No School = Lots of Learning

This week has been one of those weeks when we did not get a lot of actual sit down school done. Just after coming off break with such a momentum going, this week life just stepped in our way. However, Tuesday we did have fun out at the barn, arriving there at 9:30 a.m. and not getting home until 1:00. Selena learned all about the different types of hay, as well as grains that are fed to horses and helped prepare the feed for the evening and next morning feedings. We also rode for over an hour which we both had a great time, leading the horses without a lead rope, to riding without reigns. We played a lot of games on the horses, and tried to ride around the arena holding hands, which might sound easy but believe me it is not, you really have to know which horse needs to slow down and which one needs to speed up as you go around corners. Great therapy as it promotes working with others.

Then came the rest of the week, our thermostat needed to be replaced, Selena had fun helping and watching as our Landlord changed the thermostat. She learned why we turn the power off, why we wire the thermostat a certain way, and the safety that is needed when working around electricity. She also got to watch as our toilet was replaced. She spent the entire trying to help, watch and ask 101 questions. We are so lucky that those who come into our home to do repairs are so good about allowing Selena these opportunities to learn. My favorite picture is of her watching the toilet go in.

During down times Selena discovered her Magnet Science kit again and had fun exploring about magnets. Sometimes these science kits sit for long periods of times in her science cupboard, never touched, then she will pull one out and spend hours each day just exploring, playing, and again asking 101 questions about how it works, why and what for.

 This weekend we drove out to Ocean Shores and visited with Laurie her horse instructor. We had a good visit and Selena loved playing with her dog and visiting with her bird. While it poured down rain here it was very pleasant at the beach and even sunny. Selena enjoyed seeing so many different birds on the water from ducks and many other species, watching them dive under the water to catch fish. Deer who came into feed, and just the beauty of the beach life. To be honest I would love to move to Ocean Shores.

Sometimes even when we do not get to sit down and do actual school work, we discover so much more to learn. Oh and before I forget, Selena even made mashed potatoes all by herself! I had just put the potatoes in the mixer when the electrician arrived to inspect something, I got busy helping him, and Selena took it upon herself to go in and finish the potatoes for me. She did an excellent job and was totally unsupervised!

Electronic Time

I know there is a lot of different opinions floating around about electronics and how much time we should allow our children to be on them. I have read all the pros and cons, and believe me there are way more cons then there are pros. We have leaned towards a non limited electronic life in our home. The only thing that I limit is the use of my compute. First of all, Selena can do anything on her tablet that she could do on my computer. That is not to say that I won't turn my computer into a tablet and allow her to play on it. She also has her own computer loaded with games, mostly educational but it is not connected to our Internet. Why do we allow so much electronic time? Well, simply put, our daughter even with such a strong imagination is not one to play with legos, she has her "My Little Ponies" and her Barbies as well as plenty of board games and science kits, but we truly see her shine and come to life when she is playing Minecraft, listening to music on YouTube, watching certain cartoons, and YouTube videos. She is not left to go willy dilly but is monitored as to what she can watch. The only times she can not be on her tablet is when it has to be charged. We find by allowing her unlimited time on the electronics she is more conscious about the time she does spend on it. Instead of trying to fit every thing she wants to do in a time limit, she takes her time and thrives in what she is doing. If she is playing Minecraft, it is nothing to see her go split screen to find a video that will assist her in the process of building or defeating a level. The process is all about learning. She brings her "My Little Ponies" to life since so many now come with a special mark that she scans into her tablet and pulls up a full story to go with that pony, hence she is reading and learning. She also has amazon to read books, as well as TV to watch when she doesn't care for what we are watching. If she has a question I can't answer she can verbally or type her question into her tablet and get the answer to her question, many times educating me. I see our world evolving around electronics and I feel we can embrace it or fight it. We choose to embrace it.

 It is not uncommon in our home to find Selena in her bedroom with her toys, blankets, pillows and tablet. She loves Minecraft so usually that is filling in her time. It is not uncommon to hear her just singing away to her YouTube music. I encourage you to read my post on promoting reading here. We also allow her to watch cartoons on TV when we are not watching something we want to watch.

Not the best picture, but for her birthday we did give her an iPod. No it is not the newest iPod with the touch screen and ever so fancy, but she is able to download the music she enjoys and listen to it as she pleases. That is if she isn't listening to our satellite radio. I remember at her age I had my own mini stereo system and listened to my music all the time, I wasn't told what I could listen to, or what I couldn't listen to, I do not believe my choices of music had any impact on how I grew up or the person I became. We as parents can spend to much time picking songs apart and worry too much about this word or that word, when really music is all about the beat, the music, the lyrics really are just a poem or piece of poetry that goes along with the music. Most of the time kids don't even know the true words or their meaning, and neither do adults, if you ever really listen to someone trying to sing a song, it can be rather hilarious to hear how they interpret the words unless they are reading them. I do not find Selena's taste in music as a bad taste, in fact I have been known to embarrass her because I like the same music and get a little to carried away with dancing or being to dramatic to the songs in the car.

I say come on, we live in a world of the cutting edge to electronics. We have for years, from the time I was a kid and colored TV was introduced, to the Stereo and finally FM radio. We can either limit our children from the world they are growing up in or we can embrace it and help them grow in this world. Do I see it preventing Selena from being outside? No, she will gladly lay her electronics down to go play and have fun! I believe however, if I were to limit her she would probably give up playing outside just to spend that hour on her electronics.

Life During Our Abscense

So much has gone on since I blogged the last time, Selena has grown in so many areas of her life, we have learned parenting a Gifted/Autistic child challenging but rewarding and have had to look at and change many of the ways we parent along the way. This is not to say we have changed our rules but we have had to adjust our approach, and have had to get use to having a strong willed child. I can't express enough though how much I love our town, the people who we encounter everyday, and can't emphasize enough that it really does take a village to raise a child.

Selena loves to go shopping with us, something that use to stress her out so much. I love the fact that the clerks at our store who have watched her grow up and really understand her are so good with her. She assists them with scanning all the items in, and sometimes helps bagging the groceries. It is fun to watch her enthusiasm and to know that she is excepted for all her little quirks. Who knows maybe someday she will work in the same store as a cashier as she pays her way through college. We are seeing more young teens working there now. It is nice to see the new management taking an interest in the youth of our community.

We have learned not to be such helicopter parents, though inside I never considered myself a helicopter parent, but had to learn to let go, or give Selena time to want us to let go. We live in a perfect place, though at times we talk about moving, I just am not sure. Selena has made friends with some kids here in the neighborhood, and when possible she is off playing with them, or they are here playing with her. Her BFF lives across the street from us and it is not uncommon for Selena to be watching for him to come home.

Her BBF joined her for Halloween at Chuck-E-Cheese and Trick-or-Treating around the mall. They had so much fun playing games, eating pizza and just hanging out together. We were so happy that he was able to join us. When we got home, he hung out with Selena for a while and played, it was really a fun day for both of them. It is so nice to see Selena making friends. She joined him for his birthday party, and also was invited to both his brother's birthday parties. Growing from a girl who could not be out of my sight to a girl who now can go play for hours with out me, oh occasionally she has to call just to check in.

Of course her BFF was here for her birthday, along with Aunt Kelly and Tony. We had fun playing a few games, opening presents and eating cake and ice-cream. It is hard to believe that she turned 9 this year. She is sure growing up. I think the high light of her gifts though came from her brothers, they gave her a charm bracelet with a sweet note and a charm just for her:

Talking about family, this summer we had a mini family reunion with Selena's mom, brothers, their adoptive parents, our son and his family. I didn't get a lot of pictures after all it was so hot and all we could do was sit in the shade and visit. It was a lot of fun for the kids though to play in the water park.

Yes, the top picture is Selena, her mom and her brothers. The bottom picture is Uncle TJ and his family.

Of course Selena's greatest passion is horses. She loves the fact that I have started riding with her. It has been along time since I rode, but I am with Selena it is so much fun!

 Selena takes swimming lessons once a week now. She is also getting ready for braces and is wearing a retainer. My little girl is growing up, she is growing up faster then I want her too but it is such a joy watching her. She loves to help me in the kitchen, and will do the dishes or help cook.

No matter what she is doing she is a joy to have in our lives. Everyday is an adventure, she gives us lots of laughs and love. It is a joy to watch as her world expands around her.

Promoting Reading

Selena has been reading since before she turned 3 years old. Though she can read and understand what she is reading very well, she is quite a bit like myself and isn't often found with her nose buried in books. We do a lot of together reading and shared reading but don't expect to find Selena reading full chapter books just on her own, that just is not her thing.

In an attempt to incorporate more reading in our home I had to become quite creative. Selena has a great passion for music. She also loves to sing, and spends a lot of time listening to music on YouTube. She especially loves when she can find videos with the words. This gave me an idea to incorporate both in our homeschool days.

I pick several songs, from new music that Selena enjoys to all genres, and work hard to find songs she has never heard, which is becoming harder. Selena is expected to spend as much time as she can in karaoke time a week. I will pick slow beat songs to fast beat songs. The idea is that she has to read the words to the song while singing it.

This has increased the amount of time that I find her reading but it is also introducing her to all different types of music. She has fun with this activity and spends far more then the required time on this activity. One never knows what she will be singing anymore, of course we make sure of the language used and content, but if this is going to promote more reading along with grow her love for music then I am all for it.

She isn't as reluctant anymore to read from her school books anymore, which I know was that perfectionism side that drove her to worry about making mistakes. She is even willing to read more to us, such as at Christmas she read "A Visit From St Nicholas" to us, this was the first time she heard the poem as well as to read it.

I say what ever you can find that works to promote reading just go for it. If you find something that engages your child and promotes a healthy reading love then why worry about rather they are sitting with their nose buried in a book. Sure we love seeing the times she is reading her books but we also know that the time she spends combining with her true passion of music she is enjoying it more.   

New Years Resolution

I made a New Years Resolution to return back to blogging! I enjoyed my break from blogging but that does not mean I have not read and continued to follow my favorite blogs. We have done a lot of growing, learning, and have had many adventures since I blogged the last time. I could swamp you with pictures but I am not going to do that. I will share some highlights, and just let you know we are still here, alive, and loving life just as much as before! I will say it is going to be hard for me to get use to not being able to use LiveWriter since I have upgraded to Windows 10, but that's OK.

I have started riding with Selena. This has been very fun for both of us. The above picture was her birthday party with the horses. This day was so fun! We had a 2 hour lesson and ride. We got to dress up our horses with ribbons and tiaras. We played wall soccer with a huge ball, and then since it was sunny we went out for a fun ride around the obstacle course. I think this was a highlight to Selena's birthday! It was fun for me too, just to spend some time with my girl on her birthday!

We have spent this time unplugged working hard on the areas that Selena has fell behind or lacking in. She is doing a great job of working hard and catching up. I am very proud of her. Even this morning with everything that was going on she sat down and worked hard to get her school work done without my assistance.

We have learned that Selena works best with music. One of our Christmas presents was Satellite radio. We live in an area where we do not get a lot of channels, this gives us many choices including children's stations. Though I have to say Selena enjoys all the top artists, her favorite being Taylor Swift. She also received an Ipod for her birthday. So now she can listen to her music anywhere.

Selena loves cooking and baking and even baked my birthday cake pretty much all by herself. She did a fantastic job. We are proud of how much she is learning and all the things she is willing to try. She is sure growing up!

I know I will be catching you all up on many more things as we move forward. I will also get around and visit and comment more on my favorite blogs. I miss all of you especially if you are not on Facebook, or if I am not signed up to get Email notifications.

In the meantime I wish each and everyone of you a Happy New Year!

Summer is Coming to an End

 

We have had one of the best summers this year, not only for the weather, so sunny and warm but also in growth. Selena has sprung her wings and is now so willing to be independent. I still and always will contribute this to the horse therapy. In the above picture was her first day at VBS. She went every single day through the week, and loved it! The feed back from everyone who worked with her was excellent, and those who have worked with her in the past couldn’t get over the changes in her.

Selena has found some special friends here close to home, that she has enjoyed going and playing with or having them over for play dates. She truly had a great summer. We couldn’t be happier for her!

 

She continues to love her horse riding lessons. Has enjoyed riding different horses and at times with partners. She is learning so much as am I, and even been helping with and learning about colts and the training process. It is so much fun for me to watch as she helps move these horses from one pasture to another pasture, with such ease, or bring them into the barn. She is now even able to saddle her horse, well, fasten the saddle, come on the horses are still quite a bit taller and saddles are heavy! She however, dismounts the horse without the mounting block, now that is huge!

We started school a couple weeks ago, Selena was so happy to get back to a regular routine. We are still making some adjustments but over all she is loving learning. This year she is enjoying learning to write in cursive, and doing much more in the kitchen, from making her own pancakes to banana bread. She is sure growing before our eyes.

She is in phase 1 now on her orthodontist work, the above picture was of us having lunch after she found out that she is getting her retainer to begin preparing for her braces. Wow time has flown by, she is growing to fast!

Our summer, as I said has been great, we took a trip to Spokane for a family reunion with her Mom, brothers, my son and his family. We all had so much fun, it was hot, but we had a great day in the park.

I am not sure the direction my blog will take. One part of me still wants to blog and the other just wants to let it lay. I don’t know, I guess time will tell. I might pop in from time to time with an update, but just know that I am not sure how much I want to share anymore. Life is so special now, we are loving every minute of it, and I am just not taking as much time on the computer these days.

More On Therapy

Yes, I have been missing in my blogging. We just have been so busy with field trips, horse riding lessons, finishing up school for this year, and just enjoying ourselves with park days, family time and playing with friends. I mentioned before we chose to go with a not so conventional therapy with Selena, horse therapy. There are so many types of therapy that are suggested, more conventional therapies, from one on one counseling to ABA therapy. Every child responds differently to therapies, keeping that in mind we chose to keep with Selena’s interest and go with horse therapy.

The down side is that this is not covered under our insurance and costs us $180.00 a month. Still not a bad price. Selena is learning so much about horses, the changes that take place in a pregnant horse, to why horses mouths are the way they are. She is now learning to communicate with the horse, this involves leading a horse with no lead rope, but instead having a tail whip. No, you don’t whip the horse, it just represents the tail which is representative to the tail of the horse. Horses do talk, they do whisper, they do express themselves with their tails.

This is not the best picture but it is a picture of Selena leading Faye without any lead rope. The other aspect to the therapy is learning to be in total charge, relaxed, in charge of herself, confidence and in charge of the horse. This comes through riding. Let me say the first few times it was hard for Selena to mount the horse, the first time she had to learn to let go and become one with the horse, using her arms like the horses wings, flying through the air. She is swiftly moving from following a ball around the arena to riding independently.

The idea behind following the ball is that it gives the child something to focus on, the child or rider has to guide the horse to the ball so the horse will kick the ball, then no matter what direction the ball goes in the child or rider has to follow it. Sometimes the ball gets jammed against the wall, so now comes the problem solving skills as to how do I get the ball out of this situation while on the horse?

She has now moved on to riding through the obstacle course. Which consists of many obstacles, even a balance beam for the horse to cross.

What have we seen from this therapy? More confidence in Selena. She is willing to go play with friends without me. She is willing and even suggests field trips for the homeschool group. She has a sense of pride for her accomplishments. She is learning more about relationships and how to be a friend as well as how to receive a friend.

This might not work for every child because not all children like horses like Selena does, but for us it is working. My suggestion is to do your research and find what will work for your child.