I knew we had to add Elbow Grease to our book collection the moment I saw it at Target. The tiny blue monster truck adorning the cover caught my attention because my kid is a big fan of monster trucks. On any given day you can find them scattered all across our family room floor. I purchased the book unaware of how timely its message would be for my kid. Elbow Grease is the story of a small, blue monster truck who is different. He stands out when he's in a crowd of big, bad monster trucks. Continue Reading
The Day I Wanted To Throw In The Towel
One week ago I seriously wanted to quit homeschool. Last Monday I had no desire to be his teacher, I just wanted to be his mom. I didn't want to fight about math facts or go round and round about reading. I didn't want to feel guilty when I folded laundry because we should have been learning. I called a local private school and scheduled a tour. That's how serious I was. I was ready to throw in the towel. I didn't care how he received an education, but I was determined I Continue Reading
Will I Ever Feel Equipped?
A few nights ago I sat at the dinner table, head in my hands, and sobbed. The reality that our low-key holiday break was coming to an end and it was time to buckle down with homeschool once again, had me feeling completely overwhelmed. The dawning of a new year - 365 (give or take) days of homeschool - felt paralyzing. Suffocating thoughts swarmed through my head. Jackson's education is on my shoulders. Teaching him to read is my responsibility. Yes, God has called us to Continue Reading
A Little Bit About Our {Home} School…
Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. (Zechariah 4:10a) That's the verse I've chosen for our first full year of homeschool. It seems only fitting. It's a good reminder that small steps and slow progress really do count. A few minutes of math here, a few minutes of reading there. Oral spelling tests in the car. Listening to audio books during our commute to speech therapy twice a week. It's all adding up to an education. A week ago, as I Continue Reading
The Hardest Part of Special Needs Homeschooling
Last week we had Jackson's MAP testing with Epic Charter School - a computerized test that determine where he's at academically before we start a new school year. It was a complete disaster. We didn't even finish. I should have known it would be a disaster when Jackson woke up at 3 a.m. and never went back to sleep. I sat and watched him intentionally choose the wrong answers to questions I knew he could answer correctly. His anxiety was so high and he was so tired. He was doing whatever he Continue Reading