Accidental Homeschooling

Well, it sure has been a while! Those cute little Cub Scouts? One is a Boy Scout and the other is a Webelos Scout getting ready to cross over in about a year! The "baby" will be a Tiger Cub in the Summer. Tempest Fuget! Oh - and remember the Very Hungry Quilt? He won a BLUE RIBBON!!! Those red vests are also so full of patches that I don't know where I am going to put Andy's last one. It is also time for this year's Pinewood Derby Cars. Not sure what they are making yet.

What brings me back to this blog is camper #1 - Andrew. We have been battling and struggling with the schools to get him what he needs for the last 7 years. He has an IEP granting him the bare minimum of services and it is carried out to the minimum extent that it can be. Add in the fact that he is just "different" so he gets picked on, teased and bullied. He isn't the type of kid to act out, tantrum, yell etc. (That is Ryan's role in this family). He internalizes and I am left watching him get angrier and withdraw. I don't know where this will take him. Will his PTSD symptoms start rearing their ugly night-terroring heads or will he just snap and go off on someone? It seems like it may be the later, because he understands what is going on - even if he acts like he is oblivious. If that is the case I am afraid someone will get hurt. He is far bigger than most kids his age and doesn't realize his size. He is also a fairly passive and sedentary kid until he finds himself in a competitive setting and then he doesn't hold anything back. Recently, the thought of school has literally made him ill. He has an anxiety attack triggering his asthma and he coughs until he vomits. We have an advocate and we are working with him to do what is best for Andy.

What I have been thinking is that maybe it is time to try something new. Maybe it is time for homeschooling. I've been doing all kids of research. Looking all over the internet and talking to many homeschool parents with a variety of approaches. It occurred to me, when I remembered that I had this blog, that what we were doing with Daddy Day Camp was actually Home School for the summer. I wish someone told me that then... We could have gotten here sooner. 

What we have settled on for now is to supplement his school work with an on line program. If we decided to pull the plug and go the HS route, he will do this full time supplemented of course by Scouts and all the cool stuff we normally do as a family. I figure, if you can get an MBA online, you can certainly finish the 5th grade. right?

We have selected Time4Learning as the online program. It is an entirely online program on a subscription basis. I love that I can add the other two for the summer as well. So far he is taking to it like a fish to water. He focuses on it and actually asks to use it. As a matter of fact, I'm going to end this post now because he is nagging me to go do some science! I will post a full review after we have had a chance to get used to the program.

The links in the sidebar will be updated soon too. Welcome back.

Camp Rules

We have our house rules posted on the same wall as our family calender and important notices. They know the rules and they know the consequences. (We like Super Nanny!)

We also have a Toddler, 2 boys with ADD/ADHD and a Dad in charge who also has ADD. I can not overstate how important structure is in our house. It is crucial to survival.

I found a couple of tips on Let's Explore (my new favorite blog!). The first is a "Chore Bucket". The kids pull a chore out of the bucket and that is the chore for the day. They are all things that they can do and can feel good about doing a good job. #2 in particular LOVES to be a helper. #1 would rather sit in front of the TV... I'm thinking Dad should pull out a chore to set a good example ;).

Another cool tip I found on Let's Explore is the Marble Jar. you set out a basket of marbles and an empty jar. When they do something worthy of praise, they got to add marbles to the jar. Once the jar is full, they get a special treat. We tried giving them each a jar of pennies and taking away pennies when they misbehaved, but they threw a fit at losing pennies and I think it focused too much on the bad behavior. I think the marble jar will not only get them more praise, but it will encourage them to work together.

We started the Marble Jar last night and it was met with great enthusiasm. #1 & #2 got the jar going by doing such a great job reading while I got #3 ready for bed. We have not even decided what the "surprise" will be yet. I try to keep rewards to non-material things, but I'm thinking maybe a book from the book store... or better yet a trip to the Public Library! To avoid starting too much at once, we're holding off on the Chore Bucket until the weekend. Daddy and I will be picking chores too. Chores done with effort and enthusiasm will be rewarded with marbles - even if it isn't done "right". It is the effort and the work ethic we are going for here.

I also plan out our menus every week, which not only gets dinner on the table at a reasonable hour, but it saves a lot of money in groceries. I also plan out lunches and snacks. Daddy has also requested we sit down and come up with a "Camp Schedule". This may be too rigid for some families, but again, with the abundance of ADD/ADHD in our home, it is a necessity.