Recovering Noah

Hey y'all! It's been an entire YEAR since I last updated this blog. I can't believe there was once a time where I blogged daily. I think Facebook has ruined me for blogging because it's so easy to just post a quick update here and there.  My blog posts always turn into novels. ;) A year ago, I posted my educational plans for the kids over the summer. Well, that turned out to be a big wash!  My niece, Hannah, came to stay with us for six weeks over the summer and we decided to can the school and just enjoy our summer break. We had a ton of fun, so it was worth it! So what's happened in the last year and where are we headed? Here's an update on each of the kids: 1. Noah turned 13 last October. THIRTEEN!! Y'all, I have a teenager! Noah's doing really well. Not a lot of progress, but zero regression, so it's all good. We stopped doing biomed with Noah 7 years ago, although we continued to do therapies here and there, as our budget allowed. And, i...

I don’t know if I’ll return to blogging or if this is a one-off post, but what I do know is that I have so many thoughts whirling around in my head and it’s always better if I can just write them and get them all into one place. We just finished one and a half years of homeschooling.  We're now supposed to have a 7 th grader, a 5 th grader, a 4 th grader, and a Kindergartner, but what we have is, well, I don’t even know  what we have. I was telling my parents yesterday that I think I pulled the kids out of public school too soon. I pulled them out because they were failing and their self-esteem was suffering and they were emotionally suffering and our family was falling apart. But I pulled them out before their half-term report cards came back, so there’s nothing official on record to show that they were failing. They would have received an F on their report card, but there is no report card. They would have both been held back if they had stayed through th...

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would go 7 months without blogging. Honestly, it's been the last thing on my mind, and it wasn't until I received a comment the other day asking if I was blogging anywhere that it really occurred to me that I hadn't blogged since February. Generally, when I don't blog for stretches at a time it's because we're going through a tough period. I learned long ago that it's really kind of depressing to read blogs when people are going through a rough period, and even though I wonder if other moms or families would be helped in knowing that maybe they're not the only ones going through struggles raising kids with special needs (especially as they enter the pre-teen years), it does serve as depressing reading. Plus, and I've mentioned this before, I made a mistake of using my children's real names when I started this blog and I wish like anything that we had a bit of anonymity. Also, and this is a repea...

Oh my goodness... how on earth has it been 2 months since I last blogged? Someone warned me that when I started homeschooling that I could kiss my blog goodbye. She was right... I rarely have any free time to sit down and type anymore.  I construct all these elaborate blog posts in my head, but they never make it to the computer. And then before you know it, 2 months have passed by and you don't even know where to begin. So, I'll try to start somewhere... We officially started homeschooling at the beginning of January. The first week was heaven. The second week was hell. And the third week was the same. By the fourth week, things started to even out and we have started to find a rhythm.  It's NOTHING like I thought it would be and at the same time, it's everything I hoped it would be. I think my biggest fear was that I would go crazy being around the kids all day.  And that's hard to admit because it just sounds so awful. But, if you want to know the truth, I ...

I have started and restarted this post a million times. I started it being serious and I started it being funny and then I'd erase it each time because I didn't want to offend anyone... because the truth of the matter is this - when you talk about your educational decisions for your kids, some people are going to get offended. And I hate offending people or causing controversy or any sort of discomfort whatsoever. But here it is... we've decided to pull out Nandi and Eli from public school, and next week, we will start homeschooling them. I'm going to be the first to admit that I'm a bit of an educational snob. I am extremely pro education. I love to read and I love to research and I love to think that my kids will go off and get advanced degrees and discover how to clone people and make robotic machines that will do all the laundry and fold it and put it away so I will never have to do it ever again. I have high , if somewhat slightly unrealistic, hopes for my ...

Our family would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May you get lots of kisses under the mistletoe, Nutella in your stocking, remember the reason for the season, and stay up to watch the ball drop. We're ending this year with the flu (all of us!), lots of school meetings, tons o' school drama (more about that later!), and more medical bills than I care to count (another hospital stay for Naveen just last week!!). But this year also brought our missing puzzle piece (Naveen!), new friends, old friends, the loving and continued support of our family, exciting travel, and lots and lots of laughs. May we continue to be so blessed in 2013. Happy Happy Joy Joy and a big Ho Ho Ho! From our family to yours, Meeeerrrry Christmas!