New Clothes

Thank you friends for your encouragment and support of me teaching Eliana.  I appreciate it so very much!  I will definitely keep posting as I have news and as we figure out what is best for our little cutie. 

I wanted to post a few more things from last month.  I went again to the consignment sale and found some wonderful things for our children.  Of course Eliana got the most.  She needs it and there are soooo many cute things for little girls!  Rebecca has had fun trying some of the new things on her - and I think Eliana enjoys it too.  Hope we aren't creating a monster.



Rebecca went with me to the sale and she loved picking out things for Eliana too.  Here is one of her picks.  Eliana loves the soft fur.  Not what I would have picked, but it is cute on her.  I think those two girls are going to have fun shopping together when they are old enough to go without me. 



I was able to find things for the boys too though none of them needed too much.  We even found some things for Rebecca.  I also bought some books and toys and hooded towels.  Eliana loves wearing the hooded towels after her baths.  Just makes me laugh!  Oh, and a cute little pink chair for Eliana (another one of Rebecca's picks). 



All in all another successful trip to the sale.  I'm thankful to be able to shop here as it saves us a lot of money!

Blessings
Leslie

Sweet gift

I am blessed in so many ways.  I know that sometimes people look at my life and see the weight or the burdens of things we are dealing with.  I understand that.  I probably would have viewed it that way a few short years ago.  A lot has changed in our life in a few short years.  I won't say that it hasn't been hard - or that it doesn't continue to be hard some days.  Without going through the hard times though, I wouldn't have learned about God's faithfulness, love and goodness. 

The hard times have changed me and given me a different perspective on things.  For me, this is a good thing.  That doesn't mean that I don't wish at times that it were easier, that there weren't so many decisions and things to figure out.  It is an area though in which I have much to learn about leaning on God, listening to Him and following where He leads me (and that isn't always where *I* want to go!). 

Lately, I feel overwhelmed with the need for information and also the need to make decisions.  What is best for each child?  How can I help my children to learn given their unique and sometimes challenging learning needs?  How do I even know what is best given the myriad of choices available and the conflicting advice on which route to take.  It leaves my head swimming sometimes, though I'm trying to tackle it a little bit at a time. 

One of the blessings of making decisions and that most of them aren't final.  I'm not commiting to something that can't be changed if it isn't working for our family.  I'd like to make the best/right decisions the first time, but know that isn't always possible.  I don't want to make wrong decisions though that are detrimental.  Does this even make sense?

One of the decisions looming in our future is what to do with Eliana when she turns 3.  She is currently in a program for children age 0-3.  While in this program she receives therapy for her various developmental needs.  This is a wonderful service.  Most of these therapies occur in our home which is also a blessing.  She currently has 5 therapies per week (2 speech, 1 occupational/feeding, 1 physical therapy, and 1 developmental/music therapy).  This will all end when she turns 3.  The typical course of action is to then enroll in public school preschool where she would get therapy.

Personally, it would be very hard to enroll my little girl (she is still so very young developmentally) in school and have her gone each day.  I do want to do what is best for her though.  I'm not sure that for our family though that this is the best choice.  I'm still praying, pondering and looking into our options.  I'm wanting God to show us what is best for Eliana.

I've had a couple of things recently that are encouraging me that we can school our girl at home.  Not big things.  I'm not sure God always speaks to me in big ways though. 

Therapy.  That is honestly the biggest draw to putting her in school.  Our insurance will cover some therapy, but not all of it.  We recently had good news about the therapies that Eliana will be able to receive that is covered by our insurance.  She is eligible for twice what we thought she would be able to get.  One half of that would be for speech and the other half for pt/ot.  It is not the amount that she gets now, but is still much more than we thought we'd be able to get.  I'm thankful for that!

Teaching Eliana.  She learns in some different ways that will make using a traditional curriculum challening unless adapted for her.  I have a lot to learn about how best to do this (while juggling schooling for my other children as well).  I've gotten some encouragment here too.  I'm going to share three of them.

First, my friend Hollie recently showed me a curriculum designed for special needs children (specifically Down syndrome) made by/for BJU press.  I wrote to the gal that wrote it and she sent me a copy of the curriculum for 3yos.  It isn't complete, but is a great start.  I need something to help me as I get started and I think this will be a great thing.

Second, I ran into a blogging friend while we were on vacation!  How ironic is that?  I recognized her daughter from pictures on her blog and when I heard her name, I knew it had to be her!  Beth is homeschooling her 11yo daughter who also has Down syndrome.  She has shared great information with me in the past about homeschooling DS.  We were able to talk briefly and I shared some of my concerns with her.  Beth was very encouraging to me that I could do this. 

Third, just today I received a gift.  Two new books that will help me teach Eliana. 

Teaching Math to children with Down Syndrome
AND
Teaching Reading to children with Down Syndrome.

Rita was doing a give-away on her blog to celebrate the birthday of a little girl that lives far away that has captured her heart.  You can read more about this celebration and see her beautiful family on her blog.  Thank you Rita!

Now, I realize that none of this is huge.  I realize that this may not be God's answer.  I'm open to hearing, but am increasingly at peace with the path I believe He is leading us down.  I am thankful for the opportunities that I have to learn, to be molded and to grow.  I'm thankful for a Father that guides me, teaches me and loves me completely. 

I'm thankful for the sweet gifts He gives along the way!
Leslie

The Battleship North Carolina

Part 2 of our beach post.  More on our current week and field trip today - tomorrow.  :-) 

On our way home from the beach, we decided to stop by the Battleship.  We had seen it on our way down and Isaiah was very interested in going on it.  We went there with our History group, but at that time Isaiah was very small - and Daniel was still tucked inside. 

We had a beautiful day and there were lots of other people there wanting to visit it too!  The crowds and tight places were a little difficult for Isaiah.  I was surprised as he had wanted to go so very much.  God was gracious to give me patience to work with him despite the crowds waiting on us.  Things did improve and though he wanted to exit numerous times, I think overall he remembers it positively.

Here are some photos.  This was just outside the battleship.



We started in a small museum where there were models of all of the USS North Carolinas throught he years. 



There was also a dress up area which of course my boys wanted to do!



Then we toured.  You are able to go on so much of the ship and learn about what life was like on it.  It is definitely worth a stop if you are interested at all!





This is from the bakery - the muffin trays were HUGE!



The bunks for the enlisted men were 4 deep!   Talk about tight quarters!





Lots to explore, touch and learn about.















A fun family field trip. 

Blessings
Leslie

Sept trip to the beach

This is a belated post - but better late than never.  We had two big trips in September and I want to post pics from both of them. 

The first was a week at the beach.  We met our friends from VA there for the week.  They are in a unit just a short ways down the beach from us.  This is the third year we've met there and it has become a fun tradition.  I'm not going to write much, but wanted to share some photos.







Eliana LOVES the beach!  She loves the sand and also the water.  We had trouble with her eating the sand this year.  I couldn't figure out why she kept eating after taking the first fistful.  Yuck! 



Daniel loves to find shells.  He spends a lot of time looking and is really quite good at spotting them too.  He loves his shell collecting bag that he got from the Kenkels too!



Christopher giving Aaron a ride. 



I'm not sure why anyone would want to be buried up to their head in sand - but apparently it is fun for at least two of my boys. 





I just love seeing my boys hanging out and having fun together.



Boogie boarding is a big hit with my older kids.





Hannah and Rebecca enjoy having a week to hang out as they miss being able to just run next door.



Another one of Christpher and Aaron.  Christopher is really great with younger kids and it's sweet to see him playing with Aaron.



Of course, we have fun building sand castles - and not too many pictures though.



Just having fun looking for shells and stopping for a picture so I can remember the moment.  We were down by the "river" (an inlet from the ocean) where there are always lots of good finds.  It was a sweet time.



We had a wonderful week and were thankful to share it with our friends.  We look forward to doing it again next year.

Blessings
Leslie

FIAR Co-op: Higgins Bend Song and Dance

Today has been a very, very full day.  It was our "Sports Saturday".  Roger was working a half day today, so the kids and I got up this morning to get Joshua to his game (30 min away) by 9:30.  His team played great and won their game.  It was a beautiful sunny morning too.

We went home and had lunch and little down time.  Next at 2 we left for Rebecca's soccer game in the next town.  She played well and scored a goal for her team.  Home again for a short time - to pack up a picnic and get things ready for Christopher's game.  It was an away game over an hour away.  We left at 5pm.  Had a picnic dinner when we arrived and then waited.  By this time it is dark - and cold! 

Christopher's team was missing a lot of players and as a result, many of them played both offense and defense.  They played hard but were unable to win the game.  I'm proud of their effort though!  We got hom very late - about 10:30.  Everyone is beat and headed to bed already.  I'm going to join them soon.  First though, I wanted to share some pictures of our first fun co-op!

We are part of a new co-op using FIAR volume 4.  I did this years ago with Rebecca and thought it would be a fun thing to do with my boys this year.  We have 7 families in our group and I think this is going to be a really fun year!

Here is a picture of our group.



For our first book, we chose Higgins Bend Song and Dance.  This a delightful tale of a fisherman trying to catch a big one and the antics that go along with it.  For the co-op, my partner and I decided to focus on two lessons - worms and water.  We started with a short devotion and prayer and then read the book.



First, my sweet friend Adele taught about worms.  She had fact cards for them to read about worms.  They learned about the parts of a worm. 





Then we started a worm experiment (one of our science experiment bags from the swap).   The children added dirt to a cup and then worms.  Some were very wiggly and active. 







Water was added to keep the worm  happy. 



The children used magnifying glasses to observe the worms. 



Lastly, they add leaves for the worm to eat and they recorded their observations.







The second part of our morning was spent doing some experiments with water focusing on it's weight and density.

Our first experiment involved a balloon filled with cold water (blue) and one filled with warm water (red).  I asked the children what they thought would happen when we put it into the large tub of water.  Lots of answers - though popped seemed to be the most common one.



What we found out is that the cold water sank and the warm water floated.  This is because the cold water molecules are closer together, making it more dense and thus heavy.  Have you ever noticed this when you were swimming in the ocean (or maybe a lake)?  You felt the water at your feet was colder than the water around your chest?  It's because the colder water sinks to the bottom. 



Next experiment involved clay.  Each child was given some clay to make into a ball.  I asked the children again what they thought would happen.  Again, lots of answers.  What we found was that it sank. 



Next, they took the same clay, flattened it into a larger piece and then turned up the sides like a bowl or a boat.  Now what happened?  It floats.  This is because there is a larger surface for the water to "push" back on and causes it to float.  The ball had less surface for the water to push on and was also more dense/heavy than the water.



The last experiment involved cans of soda.  I again asked what they thought would happened.  Popped is a common - or perhaps desired - answer again.  We first tried putting in a can of coke.  What happens?



It sinks.

Next we had a can of diet Dr. Pepper.  Same size.  Same volume.  What happens to this one?



It floats.  Surprised?   I was!  I thought this was really cool.  We talked about why this happens.  What is the difference between the cans?  They are the same size.  One is "diet".  I had them look at the nutrition label.  Joshua read the first one as I knew he would know what to look for.  It was the carbs - something he has had practice at doing for a few months now.  In the coke can, there were 39 grams of carbs.  This is the sugar.  In the diet drink there were 0 grams of carbs.

The difference in it floating and not floating is the addition of this weight.  Pretty cool, huh?  We tried it again with two more different drinks.  Again the diet drink floats and the regular does not.

The moms remained curious about this, so we got out Joshua's nutritional scale to see if the weight was different.  It was.  The diet drink weighed 5/8 of an ounce less than the regular.   If you want to read more about this experiment, visit this link. 

While I was helping to teach, Rebecca played with Eliana and her friend Julianna.  She has some pictures which I'll try to add tomorrow.  Daniel also played - though I had thought he might join in with the co-op.  He had the opportunity to have some fun one-on-one nature studies with my dear friend Lynn and he took her up on them.  He really loves one-on-one attention!  He spent time with someone who knows and appreciates nature greatly too!





All in all, we had a beautiful day and we played with dirt, worms and water.  Add in friends and what could be more fun!  I look forward to our next meeting in 2 weeks. 

Blessings
Leslie