We spend a lot of time practicing reading with my ten year old, dyslexic son. Ask him about it and he will say that he works hard, but his brain just really doesn’t like to read. Ask him what his brain does like, and his first response will always be P.E. His second answer? Math….
We began homeschooling my youngest son when he was in kindergarten. He loved animals, getting messy and telling terrible jokes. (Five years later, he still does!) Having him home was fun, for both of us, almost all the time. The only exception was when it was time to practice phonics. We tried every single program…
And just like that, summer is almost over. I’m not sure how it happened. I think time somehow speeds up when we are swimming, making s’mores, and eating Popsicles. It’s still warm outside. We are still swimming, still playing, still clinging to the last bits of summer. But the calendar tells me it’s time. We…
I was cleaning the bathroom, when I heard my children giggling with delight. Not just a little laughter – no, the sweet sound of two little boys, genuinely giggling and having fun together. I smiled to myself. One of my favorite things in the world is that sound. I kept scrubbing (because bathrooms and boys…)….
I love this season. Getting ready for the start of a new school year means I get to do all the things I naturally love. Planning our homeschool calendar. Typing up our daily schedule. Researching and (even better) ordering and unpacking new books and curriculum options. Buying new pens and pencils that we don’t need,…
Please know, although I received this product for free and was compensated for my time, these opinions are 100% my own. Thank you so much for your continued support of my family. “How will I teach my child higher level math?” It’s something that comes up with my homeschool mom friends all the time. Or…
I looked over the list of speakers and topics. Too many of them made me feel sad. “That would never work for my boys,” I thought to myself over and over again. I went to The Great Homeschool Convention last month, determined to encourage as many mommas, feeling the same sense of being different and…
Parenting children with learning differences can be an immense challenge. For me, part of this challenge is that my sons’ learning differences also (necessarily) mean mothering differences for me. Eating, sleeping, showering, playing and yes, learning – all require a different approach in order for my sons to thrive. I have spent years trying to…
We made the decision to homeschool before we knew about either of my boys’ learning differences. Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. We knew they learned differently, but we didn’t know why. School was not kind to my oldest, off the charts, acing every standardized test seven year old. The noise, the smells, the…
My ten-year-old, already in tears and frustrated beyond belief, took the paper and tore it up. “I don’t want to do this,” he said through gritted teeth. Although my blood pressure was starting to spike, I said as calmly as I could, “That’s fine. If this seems too difficult today, you don’t have to do…
Too often, I spend a ton of time, energy and effort focused on what my children can’t do. I am ashamed to admit it, but it’s true. Will he ever really learn to read fluently? Why is it so hard to memorize the times tables when he can complete complex math problems in his head?…
When I was in seventh grade, I made a salt dough map of Italy. My uncle helped me. I remember carefully forming the mountains, painting the sea, and painstakingly placing all of Italy’s major cities in their correct locations. I had never done anything like it before. And I never did anything like it again,…
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