Hello There I am a very new Homeschooling Mom from central Texas. My husband and I recently moved here from ABQ, NM because of his job. We were given the option of layoff or transfer. The biggest reason we decided to home school our children is because of my husbands work schedule. His schedule looks like this: Sunday-off Monday-off Tuesday-work Wednesday-work Thursday-off Friday-off Saturday-work Sunday-work Monday-work Tuesday-off wednesday-off Thursday-work Friday-work Saturday-off It's atwo week rotating schedule and every month he goes from working days to nights then nights to days. It has been very hectic and stressful on our family so far. We hate it and he hates it...But it pays the bills. If the kids were enrolled in traditional school they would barely see him when he was on day shift and they might forget he existed when he was on night shift. I also made the choice because I have nothing but unpleasent memories of public school which probably contributed to many of the poor choices I made as a young adult. I want my kids to grow up strong and confident. I don't think they can get that in a public school. My son is 4 and my daughter is 2. Emily is very much the mastermind of the operation. Gabriel seems to be the brute force needed to get jobs done. Such as climbing the bookshelves, scaling the kitchen gate, figuring out how to opening things with baby proofing. Gabriel did alot of things pretty late. And his speech isn't where it should be. Our insurance won't cover speech therapy because he was not speaking then lost the ability. Emily is a little better at speaking. She puts words together making short sentances. Gabriel will do the toddler jibberish then say a normal word or two. It's been frustrating during those times when he screams at us and we can't figure out what he wants or needs. We've done the best we can though. I love cooking, I hate cleaning, I cuss too much, I play a little WoW, I sleep on my belly, and my favorite shirt says save the ta-tas. Can't wait to meet all you guys!
Welcome to homeschooling and to Homeschool Spot! You might consider asking your school district to evaluate Gabe for autism. Both of my daughters are autistic, and have some similar characteristics as you describe. They will evaluate him for free, and you are not obligated to enroll in the schools to do it. Our insurance still doesn't cover speech therapy for autism, but there are other agencies that do, so if that turns out to be the case, you can sign up for services. There also might be some support groups around. We found it just helped to have some idea what was going on, so we knew what to research! And I didn't feel quite so alone or so helpless when I knew other moms were having the same kinds of issues as I was.
Hi and welcome We are in San Antonio, Texas. We have been homeschooling since the beginning. My sons are ages 9 and 3. My youngest will be four in November so we started "preschool homeschool" in May. My oldest had problems with expressive speech when he was younger. We did baby sign when he was a toddler and then after his skull reconstructive surgeries we started working more on speech. (He had pressure on the brain due to his skull not growing on two places). The surgery corrected that. One method that helped developed his speech was holding a hand mirror to his face so that he could see how to mouth out the words we covered. When he saw me annunciate words, I had him look in the mirror and see his lips and mouth so that he could do the same. It helped. Also when we pronounced letter sounds (consonants, vowels and blends) I had him place his hand in front of my my mouth to feel the air hit his hand as I annunciated the sound. Then I had him to the same with his hand over his mouth and lips. Again welcome!
Hi and welcome to the spot! Where in this big ole' state are ya? Several of us Texans here. Several good lines of advice here, and I whole-heartedly second them. A few of us here with highly-functioning autistic kiddos. Check out the thread on sign language resources! My hubby works nights - it's hard, but at least it's regular. We have adjusted our schedule to best match his sleeping patterns. That means, we stay up late so that the kids are still asleep for a few hours after he arrives home. If they all got up at 8am and were making racket, he'd never get any sleep. So we stay up late and sleep late, and it's odd in places here and there but it works for us. And I love your closing - I think that we will get along fantastically. I'm not sure I'd claim to *love* cooking, but I do enjoy it and often mix it up just to do something new. I do hate cleaning, but I have overcome (mostly) the cussing too much. Hated for my kids to repeat me, and realized where the blame lay. I play Lord of the Rings Online, and we laugh at people who play WoW. :lol: I sleep with two pillows under my head, a pillow between my knees, and one under my elbow... and I'm not sure I have a favorite shirt - as long as I don't have to wear that stupid thing that goes under it, I'm happy. Welcome aboard!
We live in Austin. I really like it here. Although I want to buy a house in Round Rock or Pflugerville someday. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think Autism. When I read that I got a little sinking feeling in my tummy. Honestly, I have no idea what Autism is. I'll google it when I'm done here. I was sitting down reading with him today and he would tell me to stop so he could see the pictures or something and he said "Top Mommy Top" He calls Spongebob "Bob eh Pants" Peanut butter and Jelly is "Piggabuuha n jahdy" Its so weird. I expected my daughter to talk the same way but she pronounces stuff very clearly. I will go check out that other forum as well. Thank you all very much for the warm welcomes. I am terrified and excited all at the same time. I am now using this time to start prepping my courses and I am planning out our first year which we will start September 1st. I have a rough idea of what I want to do and I am getting all organized (woo dollar tree and the free section of craigslist) To dalynnrmc: I consider myself dressed up if I'm wearing pants. Especially with all the heat Texas has been getting. On the good side less laundry!!
wow, I don't live too far from Corpus Christi! wonder if you live close to there but it could be anywhere, it is a small world ( finding maybe a "neighbor" homeschooler) How cool is that !
Hello Michelle, Glad to meet a fellow Austinite. DH and I had our daughter tested for speech difficulties and suspected processing issues when she was 5 years old. I called the school district and requested a "full battery" of testing, and it was offered. Although the district would only offer services if we enrolled DD in public school, at least we had a diagnosis and were able to proceed with speech therapy on our own. Your children are young, so IF there is an issue, at least you are catching it early. Once again, welcome!
