School Days

I think we are really getting into the groove of this online schooling! Gracie and Cade both had classes with their online teachers so that freed me up quite a bit! They said the classes were over the lessons we taught last week so I guess we are a little ahead. That'll give us a little wiggle room I guess.

Gracie hates all her journal and writing time. She argues everytime. She will not do complete sentences when the instruction call for them but then writes full sentences when only a short answer will do! She claims to have no imagination and hates spelling. BUT....last night she spent 45 minutes on the school computer writing and printing a Christian song she made up. All on her own! No prompting from me! Then tonight she sat and made a list of "Everything my room needs to make it fun without TV"! This is exactly what her writing class is trying to get her to do! She grinned sheepishly when I pointed that out!

We usually save Gracie's music lesson for after Asa gets home. The songs are fun and involve movements to go along with the lessons. He really gets into it! Today, after Gracie was done Asa wanted more so we got out the tambourine played more! He had the best time!

We've had some really fun conversations and great times in our school room! I'm so glad we are doing homeschooling this year! I'm blessed with funny, sarcastic, sassy kids with quick wits. That makes for some fun school days....mostly fun! :)

Asa is doing well in school too. He has done much better with nap time this week. Today I asked if he played with his OT. He put his finger to the corner of his eye, which we'd realized he created to say "cry". After texting his OT and teacher I found out that he liked OT but did get upset when he went back to class! This is the first time, the very first time, that's he's been able to tell me something about his day!!!! Amazing! I really think he could pick up on learning sign language so quickly. We learned "elephant" at the zoo Saturday and have only used it a few times since....how often do you say elephant!...but today Asa was playing an iPad app with an elephant in it. He started trying to sign "elephant" again! Wow! He really is a sponge and understands everything we say! If only he could tell us what's on his mind! Maybe that'll be our next huge milestone!

Zoo Field Trip

We had so much fun today. The Tennessee Virtual Academy folks had a meet and greet at the zoo. We woke up this morning and apparently it had stormed overnight but we slept right through it. The forecast still called for rain but the chances were slim and we headed out just hoping and praying we wouldn't get drenched! Thankfully we only got drizzled on some and it was kinda fun to play in the rain! Plus, the zoo was pretty empty except for the K12 kids. It was kinda a perfect day for the zoo!

It's been years since we went to the zoo and I'm sure Asa doesn't remember it. Cade thought he was too big for the zoo. Gracie was super excited! I liked the new Teton Trek that has a huge log building, the wolf and bear exhibit and lots of trees. Gracie loved the snake house and had to go in twice! Asa watched the elephants and liked the train. Cade was too big for it all but did get great pleasure in splashing us with puddles he jumped in! It was kinda fun!

You can see Cade thinks he's too big!

Riding the train. I'd try to hold or touch Asa when the train jerked or wobbled but he'd shove me away. I guess he's too big too!

They had a welcome sign up for the K12ers. I half joked about a pic but since the kids stepped up there I figured I better take the pic! Cade was trying to cover the name but instead he looks like Vanna White showing it off!

And more of my torturing of Cade. He took this pic because I promised him an Oreo Blizzard from DQ on the way home. And I did buy him one! We had so much fun aggravating each other today!





K12 paid for the kids to get into the zoo and a feeding stick for the Birds and Bee exhibit. The birds were wonderful until they swooped down near me. I may have squealed and took my stick away as the first bird flew at me!

Cade and Gracie were fighting over this bird in the tree. Just like siblings! An enclosure full of birds and they fight over the same one! Barry actually caught the first one.

They were pretty birds as long as someone else was holding them!

I ran out of storage on my iPhone and couldn't take more pics. I have 600 pics and videos saved. What can I do with them now? I want to keep them just not clogging up my phone. Any techy folks out there?


I enjoyed meeting some K12 teachers and other parents. There is another fun day at the end of the month locally and I'm more excited about that!

First sick day

Asa had his first sick day this year! As Barry said, it only took a week of school germs! His teacher called Wednesday afternoon to say that he'd had 3 bad diapers. Then he started puking! And he puked and puked and puked! He had me a little worried though because instead of playing his normal sick cards he pulled out a new deck!

He never ran a temp and was low instead. He was pale and cool to the touch. Instead of being lethargic, he was giggly and silly. He would try to sit up but would just fall forward. He would try to roll off the couch and stand but couldn't bear weight so he'd melt into a pile on the floor but laughing all the time.

What had me the most concerned was that he couldn't keep his eyes still. They just rolled and drifted when he tried to look at something. It reminded me if when he was sooo tiny and couldn't focus his eyes. Not a fun thing to watch!! And he didn't like it either! He kept covering his eyes.

After several failed attempts at getting Pedilyte to stay down, he finally kept some down and slept thru the night. This morning, he felt a little warm and was tired and weak all day but at least he was walking some and he could control his eyes! He wanted to drink all day and ended up getting tons of fluids in. By afternoon though he belly was hurting and I drained nearly all his fluids back out. He has replaced some and even self fed a piece of toast at supper.

Since he was home, Asa got to do some school with us. When Gracie was doing her online lesson and got an answer right Asa would clap and laugh! He did great but didn't like nap time at home anymore than he does at school! :)

Gracie, my hypochondriac, was concerned that if she got sick she'd get germs on Anna's laptop that we use for school. I guess the downside of homeschooling is you don't get sick or snow days! I just hope no one else gets it!

1 week down, 35 more to go!

One down and 35 more to go! Ha, I just realized as I proof read, the title could be pregnancy related too! Don't panic! I'm NOT pregnant! I'm talking about school!

Asa really likes school. He's eager to go in the mornings and may have a slight hesitation at the classroom but I don't think he's cried at all.....at least not at drop off! Nap time is another matter! I had planned on picking him up before nap, but he'll have therapy 2 days and I can really use the extra time he's at school for Cade and Gracie so I've been leaving him for nap time. The first day was awful, I'm told. He screamed and cried until he got sick. The second day was much like the first. I think it has gotten gradually better and today he didn't cry as badly and he stayed on his mat more. His teacher said at very end of the hour he actually laid on his back and played and giggled! Yay! His therapy should start next week. I'm excited because he's made tons of improvements over the summer! Of course, he started walking but he also has been more vocal and even trying to mimic sounds and words. I'll have to video some and post.

It's also been a full week of using the K12 program and homeschooling Gracie and Cade. I really, really like having them here. I think we are all getting adjusted to the program too. Cade likes to work on his own and gets to pick which order he does lessons. Gracie's work requires me to stay pretty close to her side. The last 2 days have gone much better than the first day last week! We have a Back 2 School Bash Friday and I'm looking forward to getting some tips from seasoned parents and the K12 teachers.

Cade says he loves homeschooling. Gracie had been begging to homeschool for years and is not so sure about it now! She said yesterday that she just doesn't like any kind of school! And that I can believe! I think she's about decided if school is school then she'd rather have lunch and PE with her friends than Cade and I! :)

A huge, huge, huge positive to our homeschool is that Cade and Gracie are getting along so much better than just a few weeks ago!!! They have played and created PE games and even did their own literature reading while sharing the recliner.....well until rough housing got involved and Gracie ended up on the floor and Cade was hanging off the side but both were laughing their heads off! All good fun! Our afternoons are peaceful too. We've come upstairs to the school room to work on some extra stuff a few times but it hasn't been like normal homework. If Asa needs more attention then we can just finish the work first thing the next day. I keep telling people that it's only been a week and I'm sure we are still in the honeymoon phase, but I really like our new schooling! If something changes we'll just adapt though. We've gotten pretty good at adapting over the years!!!

Update Time

I can't believe it's been a month since I last updated the blog! I blame FaceBook! It's so easy to go on there and send out short updates and pics but then I never go back and share here.

Since the last update and video of Asa walking in the pool, he has started walking on dry land!!! A few days after our vacation he was leaning against kitchen cabinets and I asked him to walk to me. He hesitated so I said "just like you did in the pool" and he came to me!!!! I nearly had a heart attack! He did it several times in a row. Each time he'd scream and cry when he got to us. I really don't know if he was panicked because he was on his on or mad that we stopped him!

The next morning I got video of him just after he woke up. This time he was happy about walking and didn't scared and screamy. He has continued to walking, going farther and making turns!!! He can slide off the couch and walk into the kitchen! It's still odd and surprising to see him walk into a room! He can't get up on his own so he still does a lot of scooting too but I hope that changes soon.




School starts on Monday for Asa and Anna. Asa will be in full day pre-K. This makes me nervous for soooo many reasons! I can't imagine getting up and out before 7:30 everyday. He likes his sleep and usually sleeps until 9. I also can't imagine him making it all day. Well, I don't think he'll have an issue at school but it'll hit him when we get home and we'll have a cranky boy to deal with! Mostly though I can't believe he is in Pre-K!!!! He had a supply list with crayons, glue and scissors! Too big!

I met Asa's teacher on Friday. It's funny because when he started school at 3 we toured her class. There was no way he could handle it so we used the medically fragile class and now 2 years later and he's back to the original plan! I'm excited about his teachers and his friends. He'll be one of 8 kids and that's a little higher than I'd chose but we'll see what happens! I always write up a few notes about Asa for his teachers. You'd think a 40 page IEP would suffice but I like to give them some ideas of the real Asa, not just the one that tests and evals show!

In other exciting family news, I'm going to be doing online school with Cade and Gracie at home! I'm not sure if it's exciting or just insane! Cade was set to start middle school and there was a lot of changes going on there, Gracie has begged for homeschool for years, barry has begged me to do it for years so since Asa was going to be gone all day I thought it'd be a good time to try it. Anna said I just don't want to be lonely! That may be true too! If I'm not busy taking care of Asa I might as well take care of those two! I really hope we all enjoy it and I think it'll simplify our crazy life a little. I know that sounds backwards and usually having your kids gone all day is simpler but not when we all hit the door at the same time with needs high and time and patience are short! We're gonna try it and see anyway!

Oh and I changed some things on the comments section. A while back I started getting crazy, random comments on old blog posts. It was going thru all the posts and leaving a comment. All I knew to do to stop it was to set up all the crazy safety features for comments. I'll try to change some back but I never really got a ton of comments anyway so it may not even matter.

Cade made a palet on the floor and Asa made it his own! Asa tucks his hand under his face like this anytime we tell him to "go night night" or " close your eyes"! Super sweet!

We were at one of the OfficeMax one day and Asa was obsessed with the automatic doors. I finally set him in this chair and laughed every time somebody came in or went out! If Gracie even stood near him he'd shoo her away with his hand and grunt. I could stand beside him but wasn't allowed to speak! After much debating, begging and bribing I finally just scooped him up and ran for the van while he screamed like an abducted kid! I'd love to see the survalience footage of that!

Asa's new school shoes! They are green! They are Converse! They were $8!!!!! Love, love and more love!