Writing obstacle

Delores has been struggling with proper grip of writing utensils for sometime. I've tried all the usual recommended tricks to help develop her muscles and to practice her pincher grasp but nothing seemed to work.  We've done the small knobbed puzzles, tongs, triangle shaped crayons, clothespins, you name it, we've tried it. 

The roundness of the utensil really bothered her delicate slender little fingers. Her muscles were fine for the task but using a proper grip caused a problem because it hurt her fingers and because of that she had gotten into the habit of fisting the utensil.

Obviously, this bothered me a bit but I did what I could to show her and guide her and then I just ignored the issue when it didn't get any better which, of course, bothered me too. I just figured she wasn't ready until I was reading over her new curriculum and day 2 of the first unit required her to do some writing. I want to make this new school experience as enjoyable as possible for her so I set out to find a solution. 

I really wanted her to start using pencils because they have a finer tip and, since Delores' writing tends to be on the smaller side, pencils seemed like a resonable utensil. I had heard somewhere that there were pencil grips for preschoolers to help with grasp but I haven't been able to find any in stores. I'm sure they probably have some at the teacher supply store on Woodruff road, but I don't have any free time to get over there and honestly don't to want to brave that store this time of the year.

So, next option; finding a different shaped pencil. If only there were fatter triangular or even flat shaped pencils. Kind of like a... carpenter pencil. Eureka! A carpenter pencil.  Why didn't I think of that before?

At my trip to Walmart today I found some for 0.83 a piece. I got 2. When I got them home I had Josh whittle the point and cut them in half.  Making a writing utensil shorter, about half the size, forces the child to hold it in the proper place for lack of having anywhere to hold it. And the result?  See for yourself:

Beautiful isn't it? It fixed all our issues. It lays flat on her middle finger. It's wide enough that it fits perfectly behind her pinches and it's short enough that she can maneuver it with ease. It doesn't hurt her fingers and she loved it so much she drew a very elaborate picture of daddy holding a baby. She hasn't even attempted any drawings in a while because she's been so frustrated with writing. I just love when things click and everything falls into place.

So, if you have a preschooler who complains about writing utensils hurting his/her fingers or just can't seem to grasp the concept of holding it properly, give the shortened carpenter pencil a try. You might just be amazed.

And...

In my last post I discussed my exciting delivery of Delores' new curriculum,  but I can't forget about my little fireball, Lydia. If you remember from my post "Get ready...,"  I mentioned that I had decided I was going to continue to use the Montessori method with Lydia but I was going to use a more laid back approach. Below is what I've come up with for her lesson plan for the month of September.

As you can see this is a great deal less stressful than what I was doing for the last two years. If you are unfamiliar with my previous lesson plans please visit "May calendar," or "June calendar," to get a 

better idea. 

Originally I started to put together my usual day-by-day calender but apparently all this free time has made me a little more lenient and the thought of sticking to a schedule just  made me cringe. So, I came up with the list above of some things we'd done before but, I thought she might need a refresher on, and some new things. All while keeping in mind what I would like to accomplish for our first month. When we ended, what I guess you could call, our school year Lydia was developing a good stretch of concentration time.  So, my goal is to rekindle her focus and build on her concentration. 

I also plan on taking a different approach in putting together and presenting lessons. In the  past I would put together a new activity almost every night and put it out in the shelf the night before I presented it.  Which, as you can imagine, was a bit daunting. Beginning next Tuesday however, I plan to put together and put out all the activities at one time. She can go through the activities as quickly or as slowly as she wants and choose what she wants to do. I can't offer a whole Montessori classroom to her but at least I can put out a month's worth of materials at a time.  From there I can judge her interest level and whether I need to increase our decrease the number of activities as well as whether or not I need to challenge her more.  

A lot of changes are being made this year but I can already feel it is for the best. The air doesn't seem so tense and I don't feel stressed or pressured by the subject matter. In fact Delores spotted her box of materials today and get very excited at all the crafty type things we will be doing. Lydia has been showing signs of eagerness to get back to her lessons. So I'm feeling pretty comfortable that this year will be the most successful year we've had so far and that is all I've really wanted.  For my children to develop a love of learning and for us to enjoy the blessing of being able to homeschool. 

Get set...

Wednesday was box day! Before church Delores' curriculum was delivered and I was one eager lady to get back home and attack that box like a lion on steroids.  I can't explain the excitement when materials arrive on your doorstep. It's a feeling only homeschoolers experience I guess. I get the same feeling when I see back to school supplies out at Walmart. Quite the opposite feeling of the dread that school teachers feel at the same sight. In fact, even as a youngan, I had an odd love for school supplies. I guess I was destined to be a homeschooler from the very beginning. But, I digress.

After I rummaged through all the packaging paper and bubble wrap resembling a child on Christmas morning, I found this:

29 brand new books (1 on backorder), 30 individually ziploced material kits, a student activity book, a parent guide book, as well as a world map, paint, playdoh, construction paper, yarn, magnifying glass, paper bowls, a plastic cup and other little goodies. Ladies and gentlemen I may never have to buy or make anything for lessons again! Everything I could possibly need except for a composition notebook and pencils was in that box. It was glorious.

The only thing I didn't like was that everything was out of order. Well, that just would not do. So, after I vacuumed every cloth surface of my house and hand scubbed my hall bathroom's walls, baseboards and floors (I was unusually ambitious yesterday) I did this:

I laid out every book with its material kit in numerical order by unit number with the additional materials in front. Also, the very last row has the 4 holiday related books and materials which have no order other than to be inserted into the week with which it correlates. (Also note the mountain of packaging paper and bubble wrap in the background still carpeting my living room as I write this). In the words of my father-in-law, I got "highly organized."

Then I put it all neatly back into the box, still organized, that came inside yet a bigger box. Materials on one side; books on the other so that all I need to do is pick from the top of the pile with each new unit.

Viola! The holiday unit books and materials are currently on the floor next to the box because there was no real way to put them in any order. I'm sure I'll find a permanent home for them soon.

Now that I have taken care of my compulsive need to organize I can't help but feel like I should be doing something else. For two years when I got the girls' lessons ready it was a week long event. Researching, calendaring, list making, shopping, putting together materials and finally presenting the lessons.  Now: all I do is read some notes the night before,  take some stuff out of a box and present the lesson. Thirty minute max prep work. That feels really strange. In truth I never really wanted it that way.  I always pictured me putting together lessons and never really wanting anything that came with workbooks. And while this does not come with workbooks it still feels unnatural to just do what someone else tells me to do. But I guess that is my nature. Always the rebel. :)

In any event, after reading over the first unit's lessons, I'm still pretty confident we made the right choice for Delores and I am excited to get started next week with a short week after labor day. 

Tune into tomorrow for a look into Lydia's upcoming lessons for the month of September.

What if's

Around the time "normal, " children start heading back to school each year people start to ask what it is I plan to do with my kids when they reach "school age." I'm very use to it and have almost come to expect it. Afterall, homeschooling takes up a large portion of our lives and I understand the natural curiosity.

During this time I get to reflect on that question myself and study my heart to see if I really do want to continue homeschooling when the government says I have to formally teach them. I see all the Facebook posts with photos of people's kids headed off for their first day of school and reading about the parents' bittersweet feelings of excitement from getting rid of them and sadnessnes from seeing their little ones getting bigger and I think "I will never get to experience that."

I find myself asking all the "what if," questions and feeling like I will miss out on the great stay-at-home-mommy reward. I may never do anything for myself or have a career again. I may never finish Lydia's painting or Delores' quilt and I will be stuck with my girls all the time and never have a moment of peace! Of course, this is an exaggeration but that is what goes through my mind when I have to think about teaching them EVERYTHING they need to know and I have that overwhelming feeling of "am I really going to be able to do it?"

On top of that there are a lot of doubters and judgemental people who really don't care. They just want to let you know that they don't believe you can do it and really don't understand why you would choose to homeschool when public school systems are so awesome now and it is just so much easier to leave your kids' lives in someone else's hands who juggles 25 to 30 kids at the same time 5 days of the week in a building that strangely resembles a prison (Did anyone pick up on the sarcasm?). Those are the people who's mother's brother's aunt's cousin twice removed knew someone who was homeschooled and they were just so far behind and couldn't even graduate so they assume every homeschooler is like that and your poor kids are going to turn out that way too. Even though your kids are presently "above average." (Tell me exactly how that is logical reasoning).

After working through my feelings with my more emotionally stable partner and he reminds me of why we chose to do this in the first place (see "How we got here," for a good list of those reasons) there is no doubt in my mind that my first option will always be to homeschool our girls. When the girls reach a mature enough age I plan on giving them the choice,  but until that time comes the only way we would choose a different path is if there is an extreme medical emergency, I die, or God tells me that this is no longer what He wants for us.

And let me just take this moment to say that I think no less of people who send their kids to public or private schools. Every family has different needs and I think its great that those options are available.

Yes, it is still scary and yes, I am still self-conscious but there are tons of resources out there for parents who want to take this homeschooling thing seriously and as long as I take this one day at a time and do what is best for our girls we will be just fine. And since all my readers are understanding and supportive, when you meet one of those doubting, judgmental people do me a favor and encourage them to do a little research on the benefits and success stories of homeschooling since it is very questionable that the person they are referring to even existed. That would help me out immensely when curiosity peaks again next fall.

Get ready...

Last week we took our first time ever family vacation! While Wrightsville beach was fun, relaxing and every thing we needed, I was happy to get home and anxious to get back to our school work. So, Sunday night I ordered Delores' new curriculum from Moving Beyond the Page and will be receiving the boxes of goodies in 1 to 3 weeks. I'm hoping the following Monday l will have absorbed everything and am ready to give the first lesson. After all, for 2 years I created lesson plans from scratch in a weeks time and since this new curriculum is all inclusive it should be a breeze. I hope.

In my last post Changing the Tune, I mentioned I wasn't sure what I was going to do with Lydia because I felt like she still benefited from Montessori lessons but I didn't know if I could juggle two different curriculums. Well, I think I have decided that I am going to stick with Montessori lessons with her and just take a more laid back approach with it.  Reason being is that I've already made and planned her lessons since she will be following Delores' outline from our lessons from last year and this year. That takes a lot of the work out for me. Then depending on her learning style and what I feel will be most beneficial to her, I may change it next year.

Taking these few months off from formal lessons has really taught me something about each of the girls. Delores still learns a lot from everyday life if I am concious to point out the things I want her to learn and from books so, I definitely feel I've made the right choice with her new curriculum this year.  Lydia has an amazing memory when things are verbalized and for order. She immediately implements what you teach her in her own life. Therefore, I feel like Montessori would still be the best curriculum for her. However, both the girls learn a lot from real life experiences. So, remembering to apply lessons in real life instead of doing lessons at a table or in front of a mat are going to be the best learning experience for both of them.

I still have my hopes on incorporating bible time and possibly latin into their curriculum as the year progresses. But I will take it day by day and always do what is best for them.

A new school year gives you a chance to a fresh start and I look foward to what this next year holds for us and what my little ladies will accomplish as they quickly approach 3 and 4 year olds.