Today has been one of those nice lazy fall days.  We turned on the heat for the first time this season!  Fall is nice.  I love the leaves.  We have a HUGE Maple tree in our front yard.  Its all you can see out of the front windows.  I can't wait until it starts turning colors!  What a great site that will be.  We really need to go on a nature hike.  Lots of tips here at Theresa's page.

I don't know how many know who the Dugger's are but I am betting quite a few.  I've been recording the 17 and counting show on TLC.  I love watching this family. 

I have had my tubes cut and burned so I think THREE may be my limit.  If anything were to happen, well lets say I'd go into shock.  The more I watch the more I think about values and what I want my family to be like.  

I've been reading quite a bit about TV and ADHD (The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Release) and forming opinions about things I should have thought about a long time ago.  In the book it takes about how children that sit in front of a tv for longer time periods are more likely to develop ADHD.  I had a counselor tell me that it isn't the case but seriously its something to think about really.  I don't want my children to sit in front of a TV and rot all day.  I want them to think and be creative and play and read.  I don't want them exposed to the language, the death, the blood, the stupidity that is on even the kids channels.  I can't stop them from watching it and I won't but I CAN limit what they watch.  So I made up my mind.  The little Tvs in the kids room are gone.  The Xbox I never wanted my 8 year old to have is going to his Nana's.  She bought  it for him so I can't just get rid of it.  The games are so violent and disturbing.  Everyone keeps saying He's a boy and that's just what kids are into these days.  Bah humbug.. I don't want him to be into that.  Sigh.  Even my mom thinks he should be able to sit in front of a tv or xbox whenever he wants.  She thinks I am too hard on him.  And she was hard on me as a kid about doing stuff.  Probably because as a kid I was overweight and my son DOES not have that problem.  I would give anything to have his metabolism.  Sigh.   My son can call his grandfather (my dad) and say mom isn't letting me play on the computer and can you believe I get yelled at.  It goes something like this... I bought that computer for him to play with not sit there and collect dust.  yadada 

I want them exposed to Classic Literature not R.L. Stine.  I want them to watch educational stuff or Little house on the prairie type stuff.  Is that possible in this day and age???

Homeschooling does tend to isolate kids from peers and the outside world.  But this is voluntary in my case.  Before you jump on me, let me explain.  So many kids are pushed out there without the skills or manners necessary to even begin to interact with other people.  I want my kids to have and USE (gasp) the manners to be around people of all ages.  I want them to learn to be around kids and adults.  To be able to have a conversation that isn't about the newest show on tv (yeah I'm guilty of gossip girls if you read my last post). 

Why is it hard to want your kids to grow up in an old fashioned manner??  To be old fashioned.  To not want to have sex before marriage.  To hold open doors for ladies.  To say thank you.  To read a book instead of flip on the tv.  To pull their pants up instead of seeing their boxers.  To wear modest clothes as a girl. 

I swear I'm not obsessed.  Its just what is on my mind.  My other half thinks I'm nuts.  He doesn't understand the sitting in front of the tv either.  (Even though he does quite a bit of it himself)  He says, When I was a kid I was always outside.  I say When I was a kid, I had a book in my hands constantly.  I wasn't athletic.  haha 

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll I've said all I can tonight.  I have a tooth ache and need to go lay down.  Besides i have to get work ready for tomorrow.  :)

goodnight all

So much has been rolling around in my head and so many changes have been made in our home environment.  Some good and some not so good.  (Don't worry, it will all work out.) haha

Learning to cope with a gifted ADHDer is like riding a roller coaster.  I gotta say I never had the stomach for it.   You know the one that got off and ran for the nearest trashcan.. Well that wasn't me.. I was the one they had to pick up and carry out because I passed out during the first dip.  I think the people around me were more scared than me.  I don't remember it.  lol  The gifted ADHDer is bored yet doesn't want to sit to do anything about it.  How frustrating he can be.  Sigh.  He finishes his work before I can get something for him to do.  So we started a 30 minute free reading period.  If he catches up with me or finishes everything before I'm ready to move on.. then I say start your reading.  He picks the book and off he goes... asking every 10 minutes or so if his time is up.  Even being prepared with things printed and an agenda worked out... I still feel unprepared.  His boredom makes me think I am not pushing enough or giving him enough work but at the same time he doesn't really want and can get frustrated with more.  Its a mixed world.  I just keep hoping to find something to challenge him.  If he were in school, then he would be in 3rd.  He is breezing through the 3-4th grade work like nothing.  I told DH today that I might have to pull out a few 5th grade sheets and sneak them in to see how he handles them.  :)

For quite some time, I've been researching and obsessing over Montessori.  I am slowly creating some of my own materials for my daughters.  I still have a little time to work with them since they are only 31 months and 20 months old.   We have started doing a few simple lessons.. Like working with the Lacing Beads.  I want to make the dressing frames and work more on practical life skills.  She does some simple activities like sweeping and wiping down the table.  We tried the rice pouring and it was a bit messy.  We will put that on hold for a bit because my youngest doesn't understand what is going on and that tends to result in objects flying.  Rice is a hard thing to find when its been spread out that much!  We also do a matching "game" with color cards (from paint stores) that she likes.  She is pretty good at grouping colors together.  Matter of fact, earlier today she stole my bag of M&M's and arranged them into a single line according to color.  LOL.  Bad thing was she threw them away when she was done.  :(

The public school system we are zoned for to keep tabs on us (playing evil music) send out letters to all homeschoolers about a meeting for parents of homeschoolers with a learning disability.  As of right now, the school is not aware of his ADHD because I had him privately diagnosed AFTER we left the school system.  They said he was bored and probably gifted.. LOL  Well I think they are half right.  They just missed the other half.  So I debated should I go to the meeting and see if they offer anything to homeschoolers or are they just using us to get more money to benefit the school system.  I posted on a yahoo group asking other hsers if they knew of this and what did they think.  I finally got a nice response to another lady in my state that pretty much told me what I already thought.  So I have decided to just let it go.  We will stay under that radar.  I think he needs more attention not more testing.  I'm positive it will just end up that way.  If I have to then I will enroll under an umbrella school.  I have to do it when he gets to highschool anyway.  Homelife Academy is the one I have been looking at.  I have heard nothing about good about it and they are located here in TN. :)  Always a plus.

WELL.................. After this incredibly long post and seeing it is really really late, I guess i might just have to call it a night. 

I will leave you with the name of the book I am currently reading.  I think it might be an interesting read for those who read to their children as I think they should. 

The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

Oh and since I am sharing titles.  We are working on Geography by studying Holland or the Netherlands.  Too tie into that we are reading...

Hans Brinker or the Silver Skate - Mary Mapes Dodge

(Don't ask what all I'm reading.  I always have at least three going.  One Audio.. One fiction.. One for school..)

Goodnight!!

ARGH!!  Potty training girls is SUPPOSED to be easy right??? Whoever told me that needs to star in the next V8 commercial.. Smacked!!  Sigh 

Add that to a stubborn little boy who does not want to do homeschool.  He says I HATE homeschool.  But when pressed says that he wouldn't want to go back to ps.  I guess that is a typical boy.  At least i can comfort myself with the fact that he likes to read and can read at a level way above his own. 

I think I should probably be in bed.  But alas I am up watching an episode of Gossip Girl I taped and printing off tomorrow's work.  I really need to be more organized.  I need to find a science lesson plan.  I printed off the third grade list of things that he is supposed to be studying.  I'm not sure though how to lay it out to study for the year.  Does that make sense?  Science is his big interest so quite a few can already be crossed off. 

Ok..... Gossip Girl calls.  I have only got half my mind here.  I thought I would blog about stuff but it seems I'm not getting anywhere.. Much love

So today I had like a million (okay maybe four or five) errands that HAD to be run today so not much was done on the homeschool front.  We did get a fun thing things thrown in though.  We managed to play a FULL game of sorry.  He didn't win and that hurt his feelings but I managed to throw in a little lesson about poor sportsman ship.  Just reminded him that he wouldn't want to play with someone that got really mad if they didn't win.  Guess I could have let him win.  Maybe next time i will.  We did a fun little art project inspired by an ARTHRITIS AD.  lol  I know sounds funny.  But it was cute.  Here I'll even post a pic of what I am talking about. 

I just cut and pasted them all together.  I haven't shown him the finished copy yet.  But I think he will like it. 

Tomorrow we do some real work.

We had a counselor appointment today and after a few rough starts, I have realized a few things.  He has ADHD.  There is no quick cure.  There is no special way to make it managable.   Apparantly it is a lifestyle change.  Just when I think I have a little parenting expertise.. life shows me I know NOTHING.  I wish parenting were easy.  God don't I wish that.  OR at least there were answers to questions.  There really isn't an answer to most things.  Nor is anything really easy. 

You ever look at pictures or hear stories of people who everything seems normal or it just seems to be working out for them in everything???  Example.. I have a cousin who is a couple years younger than me.. Beautiful vietnamese girl a couple years younger than me.  Does modeling and did her first movie.   I have another cousin beautiful blond hair blue eyes just got married and has it good.  Makes you sit and wonder what the hell just happened.  Did the good stuff just run out and here I came?? 

I know.  Not something to sit and dwell. My challenge in life is these three wonderful loving children who call me mommy and sneak in my bed when I'm not looking.  My challenge is to help them grow up to be great, smart, happy people.  God, I hope I can do that.  I think some times that it is too much and I'm not sure i can make all the right decisions.  Homeschooling is the same. 

Well that was a nice uplifting post huh.

Does anyone read these?  lol  I bet I am a bit on the too personal side.

Much love

I need to just stop cleaning.  I can't get anything done.  I think I may be OCD.  lol

No really I see things that need picked up and that leads to more. 

We worked some more on our Brazil unit today.  Not a bunch.  Learning more about the rainforest and the Amazon.  While he was working on that, I was cleaning and rearranging his room AND today I have pictures of it.  It still needs this really awesome constellation border put up around the room.  But that is a weekend job so dh can be here to help.

Well there you go.  Have a good night!!