Homeschooling

I have been homeschooling Evie since September of last year, so I have almost one year under my belt. I am now only doing it 2-3 days a week since we have so many days in already. I am planning to homeschool at least one day a week during the summer months so she won't forget everything she learned. Lately she has really been fighting me on homeschooling. Today was one of those day. I don't like having to fight with her nonstop with it. It is a pain, and it is stressful. Maybe that is common among homeschool families. I will have to start asking other homeschool moms. Evie is doing so well with homeschooling, despite the fact that she battles me about it. She is writing all of her letters, reading sentences, telling time, learning Bible verses, and lots more. She is very smart, but has her own learning style. She actually learned her numbers (identifying them to 100) when she was standing on her head. No, I am not kidding. She can stand on her head for hours (and does), and so I figured I would just let her while I show her flashcards. Crazy, but it worked. I'm thinking they won't let her do that in a classroom. Reading has been her biggest challenge because she has a very hard time sitting still and focusing. She gets super frustrated and screams at the book. I have had to go back in the book several times to help her catch up because the book advanced too fast. That is one great thing about homeschooling. You can really cater to your child's needs more.

About a year and a half ago, Evie was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, which is on the autism spectrum. Because of the SPD, she has everything from serious hyperactivity to noise sensitivity, chemical and food sensitivities. The poor kid almost always has a rash from something, whether it is from some food, or some chemical. We had her tested for food allergies, and she was allergic to 28 foods. And they weren't weird foods either. She was allergic to wheat, all dairy, soy, all tree nuts but peanuts and walnuts, all grains that have gluten, all citrus fruit and some other major stuff. We have tried to eliminate those foods as much as possible, but she has to eat! I have had to be really creative. Evie loves our hot tub, but the chemicals in it give her a rash from head to toe. Jeff is going to see if he can change the filter to a salt water filter so she can be in it. Evie is 100% energy from sunup to sundown. Some days it is so exhausting for me. We are believing God to heal her body completely from all of this. We know God is a big God! He is a healing God! Some days are really frustrating for me, but God helps me through. I know that God wants me to homeschool her, but some days I wonder if I am cut out for it. I must be doing something right because she is learning! Someone in my online homeschool group sent me this video not too long ago.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VM6uqj0_jQc

The video is only about a minute long, and it is cute. I didn't realize that it was Tim Hawkins in the video until one of the homeschool mom's mentioned it (he is big among many homeschool families because he is funny, clean humored, and he and his wife homeschool their 4 kids). It is a great video, and gave me a much needed laugh for today. By the way, those are not all his kids :).

Jeff left for a business trip to Oklahoma and Texas this morning. He will be gone until Friday. I miss him already. He hasn't had to travel as much lately, so I have been really glad for that.