Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Long over due.......

Yep, this is a very long over due update on "us". I was not exaggerating when I said "when the weather gets nice, my computer time pretty much comes to an end!" This summer I really am going to try to post at least every other week, I have truly missed being on here and reading my favorite blogs!! In a nutshell this is a little of what we have been up to.

Memorial weekend we stayed home and got some much needed yard work done, garden planted, pool cleaned, and this list goes on, thankfully it wasn't all work we got to meet Beth and her daughter Hannah you might know them from their blog Hannah's Shenanigans. It was so much fun to actually meet someone whose blog I follow!! And to prove to Mr. fun that you people are NOT my imaginary friends, like he tries to tell me!!!! Beth and Hannah were as wonderful, as I had them pictured in my head. It was very kind of them to let Adam swim in their hotel's awesome pool, Adam is still talking about the water slide!!! I truly hope our paths will meet again. To end the long weekend we had a great time with friends having a BBQ and bonfire.

It seems like forever since I've posted anything about homeschooling, Adam continues to amaze me. This truly seems like a great fit for him. He has made more academic progress in the 5 months we have been doing this than we have ever seen. His reading has really taken off. He started reading at a very early age, though I realize at 3 years old it was "memorizing" (this is what his teachers kept telling us, even though he could read these words in different settings, not just on his flashcards) he has struggled with reaching a higher level than simple early reader books. He is now reading chapter books!! Yes, they are the easy chapter books, probably at a 2nd to early 3rd grade level, but hey, I'll take that!! And the best part of all is that he is really enjoying it, and reading everywhere we go, the other day at Cub, he was having a blast reading all the signs and boxes of food!! At Church he now loves to really follow along and sometimes is even reading ahead! And in spelling he has over a hundred words he can spell independently now. This is huge, to me. He always did great at school with spelling tests, but then if you'd ask him 2 weeks later how to spell the word, he could not do it. We have been using the same words over and over again rotating them. Once he can spell the word correctly after not seeing it for a couple of weeks we add new words. He loves to show off the words he can spell, especially the hard ones like, tomorrow, because, and his favorite Mississippi!! Okay, he will more than likely never need to use the word Mississippi, but that one is just fun to spell!! We plan to continue to home school through out the summer but, much shorter days and taking days off here and there for fun! We are very excited about joining a home school co-op for next school year. They meet 2 times a month for Science, art, and phy. ed. the best part is we are good friends with another family that also joined this group so, should be a lot of fun!

Adam is still on the Black line swim team, and it has been such a great experience for him!! In the beginning Adam really was not able to keep up with the kids. He was doing really good but he was swimming 3 laps to their 4, I'd say. Well, today he on most days is totally keeping up with them!!! Some days he still needs to sneak in an extra break, but really not often! He is listening and is not treated any different than any of the other kids!! Last week we went to our first swim meet with black line, Adam swam in 3 events, freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke. He did come in last place in each race but, he was only seconds from the other swimmers!! And these kids were his age 9 and 10 years old. But, the part I was most amazed with and proud of was, Adam handled this meet without any problems. We got their at 6:00pm and left at 8:15pm, I sat up in the bleachers with a very nervous tummy, while Adam was down by the pool with about 20-25 swimmers on our team and only 2 coaches. At Special Olympics Adam has always needed staging assistance (someone that stays by him until his race, so, he doesn't just take off) last year he actually took off and jumped into the pool after one of his races and swam to the middle and wouldn't get out. (yes, that's my baby!!) He sat on the bench with the other kids and waited for his races just like every other kid, I drove home with tears in my eyes!!! Adam told everyone he got first place, and in my book he did!!

Chicken update, we now have 14 chickens. If you remember we hatched 15, well, our neighbors dog I guess was craving chicken (I can totally relate). Adam is being left in the dark on this one, I usually like to be honest but he does not even realize that we are missing one and I don't want him to be mad at our neighbors dog. The darn chicken should not have wandered under our fence and into their yard in the first place. In a couple of weeks they will be going back to the farmers. I think my husband has talked me into letting Adam keep 2, I'm pretty sure this makes me totally crazy!!

Now I must go and catch up reading my favorite blogs!!! I hope not to be gone as long next time!

9 comments:

Beverly said...

So happy to hear from you!! I was wondering how you guys were. Oh, it would be nice to meet everyone from all the blogs! I bet you and Beth had a nice visit! Happy all is going so well. You are doing a great job!!!

Beth said...

Umm...yes. Keeping two chickens does make you crazy. Just be sure the two you keep are actually hens, or you be even crazier!!

Great to hear the news with Adam's swimming and reading! Can't beat homeschooling!

Ria said...

That's wonderful news with Adam's reading and swimming. I still get confused when spelling Missis.... oh, MS, you know what state I'm talking about. :-)

Dan said...

I was happy to discover your blog today. I was unable to find a contact link. I hope it's OK that I'm contacting you through a public comment. I've developed an educational program for Windows called SpellQuizzer that helps children learn their spelling and vocabulary words without the battle that parents often have getting them to sit down and write them out while the parents dictate to them. The parent enters the child's spelling words into the software making a sound recording of each word. Then the software helps the child practice his or her words. It really helped my children with their weekly spelling lists. Perhaps it would be helpful for Adam.

I would appreciate your reviewing SpellQuizzer in Mi2Boys. You can learn more about the program at http://www.SpellQuizzer.com. There's a video demo you can watch at http://www.spellquizzer.com/SpellQuizzer-Demo.htm. Finally, there's a page targeted to homeschooling families at http://www.spellquizzer.com/spelling-software-for-homeschoolers.htm. I'd be happy to send you a complimentary license for the software. Please let me know if you are interested.

Thank you very much!

Dan Hite
TedCo Software
Dan@SpellQuizzer.com

Kristi said...

Oh, so good to have you back! Would you mind sometime posting about what specific curriculums you are using? I am intrigued :). Or, do you just come up with your own? I am so happy for Adam's swimming--that is great!

AZ Chapman said...

wow the swimming story made me think of LM ( my friend with ds who is 16) he also swims with a typical swim team. Adam can probity beat me now. can u post a video please

Cheryl said...

That is great that Adam is doing so well with his reading and homeschooling is going good!I am just so proud for you and Adam about his swimming:)

Becca said...

I've been wondering how the home schooling was going, and as I've been so behind in my blog reading, I'm just catching up, too! It sounds like Adam's doing fantastically!!! You've made such a wonderful choice for him, and it's really paying off. Glad to hear about his reading, too. That's something I want to work on with Samantha this year, as I know she can do it. But since it's not a part of the preschool curricula, they won't put it on her IEP, so it'll be up to us to get the ball rollling.
Way to go with the swimming, Adam! Definitely #1!

Brandie said...

I love to read about Adam's swimming accomplishments! Awesome! I'm also glad that homeschooling is going so well.