Changing up 1st Grade Handwriting: Flexibility in Homeschooling!

 I was given a curriculum published by Memoria Press for teaching phonics and handwriting.  It is a very thorough program with lots of handwriting practice and can also be used in a classroom setting.  I liked it a lot and thought it was just the right thing for my first grader's handwriting needs.

He hated it.  So much so that he began to refuse to cooperate for his lessons.  A big red flag for me.  I want my kids to learn to love learning.  I forget sometimes how different my kids and I are.  I like writing.  I have always enjoyed the flow of pencil on paper...my son, not so much.  He was even refusing to write in other areas too.

As a result, we took some time away from handwriting because I didn't want it to become a source of contention between us or a learned resistance.

Instead, we did several hands-on activities that strengthen the motor skills used in holding a pencil and controlling small movements.  He loved those so much, and he asked when we could continue his language arts program from last year, Language Lessons for a Living Education by Masterbooks.

This past week we started using his program from last year, it has writing practice built in, but not enough for his needs, in my opinion.  So, we are continuing to do those fine motor skill activities and have started a new handwriting program, Learning Without Tears, suggested by a friend of mine.  It is more relaxed and geared towards his development level.  

The new handwriting program has some manipulatives to help learn how to form letters (mainly review for him) and he had fun playing with those.  

I also considered another program called A Reason for Writing, but when he looked at the two different workbook samples, he chose the Learning Without Tears program.  I don't expect it to be his favorite part of school, but I think it will be simple enough that he can manage and won't develop such a resistance to it.

Surprising

 I am truly surprised at how satisfying and fulfilling it is to grow your own food.  What started as a means to an end (feeding my family better), has accomplished so much more than ever imagined.

It is relaxing to spend time in the garden, inspecting the plants, caring for them and watching them grow and mature.

There is so much more involved in gardening than simply planting, watering, and harvesting.  There is bug identification (friend or foe?), plant diseases to watch out for and treat, pruning (knowing where, when and what to snip), all the various methods of supporting vertical growth to pack more into our space...

I was a bug catcher as a kid, so using my bug app on my phone to identify all the critters in our garden is fun.  We have California Glow Worms that look like tiny lightening bugs, parasitic wasps, lady bugs, leaf cutter bees, ants, leaf miners, cabbage moths, flea beetles and lots more that I can't remember the names of.

The kids love to help me water and end up soaked at least every other day.  They like to learn about the different bugs and see the food growing in the garden.  It was my baby this year, next year, now that I have a better idea of what is going on, I will involve them more in the process.

We have harvested a handful of strawberries, three cucumbers, radishes and one zucchini.  We still have at least two more months of harvesting to come!

Loss

 We had to put our "puppo" down yesterday.  It was unexpected and heart-wrenching.  

She liked to play with rocks.  She tossed them into the air and would try to catch them again.  Kind of like she was playing catch with herself.  The x-rays showed a jagged rock stuck in her small intestine.  It was completely blocking her system and too large to pass.  The price for the 'exploratory' surgery would have taken up everything we had, with no certainty that it wouldn't happen again.  We have a lot of rock in our yard.

Choosing to put her down was one of the hardest decisions of our lives.  I didn't anticipate that being a possibility.  Her spay surgery was so much cheaper, I never imagined the cost being so high.  Grieving her loss has been hard.  The unexpected loss adds to the hurt, watching our children grieve is absolutely heartbreaking...

Our older three were present.  Everyone got to say their goodbyes.  Our kindergartener sobbed and hugged her, he asked all kinds of questions.  I explained everything as simply as I could for him.  On the way home he was sad, but still curious about the world and asked me which was meaner, wasps or mosquitos?  That's when I knew he would be okay.

Our freshman bawled and bawled, but seems a little better today.  Our oldest is taking it the hardest.  She always does.  Walking through grief with them is hard.

My Gifts

 Forever learning and growing.  It never reaches an end, at least not here on earth.

We said goodbye to the Christmas season and welcomed 2022.  I spent time tweaking our daily routine and tracking our progress on school goals before we started a regular school routine.  It has made a big difference and is helping our days go smoother.  I also found a way to work our routine into a lesson plan set up so I can write into the routine what activities I have planned.  It helps me stay on task and not forget what comes next.

Our toddler is becoming a little boy.  His comprehension is increasing, his vocabulary has exploded, and he wants to be involved in all the things just like everyone else.  He watches his older brother and mimics him frequently.  He now loves to have others playing with him and is starting to participate in cooperative play instead of just parallel play.  I love it when he says to me, "Play me, Momma.  Play me."  He skips the "with", but his intent is clear and so sweet to my ears.

Our kindergartener is just learning so much and reading like crazy.  I haven't even taught him the phonics yet for many of the words he is able to figure out through the context and sounds he does know.  The other day, he was reading with Daddy and was able to figure out the word "contraption" with Daddy's help on the "tion" part.  He is constantly surprising me with what he is learning and figuring out.  Questions are non-stop and often ones I wouldn't have ever considered.  

He asks things like, "When are we going to build a rocket ship...a real one?"  Which led into a conversation about NASA and scientists, and I said if he wanted to he could learn as much math and science as he could to maybe build a rocket ship after he is done being a swim teacher (his current career goal).  He was quick to inform me that he was ALWAYS going to be a swim teacher and no other jobs.  He is such a sweet boy, and determined in his own mind what he is going to do.

That's how things are going with our littles.  Our teenagers are on a whole different level of development, although they all stretch my brain power!

Our 8th grader is really beginning to develop more of her own person this past year.  She is focusing more on her interests and finding herself.  She is skilled at protecting herself and it has been a work in progress to reach her in a way that encourages her to open up to us.  Discipline is a careful and intentional process to reach her at a heart level and not trigger the protective brick wall that hides her most vulnerable thoughts and feelings.  Getting to know her is such a joy.

Our oldest has been through such struggles this past year, and she continues to persevere.  Rather than any negative way she could reasonably react, she continues to push herself to work on her areas of weakness and seek the Lord in all she does.  God told me she would have a strength of faith and a love for Him before she was even born.  Watching her faith in her struggle and the way He is molding her heart to His is a blessing.

And those are my four gifts.  God has called me to be their mommy, and as often as I fall flat on my face as a mom, I feel so blessed to be given this opportunity to raise them and love them.  They make my heart happy.