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This is What I Looked Like Last Week

frustration

On April 21st my email stopped working. I was communicating with current clients via my personal email which I don’t like to do because I get a LOT of junk there and wading through it for important emails is sometimes frustrating. But not as frustrating as tryingt to figure out WHY my email wasn’t working and then on top of it finding out that my site was down.

In all fairness, it was totally my fault. I have a GREAT hosting company and I’ve been pleased with them for almost 5 years. Turns out I never got the email reminding me that my site needed to be renewed, not because it got buried in the junk mail, but because I never updated my address. Note to self: you do not NEED 4 or 5 email accounts.

After talking with my terrific hosting company and logging back into my cpanel and fixing things, all is well again. Unfortunately, I cannot retrieve any messages that were sent between March 21st and April 1st, so if you tried to contact me through email during that time, please try again!

Many apologizies for the inconvenience! Now that everything is fixed and good to go again, I’m considering updating the site and adding a better graphic to the homepage. If you are versed in photography and can size an image just right and want to graciously send me an image to use, I’ll be happy to give you credit. :) Just send me an email and I’ll be sure to get it and respond!

Changes to My Services ~ Simplicity

clockOne of the most popular topics among homeschooling parents is time. We all want more of it, we claim we need more hours in the day, minutes in the hour, and we wonder how we’ll get everything done in time. We’re in a constant competition with the clock. To think of having time to ourselves is a far-off dream.

I have never enjoyed living this way, and do my best to keep our lives as peaceful as possible around here. I got a little off track last year and so something I am striving for in earnest this year is SIMPLICITY. What a terrific word. For me, it conjures up images of sitting outside on a great Florida Spring day reading a novel at my leisure; of snuggling up with my girls to read a picture book together (something we haven’t done in too long!); taking a nice walk on the beach on a Sunday afternoon as a family, or several other things that make me . Why can’t I actually do some of those things? Can I only dream about them? I realized that I can do some of these things, but it will take making some changes. So I’m working on it. I hope you’ll join me.

One way I’m going to simplify my life this year is to offer exclusively virtual evaluations. I may set one day a month (in the summer months only), to meet local families at our usual Starbucks or Books A Million, however, that is still to be determined. If you are uneasy about the virtual evaluation and what it entails read here and let me assure you that it is no more difficult than carting all your work samples to meet me. In fact, it may be easier! If you are not comfortable with a scanner you still have option of mailing portfolios to me and of dropping them off to me (if you are a local family).

For my tried and true clients who have been doing virtual evaluations for years – thank you! Please post a comment and let the other nervous nellies know that it is not that difficult! :)

Please wish me well on my journey to simplify this year. My children need it from me, my husband needs it, and *I* need it!

I will envision you all doing a little bit of this with me. Let’s really be present to ourselves, our families and enjoy each moment we have with them because time does not have to be an enemy; it is truly a precious gift.

Ah, FCAT Time Again

Why does the mention of the FCAT strike so many intense emotions in people? Could it be because the media hype has gotten to all of us? Are we downright tired of hearing about it? Saddened by the fact that teachers and students have to spend so much time thinking about it (and worrying about) it? Are some of us frightened? Angry? Lukewarm about it? Could care less because your kids don’t have to take it? Nearly everyone has some kind of an opionion on the FCAT.

Here’s what I think. I am glad that my homeschooled children are not judged academically on the basis of one test alone. Sure, I might be curious one day and send my girls to a public school so that they can take the test, who knows? Some people like to do that. When homeschooling parents ask my opinion of having their child take the test, I simply say, IF your child wanted to go to the school evironment, and sit in the classroom for the test, be sure that they understood how the testing environment will be: silent, sparse and tense. IF your child can handle this then go for it. BUT, when the test results come in, don’t take too much stock in the results. Do it for the experience and/or the curiosity only.

My county mails out registration forms to homeschoolers each year in case we want to sign our kids up to take the test. This often incites fear in people because they think it might be a passive-agressive way for “the government” to try to get your kids to take the test. Nothing could be further from the truth. Personally, although I won’t be filling out those forms any time soon, I really appreciate our county homeschool office reaching out to us. It doesn’t happen everywhere.

So, the next time you read about this year’s FCAT results or listen to it on the local news, be glad that you have the opportunity to participate in all the hoopla, and if you choose not to, rejoyce in that instead!

Field Trips in Florida ~ Wow! What a Resource!

If you homeschool in Florida, you’ll want to bookmark this information!

Many of you are familiar with Homeschool Buyers Co-op, because of the terrific group deals that are offered for homeschoolers, and for their free identification card, but did you know that they also have a fabulous list of places to take field trips?

Click here to see this outstanding list! If you see something not listed, you can add your own!

The Art of Homeschooling

Today I am so thrilled to bring you a paper written about homeschooling by a homeschooled student! This paper was written by Derek Begnaud, a 13 year old student who has been homeschooled since the first grade. I had the pleasure of meeting him and reviewing his portfolio this year and when I asked permission to reprint this paper he had written for one of his assignments he and his parents graciously agreed. I hope you enjoy reading about homeschooling from a student’s perspective!


The Art of Homeschooling by Derek Begnaud

Imagine waking up and doing school in your pajamas. I do this every day! There are a few great reasons why I like homeschooling. One reason is I can learn at my own pace. Homeschooling lets me have time with my family. Learning from my home is definitely awesome.

Homeschooling allows me to have a flexible schedule. I have plenty of time for extracurricular activities. “Setting aside time for chores, meals and personal hygiene, homeschooled teenagers have from for to ten discretionary hours each day- a great deal more than there schooled peers.” (Cafi, 28) I take breaks as I need them which helps me to better focus on school. Together with my parents, I have some say in my schedule. If I feel like having a day off, I can make up for it that evening. Field trips are easier because there are less children around and I can take things at my own pace and learn more.

“Brothers and sisters who spend time together as homeschooling siblings do form special bonds, especially when freedom from a school calendar means big brother or sister is there from the very beginning.”(Dobson, 52) I enjoy the time I spend with my family. “That warm, family feeling naturally supports social and emotional development so that it doesn’t need to be artificially enhanced.”(Dobson, 13) I like helping my younger siblings learn. I help them with their school work and we play together. Sometimes we even learn together! “Homeschooling builds and strengthens family bonds.” (Dobson, 51)

Learning from home creates less distractions. I can choose to work from the couch or I can work outside in my yard or even from the lake. The refrigerator is only feet away. No cafeteria food for me! I can wear whatever comfortable clothes I want. Having the comfort of home is definitely nice.

“The most critical area of education essentials: Teaching children to be good human beings.” (Gold and Zielinski, 146) Homeschooling is what we do and we like doing it. It is definitely nice learning at my own pace, being home with my family and learning from the comfort of my own home. I would recommend homeschooling to anyone.

Works Cited

Dobson, Linda.Book of Homeschooling.New York:Three Rivers Press, 2002. Print.
Cohen, Cafi.Homeschooling;The Teen Years.NewYork:Three Rivers Press, 2000. Print.
Dobson, Linda.Homeschooling;The Early Years.New York:Three Rivers Press, 1999.Print.
Gold, LauraMaery, and Joan M. Zielinski.Homeschool Your Child For Free.New York:Three Rivers Press, 2009.Print.

Get Out of Your Own Way: How to Listen to the Needs of Your Gifted Child

I have always thought of myself as an “outside the box” kind of teacher. When I taught within the constrains and confines of the public school system I enjoyed the reputation I had as a “renegade” and have fond memories of heated discussions, (including some fist pounding), while sitting on the other side of the principal’s desk. Suffice it to say, I am passionate about education. But more than that, I am passionate about educating.

When I began the journey of homeschooling my own children I felt certain that I could do a great job. I didn’t need to spend tons of money on “how to” books and boxed curricula because I had lots of supplies from my days of teaching elementary school, and so I set out with enthusiasm and confidence. I had experience with all types of learners, experience meeting their needs, and the accolades to prove it. What more could I need?

Enter, my first-born.

I have two gifted daughters but my eldest by far is my greatest teacher. There was a time when I would have phrased that differently. I would have said she was my greatest challenge, or my hard-to-please child. Today, I see things a bit differently though. This story is about her.

When my daughter was younger, she was easy to teach, interested, and motivated to learn, as most young children are. She was also highly verbal and an early reader and early writer. Around age 6 though, her needs changed and it became clear that I wasn’t meeting them. All along, I suspected she was a gifted child and so I had her tested.

My reasons for testing? First of all, I wanted to be sure that I was seeing things correctly. I had identified plenty of ESE students in my career, however, I wanted some validation that I wasn’t looking at her ability through my “mommy glasses”.

I was relieved when I received the test results. The relief was not because my daughter was now officially labeled, but because I now had a reason to explain her often outlandish behavior. You see, it is not uncommon for gifted kids to act out and display all kinds of negative behaviors. My daughter was displaying them all. If one didn’t know better she might have been seen as a kid with ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, or even ODD. I am certain that those who might have been witness to her behaviors such as tantruming and throwing herself on the ground in public places, (at an age where this was no longer remotely appropriate), could have concluded that she was a downright disobedient child, and I an indulgent parent; none of which would have been accurate.

This behavior worried me but it took me some time to see the link between it, and the fact that I was not meeting her intellectual needs. You see, intellectual needs of the gifted often go hand in hand with their emotional needs. If a child is being challenged intellectually and feels good about that, then that might translate to them being emotionally even-keeled. And vice versa; if a gifted child is not being nourished at an intellectual level, their emotional life can suffer, as in the case of my daughter.

But let’s backtrack a bit. For several months prior to meeting with the psychologist to have my daughter tested, my husband and I made the decision to curtail all the conceptual information she was receiving. Up until this point we explained every little thing she was interested in, such as how a rainbow is made, to how to keep safe during a lightning storm and everything in between. We realized that we all needed to slow down a bit and help her “get out of her head” and more grounded, and into her body.

We developed a plan based on the Enki Education curriculum that focused on integrating her senses by lots of movement and Brain Gym type activities. I read a lot of fairy tales aloud via Waldorf style and we really enjoyed this time together. This approach seemed to help her immensely, and I am very grateful for having found that program. However, it only seemed to nourish her for a time. Once again she became unsettled.

It was actually a relief to me to realize that my daughter’s behaviors really did have something to do with her feeling intellectually malnourished. At least I could do something about that, right? As much as I was feeling like I had an answer, I was also feeling terrified because now I had to meet her needs, not the needs of a clone of several hundred students I had taught in my past.

To say that I obsessed about meeting this child’s needs would be an understatement. These questions constantly plagued me: What could I do? What resources could I provide? Who could I talk to? What support group could I join? What group of friends would be best for her? Mostly I wondered why meeting the needs of my own daughter seemed to be so difficult for me. After all, I should know how to do this. I work as a homeschool consultant and help parents on a regular basis find effective ways to reach their children. Yet, I was stuck. The advice I was given was to remember that emotionally she is her chronological age. Intellectually, she is about 5 years older. How in the world would I teach middle school material to a first-grader?

I then began to read everything I could find about gifted children and a whole new world opened up to me. I contacted David H. Albert and asked for his advice. My conversation with David was extremely enlightening, and very enjoyable, even if it was a bit embarrassing. He is the one who suggested I dismantle my own “inner school.” See his book Dismantling the Inner School (link below). When I finished talking with David, I realized that I needed to stop making this all about me and my abilities (or lack thereof), but to listen to what my daughter is saying and to help her find resources for her current interests (and obsessions!) Mostly though, what I took away from my conversation with David was that I have spent way too much time thinking about myself, my teaching, and what I can or can’t do, and not enough time noticing what my daughter is trying to tell me. Okay, so David didn’t say it exactly that way, but that’s what I came away from our conversation with (and I think he’d be very happy about that).

Another thing I realized after looking over the previous years is that I had indeed listened to my daughter and acted upon what she was telling me at the time. I backed off the intellectual stimuli when she needed me to; I gave her more when she asked for it, but most importantly I am learning that these needs are in constant flux. They are ever-changing, and sometimes daily.

I am learning, with the help of my daughter, that if I simply observe her and listen to her, she will provide me with all the answers I need. These answers do not come from me, they come from her, and she is not shy about sharing these things with me which is a blessing for the both of us! The trick for me is to notice everything. I can’t rely solely on what she will say. I have to observe her body language too, what she does during play, and what she draws or writes. We did this type of observation of students when I was in graduate school and it was very enlightening and helpful. I’ve read John Holt talk about the benefits of observation as well. I think there is nothing more helpful for learning about your child than simply observing.

Simply sit and observe your child while they are playing or engaged in something they enjoy. It is important that the child does not know that you are observing them. Jot down notes about what your child is doing and how he is doing it. Write down things your child says and the way they are said. Take note of body language. It’s amazing what you will see and notice! Your child can and does speak volumes, sometimes silently. Sometimes, too, your child may simply walk up to you and tell you how you should be facilitating their learning.

I’ll give you a recent example of how my daughter told me point-blank, exactly what she needed. I use the program All About Spelling (AAS). I enjoy this program and even though I know my daughter doesn’t, I was continuing to have her participate anyway. As a public school teacher I despised handing out spelling lists and giving spelling tests on Fridays (but in some schools I had to do it), and I would argue against it, citing scores of research about how this type of learning does not teach a child to spell. Therefore, with my own daughters I use AAS which is similar to the way I taught spelling in my public school classroom, using a multi-sensory approach. To my great surprise, my daughter told me that she would learn to spell better with a list. She went on to remind me that she is really good at memorizing, and if only she had words to memorize it would be much better for her. After my initial shock I realized that she is, (of course), 100% correct. I would not have come to this conclusion on my own because I was still so caught up in my old mantra, “this is way is best because the research says so.”

I am still not going to give her a list of spelling words to be tested on each Friday, but I will incorporate some vocabulary words from whatever topic she’s interested in at the time and let her write her own list if she still wants to.

If you are a parent of a gifted child, just remember that the only thing you can do to continually reach a gifted student (and really any student for that matter), is to ask them, trust what they have to say, and follow through. Never assume that because what they said they were interested in and wanted to do this week will be true next week. Just keep on observing and asking for input.

Today, I no longer call myself an “outside the box” kind of thinker. Today I try not to place myself either “in” or “out of” the box. Instead, I try to be open enough and flexible enough, to follow both of my daughters wherever they may lead me; whether that be inside the box or outside the box, or under the box or somewhere, (hopefully,) where boxes are not even part of the vernacular.

I hope you will join me on this journey of humbling ourselves and learning to listen to our children; for ironically, sometimes the smaller we become, the bigger and better our parenting becomes.

Another Blog Tour Sponsored by SENG

Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) is also sponsoring a blog tour in honor of National Parenting the Gifted Week 2012. Click here to see the schedule and look for my post on July 20th! :-)

Parenting the Gifted Blog Tour 2012

We are very excited to be participating in the Parenting the Gifted Blog Tour 2012 from July 15-21st. We are parents with experience and insights to share. We come from different parts of the country, different school choices, and different social and economic backgrounds, but we all have one thing in common. We know that parenting a gifted child can sometimes be as challenging as it is rewarding. If you have ever woken up at 3 AM in the morning wondering “What am I going to do with this child?” then this blog tour is for you!

From July 15-21 the Parenting the Gifted Blog Tour will discuss some of the most pertinent issues facing gifted education today:

On July 15th Childhood Inspired will write about “Loneliness as a Gifted Parent”.
Also on July 15th, Our Roxaboxen Adventures will discuss “Identifying Gifted Minority Students”.

On July 16th Sceleratus Classical Academy will share “Don’t Panic! Musings about realizing that your child’s learning pattern is ahead of schedule.”

On July 17th Teaching My Baby to Read will feature “When School Isn’t Enough; Fanning the Flames of Learning Afterschool”.

On July 18th Homeschooling: or Who’s Ever Even Home will write about “A Broader Definition of Success for Gifted Children”.

On July 19th A Tree House Education will feature “2E Issues”.

Also on July 19th, Homeschool in Florida will share “Get Out of Your Own Way: How to Listen to the Needs of Your Gifted Child”.

On July 20th Making Music With Kids will discuss “Finding a Good Fit for a Preschooler You Suspect is Gifted”.

On July 20th Barely Educational will write about “Worrying Too Much and Overanalyzing Parenting”

On July 21st Teaching My Baby to Read will feature guest posts.

On July 21st Dancing with Dragons will write about “Teaching the Visual Spatial Learner: When Your Child Thinks in Pictures”.

Be sure to come back here on July 19th for my post, “Get Out of Your Own Way: How to Listen to the Needs of Your Gifted Child”.

Please post comments and suggestions and let us know how you enjoyed the tour. :)

Parenting the Gifted ~ Blog Tour 2012!


Please join us for our first Gifted Education Week Blog Tour!

Topics will include:
2E (Twice Exceptional) Issues
Teaching the Visual-Spatial Learner
Identifying Gifted Minority Students
Get Out of Your Own Way: How to Listen to the Needs of Your Gifted Child (that’s mine) :-)
and much more!

Stay tuned for details.

You will also see a post by me during this tour the week of July 15 – 21. :-)

Free Printable Planner

Here’s another post about planning. It must be on my mind. :-) I know that I’m not the only one though!

This site has a great (and FREE) printable planner. This one has tons of choices and is fully customizable. I love it! I may be printing one of these for myself – even though I have already ordered and started using my new one. I just love the looks of this one!

Thanks Tina and Kelley!