The GIFT of Dyslexia

In our journey in schooling our son, we realized he was dyslexic. His early years were filled with the struggle to read and write. He could do these things, but they would take more effort than others and his spelling was atrocious. Teachers and I worked with him and tried every strategy, but his reading comprehension and spelling never got any better. He started off in public school for the first few years. Then he was homeschooled using an online public school curriculum. I thought working alongside him and giving him individualized attention would help. In reality, it did not help. He was still frustrated and even though we worked hard on the spelling each day, it did not improve. Tired as I was trying to teach my son, we both agreed he needed to go back to school. He gave it a good go. I know he learned there, but his test scores did not improve. The school did have one resource that was extremely helpful. They gave him Barton Tutoring twice a week. This did improve his reading and a bit of his spelling, but it is a slow process and will need to continue for a while to get the full effects.

Through much searching on the internet, I came across the book, "The GIFT of Dyslexia". While reading this book I felt that there was some hope. Another thing I realized is that he wasn't the only one of my children with dyslexia. Since dyslexia shows up differently for everyone, my other children didn't have it show up in their school work the same way as him, but it showed up in different areas of their life. I knew they could all benefit from using the tools in this book.

"The GIFT of Dyslexia" includes the resources to be able to go through the orientation process with your children yourself using script. I was amazed at how easy it was and how well they responded to this. Each child was able to get themselves to their orientation point using methods in this book. When they did, I could see the smile on their faces and see that "Aha" moment. Through this process they have learned to bring back their focus to what is going on at will. This requires some practice, but since they've got this far, it should come easier each time. What really impressed me is that my son, who has a hard time engaging in anything, was responding exactly how he should and was able to visualize this easily. Since it is summer, we still have yet to see how it will help with school work, but he has the tools. It is up to him to use them.

Right now we are in process of completing this. We have done the orientation process and coordination process. Now we are up to the point where we are working on letters and symbols. This is the most timely piece. Throughout this he will continue his Barton tutoring. My hope is that this will help him focus better through the Barton tutoring. This fall we plan to homeschool him following my own plan. This will give us some more flexibility and allow me to see how he is using these processes while he is learning. I am highly encouraged by this book and can't wait to see how it benefits my children.

New Orleans With Kids

When you think of New Orleans you most likely think of music. Down Bourbon Street that is what we found. There are many very talented street performers up and down Bourbon Street. With kids, the earlier in the day, the better. There are some non-kid-friendly stuff going on there. However, we thought it was still worthwhile given the exposure to the music and amazing Cajun food. 

In the French Quarter you must have the beignets at Cafe Du Monde! They are delicious and affordable. We did this twice! There are also a lot of shops near there for souvenirs. However, there are  fortune tellers that seem to be out at all times of day. We used this opportunity to teach our children what God has to say about this. 

One of our favorite things to do was to go on a swamp tour on a flat bottom boat. We chose the Honey Island Swamp Tour because we had our own transportation and it was less expensive than the others that provided transportation from the city. All in all it was very entertaining and a great way to see the swamp.

There's a State Park near Mandeville that has a nice beach area on Lake Ponchartrain. The water was warm in April and it was a lot of fun! They also have camping there if that's your thing.

There were a couple things we would've liked to see if we had a little more time. There are a few museums there, including the Civil War Museum, the U.S. Mint, and a children's museum that get good reviews. These all seem affordable as well. 

Memphis With Kids

The Memphis Zoo is great for all ages! There are many animals and the park is laid out well. Our kids really enjoyed watching the apes with their young, the giraffes, and the many species of cats that are housed there. In addition, the park has many different angles to see most of the animals, which makes locating them easier. 

The Mississippi River was also a hit with the kids. We strolled along the walkway and spent some time at a park there. If you'd like, you may also take a ride on a riverboat. 

The ducks at the Peabody Hotel is well worth seeing. My biggest suggestion is to get there early. We were a half hour early and people were already lining up. Everyday at 11 am the Duckmaster leads the ducks into the pond. Then at 5 pm he leads then back up the elevator. He gives a speech about the history of how it came to be. Seriously, this was fun! And it's free!

BBQ is a family favorite! There are many places for ribs, but according to Elvis and our family, Marlowe's is the best!

With only one day to spend in Memphis, this is what we did. The kids loved it and wished we had more time to stay there. The people were very friendly and weather was nice. 

Free Day at Six Flags for Homeschool Families

Read 6 hours for free tickets to Six Flags!!!

This is open to all homeschooling families or any school for that matter. All you have to do is sign up your kids K-6 grades, have them read 6 hours and voila free tickets for the kids and one teacher (mom). Deadline is March 2, so act quickly!

Here's the link:  https://feedback.sixflags.com/rts/default.aspx

Bittersweet Ski Resort for Family Fun

Here's my attempt at a selfie with my daughter at the ski hill. I'm not sure that I would consider this travel since it's only 40 minutes from where we live. It is certainly family time.

This is what we do in winter. We ski and make the best of what Michigan has to offer. This is Bittersweet Ski Resort in Otsego, MI. It has a great beginner hill which includes a carpet, tow rope, and even a chair lift. I could spend all day on the bunny hill. But, my kids prefer the steeper hills so we move on to those. 

They also have a few blue runs that are great for the average skier. The black diamonds are a bit too steep for my taste, but all my kids love them!

The only warning I have is to watch out for snow boarders. For some reason they just plop themselves down wherever they please and it's like an obstacle course, especially on weekends. 

Being that we home school, we try to go when it's not so busy, like during the week days. 

Yes, We Kind of Home School

It's complicated. Usually when people ask you where your kids go to school, it's an easy answer. You say the name of the school or that you home school. That's it. You move on. Not us.

Last year we decided we needed a change. Public school worked out for many years. However, last year we realized it wasn't working so well for our family anymore. We decided to look at alternatives. Private school wouldn't change the crazy schedule that was burning us out. And I was very leery of winging it with home school because I knew I didn't have the time required for picking out curriculum that would suit my students.

In our neck of the woods a new opportunity opened up for us. A local charter school offered an online school with an iCafe where the students could go to as often as needed for help. In addition, they offered an hour of each class a week for the middle and high school grades. Elementary had an option to be on campus twice a week.

We decided to try this out for this school year. So, we are home schooling, kind of. The kids don't go to school in the traditional sense. Neither do they home school the way most kids are home schooled. Now try to explain that to someone. When I do, there are almost always a lot of questions that come up after that. Sometimes I just say we home school. Other times I say we do an online school. But then, when I tell my them I have to go pick up my kids from school they are confused. Like I said, it's complicated.

Now that we are over halfway through the school year, I have to admit that we are enjoying this change. We like that we are at home for most of the days. Being able to go to school a couple days a week is also great for everyone in the family, including mom. Speaking of mom, not having to be responsible for the curriculum or teaching all of it has been helpful.

All in all, kind of home schooling is working out well for our family, even if it's hard to explain.

Field Trip

My Favorite Things.... Travel, Home, and Family

Most of the time I am very content to stay at home with my family. We have everything we need right here. I've stocked my freezer full of freezer meals. We have Netflix and internet to satisfy our entertainment needs. We home-school the kids. And I work out of my home. Right now it's winter and a snow storm could keep me indoors for days on end. I can survive just fine here at home, as long as the fireplace is on. There's not much that can lure me out of my cozy home, except for travel.

When I was a child, my parents took me all over the United States. We had a truck and a trailer, and traveled from Michigan to Florida, and even the West Coast throughout my childhood. Almost every spring Break we would vacation for 2 weeks in Florida. Then in the summer we would choose another place throughout the country to visit. I visited most of the 48 continuous states during my childhood. Many I don't remember because I was too  young. But, I have the pictures to prove it.

Throughout the years we have taken our children to many different places throughout the United States. We live in Michigan now and have explored much of the lower and upper peninsula of this fine state. For a bit we lived in Florida and spent much time taking in all the sunshine state has to offer as well. Many of our summer vacations were spent traveling the east coast from New York down to Georgia. Now that my oldest is in high school, I am feeling more pressure to expand our traveling more westward before she graduates.

This past fall we started homeschooling our children with an online program in an effort to build up more family time. This includes traveling. With our new flexible schedule we can go anywhere, anytime. Now that we have a few months in and got the homeschooling thing down, it's time to travel.

Our son has been studying all the states in his social studies curriculum. This has been very exciting. As he is learning about Hershey, Pennsylvania and Port Canaveral, Florida it's all I can do to not hop in the car and start driving there. However, we want to go to states we haven't been to before. We needed more research. Then he learned about the music in Memphis and New Orleans. This got the entire family excited. We are big music fans, especially jazz music. Our next trip is now going to be to Memphis and New Orleans. After we plan this, we come to find out the week after our scheduled trip my husband has to go to training in Dallas. Woohoo! We get to go to Texas too, and all the states in between!

As we are learning about all the different states, we will continue to travel more and more. That means more and more blogging about what we saw where. I love reading about what others do. It's time to share what we do with the world!