Our Erynn is Married!!!

Those of you who have been following Solagratiamom know that in November, we had to say goodbye to Ms. Erynn as she moved away to Charleston, SC following her engagement to Mr. Pat.  Erynn was a BIG part of our lives on multiple levels.  She worked with my special needs son, I mentored her along the way as a friend and she also was in our CC world as she provided childcare to our Community and assisted me with Wonderful Wednesdays! 

I was very proud of her making the decision to be baptized at the ocean the day before her wedding rehearsal!  Her proclamation of faith was a beautiful sight to see as I remembered back to the first day I met her - God has done a work in her heart and life and I'm humbled he allowed me to watch, challenge her at times and play a part in her life as He chose my crew to be a part of that refining work (ahem, some of those in my family are more refining fires than others, I must say - LOL).

Erynn bravely wanted BOTH of my kids IN her wedding.  Sarah I was confident of since she follows directions (well, CAN anyway for the beloved Ms. Erynn) -BUT..... Mason.....well.....let's just say that I did a LOT of praying because that was a gamble and I didn't want to be responsible for ruining her wedding!

I've shared before that my son has both a brain injury from birth as well as a little heard of or understood and debilitating autoimmune disease called P.A.N.D.A.S. and unlike those cute pandas that you see at the zoo - well, when Mason's PANDAS flares up, it is anything but cute!  If you'd like to read about P.A.N.D.A.S. and how it affects families like mine, you can check it out at   www.pansawareness.org.





















My son was very interested in being in Ms. Erynn's wedding.  He really loves her and misses her.  He wanted to do something that would make her proud of him and he counted down the days till he could go to Charleston, SC for the wedding.  He did SUCH a good job!  It was reminiscent of the days before we ever met P.A.N.D.A.S. and for a moment in time, I could pretend he wasn't sick.  Sarah was a very good little sister as she helped him follow instructions to go down the isle of the Church with her.  As God works, we ended up eating rehearsal dinner at the table with the Pastor and he shared how his daughter recently had been diagnosed with a debilitating case of P.A.N.D.A.S. as well.  We spent time talking and I was able to share much of what we've learned to be helpful in our journey with this illness over the past 6 years.

This blogpost wouldn't be true or complete without revealing the real earthly power behind Mason's achievements and progress despite his illness.  That power is another young remarkable woman named Brittney!  Brittney has been a part of Mason's life since he was 2 years old.  She also became friends with Erynn as a result of working with her on Mason's team.  Brittney has provided help and care for Mason in a variety of capacities since she was just herself turning 15 years old!  She started as a mother's helper and has progressed from there to being one of our most knowledgable persons on Mason's team of therapists.  We jokingly all call her "the Mason whisperer" because she is able to get him to do things no one else can!  If it wasn't for her assistance he would not have been able to do what he did for Ms. Erynn's wedding.  She lovingly helped him, encouraged him, directed him and grounded him so he could complete the tasks asked of him each day.  Britt together assisting Erynn, thought out all the logistics of what would work best for Mason and knew how to accommodate his special needs.  Job well done Brittney and Erynn!!!  I was struck with the depth of love both of these young remarkable ladies has for such a little guy like my son Mason.  Any days I may have that are down, I only need look at these ladies to remember that God has not left me alone to struggle in this journey.  I am very blessed and Mason is very loved.  

So for the part that is the most fun.....PICTURES!!!!  I warn you that my camera wasn't the best and any movement came out blurry so the professional pictures will be much better -but....here they are.....

 

Simply Classical - A Beautiful Education for Any Child (Review Series 1 of 3)

This Review will be a little different than any others I have done.  I am going to be breaking this Review into three separate Monday posts.  Why?  Well, there is such a wealth of information to convey, as well as a personal side to this topic for me, that I felt it was the best way to give my viewers a chance to gain insight into this wonderful resource and to encourage others with my own story of homeschooling a special need child.  Therefore, this will be the first of three posts total, on the book Simply Classical - A Beautiful Education for Any Child by Cheryl Swope.  Today's post will focus on Chapter's 1 through 4.  If you'd like to purchase the book after reading my first post, and then read along with me as I post again next Monday regarding Chapters 5-6 and then again the following Monday regarding Chapters 7-11 - that would be GREAT and I encourage you to do so!  I also encourage comments and feedback or questions on any of these posts.  I hope they will encourage and provide blessing to the reader...  

Advent Day 10 - Preparation

Advent Day 10 - Preparation

Anyone who has been reading my blog knows by now that I have a wonderful special needs son!  That doesn't mean all the days are wonderful, some are a definite struggle, but behind all the "needs" is a little guy who's heart is filled with joy and purity - compared to most of us.  As we were just enjoying our day, I saw an interaction between my dog and son that I had to capture on film!  It captivated me in that moment, taking me away from anything going on around me, as my heart filled with joy to see how much joy this little dog's love brought to him.

BIRTHDAY BUNDLE DISCOUNT - ONE WEEK ONLY!

My favorite little guy, is no longer very little!  My Mason, is turning 15 on Monday the 15th and I am discounting my Teaching Plan Bundle $15 in honor of him, to celebrate!!!   This is a GREAT deal to celebrate his big day!  You get the Teaching Plan, Wonderful Wednesdays Plan and the Pin Maps document for an incredible $14.95 after the $15 discount is applied (use the code: MASON at checkout)!  Hurry though - this discount only lasts until Sunday, September 21st!

If you have been following me for a while, then you are aware that I have a special needs son.  You can read about him on a variety of posts by clicking here.

In honor of him turning 15, here are 15 things I LOVE about my special needs son:

Simply Classical - A Beautiful Education for Any Child (Review Series 3 of 3)

This is Part 3 of 3 for a book series review on Simply Classical - A Beautiful Education for Any Child.  If you are just joining me, then I'd encourage you to go back and read the previous posts for part 1 and part 2!  This book is a sensible approach to the classical education model for children with special needs of any kind or learning disabilities.  Today's post will focus on the final third of the book, Chapters 7 through 11.  It also has been a weaving of my own story of my special needs son's life, with the book review.  I pray that the reader is blessed by my previous and final post on this subject.

Simply Classical - A Beautiful Education for Any Child (Review Series 2 of 3)

This is the second of three total posts regarding a review of the book Simply Classical - A Beautiful Education for Any Child by Cheryl Swope.  You can see Cheryl speak in person at the Great Homeschool Conference, for those who may be going to that.  If you are just tuning in, then I hope you will go back and read the first post on this book.  If you already read the first post and have questions about your child or have an identified child with special needs, then I hope you have gotten the book and are reading along with me as I review Chapters 5 and 6 today.  Next Monday will be the final post, along with a summary of my overall thoughts regarding this highly recommended book.  I would also add, that even if you don't have a special needs child, there is great information about educating any child -they all have strengths and weaknesses educationally and it is worth the read.  

Great Wolf Lodge - CC Homeschool Event

The Leonard and Nachsin Family - Sept 2012

We traveled with another CC family (and dear friends!) this week for the Great Wolf Lodge Homeschool Days.  We had a blast and really enjoyed our friends and the Great Wolf Lodge!  I highly recommend it for a relaxing fun kid get away.  Both our sets of kids enjoyed it!    

Mason with his two favorite girls - Brittney and Erynn

Left to Right - Mason, Brittney, Kyle, Justin, Gabrielle, Erynn and Sarah

Week #17 - Aztecs and Totem Poles!

So as I was doing my deciding about what this Wonderful Wednesday would encompass, I came across some interesting history about Totem Poles!  It fit perfectly not only with some of what we have studied, are studying but also what we will be studying in later weeks.  I was then at a scrap exchange perusing through their things and I saw these big fat beautiful corks!  I thought - wow - those would make awesome totem poles for the kids and with what I had learned about them, I thought it would be an interesting caveat to our studies.  So the project was born to do totem poles.  Here's a blurb from the handout the kids got today along with pictures of Totem poles for recent and ancient history....

"Many different cultures made totem poles, not just Native Americans. While poles made by Native American tribes are the most famously known, the Mayans, Aztecs, Native Canadians, Native Australians, Maori, ingenious Koreans and ingenious Chinese are also known to have built totem poles."  (fits perfectly doesn't it?)!

This week's history sentence was on Montezuma - so I decided doing some headdresses was in order.    This all turned out to be a fun Wonderful Wednesday!

Christmas Crafts for kids

So it's that time of year when we start doing our fun Christmas crafting.  We've made our Jesus Tree and started our Jesse Tree and begun our Advent Wreath.  We've also been making fun Christmas crafts just to celebrate the season....

As I blogged briefly for the Jesus Tree- giving our hearts and hands to Jesus for this coming year is a tradition in our household.  Each year we make a handprint at Christmas on a red heart of construction paper and then pray together asking Jesus to use our hearts and hands for his service in the coming year.  Then we place them inside the gold wrapped box and give it to Jesus under the tree.  I started this when my son was 1.  My son has mild cerebral palsy and it was difficult for him to use his hands well and manipulate things when he was young, especially.  Many "crafts" families did with their small children were out for Christmas for us.  So weren't many of the things I can do with my daughter now by way of devotions because he didn't have the attention span or understanding.  So....this was something that I came up with that I knew I could do with him every year, help him understand the meaning of Christmas, add another child to so he'd work at it with a sibling down the road and it had some sensory element that would engage him without requiring any fine motor skills.  It's worked well for our family.  The tag says:  "To: Jesus  From: Mason and Sarah   I give my heart and hands this Christmas to you for your service in the coming year."

 Sarah's handprint Christmas Tree and Mason's handprint tree.  We used green finger paint and then hot glued glitter pom-poms, pipe cleaners and some confetti to our "trees".  They had a blast.

Making puff paint snowmen with glue and shaving cream!  It's so easy.  Just add white Elmer's glue and shaving cream in equal portions to a paper plate and mix them in good.  Then let the kids create.  We pre-cut out eyes, noses, hats, gloves, arms and buttons with construction paper and just stuck them in the wet snowman and they stuck well.  This was a sensory blast for the kids.

Mexican Christmas pinata - learning about how Mexico celebrates Christmas!  We made this with a grocery bag and various printed Christmas tissue paper.  We filled it with goodies for our party coming this week...this is a sneak preview of our Christmas Around the World Party coming!