Still finding our way

I can't believe September is over all ready. I have reached a new level of exhaustion. Ailyn and I are still trying to find our way with homeschooling. We have our great days and some very bad days. Overall, I'm happy with how it's going and I still think it's a great idea. But, ask again next month. 

 

We joined a co-op center. We can go at any time just to hang out or Ailyn can take a class. For now we didn't sign up for classes. We went to a picnic they had and met a friend. I think we will use the center more in the winter months. 

 

Ailyn joined a Brownie group (want cookies? Just ask!) with 3 of her good friends. She really enjoyed the first meeting. 

 

Gavin's school was closed due to the heat so he came to Strawberry Academy. We read the book "The Dot" and did some soapy paint bubbles. These two love to make a mess so they had a lot of fun. 

 

Ailyn and did more lessons on the book. We made more dots out of circles around the house. 

 

We made lots of dots. 

 

We have another co-op group off of our special needs FB group. It's not an organized group as of yet but hopefully it will be. We went to Jerusalem Mills to meet a couple of new friends. They were filming a documentary the day we went so we got to see some cool stuff. 

 

Ailyn got to make dolls that children used to play with in the Colonial days. 

 

 

We ate lunch by the creek. 

 

We tagged the last of our butterflies. It was sad when we released our last one! 

 

 

 

Number bonds can kiss my ass. The awesome thing about homeschool is that we can take our time on something that is hard. We have since gotten over this bump. I think a lot has to do with me and how to teach her. I didn't learn math this way so I'm learning too. Not a good match for two very stubborn people. 

 

I might have to bribe her to have good behavior. Amazon Prime rocks! 

 

And, of math is too hard we can always take a hour to visit her old teachers! She even got to spend the night with one (thank you for that much needed break) 

 

The first day of fall was like Christmas for Ailyn. She asked everyday how many more days until fall. She told me she was going to jump in the leaves. Little did I know she actually thought she would wake up on the the first day of fall and the trees would be bare. 

 

The poor kid was very disappointed she could not jump in the leaves that day. She waited for leaves to fall all day. She still is waiting..... 

 

So we made a fall tree with leaves falling. 

 

Math is again fun.... because Mommy is addicted to Pinterest. Reading, phonics, art, music are going great. We have done a little Science and Geography. I wanted to focus on the core subjects first. 

Our schedule is crazy. It's only going to get more insane when we add swimming, Science class and Hippotherapy. Right now she goes to her old school for speech, OT and PT 2x a week. She has a handwriting class at the Universary AND home PT twice a week. She's handling it much better than I am. I can fall asleep sitting up. 

I look forward to what October will bring! We have an appointment with her CP doctor next week. I'm hoping he can make some much needed changes for her. 

Thanks for reading! 

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Monarch butterflies!

 My friend asked if we wanted to raise Monarch butterflies. We have raised Painted Ladies (the ones that come in the mail) We loved them so we said "yes". Little did I know at the time how addicted we (ok, I) would get. 

We met with a lady who has has a Monarch Conservation and releases around 1,200 a season. She showed us the different sizes of "larva" (caterpillars) she had. She sent us home with 8 of them. 

 

 

We went to the museum of Science to see the IMAX movie "The flight of the butterflies" with our friends. If you want to learn about the migration of Momarchs, look up this movie! It was really good. Jen and I even got a little teary. It's about the man who researched their migration. It was really neat to see how it all started. Then to see the guy find out they all fly to the same place (Mexico). Tear jerker. 

Our 8 caterpillars were getting hungry. We were down to one car at the time. So I asked Aaron to stop and get them some milkweed. Monarch larva only eat poisonous milkweed. And.... you have to go hunting .... in the woods for it. My husband the good sport he is went into the woods in the dark and brought home enough milkweed to feed 200 caterpillars

 

Oh yes, that is the entire milkweed plant above. Pulled out from the ground. We replanted it in our garden and hopefully it comes back to life next year. Before you give the leaves to the caterpillars you have to wash them. We looked carefully for eggs on the backside of the leaf. We found 3! 

 

Ailyn was super excited to use her "eye glass" to watch the eggs grow. We started a journal to record our eggs all the way through to the butterfly stage. 

  

Below is the teeny tiny caterpilliar coming out of the egg. One of our eggs didn't make it. We were told that might not have eaten the shell of the egg and did not have the nutrients to live. 

 

 

We did lots of fun lessons on Monarchs. And, even learned a very catchy Monarch butterfly song that you will get stuck in your head for hours. 

 

They grew fast! At first you could barely see them. Then in a couple days they have their green stripes. 

 

It wasn't all fun. We did learn a few ways that they don't make it. This guy was one of the 8 given to us. Tachnid Flies can lay eggs on the caterpilliar. They don't kill them until they are about to pupate. When it hangs in the J shape the fly larvae will come out of the caterpilliar. Below is the fly larve. 

 

 

Our little nuggets were growing and growing. When a caterpilliar becomes too big for its skin, it sheds its skin. Creepiest thing I have ever watched!!! But, very cool. It can shed up to 5 times! 

 

 

And, our little guy has had enough milkweed leaves and is crawling to the top of the cage. It makes a silk like mat and then attaches itself to the mat. It drops down into a J shape for about one full day. 

Ailyn and I were lucky to watch one caterpilliar turn into the Pupa. It was really neat! It sheds its skin one last time and turns into a chrysalis. 

It stays there for 9-14 days. Our guy came out on the 10th day. It's pretty amazing to think what is happening in that chrysalis! 

 

 

 

How freaken cool is that?! You can see the butterfly! 

 

And, she's out! Ailyn watched her come out. She kept saying how small she was. But, it was just because she was wet and needed to dry. 

Our other nugget was a boy. Males have two dots on their wings. As Jen would call them "balls".They take 4 hours to dry. We tagged them and sat with them on the porch. Ailyn likes to talk to them. Most of the ones we have released fly away with in a few seconds but our one nugget we raised from an egg hung out for 5 minutes! It was cool to see him up close. 

 

 

I was too lazy to do Ailyn's hair or clean her nails or dress her out of her pj's..... but now I regret it. 

 

 

And, just like that he flew away. On his way to Mexico. (I like to ignore the fact that 1% of the Monarchs actually make it there) 

If you are local and interested in raising Monarchs next year  you can check out 

Maryland Monarch Conservation and if you speak to Pam tell her Ailyn and Amy sent you! 

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Shark weeks

Ailyn hasn't taking much time off of school work since June. She insists on doing "homework" everyday..... sometimes at 8am. When I made the decision to homeschool I figured we would start working with a fun curriculum. I sat on Pinterest for hours pinning Shark units. 

I didn't want a set schedule yet but I wanted to start recording hours we did work. I spent a weekend printing out a ton of work and games on sharks. I picked sharks because well.... Who doesn't like sharks? And, it's summer! Guess who doesn't like sharks? Ailyn. She just wasn't into learning about them. The best part about homeschool is I could change my plan and make it fun. Next time I will ask Ailyn what she wants to learn about. Although, there might not be much education in learning about Peppa Pig. 

 

We watched a couple short clips on facts about sharks. 

A loves math. I bought a pack of ocean animals to use as manipulatives. She wasn't thrilled. ( I know who I can pass these onto! Her old K teacher is doing a beach theme this year) 

 

I try to have her write in a daily journal. It can be anything. A story, what she did that day or practice a letter she has trouble with. 

 

These cubes are her favorite. We use them for a lot! We measured some sharks and did some addition with them. 

 

Even though she wasn't into learning about sharks, she did learn some cool facts. She can even tell the difference between a few sharks. 

 

 

I knew from her class last year that kids love to roll and count. We played this game many times over. 

 

 

Cutting is one weakness A has. Her ataxia CP makes her very shaky. She tries very hard but still needs a lot of practice. I found a ton of fun cutting practice work on Pinterest. 

 

She can kick butt in memory. She learned to say some shark names too. I think the best part about teaching her is that I can put speech and OT in most everything we do. We can take more time on a word and not have to move on. I think she appreciates that. She would tell me her classroom last year moved too fast. 

 

I'm making "busy bags" for independent morning work. I laminated (so much fun) the sheets so she can use it over and over. 

 

*** I did not make any of this curriculum. If you like any let me know and I can tell you where I got it***

We are still playing our shark games and using our fun shark book her 1st year K teacher brought over for us. But, we have moved on to another theme. Monarch butterflies! Ailyn is very into them and is loving raising some to release. 

We will start our Calvert & Verticy curriculum very soon. I'm trying to get a few weeks ahead so I know what I'm doing. I have to keep Ailyn's attention or I lose her quick. I'm trying to figure out a set schedule but also trying to be relaxed. Pinterest has been my best friend. They have everything! And, a HUGE thank you to her old teachers for helping too. 

Camden officially starts middle school tomorrow! He went for a half day orentation yesterday. He liked it. He had a lot to say about the Spanish class. He's always wanted to learn another Lauguage. 

 

Come back soon to see our monarch unit! 

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