Freedom Of Speech .... For kids

        Yesterday was a day like no other....

  

  For a very unexpected reason at that. At what point is it okay to allow your children to speak their mind?

    What age do we say yes you can say what you think. ( as long as it comes out respectful , open and honest ) 

  

That was my struggle for the past 6 months of my life.

My 8 year old son walked up to me one morning in December 2014 and asked me if it was okay. For him to say what he thinks and feels to someone that he fears. Someone that had been none stop trying to take over his life. ( how he feels )

He struggled with my answer to the question as did I for months of his asking me. If it was time yet that he could speak his mind. Even after he had declared to the world his wishes and wants. Still he felt no one cared or wanted to hear what he had to say.

 He asked me what seemed like every day. At what age he was going to be old enough to be able to say what he wants and thinks. That he will not only be able speak his mind but for it to really matter. To those adults who should allow him to have the freedom to say who he does or does not want in his life.

  I prayed , spoke to my priest, my husband and then I prayed some more. After months if struggling with the question I sat down and had a talk with my kids. ( 8yrs and 9 yrs old ) We decided that as a family we would allow them to speak their minds. That as long as they did this in a way that was respectful in their eyes. That my husband and I would be respectful of our kids wishes.

Parenting is hard enough with out other people trying to control our kids. We decided that their is no age limit for kids to have an opinion. That their age shouldn't matter as long as our kids aren't harming their selves. That they need to keep an open mind because everyone has an opinion.

I'm proud of my kids especially proud of my son for wanting the freedoms. That he as an American citizen has and has the right to not only know but the right to use. 

We try to teach our kids about not only their rights
 but about our country and why its so great.

The Battle Rages On.... Update On Jay

                                  

I know that this is a subject that I have spoken about before but as it is one that We struggle with each and every day. Odds are this will not be the last post about it. 

            Jays struggle with 2nd grade reading, writing ,spelling and sounding out words .

We have been working on different 

Styles of learning tools.

There are so many different tools out there

These days. The internet provides

So much that I never knew was out there.

We checked out a few sites

Not anything that was great until

We found Education.com

Where you can get great print outs for free!

You can also sign up to get even more for

A very small monthly price.

I would recommended this site to everyone

Homeschooling or not.

This site can help build your child skills

And remind them why learning is fun!

               ( Example of some of the First Grade Sight Words)

     

      

      I know these struggles are not Jays and Jays alone  there are millions of children out there fighting the same fight he is. 

I am so proud of him in the way he works so hard to learn everything he needs to know. 

His reading has gotten better in the past few weeks and I hope that soon we can move on to 2nd grade reading sight words. 

          

    I know that with continued support and one on one teaching that he will be on the right grade level sooner then Sylvan Learning Center or any where else he had been tested with in the past. Could have hoped to have him on. 

        
                              ( I love how much he is enjoying learning )
                            Thanks to Education.com and there print out!

                                

                                      ( Jay with his flash card sight words)

                                                      

      I have added some helpful links for those who have been struggling with the same issues with their own children and please feel free to email me anytime for help or support. 

                                          Thank you to everyone who has been there for us in the past few months as we started our home school journey and those who have emailed educational links to us. To help ensure that we are using all of our resources to help him in his struggle. He is loving learning and I hope he keeps that love for learning for the rest of his life!  

                    Just Remember You Are Not Alone! 

Lego Land Adventure

         Green ones .... blue ones.... red ones and more .... legos are.                                                     always on my floor!

         

                                       The Lego King .... got him way a
                                                   LEGOLAND TOUR!

Our Experience At LegoLand

Going to LegoLand was all around awesome! 

We went for the kids thinking it would

Just be a kid thing. We had no idea

Of the amount of information we would come

Out with. Our kids learned so much from the tour.

The excitement in their eyes through out the whole day 

Was priceless. I could hardly get any pictures with

My kids or my husband looking at the camera.

He tried so hard to hide how much fun he was

Having along side the kids. 

It was well worth the money.

We try every chance we get to do family activities.

With my husbands work schedule it leaves

Us with working around when he works.

We try to plan day trips to local

 Places. Luckly we have a huge area that is always
Doing family friendly events.

https://www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/kansascity/

Why we decided to year round homeschool

     

     Catching Our Kids Up! 

   Deciding to Year Round Homeschool is not for the faint of heart! .... There are MANY reasons we knew it was right for us.

What it means to our family might not be what it means to other. Homeschooling this is for us is about catching our kids up. They had a very rockie past with being "homeschooled" by a former step mother. Do to their experience with her they are very behind there with school. We have tested both kids with Sylvan Learning Center and the results well they were not good. Jay is on a 1.5 grade level when in a public school he would be going into 3rd grade. Hayley is on a 2nd grade almost the beginning of 3rd grade level. When she should be going into  4th grade. It breaks my heart to see how far behind they are due to someone elses failure. That is one of the largest reasons why we not only decided to year round homeschool. It is also the reason we have to year round homeschool. If we didn't then they would never catch up. They need alot of extra attention. One on one help to build the skills they should know by now. It's  alot of work day in and day out but it. Will be worth it to know my kids are on the grade levels that they should be.

   The kids Enjoy Picking Their Days Off

        It means long days and for us , it means that we can't take breaks the way alot of people do. We have to home school 6 days a week on most weeks. We have to do everything at each kids own speed. There are some days that we get done at 3pm and some days we go right up until 5pm. But at the end of each day we are all happy and the kids are proud of how far they have come. They are proud of the things they have learned. They get to pick days off. They get to have fun learning. It's hard work but there is nothing in this world that would change our minds about year round home schooling.

   We Prayed About It, let their faith grow

        We prayed about year round homeschooling for about 6 months before deciding to go ahead with it. We as a family believe that God should be the foundation for education. Our Catholic faith is a huge part of our life. We want our kids to learn every day the joys of our faith and to grow there love for God snd the Holy Mother. We sat down and talked as a family to our kids and asked what they want. How they want to homeschool and what subjects they want to learn. They get the freedom to pick fun classes, to pick what class work they do each day. ( luckly we have kids,who know the basic subjects must be done every day then they get to do the ones they want to do. )

   Give The kids Freedom To Pick What They Learn!

They get to help design activities and lessons every day so to them even on the subjects they struggle in are made fun.We believe in structure and that just because we are on school and we must do class work. That doesn't mean we can't have fun, do field trips, explore the world around us. Discover history as its meant to be learned. Learn the fun of science and grow there imaginations.


                 

Freedom To Let The Kids Learn Their Own Way!

         We wanted the freedom for our kids to be able to learn the way they want in the time frame that is best for them. Every child is different and learns at their own speed and own way. We believe our kids need to be able to learn the way they learn the best not the way the school teach. We are against common core and don't think it's right to attempt to make children learn one way of doing everything. There are many ways to learn. Just because one child gets the right answer one way doesn't mean a nother will get the right answer that way.

Our Believes About What Shouldn't Be!

     As a family we wanted to be able to spend time together. With traditional public school it seemed my kids were not being given the one on one attention. They need and they were moving to slow in some subjects and to fast in others. The kids bringing guns to school. The schools going on " lock down " every other week due to strangers attempts to enter the school. It was just all too much. Too much worry too much stress and too many fears. Not to count the teachers being caught for sexual relations and the fact that we don't feel our children need to learn " sex education." Until they are personally ready for it and I'm sorry but my children will not be ready for a long time. We wanted the freedom to not have to pull our children out of school due to a PCS. Our kids get to know other kids , build relationships and bonds. They get to play sports , they get to just be kids and not robots!

We don't believe in long school breaks for the kids. They get to pick a few days every month they want to have with no school. They get a say in their school year and they absolutely love it. Children deserve say in their schooling. We believe they want to learn when they get more say in their education.

Though our reasons might seem strange to some they mean alot to our family!

Homecoming At Last!

                                              HE'S HERE!!     HE'S HERE!!

                                    

( The kids with their homecoming sign

Waiting at the airport )

           At last my buttface ( my hubby's nickname from me sense we first started dating ) is home at last! After the longest year and dome change of my life. He's home at last.
     
                                                  GOOD BYE KOREA!! 

      

       ( The kids playing on their phones, waiting at the airport )

           I don't know who was more excited me or our kids!

Their relationship warms my heart! There is nothing better then seeing the love my kids and husband have for each other. He is the greatest dad ever.

                                                       

               ( He is here at last!! The kids with their daddy )