What I Learned this Summer

Ray and I are embarking on a new educational plan for our family this fall.  It is called Colorado Calvert Academy.  It is a state accredited virtual charter school that uses the renowned Calvert curriculum.  Calvert is an over century old K-8th grade private school in Baltimore Maryland.  Not long after the school started they began to offer a distance learning program.  Over a hundred years later the program has entered the cyber age with virtual schools.  Although the education is presented at home, each child is part of a class and has a teacher.  The teacher has online lessons with the children twice a week and there are field trips once a month where all the Calvert students get together, as well as beginning and end of the year picnics and field days.  Calvert families in the same towns are also encouraged to start study and activity groups to further enrich the program and to help foster friendships.

When I stumbled upon this program during an online search for summer math materials for Caroline, I was stunned.  It sounded perfect for us!  We live in a town with a wonderful local school, so it is not that we have any complaints, but we have long discussed that we may need to explore other options for Max.  Max expends a lot of energy just trying to stay upright in a chair, due to his balance issues.  This makes learning more challenging for him.  He also compensates with his incredible humor and personality which we know in a class room of 25 kids and one teacher = discipline problem.   Almost with out exception Glut 1 kids all have learning issues.  They are known to be squential learners.  A perfect example of this occured at a recent OT session.  Max's OT asked him to throw a ball at a target on the wall.  Max looked puzzeled and replied, "I can't do it."  She then broke it down saying, "Step back, arm back, release."  Max threw the ball perfectly.  It is also expected that Max will lose his IEP in May of 2012.  This is wonderful news in many ways, it means he has made great progress.  But the reality of it is Max still needs help in the classroom.  However, once you time out of the preschool program the qualifications change and he is not disabled enough to carry his IEP into the elementary years.  This would leave us with only 504 plans to get accommodations for him.  I am realistic.  I volunteered in Caroline's kindergarten class once a week for a whole year.  There is only so much a teacher can do with a full class of kids. Not having to deal with the diet at school, where food and candy are so often used as treats and rewards, is a big plus too.

The Calvert program might very well be a great fit for Max when he starts Kindergarten.  However, he still has one more year of therapy preschool that we feel would be a benefit for him.  In addition, when I discovered the program Max was not the first one I thought of, it was Caroline.  Ray and I have both been concerned with how Caroline will handle first grade.  The fact that she ended up in school counselors office with in 6 weeks of starting half day Kindergarten and later we had her with a child psychologist, makes her a unique student in her own right.  It is very hard to learn when you are anxious.  Then it all began to click.  We could start the program with Caroline to see if we liked it while Max is still in school.  We are realists.  This may or may not be a good fit. 

When I presented the idea to Caroline she said yes with zero hesitation.  I was a bit surprised, she has many good friends at her elementary school and I thought she would express concern about not seeing them.  Interestingly, she does not connect her buddies to school.  Most of her play time with them has been outside of school, at parties and play dates, which of course will continue no matter where she goes to school.  When I asked her tell me the pros and cons of Calvert she said, "A pro is when you read me a story you will not have to say Danny Sit Down, Danny Sit Down all the time."  Ha!  Danny, yes he did have trouble staying still.  I would watch him last year and think about how that was going to be Max as a kindergartner.   She went on to list many pros, like more time for tennis lessons (her new love) or riding lessons, more time to play, not having to get up so early, more time to eat her lunch etc.  Caroline could not come up with any Cons at all.  Realistically I can think of a few.  The main one being, what if I get burned out?  However, if this summer is any indication, I thoroughly enjoy being at home 24/7 with these two little people. 

This summer has made a big impact on me.  We really have had the best time going on adventures and just being with each other.  I realize it is summer and summer time is fun and relaxed, virtual school will not be the same as the summer, but something has shifted in me.  These last years have shown us that life offers few guarantees and I take fewer things for granted, the children being the best example.  They are beyond cute at this age of dolls, forts and laser noises.  I know this won't last, kids grow up.  Right now I really want to soak it all up and having the kids at home with me attending a virtual school may be just the ticket for all of us.

But of course any major decision can not be made in our home with out the appropriate amount of worry and consternation.  Ray was the cool voice of reason, as always.  He logically accepted this as a good idea, acknowledging that the decision could be reversed at any point if our needs changed.  I on the other hand ping ponged back and forth between extreme excitement and relief (I have been quite concerned about Caroline), to worry and wondering.  Although I feel I don't need other's approval, big choices like this highlight that I still feel like I do need approval.  We made this decision over a month ago and I just now have the courage to write about it.  Let's face it, even though this is virtual learning, it is still a form of a home school and people often can have very mixed reactions to the concept of home school.  We happen to live in a very home school friendly state and know many families that teach their children from home.  But I know that this is not the norm everywhere. 

So before we even start the new school, this has turned into an incredible learning experience for myself.  I have to own my decisions and move forward with confidence.  I have to trust that Ray and I know what is best for our children, all the while acknowledging we are human and might make mistakes.  The saying, "nothing ventured, nothing gained" comes to mind right now.  Who knew I could learn so much during summer vacation!

For the love of Twinkies

It is always nice to have your feet firmly planted on American soil for the 4th of July.   As a child living in London, I was thankful that we made an annual trek back to the States each summer to make that a reality.  My father had to stay behind to work, so it was just my mother, sister and I who would fly back to the East Coast.  Even though I was a young child (ages 3-7), I was keenly aware that I was American.  During those visits my sister and I were often asked, due to our thick British accents, where we were from.  I always answered in a loud voice AMERICA! 

Most years we found our way to Waterford Virginia for the 4th of July to visit my mother's best friend Linda.  Waterford is most likely where I developed my Norman Rockwell visions of American life and family.  On the 4th the whole town played a giant game of Capture the Flag.  There was a parade for the children, and we were all given small clay star award ribbons, no matter what costume we came up with.  We stayed on Linda's beautiful farm named Catalpa Grove, the main part of the house dating from the 1700's.  It was a child's paradise and I remember every sight and smell of the place.  The large front porch, the neighboring corn fields, the old wood swing that hung from two-story high chains in an ancient tree.  My sister and I always got along at Catalpa Grove, much to my mother's delight.  We explored the property for hours, played board games and pruned ourselves in the pool.  We made up stories sitting on the screen back porch and annually attempted to teach ourselves how to read the sun dial in the Boxwood garden. 

As we got older we were allowed to walk the few dusty and hot miles into the small town of Waterford.  We had the best talks on those walks, armed with a few dollars for the small market.  We fell in love with American junk food at that creaky old wooden floored store.  The display of Hostess products called to us, but we only had enough money for a soda and some penny candy.  We returned to Caltapa Grove to negotiate.  My mother was always generous with sweets, this was the same woman who let us occasionally eat candy and no dinner on Halloween.  But she had her limits when it came to Hostess products.  She came up with the idea of Twinkie Day.  We were to pick a day, and on that day we could eat our fill of any of the cakes we wanted.  Brilliant!  July 7th was decided upon and National Twinkie Day was born. 

On and off through the years I have continued to celebrate National Twinkie Day.  I can't see Twinkies and not think of those idyllic summer weeks at Catalpa Grove.  I made sure to bring Twinkies to my nieces as soon as they were old enough to eat them.  My sister kindly allowed this, even though she is very health conscious.  Caroline and Max embraced the holiday right away as well.  However, when Max was two we discovered he had a gluten intolerance that caused him to break out in rashes.  Poor child only got to have one National Twinkie day in his little life. 

This year I was determined to have him celebrate with us, we are talking about Twinkies after all, this is IMPORTANT.  Actually we are talking about memories and a happiness that etched its way into my heart forever.  Does Max need cake on his birthday? No Jello will do. Does he need a Twinkie on National Twinkie Day?  YES!  I did the math, Max can eat 8 grams of Twinkie. That equals 5 carbs, a third of his daily carb allowance.  Not much (so we didn't worry about the gluten), but you do what you have to do when dealing with Glut 1. 

The kids were so excited, especially Caroline, but I made them wait until Ray got home from work.  I had Max's pathetic 8 grams of Twinkie ready to go.  We headed out onto the porch to celebrate National Twinkie Day before dinner.  It is best done that way. :)

Max's Twinkie was gone in one small bite.

Max was not sure what to think at first, but after one poke and a lick of his finger, he cracked a huge grin.  The whole family downed their Twinkies, with Max, of course, beating us all to the finish.  Later at dinner he asked us to include Twinkies in our prayer.  I guess when you eat like Max eats, an annual bite of Twinkie is praise worthy!

So...Twinkies are really not that good, the ones in my memory were far better.  But National Twinkie Day is really good and I am happy that we found a way to celebrate as a whole family. 

Next year feel free to join us on July 7th!

For the Love of Fairies

Caroline loves fairies, perhaps love is too mild a word?  She is entranced by them, she dreams up stories about them and she loves to create pictures of them.  I see so much of myself in her at this age.  She lives in her head, in her own world.  In many ways this is just part of childhood, but I also thinks she does this to protect herself.  Caroline's struggles with anxiety and worry, but when she is telling herself a story her mind is calm and peaceful.  Some times I sneak into her room and listen to the stories.  At night I can't help myself, I wait until she is asleep and then move her fairy figures around her room.  The delight she has in the morning is incredible!

Late in the spring of this year I received two beautiful children's prints from my beloved grandmother.  They had hung in her own mother's house.  They are perfect for Caroline's room, however to put them up the room needed to be rearranged.  This started off a redecorating project, surprise, surprise!  Her room had a princess air to it prior to the addition of the prints.  Caroline and I discussed it, and we decided that the theme would be fairies.  This is not your ordinary fairy room.  Caroline's room is about fairies who travel around gathering wonderful objects, from attics, gardens and magical places.  I love this theme, there is a lot of room to be creative and we were able to reuse almost everything in her room with only a few additions.  We added a lamp to create a reading corner.  Paper butterflies and a few bird houses were nice touches as well.  And like Max's room it was wonderful to incorporate gifts from others.  There is a beautiful paper flower from my friend Shelby that we keep in a special basket.  On her desk sits an amazing wool fairy house from Utah Caroline, and an adorable wooden dragon fly from my sister.  Of course there is monogramming in the room, it would not be a room in our house with out it.  I think my favorite is the monogrammed tissue cover and of course her reading chair, a gift from my father when she turned one.

Caroline and I have enjoyed putting a new spin on her room.  It is a delight to go in there, you can't help but feel happy.  I hope in some small way her magical room can provide some additional peace for her.  We have instructed all the fairies to blow the worries out of her head...and I think it just might be working!