Its Sunday again...

 Here is a look into our week...(I will keep updating this page all week)
keep checking in for more information this week.

In My Life:
This week seems to be all about Baby A.
Baby A will  be turning 2 this week. Its our first birthday we get to celebrate with her.

In our Home school:
Make education fun.

Places we are going, or people we are seeing:
Sunday
Today we worked on our Science. We are working on a study of animals. Animal habitats this week.
Big A & I created a chart of all the animals that she could think of . then circled in different colors if they are bigger or smaller animals.
She then did a worksheet on Animals, and made a habitat / animal book.
We read a bunch of science story books on animals today. See below for list we read together.
Big A also enjoyed a lot of time playing with her new electronic phonics game.
I love that she can play & learn. Nice to not have tears when learning.
Had a pop in play date with a friend and her 3 kids :) it was a nice break in the day.

Monday 
Child Development Clinic is coming to see Baby A

Tuesday
We did a lot of reading and math today.
Big A learned to count to 10 by 2's today.
We did adding by 2's worksheet, and a few other math sheets
Big A worked on lots of writing & drawing  today.
Big A read to daddy when mommy went out in the evening :)

Wednesday
Field trip / Birthday party for Baby A at the Zoo
The morning was a lot of fun and exciting, celebrating Baby A's birthday at the zoo.
We counted animals, compared sizes. We did a lot of walking & running for a few hours.
We just had fun being kids.
Big A, enjoyed playing her phonics electronic game. She has been challenging herself to see if she can get them all right.

Kids club for Big A
Big A did lots of singing and gym play this evening at kids club.

Baby A spiked a fever late afternoon and began throwing up...

Thursday
Big A has her first Drama class today 9-12. She is very excited.
Big A had a great time at Drama /  Music class.
Since being home, she has been reading and reading and reading her script & songs. She LOVES the group!
Big A loved all the dancing, and games that they played in class to - it wore her out  :)

Big A has her Anxiety Class this afternoon 3:00-4:30

Friday
Baby A turns 2 today!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY A!!!!
Baby A was sick today.
We had a low key math day , and played some active wii games.

Saturday



Things I am working on:
Getting organized on the homeschooling
Purging / Downsizing
Finishing the girls sensory bedroom
Making School more fun

Photo, Video, Link or Quote I like this week:

Books we read:
Animal Nests - by Lynn Nicol
Crocodiles Live in the swamp  - by Sally Odgers
Homes in the ground - by Susan Canizares & Mary Reid
Snowy Owls - by Helen Frost
Polar Bears - by Emily Rose Townsend

Sometimes I like to curl up in a ball - by Vicki Churchill
ABC Animal Jamboree - by Giles Andrea
The Berenstein Bears God Loves You - by Stan & Jan Berenstein
No Matter What - by Emma Dodd

I have been on a lot of websites & blogs this week - trying to figure out Big A & some homeschooling fun.
I found an idea on a blog that I really like.
I am going to try some of her ideas on mine :)  (i dont remember where i found it - so i cant give her the credit)...

Today is Sunday. - Here is a look into our week...(I will keep updating this page all week)
keep checking in for more information this week.

In My Life:
This week is all about Big A, and trying to get the help she needs, and the help we need to give her what she needs.

In our Home school:
This week - my goal is to get through the week :)
We will work on all the subjects - but I think we will focus on Math, and Socials this week more heavily.
We will take books along to our appointments and do reading while we are in waiting rooms.

Places we are going, or people we are seeing:
Monday

1)  Eye Doctor
We saw the eye doctor and he said she has the correct prescription. She has depth perception issues that are being corrected by her glasses.  He doesn't think the migraine is from her eyes as that is in the front of the head, and the flickering lights last 10-15 mins...he is concerned that they last a lot longer than that.

Park
Added in a trip to the park. Had a great time swinging , running around playing tag, climbing , collecting leaves, watching squirrels collect nuts...

Library
This evening I took Big A to the library to work on school work without the distractions of a phone, computer, a house to clean, a baby always needing me :)  It was wonderful. After we did our work - there was a pajama story time at the Library that Big A very much enjoyed!  She asked if we could make this a weekly thing doing work at the library and story time just the two of us :)
Nice way to end a day.

Tuesday
School work
Big A wrote a story about a mouse.
For large muscle today - the girls had fun playing in the tunnel, throwing beanbags, rocking on the rocking horse,
We made leaf wreaths from the leaves we found at the park yesterday. The girls had a great time!
Math: We have now finished 60 pages in the book...we are done with Number Sense: counting, match by counting, There is order here, the number that means nothing, writing numbers, counting using a chart, more and less, one to one correspondence, how many more, counting on, counting to 20, using a chart to count to 20, tens and ones blocks, ordering numbers, and comparing to 5 & 10.
Next on to adding and subtracting which looks like more she will fly through!! Good thing there is more than 1 text book - i have a feeling this one will be done a lot sooner than Christmas :)
Reading: computer Starfall.com , and book:  Moses

Wednesday
Reflexologist
Reflexologist couldn't find anything wrong with Big A - except stress / tension in her head / neck (which could be causing the headaches...but she couldn't figure out the pain in the abdomen. Suggested doing more massage at home, to help with the stress / tension.
Friend Lisa
Thanks Lisa for letting me do free laundry today - I really appreciate it!!
Big A's old school friends-play at playground with them after school
Big A enjoyed seeing old friends and playing at the park with them
Kids Club at Bakerview Church
(PE) Big A really enjoyed the gym time tonight playing with a parachute, and balls :)
School Work
Big A worked on addition in her work book today.
(Music) - Kids club
(Art) - Kids club
(PE) - kids club & park
(Socials & LA) - wrote letters to pen pals, took to post office, bought a stamp, and mailed the letters.

Thursday

Made it through another day. Some days that's all I hope for.
Got through most of the school work. Next week we need to do a science / socials focus.
Rudy was off today - so I did a little purging, and reorganizing...Trying to delete excess from the girls room today and add more calming / sensory items.  Made a play area in the living room. I think I like it... we will see.  They say that less is more and I really am starting to agree with that!!

 Child & Youth Mental Health Anxiety Group for Big A
The anxiety group was good for both of us I think. Both learned a lot. Now to try to put some of the learnings into practice.
Health on Big A...still in a lot of pain. Had a spurt of shortness of breath this evening freaked her and me out with it...not sure what that was all about :(

Friday
Pediatrician - hopefully for a few answers...
Well - ran into another idiot pediatrician. ..  Big A was pit on laxitives, and told to come back in 6-8 WEEKS if she was still in pain...SERIOUSLY??? I am supposed to let my daughter suffer from unknown issues of pain for another 6-8 weeks till she will be looked at again??
School:
(PE) daddy took the girls to the park for a little over an hour :)  thank you daddy!
We will be doing school on Saturday looks like...


Things I am working on:
Getting organized on the homeschooling
Purging / Downsizing
Dairy Free week for Big A
Getting Big A signed up for a drama class
well - 2 out of 4 isnt so bad.

Photo, Video, Link or Quote I like this week:

Books we read this week:

Thump, Quack, Moo - by Doreeb Cronin & Betsy Lewin

Lots of Feelings - by Shelley Rotner (love the photos, expressions and  multi-culture in the book.)

My Little Sister Ate One Hare - by Bill Grossman (a silly book about counting backwards)

Its been a looooong week!!

Turns out Big A did not have a bladder / kidney infection.
After several days of in and out of the hospital all week, turns out they have no clue why Big A has pain that feels like someone stabbing her in the abdomen with a knife...and why she has been having so many headaches that come with flashing lights in her eyes...

Being her mom  - I am very concerned and frustrated.

I have been doing so much internet research this week and i am temporarily self diagnosing my daughter...

This is what I have come up with ...

Fetal alcohol (birth mom drank during pregnancy)
Anxiety
Dyslexia
Sensory Processing Disorder
Unexplained Somatic Complaints. (this one came up as after all the tests at the hospital - they cant find anything that is causing the pain and distress)

I know I am not a doctor - but it all goes together and she exhibits much from all of these...

To the School Work:

We have done much Friday & Saturday to make up for this week
Reading done by her and to her all week (as her hand was pretty much out of commission.
We took the dot to dot book to the hospital with us along with a bunch of story books to read while we were waiting for tests...
I joined a home-schooling group and borrowed "PE" stuff to do in  the house. We borrowed a children's exercise DVD and a bag with a movement CD , scarves, beanbags, stretchy ropes, skipping ropes...
It has been a lot of fun.

This next week is filled with appointments...
Monday - Eye Apt to rule out why the headaches occur
Wednesday - Foot Reflexology - as sometimes they can find things doctors cant
Thursday - We meet with Child and Youth Mental health - for an anxiety meeting as she met the qualifications to get into the program..(which confirms the anxiety issues)
Friday - We meet with a paediatrician and hopefully he can point us in the right direction to get some diagnosis & treatments & supports.

Here is a link to Big A reading a story :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxsixgNtznw

Monday:

Today Big A worked on all her work books, and finished at least 12 pages in her math book...maybe more.
We did some dancing.
We watched some Sunny Patch Spider.
Big A read 75 pages in her Dick and Jane book.

Around 3:00 I took Big A to the hospital as she has been complaining about pain for a few weeks. Thought we would try again in getting results since last time got no where...

Well after 5 hours in ER...Aliyah can't really use her right hand...
She has a bladder / kidney infection gone bad, and has an IV tube attached in her hand, and while at home it is wrapped in gauze and a mitt to protect it.
We have to go to the hospital in the evenings for IV meds.
She says that her hand is in a lot of pain.

I guess she will be doing lots of reading and being read too... as she cant really print at the moment :(

Sunday :

Today Big A did art in Sunday School.
She also participated in singing during the worship service.
Big A also worked on several pages of dot to dot...1-100...

We may take some time off - or a lot shorter day Wed , when daddy is off.

I didnt think that I would be doing a post today.

We were priveldeged to watch a Big A drama performance this morning...I believe it was called "flower"...?

Little A is napping, and Big A has been begging me to work on her school work books...

So she is currently working on her science project that she started yesturday about Living and Non living things, and catagorizing the Living into plants & animals.

Then she has also asked to work in her math book...

I guess we will take some of these ones down a notch this week :)

We had a fantastic evening at the chuch fall festival.

Big A enjoyed bouncy castles, and the opportunity to go on a trampoline, tied up and could go extra high...

Today is Friday :)
We are all still sick around here. Thankfully we have the option of staying in our jammies and working from home...have I mentioned that I am loving this home-schooling thing?  :)
I think this is our first real full day.

830-930am (Math)
We started the day off with an hour of math to get it out of the way.
Big A worked on her math book for half an hour, and did really good. (mommy enjoyed cleaning the kitchen while big A worked) (little A enjoyed coloring pictures)
We played a dice game this morning, where Big A rolls 2 dice, and tells me the numbers, we write them down and figure out what they add up to. She really enjoyed this game.
Then we worked on her word problem math book. This book she has more difficulties with, so I read the question and she comes up with the answer.

930-945 (Free Time, Music / Drama)
For her break time she chose to watch the TV show High 5.
Its about music, dancing, drama, story telling. The theme of the show we watched today was colors, music, and feelings.
Both girls really love this short little show.

945-10:30 (LA)
Art / Writing  book
I am enjoying watching the creativity of Big A's stories that she writes.
Yesterdays story was about a caterpillar, today's story was about a bird.
It takes a while for me to figure out some of her words, but I am not concerned with the spelling in the book, (I will care later - but not right now - I am just very happy that she is enjoying writing stories :)

Big A said her hands were hurting - so we are took a break from writing...

10:30 - 11:15 (LA) Reading Time together
Mommy Read:
My Precious Little Bear. by Claire Freedman
Goldilocks & The three Bears.

Big A Read:
Have you seen my cat? by Eric Carle

11:00 - 12:00
Free Time & Lunch and get little A ready for her nap.
Girls made a fort under the coffee table in the living room.
Did Art, Singing,
(PE)  Indoor Knee Tag  - where they crawl on their knees and try to catch each other :)
Pop in Visit from CFS to give us little A's adoption papers, and a gift to congratulate on the finalization of the adoption!!  :)

12:00 - 12:30 (LA)
Silent reading

1230-1:00 - free time - mommy had to take a phone call.

1:00 - 2:00 (Science & Art)
Big A really loves animals, so we have decided to work through our Animal Science book first.
Today she started to color the pictures on the 2 pages, cut them out and glued them into "living" and "nonliving" groups. After this she grouped living things into "plants" and "animals"
It took her an hour (to start)...she is a perfectionist.
(We will be PVRing episodes of Wild Kratts , I find them to be very educational with animals.)
(We will also be PVRing episodes of Magic School Bus for Science as well)

2:00-2:30 (LA)
watched Electric Company
 
2:30-2:50 (PE)
Dance Party
Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

It was a full - great day :)

I don't mind using TV for educational purposes. Big A learns a lot from TV.
I prefer to give her mostly educational shows instead of fluffy nonsense.  We enjoy a lot of PBS & Knowledge Kids).  Big A often "plays" or re-enact things that she watches on TV.


I need to figure out some new learning games because right now I feel like she is doing a lot of work books and not much play/learning... Thankfully she enjoys is it all.
Maybe we need to limit work books to 3x per week and do learning games / and activities the other 2 days...?
I personally find that 8:30-3:00 is too long for a homeschool day...would love suggestions on cutting this back.


Our Goals from now till Christmas...
Lower Big As anxiety
Lower the amount of Big As emotional meltdowns
I would also like to see Big A learn to count by 2's, 5's, & 10,s
I would also like to see her reading skills improve


   

I know I am a very new newbie at this homeschooling thing...but i must say...
We have 4 sick people in our home today...And...
We were still able to do school !!! :)

Big A did as much of her workbooks as she could on her own (Math, Drawing / Story writing, and Spelling / Reading) - while mommy went to the doctor.
She did 20 mins of reading on her own.
Timers really seem to work well for big A.

Then we did more workbooks together when I got home - so I could read the pages and she could answer the questions. (Math word problems, and Spelling).

Then some had naps and some watched TV.
We learned that Electric company is very educational with language skills.
Big A learned about silent letters, short "i" sound.
There was a lot of music, beats, and rythem in  the show to help the kids learn.

We also watched some Sunny Patch Spider. We love that show because it talks about adoption.
The girls also love animals.  They learned about friendship & obeying. Also about chipmunks, snails, predators, bugs, and pinecones.

Big A learned today about compassion, and saying sorry, and thinking before doing, as our actions can really hurt people we love.
(pulling a blanket around a babys neck while baby is sitting on a table...results in baby falling to floor , landing on head, and screaming...
Little A, I hope learned that sitting on coffee tables is not the best place to sit (even though aparently is the best seat in the house.

All parties involved are fine :)

We hope to play some board games after supper...we will see if we all can stay up that long...
Looking forward to creating a flexible schedule, and meeting our DL teacher on Saturday.

Today was another casual homeschooling day.
Math sheets, and an hour of reading.
Mommy went to the curriculum store in Surrey while daddy watched a movie with the girls.
After babys nap I took both girls out to do some last minute shopping. Made a trip to the library and then went for a nice long walk at  Mill Lake. To our surprise the water park was open, and we enjoyed splashing, and running in the water, and looking at the pretty rainbow that the sprinklers made in the sun. Then ran over for some playground fun before heading home for supper.
Another great day.
Now to plan a flexible daily schedule and a little more education happening.  :)

Today was a casual start to our homeschooling.
We worked on some reading, and math pages.
My little perfectionist had a half hour meltdown as she got frustrated with reading some big words.
I was happy to explain that one of the blessings of homeschool is that we can take breaks, and ask mom for help. We can slow down and go at out own speed.  After half hour meltdown, a hug , and a Donut man movie, we were able to continue with out work.
We enjoyed creating with playdough today too.
I am excited that I get to go purchase my curriculum tomorrow and really get started into the new homeschooling process :)

 

Why the name Double A?

My girls names. For the purpose of privacy of their names. We will call them Big A & Little A in the blog. If you know my girls and you are commenting - please use Big A & Little A instead of their full names. Thank you :)

I have been toying with the whole idea of homeschooling for about 2 years now. I know my girls will do good with it...the struggle has been within me. Am I going to be able to give them the education that they need and deserve. Am I going to be organized enough to stay on top of that and the daily grind of being a mom, housewife.  Am I going to be able to stick it through for a minimum of a year? Am I going to be able to get through the day without injuring anyone :)   Well after many sleepless nights, headaches, and much prayer - I am finally at peace about saying YES to the new adventure in homeschooling.  My oldest is in grade 1 and she is just as excited to start this too.  This blog is mostly a form of accountability for me, but I hope that you can find some ideas that help you with having fun with your children too. 
Here we go...