Challenges

Life is full of challenge. As I type this, I'm nursing my baby while typing. That's a challenge.

I realized I need to blog as a form of therapy. What better blog than my homeschool blog. I'm sure there are Eemas out there that are struggling right now and could benefit from hearing that they aren't alone.

I'm trying to find a handle on this new life I am living. I'm not a career woman anymore. No longer am I trying to find my place in Retirement industry and trying to fit in the mold they want me to fit in. I no longer live in a large, vibrant Jewish Community. I'm in a large town with a much smaller Jewish Community. I have been 5 months without a car. It's finally in the shop and I try to pretend that it's not something I think about all day long.

I'm dealing with the reality of having placed my children in public school during their formative years. Where it's been a small thing for my son, it's taken a huge toll on my daughter. I have had to ask for help with her. I hate asking for help. I would rather walk on a bed of fire ants. I'm that stubborn. In my gut I believe she has dyslexia. Once I get my car (see, it hasn't been 5 minutes and I'm thinking about my car again) I hope to take her to be tested officially. Her reading teacher is trained in helping children with learning issues and I'm confident that the Barton program they are using will help her learn to read. But I'm a mom and I worry. How will this affect her future? Why don't I have what it takes to teach her to read? How do I teach her everything else when reading is the beginning, middle and end?

My son is eager to learn and his biggest challenge is loneliness. He loved the social aspect of school. 

Well, I must continue this post another time as my infant needs my attention.

Ta ta for now.

Pesach place cards how to

These are so much fun. I'm blogging from my phone so I can't write descriptions and add pictures as I post them. So bear with me a I will post the pictures after the instructions.
Use white paper and cut 3inch squares. I used a colored pencil in a light brown/tan and drew lines of dots just like matzah. Then use a cosmetic sponge and dip in a brown ink and rub on all four sides of the paper. I also used the sponge and lightly distressed the paper to look more baked. Imperfection is the key since matzah isn't perfect and identical. The next part is the most difficult if you don't have a paper scorer and cutter. I used card stock and cut 3.5 inch rectangles. Make sure they are long enough to fold in half. Score the center to enable folding. I eye-balled the length but I'd guess maybe 8 inches. Glue down the matzah and fold on the score. I tried hand writing the names directly on the matzah but I wasn't happy with it. I finally liked the way it looked after I printed it.

Hooked on phonics

I found the complete set of hooked on phonics (looks like the exact set I remember when I was little). Tzipi is struggling with reading and I think he might have some gaps that we need to fill. So she has been pushing through since I brought it home. It's a challenge but she I eager to read. We will see how this works!

School on the go

If Zalman had been a bit older, I would have had a bit more expectation as far as traditional work while we were in Dallas but I knew it would be a challenge. We did listen to Torah teachings on our way to Dallas. We talked about what Azariah would do if he were president. He came up with some really good ways to fix things even when I threw a few complications into the mix. He chatted up a fellow patient at the hospital and worked on his interpersonal communication. He was a huge help throughout the entire trip. He is a wonderful big brother. Zalman did a good job but babies can only stand being in a car seat for so long. The trip to the maxiofacial orthodontist went well. The rain in Dallas made driving a bit chaotic and took some of the fun out of going home but made us appreciate being home. So I'm recuperating from the journey and then starts the Shabbat prep. Next week we will resume our traditional studies and I look forward to some normalcy.

The difference between B and D

As most children, Tzipi struggles to differentiate between lowercase b and d. I found this illustration that helps. I told her to use her hands and form a bed with her fists and her index fingers pointing up. This seems to be the simplest way to remember.

Bricks

Tzipi did this project to show how the Jews were kind to each other even in slavery. The faster Jews made more bricks for the slower Jews so the Egyptians wouldn't punish them. Great middot lesson!

Shemot

This weeks Parsha is 57 pages in this book! I'm not sure if we can cover it all in five days. I have some good ideas to tie in the crafts with it to reinforce the lessons. There is a good middot lesson about team work and generosity in the first chapter and I really want to cover the part of the
midwives before we get to the standard review of Moshe's birth. Hopefully I can post a picture of the craft tomorrow.see you then!