Awesome REading

Its been a while, I know....but I have something SO exciting to share!!! I may have to take this post down, because I'm really not sure I am allowed to share these things on a public forum, but I know so many of you pray for Zach and I wanted to share some progress. Last summer, he was accepted into a Intensive Reading Program though a local Univeristy. I was trained on the materials and we have had a huge success with them.  I wanted to share his daily reading routine.  AFter a few sound warm up excercies, we read the text. This week, he has a non fiction reader on Ants. Being the Great Homeschool Mom that I am, I found an Ant Farm to accompany him reading about Ant Farms in his text! LOL.

 After he reads the text, he has 2 hand on activities daily. This one is basically the text from the book blown up on cards. He matches the sound/letter cards and then we re-read the text from these cards.

Then I have him pick 3 cards to write into his copy work notebook. This is actually not part of his reading program but an adaptation of an activity I do with my other two with thier Brave Writer curriculum. I learned this past summer at a Speech Language Conference I went to, children need to be able to read what we ask the to copy--- Guess what? He can now! So after he writes his 3 cards...we read again. So he has read the text 3 times. He doesn't even realize he is getting so much reading practice. We use handwriting paper that is recommended from The Handwriting Clinic to help with sizing.

Oh Happy Day!

Noelle

Party School- Underground Railroad

14 years ago.....yep 14, I was hired on a local public school with an amazing group of educators. We were one of a kind and we loved each other fearlessly. We worked hard together every day making sure every single child showed individual progress. We enjoyed planning fun and unique expiernces like non other that I had expierenced at any other school I had been a part of. During the Spring of that year our fearless team leader, Katie proposed an idea to take the kids on an interactive simulation through the Underground Railroad.......

I've never forgotten that day.....and 14 years later, I heard Julie Bogart from Brave Writer introduce the idea of PARTY SCHOOL!!  As she was speaking about how she taught her kids about the Gold Rush through a party, I immediately started thinking about doing the same thing with my teams Underground RailRoad Simulation from 14 years ago!!!

So, I pitched the idea to my home school gals at church and we had 100 children show up  dressed as slaves to be taken to freedom in Canada  on the Underground Railroad!

As the children checked in for the event, the slaves masters assigned them to a color group and a chore at the ole plantation!

These kids were stacking fire wood.......

Washing the clothes......

Washing Babies......

Hanging the laundry......

As they were hard at work, Harriet Tubman would come and grab a group of kids at a time, as they would start their trek into the night to escape for Freedom.... She told them to "Follow the Drinking Gourd" 

As the slaves were searching for a safe house, they had to be very careful as slave catchers were lurking at every corner! 

Each Safe House was marked with a lantern or a quilt so that the slaves could easily identify who would would give them a brief respite from their long journey! 

Inside each safe house was a sweet "lady of the house"  who offered a story, a song, a prayer, or some food and water! 

After the Slaves traveled far, they found the Ohio River......

Finally, they found freedom in Canada!

(Where there was a pizza party!) 

This was a super fun day of learning! All the children were given a study packet about the Underground Railroad about a month in advance of this event. Each parent was responsible for teaching the content of that packet in whatever way worked best for their families.  Enjoy a few more pictures of this incredible learning day! 

Busy-- Can I Break Busy? Cast your votes!

I had 3 babies in 21 months. Yea. Let that soak in. I was busy. I am still busy. When the babies were little I was in the rat race. We attended every birthday party, every play date, every this, every that.
My excuse was it was easier to be out and about than at home. I threw elaborate birthday parties every year...for 3 months in a row until last year.  I somehow found time to work part time at my church. My life was in constant motion and my world came crashing down in a moment one August afternoon. At the time I was "ministering" to new moms at my church, but I could barely hold my own life together. I had stopped seeking God for His will because I was so busy running on the hamster wheel, I could not find a way to jump off....until I was pushed off.
After that day, I took a few months, got on my knees, left the church I love so much to hide and work on my marriage, my family, and get off the hamster wheel. I stopped everything but the bare essentials of life. While that time was sweet and God did heal some of the broken parts of my life.
I.got.bored.very.fast!
I am not a sitter. I am not one who rests well! I am not one to break busy.
Its been a little more than 5 years since that August afternoon and you know what? I'm ALMOST back to that same place! What??? Didn't I learn? I am teaching 3 kids at home. But we don't stay home! We run here, we run there, some by choice,some by necessity...but we run. We rarely eat dinner around the table. I am working part time again at my church:) We Are Busy!
Good news is coming! About a year ago, I was watching Good Morning America and this darling blonde mom was sharing some mom tips. I quickly turned up the volume. WAIT!!! I went to high school with her. Not only did I go to high school with her, we were once close friends. I was so excited and quickly friended her on Facebook. It was so great to reconnect.  She told me about a book she was writing called "Breaking Busy" I was intrigued. Could I Break Busy? After the book was printed she sent me a copy and I could not put it down. In her first chapter Alli shares about Capacity Overload. Do you have inability to control your emotions? Do you have lack of Self Care? Are you sick a lot? Are you late a lot? Do you neglect God? Alli is witty and has funny stories from her own life so that you don't feel like a total bucket of slime while you are reading this very convicting part of the book.  She teaches you how to find your "sweet spot" in life while most importantly seeking God for HIS calling on your life. Say YES to the Best of Life.  I will say to you this book came into my life at a time that I very well could have had another "crashing down" moment, but instead I am able to look at all the things I am juggling now and deciding what can stay and what needs to go! In her book, "Breaking Busy How To Find Peace and Purpose in World of Crazy" Alli talks about the edits in your life being proactive edits and not reactive edits. See, the first time, I had a whole bunch of reactive edits, but this time around, I'm working on proactive edits. Edits that are not fruitful in my life. Edits that God is not calling me to do. Alli shows you in her book how to use the 5 F's to make
decisions Faith, Family, Future, Fulfillment, and Friends.  I believe God sent me this book through a dear friend of mine to help me not let my life come crashing down this time, but to make some proactive edits instead:) You see I want to have a full life, a life in full step with what God wants me to do. At this time in my life, I love home educating my children and I love my part time job working with with other home school families at our church. I want to stay away from a hurried life that is frazzled and keeps me anxious all the time. I'll end with a quote from the book "Living a full , happy life means we get to say no the unnecessary crazy, we don't have to be all things to all people, and we we don't have to fill our lives with things because we think we should!"
Smiles!

Visit Alli here.

Buy her book here!