So much to be thankful for this year and every year.  Thank you Lord for my wonderful children and husband!  You have blessed us many times over this year and I can not thank you enough! 

Life Skills

A few years ago when our son Kristofer was in group therapy for Autistic children we were told and taught to teach out children the necessary life skills for each stage of development. He was 6 then and in 1st grade but they pushed for us to work with him to do things on his own such as clean up his own dinner plate, get dress and put his own shoes on, brush his own teeth, wash himself during bath time and even make himself his own snacks or breakfast such as waffles, pop tarts, cereal and toast. 
   The idea of teaching him how to use a toaster or a microwave did worry me.  But he caught on quickly and loved being more independent.  We have proceeded in this adventure and know children his age with out his difficulties that do not have the slightest knowledge of how to use a microwave to heat up something or even how to use a toaster, he is now 10 I might add.

   He loves to help make dinner, bake cookies and cook.  He has told us since he was little that the wants to be a chief or a cook as he says.  Lately he has wanted to learn to cook more things such as eggs.  I have shown him a few times how to do so.  So today when he says, "I'm going to make breakfast," I honestly was thinking he would be making a waffle in the toaster until I heard the banging of pots.  I went in and found him preparing to make himself a couple of scrambled eggs.  I am so proud of him!  Naturally I ran to get the camera and capture it.  After he was done he decided he wanted to teach Eli (Eli wanted to learn too).  So I supervised and they did great as a team.  So proud of my boys, growing and learning together!

Shelters

With thanksgiving coming we decided to take the month of November and do some research on famous American Indians and the type of shelters they would of lived in.  The kids had a great time learning about the shelters last week and today they build their assigned shelters, gave a speech and answered questions that their siblings, dad and I had for them.  The rest of this week we will be reading a variety of stories, both fiction and fact about different Indians and then next week they will be doing reports on their chosen famous Indian from history.

Eli's longhouse.

Kris' wickiup.

Jaron's pueblo.

Sara's plank house and totem poles.

What I find fun about these projects is listening to the kids talk about the types of Indian tribes that would have lived in these types of shelters.  We will also be creating a teepee next week to add to the shelters.  Kris, who is autistic, has the ability to remember every thing he reads and sees.  Specially if it is a topic that he loves.  I really wasn't sure how he would do with this but when he gave his speech it was as if he was reading the book back to us.  Now if he could just master multiplication and division the same way!

Fun Stuff

One of the things my kids miss from public school is the holiday parties.  I promised them we would have the parties too, so I made special cupcakes for tomorrow.

Wolverine, Emma Frost, Light Knight, and Thor

  In general we do not celebrate Halloween by going trick or treating.  We do however go to our church's fall party.  The church we attend calls our fall festival, "Kingdom Karnival."  I can't wait to take pictures of the kids with their friends having fun!  So what is October with out candy corn, cupcakes and candy?  Not October according to my kids.  lol!  This past Sunday we attended another church's fall festival they called, "Heroes Unmasked." At this festival the kids could dress up.  So we had four heroes that created their own costumes.

Quiet Reading

What a difference it is this year with reading and my children.  Last year for public school they "had" to read 30 mins. every day after school on top of their home work they came home with.  All we would hear was, "NO! Please not reading too!"  It was so draining on both my husband and I.  Most nights we were happy if they just got their home work done in a reasonable time period without complaining and fighting.Many times we just never got to the reading part.  I believe children need time to play outside with their friends after a long day at school.  So on the nights they had a lot of home work we would let them spend time playing after getting it done.  We did try to read 3 days a week during the school week though.

 When we started home school this year we discussed with all of the kids what was expected of them and that included reading daily.  They grumbled at first but they have done great!  They earn points for reading comprehension questions from a site I found online called, Book Adventure.  Not all the books the kids chose to read are possible for tests but that's ok.  They are reading and that really is all that matters!
   Right now they are reading separate books on different Indians for history and they also have chapter book reading they must do.  Reading helps expand their knowledge as well as imagination and my kids are very creative.  On top of that we are reading together another book for reading called, "The Pilgrim Adventure" by Susan Kilbride. You can purchase it for Kindle here.  I was lucky to get it free during a free offer. Love free offers for books on Kindle!

Photo Session

SO Thursday we took the day and went and had some wonderful pictures take.  My best friend Angie is an awesome photographer with a great camera.  She got some great pictures of the kids.  That includes the title picture for the blog!  I have more but I am not posting them.  I plan to use them as Christmas cards and gifts.

My girl is a knock out! :)

 Then comes my three handsome boys!

Welcoming October and Fall

This is how we started the week:

October's Party (author unknown)

October gave a party
The leaves by hundreds came.
The chestnuts, oaks and maples,
And leaves of every name.

The sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand;
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind led the band.

The chestnuts came in yellow,
The oaks in crimson dressed;
The  lovely decked out Maples
In scarlet looked their best.

All balanced to their partners,
They lightly fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow,
New fallen from the sky.

There in the dusky hollow,
At hide and seek they played.
The party closed at sunset
And everybody stayed.

Professor Wind roared louder,
They flew across the ground;
And there the party ended
With hands all around.

I read this poem this morning before starting our new lessons in Science and Language Arts.  I love it!  The kids did too.  After our lessons we went on a nature scavenger hunt.  We set out to find a variety of leaves, seeds, flowers and other things.  The kids not only had fun doing the hunt but they were surprised at finding wooly worms and 3 inch long grasshoppers.  I am so glad we went out and had fun!  This week end this grading period and I am so happy at how they are doing.  They really are striving to reach high and go further. 
   Sara has taught herself multiplication.  YES SHE TAUGHT HERSELF!!!  I showed her one thing and she took off.  I am so PROUD of her!  Kris who was struggling with math last year is striving forward and is catching up to where he needs to be.  I dislike my kids being held back when they want to learn new things, that's what happen to Sara last year.  I also dislike my kids being pushed forward when they haven't mastered something, such as being pushed to learn division when they haven't mastered the concept of multiplication.  Something that happened to our Kris.  Just aggravates me to no end!
  I love my kids and I love home schooling!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss

Today is set aside for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance day.  If you have been a follower for any time you can go back and see that every November I post something about our son Seanpatrick Eugene who was born quiet.  We had him with us for 9 full months.  He died a day before he was born, which was just a few days before his due date. Unless you have experienced the pain of losing your child you really won't know what its like.  We lost a 2nd baby just a year later due to miscarriage.  I was about 8 weeks along with that baby.  But to be honest I am more affected by the loss of my Seanpatrick.  Maybe it's because he was full term, maybe it's because we held him and I had to go through the whole process of giving birth.  Either way I know I have two babies in heaven. 

Fall Flowers

Our first red leaf of the season!

Fall is upon us, the leaves are starting to change!   I love fall!  It honestly is one of my favorite seasons.  Ok I love all the seasons, just differently.  Normally fall comes and goes. I generally do not decorate for any of the seasons but this year I decided I wanted flowers.  So off to the store I went and found me some beautiful mums.  The best thing about these flowers is that they will return every year! YAY!  I love how God created some flowers to be planted yearly and others that would regrow every year. 

Science Fun

My kids love science!  The last few weeks we have been studying vertebrates & invertebrates.  For each unit they have had to complete them with a project.   Here are their results:

African Bull Frog

Goliath Beetle

Whip Scorpion

Orca Whale

Arctic and Red Fox

Medusa Jellyfish

Zoo Fun

Today we surprised the kids and took them to the Louisville Zoo for a field trip.  They have been learning about vertebrates/invertebrates and habitats. What a better way to learn than to go see their favorite animals!  I am so tired so just going to post a few pictures.  The blog picture at the top is from today as well.

My goofs!

This is how you wear them out!

Let's go Fly a Kite