Happy Holidays

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Anna

This year we won’t be sending out Christmas cards because we are moving.  On the 26th of this month.  The day after Christmas.  In the middle of winter.  Yes, I know.  Craziness.  We are super excited about the move though!  We will miss the Colorado sunshine, good friends and dear neighbors.  We will miss the small town parades and Jonah’s little elementary school.  We are ready for this new stage of life though.

My husband accepted a job as the Program Manager of an awesome transitional housing ministry.  It is located in Portland, five minutes from our old house, in our old neighborhood.  We still own that house and have been renting it out… so we’re getting to move back into it on the 1st of January!!  God is good.  So good.   Jaden can be a part of a home school co-op again.  We have already located a great karate dojo that is close to our house.  And we know the principal of the school that Jonah will attend.

So this holiday season, I am trying to find the right balance of packing, organizing, schooling, celebrating and meeting with friends for one last play date… one last goodbye… before we leave.  There is much to do, but I hope to enjoy every minute and give thanks God’s provision and for this new adventure all along the way.

And for my home schooling readers, I won’t be blogging as much about Jaden’s home school experiences until after we’ve arrived in Portland.  We are still schooling every day until the 16th when we will switch to packing/cleaning/holiday mode!  We are on weeks 13 and 14 of MFW, which already seem to be lighter weeks, so it worked out perfectly.

And remember this post when I talked about choices we are making as a family in order to keep homeschooling our son?  I mentioned not being able to afford a trip to Disney World.

 Well, my God has provided a way for our family to visit Disney Land instead!  We decided to take a non-direct route with the moving truck via California and then up to Oregon in hopes of avoiding the worst winter weather and later discovered that we would be driving less than an hour away from Anaheim, where Disney Land is located.  My in-laws then decided to give our family a two day pass to the park for Christmas!  So, we will be surprising the boys with a two day vacation in the middle of our move… to Disney Land.  How awesome is that?  (Ssshhh – don’t tell them.  We are hoping to keep it a surprise until we actually pull into Anaheim.  Hee hee!)  Again, God is good.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Olsons!  Please keep us in your prayers as we travel across the country between the 25th and the 31st.

Family picture taken at last night's belt testing.

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Raw Milk Freedom Riders

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Anna

Taken from this blog who took it from this blog.

Mothers, Acting As ‘Agents,’ To Defy FDA Warning
Against FDA Prohibitions, Freedom Riders Will Publicly Distribute over 100 gallons Raw Milk to Waiting Mothers

Chicago, IL—On December 8, a group of mothers and others will defy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ban on “distributing” fresh milk across state lines by transporting 100 gallons of raw milk from Wisconsin to Chicago’s Independence Park and distributing it to customers waiting at the park.

Federal law 21 CFR § 1240.61 prohibits interstate movement and distribution of raw milk for human consumption. The FDA regulation applies to individuals, or “agents” acting on their behalf.

Over the past year, the FDA and state authorities have conducted undercover sting operations on, raided and prosecuted farmers, buying clubs, and individuals who help distribute raw milk and other farm fresh foods. Over a dozen people and businesses currently face charges, orders, and other enforcement actions; some are under “federal criminal investigation” and face possible indictment by a grand jury. Several small cheese producing dairies with no history of making anyone sick have been put out of business by the FDA’s actions.

“It is a God-given, inalienable right to engage in direct, private transactions with our food producers,” says Max Kane, director of a Chicago area local-food-buying club. “Americans deserve to know that the FDA is using their tax dollars to target and prosecute independent, peaceful, farmers and their customers.”

Mothers from around the country, determined to protect their families’ food supply, launched the Raw Milk Freedom Riders with an inaugural ride on November 1 when they transported raw milk from Pennsylvania to the FDA’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, and distributed the milk to crowds gathered for a protest. In response the FDA issued a statement saying it does not “intend” to take “enforcement action against an individual who purchased and transported raw milk across state lines solely for his or her own personal consumption.”

The Freedom Riders say that the FDA’s statement leaves the door open for FDA to pursue farmers, buying clubs and individuals acting as “distribution agents.” The Wisconsin to Chicago Raw Milk Freedom ride will challenge the FDA’s use of force against raw milk distribution.

Media are invited to ride along as embedded reporters to witness the FDA’s reaction to the Freedom Riders’ standing up for their rights.

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MFW – CTG Weeks 9 and 10

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Anna

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been learning more about Egypt and studied the life of Joseph.  (As a side note, the boys watched a great cartoon movie on Netflix about the life of Joseph that went along perfectly with the past couple of weeks lessons.  It’s called Joseph: King of Dreams and done by the same folks who did the movie about Moses: Prince of Egypt.)   One of Jaden’s highlights was making his own Eqyptian pot out of modeling clay and acrylic paints.  We also continued to study some of Vivaldi’s works, focusing on both the Autumn and Winter sections of The Four Seasons.  And finally, I have to mention how much we are loving the book, Star of Light, by Patricia St. John.  This sweet story takes place in Morocco and really touches my heart. We can hardly wait to read the next chapter each morning – the sign of a great read aloud!

Last week, I decided to scrap spelling and our regular language arts program in lieu of doing some creative writing exercises.  Jaden loved it!  Here is one of the stories that he wrote based on the following prompt:  ”Reddy left his house early one morning.”  This sentence tells very little.  Is Reddy a dog or a fox or a red-haired boy?  Write a paragraph that shows Reddy leaving his house.

Reddy

Reddy left his house one morning.  I saw him myself a little old man with cane in his hand.  That little red face man.  he had a nice little smile.  With a shirt and a tie.  And then he saw me and said, “goodbye.”  So that describs Reddy.  I hope you don’t deni.  For now I just want to say “goodbye.”

 

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Snow Day!

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Anna

This morning Jonah’s school was delayed for 2 hours due to the overnight snowfall.  Scott’s work called and told him that he could stay home today because of the snow as well.  So, after letting the kiddos watch a few Looney Toons Cartoons on a library DVD, we all bundled up and headed out into our little yard to make a snowman.   Fun memories!

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Finding the right balance

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Anna

Parenting two special needs children can be challenging.  Schooling them takes it to a whole other level.  When we first moved to Colorado two years ago we decided to put both of our boys into public school for the first time.  It was a hard decision… but the right decision.  Our youngest child thrived like never before while our oldest did the opposite.  Our oldest, Jaden, has Asperger’s Syndrome.  In public school he struggled socially for the first time, was given “baby work” to complete, got angry at everyone and held it all inside.  We found out much later that he had flat out refused to do his schoolwork, yet he won several school awards for getting all As and Bs.  After half a year, we decided to school him at home again.  He is still healing from it all, two years later, and every couple of weeks processes through what happened with me.

It has been really good to experience the one-to-one ratio in teaching Jaden.  He has grown a lot.  I have grown a lot.  I love home schooling.

With that being said, there are still struggles.  Many struggles.  The other day I told a friend that I think Jaden’s condition is becoming more evident as he ages.  Then this weekend my husband told me the same thing.  I think it’s the change in hormones that has perhaps triggered some behaviors in him.  We knew that this might happen, but of course had hoped that it wouldn’t.  Our son will never be “normal”, but by the grace of God he can succeed and thrive!  Anyway, as his parent and as his teacher, I’m having a hard time figuring out how to best help him learn in the midst of his special needs.  In public school they gave him very easy work, didn’t make him do it and then gave him good grades.  I think this happened because he does have special needs.  It’s hard to navigate through what he does and does not need,. let alone provide the individual attention that he needs when in a public school setting.  But I don’t want my son to be babied or left behind academically.  I want him to learn.  And since home schooling him again, he is actually learning again.   He scored in the 97th percentile on his state testing. That is huge.  Huge.  He is working hard and doing well.  However, I’m having trouble figuring out how much to help him.  Is he just being lazy, or does he actually need me to sit down next to him in order to complete the majority of his written assignments?  How much do I make him write things down and how much does he dictate and I write out for him?  He has a lot of trouble with fine motor skills – writing is very hard for him.  Just focusing is very hard for him.  The goal is that he learns – that he succeeds, right?  But at the same time, I don’t want him to be dependent on me.  I want to teach him not only academics, but how to think independently.  How to thrive on his own.  But I don’t want to expect too much from him either.  It is a very, very hard balance to find.  I am definitely not an expert on Aspergers and even if I was, every child on the Autism Spectrum is different.  I need to find the right balance for my child.

So I’m praying through it.  Last week I decided to experiment a little bit and Jaden got his first F.  I spent several weeks prior teaching him how to study for a test on his own. Completely on his own.  I talked through how to sound out spelling words so you can remember them for a test.  I taught him how to go back and review information.  I talked through things out loud with him and taught him to do that for himself.  Then, last week, I let him study on his own for his language arts and spelling tests.  And he failed.  He tried hard, but failed.  And I felt just awful.  I know that if I had helped him to study more – helped him focus, helped him sound things out, helped him to review information out loud –  he would have gotten an A, like usual.  He would have actually learned the information.

So, after talking things through with Scott, we’ve decided that for now at least, Jaden needs more help in order to learn.  I might not get as much done during the day.  I might need to ask for an extension on my coursework for my Holistic Health Practitioner studies.  I might not be able to re-open JCnaturals.  I will continue to stay at home, teach our son, and our family will continue to live on less.  No family vacations to Disney World (even though we would LOVE to go).  No expensive summer camps or clothing or spending sprees.  But my son will be learning.  And that is a far bigger priority for this little family.

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