Life and Times of The Johnston family: Still Getting Caught Up!

Ok So after we got back from our fun camping trip, I had a very busy rest of the week! Tuesday Devin had feeding therapy in the morning and that evening I had signed Devin up to try their music/tumble class for 2 and 3 year olds, while Elizabeth did her piano class. And he LOVED it!! He did so good too! He was smiling and giggling and having so much fun I just had to sign him up! I LOVE Bravo! Wednesday Devin had OT in the morning and Elizabeth had dance/tumbling in the evening, before class I talked to Elizabeth about how she liked her class, and she told me that she really enjoyed the tumbling part, but dreaded the dance part. She told me and I quote, " mom, my body just will not move like that!" So I told her that she could do a just tumbling class, and she told me that she didn't want to loose Mrs. O as her teacher again. So after her class that evening I talked to Mrs. O and she informed me that she teaches a tumbling class Thursday evening, but she wasn't sure if there was space left in it....so I talked to the front desk and sure enough there was one spot left in her tumbling class which I promptly had Elizabeth fill. So Thursday which just happened to also be my birthday(29, I can't believe it!!)Devin had developmental therapy in the morning, then I let the kids play and watch t.v. while I "took the day off" as much as a stay at home mom can. ;) That evening I took her to try out Mrs. O's "just" tumbling class and all three of us agreed that it was a MUCH better fit! After class I hurried home and we drove over to the church to discover we only had one scout, and since we couldn't do much with just him, we sent him home and cancelled den meeting for that night. After we put the kids in bed(had my mom keep an ear out for them) and Tony took me to dinner at Cracker Barrel, MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm! So good! He also got me a dozen red roses and a gift card to Barnes and Noble. He's such a sweet guy! He really made my birthday special! Elizabeth did sing to me several times throughout the day as well. :) Friday Devin had behavioral therapy and we discussed his decline in behavior since being thrown out of whack in feeding and occupational therapy. She gave me some great pointers and suggestions, and they seem to be helping....slowly but surely. That evening we had a big ward party at a local park, complete with dinner a bouncy house and pony rides! Elizabeth loved the bouncy house, Devin made it just inside the door a couple times then promptly turned around and came back out, but he did enjoy playing at the playground. They both really enjoyed riding the ponies. Saturday Tony let me sleep in which was very nice. For lunch my parent's took us and Eric and Jen to Olive Garden to celebrate my birthday and we took advantage of their all you can eat pasta, YUM! For my birthday my mom gave me a really nice paper cutter as my old one was crap. She gave it to me early and I've put it to good use and it's awesome! And Tony's parents gave me a super cute outfit, a nice black skirt with a nice shirt with teal and purple flowers on it and a purple sweater to go with it. I wore it last Sunday and love it! Monday the 9th was the first day of school! This is my and Elizabeth's first year with an actual curriculum(last year we had a very loose made up myself curriculum, and the year before that we just did weekly reader, which provided a weekly theme, but was not actually a curriculum). The curriculum I chose we found when we went to the UHEA homeschool conference in June, though I'd heard of and was interested in it before then. After seeing and hearing more about it at the conference I was really sold. It's called Latter Day Learning: The Family School. It's designed to work like the old one room school house. It teaches six subjects(History, Science, Literature, Geography, Music and Art) in a six year layout(you do not have to start with year one) and is lessons for ages 4-14. It's designed that all ages can be taught together which may come in handy if we decide to homeschool Devin, or any other future children. But for Elizabeth I love it because it doesn't limit her to "this is what a 1st grader should know", it puts information out there and she gets all she can from it. Best of all every subject is completely gospel centered. At a time when my kids can't even say The Pledge of Allegiance in public school because it has a mere reference to God, I get to teach about our beliefs in each and every one of our lessons. Every school day ends with me bearing my testimony of gospel truths to her, it's just as good for me as it is for her! We both absolutely LOVE it so far!! For math and language arts I went simple and am using a book called "Learn at Home Grade One", the kindergarten one is great but WAY too simple, so she's doing first grade math(and flying though it), and actually closer to second grade language arts. So far it's going GREAT! Back to Monday the 9th, this is how at least two out of the five days go(due to Devin's therapy in Bountiful). We get up and get dressed, have breakfast at the table then go brush our teeth and do our hair, then we go into the school room for devotional where we sing a primary song, say a prayer, recite an Article of Faith and the Pledge of Allegiance, then do the weather. Then Devin watches two shows in the living room while I do Elizabeth's math lesson, then we get in the car, I drop Elizabeth off with my cousin Mary who has graciously agreed to help with her language arts lessons while I take Devin to feeding therapy or OT. In this case(Monday the 9th) it was OT, then we come home have lunch, I put Devin down for his nap and Elizabeth does a computer learning game, while I eat my lunch(as I read out of a short novel during their lunch, right now we're reading The Adventures of Pinocchio) Then we do Family School. After Devin wakes up Elizabeth get's her t.v. time while I do play school with Devin, then they play or we go outside until dinner time.(lately Devin hasn't been sleeping well at night so he's taking 4 hour naps and not waking up it time for us to get outside before dinner) On a rare day that Devin has no therapy we go outside for what Elizabeth refers to as "morning recess" between math and language arts, and I get out a special toy for Devin to play with in the living room or his room during language arts. It's working out so well!! Tuesday was Devin's first day of school, and that evening was piano and Devin's tumbling. Wednesday Devin had Feeding therapy and that is where I'll leave you. :)

Ward Party

Oh ya and I forgot to mention that I broke down and took Devin to Cookie Cutters to get his hair cut, he really liked it there and they did a great job, only problem now is that he looks more like a three year old than a 2 1/2 year old! His longer hair gives him the baby look, while short hair gives him the little boy look.