Literacy is the pathway
to full communication.

I just completed the first week of my twenty-five year homeschooling. That is a sentence I didn't expect to ever write. Our seventh child, Josiah, graduated high school in the spring of 2016, and I anticipated for over a decade that his graduation would end my homeschool teaching. Decisions about our son Nathaniel's education have been a long (mostly kept private) wrestle over the last few years. Perhaps in time I will share more about the small decisions that landed us at last Monday - Nathaniel's first day of Kindergarten in our homeschool. But for today, I just want to share about that first week.

When we decided to homeschool this year, I did not want every piece of our day to be remedial and fixing weaknesses. I wanted to do something that built on Nathaniel's strengths and things we enjoy. His receptive language skills are fantastic. He loves stories. He loves being outside. This intersection is where I am building some fun learning into our day.

"Backyard Visitors" is the name I am giving to our nature study. We are learning about one animal a month through children's literature, crafts, and time outdoors. We are working on core AAC vocabulary. The first critter that we learned about was the firefly.

I am learning a multitude of ways not to teach and help Nathaniel. I wrote a lengthy blog post in September about starting to memorize bible verses with him. Seven months later, I have learned that approach did not work. Or perhaps it is better stated that in recent months my goals have changed, and so my approach needs to change too. If this topic is new to you, click on the link above to learn where we started.

I made a new AAC friend last month. Dr. Carole Zangari, who blogs at PrACCtical AAC, and I spent a few hours on the phone getting to know each other and discussing her recently published book, Tell Me AAC in the Preschool Classroom.  I have been desperate for direction for Nathaniel's education, and the program developed by Dr. Zangari and Lori Wise seemed promising. I have been studying the material daily since that conversation, and recently watched her webinar given through Saltillo. Dr. Zangari and I had a second phone meeting yesterday morning. At one point in our hour and a half conversation, I had to get up from the table and pace the living room floor; the excitement brewing inside needed a physical release.

"Why don't you homeschool Nathaniel?" The question was the first thing my mom asked when I answered the phone early Tuesday morning. It was asked last Saturday by a college friend, who has close to thirty years experience in public school special education, after she read my blog post about a Christian school's denial to consider enrolling my son. It is a question Rich and I have repeatedly asked ourselves, and it is a logical one given that homeschooling has been our educational choice for our other children.  Answering the question and making any educational decision on Nathaniel's behalf forces us to reflect on his journey.

When placed in our home through foster care, Nathaniel was enrolled in early intervention services offered through our state Department of Education. We have homeschooled for twenty-five years. Our experience with public education was limited to our older two sons who attended while living at their mother's home. Despite the unfamiliarity, we continued the services. The intervention model identified the child’s greatest need and offered one therapist to address concerns. Nathaniel was assigned an occupational therapist. We loved her. However, together we quickly realized that Nathaniel had more needs than she could meet in an hour a week.  Speech and physical therapy were added. Nathaniel’s experience with early intervention speech therapy has been documented here. Not soon after we began sessions, we stopped them. We sought private speech therapy to tackle what we knew would be long-term communication needs.

I have been a stay-at-home mom for twenty-eight years. Next week I start my twenty-fourth year of teaching my children at home. Josiah was born into a homeschool family; he nursed through older siblings' math lessons and overheard first, second, and third grade reading lessons all the same year while playing in his high chair. He was the youngest before Nathaniel and is a senior in high school this fall.

Both Joe and I reap the benefits that he has never known family life apart from homeschool life. For us, there has always been a blurring of what is daily living as a Rankin kid and what is homeschool; Joe has always known his parents, and mother specifically, to carry the duel roles of parent and educator. There were no "before we started homeschooling" habits or relationship patterns to overcome.

Last May our daughter suggested that I put together an list or index for blog posts about Nathaniel. When she tells people that she has seven brothers, that the youngest is three years old and the oldest is thirty-three years old, she gets a lot of questions. She likes to send the curious to my blog for information about Nathaniel.

"But where should they start to read, Mom? And how do they find specific posts?"

I have been working on this list since that conversation. The process of compiling and specifically having it completed today, the second anniversary of Nathaniel's adoption, has been a special gift to myself.  It was good to reflect on where we have been, what life has been like for Nathaniel and our family,  and how God has been faithful through it all. After spending hours rereading these old posts I must add my AMEN to Jason Johnson's words tucked in a recent blog post, "foster care and adoption are not just the process by which we may change a child’s life but also the means through which God will radically transform ours." 

Four years ago this month, I wrote a three part blog series on the cost of homeschooling. It makes sense that I wrote that series in January. January is when I start to think about the next school year.

For almost two decades now, we've deposited that spring (IRS) check in a special savings account earmarked for school costs.  Some years we haven't needed all of it, some years we have. Many years, the doldrums of winter were chased away by browsing curriculum catalogs, comparing programs, making wish lists, and dreaming of next year's fun.  The Cost of Homeschooling, Part 1

My heart has been wrestling. 

One thing we could not have known when we made the decision to homeschool through high school was the cost to homeschool would increase annually. This lesson was learned in math class.  

A young mom recently asked for insights on a topic I've considered exploring- the costs involved in homeschooling.  I mentioned the subject to Rich and his initial response was exactly my own - financial costs or real life costs?

Library day was a huge highlight of our week when my children were little.  But it wasn't without some stress.  Trying to keep little ones quiet, finding quality literature that you are willing to read your children, managing an infant in a car seat, keeping track of toddlers who need to hold hands, and carrying a bag of books and a purse can make the whole experience not worth the energy.  Add in a 1st or 2nd grader who can read EVERYTHING and it just might seem easier to stay home!  I thought I would share some tips today on how to make library day more fun for you and your children.