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Daily Blog: Day 1

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Welcome to Ausome Home Grown Learners! Throughout this blog I will be documenting our homeschool journey - Although this is my 3rd year homeschooling - - I have done it different each year and this is no exception. However, after a few years of getting our feet wet - this is the year I am most excited about. BUT before we begin - - let me tell you a little about myself and my kids!

I received my masters degree in elementary education in 2008 and fell in love with my neurodiverse students, however, the system never seemed to meet their needs and over time I grew frustrated at the system and left my teaching career to join the Army. . . drastic - I know. Then after a few years as an intelligence analyst I gave birth to my daughter in 2015 and my son in 2017 and decided that I wanted to be home to raise my kids, so I left the Army and became a contractor for the gov't still doing work for the Army. Both of my children were diagnosed with autism around the age of 18months - 2yrs. Once they were diagnosed I immediately delved into a series of research articles, blogs, and books in hopes of gaining insight and guidance to best support my kids. Eventually - in 2020 while the world shut down. . . I opted to go back to school for my Ph.D in curriculum and instruction. My daughter was in Kindergarten and my son was in preschool and I was already concerned with what I was seeing. It appeared that the expectations for my children were automatically lowered because of their diagnoses rather than their abilities. When schools opened back up my daughter attended 1st grade and at her end of year IEP meeting I realized that my expectations and my daughters abilities were not being recognized or honored in the school district and so I pulled her out and decided to give homeschooling a try. It was a good year- - I realized that my daughter must have had to do quite a bit of masking because her whole personality brightened after being home for a few months. My son was a social butterfly so I left him in special ed preschool, however, the year before he was set to begin preschool - - he came home one day with bruising on his chest. He was non-verbal at the time and since he couldn't tell me what happened, and the school couldn't tell me what happened. . .he never returned. I homeschooled him through Kindergarten with the plan of increasing his communication level and potty training so that if and when the time came for him to return to public school - - I would feel more comfortable. . . He is now more communicative and is starting to use the toilet! BIG WINS over here!

SO, I have homeschooled just my daughter and then last year my daughter and my son. We have done a co-op and a year without. . . I think for us - -a hybrid option is best - - opportunities for building community but nothing too structured so that I can more easily adapt what we need to adapt! PLUS, I take advantage of what our "co-op" days should be - - and we do a lot of field trips. The field trips are opportunities to learn and grow in a safe / guided social setting. There is no pressure because 1. I am there to assist. and 2. If we are all overstimulated -- we just leave and try again another day. . . no judgement. I am here to help share what works for us. . . to hear your experiences and help provide any "free" suggestions to help you stop surviving and start thriving! So welcome to my page and I can't wait to get to know you all as we navigate this life together!

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