Where have you been?

Ok so I started this whole blog thing as a way to “journal” my life in order to help others that may be faced with similar issues.  However, after starting this it seemed to just fall to the waist side (like many other things lately), but I am trying hard to recommit to.  A wonderful friend of mine, yes Stacey that would be you, fusses at me EVERY time I chat with her that I haven’t blogged lol.

Here we go,

Our first official year of homeschooling is OVER!!  It is bittersweet.  We had a blast doing arts and crafts (note to self, 13 year olds do not appreciate that as much as 6 and 4 year olds do), we planned school around family time together, and even made it on a few “field trips”.

What was our outcome?  I’m so glad you asked! Ha - We found out that we have AMAZINGLY smart children that just weren’t given their moment to shine in the public school system.  Malachi zoomed through the kindergarten curriculum in no time flat and is very ready to start 1^st grade.  Jeremy caught up on the 7^th grade things he missed in the public school and flew pretty well through 8^th grade.

We learned that a more advanced curriculum is needed for next year, one with a little more in-depth thinking.  I learned not to let planning over whelm me and to do it ahead of time.  Grades really don’t matter that much, and work doesn’t always have to be perfect.  Sometimes it is totally ok to put down the books and get to the root of the child’s problem because it may not really be that math problem that is the issue.

Above all else, we learned that we can TOTALLY educate our children!  We can raise them to highly functioning members of society and we can do it well!  In just our first year we have managed to tame the disrespectful little punks, and start turning them into gentlemen.  Ok well maybe not totally gentlemen yet, but they are well on their way.  It is amazing what you can do with you remove the negative influences.

Micah has flourished from a non-vocal 3 year old to a never quite jabbering 4 year old.  He can now hold a small conversation with you and is even beginning to follow directions.  He may still be severely delayed but man has he made progress.

Above all else, we are a happy family!  I no longer allow nah-sayers in our life to be vocal.  I can’t stop you from thinking I can’t do it, but you are not allowed to vocalize it to me and expect to continue our conversation.  This is our life and our journey, and we are PROUD of it.

So why did I fall of the blog planet……..why not? – I had a family to encourage.