Learning Time Management...even with Autism and ADHD!

Y’all. I’ve got to tell you. I love my kids. I think they are the coolest, most amazing kids ever. This is how moms are supposed to be, right? We all think this about our kids which I think is so amazing about mothers and motherhood. We all have these rose-colored kid glasses on and we think our kids are great and we know that our kids can do anything they want. This is how love should be. This is what love looks like.

I say all of this in the midst of the early morning while they both are snoozing upstairs. Yesterday was a peaceful day of laundry (on my part) and playing (on their part) and we all ended the day being snuggly and wonderfully happy. Summer days are wonderful for this kind of relaxation in schedule and in losing track of time.

But…

Not all days are like this. So many days are hard and painful. Difficult and stupid. Those are the days when things do not go as planned and when all of our expectations are not met.

As I have done this for years now, the ebb and flow of life itself, I have taken the time to step back and evaluate what makes the bad days bad in an effort to correct and tweak. Any corrections can make bad days better. That is what life is about.

One of the biggest things that I have discovered makes our bad days horrible is a lack of time management. We are all given the same amount of time in each day and no matter what we do, there is no way to obtain more time. There is no rollover plan. We can’t take hours from a lazy day and use them on a day when things are hectic and crazy. It doesn’t work that way. The only thing we can do is to figure out how to manage our time to make the most out of our days and to get the most done or to do our best with the time that we have.

We all have different ways that we manage our time. I know that I am obsessed with my planner and am even more so when times are hectic. However, not everyone works that way.

Emma tends to have a lot of the same brain wiring as I do. Some things are different though. For Calvin, things are a lot different than me. Which isn’t a bad thing but for me I have to work actively to come up with things to try to help him manage his time better. Some things work well and others do not. Like life, it is all trial and error. Thankfully after being a mom for 13 years I’ve figured out some things that work.

5 minutes, 3 minutes, 1 minute remaining

Since my kids were little I’ve done this. I’ve noticed as they have aged they’ve been able to start doing feeling this on their own. When I tell them 5 minutes are remaining they can pretty well gauge when that time is up. When I tell them one minute is left they can feel when they need to be done with their time and move on.

Enter the visual timer

Especially when the kids were younger and couldn’t tell time very well (or at all!) we used this all of the time. Now we enjoy using it for things like piano practice and other things that they may not particularly enjoy doing every time and therefore the time seems to forever drag on. I enjoy that there is a feature for the light to turn to from green to yellow to red so there is a middle time and they can kind of gauge their time remaining using those.

Magic Toothbrush App

So this is of course for teeth brushing only but we like it to manage time spent on teeth brushing. This is an app where you push the go button and a toothbrush starts to clean foam from the screen to reveal a picture. Where the brush on the screen is brushing shows you were you should be brushing in your mouth. We love it! I love that I can know my kids are spending enough time brushing their teeth when they use it rather than 22 seconds and then they try to be done.

A Planner

This one is only for Emma…so far. I might try to get Calvin on the planner train but right now I think it would be more work than it would be helpful.

Emma on the other hand LOVES her planner. I surprised her when June camps were over with a new student Happy Planner. She uses it all of the time. It is a fun thing that her and I do together. We like to sit down and put stickers in our books and think of all of the ways to decorate. It’s an outlet for our creativity and it forces us to think of what is coming up in the upcoming days and to really focus and plan for things. It also has helped us to live intentionally through our life which I love. For time management it has helped her because she writes down all of her homework and activities to do and can visually see what all she needs to get done. It has helped her to not put things off until later that night and then forget she had plans and become frustrated.

Emma struggles with ADHD. With girls it is sometimes so hard to discern. With Emma her struggle with time management manifests itself in her becoming so, so frustrated with herself. It is hard to watch her beat herself up about missing deadlines or over committing herself to projects. The planner has really helped her and has helped me to aide her.

The Old School or Cell Phone Timer

Just a classic timer has helped us so much. Before things could take the kids forever. Now I will put a timer on for, say 30 minutes, and whatever math they get done in that time is what we get done. If I feel they didn’t put much effort into their work then I will start doling out homework but for the most part they work hard and stay diligent in their tasks. This gives them the peace of mind to only have to do math for 30 minutes and doesn’t make them frustrated when math takes them 2 hours and they still have a whole day of work to do.

Garmin Vivofit Jr.

We purchased one of these for Emma for Christmas. She had been begging for one.

We finally caved and I must say that we have been really happy with it. It has a stop watch feature and a timer She uses the time feature all of the time and I love that is has an alarm.

We will have her set it when they have electronic time so they know when their time is up. For her classes in homeschooling I will give her an amount of time to work on something and she sets the timer.

It also has reminders for chores and other things which helps her to keep on task and to remember what she needs to be doing.

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So those are the things that our family uses to help us stay on task and help our kids with time management. Who am I kidding? And us! I use the cell phone timer ALL of the time!

If you have pointers or tips for things that help your family manage time better, please let me know! I am always looking for things that will help us to live more intentionally and use our time the best we can!

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What I'm Loving on this Monday

Hey y'all!  Hope you had a great weekend!  Ours was a weird combo of being super duper busy but still managing to get a ton done and home and starting the week feeling relaxed and refreshed.  Believe me, that miracle doesn't happen often around here!

I thought I would share with you a few things I'm digging this morning as we are getting our day off the ground....

Um, coffee!  Nick bought me some Door County coffee for me and had it sent to me while he was out of town with business last week.  So thoughtful.  Of course it is Pumpkin Spice...my fave! Also, I am doing the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan which I LOVE!  but the one thing I miss so much is Pumpkin Spice Creamer.  I use real cream and stevia in my coffee these days so the flavored coffee allows me to still have the taste.  It's the best Jerry, the best!

Adorbs outfits as Emma would call them!  This weekend I went up to the attic and got down the seasonal clothing bin (I buy so many of them I have a bin dedicated to holiday outfits. So handy and then they aren't taking up room in their closets when it's not time for them!).  I brought down all of the Halloween outfits and I was so excited to see this one because I bought it in the spring and had completely forgotten about it.  So much fun!  There's also a matching outfit for her American Girl doll.  I am having a blast dressing her like this and she is still not complaining about how I dress her (Thank you, thank you Jesus!)

Isn't she just the cutest?

This sweet boy was a champ with his spelling this morning!  This year we switched to Spelling Workout curriculum.  Cal is a level C and Emma is a level E.  Isn't that cute how that worked out?  Anyway, they both had tests this morning so he was having a quick review before we dove into it. 

It's been an amazing curriculum and they both seem to really enjoy it. Anyone else using this?

This visual timer.  Wow am I loving this thing today. 

I bought this for Cal about 3 years ago.  He hated it.  We tried it for time frames such as when he needed to get dressed but he would take the batteries out and hide them and then hide the timer and then it didn't work.  Funny how that works, right?

But this year we've been using it a lot with school.  Emma loves to use it for her work.  15 minutes of spelling?  She just sets the timer and it dings at her when her time is up. Easy-peasy.  If you have kiddos who struggle with transitioning from activity to activity or need a little help keeping track of their time, this thing is great!

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Well that's it...a quick list of things I'm loving today as we are quickly diving into the week!  Can't wait to see all that is in store for us this week.  I think it's going to be an amazing week here and I hope it is for you as well! 

Comment below with any fun plans you have :) 

Guest Blog: Emma's Perspective on Homeschooling

Emma came to me last night and requested to be a guest blogger on the site.  How can you say no to someone so cute?   So without further ado, I bring you Emma writing about all things homeschool:

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Home schooling- one of the marvelous things in this world.  When you home school you get to learn about anything you want. 

That's right you can learn about sheep, whales, space, you can even learn about toaster ovens!  If you want to learn yep, this is how you do it.   I am home schooled and I have to say it is really cool. 

You can name your school anything.  My schools name is the Acadamy of Excellence. 

Our everyday subjects are, Math, Grammar, World history, Science, And Foreign languages.  We also do way more than that. 

In the morning, after breakfast I love to go to the classroom and clean out my desk, Sharpen my pencils, and to top it off get a good long book, snuggle down in the book nook and just read my heart out. 

My brother and I love world history. We think that Rome is the most interesting.  We love coloring sheets of Gladiator fights, Roman homes, and of course market places.  We have the exact same rules as normal schools though. the raise your hand and the stay at your desk are the most important.

I am so bummed out that we have to do school in the summer. The good side is that we do get longer holiday breaks. But I guess school is really fun if you think about it. 

I hope that westudy Zebras this year. I find that Zebras are interesting.

Well I hope that everyone has a good summer vacation.

Our Fresh Start Began with Popsicle Sticks

Homeschooling sometimes gets hard, y'all! 

This year I had the amazing idea of making our homeschool year last all year round. 

No long summer break for us.

I really think this will be a good idea but with no end in clear sight things are starting to get a little sticky around here.

Bad attitudes.

Crankiness.

Procrastination. 

And if you think those sound bad you should see the kids. 

Ha!

Truth be told it's been all of us. Just not into it.  Doing the bare minimum of work required.

It's been a good day if we get all of the worksheets and problems done.  Forget fun projects or artwork. 

As the sun was setting on the end of our yet-again horrific attempt at homeschooling last week I knew we had to do something.

Something had to get turned around or we were headed off the edge of a cliff in a car.

So I spent all weekend planning.

You know, like I'm supposed to every week .

The thing is, I spent MONTHS last spring preparing for this school year. I have a notebook with everything detailed that I need for each week.  Every book I need, art supply, everything. But some of it I had decided not to use and for some reason in my mind that meant that I wasn't going to use it at all. 

Which just is absurd.

So I went back to the notebook and ta-da!  most everything was already planned out for fun activities. 

With the help of that, pinterest, and just simply getting things ready for the week I was able to get started this week with our ducks already in a row.  Everything was planned out and ready to go.

So that was done but I was also faced with the problem of all of the bad attitudes.  I had managed to get myself out of my funk but how was I going to get the kids okay-ish with doing school again?

The answer, like always, practically jumped out of the Bible and smacked me in the face.  I love when my help comes from the Lord.  Which is pretty much all the time. 

Calvin had to memorize this verse the week before to complete his Awana book so it was a perfect jumping off point for this week.

To enforce or rather to encourage this, Sunday night Nick and I sat down in the living room with a bunch of popsicle sticks.

And we made chores.

Glorious chores.

It wasn't anything too hard.  Or anything that will take too long. But they are things that will definitely help out.

Clean the bathroom sink.

Put random lost socks in the laundry.

Things like that. (And as a total side note, can you figure out which of the popsicle sticks was written by me?  Nick totally has Doctor/Architect handwriting.)

I introduced the popsicle sticks to them in the morning while they were still in bed.  We had talked about the verse the night before so I reminded them of it and told them about the chore sticks.

I told them that all of their complaining and arguing just sucks the life right out of me.  And then I am too tired to do all of the chores so they will have to help.

It's only the third day but we've only had to draw out a popscicle stick twice.  Which means there's only been complaining two times

Which for me is like drawing a popsicle stick from the mom lottery.

Two times complaining in three days is a total win.

And every day we've been able to get our school work done.

Another win.

Our Fresh Start was three days ago and it's only just begun. 

Happy day friends! 

What do you need a fresh start on? Brainstorm, switch things up, and get going!

Homeschool Co-op Drop Outs: What I've Learned

So I am a co-op drop out. 

Yep, I'm a cool homeschool mom like that. 

I keep thinking of that song about being a beauty school drop out. 

And yes that probably makes me a dork.  I'm learning to be okay with that.

The truth is that this has been a long time coming.

And by long time I mean about a month.

Here we go with my lengthy explanation.

We started a homeschooling co-op in the fall.  It was a group of other families with the moms teaching and assisting in the classrooms with class periods set up.  The kids went to different classes throughout the day and we had a lunch period in the middle. The co-op set the school year into trimesters. 

The first trimester seemed to go fairly well.  We had some issues but nothing serious in the classroom.  The big part I was having a bit of an issue with was when the second trimester came along, the only heavy weight class the kids were in was Chemistry and the kids were falling drastically behind the class with their homework. It wasn't for lack of trying but they were just not grasping what was being covered.  So I was having to struggle with how to get them to learn it while having them behind and not knowing whether to speed them up to be with the class while not understanding what they were doing or to stay behind to understand but go to class every week with unfinished homework and assignments.

The other classes were nice but they were extra curriculars.  Legos, crochet, etc.  And so by going to co-op I felt that we were kind of missing an entire day that could be used for instruction on fun stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I know they were learning things and having a great time with friends.  But I also knew that behind the scenes we were falling drastically behind in math, grammar, and latin.  Yoinkerdoodles.

I also somehow forget that Calvin has autism.  The summer and autumn we were in a really great cycle.  I don't look at my son and see "autism" plastered over his forehead, he's just him.  But over Christmas break he started being able to not communicate again.  And started stimming again.  And a whole other myriad of things including not having control over the tone of his voice.  So when he's answering you in a good mood he sounds like he sounds irritated and mad at you.  It's difficult on us.  It's super difficult on him.

And I just knew then and there.  There was no way I was going to be able to send him back to co-op like this.  I can't ask mothers to handle this when they have a classroom of other children to help.  I can't ask other children to act like nothing's going on when he's yelling at them for no reason. 

And so we dropped out.  I felt really bad.  I cried.  A lot.  I've asked that they allow us to return if we want but haven't heard what the final "verdict" from the leadership board is. 

But in the end of it, I am holding my head high.

I did what was best for our family.  While it was difficult for me because it might not be the best thing for Emma to leave but it is for Calvin, what that meant was if it's not good for one of us it can't be good for any of us.  It might seem unfair sometimes but we're learning we're a team and we have to stick together.

As a homeschooling mom I am constantly worried about what people think of me.  I don't want others to think I'm a "weirdo" because I homeschool.  I want the other homeschool moms to think I have it all together. Ugh.  it's just a weird place to be sometimes when you carry this title.  But in this instance I felt that I had finally grown mature enough to be able to recognize that this was not working and it wasn't the best fit for our family.

Through this homeschooling journey I swear I am learning as much if not more than the children are.  I'm learning to laugh in the rain, to give myself grace when things get rough, and to see things as trial and error rather than failures when they simply don't work out. 

As I write this we should be at co-op right now.

Instead we dropped out. Before I would have felt like a total failure because of that.

Instead we made it half way through a math lesson today before Calvin went into his quiet corner in the homeschool room and was on his own with his cat for 20 minutes.  Then he went and played piano.  He learned 15 spelling words and successfully wrote legibly two sheets of words for me in handwriting.  All of those are things we wouldn't have gotten done even last week.  I'm considering this a win.

And as a homeschooling mom and an autism mom, I'll take as many wins as I can get.

Happy weekend sweet friends!  Hope you learn to look for wins and to give yourself grace.  Love you!

To check out my blog on a link up with other cool ones click here!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today my family and I are on a field trip day but I didn't want that to stop us all from celebrating this amazing day.

I always have the kids study Martin Luther King Jr., his life, his speeches, and his example of standing up for what you believe while making sure to not compromise your Christian beliefs.

In case you have no idea what to do or just need me to walk you through this because the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet, here are some things we've used to honor the day:

MLK Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech

I have the kids watch the "I have a dream" speech on YouTube and then we discuss it.  We talk about how 100 years before the speech was the Emancipation Proclamation and what had changed since then.  Then we talk about what has changed between the speech and present day.  I'm going to have them talk to their grandparents about the time period of the speech.  Last year I had them go and speak with my grandmother who passed away a couple of months ago.  She grew up in North Carolina and was able to tell them about how she was able to take a bus to school but the black children couldn't.  It was really good to hear an actual oral account of everything going on in the south and I cherish those times as she is gone now.  She was able to talk to the kids how she never understood why they couldn't ride the bus with them. 

Biography

One of my favorite websites is Super Teacher Worksheets. If you become a member it's only $19.95 a year to have full access but they also have a ton of free things!  This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. biography is one of those free things.  You can print off however you need and it comes with a sheet to read, questions to answer, and an answer key. 

Cut Out Hands

Okay, I don't know how much of a craft you would call this, but you could have your kids trace their hands on black paper and white, cut them out and glue them together.  We do this and it's so cute to pull them out from the bin every year and see how little their hands used to be. 

We did this activity after we watched the speech and talked about the section where Dr. King said:

"...one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

So I hope that helps you with some simple things you can do today to observe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day. 

If you have any other ways you honor MLK Jr. let me know, I'd love to share!

This blog post may contain affiliate links that help offset the cost of running this blog.  You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

Field Trip Ideas for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Coming up on the 18th is MLK Jr. Day. In our family it tends to be field trip day.   The past few years we've been trying to go and experience different things on this day.  One we are all going stir crazy because it is the dead of winter and two, there are so many venues that have free admission so it is amazing to be able to go to these places where each of them would cost us upwards of $100 and we can go for free or simply with the cost of donations.  Amazing!

Not gonna lie, homeschooling gets expensive!  So with these places we feel so blessed to be able to go!  Last year we went to Indianapolis, Indiana and did a whole boom, boom, boom, event of seeing lots of different places.  First we started out at the Children's Museum, followed by lunch at The Tamale Place because it's our favorite place ever.  Ever!  It was featured on the Food Network and is simply amazing, fresh food.  

After a huge lunch we headed downtown to the Eiteljorg and the Indiana State Museum.  We then went to Conner Prairie before we decided to call it a day and head home. 

This year we may go about the same route but I have found that the zoo is free so somehow we will have to work that in!  There are so many amazing places.  Here's some info that I found abnout the places in the Indianapolis area.  If you are in the Midwest these may be worth the trip for you as well:

Eiteljorg

The Eiteljorg Museum is free with the donation of a canned food item for Gleaners Food Bank.  The museum is open 10am-5pm. They have a lot of neat kid areas in the lower level of the museum and they have a huge Totem pole that the kids loved examining and trying to figure out what the animals were. They also have a cool winter wonderland diorama type display with model trains called Jingle Rails set up and MLK Jr. is the last day to see if to for the year!  It is so fun to explore and meander through. 

Indianapolis Zoo

is free with a canned good donation from 9 a.m. -4 p.m. weather permitting. The hardier animals will be out and the indoor exhibits are open as well. 

Indiana State Museum

Indiana State Museum is free with a non perishable food item and is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. They have a huge S.T.E.M. learning center that is so much fun and they offer crafts related to the Civil Rights Movement.  They also have Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech playing continuously in their theater.  Last year when we visited we were able to see the Emancipation Proclamation that President Lincoln signed.  We talked with the kids about what an important signature on that piece of paper was and what it meant in the time of Martin Luther King Jr. We discussed what was better and what still needed improvement then as well as today.  Check their website because other historic sites they manage around the state are also free so even if you aren't in Indianapolis you may find one that is closer to you.

Last year the kids (especially Emma) were obsessed with their Foucalt Pendulum clock.  It is so much fun to watch and wait for. Make sure you watch it when you are there!

Children's Museum

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis  is the best in the nation and it is HUGE!  If you haven't been there you can easily spend the entire day there.  Serious. Open 10-5 there is so much for kids to do I am sure you all will love it!

Conner Prairie

Conner Prairie in Fishers, IN is free on MLK Jr. Day.  Please note that this is just the inside exhibits...it would be freezing for all of the walking outside!  Still there was a ton for the kids to do last year and they got to experience all kinds of experiments with electricity, inertia, and other concepts.  It was so much fun!

Others

Some other free events include the IMAX Theater, the Indiana Historical Society, and the Rhythm Discovery Center

I am sure there lots in your area as well.  I googled "free Martin Luther King Jr 2016 Indianapolis" to get all of the ones above. 

Anyway, we usually study about Martin Luther King Jr. the Friday before the actual day.  I think it is a super important day.  We always watch the "I have a dream" speech video, discuss it and then do a craft,  One year we made wreaths of all hands made with all different colored construction paper.  Anything can be done to bring home the message of unity.  We then usually get books from the library about Martin Luther King Jr. and study his life.  Anyway, it helps to study these things before we go on Field Trip day so that when we see exhibits for the day the kids know what they are fore. 

If you find any other amazing places with free admission be sure to let us all know in the comments section below. 

Happy Field Trip Planning!

Cleaning the Homeschool Slate

Freshening up the homeschool room.  That is what I am doing this week. 

I am a chronic "can't get this right-er".

The first semester I start out with very high hopes of how the homeschooling year is going to go.  I am going to rock the socks off of these kids.  They will learn so much.  Fireworks will go off.  Marching bands will play.  It will be glorious. 

Sadly, we start right after Labor Day in September and by Halloween, October is ending, and I am holding on by the skin of my teeth when it comes to lesson plans: we're grotesquely behind in grammar and math, no one has been able to find the science book for a couple of weeks now, and Latin has become "reviewing flashcards" rather than actually diving into any form of lesson.

Oh how lovely.

From there it is a steep, falling down a slope with jagged rocks fall into some sort of pit we could simply just call Christmas Vacation.

It ain't pretty friends. 

Those weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving are littered with Halloween worksheets we didn't get to, Thanksgiving crafts that have no merit of learning in them (they would have had we not been doing them the past three years and so now they are tradition and cannot be deemed learning as both of the children are too young for any of the crafts). I try to do schoolwork somedays when we are not plastered with ballet practice for the Nutcracker or bell ringing with Boy Scouts, therapy, cooking, cleaning, baking, and parties.  AHHHH!!!!!

So now that all of the misery is behind us we are in the new year, it's a chance for me to start over and try to figure all of this out.  Again. 

Again, again.

And probably one more again thrown in for good measure.

Can any other homeschool Mama's relate? 

Can I get an Amen?

And that's just talking about our lesson plans not to talk about how the classroom looks like it's trying to eat itself by the time we get to Christmas.  How I bought all of these cool manipulatives before school started and have pretty much forgotten where I even put them.  Epic.mom.fail.

It's always amazing to me though how God takes these failures of mine and shows his grace to me through it all.

And unlike the post Christmas trash and clutter is a constant reminder of my failures, God takes our failures and wipes the slate clean.  Like it didn't happen.  How amazing is that?  I don't have to have a constant reminder of my clutter, of my disorganization, of the lack of time I spent when I should have to put things away rather than let them pile up and pile up.  Rather I can clean it up and there will be no trace of what was here.  Just like God's grace.

I have to tell ya I am an organizational book junkie.  I could sit for hours reading about how to organize and clean, what to use, etc. etc. Unfortunately the problem with those is that those hours spent on the couch reading those books doesn't actually clean hour house. Darn.  But a tip I learned from one of those books is to look at the space where whatever you are picking up actually was.  Acknowledge the spot of floor you can see when you pick up the pile of race cars, or whatever.  But see the cleanliness you have made in what could be a sea of dirtiness. 

Amazing friends.  Simply amazing.  And so today whatever junk you are cleaning up I encourage you to take the time to see what you have cleaned up and acknowledge that.  Be it the box of gift boxes that finally got put in the attic (that would be me I am looking at here!) or laundry you are determined to tackle, or whatever!  Acknowledge what you have gotten done rather than focus on how dirty the other parts are.  I think that's the best any of us can do, right?

I'll be here trying to get all of this right but fortunately we have the power of the Holy Spirit we can call on.  We don't have to do this alone sweet friends!  How amazing is that? 

Let's roll up our sleeves, wipe our slates clean (with God or in our homeschooling rooms!) and let's face our second chance in the face with a smile. 

Happy Monday friends!

What are you all working on this week?  I'd love to know so I can encourage and pray for you!  Comment below :)

Thanksgiving Printables Roundup

The week of Thanksgiving is a major drag when it comes to Thanksgiving.  In essence I'm supposed to be teaching them something but really my mind is preoccupied about making the turkey, and did I remember to get the heavy whipping cream and did I tell my mom to pick up soda?, and on and on.  

Basically I'm a hot mess any other day but Thanksgiving just kind of sets a 450 degree fire under me to elevate me into a bunch a lotta fun mess. 

But you still love me, right?

So we will be doing a lot of worksheets.  A lot of printables.  A lot of turkey, gratitude themed worksheets that will hopefully sneak some learning into my kiddos without them figuring it out.  Oh the twisted webs we weave...

So here are some things I've found on the world wide webs.  

Do you like how I say that like old people say "the sugar diabetes"? 

Of course you do. 

Here's what I've scrounged up for you...

I've been a fan of Free Homeschool Deals as long as the day is short and let me tell you, this time of year is no exception.  

This downloadable packet from Only Passionate Curiosity is perfect for those of us who more than one child because there are sheets on different levels. 

Then there's this entire e-book from Apologia that I can't wait to tear into!  Apologia is the publisher of the chemistry book we are using this year and so far I have been loving it! There are lots of little science snippets, printables, craft ideas, and more!  Super fun! 

Over at the Proverbial Homemaker she has a neat Thanksgiving Lego Challenge.  This set features lego challenges, copy work, memory verses, coloring pages, devotionals, and more!  So amazing for those of us with little ones obsessed with Lego! 

Confessions of a Homeschooler has a really great Thankful Turkey craft.  Lots of fun to cut everything, assemble, and talk about what you are thankful for. 

Confessions of a Homeschooler also has an adorable Thanksgiving Preschool Printables.  Full of different activities you can have fun with puzzles, pre-writing, graphing, and more.  I just love all of her products! 

So there you have it, my list of printables I have found! 

If you have others you'd like to share, please comment below.  I love all of your comments and read each and every one of them.  You guys are so precious to me and I am so THANKFUL for each and every one of you!  I hope these printables help ease some of the stress around the holiday so you can have a blessed time with your little ones! 

Note: This blog contains affiliate links.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Joy and sometimes dread come in the morning...

I've been a little quiet lately.  

Things happen around here and things are thought in my mind and it's often I find myself shutting down.  

The other day I shot this photo.  It's not much content, I know, but the sun is gently rising behind the fir in our yard. And I am reminded that there is beauty out there just waiting to be had.

Never mind that there's an autistic orangutan just trying to rip your face off living in your house. 

Beautiful sunrises still occur.

And so I keep pushing on.

Can I just say how much I hate Autism and this road I'm on with Cal? 

Because seriously, there are days, when I don't know how much I can take. 

I know people say that and then people trying to be supporting say things like "God never gives us more than we can handle" or "God gives special kids to special parents".

But if you have ever felt like I have felt than you know you want to get in your car and run those people over...slowly, intentionally...with a stolen cement truck with the spinny thing still going in the back.

Cal has been difficult.  To say difficult would be a vast understatement.  Those monkeys on planet of the apes taking over....that was difficult.  This is way over that. To the point I was in the doctor's office today crying, crying to the doctor about him. If you've ever cried to someone who listens to your seven year old's heart beat, there might be something wrong with you.  Just sayin'. 

But the lady did have some good advice.  She was able to get through to me enough to cut myself some slack.  

And she gave me permission to mourn.  This has been something I've been doing for the past four years...mourning. 

Mourning over the normalcy of child hood being gone.

Mourning over not being able to do normal kid things with him.

Mourning over not really knowing what normal is anymore.  

But she told me it's okay to do that and today I felt like this is what I've needed to hear.  She also gave me some wonderful advice. Here it is "kids with autism are not on the normal spectrum of what kids can do.  Some things they can do much better.  Some things much worse.  But life must be adapted for them and not them trying to fit into a normal life.  As you can't expect a blind child to know his colors so you also can't expect him to do things as a normal child.  You must give him boundaries and then expect him to do his own thing within those boundaries."

Wow.  That speech seemed life changing to me today.  

In homeschooling Cal has completely refused to do work.  Ugh, it's been like pulling hair out to get him to do anything.  In stepping back from the whole situation I am sure that he isn't learning in that kind of environment and it is such an emotional struggle for Emma and I to get him to cooperate that at the end of the day the whole family just feels drained and exhausted. 

So this afternoon I did what the doctor in more detail suggested I do...I insisted Cal stay in the homeschool area of the house and then I did school with Emma.  She and I got ALL of her work done in record time and he played with educational toys nearby.  He would often chime in if he knew an answer or recite memorization things that he was overhearing.  Overall it was very successful and seemed to do the trick in giving him a break but keeping him in the school setting.  

Hopefully in a week or so I can start gradually adding some school work in for him or to have him work with some more educationally based things that he can learn from.  

So that is where I've been in a nutshell.  I know probably several of you get where I'm coming from and those that don't I hope can empathize with me.  Still here alive and kicking and pushing on with the "dream" of Autism.  I know eventually this cloud of doom-feeling will pass and I will be able to enjoy the sunrises God puts out there for me to enjoy.