2014-2015 3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum

I should probably be a little more ashamed than I am that it has been over a year since I have updated our blog. But honestly, I'm not.. We have been busy living life to the fullest and I would much rather live in the moment than worry about writing it all down! But, I really do enjoy it so I will be trying to pay a little more attention to my poor, left-behind blog.

Last week, Elli and I dove into our fourth year of homeschooling! I can't believe we have made it this far, we are halfway through elementary school! I never would have imagined I would be homeschooling my children, or that I would enjoy spending all of my time with them, but I really do love seeing the passion they both have for learning and I am so grateful to be their teacher.

This year, I have decided to bring Evan to the homeschool table a little more formally than years past. He is very eager leaner! He has already learned all of his alphabet letters, numbers 1-10, and recognizes about 30+ sight words. And this is all despite of his very big speech delay! His lessons are still more play and less structured but he is just thrilled to be able to sit at the table with Sissy.

The biggest curriculum changes we made for Elli this year were switching out math, reading, science, and history. There was nothing wrong with the curriculum we have used in the past, but it wasn't my favorite, or Elli's favorite for that matter. I am always asked which curricula we have chosen so here is our list for our 2014-15 3rd grade year:

Math: Teaching Textbooks 3. We had previously used Rightstart Math and enjoyed the hands on approach, however I did not enjoy all of the prep work. Elli also seemed to tire easily from the games and lessons because she grasped the concepts so quickly. Teaching Textbooks is totally new to us. It's a computer based program that is very interactive and keeps her smiling throughout the entire lesson. I can easily check her assignments and progress on the grade book as well. Elli is very eager to begin school with math every day!

Reading: Another huge change for us this year was switching from Horizons Reading & Phonics to BJU Reading 3. The teacher manual is much easier to follow and instruct from and the student worksheets are short but do a great job reinforcing the lesson. Elli was not a fan of the Horizons curriculum and seems to enjoy our new selection! Fingers crossed this continues as we progress to more challenging work.

Language Arts/Writing: This year we are continuing with the next levels of First Language Lessons & Writing With Ease. Both books are easy to follow along as a teacher and are short enough to keep Elli's attention.

Spelling: You know how some people are just naturally good spellers? And others really struggle to spell the most basic of words? My sweet Elli falls into the second category, poor thing. Spelling has just never clicked for her. We started All About Spelling level 3 last week and I am just so thrilled with the progress she has made using this program. It really is one of the best, easiest homeschool curriculum available. I highly recommend using AAS if you are new to homeschooling. We have used it from the beginning and it is excellent.

History: Ok, first let me say that I love Confessions of a Homeschooler just as much as any other HS mom. I do, honestly. But last year we decided to use her Roadtrip USA curriculum and it was such a disaster for us. The lessons are so long, there is so much prep work involved, too many options and activities to choose from. It was just  overwhelming. This year we have decided to switch to the Time Travelers studies, New World Explorers and Colonial Life. The program is on a CD and you can easily print out your lessons for the week with little prep work involved. I think it is very age and skill appropriate for older elementary school aged kids.

Science: Another big change to our lessons this year is our science curriculum. We have never used any Apologia curriculum before. History and Science are two subjects I feel Elli should have an opinion on so I allowed her to choose what she wanted to study this year. No surprise here, my beach babe asked to learn about the Ocean. We are using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures. Yes, technically you should probably follow the books in order (this curriculum is biblical based and follows science through Creation) but we are rebels so what the heck, right? We are splitting the lessons up into 4 days, 2 days per week and so far we both love it. It reads well and the elementary journal that accompanies the lessons is perfect for Elli. We are very much looking forward to many field trips to Sea World this year!

Foreign Language: I would say the biggest change to our curriculum this year is the addition of Spanish. We will be using Rosetta Stone this year. Kids are sponges and this is the perfect time for Elli to tackle another language. I have no doubt she will be fluent in Spanish soon! If you are looking to start foreign language studies at home, I highly recommend Rosetta Stone! It is a great program.

So, there you have it! I will report back in a few months with longer reviews on each program once we have used each of the new books for longer than a week. ;)

DIY Stenciled Table Top

A few weeks ago while I was laying in Evan's teeny tiny hospital bed, squished to the side and unable to move, I was browsing Pinterest when I came across the prettiest DIY table. I knew I wanted to create my own for Elli's homeschool table so I pinned it and went about my browsing. After we were discharged, the first time, I went yard-saling and found the perfect table for super cheap! I loaded it up in the van and set out to get all of my supplies. Unfortunately, hospital admission #2 threw a wrench into my plans so I had to patiently wait to finish it. I am so thrilled to share that it is now complete and I could not be any more in love with this table! Seriously! I want to stencil every piece of furniture in my home now, lol.

My inspiration came from this post at Domestic Imperfection. See? Totally gorgeous, right?


Here is my $15 yard sale table. It's just your basic, every day dining room table.

First, I painted the legs of the table. I used primer & paint duo spray paint in white. It took 2 cans to cover the legs and no sanding was required. 

Next I(we) sanded down the table top. Sanding was the most time consuming (and messy) part of the project and was a major pain in the rear. Who has two thumbs and an awesome husband who will trade a date night out for a date night in sweating and getting tore up by mosquitos? This girl. Love you hunny! :)

Once the top was completely sanded down, I painted on the stencil. Originally I planned to repeat the stencil over the entire top, but then decided to just do a border because of how busy the design was. I purchased my stencil at Michael's with a 50% off coupon for $5 and used just your basic 79cent acrylic paint in white. I also purchased a stencil foam roller with a 50% off coupon for just a couple bucks. This stencil, made by Folk Art, was really great and had a guide for repeating the design, which made lining it up super easy. 

I borrowed stain and polyurethane from my dad and stained the top the next morning. (You could stain same day if you'd like, the acrylic paint dries very fast.) Since this was my first time staining anything, I called the expert, aka my Dad, and had him walk me through the process via FaceTime. I dipped a clean, folded up rag into the stain and wiped down the table, following the grain of the wood. Once it was covered, I took another clean rag and wiped in a circular motion across the entire table. That whole process took about 5 minutes! Don't forget the gloves! 

I decided I liked the color with one application and after it dried for several hours, I brushed on a few coats of polyurethane. The whole process was relatively simple, just very time consuming. It ended up taking 3 days to complete the table but I would do it over in a second! This is my completed table: 

So gorgeous! 

Home Sweet Home.. Part Deux.

As many of you know, Evan was readmitted into the hospital last Monday for bilateral pleural effusions, aka fluid in both sides of his chest. It was an emotionally exhausting 5 day stay that included an unwanted room in the PICU, angry nurses, tears of frustration, and finally a much happier little boy. We had such a horrible experience in the PICU that I am choosing to not relive it, therefore I will not be sharing the details of our experience. Lets just say heart kids belong in the cardiac icu for a reason. 

We were discharged home Friday afternoon and let me tell you, Evan has been non-stop since we walked out of the hospital! He is completely back to his normal self and has way more energy than I imagined he would! Today was his post-discharge follow up at the cardiology office and he ran around the whole waiting room for almost an hour before being called back. He made sure to stop and say hi to every single person waiting too. I can't believe how outgoing he is and just how happy he is in general. This kid has more strength than I could ever have, especially for just having open heart surgery 3 weeks ago! The cardiologist was super impressed with Evan today, his heart and lungs sounded perfect and his chest x-ray was completely clear, thank God! You know what the best part of the day was? Watching Evan run around for so long without taking a break and without turning blue. I am just.. just so amazed. I am so thrilled Evan is POST FONTAN and know that he can now live to his fullest potential. 

Saturday night we went to dinner with family for my husband's birthday. My father in law mentioned to our waitress that Evan had his third open heart surgery just 2 weeks ago and she was just blown away because he looked so good. Then she turned to me and told me she was amazed at how calm and at peace I was for just having gone through something so major with my child. I just smiled and said thank you, but I have been thinking so much about her words and keep coming to the same conclusion. How can I not be at peace when I have Jesus? How can I be afraid if I trust in my Father? How can I not have a positive attitude when my God is always faithful? I don't want Evan to ever be afraid of his future, or lack of a future. I want him to trust the Lord with all of his heart and I hope he will see that in both Scott and I.. We love our little man and don't ever want to set limitations for his future, unless we are talking about dating, then the answer is never. ;)

Please remember to keep all of our heart buddies going in for their Fontans this summer in your prayers. Going through major surgery with your preschooler is absolute madness and the anxiety building up to the date really sucks. 

OH! I almost forgot, Evan has been talking so much more in the last few weeks! He has now added "moo moo", "all done", "baby", "pizza", "coke", "eat pizza", "thank you", and "jake" to his vocabulary! Yay! :)

Home Sweet Home

WE ARE POST FONTAN!! 

Can you believe it? All of the worry, anticipation, anxiety, fear, what ifs, and tears- gone. We did it, we crossed the finish line of the longest race of ours lives. I couldn't be any more proud of Evan! 

We were discharged home yesterday morning. Now we are focusing on continued healing and rest for Evan, as well as encouraging the little guy to eat/drink and helping him build his strength back up in his legs. It will still be a few weeks before Evan is feeling like himself again so please continue to pray that he recovers well at home. 

I know so many of my heart mama friends are "Fontanning" it this summer and I want to make sure I share our experience in detail for you. We all know it is rare for our kids to share the exact same experience, but hopefully you find encouragement and reassurance through Evan. 

Before Evan's Fontan, I researched and learned as much as I could about the Fontan. I asked post-Fontan moms for advice and read through as many Fontan blogs as I could. I was confident that I was more than prepared for what was to come. But the truth is, I wasn't prepared at all. 

The Fontan freaking sucks. 

Really. For myself as a parent, it was the worst of the 3 surgeries. Going through open heart surgery with a newborn and 5 month old seemed HORRIBLE at the time, but the Fontan takes the cake. Evan was miserable all day every day. He needed our attention 24/7 and it was exhausting. The first day, we stood at Evan's bedside trying to keep him calm for 8 hours. The next day, I sat in a chair with Evan in my lap for over 6 hours. I spent so many hours laying in bed with him that I was sure I would have bed sores by the time we were discharged. I spent every second worrying that Evan was in pain, scheming to trick him into eating or drinking, and begging God to help us get through it all. It was awful, but it didn't last forever and we are already falling back into a normal routine at home and I know these memories will eventually fade into just that- a memory. 

For those of you preparing for the Fontan, I have compiled a list of 10 things I didn't know before the Fontan. These are things that no amount of research could have prepared us for because they were unique to Evan. If you've already survived the Fontan, I am interested to hear what your "list" is! Alright, here we go: 

1. I had no idea the conduit they use for an extracardiac Fontan was SO big. I had trouble uploading the picture on my last post so here it is again. It's hard to believe something so big fits a 2 year old's heart. 

This is a 24mm conduit.

2. Evan's oxygen saturations before surgery were 80-81. After surgery, he was 90-91. Because of his fenestration (a small hole between his heart and the conduit, used to help with pressure) his sats quickly drop when he is upset. He would drop to 70 after just 30 seconds of screaming and turned super blue. But, as soon as he started to calm, his sats would rise back to normal very fast. I've never seen Evan desat and recover like that before, but now that he can physically show signs of a true desat, it will be easier to recognize and help him recover. 

3. For the Norwood and the Glenn, Evan only had one mediastinal chest tube. For the Fontan, his surgeon routinely places a mediastinal and two pig tail drains, one on each side of the chest, for pleural effusions. Not every surgeon does this, but I was surprised to learn that there are several who do this routinely just in case the patient develops PE and then they don't have to go in and place more chest tubes. 

The big tube in the center is the mediastinal. The small tube with the cotton ball over it is a pig tail. 

4. During the removal of Evan's chest tubes in the past, the PA just rips it out and applies gauze and tape over the opening and it heals. This time, the surgeon had a suture wrapped around the tube and when the tube was pulled, the PA synched the suture. No bleeding! 

5. Scooping a 30lb toddler like a newborn is NO JOKE. Ladies, start building up those biceps and shoulders. There were several times when I was holding Evan that I literally thought my bicep was about to rip in half. It's so hard not to pick up a toddler under the arms. Try it for a day now and figure out what works best for you before you are fumbling bed side with a fragile kid. 

6. I never knew so much fluid could come out of a little body! Evan ended up draining almost 45 ounces from his chest in just 7 days. He drained 15ounces in one day alone! On the day he drained over 400mls, I thought for sure we were going to be inpatient forever. The next day, he only drained 56mls. Don't get discouraged! 

7. My kid is an animal. He loves to eat and drink all day long. We have never had a problem with Evan gaining weight or eating enough. I did not expect his appetite not to return after surgery. It was a struggle all day long (and still is) to get him to eat anything. We tried all of his favorites and tried games/distractions, nothing worked. At one point he had to be given IV fluids and there was talk of a NG tube because we couldn't get him to eat more than 2 goldfish crackers. 

8. I didn't realize managing his pain would be as hard as it was. Right after surgery, Evan was still on morphine and coming off the the anesthesia and he was still thrashing around. We could not keep him still, even after max doses of some heavy pain medications. The only time I broke down was one night where we could tell he was in some serious pain and there was nothing anyone could do or give him to calm him down. I have never felt so helpless as a parent in my life. Prepare yourselves for that, mamas. 

9. Walking was impossible. Guys, if your child is anywhere near as stubborn as mine is, no amount of begging, pleading, bribes, or tricks will get your kid to walk with the chest tubes in. We tried every day to get Evan out of bed and walking and he just refused. It wasn't until all of the chest tubes were removed that he tried to walk but by then he had laid in bed for 8 days and his legs were too weak to support himself. He was so frustrated that he wasn't able to stand and walk. On day 6, our amazing nurse brought us a mat for the floor so Evan could get out of bed and play. I wish we would have had that on day 2! Also, wagon rides outside of his room were worth all the effort it took to get 3 chest tube boxes, a monitor, oxygen tank, and IV pole out with us. Evan was happiest rolling through the unit. 

This is the walking contraption they.. Chest tube drain boxes, oxygen tank, and the monitor hang on the sides. 

Two nurses and a tech to go for a wagon ride.. So worth it. 

10. It will be over before you know it. The whole time I kept thinking "Man, I have no idea how we survived being inpatient for 30 days for the Norwood". We were discharged on day 8 and now the fun begins.. 

Pretty soon you will be home snuggling in bed <3 

THANK YOU to all of our friends and family who contributed to Evan's treasure box. Everything came in handy and Evan loved playing with his new toys! Because there were so many things donated, we wanted to share the love and gave a bunch of stuff to the Child Life Specialist so that other little ones on the cardiac floor could have something new to play with too. There were so many little ones left alone all day with no family there to visit, we know they will enjoy something special. & thank you to our family and friends who came to visit Evan, he enjoyed sharing laughs with you all and it meant a lot to us! 

We are so blessed... <3 

We are post Fontan!!

We just met with the surgeon and everything went as planned. The surgery went very smooth and the DR is happy with the procedure. I just want to jump for joy and scream!! I cannot believe we are officially post-Fontan! Thank you Jesus for taking care of my little boy! Will update later after we see  Evan.

Fontan update #3

Evan is still on bypass. The surgeon is finishing up the conduit and then will be checking out the blood flow. Should be another hour before our next update.

Fontan update #2

Everything is going as planned. Evan is doing well. Hoping to start taking Evan off of bypass by the next update.