Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Beauty of Homeschooling
Last week was a very busy week....this week too! There are just so many appointments for some reason. We also had a very brief foster placement last week, which lost us a day of school. It is all good though, because we have lots of time to make it up. Jodi Lin is continuing to zoom through the kindergarten hooked on phonics and sometime in October will be starting the grade one. I am sure things will likely go a little slower after that as the kindergarten should be just review. She has now learned 3 memory verses and is starting on the fourth. Her handwritting looks very good for a grade one (I think). She does not space her words that well though. She always wants me to put my finger down to create her space. In math now she is learning fractions...just 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4. When she was working on addition and subtraction earlier I watched her use the abacus. If the number she needed was 7 she would leave 3 behind as opposed to counting out 7. I thought that was pretty cool, she was subtracting right there with out even knowing it. I don't think I am going to worry about the abacus much at all. She will just stop using it eventually as she gets better. We are starting to get into more detail with the clock and learning to read the minutes, I am sure this will take a little time. We are starting to learn about measuring. We started to day by measuring stuff around the house in centimeters tomorrow we will be weighing things. I am trying to bring a little bit of science into our weeks now. I have a book on science experiments and I want to spend sometime learning something about science.
I have still not figured out what is going on with Dominic and preschool. Hopefully this week we will get it all sorted out. The test Dominic had done turned out not to be what I had thought and was just a hearing test. His hearing is fine...although I already knew that. The man said he would look in to doing a brain stem test, but he didn't sound very promising. He said they don't normally do this test this young unless the hearing test comes up with something. They were also concerned about sedation and his heart...they weren't sure where they would have to do the test. I think it is all very annoying. I want them just to do it, so that I can know if auditory processing is his issue. The OT is coming here tomorrow during school time to watch him in his own environment. She says that she thinks we should go through the autism assessment although it may seem like he does not have it....he could be high on the spectrum. I don't know what I want to do about this. I feel quite strongly that Dominic does not have autism (and it is not denial). I just don't feel that he really fits into the spectrum, I think it is more sensory or at least auditory processing problems. Autism is the popular thing now....although I know it is way too common, I just feel like they want to assume it first of all and don't look enough into other disorders. I just want to make sure I know what is the best way to teach him. Anyway hopefully the diet will help with this a little. I am starting to think he has stopped his throwing. Dominic was throwing obsessively. I mean throwing random things across the room at random times with no reason....all day long. I haven't been noticing this so much lately and I am wondering if this is the diet, he doesn't seem to be empty things constantly either. I don't know though because he still can't seem to play by himself, still puts things in his mouth all the time and other sensory behaviours. Maybe the diet is helping some though. I can't really say I have noticed any differences in his speech though.
So it looks like we may have been contaminated quite a bit. I realized recently that rice milk can have gluten, it was really dumb for me not to check this out as it is something we have been drinking everyday. I was actually making Dominic drink his before he left the table and he didn't want to. We had been drinking Rice Dream and apparently it has a small amount of gluten in it, they admit it. I don't think it bothered us at all though. Last week I decided to purchase a different kind of rice milk as someone told me it was better tasting. I didn't even think to make sure it was gluten free, I was thinking more of a milk that was dairy free. Well last week I had bad cramps....as I wrote on my last update. I was also starting to feel tired more again. Dominic has had the runs for a week now. I am now assuming this is why. We have switched to soy milk and hopefully that will work much better. Already it is working better because Dominic actually likes it. Anyway we start again!
Okay I gotta go, as I was typing this update the people from child care services called and told me that Dominic will be going to a daycare on Clarence. Apparently they do Jolly phonics and handwriting without tears there. Sounds like a good one. We have to go sign some forms and figure out what we will be paying. Better get ready to go, we have to be there in a half hour.
Thanks for checking in....sorry for the long update!
Jenaia
I have still not figured out what is going on with Dominic and preschool. Hopefully this week we will get it all sorted out. The test Dominic had done turned out not to be what I had thought and was just a hearing test. His hearing is fine...although I already knew that. The man said he would look in to doing a brain stem test, but he didn't sound very promising. He said they don't normally do this test this young unless the hearing test comes up with something. They were also concerned about sedation and his heart...they weren't sure where they would have to do the test. I think it is all very annoying. I want them just to do it, so that I can know if auditory processing is his issue. The OT is coming here tomorrow during school time to watch him in his own environment. She says that she thinks we should go through the autism assessment although it may seem like he does not have it....he could be high on the spectrum. I don't know what I want to do about this. I feel quite strongly that Dominic does not have autism (and it is not denial). I just don't feel that he really fits into the spectrum, I think it is more sensory or at least auditory processing problems. Autism is the popular thing now....although I know it is way too common, I just feel like they want to assume it first of all and don't look enough into other disorders. I just want to make sure I know what is the best way to teach him. Anyway hopefully the diet will help with this a little. I am starting to think he has stopped his throwing. Dominic was throwing obsessively. I mean throwing random things across the room at random times with no reason....all day long. I haven't been noticing this so much lately and I am wondering if this is the diet, he doesn't seem to be empty things constantly either. I don't know though because he still can't seem to play by himself, still puts things in his mouth all the time and other sensory behaviours. Maybe the diet is helping some though. I can't really say I have noticed any differences in his speech though.
So it looks like we may have been contaminated quite a bit. I realized recently that rice milk can have gluten, it was really dumb for me not to check this out as it is something we have been drinking everyday. I was actually making Dominic drink his before he left the table and he didn't want to. We had been drinking Rice Dream and apparently it has a small amount of gluten in it, they admit it. I don't think it bothered us at all though. Last week I decided to purchase a different kind of rice milk as someone told me it was better tasting. I didn't even think to make sure it was gluten free, I was thinking more of a milk that was dairy free. Well last week I had bad cramps....as I wrote on my last update. I was also starting to feel tired more again. Dominic has had the runs for a week now. I am now assuming this is why. We have switched to soy milk and hopefully that will work much better. Already it is working better because Dominic actually likes it. Anyway we start again!
Okay I gotta go, as I was typing this update the people from child care services called and told me that Dominic will be going to a daycare on Clarence. Apparently they do Jolly phonics and handwriting without tears there. Sounds like a good one. We have to go sign some forms and figure out what we will be paying. Better get ready to go, we have to be there in a half hour.
Thanks for checking in....sorry for the long update!
Jenaia
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Still going strong!
School is going well. I feel like Jodi Lin is learning so much. She is almost halfway through the kindergarten hooked on phonics so soon she will be able to do grade one, where she should be anyway. She has learned how to tell time in 1/2 increments so like 2 o'clock or half past 2 (or 2 thirty). She is adding and subtracting well but using her abacus. She can add 0, 1 or 2 with out the abacus and I am working on getting her to do more without it. We found some great books at the library called "Our Canadian girl". It is a huge series about around a dozen different girls all living in different times in different areas of Canada. Each girl has her own series of about 4 books we are reading about Elizabeth in Nova Scotia in the 1750's. The books are at a #4 reading level so from ages 8-12. I read them and Jodi Lin listens well, we read a couple chapters at night. I ask her about what happened when we read it the night before and she does seem to be getting it. I just thought they were so cool...teaching her about Canadian history and geography at the same time, while reading a good story. Jodi Lin has also learned two memory verses and is working on the third....one each week. Her handwritting is also looking really good. I am so happy we decided to homeschool....I am loving it!
The diet is going well too. I have noticed many changes in me and some behaviour changes in the kids. I recently started wondering if my cold urticaria (I get hives from the cold) could also be gluten related. So I thought I would search online. I looked up cold urticaria and I was reading on how they diagnose it. I have had it for about 12 years.....they say it normally only lasts up to 6 years. The last time I broke out was just in August at the Sauble beach when it was a cool day and I had gone in the water. This sight said that the way it is normally diagnosed is by a little test where they hold an ice cube to your skin for 1-5 minutes and when they take it off there will be a hive. I thought I should try this test just for the fun of it....see how quick the hive pops up. So as I am holding the ice to my arm I keep surfing.....I searched "cold urticaria gluten" and found a post by a girl who said she had cold urticaria but after 2 weeks gluten free (she was on the diet for other reasons) the cold urticaria was gone. Just after I read that I realized it had been more then 5 minutes so I took the ice off and no hive. I couldn't figure out why and then I clued in to what this girls post was saying. I did another test last night and put the air on in the car while I drove 20 minutes to my friends house. I was freezing....shivering, covered in goosebumps but when I got in the house and could see in the light....No hives! Crazy! Besides this I have other things that have improved that I never even realized gluten free would help....my headaches are gone, I no longer crave sweets so much or any junkie food really, I only want to eat when I am hungry. I am also not tired all the time anymore. No new hair yet though, no period and my stomach is still crampy a lot and taking more trips to the bathroom if anything. I think this may be partly from cross contamination or the fact that I am being flushed out from this new diet.
Anyway lots of changes happening, I am so glad I decided to both homeshool and change my diet. Oh and I lost 1 more pound last week so I am down a total of 6 pounds.....only about another 94 to go.
Jenaia
The diet is going well too. I have noticed many changes in me and some behaviour changes in the kids. I recently started wondering if my cold urticaria (I get hives from the cold) could also be gluten related. So I thought I would search online. I looked up cold urticaria and I was reading on how they diagnose it. I have had it for about 12 years.....they say it normally only lasts up to 6 years. The last time I broke out was just in August at the Sauble beach when it was a cool day and I had gone in the water. This sight said that the way it is normally diagnosed is by a little test where they hold an ice cube to your skin for 1-5 minutes and when they take it off there will be a hive. I thought I should try this test just for the fun of it....see how quick the hive pops up. So as I am holding the ice to my arm I keep surfing.....I searched "cold urticaria gluten" and found a post by a girl who said she had cold urticaria but after 2 weeks gluten free (she was on the diet for other reasons) the cold urticaria was gone. Just after I read that I realized it had been more then 5 minutes so I took the ice off and no hive. I couldn't figure out why and then I clued in to what this girls post was saying. I did another test last night and put the air on in the car while I drove 20 minutes to my friends house. I was freezing....shivering, covered in goosebumps but when I got in the house and could see in the light....No hives! Crazy! Besides this I have other things that have improved that I never even realized gluten free would help....my headaches are gone, I no longer crave sweets so much or any junkie food really, I only want to eat when I am hungry. I am also not tired all the time anymore. No new hair yet though, no period and my stomach is still crampy a lot and taking more trips to the bathroom if anything. I think this may be partly from cross contamination or the fact that I am being flushed out from this new diet.
Anyway lots of changes happening, I am so glad I decided to both homeshool and change my diet. Oh and I lost 1 more pound last week so I am down a total of 6 pounds.....only about another 94 to go.
Jenaia
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Week number 2 has begun!
So I cheated a little over the weekend. I know...so bad, but if you really knew the weekend that I had, I think you would totally understand. Maybe you do know. Basically we moved my mom out of her place in a day and we had to move quick. I wasn't at home to eat my own food. We had Pizza Pizza for dinner and they actually have gluten free crust, it wasn't too bad either. I of course had cheese on my pizza though...so there is the cheat. Anyway I suffered for that, but am now all good and back on track. The kids did great at church we sent them with their "special" cookies and they were all right not having timbits. I am so proud of them! Oh and huge bonus for me....I have lost 5 pounds in just one week!
School has started again....yesterday was a hard day as we had blood work in the morning and we drove the bus in the afternoon. We got the basics done, but nothing fun really. Today was much better, done by noon and Jodi Lin really seems to be getting things. Makes me excited to see her learning, because of me teaching her. I feel like the kids are behaving better possibly because of the diet. Jodi Lin's fits are much more calm and quick. They do still get awfully hyper, but this may just be kids or the fact that they are still eating sugar. Haven't attempted to take it away too much. This week will be a big test as I am driving the bus everyday. Somedays in both the morning and afternoon and some in just one or the other. Lets see if I can somehow manage to keep my house clean on top of all this! Thanks for following my blog! It is great to share my experiences with others and it makes me all that more motivated to keep it all up.
Jenaia
School has started again....yesterday was a hard day as we had blood work in the morning and we drove the bus in the afternoon. We got the basics done, but nothing fun really. Today was much better, done by noon and Jodi Lin really seems to be getting things. Makes me excited to see her learning, because of me teaching her. I feel like the kids are behaving better possibly because of the diet. Jodi Lin's fits are much more calm and quick. They do still get awfully hyper, but this may just be kids or the fact that they are still eating sugar. Haven't attempted to take it away too much. This week will be a big test as I am driving the bus everyday. Somedays in both the morning and afternoon and some in just one or the other. Lets see if I can somehow manage to keep my house clean on top of all this! Thanks for following my blog! It is great to share my experiences with others and it makes me all that more motivated to keep it all up.
Jenaia
Friday, September 5, 2008
Can't believe we made it through the party!
Wow there was everything there! Candy apples, cotton candy, cake, a huge chocolate fondue fountain with all the best treats, nachos and cheese, chips, popcorn. Then the kids went home with treat bags full of candy. CRAZY! My kids only ate what we brought and some fruit. I found some hotdogs that may not have been completly gluten free....but they had no dairy or gluten in the ingredients. So we had those! I also made some cookies from a mix that were dairy and gluten free. They are really good...so we had that for a treat. I brought some natural microwave popcorn that was only the popcorn, oil and salt. The kids were great! Jodi Lin asked for the stuff at the fondue table...and a candy apple but I told her she couldn't have it. She just said "Aww I wish we weren't on a diet today" Makes me feel kinda bad when she says that....like I want her to lose weight or something. (Not at all). She was so good though...I am very proud of both of the kids. And myself I must say. I am never good with food temptations, specially chocolate but I did great as well.
I did catch the kids dipping their fruit into a chocolate dip that was on the fruit platter. I forgot to tell them no dip with it. I told them no more and they listened. Jodi Lin was a little upset when I told her she couldn't have the treats in the treat bag, so I told her she might be able to have a little one night when Dominic is already in bed. She said thank you and left it at that. Hopefully she will just forget about it! We had a short day for school today, but still got everything we wanted to get done this week done. End of week # one!
Jenaia
I did catch the kids dipping their fruit into a chocolate dip that was on the fruit platter. I forgot to tell them no dip with it. I told them no more and they listened. Jodi Lin was a little upset when I told her she couldn't have the treats in the treat bag, so I told her she might be able to have a little one night when Dominic is already in bed. She said thank you and left it at that. Hopefully she will just forget about it! We had a short day for school today, but still got everything we wanted to get done this week done. End of week # one!
Jenaia
So far so good!
Although we have been busy this week with two blood draws at McMaster, things have gone well. Jodi Lin seems to really be enjoying school at home (most of the time). Whenever she gets frusterated she thinks going to school would be easier. I think that this is partly due to the fact that she was in Kindergarten at school and now she is in grade 1. She thinks you go to school to play and she gets mad that I don't give her playtime. We do lots of fun things....even play boardgames. She is also done school by lunch time if we don't have appointments. So she has all afternoon to play. I am seeing where her strengths are and where she struggles more. It is amazing that I didn't really know before. I feel like I really need a good math program as she seems to have a harder time with math and I don't have an organized curriculum for it, which really sucks. Yesterday I had her use poker chips to help her add and she seemed to understand and was able to do her work quickly. I don't know if I mentioned this already or not but I had to start her at kindergarten for hooked on phonics. She was not showing me that she was ready for Grade 1 yet....infact she was right at the beginning of the kindergarten book. She is going through it quickly now and I am sure she will be done the grade 1 book and possibly 2 by the end of this year. I think she really needs the one on one. It is so easy for your child to slip through the cracks at school. Like nobody really knows where they are at. I can't believe how well she can memorize! We have been doing a memory verse all week. When I first showed it to her I read it, then we read it together, then she read it by herself....just like that. We went to handwriting for a while and then I went back to it and she read it again. Then I did a puzzle thing where I cut out each word and had her put them in order and she could do it with hardly any help. Dominic is trying to say the verse as well, although very unclearly. Dominic can be quite the distraction for Jodi Lin so this can make things hard. His books are so easy he asks for another page every minute. Although he is not yet ready for the next level up. I find they have to be at seperate tables.
The diet is going well too. I am sure we are having foods that have been possibly cross contaminated with gluten though....which hopefully is not too much of a problem. I don't think we would have that strong of a sensitivity to it. One great result of the diet is that I can't eat a lot of those sugary fattening foods, no pop, no fast food and I am not even alowing my self to have coffee. I have already lost 2 pounds in 4 days. I haven't really felt to deprived yet either. Tonight is our first real test as we are going to a party. They are going to have cotton candy (I bought one the kids can have) and hotdogs, popcorn (which will likely have additives)...etc. I am bringing fruit and veggies and I am going to look if I can find hotdogs and popcorn that we can eat. I have been quite impressed with my kids trying and eating these new things. Dominic hasn't been eating dinner at all....but he wasn't before this either. He just looks at whatever it is...pretty much every night and say. "No a ucky"...What a kid!
Jenaia
The diet is going well too. I am sure we are having foods that have been possibly cross contaminated with gluten though....which hopefully is not too much of a problem. I don't think we would have that strong of a sensitivity to it. One great result of the diet is that I can't eat a lot of those sugary fattening foods, no pop, no fast food and I am not even alowing my self to have coffee. I have already lost 2 pounds in 4 days. I haven't really felt to deprived yet either. Tonight is our first real test as we are going to a party. They are going to have cotton candy (I bought one the kids can have) and hotdogs, popcorn (which will likely have additives)...etc. I am bringing fruit and veggies and I am going to look if I can find hotdogs and popcorn that we can eat. I have been quite impressed with my kids trying and eating these new things. Dominic hasn't been eating dinner at all....but he wasn't before this either. He just looks at whatever it is...pretty much every night and say. "No a ucky"...What a kid!
Jenaia
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Day 1
Technically it is day two of the diet, but day one of school. The diet is going well, neither Dominic or I have cheated. Jodi Lin is choosing more gluten free then I thought she would and choosing to drink the rice milk over the regular milk. Dominic isn't big on either milks, but I am trying to get him to get his daily intake. We haven't had any meltdowns yet over what they can not eat, although I know they are likely to come when we are somewhere and they can't eat what is being served. I am feeling good today, which may mean the diet is working for me, two days is hardly enough to go by though.
School went well today too! The kids and I had lots of fun and we went through everything that I wanted to. Despite the fact that we were interupted by a trip to McMaster for blood work. I guess things will be the same tomorrow. I will update Dominic's blog with the details of what is going on with this. I enjoyed telling people who asked today that Jodi Lin was homeschooled. I think it is great that we are spending so much quality time together! I need to figure out more of what to do to keep Dominic busy. He wants to be right with us, but does not want to sit down much. We don't sit the whole time, I have tried to divide our day up well, but Dominic is just that kind of kid that has to move. After dinner tonight both kids "helped" me with the dishes. They loved it! I had both kids bathed, fed and ready for bed by 7:00pm....too bad Daddy wasn't home yet to put them there. Oh well they were still in bed by 8:30 or 9ish.
Thanks for checking in.....check out Dominic's blog for an update as well!
Jenaia
School went well today too! The kids and I had lots of fun and we went through everything that I wanted to. Despite the fact that we were interupted by a trip to McMaster for blood work. I guess things will be the same tomorrow. I will update Dominic's blog with the details of what is going on with this. I enjoyed telling people who asked today that Jodi Lin was homeschooled. I think it is great that we are spending so much quality time together! I need to figure out more of what to do to keep Dominic busy. He wants to be right with us, but does not want to sit down much. We don't sit the whole time, I have tried to divide our day up well, but Dominic is just that kind of kid that has to move. After dinner tonight both kids "helped" me with the dishes. They loved it! I had both kids bathed, fed and ready for bed by 7:00pm....too bad Daddy wasn't home yet to put them there. Oh well they were still in bed by 8:30 or 9ish.
Thanks for checking in.....check out Dominic's blog for an update as well!
Jenaia
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