Making A Home

We have a date!

We got the letter we were waiting for from out lawyer!

Tyler and Hailey's adoption will finalize on:

SEPTEMBER 20th, 2010.

This is a year and a half in the making (the first meeting I attended about these children was in March 2009 and we met them April 1, 2009)... and we are SO THRILLED to finally have an end in sight!

Thank you to all who have prayed for us and our children.  It's been quite a year and I know so many of you have prayed us through it.  We truly appreciate it.

20 days... and counting.

TOS Review: Peterson Directed Handwriting

As a member of the Old Schoolhouse Crew, I was asked to review a handwriting program for Peterson Directed Handwriting this month.  The adventure started with an online meeting with creator, Rand Nelson, and I must say, I was impressed from that first meeting how passionate he is about this program, and how committed the company is to helping it's customers and making sure you get all of the support needed to make the program work.

For example, several of us at that first meeting had students that were left handed, and Rand offered to have an extra meeting, just to give some tips and hints to help our lefties succeed.  We were given copies of their e-books for printing instruction, and asked to try it out and give an honest review.

The program is based, at least in part, on scientific principles of muscle memory.  By using both large and small muscle groups to learn the starting point, direction and end-point of the strokes required to make each letter, those movements get recorded in their muscle memory. 

There are 4 steps to each lesson:

1. Illustrate and Describe
2. Write in the Air and Say
3. Finger Trace and Say
4. Write and Say

Each letter and number (I chose to focus on numbers for our trial) is broken down into strokes, and each type of stroke is given a name.  For instance (try to visualize this), a 2 is chanted as "Roll, Slant, Slide." 

Click this link for examples of some others.

They also put focus on rhythm, which helps improve fluency.  This online presentation describes the program better than I have, complete with the scientific principles behind the method.

The online store is here, so you can see all of the products they offer.  There are programs for Kindergarten, on up, both print and cursive.  They also offer special triangular pencils and pencil grippers to help your students hold their writing utensil properly, alphabet charts and more.  Their Homeschool Complete Kit for Pre-K and K sells for $44.50, but there's a basic kit for $20.80 also.  In fact, there are so many different options,it's worth clicking around to see what they have to offer and what may be right for your students.  The e-books that I reviewed are available to peruse here, and you can purchase a license for $19.95 each.  The benefit of the e-books, of course, is the ability to use the practice sheets over and over.  (The negative to that, of course, is LOTS of printing!)

Can I be brutally honest here?  I didn't WANT to like this program.  Just bein' real. The programs my children have used in the past gave me at least a few minutes of the school day that I didn't have to guide them... it was just the children and their workbooks.  (Does that sound horrible?  Much of what we do is accomplished together, so these breaks were a nice interlude in our busy days.  Time for me to start lunch or oh, I don't know... blog?)  So a program so involved, that required me to lead them through the formation of these muscle memories didn't sound like what I wanted to add to this school year, what with trying to get things rolling with our new children, giving them a solid, peaceful start to their homeschool career.  (I've got a 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st grader this year.)  But the truth is, their handwriting wasn't improving much with the old workbooks.  And in just a few lessons, I'm already seeing real improvement in their number formation.  Hallie had about 5 digits backwards in her pre-test... and got them ALL the right direction when I re-tested tonight.  And that's amazing if you ask me.

I also expected my children to balk at the idea of tracing the letters in the air and chanting the movements.  I actually though they'd miss their workbooks.  Silly Mama. 

Tonight I kept them up WAY too late to finish up what we'd been working on, so I could give a complete review, so there was some whining, some frustration, even a few tears when THEY didn't think they were doing it "perfect" (**I** thought they were all doing GREAT, but it was their tiredness talking.  And how in the world did I end up with FOUR perfectionists?)  But even through their exhaustion, they voted unanimously that this program was fun and preferred it to the workbooks. 

"Even if I MAKE you do the finger tracing in the air and MAKE you say the words?"

And they all nodded vigorously. 

Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review.  I have not been compensated in any other way.

Praying for...

Here's how you can pray for our family this week, if you are so inclined.

Sam

Sam is on a new medication, Vyvanse.  I'm not looking for a medication debate... those who know Sam well would likely understand his need, but some will no doubt disagree with our choice to try to find "a pill" to help him.  Our past experiences (a few years ago) trying to find something that worked for him were fruitless.  This one, so far, seems to be better in a lot of ways.  His mind is still running a mile a minute, and in full Asperger's mode... but taking out part of the ADHD componenet helps him control his body and focus some of that brilliant mind.  Pray that we would be able to make the right decision on whether the "pros" outweigh the protential "cons."  Pray also for his tender heart.  His brother, when in the midst of a tantrum, sometimes lashes out and says things about Sam that are hurtful.  We are addressing this as best we can with BOTH boys, but it hurts us so much to see Sam's heart broken by the brother he has longed for and prayed for and loves so much.

Tyler

I read an article the other day (from the childrens' new trauma and attachment counselor, that they will hopefully be starting to see next week) on "Pre-Finalization Jitters."  It talked about negative behaviors increasing and children lashing out more, just prior to finalization (I have lawyer paperwork in hand!), as one last attempt to push away their new parents, before the parents can reject them first.  This is Tyler in spades right now.  I asked him point-blank about it after one episode last week.  "I read this article... is this what you're trying to do?"  And he said it was.  I don't actually know if children have a concious understanding of these attempts to thwart bonding and attachment... but he claims to.  My prayer request for Tyler is the same as it was before... help him learn to trust, to love, and to allow love in.  (And, of course... that issue with his brother, above.)  Ty also had a rough week after the girls' play last week, being aware that we invited some of their birth relatives to see the show, and none came.  ONE responded and told us why he couldn't make it, but the others just didn't come, and as much as we've tried to explain all the reasons they might not have been able come (money, distance, work schedules, other committments), it's obvious he's making up his own reasons in his head.

Hallie

Attitude.  Wow.  It amazes me that this cute little girl, that we brought home at 3 weeks old, that we have consistently taught to be respectful, to be kind and loving, so often gives in to an ugly, angry, sassy attitude.  Pray that God would reach her heart, and give us ideas on how to reach her from the outside, too.

Hailey

First of all, we are so THANKFUL that Hailey has made such enormous strides.  Her monumental tantrums, that I admit made us briefly wonder if we were making the right decision, have GREATLY decreased over the last month or so.  Her tantrums are now rare, and brief.  What a breath of fresh air, especially when we are dealing with so much from her brother right now.  We do have some concerns about... organic issues... with this child, however, and would like to get some in-depth testing done.  Pray that the process would go smoothly and quickly (as the waiting list is often a year or more.)

Brian

I just have to throw this one in here this week... my dear, kind husband's birthday was yesterday, and I'm very sad and ashamed to say the children made it just awful for him.  Despite my best efforts to make it a fun, relaxing day, the children pulled out all the stops - fighting, lying, arguing, disobeying... just like they did on my birthday, and mother's day, and father's day... see a pattern here?  It's become obvious this is a sabotage issue, likely related to their attachment issues.  (If we show too much love to daddy on his birthday, we're being unfaithful to our birthparents.  If we let him love us, he'll just let us down like everyone else has.  If we get too close, we'll just get hurt...)  I feel so bad for Brian, who was looking forward to a nice day with his family on his 41st birthday, and instead got stress and grief.  (To make it worse, that was his only day off this week, as he's starting a new schedule at work, and the way the old days off and the new days off landed, he only got a ONE day weekend this week.  Pray that I could find a way to make this evening better, peaceful, that we could have a nice evening (or at least an hour) loving and celebrating the daddy that sacrifices so much for them.

Treasure Island

Our girls were in their first play last weekend.  The Missoula Children's Theatre drives to town each Summer in their little red truck with scripts, directors backdrops and costumes and puts on a theatre camp (or three) in our community.  The children are cast on day 1, attend for 4 1/2 hours a day Monday through Friday, and are ready to put on a full-scale musical by Saturday (with 2 performances.)  Last week was "Treasure Island."

My girls were both cast as Seagulls, the theatrical equivalent of "Little Kids' Chorus", but they had a grand time.  The scripts are so clever, and the way they go about teaching the whole play to the children is truly an art.  For instance, on Tuesday, they came home with lyrics to their main song... but just the lyrics.  They chanted it over and over that evening, then were given the MUSIC the next day, when they already knew the words.  It seems so backwards, but it absolutely worked. 

(Hailey, 2nd from left.  Hallie, 4th from right.)

The costumes were adorable, as you can see on the child next to Hallie (this was the pose she gave when the director instructed them to make a "goofy face" for their parents' cameras.  By this time, she had already removed her gloves and head, much to my chagrin, so I don't have a great photo of her in costume, and alas, I can't post Hailey's close-up yet.)

 
(Hallie, sitting on the stage.)

The girls had a great time and did a wonderful job for their first performances!  Hailey's funniest trait, I'd have to say, was the way she intently stared at the other actors while she and the rest of the seagulls circled the stage... EVERY time, as if she hadn't already seen them performing many times in rehearsals!  Hallie's smile and excitement LIT up the stage - making her easy to spot (that and her small stature).  By the second performance, she was so "at home" on stage that she was improvising, much to my embarassment... imagine a seagull leaving the flock to go HUG one of the main character's sisters! 

After the final performance...

  
   

  We went to Dairy Queen for a treat... "Anything you want!"  Both girls chose the banana splits they've been dreaming about. (Most trips to DQ result in "4 kids twist cones".)
  

 
 

Sam chose a dipped cone, and Tyler went for a Peanut Buster Parfait.

  
We're looking forward to seeing another show (The Tortoise and the Hare) that some of our friends will be in this week!

Can you guess?

Can anyone guess what my children have discovered this week?  Watching the DVDs of season 1 have been the big reward for finishing up chores.

Here's a hint... this is how Hallie came out of her room this morning:

Hallie 7.0

Here's a few of the shots I got of Hallie on (or around) her birthday this year.  I'm going to try to do that each year for all of the children, but you know how life goes... I got Sam's taken ON his birthday, but Hallie's photo shoot took a few days to fit in.