Waldorf Inspired...

Follow my "Waldorf-Wonder" board on Pinterest by clicking here.

This year, our curriculum is eclectic, using an equal mix of Waldorf, Catholic Heritage and monthly theme units to teach, learn and inspire. While this is our 4th year homeschooling, this is our first year as Waldorf-Inspired homeschoolers. For us, transitioning to a Waldorf inspired curriculum was the result of an organic journey we began 2 years ago that already included going green, saying goodbye to television, and using nature to teach our children...our daughters call it "faerie school".

Here are the themes we decided on for this school year. We do these activities during our "morning activities" time that is built into our curriculum and integrated into our academic day...

Monday~ Baking Day
Tuesday~Painting Day
Wednesday~Handcrafts Day
Thursday~Theme Unit Day
Friday~ Faerie School Day (folklore, fairy tales, literature, crafts, outdoors)
Saturdays~ Outdoors/Outings Day (& individual work/individual time working with Mom)
Sunday~Rest day...even very busy faeries need a rest day...

With such a busy schedule between the boys therapies each week and the girls activities, one of the challenges we had to address first with starting a Waldorf inspired curriculum was figuring out a consistent "rhythm in the home" for each day (for a great article written by Nicole at Frontier Dreams  called "Rhythm in the Home" click HERE.)  
While the schedules vary in some specifics day to day in our homeschool due to pre-set obligations (for ex: two days a week the boys have in-home therapy inthe morning, one day a week in the afternoon), the main anchor points of each day are the same and the kids know what to expect each particular weekday. This rhythm in the home and knowing what comes next in the day to day activities, with activities flowing one into the next and not based on a clock, is one of my favorite components of Waldorf Inspired Homeschooling. It made a huge difference for the positive in our homeschool, in me, and in the kids-- but especially with my twins with special needs. 

For more information (and some wonderful quotes) regarding Waldorf education, click HERE.

   

Where I am running...

Yesterday, was a busy day full of appointments, therapies, and obligations. All I wanted to do was anything but.

Yesterday, I didn't plan to do the 8am mass because I thought I would go to the noon Ash service.  When I stopped at church at noon with one  of my special needs sons  in tow  having went there straight from his Dr. appt--a Dr. appt that left me feeling completely mentally drained;  as if all the positive energy had been sucked from my body by aliens--It became clear within 20 minutes, there was no way I would get my ashes before the time I had promised the babysitter I would be back home to relieve her, and so we had to leave...no ashes, no goal accomplished on that front. I felt like I had just missed the Lord in passing. Like when you go to someones house you really looked forward to seeing only to learn you just missed them. Bummer.

We drove home with Sean saying something about wanting a big diesel poster the entire way home as I replayed the Dr. office visit in my mind and audibly gave that Dr. the perfect comeback under my breath, 30 minutes too late. All the way home. If Sean wondered who Mommy was talking to he didn't ask and to be honest, I had heard this "big diesel" plea about 100 times in the Dr. waiting room so I was in the zone and that zone did not include more train talk.

The 5pm mass meant we would have to miss three dance classes to make the schedule work.

I was happy my girls were on board with my game plan to ditch dance class and head to the church.

Because I couldn't get there fast enough.

5 O'clock couldn't arrive fast enough.

It felt like those scenes in the movies where the man and woman run and embrace at the end in a happy ending, but I wasn't running into someone's arms.

I was running to Jesus' feet.

This Lent is my 40 days to strip it down, strip the gloss and get down to the nitty gritty of what I need.

And what I need is Jesus.

Blogland can seem perfect because we only show what we want to show. The one time I showed a sink full of dirty dishes in a blog post (This post in fact), I had two friends and one family member ask me "Why on earth did you put that picture in there?  Um, because sometimes that is what my kitchen sink looks like.  Because If people came to my house, it would not look perfect. When they come to see me at my blog, I am not perfect.

I am the yeller in my family. (TRYING to be more soft spoken)

I am the one with a sailor mouth in our family (really working on that one by the way).

And, I love coca-cola (That, my favorite thing, is what I have given up for Lent) and so now I am on day two of a pretty massive caffeine withdrawal headache that makes the yelling and sailor mouth all the much harder.

But this is my Lent.

and it is not pretty. or perfect.

It is me saying, I need. I want. I love....you, Lord.  I yell and I curse and I am quick to anger and easily frustrated and occasionally quite self absorbed in the busy-ness of the business of being me and I want to take this 40 days to be with you....Lord.

I am a wife and a mother of 5 and two of those have special needs and I need to start--walk--and end my day with you...Lord.

I want to sit at your feet, me with all my sin and worry, and know that you can transform it.  and that is what I am longing for this Lent...for it to not be obligatory ash and fish but for it to be transformative, like only you can make it.

As I sit at your feet.

**All the pictures in this post were taken at Notre Dame Cathedral, by me.

This post is linked up to:



Blessings to you all,

It's always funny at Brighton Park...

In my life this week…

Tax season (CPA husband), homeschooling 5 and graduate school (me)...the longest part of my day is waiting for the coffee.

In our homeschool this week…

Still working on the Egypt theme unit but it will be wrapping up soon; the next country we are visiting in our theme unit homeschool "Passport Project" is Mexico. Are you doing a similar passport project in your homeschool this year?

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

What resources are in your community, near your house and free? There are probably more than you think...most businesses would be open to a tour for a homeschool family if scheduled in advance; and most libraries, besides being free, offer special events! If you are on facebook, there are some great pages including Homeschool for Free, Free homeschooling 101 and Homeschool Freebie of the Day!

I am inspired by…

Music...been listening to the "Breaking Dawn" soundtrack (or as my 5 yr old calls is "Bloody Baby Twilight"). The soundtrack is good. Really good.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

made a library trip this week and headed to the hockey game on Saturday; this time it's the girls turn to go!

My favorite things this week were…

making St. Valentine's Day "Mr. Darcy Day" on the Brighton Park facebook page. It was fun posting so many great photos of Mr. Darcy and the kids and to proclaim publicly how much I love him. That was his card from me. I also loved the card Mr. Darcy got me for Valentine's day.

And....my first article was published in Homeschool Handbook Magazine:-) (For those of you new here this week, I am a speech language pathologist and a homeschooler and two of my five children have special needs.)

and one of my favorite online stories I ever found on pinterest was finally published in the LHJ, cleaned up without the bad language so I can share it with everyone...I dare you to not read it and laugh so hard you have tears...("chicken down...clean up on aisle three!"). Soooooo funny.

                                     photo credit: www.thebloggess.com

What’s working/not working for us…

The schedule is just monumentally busy right now and I'm really not so crazy about that... but that is what I get for deciding to go back to graduate school again. Say it with me..."what was I thinking?"...

Questions/thoughts I have…

how many times in my life have I grown out my hair/bangs? I have decided this will be the last time! LOL.

Things I’m working on…

I have a three page paper on Helen of Troy due next Sunday. Jealous?...didn't think so.

I’m reading… Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood

I’m grateful for…

my marriage. We have several friends getting divorces right now. I am so thankful that Mr. Darcy and I made a promise to each other 12 years ago that even when times got tough, divorce would not be on the table.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Have you visited Katie's Language Cafe yet? It is my new French language and Culture blog that started last month. It is a great resource for homeschoolers!  and for a photo, this is my fave of the week:

                                   photo credit: www.extremeparenthood.com

This post is linked to a great meme hosted by Sue over at The Homeschool Chick. It is also linked up to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Tots and Me,  Look what we Did , No Ordinary Bloghop , Welcome to the Weekend Hop and Favorite Resources.

Blessings to you!

It's good to be back...

I think this is the longest I have ever gone withOUT writing a blog post here at Brighton Park. That is a good indicator of how busy my second run through graduate school is keeping me, in addition to my usual duties of mother to five, wife to one, caretaker of 21 animals!

Mainly, this blog post has me sitting here knowing I am...

So Blessed.

I am. I am so blessed, so lucky, so fortunate. I have a home, food to eat, a wonderful husband and 5 sweet kids. I live in a country where education for women is not a luxury and where I am free to live, work, play and worship!

We have been lots of places since I posted last...

We took the twins to a Phoenix Coyotes Hockey game; they had a blast!

                                       Timothy, left and Sean, right, standing with Mr. Darcy

Three days later, Mr. Darcy took me to the George Strait concert. The tickets, which were second row on the floor, were in my stocking on Christmas morning. We had a wonderful date night.  Mr. Darcy was a celebrity there as two couples in our section in addition to our refreshment vendor in our section are all clients of his. In all we had 8 people seek us out to shake our hands, didn't pay for a drink all evening, and left with Suns game tickets courtesy of another very grateful client of his. The woman sitting next to me asked if he was famous. I said "to me, he sure is". (smile).

At the concert:

 

                                                                                     George

 Martina McBride
I am loving the new camera that Mr. Darcy got me last fall. Takes the best pictures...Of course, George is always an easy subject.












We also celebrated a wonderful evening this Past Thursday, when our eldest daughter, Audrey, celebrated her First Reconciliation. I am so proud of her. She loves church class and has such a good and caring heart. The years are going so fast. Just yesterday she was a baby; today she is my "big girl".

After they do their confession and say their prayers of penance, an adult vests them in their white garment. Audrey chose her dad for this honor and it was so heartwarming to see him do this for her and then her throw her arms around him. The boys stayed home with the baby and Miss Donna, but Charlotte, the 5 yr old, came to celebrate with her sister. Here she is waiting for us to finish taking pictures.

One of my friends from RCIA when I became Catholic came to celebrate with our family. He was so kind to take lots of pictures for us... doesn't Mr. Darcy just look handsome as ever?

and one more of our special girl, learning about the Lord, embracing her faith and making us proud every single day...

We received very happy news this week....my niece, Randee, is getting married this summer! We had been planning another trip back to IL to see my family (our last was 2010) this year anyway and now we have a wonderful reason to go and get to see everyone. Here is a picture of Randee and Brooke from my last trip home... looking at this I can't believe how little Brooke was...she is almost 2 years old now!

In our homeschool we have been BU-SY! Audrey is really getting into her theme unit on Egypt.

I am blessed to have kids who LOVE reading and who view going to the library as the "best outing ever". I am blessed that our home is not quite a 10 minute drive from one of the nicest libraries in our state. It has certainly come in handy with my Graduate School paper research...ah...

Graduate School.

My history class is a graduate level seminar class on Ancient civilizations and more specifically, how they are portrayed in cinema....it had an unbelievable work load of forum posting and paper writing and  has dropped down this week to 9 people; but I persevere. Apparently half the battle IS just showing up. I'm trying to work each weekend on the research for my end of the term paper (King Arthur from a Roman Perspective)....The plus side was several of the books I needed were either carried by our library or available via ILL (Inter-library loan). The bad side, about 6 of the sources I really need to make my paper fly are not, so Mr. Darcy and I got to give another $150 to amazon.com this week. Lovely. That makes the total for books I have had to purchase for this one class over $400.  Funny, how it doesn't say anything about that in the catalog description OR syllabus. LOL.

This week in our homeschool we will study St. Valentine as we do every year and continue our current course of studies. The boys graduated Kindergarten math and have both moved to 1st grade math books. I am so proud of them.

I appreciated so much all the emails and tweets about missing the blog posts this past 11 days while I was busy being mother, wife and student. It was nice to know you all missed me! This week I have a guest post planned, a review post and will continue my SLP series...and I do have a recipe post I am very anxious to share as well! It is good to be back!

Blessings to you all,

This post is linked up to the following: The homeschool Mother's Journal at The Homeschool Chick and the week in review over at Weird,Unsocialized Homeschoolers, 

Speech Language Therapy Needs and The Homeschooler

I have been a pediatric speech language pathologist for 17 years.

I am also a homeschool mom to 5 children; 3 typical girls and twin boys with special needs.

Had I not been a speech language pathologist (called SLP herein out) I do not know if we would have been able to afford for me to homeschool. Because so far, 4 of my 5 children have needed speech therapy as a part of their daily curriculum in my homeschool.

When a child is enrolled in public school a teacher will typically refer a child to an SLP that he/she suspects may need speech or language therapy. As almost all public schools have a certified SLP on staff, it is easy to determine if a Speech/language evaluation or therapy is needed. If an evaluation or therapy is needed, the child's speech /language needs are addressed, for free, via the child's Individualized Education Plan, or IEP ( please see this link at KidsHealth.org for more information on the IEP process).

But what if your child is homeschooled?  How can you tell if your child needs speech therapy? If your child  has received a diagnosis, such as (but certainly not limited to) autism or some other disorder that is known to affect speech/language skills, you probably already know you need to seek out therapy. But what about a child who just mispronounces a few sounds? Or whose speech/language is just not quite as strong as his older siblings were? or just stutters time to time? Here are a few tips:

1. Educate yourself on developmental norms. For example, if your 4 yr old cannot say the /r/ sound, this is not cause for alarm as /r/ is not a sound a 4 yr old is expected to make (although many can), if however, your 4 yr old is leaving end sounds off all words and unintelligible to anyone who is not a family member, then a plan needs to be put in motion. (I will be putting a free printable on my blog this week that explains which speech sounds are due when.)
2. Talk to your pediatrician.  Pediatricians are educated on said norms. They can also be a good referral resource for finding an SLP in your area. That being said, there is one exception: stuttering concerns.  If your child is stuttering and your pediatrician says "they will grow out of it", you need to watch this carefully. Some stuttering IS outgrown, some is not. Stuttering is a time sensitive speech disorder needing remediation prior to a specific age, so waiting to see if it is "outgrown" is not a good plan of action.
3. How is their functional communication? Is your child  grade levels above in vocabulary but no one but you can understand them--or the opposite...they speak perfectly clear but have trouble putting together age appropriate speech? These are both warning signals a speech/language evaluation may be merited.
4. Depending on your state, swallowing/eating issues may or may not be addressed by an SLP (some states have OT do this therapy). Regardless if you suspect any concerns in this area you need to contact your primary care physician immediately.

This is not a comprehensive list; the area of speech/language pathology is vast and can include (but not limited to) the areas of speech, articulation (how sounds are produced) expressive language (what is said), receptive language (what is understood), swallowing disorders, oral motor weakness (when is excessive drool just excessive drool and when is it a problem needing therapy? an SLP will know), social skills, play skills (0-3yrs), reading/writing disorders, stuttering, and more! Children who have suffered prolonged illnesses or hospital stays, were preemies, or who have suffered an injury (head injury, for example) are at high risk for needing speech/language pathology services.

this year, 2012 finds me at my blog, Brighton Park writing a weekly series on speech and language needs in the homeschool environment. This series starts this week.   It will include more information about how to tell if your child needs speech/language therapy, how to pick a good therapist (and how to tell a bad one), how to cut the cost of speech language therapy, how to work on particular sounds in your home school with materials you already have and more. I hope you will join me for it.  I  also  put a speech/language tip on the Brighton Park facebook page each day.

If you have a speech language question, please feel free to email me at homeschoolfam@gmail.com.

Katie is a Christian, a Jane Austen lover, a wife to her own Mr. Darcy and mother of 5 children, ages 11-1, including twins who have special needs. A pediatric speech language pathologist by trade for the past 17 years, she is back in graduate school working on a new masters in history and French, while continuing homeschooling. She misses sleep. She pens her sometimes fairly humorous tales of homeschooling, homemaking and homesteading journeys at the Brighton Park Blog and facebook page and tweets about them as @kateinbrighton. She also wants to remind you that this guest post does not constitute the giving of medical advice.