Homeschool Reflections

My boys are quite the handful when it comes to school work. Actually they are quite "spirited" when it comes to most things....to be polite! No one ever prepared me for having two boys less than two years apart! Keeping them in line and on task takes most of the day.

My oldest, Josiah, is six and was diagnosed with sensory processing issues when he was not quite four years old. He seems to forget how to walk and not run; that beds are for sleeping, not jumping; the "boom" sound is just the trash man(he freaks out), and God gave us bottoms for sitting and not our knees. He is highly intelligent and loves to read, and is very proficient at it too! Math suits him well....double digit addition and telling time without help already! Then comes handwriting and grammar. The things that make our day, well, tense. If he makes one mistake doing handwriting or has trouble sounding out a word...look out! His pencil goes flying and all efforts to not slump over in the chair go out the window.

All this being said, I have learned that depsite his sensory and auditory filtering issues, he CAN learn, and retains things at an astonishing rate! I am proud of how he can repeat lessons learned weeks later! I believe the key to is functionality is doing his lessons in small spurts. Math, reading, break. Science, break. Spelling...two breaks! (One for Mommy after grammar.) Then at night we do our read-alouds/Bible with Daddy. During our "break" time we do Wii Fit, ride our bikes, or anything gross motor to get some of the wiggles out!

Then there's Jeremiah. He's a complex middle child at only four. He is small for his age, but his volume level will make up for that! He's the first one to "yell" that we forgot the blessing at mealtime, but also the one who sneaks down the hall at night to sleep with Mommy. I have seen glimpses of sensory issues(hence the volume issues and he hates to be dirty), but nothing as severe as Josiah's. I know he's technically preschool age, but he thinks he's an equal at times with his brother, so we do kindergarten work with him at times too. He's more calculated and less impulsive, and quite a "thinker" when he wants to have a heart-to-heart chat.

I think the thing that I'm most proud of are the things we've all learned in our first year and a half of homeschool. 1) Homeschool is more about figuring out life lessons and gaining academics along the way. 2) Spiritual and emotional growth are just as integral as academic growth. 3) Lessons can be done at night or on weekends if the daytime becomes too hectic. 4) Each child learns differently...especially children with sensory issues. 5) To remember that even though they're young now....to see them as how I/God would want them to be at 24 and 26, and train them accordingly.

Whew! Tiring yet rewarding! Then there's the five month old princess....