Harlo is in 4th grade and although our traditional home schooling has taken a back seat we have gotten great at improvising. Homeschooling has been the best gift during this trying time since it's allowed us our space to learn a new routine, rest when needed and be creative in how we approach learning.
Board games like Life and Monopoly have us focusing on math and small decisions like buying a house or purchasing 2 cats and a dog đł. Or using our âgo fishâ games to build self confidence - our "go fish" happens to be cards focused on kick ass women doing kick ass things and teaching Harlo how to become a kick ass girl.
We recently borrowed the book - "Way of the Warrior Kid" from some of our gym family and it has been a great tool for us. We read a few chapters a day and it usually has Harlo and I laughing throughout it. It's about a boy who was bullied in school so he's determined to achieve certain goals throughout summer break with the help of his Navy Seal uncle. It's a great read for many ages as it teaches the simple concepts of goal setting, working hard, being respectful and pushing through your barriers. With us getting back into our routine Harlo's definitely hit some barriers so this book has been entered into our lives at a perfect time.
Although Jeb and I have raised three other kiddos we still have lots to learn as parents, and we certainly made our mistakes. I think one of the biggest things that we both have learned is how to react or technically not react when Harlo gets frustrated. Normally I would scold her if she started to shut down or get angry but now we've learned that instead of arguing back with her that we need her to feel her frustration by either talking about it or give her room to just feel. In the past we've found ourselves arguing with the kids when really they probably just wanted some attention or to be acknowledged.
Now we find ourselves calming her down to talk it out or having her write a reflection paper so she can work through her emotions before, after and during whatever caused her to get upset. This allows her to think more about her feelings and to learn from them and not let her frustration control her actions. If I could go back to my old self when all 4 kids we're in the house I would tell myself to relax, not to get so reactive but to be more conscious of their feelings. More then likely none of my kid's are reading this, Ha! But if you are I'm sorry!!
Anyhow to carry on - Art has also been endless in this house for the last couple months so for all those that have sent art supplies, colors, books, glue I am forever grateful to you. This has given her some independence which has been much needed due to the face that all her time is primarily spent with mom and dad.
We go visit Harlo's Neurologist on Thursday for a check up and we head on over to see Dagmara, her Physician on Monday. All of Harlo's Allergy, Pesticide, Stool testing and more came back so we're excited to figure out all of her levels, readings etc. Then we can start building our action plan. Stay tuned!
P.S We are now 6 weeks seizure free!
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