One Year - Part 2

This past week the Smith Family hit another milestone. It was Kayleigh's One-Year-Diaversary.
What, you ask , is a diaversary? It is what us T1Ps (Type One Parents) and T1Ds (Type One Diabetics) call the anniversary of their diagnosis. We have a whole secret language. lol

It was just two short months ago that it was Mackenzie's First-Diaversary.  Our feelings about this milestone haven't really changed since I wrote that post so I thought I'd share a different aspect of this milestone.

At our house we've turned these days into a celebration of sorts. We're not celebrating diabetes, still not a fan of it, but it is definitely worth taking the time to celebrating living with it. Especially with the first year being the most overwhelming. So on their diaversary, our girls get to plan their day.

Kayleigh had very specific plans for her day.  It couldn't get here fast enough.

Phase 1

FurReal Friends Cuddles the Monkey. Now named Daisy.

It's creepy, overpriced, and annoying. 'Nuf said.  Did I mention creepy? It eyeballs you.

Phase 2

Dinner at Chuck E. Cheese. Not my favorite place. Plus giving insulin for pizza can be tricky. But I'm not even going to try to explain that. lol

Phase 3

Ice cream chaser from Friendlys. She had to have a monster sundae. That's 51 carbs people. Not to mention that you are what you eat and she's definitely at leas part monster. lol

Phase 4

A bath in mommy and daddy's tub. This was my least favorite activity because cleaning out that huge tub afterward is backbreaking work. I tricked Kevin into giving her the bath so I thought I'd get out of cleaning it. Wrong. He got heavy handed with the bubbles and had an "incident." Bubbles everywhere.  He cleaned up the bubbles and I wound up cleaning out the tub afterward.  Meh.

While she enjoyed her special activities, it was somewhat of a rough day diabetes-wise. A lot of lows for her that day. Even after the pizza.  The thing with lows is, besides being dangerous and making you feel bad, it requires a bit of sitting still while you wait for your blood sugar to go back up.

That's the thing with type 1 diabetes.  It doesn't give you a break. Day or night. Special day or average day. It's right there, throwing you a curve ball. Or twenty.  Every year that someone lives with it is worth a celebration in my book. Even if it involves a creepy monkey eyeballing you. Shudder.




Related posts you might be interested in:
Kayleigh's Diagnosis Story
Mackenzie's Diagnosis Story
The Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes (If I had to pick one post for you to read, this one is it.)
Differences Between Type 1 and Type 2

Review: Fundanoodle

We're knee deep in kindergarten around here. And part of kindergarten is learning to write, much to Kayleigh's dismay. She's not doing a bad job with her capital letters, but the lowercase letters have been given her a run for her money.

When the chance to review I Can Build Lower Case Letters by Fundanoodle arrived, I was super excited.

About Fundanoodle

Fundanoodle strives to help parents and teachers achieve educational readiness for their children. They offer a variety of fun learning systems to aid your students in motor coordination, eye/hand coordination, problem solving, and more.

Our Experience

We received the I Can Build Lower Case Letters learning system. The system included a magnetic white board with dry erase marker, set of 17 Magnastix magnetic pieces, six gross motor cards, six-sided die, and the I Can Write Lower Case! writing tablet.

I cannot speak highly enough about the quality of these products. Every last item was sturdy and extremely well made. They will last for years. These items might just be the sturdiest product for children that I've ever owned. I'm am not the slightest bit concerned that the board will come apart or the magnets will peel off the backing anytime soon. They are phenomenally made.

The company recommends starting the lessons with a gross motor activity to help prepare the student for writing. Kayleigh has a grand old time playing a game with the gross motor cards. Each card is numbered and has a different animal for the student to act like.  Kayleigh rolls the dice and that acts out the card with the corresponding number. With only six cards it can get repetitive.  I wouldn't mind seeing the company expand the cards to include more. But you can even make additional cards with your computer if your student doesn't like that much repetition. Lots of fun!

Next Kayleigh and I would work on forming the letters with the Magnastix on the white board. The top and the bottom of the white board are painted green and red, respectively.  The green is a reminder to "Go" for letters that start at the top of the green line. The red means "Stop" since most letters will stop at the red line.

We followed the order set forth in the writing tablet, which are sequenced according to a child's development of visual and motor skills. I'd first build the letter on the board for her, using the instructions from the writing tablet, then I'd have Kayleigh build it herself.  Max the Monkey has specific terminology on how to form each letter. Things like: zip (straight line) down/across/up, zoom (diagonal) up/down/in, buzz (curve) up/around, etc. These instructions were really fun for Kayleigh to learn and they really helped her remember how to form the letters.

After working on the white board, we'd work in the writing tablet.  The writing tablet features the characters Max and Alphie who demonstrate and encourage the student to write the letters correctly. Each page offers the "Go/Stop" visual cues and a spot to put a reward sticker upon completion. My only issue with the writing tablet is that it is a lot of writing on each page, five lines worth, which can intimidate young learners. It did overwhelm Kayleigh.

I tried to have Kayleigh just work on one line per day but she really wanted that sticker ASAP so she insisted on doing the whole thing at once. I also told her she only needed to complete two lines to earn the sticker but she then insisted on doing them all anyway because she didn't want to "cheat." lol I guess those stickers are doing a great job at motivating her.

All-in-all Kayleigh really likes it. On days when we didn't do handwriting, she would ask about it. That rarely happens with Kayleigh so that is high praise. It's definitely a quality product and fun way to learn to write letters.

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.fundanoodle.com

Age Range: K-1st

Price: $29.99

Weekly Wrap-Up:

I'm, once again, a tad behind my wrap-ups. What's a sleep deprived, stay-at-homeschooling mom, full time pancreas for two gonna do? Whatever I am able to get to. Here's what we've been up to the last couple of weeks.

Seventh Grade

Extras

Mackenzie has been slowly working her way up to our full load. This week we added in Spanish and art. We got an AWESOME deal on all 5 levels of Rosetta Stone from Sonlight. Score! We've been trying to start for a couple of weeks but it's been slow going. Lots of stuff going on and Spanish kept getting pushed aside. She did finally get one lesson in this week. lol

Mackenzie has been doing a lot of drawing with her Bible and the Draw Through History series but she hasn't done much else in the form of art. We were super excited to finally start our Creating A Masterpiece lessons.

My friend and I discovered this curriculum at the HEAV convention and we were floored by it!  All of our supplies finally arrived and we could start the lessons. I popped in the DVD (don't you just love DVD instruction) and both girls got busy creating their first pastel painting. Yep, Kayleigh gets to do it too.

One lesson in and I'm totally as impressed as I was at the convention. Simple amazing!! I strongly urge to check out the website. Or check them out on Facebook and see what their students are creating. Fabulous!!! Can't wait to see what lesson two brings my girls.

Piano and soccer have also started back up so she's been busy, busy. Wait! Make that busy, busy, busy. I forgot that youth group has started back up too. At least soccer doesn't last all year. Thank goodness.

She's also been running with her dad three times a week. The running has really been helping manage her blood sugar somewhat. Especially when we have that evil devil puberty creating havoc with them.

Academics

She's still studying ancient Egypt and that region. She was crushed that there wasn't a sequel to Mara, Daughter of the Nile , lol, but she is now happily reading Hittite Warrior. We've also finished our current read aloud, The Golden Goblet. A few days early. We just had to know what happened. lol

Science was a lot of test prep. Study guides, summaries and other things that Mackenzie felt she could live without. Sorry dearie. This isn't first grade science. She understood why once she took the test though. lol Ha! She's super happy to be back to a new module and lots of experimenting.

Kindergarten

Extras

Not much going on there for Kayleigh. At the moment she is only taking music class. She was very excited to be back. The girls have the sweetest most wonderful teacher and the love every second with her. Last year Kayleigh, while she loves Ms. Lewis, she refused to practice all year. lol Typical Kayleigh.  This year she practiced every day last week and went to class today so proud to show Ms. Lewis how well she could play her song. So cute!

She's still begging for gymnastics lessons but I haven't gotten around to that yet. One of these days. lol There is a class she could go to at church at the same time as youth group but I'm just not comfortable leaving her there without me to care for her diabetes. Mackenzie would be in the building if she needed to be checked or treated or dosed for a snack but I'm not sure I'm there yet. Kayleigh would love it though.

It breaks my heart that this disease makes what would be a simple decision so difficult. But she doesn't always feel her lows. There have also been times when we've picked her up from church and found her to be low and she'd tell us that she felt low but didn't want to stop what she was doing to tell her teacher to come page us.  Type 1 diabetes makes you second guess every decision.

Academics

We've learned a bit about ancient Egypt, Greece, and we're currently learning about ancient Rome. We attempted to make this Greek dip who's name escapes me. Something with yogurt, garlic, cucumber, and olive oil. It was disgusting. lol But Kayleigh had fun making it.

She also made a Roman coin out of Crayola Model Magic. She loved that. Her Roman coin had a Roman unicorn engraved on it. You don't see too many of those. lol

She's still doing a great with All About Reading. We've also starting doing Headsprout lessons online. Mackenzie LOVED this at the same age. I believe they've changed the name to Mimio but I'm still calling it Headsprout. They're both weird so I'm sticking with what I'm used to. lol I don't think she likes it as much as Mackenzie did but she hasn't complained. She doesn't get on the computer much so I thought this would be fun for her to do when I work with her sister.

She's been working a lot with pattern blocks lately. We've been doing one a week and she loves them. After she creates the image we use a printable to re-enforce her learning. 

 She finished another Nursery Rhyme pocket. Little Miss Muffet this time. Her favorite craft was the spider puppet. lol

Her read aloud has been Dolphin Adventure, which she loves. We've been working on a dolphin lap book. Her first lap book ever! No pictures yet. Well I have pictures but they're still on my camera. lol Maybe I'll do a separate post about it if I ever find time.

She's been studying a bit about frogs and we decided to conduct a poll to see who likes frogs and who doesn't. The like frogs have it. Seven to three. Kayleigh approved. lol

The Bad News

We had our quarterly appointment with the girls endocrinologist a week or so ago. We normally love to go because our doctor and our CDE (certified diabetes educator) are fabulous!! We just love them.

Sadly, this was our last visit with Dr. Jensen. One of the big pitfalls of military healthcare is the reality that most of your providers are in the military, which means new duty stations. Dr. Jensen is transferring to a new duty station so we're getting a new doctor. Total bummer. We're trying to be happy for him because he's going to be stationed by his wife and kids now (he's been a geo-bachelor for 3 years) but we're all sad. Okay Kayleigh is not trying to be happy for his family reunion. lol I believe she told him "You made me cry last night," and "It's not hard for me to not be happy for you. I'm just going to be sad." She's nothing if not honest. lol

And that's a bit of what we've been up too.  Now I'm going to go take a nap or check somebody's blood sugar. What have you been up too lately?

Review: Greene Bark Press Inc.

Greene Bark Press recently sent us their board book Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again by Ginger Pate. As you might imagine, this book is about crossing the street safely. Heaven knows that Kayleigh was in need of it. lol God's perfect timing!

About Greene Bark Press Inc.

Greene Bark Press is a family owned company based in Connecticut. They strive to publish original and imaginative materials to add to help young readers develop language and reading. They also carry a variety of other products that they feel will help stretch your child's mind. You'll find everything from books to manipulatives to puzzles and more.

Our Experience 

Kayleigh, age 5, was thrilled with the book right from the get-go. The charming and brightly colored pictures captured her interest and she demanded a reading right then. Never mind the dinner preparations I was in the midst of. So read it we did. Several times. Then that was the last that I saw of it for a few days as she had scampered off with it. lol

I finally found it. In her bed. She had been sleeping with it. Which should give you an idea of just how sturdy this book is. She is a nightmare in the bed. Rolls and thrashes like a wild beast. After a few days of those beatings the book still looked brand new.

The story is about a little duck named Wally Waddlewater (say that three times fast lol) who wants to mail a birthday card for his grandma. But first he has to make it to the post office across town. A town full of busy, traffic filled streets. Unfortunately for Wally, he isn't "street savvy" quite yet. Mother Duck takes him by the wing and teaches him about how to safely navigate through town.

Kayleigh loves the book. The pictures are so bright and colorful that she loves to look at it over and over. (This is what I found her doing with it in bed when she was supposed to be sleeping. lol) The illustrations are adorable, lots of of cute little animals. Kayleigh would crack up at the lion driving a red convertible or the snake in the fire truck.

The lesson within it's pages is a great one for young children.  After reading the book many times we practiced walking across the street by looking left, then right, make sure the cars are out of sight. Then look left again.  She caught on quick. And now if I don't look exactly like that when I cross the street (don't you dare look right first!) then I'll catch it from the ankle biter.  I guess that means the lesson was learned. lol

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.greenebarkpress.com

Age Range: 3-8

Pricing: $8. 50

Weekly Wrap-Up: It's Been a While

Well summer break is officially over. Kayleigh started kindergarten (sob!) three weeks ago and Mackenzie has 2 weeks of seventh grade (double sob!) under her belt. I blogged about Kayleigh's first week but didn't had time to blog about Mackenzie's. I've been busy homeschooling and being a full-time pancreas for two defective ones. So I guess I'll play a bit of catch up.

Seventh Grade

Bible

Mackenzie is still drawing her way through the book of Proverbs and loving it. You can read all about the Notgrass Draw to Learn in my REVIEW of it.

She's also doing the Bible included with her Sonlight Core G. She's happily reading through the book of Mark. The last few years have had us reading a lot in the Old Testament and she was ready to move on to the New.  She's also using the International Children's Bible Field Guide which she is finding very interesting. Lots of fascinating Bible facts.

Math

She's finishing up Math-U-See Zeta from last year and plowing through it rather quickly. Decimals are so each for a type 1 diabetic. We use them 3-6 times a day to figure out carbs and insulin doses. Easy peasy!

Language Arts

We are working on report writing in our IEW lessons. A little mini report on elephants. Report writing is easier on my because I only get the required amount of writing instead of the 300 squillion pages she turns in for a creative writing assignment. Yay me!!!

She's also enjoying IEW's Fix-It Grammar, Tom Sawyer. The first couple of weeks have been pretty easy for her but it'll be stepping up soon. Enjoy it while it lasts girlie. Ha!

History

We've started off of our year with ancient Egypt. We're reading lots of different books on the subject. She is LOVE, LOVE, LOVING her current reader, Mara Daughter of the Nile. She was hoping that there would be a sequel to it but no luck. Such disappointment. lol


To add in some fun, besides reading fabulous books, she's been using the Draw and Write Through History Books that pertain to what we're studying. I'm just having her do the drawing part. She doesn't need the copy work. Her first week had her drawing some things from the creation story. The bush and the tree were her favorite drawings. She said her Adam and Eve looked weird. I thought they were cute.  I know the phot is side ways. I'm too lazy to go back and fix it. lol You'll just have to tilt your head to the right for a better view.

Science

She is using Exploring Creation for General Science this year and it is the first year that she's doing science independently. I wasn't sure how she would take to that but she is having a blast!! I was a little nervous about her doing experiments on her own but she's been doing awesome. And buying the student notebook to go along with was a great decision. It helps her get an idea of what to focus on and it is going to be a nice record of her experiments. Sonlight really should include that in their package. (Cuz mama would've liked to have gotten free shipping from ordering through Sonlight. lol)

I have to say... She rocks the "protective eye gear!"

She did do more than one experiment over the last two weeks but it would seem that the other photos are on my camera. You might recall, from the section entitled "History", that I'm feeling lazy. That's also the reason that I'm not going to take the time to explain the experiment to you like I normally would. Being a full time pancreas for two is exhausting because it involves lots of math and very little sleep. All of which suck the short term memory right out of your head because you can only remember things like blood glucose readings, carb ratios, correction factors, and carb counts. There's only so much room in there.

Extras

We didn't do any. We started slow. Soccer should be starting soon. And I'm planning on starting Spanish and art next week. I hope. Maybe. It could happen. Possibly. We'll see. Piano starts next week. Definitely.

Kindergarten

Bible

We finished studying Joseph with our Bible Study Guide for All Ages and have moved on to Daniel. With that change came learning the song "Daniel in the Lions Den." You know the one... "Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Daniel in the la la lions..." Huge hit!! She sings that one all of the time.

We were also reading through the Ergermeir's Bible Story Book, as part of Sonlight's Bible for Core A. It's a bit to much for her and she's not feeling it at all. So we're dropping it. Reading from the actual Bible with the Study Guide is apparently how she rules.

Don't you love being able to ditch what isn't working for your student? Homeschooling is so awesome!!!

Math

We started it back up with lesson 9 of MUS Primer, place value. Hooray for Mr. Demme and Decimal Street!!!

Language Arts

Her All About Reading lessons continue to go well. The constant review and the game like nature of the lessons really click for her. She's got a lot of cards in her mastered pile. Go Kayleigh!!

 She is still loving The Boxcar Children. I am just thrilled that she is enjoying her first chapter book. One day she asked to make scrambled eggs for lunch like the Boxcar Children ate. So she was given the job of scrambling their eggs. Imagine her surprise when it turned out to be a tiny bit of work mixing them all up. LOL Heaven forbid!!

I should note that these eggs were NOT authentic Boxcar eggs. I added cheese to them. It had to be done and I won't apologize for it. We also ate toast. So there!

We started a new Nursery Rhyme Pocket for Little Miss Muffet. We haven't gotten very far with it yet. Just created the pocket and colored the rhyme sheet. She's excited to make a spider next week.

Curious George has entered our reading list and she is super excited about that. We've been doing some printable activities to go along with that. She loves George!

History

Conveniently, Kayleigh was studying ancient Egypt just like her big sister. She did quite a few "Egyptian" projects. She made "Egyptian" paper beads and made a necklace along with an "Egyptian" cuff bracelet. She also made us all Mummy Dogs for lunch.

Science

We're supposed to be reading about weather but for the life of me I cannot find the book and it's driving me nuts. So we've been reading a bit from some of the books that were in the core when Mackenzie used it. Funny how the older ones didn't seem to go missing from the shelf.

We also are learning about frogs and we did a fun sequencing activity.

Extras

She refused to play soccer this year. It's just as well because she'd mostly sit on the sidelines and waited for snack. She's hinted at gymnastics so maybe. And her music class starts next week.

And that was our week(s). How was yours?



Linking to: The Weekly Wrap-Up, Pre-School Corner, Homeschool Mother's Journal

This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure policy here. 

Meet the Students

The 2013-2014 Sonlight Academy for Girls
student roster 

Favorite Subject: Snack

Least Favorite Subject: Anything involving a pencil or crayon

Favorite Color: Rainbow

Favorite Book: Tickle Tuts Toes

Favorite Song: He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

Aspirations: To drive her parents crazy!!

Loves: Rocks, My Little Pony, Food

One Word Description: Exhausting!!







Favorite Subject: Sonlight

Least Favorite Subject: Math (Although she LOVES Mr. Demme)

Favorite Color: Teal

Favorite Book: Septimus Heap series

Favorite Music: Disney Songs

Aspirations: To be Alice at Disney World (I'm not making this up.)

Loves: Reading, Instagram, Disney

One Word Description: DRAMA!!!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Our Last First Week of Kindergarten

Well she went and did it. My baby started kindergarten last week. It's a bit bitter sweet as it's my last time through it. My last baby officially school age. But Mackenzie was at music camp at church so it was a good time to get Kayleigh started with out any distractions.

If you're wondering what Kayleigh is using for kindergarten click HERE.

Bible

We're working our way through Egermeier's Bible Story Book courtesy of Sonlight Core A and the Bible Study Guide for All Ages courtesy of The Review Crew. (Read my review HERE.)  Kayleigh also memorized her first Bible verse from Sing the Word: From A-Z, also from our Sonlight Core.



Check out how well she did. Don't mind her crazy hair. She was going for some curls like sissy. lol

Doesn't she look cute with her curls?

Math

We didn't do math this week. We're starting slow. But we'll pick up where we left off in Math-U-See Primer soon. We'll be starting lesson 9, place value.

Language Arts

Well naturally we did a lot of reading, we are Sonlighter's after all. We started her very first chapter book this week, The Boxcar Children. I've been a little nervous about how well she would do with chapter books, she likes to be read to, but she is very different than Mackenzie at this age. This one
can't sit still and be quiet for very long. So I was very surprised with how well she did listening to this book. She was very interested in the characters and was angry on Friday when the book wasn't on the schedule. So we read ahead. Shew!!  I hope this trend continues.

We finished our week with a Boxcar Children snack of blueberries and cream. Yummy!!! She was so excited. Last year, after her dx of type 1 diabetes, extra snacks were a little more difficult. She was on multiple daily injections and that took away a lot of our eating freedom as we're expected to keep a more regimented schedule for meals. This year, however, both girls are now using insulin pumps and, while it has it's own set of challenges, it makes fun snacks a lot easier.

She started All About Reading Level 1. She did so awesome!! I'm so proud of her.

She started off last year really eager to read and then it fizzled out a bit so I didn't push it. The last thing I want is to make her dread school and reading.  It was a challenge for me because Mackenzie was a very early reader. She taught her self and was reading fluently before she started kindergarten. Kayleigh however is a very different creature so I didn't push her. We'd work on it when she wanted to and drop it when she wasn't interested.

Plus it breaks my mommy heart when I see kids pushed beyond their ability because big brother did this at this age or because mom has some ridiculous notion that every child should be doing the same thing thing at a certain age. The best party of homeschooling is being able to go at the child's pace and not be dictated by curriculum or age so it irks me when I see that. Okay, it also makes me want to throat punch people some times, if I'm really being honest. lol So I try really hard not to be like that so I don't have to throat punch myself or turn my kid off of learning.

I think this level is even more fun than All About Reading pre-1 and she loved that one. Level 1 has tons and tons of games and using the letter tiles just thrills Kayleigh. She had so much fun with it!!!

We also read The Story about Ping and did some activities from this cute printable pack from Royal Baloo. There was mapping, phonics, math, sequencing, and lots of other fun stuff.

Naturally, one of our year round read alouds is a Mother Goose book so I got Literature Pockets: Nursery Rhymes to add some fun crafts to our year. This week we worked on the Little Bird pocket.
She memorized the poem, made a little book, "rewrote" the poem, and made a puppet. She worked so hard to color neatly which was a pleasant surprise since she usually just makes a quick scribble and calls it good.

She's still doing things like handwriting and Explode the Code but that's not that interesting so I didn't take any pictures. lol

Science

First up this week was dinosaurs. We were reading a bit from The Usborne Internet-Linked Children's Encyclopedia  and Kayleigh brought in dinosaurs and matched them up with the ones from the book. So cute!

She also made a dinosaur with hand print spines. Thank you pinterest.

We also talked a bit about the season and made this ADORABLE paper bag book on the seasons.  I found this awesome project over at Delightful Learning. Michelle is so clever.

Lastly she got to do her very first science experiment. She was so excited! She learned that even though something looks empty it's not. It's filled with air. All she had to do is push an empty water bottle and watch the water force the air out making bubbles. Which she did. Over and over and over and over and over. You get the idea. lol

Other Stuff

Not much other stuff going on at the moment. lol We did our art study for the week. We're working our way through the Come Look With Me series for art appreciation. First up is Come Look With Me: Exploring Landscape Art With Children. She loves to look at art so I knew she'd enjoy that.

She also did her first lesson in Draw Write Now, Book 1. Check out her chicken. Sooo cute!!! I tried to get her to color the background but she was having none of that.  Now that's the Kayleigh that I know. lol

Kayleigh had the idea to hang up her work, at least the stuff that wasn't in a book. So we now have her "Wall of Work." She likes to show it to her daddy each day so that he can see what she did. So I think that we'll keep it up for a week and then take it down over the weekend so we can start all over again the next week. And then I can just snap a picture and not have to store all of that paper. WTG Kayleigh for a great idea.

And that pretty much sums up my last first week of kindergarten. How was your week?

Linking to Homeschool Creations, Weekly Wrap-Up.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure policy HERE.