Heart of Wisdom Academy

Tristan at Our Busy Homeschool is doing a new link up where moms can share what is working in their homeschool each week.  I'm excited to share what is working this week; it may not work next week or next month, but this week it meets our needs adequately.

First thing is wikipedia: November and December,  Kyle is learning how to write reports via Teaching Writing With Structure and Style. Although I have explained to him that Wikipedia is not an academically acceptable source for info, for the purpose of teaching him the process we' ll be using it. It works because he can choose a topic and then the wiki
has tons of subtopics making it easier for him to choose the topics for his paragraphs.

2nd thing is typing! Do your kids a favor. Teach them to type early and well. Writing reports is hard! I was so thankful as I watched Kyle plug away at the computer  this week that he knew how to type. It would be unbearable to hen-peck an entire report while simultaneously learning the process of writing with structure, not to mention the 6 stylistic techniques and 2 sentence openers per paragraph he is required to work in. (This makes since if you are familiar with the Institute of Excellence in Writing) Likewise; handwriting a report, which I did plenty of in my day, would be akin to corporal punishment today! Yes, times have changed.

I think this is the longest blogging break I've ever taken. Partly b/c I've been super busy/ pregnant/sick and partly b/c ever since getting a tablet, I rarely get on my laptop which is where I blog. I suppose I could learn to blog from the tablet, but it seems unnecessarily cumbersome. I have thought and actually looked at my blog every day, and I do miss blogging...here's to making a comeback.

So I will pick up where I left off. In June I reported Peyton's end of the year progress and her impending appointment with a neurologist for memory loss. Her first appointment with the neurologist didn't go well to say the very least. In the shortest of summaries; he accused her of lying, accused me of being dramatic, and recommended that she go to public school in a contained classroom. Despair can't possibly describe how I felt as I cried all the way home. Upon requesting her EEG report myself, I found out that it was abnormal noting seizure activity in her sleep. Long story short, we had a second opinion in which that doctor admitted her into the hospital for a couple of days. She did not have a seizure during that time. Seizures can be hard to catch, and absence seizures are even harder to catch. In the meantime she's on seizure alert. He did give us a lot of helpful information and absence seizures seems to be the most logical explanation for her intermittent memory loss, she will continue to see him.  She is also seeing endocrinology for blood sugar instability. Excess glucose in her brain may also be contributing to the memory loss.


Here she is breaking her fast from her glucose tolerance test.

Kendal was potty trained this summer!!!!God in his mercy made him the easiest child ever to potty train. I love his cute underwear.

School started in September. Here are some of our days. I am so thankful to be a homeschooling mama to my precious kiddos. I am so grateful to my husband for how hard he works so we can continue in this blessed way. Each day is a precious gift.

This is my beautiful, sweet, daughter Peyton (aka "Baby Baller Cakes") at 2 months shy of 8 years old. I tell her all the time how glad I am that God gave her to me. I absolutely love her to pieces. She is caring, attentive, protective, creative, inquisitive, athletic, joyful, and helpful.
 I have shared in the past her learning difficulties:

• expressive/reflexive language disorder
• reading/writing disorder
• extremely low IQ -borderline range
• extremely poor working memory
• extremely poor short-term memory
• extreme difficulty with memory retrieval

 She progresses slowly, but this is the first year where she has had virtually no academic progress. Her and her twin Kaden have similar learning struggles: they both receive the same therapy twice a week, his IQ is equally low (in fact lower), and their initial academic assessments were very similar; however, there is one major difference. He does not have the memory problems that she has. And for that reason alone he is has been able to progress academically where she hasn't.
For the last several years we've acknowledged that there is a learning disability, but it has become very clear this year that the real problem is memory. No matter who teachers her, what curriculum is used, or what building she's in; her brain goes with her everywhere. Her brain literally does a factory reset every couple of months, and start all over again reteaching everything. Unfortunately her therapists haven't worked with a child with these types of memory problems so we're all trying to learn together.

What God whispers to my heart:

• If Jesus is all my little girl will ever know, is that enough for you? 
• You value knowledge more than wisdom
• The Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed-or indeed only one. Luke 10:41
• Do you want Peyton to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death? Is that your goal for your little girl? Phil. 3:10
• How willing are you to stand alone like Noah in obedience to Me in the face of mockery, ridicule, sneers, gossip, judgement, misunderstandings? (see I can get concerned, b/c my daughter stands alone in class as the only child that can't read. I stand alone in my homeschool community as the mom who's kid "still" can't read) 
• Spend your time grieving over what God grieves over. And God isn't in heaven grieving over my kids' academic scores or my daughters memory. He's grieves over sin and the lost.
• When we measure ourselves by ourselves and compare ourselves with ourselves, we are not wise. 2Cor 10:12  That is what an IQ test does after-all. Comparing my child with other children and creating a norm, when the only norm is that we're all unique. 
• "We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8  
• In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 2 Timothy 2:20  Every child is unique, some he created to
• God has challenged my view of success
• Success in homeschool doesn't mean having the smartest kids, the highest test scores, and dual-enrollment to prove it all.

What's the plan for next year:

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