Jump to content

Menu

juls

Members
  • Posts

    53
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by juls

  1. We have the CD version with the recommended headphones (no special bone conduction I guess). The only very tangible result I have seen for my child was with his loud voice. After going through the program his personal volume level was much more appropriate and I found that I no longer had to tell him to use an inside voice. Prior to TLP he seem to speak far too loudly. As for focus and other benefits, I am not sure that they were as noticeable. We had clearer results with Interactive Metronome, which I highly recommend. I will say that my son really enjoyed doing TLP. He completed the CD set more than once- it was excellent "down" time for him. Nice to have a therapy that he really enjoyed. Juls
  2. I cook a decent amount and couldn't function without the immersion blender (I use it's attachments as a chopper and a food processor). It also works for smoothies, but my kids make so many smoothies (daily) that we found the Kitchenaid just can't hack the ice over time so we now have a small $15 Hamilton Beach smoothie blender for that purpose.
  3. My SIL was staying with us this summer and she had DD with her. I read through it and made one of the recipes and thought I would order the book. When I got to Amazon and read reviews, I changed my mind and bought The Sneaky Chief. I'm glad I did because I like it even better. In fact, I spent most of the day yesterday making recipes from it (I freeze things) and every one has been a hit when my kids did taste tests. DD generally uses one ingredient purees and TSC uses multiple ingredients in it's purees. It has a section up front for making sneaky additions up front (breadcrumb mixtures, green purees, white purees, orange purees etc.). Then you add these to things when you cook. I tend to cook in batches so this works very well for me. I like that TSC gives me lists of foods in which I can use the make ahead additions. For me, this style works better. I would read through the reviews of both books on Amazon and see which book would better suit you. I think they both have their merits. HTH, Juls
  4. I put my oldest in a private school after many years of difficult homeschooling days with him. He started at the school in fifth grade. Our relationship improved dramatically and our household became so much more tolerable. Last year, my middle child announced that he too wanted to go to school, but he made this announcement during the last week of summer. We found a way to get him in the private school too and he THRIVED last year beyond my wildest dreams. It was his forth grade year and he really grew in some amazing ways- ways that I would not have seen happen at home. I now only homeschool my youngest (1st grade). I believe that my kids get better education at home (they believe this too!), but I can not deny that our family functions much better when we have some separation from each other. If private school were not an option for us, I would put them in public school. We evaluate from year to year though and we will bring them home again if it ever again seems to be the best option. I LOVE homeschooling, I LOVE to teach and I think I do a pretty good job of it- but I had to stop putting my desires and ideals over the health of our family. For us it's been a great decision. Juls
  5. I have two boys ages 11 (almost 12) and 10. The younger has been taller than the older since they were 3 and 2- usually by two inches. The younger one is also developing faster (looses teeth first, shows signs of puberty). He takes after my husbands side of the family and has a large bone structure and will probably be about 6'. I'll be happy if my older son ends up at 5' 8". Quite honestly, I don't think my older guy is phased by it. It's always been a given to him that he would be the shorter one. Juls
  6. Look into Interactive Metronome. We saw many lasting improvements from IM, especially in the area of impulsive behavior and social skills.
  7. My husband and I have been reading each post and digesting your opinions and experiences. Thank you all! A salt water system is a definite for us because I have one child who is sensitive to chlorine. How much maintenance do these system entail? Also any other opinions on pool heaters vs solar covers? My backyard is in full sun from about noon until six pm and we live in southeast VA. And a special thanks Betty and kdneo for your dissenting opinions. We need to consider this decision from all sides. Maintenance and safety are big concerns for us. We would still be going to our neighborhood pool quite a bit because that is where our swim team meets, so I don't think we would miss out much on the social aspects our our neighborhood pool. Juls
  8. My dh and I have been casually discussing the idea of getting a pool so I thought I would get some opinions. Our HOA does not allow above ground pools so in-ground would be our only option. We are pretty conservative with our $ and rarely make luxury purchases, so this is a pretty wild idea for us, especially considering the high price tag. We have three kids ages 11, 10 and 5 who can all swim. We live in a southern state and a fair number of houses have back yard pools. But we also have a neighborhood pool to which the older two can bike when it is open. My kids are not the outdoorsy types, they don't care much for sports in general so getting them to play outside can be a battle. But they all love to swim and are on swim team. My husband likes to swim as well and would use a pool for exercise. I am not a water person, but I am the one who can't let this idea go. Our general question is how much use would it get? Would the novelty wear off after two years? Do at home pools generally get used for many years? Would we regret spending so much money, or would we be thankful for the many memories made in our back yard? How much maintenance is involved? What is the yearly cost of pool upkeep? Anyone put in a pool and then regretted it? We have no plans on moving by the way. We will very likely be in this house for a long time. Any thoughts are appreciated! Juls
  9. is a homeschool store about 50 min away in Virginia Beach. http://www.mooreexpressions.com/ Might be too far... Juls
  10. My son was much like this too. And it came to a head at age six. At age six I began visiting various doctors looking for answers and help. We saw a neurologist who ruled out autism and sent us to an Occupational Therapist. The OT gave him the Sensory Processing Disorder diagnosis and worked with him for several months, she also notices a visual issue which lead us to Vision Therapy. The Vision Therapist did find some issues and we started VT but dropped it after two months because my son would not comply. I think this really would have done him good though. We also tried some Speech Therapy because were were small issues with speech as well. That also was short lived because he would not comply. But we began The Listening Program to try to help his audio processing skill. (These skills tested as normal when looked on the whole, but there were wide variances). He liked this and we saw a noticeable change in his volume level. Before TLP he was always talking too loudly. Next we saw a doctor who specialized in autism. He said my son was on the spectrum, but the mildest case he had ever seen. He recommended B-12 shots which did nothing. Also at this time we had our son seen by a psychology department at a local University. They did a host of educational and other testing under the direction of the faculty. They said our son was borderline ADHD. He had and above average IQ, very strong memory and extremely slow processing speed. I should add that at age five ds had developed some verbal tics (and a few motor tics as well). These lasted several months and them would go away. Until they would then come back again. I suspected Tourette's since he had some OCDish fixations as well. For this I experimented with many, many supplements (not herbs), finding that we could quell the tics significantly with these. Another thing we tried was Interactive Metronome. IM was very hard for my son. He fought us through 15 sessions and then we stopped for a year. He had made some improvement though. I noticed some positive social changes after the IM so I waited a year and tried it again. This time my son enjoyed it and continued to improve. I hope to try it one more time this summer, because I think we have had some positive benefits from it. DS is now ten years old. This past fall he began at a Classical Christian school after having been only homeschooled. I explained some of his issues to the teachers and prayed hard that he would have a good experience. I am shocked to tell you that he is THRIVING. Especially socially! He loves it. His teachers do not notice his issues, and I will say he is very much improved all the way around. He still looks disheveled, but he's not the only fourth grade boy in that camp. He has trouble with buttons and shoe tying so we buy pants that clasp and shoes that slip on. His handwriting is still messy, he types assignments when he can. He is on no medicine (never has been) and currently off all supplements. His fixations have lessened. His tics will likely come back in the summer (they aways start up in June, I think they are from the chlorine in the pool). When they do, we will try again to quiet them with suppliments. He is a straight A student but he needs me to help him study and keep organized. He is also the slowest one in the class when it comes to finishing assignments. He hates all team sports, so I think playground time will become harder for him as he gets older. But now he loves it. Best of all he is a happy, much less frustrated boy. He still has bad days and difficulties that don't seem quite "normal", but these are much less frequent then they use to be. He's developing a delightful sense of humor. Maybe in the future we will need to try some sort of pharmaceuticals to better focus him or assist with anxiety. I don't rule this out- but he functions so much better now then I would have guessed four years ago. Most people would not notice any of his difficulties. Sorry this is long, I just wanted to give you our experience and tell you that you son needs your great love and support to help him work though his areas of weakness. Juls
  11. I have a 10 yr old ds. A few years back his IQ (calculated as GAI on the WISC IV) was 117 (87%) but processing speed was 85 (16%). He is VERY slow at everything, but he is still bright. Anyone find a way to make great gains in Processing Speed? Juls
  12. Both of my sons have done IM and I have also recommended it to friends. For us I think there have been some noticeable benefits, especially for my son who has SID and some other mild issues. This particular child struggled to do well with it (he often hated going during our first round) so we worked for 15 sessions and stopped. He did make gains though. We then began again 8 months latter and did 6 more sessions. This second round he was much more compliant. I plan to try it a third time with this same child in the summer. My goal is to get this son into the average or better than average category. I was most impressed that his gains have remained. He functions much better socially and seems to have more self control. In general, we saw an overall improvement in the whole child after IM. Small things but well worth the time. Now I recommended IM to a friend with two autistic daughters. One of her daughters would not comply (they gave it a try but she is severely disabled from the autism), but the other daughter had AMAZING gains. Her language and social abilities blossomed very noticeably. This is a family that has tried countless therapies and programs for their girls. IM for this daughter was one of there clear success stories and it was much cheaper then many other things they have tried. Hope this Helps, Juls
  13. I really think they are a VERY valuable tool for Christian homeschoolers. The book is also excellent and further goes into the how to look at Genisis through the world of the Ancient Hebrews. The author made the journey from Young Earth creationism to Evolutionary Creationism. The book deals more with theology then with science and is an easy read for science layman. This is from Wikipedia: Glad you liked the videos so much Mamagistra.
  14. For those interested in a wonderful presentation on this topic, take a look at the online video series entitled Science and Christian Education from the author of Beyond the Firmament. The videos are targeted to Christian educators who are teaching science to their children. The complete series is not yet finished but the segments that are posted are well worth watching. Each segment is about 10 minutes long so you can watch them in chunks. The author, Gordon Glover, is an Evangelical Christian from a conservative reformed denomination (PCA), he is also a homeschool dad. These videos (and even more so the book) have completely changed my thoughts about evolution and how it fits with Genesis. I highly recommend them, as well as the book. Enjoy!
  15. The infallibility issue may seem to be the main issue that Christians have with evolution but I don't think it needs to be. I think a more serious concern for Christians is that accepting evolution as a working theory can lead to humanistic or godless philosophies. Often the term evolutionist assumes such ideas. This is why I much prefer the term Evolutionary Creationist. After formally accepting a Young Earth position, I have now come around to the Evolutionary Creationist view point, but I still believe the Bible is infallible and inerrant in its original language. I just consider context to be important. I think that God used the current science of the time to reveal astonishing truths about himself to the Ancient Hebrews. He uses their understanding of the cosmos (geocentrism, water over the dome of the sky and water under the earth etc.) to communicate timeless truths about Himself. Specifically that He is the ONE God of creation. This idea of monotheism was a radical concept in Ancient times. It makes so much sense that God would accommodate the limited scientific understanding at that point in time to communicate Himself to His people. That said, I fear that we Christians are too quick to condemn other views. What about humility? What about maintaining a teachable heart before the Lord and before our brethren? History shows us that the Catholic church was wrong when Galileo was put under house arrest. Very few people now believe that the sun revolves around the Earth (although there are over 60 verses in scripture that support geocentrism!). It took hundreds of years for that mess to sort out and the Catholic church seems to have learned a big lesson. Are Evangelicals making a very similar mistake by not taking a hard look at the issue of evolution? Are we needlessly putting a hindrance before the gospel? Do scientists rule out the Bible (and the gospel) because of evolution? Are we Christians telling scientists that they must abandon a working theory (evolution) that has gained more and more scientific support throughout the last 150 years in order to become believers? What if organizations like AIG and ICR are not communicating all the details? How much money have these organizations made off of their Young Earth materials? Are we keeping our children from becoming scientists because we fear evolution? These are questions that I would like to see addressed by thoughtful evangelicals. Are there other evangelical protestant believers who have come to accept the theory of evolution as the best working theory that Biology has right now? I wonder how alone I am.
  16. Evolutionary Creationism is a term emerging in protestant evangelical circles. Its focus is on God as creator but acknowledges evolution as the means of creation. Scripture is taken very seriously in this group and there are a growing number of books and blogs on the subject. I'd highly recommend Beyond the Firmament by Glover if you are interested. I'd further recommend a video series that Glover is posting on God Tube, U Tube and his own blog. It is a series addressed to Christian Educators. Here's the description line for the series "How should the natural sciences be taught by Christian educators? These 16 lessons approach the subject from a position that respects both the authority of scripture and the integrity of the scientific method. For more information, or to get this series on DVD, please visit www.beyondthefirmament.com." I believe the first 10 of the 16 video clips are available on God Tube here. Each clip is about 10 minutes. They are very good and I have appreciated finding them.
  17. Today's blog post from John Holzmann spells out many more details and correspondences for those who are interested.
  18. Mari- All Christians believe that God created the world, that's not in question. The question is how exactly did that play out. Answering this question can and does influence how we teach our children and what materials we use. This is why, as a homeschooler, I needed to spend time working through this. I was very familiar with the materials from ICR and had been using Apologia science for years. I then read a book about Intelligent Design and moved on to the Origins book and Beyond the Firmament. My final read was The Language of God. This journey left me in a new place, but kept the integrity of scripture in tact for me (Beyond the Firmament was a big help with this). I am now comfortable reading Genesis as a literal account given to a Ancient Near Eastern Hebrew audience. I am also now comfortable with evolutionary science. I am not an "evolutionist" though. That would implies a philosophy. I do not believe that the scientific process of our origins necessitates a humanistic, Godless worldview. I do think that figuring these things out for ourselves is important, and I realize that people will arrive in different places on this issue but it is a worthwhile to evaluate resources that offer differing opinions. For a long while, I never quite knew how to sort through the issues myself. I just had a vague feeling that I should. It took me a bit of reading but I'm glad I invested the time and now have more clarity about my science choices.
  19. I know the Catholic church is fine with evolution. But they had previously made a scientific/theological blunder back in the 17th centrury when they took Galileo's acceptance of a heliocentric universe (as opposed to a geocentric universe) to task. Interestingly, there are still some geocentric Christians who argue for an Earth-centered universe because of the many scripture passages that refer to the rising sun and the earth being firmly fixed. They believe that the young earthers don't go far enough in applying scripture to science. C.S. Lewis was also fine with evolution. I look forward to hearing the BBC program. Thanks.
  20. I was reading the discussion about Sonlight being banned from the Christian Home Educators of Colorado because it isn't strict enough in its young earth teaching. Specifically because it carries Usborne books. That was previously discussed here. But if you continue to follow John Holzmann's blog this week, you see he is reviewing two books, Origins (Haarsma) and Beyond the Firmament (Glover), both written by evangelicals who have taken a hard look at science and the Bible. I have read both of these books and others on the subject and they have really opened my mind up to the possibility that I have been misunderstanding scripture and its relationship to science. As a Christian I am looking to teach my children sound doctrine and sound science. After a summer of reading through the arguments, I am drawn to now accepting the idea of Evolutionary Creationism- a position I never would have dreamed of a few years back. Holzmann seems to be moving in a similar direction as you read through his blog posts this week. But as the co-owner of Sonlight, I have to wonder if how his company would be received by the Christian homeschooling community if it actually carried books (again written by evangelicals) that countered young earth creationism? If his company took a hit for carrying Usborne books, would it be inviting trouble by carrying books by Christian authors who consider the alternatives to the young earth position? But on the other hand, shouldn't Christian companies account for diversity in Christian views? Thoughts?
  21. I was reading the discussion about Sonlight being banned from the Christian Home Educators of Colorado because it isn't strict enough in its young earth teaching. Specifically because it carries Usborne books. That was previously discussed here. But if you continue to follow John Holzmann's blog this week, you see he is reviewing two books, Origins (Haarsma) and Beyond the Firmament (Glover), both written by evangelicals who have taken a hard look at science and the Bible. I have read both of these books and others on the subject and they have really opened my mind up to the possibility that I have been misunderstanding scripture and its relationship to science. As a Christian I am looking to teach my children sound doctrine and sound science. After a summer of reading through the arguments, I am drawn to now accepting the idea of Evolutionary Creationism- a position I never would have dreamed of a few years back. Holzmann seems to be moving in a similar direction as you read through his blog posts this week. But as the co-owner of Sonlight, I have to wonder if how his company would be received by the Christian homeschooling community if it actually carried books (again written by evangelicals) that countered young earth creationism? If his company took a hit for carrying Usborne books, would it be inviting trouble by carrying books by Christian authors who consider the alternatives to the young earth position? But on the other hand, shouldn't Christian companies account for diversity in Christian views? Thoughts?
  22. a website called latitudes. The folks on the forum boards are very helpful. http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php The OCD board isn't nearly as active as the Tourette's board, but many people with Tourettes also have OCD and treat it with naturally. I would start at the Tourette's board. We have had success with supplements, but it does take some playing around. Also a book to recommend: What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck by Dawn Huebner. This book is written for kids ages 6-12. Our library had it but my son thinks its worth buying for him to refer to. Juls
  23. Baker's guide has over 500 listings of Christian online degrees at all levels and it only list accredited programs. http://www.bakersguide.com/ It's pretty easy to search and there's a ton of info that potential online students would need to know. Hope this helps, Juls
  24. Elizabeth, I am absolutely shocked at how my ds has risen to the challenge of school. I thought he would have many issues- including small things like buttoning his pants since fine motor skills are still lagging. I have been astonished by what my son is doing. They have not had to accommodate him at all- yet the teachers are aware of his issues in case something flares. He has had one mini meltdown in school in the middle of a test that he froze up on. He left the test to call home to say he was sick because he couldn't recall the answers. The teacher got him back into the room and calmed him down- he ended up with an 80% on that test. He does still have melt downs at home sometimes (tonight was a biggie). But he can articulate that he gives everything he has to school and sometimes it call comes out on us. He did apologize to us tonight. Overall, he is a much happier kid though. I wanted to share my experience because there may be some folks like me who really doubted that their kid would do well in a school setting. We did not send our son until HE said he was ready to try it out. My son is an all or nothing kid and he has really given this his all. I think he likes what he is becoming (rather successful and quite happy). If your dd thinks she can do it then maybe its worth a try. She may have something to prove. Juls
  25. My ds is now in the 4th grade. At age 6 we knew he was struggling in life and we sought some answers. He's been a tough kid to pin down because he has multiple issues, but they are all on the mild side. He has several diagnosis that I don't really think are correct. We were told he was "borderline ADHD" (after psychological testing) and "the mildest case of autism I have seen" (by a DAN doctor). And then he has some diagnosis that do fit- Sensory Processing Disorder, Tourette Syndrome and some OCD (what I now believe is actually Tourettic OCD). His intelligence is above average but he processes very slowly. Some academic skills are difficult for him- handwriting and spelling- but generally he does well academically. Behavior has been our biggest issue throughout the years. Homeschooling was often a battle because he would get "stuck" about something (maybe a video game he couldn't stop thinking about) and he couldn't work. My older son began at a small Classical Christian school last year and we were wondering if this child would be able to handle it given his difficulties. Social issues and self control are a bit tough for him sometimes. We gave him the option to go and he said no way (he hates new things). But he actually changed his mind a week before the school year. I was very nervous for him but I must say that he is now thriving in life like never before. He has almost become a new kid. His conference level is high and he is doing well academically AND socially. He is one of the best behaved kids in his class. He tells me he is developing a "reputation for kindness." This is my very mess disorganized child, but somehow he keeps his binder neat and in perfect order (unlike his older brother). His teachers all have wonderful things to say about him. I would have never guessed this in a million years. In fact, he was tested by the public school last year in order to qualify for OT and ST services (which he did) and the tester told me that this child would defiantly not do well in public school because he does not submit to authority very well. And it's true that if this kid doesn't like you he won't work for you. Anyway, I've been a homeschooler for nine years (I'm still homeschooling one child), and in years past I have used and posted on this board regularly to seek help. Now if I had my dream I would been homeschooling all of my children until college. But I must humbly admit that this small classical Christian school with its nurturing environment is giving my son the social skills and confidence that he was really lacking at home. Our family is active in church, scouts, soccer and karate so my kids have always been in social situations, but nothing has grown this child more than these last three months at school. Who would have guessed it? Anyway, I just wanted to relay this story in case it actually might help someone with a similar child. Juls
×
×
  • Create New...