School is a Success (Katie)

The kids and I were so excited about the new school year this fall, we had decided to do a science co-op, music, and sports. As always I was a bit nervous the first week of school wondering if it is all going to come together like I planned it to. This year I made some major changes and wasn't sure if it would go well.
In the past we have sort of done lessons in the big dinning room and in the living room area, sort of casual style. This year, we set up a classroom with everyone having their own space. I wanted to give them the opportunity to focus in a little more with less distraction. I also wanted them to have their own spot to keep all their stuff for learning. Next, we added to our already pretty heavy load of learning an independent reading hour before school starts. This is based on the Robinson Curriculum, but I created my own book lists. Everyone starts the day with one hour of silent reading and works through the book lists at their own pace. If your curious about my book lists, let me know and I will share them with you. I will say they are still a work in progress. Anyway, I wasn't sure if with adding this reading hour in if we would be able to do all our studies in the AM four days a week. But, that was my goal, still. Lastly, the really big change was buddy time. In the past I had each of the kids take a day for buddy day. That was their day to not work on school but help with the little ones. This year I decided to give everyone an assigned hour of buddy time daily, but also have Daniel sort of on call at all times. Daniel's school work is totally new this year in light of his learning disabilities, and he does his lessons in the afternoon, so he has other things he works on in the AM. Anyway, with so many changes I wasn't sure how it would go. Plus, Davey arrived home the week before school started. This was one more change.
So, we started the first week, and I wasn't sure how it was going to go. The first day was so excellent, I was almost to pleased to admit it for fear it would not repeat itself. But ,we got through the first week, and made a few adjustments for the little one's and Daniel, but no major problems. Now we have completed more than a month and it is so great how well they are all doing. I am a strong believer in kid's self teaching, so the older they get the less they need me. Sometimes, that's good and sometimes I miss their needing me. It always amazes me how different each of them are. They find different things interesting, some like learning in an orderly way, others like to be free to think independently, and some read really quickly, and others don't even care to read at all. I have to say, I sometimes worry that they will all realize they are so much smarter than I am, and not listen to me anymore. Hopefully, I have a little longer before they realize this. Thank goodness I don't have to have the answers to all their questions. I am so glad to be able to access information from books, the Internet, and others.
Just in case your wondering what we use for schooling our kids, here is some info on that.
Our base curriculum is ROD and STAFF (it is put out by the Mennonite church). We use it for reading, Bible, science, history, penmanship, and English. We use Math-U-See for math. We also use some of the Robinson curriculum ideas, such as writing daily and reading assigned books. We do add other things in for each student, depending on need and interest.
Here are the links to these curriculum sites: http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Curriculum/
http://www.mathusee.com/
http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/

My Weekend by: Lydia

My Grandma Lisa, Aunt Prayer, Uncle Tyler and their kids came over. Uncle Brandon and Tracy came too. My cousin, Kia and I played a lot. We played Barbies, Doctors, and outside. I showed her my new polly pockets. We didn't play on the computer. We liked to look at Tyler's rabbits. Tyler's rabbit's name's are Bugsie, Tom, and Bob. We fed them every day. We played upstairs with Miah. I showed Kia the cats and my glasses. She told me about her cool bunkbed. It sounds cool to me. She painted her wall purple with blue, orange, and yellow pocka dots. She said she wants us to see it. Grandma brought lots of presents. She got one for all of the girls.. Rachel, daniel, miah,and bekah got a cool game, it was called hullaballo. IT is very fun! We played it a whole hour. We are probably going to play it today. We are going to see grandma lisa, uncle tyler, and aunt prayer on thanksgiving. I can't wait til my birthday next month! on november 3rd. THE END!

School By:Rachel

What I do in school is:

SPELLING,my favorite subject.

INDEPENDENT READING.

SOCIAL STUDIES.

SCIENCE co-op on Thursday.

MATH,that is my second favorite subject.

ORAL READING, PENMANSHIP, and JOURNAL.

ENGLISH,HEALTH,BIBLE,and my BLOG.

SOCCER on Tues. and Thurs., I am in the big kid league the thirteen and under group. My soccer team is very good, Daniel is also on my team. I think we are going to win lots of games.

MUSIC. CHOIR. It's called Bel canto choir. In my choir we learn all the parts, soprano one and two and alto.

BEGINNING BAND. I play percussion (DRUMS). My teacher in band is very nice. He always explains every thing.

So now you know what I do in school.

Somethings I like (by Brenden orally)

Three things I like are football, math, and being a home schooler. What I like about football is it is really fun. I play flag football on a team. My favorite thing about football is running for a touchdown. This is my first year on a team, and I think I am best at throwing the ball. I like math because it is really fun. Right now I am learning adding, subtracting, and estimating. It is easy. I do math with my sister, Lydia, and my older sister, Tyler, is our teacher. We usually do it on Wednesday. We do it by watching a video and paying close attention. Then we have to do the papers to see if we understand it. I like being home schooled because you have lots of people to ask for help, like your mom, brothers, and sisters. I think it is probably easier than going to regular school. I also like that I don't have to get up as early as other kids for school. That is three things I like, football, math, and being home schooled.

Davey's Home

Davey arrived home August 29th, and we started school the following week. I was so nervous how Davey would fit in and if the other kids could adjust to him and his needs. Boy, was I surprised. It was like he knew his place and everyone else knew it too. I was so amazed at the work the foster family had done to prepare him to come home to us. He knew he was a Hirn and belonged here. He knew all his brothers and sisters names and that they were his family. He knew Dad and Mom. He even knew his house and his dad's car. You may think, so what he is five, that can't be too hard to teach. But, even though he is five, he has some major gliches in his brain. Today he may be able to say, "help me please." and tomorrow I will be lucky to get a "help." Somewhere in his very mixed up mind, he knows one thing and that is that we are his family. This is totally amazing to me. As I get to know him more, the more amazed I am that he get's that. I give his foster family a lot of credit for what they did, but I also have to say it must be the work of the Lord. This whole experience of going and bringing Davey home has been so amazing. The hardest part was taking him from the foster home he knew there. It was very evident their love for him. It reminded Jeremy and I of a time when we were fostering and had to watch a child move on that we didn't really understand why God didn't call us to make that life time committment to. It is so strange how God makes it clear when to hold tight to a child and when even in the pain to let one go. It was so evident that that was going on in the foster familiy's heart. I praise God that he placed Davey with such a wonderful Christian family. The time he had there, I truly believe prepared him to come home to us. If he had remained in the hospital longer I think we would have brought home a totally different boy. Praise God he works all things out in his timing and way. Davey is such a joy to our home. He spends his days playing and learning from his brothers and sisters. They also learn from him. Davey loves wrestling with his brothers and helping his sisters. There is so much more to tell, but i must make supper.
My next blog will be about school and fall my favorite time of year. Keep watching.

thoughts from Miah (age 5)

I miss Andre, my dog.

He played fetch with me.

I am sad we had to give him back to my Aunt.

I liked sleeping with him.

Names By Tyler

The names in my familly all have a name from the Bible, some of us even have two. The first names in my familly from oldest to youngest are Katherine (mom), Jeremy(dad),Daniel, Tyler (me), Rachel, Lydia, Brenden (Bubba), Rebekah (Bekah), Jeremiah (Miah), Joshua (Josh), Zachery (Zach), and Robert (Davey) our newest brother. The middle names again from oldest to youngest, are Eileen, Scott, Tiger, Ann (me), Elizabeth, Lucinda, Joseph, Joy, John, James, Caleb, and David. Now we all share are last name Hirn. Hirn means brain. Well now you know all the names of my family. Bye