Random! Tabby health update, homeschool, stopping bedwetting with essential oils

This picture of Tabby says it all.  Still waiting to find out what exactly is wrong with her.  Even our mail carrier told me today that she is praying for Tabby and for answers!

Tabby had to repeat the stool test earlier this week.  (What "fun.")  The company changed up their testing.  But the good part is, they are now doing a far more extensive test and we still pay the original price.  Have to wait about 2 weeks for the results.

Last week Tabby took a saliva test that checks a bunch of things.  Still waiting for those results.

Yesterday I had our well water tested.  Just in case.  Will find out next week if there is any bacteria present in the water.  Then in 2 weeks, we'll get results about any "non-organic" matter.

I've got Tabby on a strict diet.  Lots of meat, veggies, and fruits.  Also some nuts and goat milk and a little goat cheese.  And I found a farm that has duck eggs and I'm getting some today from them.  I thought we should try them in cooking and baking and be sure Tabby's body agrees with them before I invest in ducks.

I reviewed several paleo cookbooks and have been cooking some from them.  But I've found that a lot of the recipes use some variation of coconut which she can't have.  And many use ginger or garlic.  She can't have those.  I've decided baking gluten free things doesn't necessarily make them healthy.  Several of the gluten free flours heavily relied on raise the blood sugar levels.  So we're using Trim Healthy Mama recipes (just tweaked when necessary) as that is low glycemic cooking/baking.

Sunday evening, Tabby suddenly got a "lull" in the pain.  (That is what we've dubbed those brief times when her pain level suddenly drops.  It's still there, but is much lower.)  When the lull comes on the first thing she does is take a shower, as on a normal pain day she just can't stand up long enough to take one.  Then after her shower she does homework.  The lull lasted all through Monday so she was able to go to school!  (Only the 3rd time in all of October.)  Tuesday morning she was getting ready for school and wham.  Pain came back so hard she hobbled to the recliner.  And has been there or her bed ever since.

This really blows my mind.  She's had the constant pain since September 7th!!  SO beyond sad.  :(

And ... Solomon's health update - I've had him on a dairy free, gluten free diet for about a week and a half now.  He has not thrown up any at all.  He is still getting some stomach aches but they are much briefer.  I plan to continue his diet for another week or so and then slowly reintroduce diary.  (He think's he's dying without getting cheese every day!)  If that goes well we'll try gluten a couple weeks later.

On happier news, Solomon has been loving homeschool/preschool.  He really wants to learn to read so we've been working on phonics.  He knows all the letters of the alphabet and so we're learning the sounds.  Each week I've been introducing 5 letter sounds.

I bought wooden letter "plates" at a yard sale and Solomon lines them up.  He matches the blue magnetic letters to the proper letters on the wooden plates.   I have a 77 cent metal baking tray for putting different foam magnet objects on.  We talk about the sounds each letter makes and then he lines up picture magnets with the right letters.  ("Lion" starts with "lllll" etc.)

He usually takes this very seriously for 2 days.  Then the third day he get silly and puts the pictures by the wrong letters on purpose.  Which really is fine, because we sound out that picture using the wrong sound.  (Ex.  "Drum" becomes "Trum.")  Then on the 4th day I get out a timer and set it for 3 minutes and he hurries to beat the timer.  We usually do the same thing on Friday and it's a breeze then.  Then we start the next week with new letters/picture magnets.

Then we reinforce letters with some free alphabet "Do-A-Dot" printables.  Solomon loves Do-A-Dot paint markers and is always asking for printables to use them with, or making up his own pictures.  (You can find free printables for all sorts of activities including fun pictures and math and reading, etc. just by doing a search.)

Solomon is my first kid that seems to naturally love math.  He walks around doing addition and subtraction and asking me to verify his problems he comes up with.  Ex.  "So does 2 + 3 = 5?"  Last spring I bought "Farmyard Math" from Timberdoodle during a sale.  My only regret is that I waited until last month to introduce it as a lot of the lessons are too easy.  I thought it was for "preschoolers" but it seems more at a "toddler" level.  But that is OK!  Solomon loves this math and I make up harder problems for him with it.

Farmyard Math comes with a tub of farm animals, farmyard mat, and a 36-week curriculum guide.  (We've blazed through the whole guide in just a few weeks and I'm making up stuff now.)   For each lesson, there is a little story, and the child follows instructions in the story.  They learn basic counting, patterns, and some easy addition and subtraction.  It really does teach the child to listen carefully to the details in the story so they can do what it is asking.  (You can see a video about this math program on the Timberdoodle webpage here.)

Hunter really enjoyed a science experiment we did last month.  But I warn you - it is not for germ phobics!  Like me.  :(  We tested for bacteria on a range of different things around the house.  We swabbed objects then rubbed the swabs in petri dishes of agar. (Kit I bought is here.)  Then we waited a few days.  YUCK!  Seeing bacteria growing is gross.  But interesting.  (The only thing I didn't like about this kit was it didn't tell you how to identify if it is good or bad bacteria.)

I found the most bacteria covered thing that we tested for was one of the kitchen sink knobs.  (Really!  Why would someone put knobs at a kitchen sink?  You have to get it all gross when your hands are filthy with say raw chicken, just to turn it on to clean your hands.  I told Hunter we must replace those knobs with something else as soon as we can afford to!  In the meantime I clean the knobs several times a day now!)

On a different note, if you've never read Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Tabby and I both read it yesterday and thought it was incredibly inspiring.  And as it is an autobiography - there is no re-writing of history!  ;)  This is one of those books that challenges the reader to better develop their character.  My boys will be reading this as soon as they are old enough.  (Fun aside - we lived in Tuskeegee when I was a toddler.  My dad taught at Tuskeegee University.  He said he used this book in his humanities class and it was always received well.)

Finally, I just wanted to share an essential oil blend to help combat bedwetting, that Donna, one of my reader's makes and has had good results with.  (Her 9 year old son stopped wetting after several days of consistent use.)  To make the "Clean & Dry" blend, Donna adds 10 drops each Cypress and Copaiba and 5 drops Frankincense to a 10ml roller bottle, and tops with a carrier oil.  Her son applied it his lower belly, lower back, and the bladder vitaflex points in his feet. 

I hope that helps someone reading this!  I actually got a lot of feedback from my posts last winter on Hunter's bedwetting.  (He has been dry since January.)  This is a problem that more kids face than I realized in the past.

Well I know this was a long post.  So if you've made it to the end - thanks for reading!  :)

Better late that never ... back to school time

Last week Aletha Academy was FINALLY back in swing.  ("Aletha" means "truth" in Greek and is the name of our homeschool.)  Though we had a "soft start" to get used to school again.  This week we will be back to all our regular subjects.

I am following the Ambleside Online (Charlotte Mason) curriculum for "year 3" for Hunter.  I've been homeschooling for 10 years and have been all over the place with different schooling methods and curriculum.  But a few years ago, we gave Ambleside's suggestions a shot and worked out awesome.  I used it the last year that I homeschooled Tabby, and she says that was her best year. 

Solomon will have a mix of Montessori, Charlotte Mason, and whatever else we want to work on.  I don't think you HAVE to have specific sit down learning time with a 4 year old because they are learning by doing things with you, and alone, all day.  But, Solomon LOVES learning and asks to "do school."  Hunter loves learning too, though he prefers doing his own thing.  ;)  Solomon usually listens to anything I read Hunter.  And last week he learned 3 scriptures right along with us.  (I decided to try the memory verse method by Simply Charlotte Mason and it is working wonderfully.  Click here to learn about it and download scripture cards for free.)

finally a use for my strawberry file box!

I am SO THANKFUL that Hunter is a self motivated learner.  I had initially wanted to start our school back by mid-August but that didn't happen.  Tabby was sick so much and sick almost all of September.  So much of my time was researching, caring for her, and taking her to doctors.  (We are eagerly awaiting her lyme disease tests results which should be in on Tuesday.  She is still sick but continues to have an hour to a few hours a day now where she does not have the chest/stomach pain.  Though her joint pain continues and her face is terribly broken out with acne and lumps.  These increased when she began the Plexus so we know her body is detoxing.)
Back to Hunter, he keeps himself busy every day, and usually comes downstairs with a project already in mind.  Last week he built a radio using snap circuits and miscellaneous speakers he had taken out of things.  He likes to listen to the Classical Station because he said the music helps him to feel calm.

He reads every day - from the Thomas the Train original books to electrical and motor technical manuals to other good literature.  (He's been enjoying the original Doctor Dolittle series lately.)  He watches videos on YouTube by Matthias Wandel, a man in Canada that is an engineer/wood worker, and has learned so much. (I often find myself getting drawn into the videos too.  This guy is like a grown up version of Hunter.)  So why am I sharing all this?  I'm not bragging - I'm making myself feel better that we are starting school so late!  ;)

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Yes I know the sign is upside down - that's why he's smiling so big

I printed these wonderful Charlotte Mason motto signs, that I downloaded from this blog:

I need to add some quotes to our bulletin board, but for now have up my favorite Beatrix Potter quote:  "Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality."

For our work organization and so Hunter can see what we will be working on each morning, I use the Sue Patrick workbox system:

the boxes on the left were Tabby's, and I use them to store related work or books Hunter won't use that day

When Hunter finishes a subject, he can just flip the card around to show the red checkmark.  For subjects that he will do with me, I've added a "with Mama" card to the outside of the box:

I've printed several books from online that we will be using this year.  I love the idea of doing some beautiful book covers and binding.  But alas, there is that pesky time restraint crippled further by my perfectionistic ideals.  So for binding I decided I would laminate the cover and backpage, hole punch the sides, and use book rings to hold them together.  I can always redo them "more perfectly" one day, but for now I am pleased and they are working nicely.

3 book rings on this Marco Polo book I downloaded and printed

Finally, I'll leave you with some silly Solomon pictures.  He thinks it is so fun to be silly for the camera and asks me to take lots of pictures:

"But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,  and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." - 1 Timothy 3:14-15

Solomon's latest Montessori activies

We're now 7 weeks into our school term.  After morning school time, Hunter keeps busy making things.  What would we do without cardboard boxes?!  He recently got an old modem and was inspired to build an all-in-one computer:

For reading, I have a set (reprint) of McGuffey's Eclectic Readers.  These readers were originally published in the 1830s.  Though Hunter isn't totally fond of them, he prefers the stories in these because they are realistic, and not dumbed down like many of the modern readers.  I like the moral lessons and the rich vocabulary.  Hunter is a pretty advanced reader, but I still have him read to me because occasionally, he comes across words he can't pronounce correctly.  Twice a week we read McGuffey's lessons.  Then once a week, Hunter gets to pick what he wants to read to me.  It is usually one of his technical manuals.  Today was one on electricity and last week was a plumbing book.  By letting him choose books, this keeps his enthusiasm for reading out loud up.  And I usually end up learning about things I would never read about on my own.  ;)

I have a cart that I keep Solomon's current Montessori-type activities on. 

 
We push it into our living room each morning, so he can work in the same room where I am teaching Hunter.  I put activities on the cart that he can do on his own (after I show him how) and that are things he can do quietly so that he's not a distraction.  (That's the goal anyway - it doesn't always work!)

Here are some things he's worked on this month:

He's really into rainbows and the Noah's ark story.  So I printed out a rainbow and he matched little plastic bears onto the correct color.  (He added the "Lilly-colored bears" for decoration.)

We're working on numbers now.  Solomon can count to 10 and do several number chants (thanks to listening in on Hunter's lessons).  So I decided he was ready to start learning what the numbers looked like.  He talks a lot about Thomas the train being number 1.  So that gave me the idea of making Thomas the train cards and having him match the correct number to each card.  Many of the trains in Thomas have a number.  So I had Hunter tell me the trains that had numbers 1-10.  I then went to Google Images, copied train pictures, made number cards, then printed everything out.

After he was done, Solomon got out his Thomas the train engines and matched them too.

After a couple days, I gave Solomon some magnetic numbers I had, and he matched those.

I came across some "highway numbers" online and printed them onto cardstock. (See here.)  Solomon drives his cars through the numbers.  I give him a new number every few days, and we keep reviewing what he has.

We're having fun with Nursery Rhymes too.  I put our wooden nursery rhyme blocks on a tray along with Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever book.  Solomon likes to look at the book and match the blocks to the correct pages.  And of course build with them too.

When Tabby was about Hunter's age, she really enjoyed the book and CD set Can You Hear It?  I recently began introducing songs from this to Hunter and Solomon.  We listen to a new one each week.  The CD has a number of great works of music on it and the accompanying book has a picture for each and things to listen for.  We like to act the songs out when we listen.

For picture study, we are studying Leonardo da Vinci.  I am using Simply Charlotte Mason's picture portfolio for da Vinci.  I made Solomon his own set of cards of the da Vinci prints we are studying.  I printed 2 sets so he could match them.  I also gave him a book on da Vinci that we have. 

Whew!  Gotta wiggle around after all that!

Solomon is also learning to spell "Solomon" - or at least recognize the letters.  I got this neat idea off Pinterest.  I printed a picture of Solomon and two sets of the letters in his name.  I used velcro dots to attached them to a file folder.

One more activity, that had to be done in the kitchen, that Solomon really liked was when I filled a bowl with some water, put in some little plastic bears, and handed him some little sugar tongs.  He had to "catch" the bear and lift it out with the tongs, and then drop it into an ice tray.  This proved to be tricky!  He worked at it for awhile then when he was tired, he finished up by using a spoon to scoop out the bears.  This was a nice long project for him that allowed me to get several kitchen chores done while he was working.  ;)

Solomon enjoys taking structured activities, such as the above, then adding his own twists to them.  This is important.  Good for his brain!  He also really enjoys helping me do various chores and helping care for the animals.  He and Hunter play outside some of each afternoon too.  Also important - on many levels!

Play is important for kids.  (Though too much play can lead to trouble.  Parents of multiple kids probably know what I mean!)  Here is an article I read recently, that I found interesting:  "The Decline of Play in Preschoolers - and the Rise of Sensory Issues." 

Well this post is long enough.  I hope I've been able to give you some ideas to do things with your little ones, if you're in a similar place in life as I am.

Another school year

First off - happy birthday to my rainbow baby!  Solomon is now 3 years old.  Here he is wearing his annual birthday shirt and a mischievous grin:

(I bought pack of XL men's T-shirts years ago.  I have one for each of my kids.  I take a picture of them wearing their T-shirt each year on their b'day, and then print the picture and put it into a little photo album.  I have a b'day album for each of them.  It's fun to see how much they grow each year by how much smaller the T-shirt gets.)

Our new school year is full of changes this year.  In the past, I was adamant that we would NOT begin before the day after Labor Day.  Because that is what the law was where I grew up, in Northern Virginia, and that was what I was used to.  But this year we started the second week of August.

Why?  Because the boys and I are following Tabby's new school schedule.

What's up with Tabby's new schedule?

Well ... this year, for the first time, she is attending the small private Christian school that my husband works at.  She is going part-time and in the 9th grade.  Why?  Because she had several big issues come up in the last year, that I simply could not meet for her at home.  I admit, I rather selfishly felt rather sad and disappointed that homeschooling wasn't going to work this year for Tabby.  But so far - 6 weeks into this - I am relieved and pleased that things are going quite well and those needs are now being met.

Tabby is going to the school part-time and is in the 9th grade.  She has 4 classes and an elective each day.  We are still working on math at home, and she is continuing her weekly piano lessons.  After school, she is running on the cross country team.  Running with the team is proving to be an enormous blessing for her.  And at her last meet, she can in 7th place for girls in the 5K!

Tabby is 5'1" but has a long stride and tons of energy which makes her fast

Official school pictures was something new for my kids this year.  In the past, on our first official day of homeschool, we went outside and I took a few pictures of everyone.  This year Tabby had "picture day" and wore her dress uniform.  Here's my girl:

Since Tabby had a real picture day, I felt obliged to step it up for my boys with their annual school picture.  I came up with a "Pinterest-worthy" set up which I was rather proud of.  However, I had not thought of how it would turn out with boys.  Ha!

Even though the day was overcast, I found that Hunter's eyes seemed to be almost as sensitive as Lilly's were.  He needs sunglasses like she did!  It was hard to get him to open his eyes normally.  So here are a couple of my squinty-eyed missing-some-teeth engineer-in-the-making:

Here is Solomon with the expression that most people see him with:

However, when I asked him to smile, he got goofy:

Funny boy.

Hunter is in 2nd grade this year and I am following much of the Ambleside Online curriculum schedule.  We did this last year and it went great!  I feel like we're getting in so much good reading in books that are not dumbed down.  (This a Charlotte Mason type curriculum.)  I supplement with a couple other things too.

I'm continuing to use Montessori type activities with Solomon.  I will be back in a few days to share some of those.

"Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it." - Proverbs 16:22a