to square one.

Roo's second achievement is that he has started to use the toilet for bowel motions. Granted this is not the most pleasant blog topic, but as it's such a big step and one that we have worked so hard to help him achieve, I feel it's worth noting. I wanted to shout it from the roof top, but it's not something you can tell everyone without getting odd looks! Perhaps my sharing it here will encourage another family dealing with this issue who is wondering if they'll ever say good-bye to nappies. There was no magic solution for this one, just consistent encouragement, loads of patience and a few lollies!

Shouting at the Television!

Occasionally I find myself lamenting at the lack of humility and intelligence of the human race.

Last night while watching the ABC's Q and A programme I found myself shouting at the television! The show had a panel of quests and a live studio audience who were discussing religion and the existence of God. Among the guests were Jesuit Fr. Frank Brennan, a young Muslim gentleman who is a politics lecturer, a "militant atheist" and someone who called herself a "social Catholic."

What riled me the most was the way in which the audience and several panel members assumed that they knew what the Catholic church teaches about homosexuality and contraception. Fr. Brennan was asked about gay marriage, then later in the show, he was asked was homosexuality considered a sin by the church. In the limited time he was given he attempted to explain the churches teaching much to the surprise of the audience. They assumed that he had gone against church teaching. They ASSUMED that they knew more than a Catholic priest! In short he was trying to say that those outside of marriage are called to celibacy.

The other assumption was that if you follow the Pope then you must have 10 children. More shouting at the television! We follow the churches teaching on life, and we only have 3 children. According to those people I must not be an orthodox Catholic.

The "social Catholic" on the panel joked that her 80 year old mother says that she had a "Vatican bypass" thirty years ago. It is very easy to just say well I don't agree with x or y without knowing what the teaching are or why the church holds a particular view! I know because I felt the same way 10 years ago. I had a lot of anger toward the church. However, when I took the time to find out why the church teaches what it does, all my anger gave way to understanding.

I find it quite concerning that people with a very limited amount of knowledge assume that they have a handle on an issue. A little information can be a dangerous thing. Unfortunately many people take a position of authority when in fact they are almost totally ignorant. I believe this is due to laziness and a lack of humility. How much better would the world be if we took the time to research a topic before assuming that we know it all?

If I succeed in teaching my children to have an informed opinion before opening their mouths, I will have given them a rare gift. In educating my sons I am aiming to teach them that what they read or hear in the media might not be true. I will have failed if they do not question and research information for themselves.

If you are not Catholic, or you are feeling indignant about a Catholic teaching like contraception, I challenge you to do a some research. You might surprise yourself.

How Did We Get Here?

Yesterday I attended a Special Needs Mass for our diocese. Despite the fact that it was rather schooly, I enjoyed the opportunity to pray for our boys and to reflect on the challenges and joy they bring to our family.

The Mass was celebrated at the church attached to my primary school . Every time I enter this church memories come flooding back! Just being there is enough to transport me back to the feelings of my childhood.

As I waited for Mass to begin I noted that the noise level from chattering people was quite high. This would never have happened in my day! Both the nuns who taught us, and our parents instilled in us the virtue of respect and silence when in church. We simply did not talk once we entered the doors of the church. Or if we did, we paid for it! I recall our class lining up to face the principal and her leather belt in year three, as we returned from Mass. We had chatted through Mass, and so we received 2 or 3 smacks across the hand as punishment. We knew that the church was a sacred and holy place where Jesus dwelt in the Blessed Sacrament. In the 25 years since I left primary school, people seem to have lost respect for Jesus in the tabernacle. Many people talk and to few acknowledge Jesus by genuflecting or bowing.

After communion I even saw a teenage boy remove the Blessed Sacrament from his mouth, on the way back to his pew. He then slowly ate the Host with his fingers whilst sitting in his seat, next to his parents! Other braver souls then me would have approached this boy and told him why what he was doing was so offensive to them. Alas, I was not that brave soul. Like, Saint Peter, I am a coward. I did however resolve that if he placed the Blessed Sacrament in his pocket, I would not sit still.

Attending this Mass left me feeling somewhat distressed and saddened. The chatter and disrespect of the Blessed Sacrament leads me to believe that we've failed. We've failed to hold people accountable to their faith. I explain it to my children this way.

If you were in a room with the Prime Minister, and he was at the head of the room quietly waiting to speak to you and the other people assembled, you wouldn't turn your back on him to have a conversation with the person next to you! In our Catholic churches, Jesus is physically present and waiting to speak to you. Some people has lost sight of how amazing that is! Should we not give him all our attention and respect. After all He is the same God that created the universe and holds it in existence by His will. As a priest in our diocese once said, if you don't believe that Jesus is physically present, then go, because you're not Catholic.