Service project turned lesson time!

 As part of starting off school year we did a service day where we went and picked up trash at Conejo Creek in Newbury Park. It was just perfect for our kids since they now understand why we need to pick up trash for our environment.

 Here I am with Bruce, my middle boy.

 Here is Jack waiting ever so patiently for the man to tell us when we can start.

Here we are picking up the little things we could find in the park and discussing what can be recycled and what is trash.

Here is daddy with the 3 boys enjoying their hot dogs! We didn't know we would be given lunch and a free shirt for doing this, that was nice. We were happy to get out and go walking and cleaning for this event. Since we picked up trash at the waterway itself, it gave us the opportunity to show the kids why we need to keep the waterways clean. We saw lots of ducks who flew away from us and rabbit droppings which showed the boys that every animal lives off of the water here and if it gets polluted they cannot drink and will end up dying. We also learned how fertilizer is harming the environment.  If we fertilize our lawns then water them, the water runs off into the street which ends up collecting into the water runoff throughout our cities and towns. That fertilizer then helps populate the algae that is already in the water and makes it grow at an alarming rate and when there is too much of it that cannot be sustained by the water then it dies off and creates bacteria which turns into diseases which affects all of us. That was a real eye opener! This is something we will be learning throughout this year and already my boys go to the park and pick up trash to do their part!

No labels in Homeschool

People always ask me why I wanted to homeschool, I give them many different reasons, but ultimately I did it for my oldest son. Since he first entered Preschool he has been met with opposition. First, it was he was autistic, then Asperger's, then ADD and anxiety and finally developmentally delayed. We were in a whirlwind of diagnosises for him that our heads were spinning! We were shocked to learn that at school he didn't talk, he never sat still (not really for that one), and that he wasn't reading or writing. He did all those things at home with the exception for sitting for long periods of time. We were baffled, stunned, shocked with each day the new things he would come home telling us that had happened at school. He was sent to a place called Skills where kids go if they are in trouble as a way to recoup before being sent to the principal. He was also restricted from using the computers because he hadn't done his classwork. He told me about the sugary treats they got almost daily it seemed and how it always made his stomach hurt. I hated these things and he hated going to school. With each grade he went into I feared that they would say, "Let's hold him back, he isn't ready for this." It happened in Kindergarten when they wanted to put him back to Preschool to "mature" a little. I mentioned homeschooling him to which the teacher gave the special ed teacher a "look", if you have been there then you know what I mean. This look enraged us, my husband almost grabbed our son away from them to take him home to never set foot in a classroom again. Instead we opted to have him tested again by a professional. When that came back we were ready for the worst. Instead, he said Jack was a quirky kid who had anxiety and ADD but those things should get better with time as he matures. He also said our son was extremely intelligent, he was amazed at how much he knew, but his ability to sit still was hurting him since Kindergarten required so much of that. We felt good about this, it fit in with what we knew about our son. Yet the school continued to treat him as if he had autism. They ignored the psychologist who talked to all of us as one, they didn't adhere to his advice until third grade when our son received a teacher who instantly knew that Jack had ADD and worked with him from day one. She ignored the stigmas that he was "delayed" or a "troubled" kid. He did better, but only when I was teaching him at home along with sending him to school. It was too much for him. And me. I wanted him home with me, away from the testing and scrutinizing adults who think they know better than us, his parents. I wanted the light in his eyes back, the light that said he was happy and wanted to learn. That light had been taken from him by school. He is different kid, who loved reading, drawing, painting, and playing with others. Sending him to school made all those things stop for him. He wasn't my same son anymore.
Now we are starting off new in a new state, with nothing practically. We are sharing my parents home and have three boys in tow everywhere we go. Instead of working I have opted to stay home and live in poverty for a little longer to teach my sons. It has only been a month but it is already getting better. He is painting again, drawing, and reading like he did as a four year old. Things are getting better for all of us, we laugh more, there is less fighting between the three boys, and they beg to do school! I took that step into the dark and although it is still dark around me it is not as hard moving forward as I had feared.