Just for you, Lesley!

These are some of the blogs subbed in my bloglines.

Starry Sky Ranch (check out her links, too)

By Sun and By Candlelight (I love Dawn's seasonal planning and use her file crate system)

In the Heart of My Home (Elizabeth Foss's site. She's written several books)
Related: 4 real Forums
Related: Serendipity

Boys Plus Academy - public school teacher turned homeschooling mom

Trivium Academy - posts weekly updates and very detailed planning of Tapestry of Grace

Principaled Discovery - Homeschool watchdog, politics.

Three Plus Two - homeschool mother of 6, aged 1-12

Homeschooling with Joy

Wings and Prayers - Family life in a HS family, from Birdie's blog.

Shower of Roses - Catholic HS Mom living the liturgical year

Wildflowers and Marbles - more inspiration

Montessori Mama - Montessori is not just for littles!

Aut-2B-Home - Tammy HS her autistic teenage daughter (and also her son) using Charlotte Mason's approach.

(Of these, Serendipity and By Sun and Candlelight probably have the most influence on our schooling methods)

The Homeschool Classroom (group blog)

Chasing Cheerios - Montessori type activities for toddlers

Crafty Crow - tons of crafts for kids

Think! - One creative/critical thinking activity per week, and they encourage readers to send in their "solutions".

Happy Hearts At Home - always has interesting links!


Notebook Learning (free notebooking pages to print)

Freely Educate (posts free resources and links)

Waltzing Matilda (beautiful printable coloring pages for Catholic feast days and the liturgical year.)

And check out Blissfully Domestic - I'm going to be writing for their new Special Needs channel, but they have a Homeschool Channel, too. Mrs. Fussypants HS her 5 boys AND runs an online magazine!

Labels: education, Freebies, Linky love, Montessori, special education, Why We Homeschool

Baby X is 20 months old and does not talk.

He does not babble like normal babies - no buh-buh-buh-buh, no da-da-da-da.

He doesn't wave hi or bye-bye. I have the book Baby Signs, and like I did with all of the children, tried to teach him some signs when he was a few months old. He does not use a single sign. He may, occasionally, point.

Poor little guy. He has a whining noise he makes, with different intonations, and we interpret what he means. He did say "Ha" for hi a few times last week, but doesn't do it consistently and only says it after someone else does.

So we had him evaluated. It took a lot of paperwork. My set is 10 pages long!

They pegged most of his development as right on track 18-21 months. (I think he's more advanced than that, but he got marked down for a lot of speech related things, like "says please and thank you".) He's socialized at a 29 month old level (who says homeschoolers are unsocialized, LOL!)

His receptive speech has always been fabulous. He will hear me talk about going to the store, and bring me my purse and shoes. He'll hear me say to one of the kids that dinner's almost ready, and go get in his high chair.


His expressive speech is at a 4 month old level. He has one consonant sound, which he only makes when he's playing animals.

I was curious as to what a speech evaluation would look like for a baby who isn't talking. They did a lot of motor skills evaluations by providing him with different toys to play with - a ring stacker, a peg board, a shape puzzle. They gave him a pencil to draw with.

Most of the evaluation consisted of questions for me - how does he walk up the stairs? What does he do when he's hungry? How does he greet his father when he comes home from work.

4 months old. Wow. I knew he was behind...but not that far behind. The therapist will come to our home one day per week to work with me (and him, but she's mostly teaching me and the other kids.)

They are going to try to train him to use picture cards, as well, to communicate. Eventually, the goal is to have him give me a card with a picture of milk on it when he wants milk, and so on.

I predict the card for "go outside" will get lots of wear and tear. He's such a funny, sweet little guy!

Oh, my beautiful darling! I love you so! I can't wait until you can tell me what you are thinking about.

Labels: children, special education, Special Needs, speech, X

Before we started homeschooling, I read books. I read blogs. I envisioned a peaceful life full of bookish children who would teach themselves (Robinson curriculum, anyone?) It would be serene and filled with a glow of happiness, love of learning, and developing spirituality.

God did not give me peaceful, bookish children. God gave me Dennis the Menace, to varying degrees.

Our homeschooling is influenced by Maria Montessori, who emphasized the dignity of the child. I'm an eclectic homeschooler, taking the best of many methods and leaving things that don't work for us behind. My shelves are filled with books and blackline masters and games that might be integrated, someday.

We are not unschoolers, but we are not traditional homeschoolers, either. I don't have a strict schedule, although we have a rhythm and flow to our days. I call school off completely sometimes - like when we have guests. Or the public schools are out and every kid in the neighborhood wants to stay at our house for the day.

Our school day begins late - 10:00 am, more or less. That's the goal, anyway. I have 4 students - two 3rd graders who are not twins, a 2nd grader, and a 1st grader. The 4 yo loves to plow through worksheets, the 2 yo and the baby wander in and out at will.

We gather and pray. We say the Apostle's Creed everyday, and then I have a book of devotions to St. Joseph that lists several psalms to pray through the week. The children have folders with their seatwork listed, but it can still be a challenge because I have one set of texts and the third graders must work together and cooperate. They cannot both do their spelling at the same time, so one must work on math or handwriting.

I give them a verse of the week, which they must write everyday after writing their spelling words. For the first month, I chose verses about joy and cheerfulness. This month, we're reviewing the Ten Commandments. We REALLY need to review them, if you know what I mean!

Previous verses included:

"A cheerful look brings joy to the heart."

"Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."

"Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise."

If they must do copywork to practice their handwriting, it should at least be useful or encouraging.

I don't always do everything I would like to - detailed illustrations of the Epic of Gilgamesh, staking out a wild area for nature study throughout the year, and copying Ben Franklin's admonitions for great character have all been dropped. Better things have displaced my well-laid plans - better because they are what my children want and need to learn right now.

Hunting a local dirt dump and finding animal skeletons, observing (a little too closely) wasp nests, spiders, and ants, and experiments in imprinting and fossil creation have crowded out other plans.

I get discouraged. There are days when we end up with the bare minimum, and sometimes even the minimum drags on into the dinner hour. There are days when I feel I'm on Homeschool Throwdown: Cranky Kid Edition. Sometimes I have to fish Cuisenaire rods out of the baby's mouth and tell a brother a little too sharply that his math lesson is just going to have to wait and doesn't he have anything else productive to do?

We read our Bob books on the front lawn while the littles play. I ditched the official readers for books titled "The Dinosaur Hunter" and "Little Wolf Hunts." How can Dick and Jane compete with that? I allow StarWars for silent reading. Sometimes I forget to write the current date on the board.

Other times, I feel like I am in over my head, but I know I'll eventually get my feet under me for that particular circumstance. Right now, I'm wondering about my 10 year old third grader. I think he may have a visual processing delay. He often adds things when he reads. He'll say "this" for "his", "worker" for "work". He can do horizontal math problems but not the same problem stacked vertically. But I know how to find resources and how to advocate for him now. I'm not worried, just temporarily ruffled.

Homeschooling is not an exercise in perfection. It is an exercise in love.

Labels: education, Family Life, special education

When we took Mr R off the Risperdal in November 2006, we didn't tell anyone.

His school, you see, defined him by his IEP and his medications. If he had a rough day at school, I'd get a call wondering if he skipped his pill. Occasionally I'd get a helpful note, reminding us of the nurses guidelines for prescription dispensing. It was irritating to know that he was a faceless number tagged with an Rx by his name.

My child is not his medication. Sometimes we all are irritable, annoyed, and short tempered. So is my child.

My child is not his medication. We all feel sad sometimes. Children cry. Some children are more sensitive than others. An occasional melancholy mood does not mean he missed his meds.

If there was a pill available that would deaden his soul, and numb his heart so he would never be sad, I would never give it to him. Tears are necessary, sometimes, to water the garden of life.

My child is not his medication. Children are childish. They can be foolish, impulsive, irresponsible. When my child acts like a child, it does not mean he needs another dose. Sometimes he, like all children, gets overexcited.

My child is fearfully and wonderfully made. I have faith the God knows what he is doing. My child was created just the way he is, for a purpose.

My child's medications are controlled by us, his parents. We love him. We know him.

You are simply a stranger, who sees him at his worst in the toy department. An interloper, here only for a couple of semesters. You may be an extended family member, but you are also an occasional observer of life's most stressful and happy moments. You see him at his most difficult hour; you judge what you do not understand.


Instead of this:



Look at him and see this:



My child is not his medication.

Labels: bipolar, special education, Special Needs, Thoughtful Thursday

The St. Joseph Academy for Wayward Children is an eclectic Catholic Masontorri Classical school. I blend a mixture of different philosophies, sampling methods here and there and keeping what works for our family.

But HOW does one plan the year, using 3+ philosophies? I took a cue from Three plus Two and planned a rainbow.

I used colored markers to write down what I was keeping from each philosophy, then wrote a very broad curricula overview.


Classical is Red: (This will be the backbone of our humanities program)
Original Sources

Parts to Whole

Linear History

Grammar

Latin

Memorization

Montessori is Blue
Hands On

Freedom within Limits

Independent self-directed

Self selected, not pointless drill

Concentration, 3 hour work period

prepared environment

Charlotte Mason is Green
Nature Study

notebooking

Living Books Narration


Eclectic/other is purple
Religion (Open Wednesdays, Alphabet of Saints, Liturgical Teas)

Integrating technology. (Yes, this may include repeated viewings of The Most Extreme on Animal Planet and Shark Week. Also, I want to start the boys on Scratch.)

Serendipity

Lapbooks (for science, mostly)

How does it all fit together?


Our school will provide an education based on original sources and living books, with freedom and hands on learning, including religion and nature study.

Most important are the basics of the humanities, reading, phonics, writing/narration, and history. Miquon math will include hands on practice. Science will be learned through lapbooks and nature notebooks.

Religion will include living books of saints, prayer tables and liturgical teas with prayer and Scripture memorization.

Students may select a topic of interest for in depth study, working during a deliberate work period.
Children may select practice activities within limits to complete themselves. Internet games, Leap Pad, and educational television shows will be permitted (within limits.)


Our book list is not finalized; we are using many of the same books as last year. We are still in SOTW 1, taking much longer on Ancient Egypt as that captured the children's interest and taking a side trip into American History last spring.

This is Mr R's first year home after 3 years of classroom schooling, and I'm not sure which books and methods will be the best fit. We'll be continuing Miquon and CHC spellers, as well.

Labels: education, Montessori, special education

****Welcome, Visits to Candyland readers! I would like to invite you to participate in an online Catholic women's Bible Study, Courageous Virtue. We'll be starting in 10 days!

Thanks for stopping by! ****

I'm beginning to prep the St. Joseph Academy for Wayward Children, and of course I started by reading a lot of books!

I borrowed several homeschooling books from the library as I try to organize my year.




Some are telling of my fears for the upcoming year - Homeschooling The Child with ADHD, which also includes advice for other special needs.

It is not a book about homeschooling, but about homeschooling a special needs child and one should be familiar with homeschool basics before reading it. It starts at the beginning - getting a diagnosis, and discusses the question should you?

It addresses support and criticisms from family and friends, getting help from the public school system, a few homeschool philosophies that seem particularly suited to special needs, finding materials, and helping your child learn. I haven't finished it yet, but it seems full of good information for both newbies and veteran homeschoolers alike.



Some weren't as helpful as I had hoped - The Organized Homeschool. It's more a Bible study for organization and wasn't particularly helpful to me. The tips were nothing I hadn't heard before. I'm probably going to try Dawn's file folder method.




Some were horribly disappointing, such as Ruth Beechick's A Biblicial Home Education. I had expected to perhaps not agree with everything in the book, but still glean some useful techniques. Ruth Beechick is the grandmother of Christian Homeschooling in America. Surely her book would be great!

I had to stop reading by chapter two, due in part to the unfriendly writing style and partly to the shocking misinformation. She declares that teaching the Rapture is necessary for any true Bible believing church going homeschooler (really? I'm an amillenialist, myself, and that is perfectly Biblical). Her version of the way we got the Bible goes like this:

Church leaders agreed on which writings were part of the "canon" to be added to the Hebrew Scriptures and which were not. When the King James translators went to work, they had more than 5000 manuscripts of the New Testament...
...While all that was going on, other people were trying to tear down God's Word."

A Biblical Home Education, p. 18-19

She includes any translation based in any part on the Vaticanus or Sinaiticus manuscripts as one of the translations "trying ot tear down God's Word". She also glosses over the actual facts of the Council(s) of Hippo, and the 1200 years of Scriptural history between those Councils and the first King James Edition!

While there is a case to be made for the Majority Text (Masoretic Text), it is also a witness, not the original manuscript of the Hebrew Scriptures, just as the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts are witnesses to the Septuagint, and not the original texts.

Dr. Beechick claims to avoid the Vaticanus manuscript because it was written by Origen, but Origen lived in the second and third century AD and the Vaticanus is dated to the fourth century. Scholars believe that the Bible by Origen and the Vaticanus probably come from the same source manuscript.

She claims the Codex Vaticanus/Eusebian bible based on them disappeared until the 1800's, when it was rediscovered. Also not true; it was well known throughout the world that the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus were housed at the Vatican library. It was used to produce a Roman version of the Septuagint in the 16th century.

I think she hates it because it is probably Alexandrian in origin, and contains the Septuagint - the Old Testament canon used at the time of Christ by Greek Jews - and therefore contains the deuterocanonical books.

Dr. Beechick claims the Septuagint was written in the third century (She leaves off the "B.C." part, leaving readers to assume that the Septuagint was a manuscript written while the church leaders were trying to nail down the canon. The Septuagint was written and used by the Jews hundred of years before Christ's birth, a very important point.)

How can I glean any information from a book that so obviously ignores history and makes up facts to fit a preconceived agenda? How can I trust any of the other information in the book to be reliable?



I also borrowed Trust the Children, by Anna Kealoha, which I am planning to purchase. It is very modern education/new age, but has tons of great ideas for games in all subjects.

The author and I differ on the very nature of the student; she holds to Socrates' postulation that human nature is inherently good, people only perform evil actions out of ignorance, and Rousseau's theory that people are naturally good, with evil coming from institutions (the Church, specifically.)

I hold the Catholic view that we are all sinners, damaged by Original Sin, and it takes an act of the will (and the grace of God) to do good.

She holds that children are like flowers - they have everything they need to learn, if we would just step back and let them bloom.

I hold that children are like flowers, but they need a careful gardener ready to water and feed when needed, and also ready to pull out weeds and prune back damaged branches.

The chapters on educational philosophy are thankfully short and easily skipped, and most of the book is full of wonderful ideas for alternative learning. I think it will be well worth the $18 cover price, but of course I'm going to try to find it used first!


What homeschool books can you not live without?


Bookcovers from Amazon. Search on the right sidebar to purchase!
Art: Picking Apples, by Frederick Morgan

Labels: education, Rants and Raves, special education

I've heard that updating the new Mozilla will erase your bookmarks.

I thought I post a few of my "most important" ones here, where I can find them. I've said before that my blog is kind of a public journal for me, so consider this a really boring entry. Plus, I can throw some Linky Love to some of my favorite sites!

Although, many of them I don't even remember bookmarking - often if I am researching something and happen across something else, I bookmark it, and it languishes in my folder gathering cyber dust.

This is like letting your mother-in-law look under the bed or behind the fridge. It's surprisingly personal!

But, I'm really boring so you won't find too many titillating links. Unless you like vintage freebie printables.

Homemaking
Teaparty Girl
Household Notebook Planner
The Family Homestead
Vintage Homekeeper's Planner


School Organization
Starry Sky Ranch HMB forms etc.
Teacher Planning Forms
Unschooling and Planning
Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
Planning the School Year - Footprints on the Fridge
Dawn's File Folder System

Parenting
Small Manual of Civility Manners in the Catholic Home
HealthyToys.org
When Mom/Teacher Role doesn't work


Food
A Little Cookbook for Girls
Frugal Abundance
Practical Pantry everything you ever wanted to know about the staples
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
No Fail Pie Crust
Calcium Requirements

Catholic
Finding God liturgy and family life
Where is That in The Bible - essay on Tradition and Sola Scriptura
Sean's Pages - aplogetics
Hear the Gospel at Mass
Why Catholics Have a Pope
Catholic Culture
BibliaClerus Vatican resources, early Fathers, etc.
Women for Faith and Family
John 6 and the Eucharist
Catechism of Catholic Church searchable by keyword
Scriptural Rosary for Children
Amazing Catechists
Sanctifying Halloween

Religious Other
Evangelical Manifesto

Crunchy Granola Mama links
Natural Life Magazine
Healing Power of magnets - legitimate
Managing Post Partum Depression
Microchipping Public School Students
CFL Recycling
Drugs.com side effects, etc.

Self-Reliance
Solar Powered Trailer
Living off the Grid
100 Ft. Diet
Grow potatoes in a garbage can


Blog
Technorati Made Simple
Making Bloggy Buttons
Make Blog Banners totally need to do this. Someday. Eventually.
HTML True Color Chart

Coupons and Deals
Mommy Saves Big
Coupon Chief
Coupon Mom
Organic Grocery Deals
Online Coupons

Special Needs
Autism Evaluation Checklist
Anger Management for Children
Bipolar Complimentary Medicine
Disaboom for people with disabilities

Prolife and Politics
Sen. Obama's Voting Record
CQ Moneyline Campaign Finance, PAC's, etc.
Catholic Mom Framing the Healthcare Debate
REAL ID/ REAL nightmare
Girl Scouts Radicalism
No Room for Contraceptives
Prolife Doctors
Fighting P*rn*graphy
Test Tube Nation (article)

Stuff to Make and Do
Homemade Playdough with pics
3D Papercraft

Just Plain Interesting
Illegal Alien Tracking and crime statistics
Squalor Survivors
Texas Hold'Em Odds
Letterboxing North America

ClipArt and Graphics

Writing
Love Honor Vaccum Write from Home
Houston Writers and Editors
Absolute Write
Writer's Resources
Wordplayer
SimplyScripts

Of Interest Only to Me
SC Lawyer
Harrison Bergeron


If you liked any of these links, leave me note in the comments! (If you're not asleep by now...)

Labels: apologetics, bipolar, Blog, Catholic, children, cooking, education, Freebies, Frugal, homemaking, Linky love, politics, Prolife, special education, Special Needs, therapeutic diet, Working from Home

Again.

Mr. R. got his report card. In first grade around here, there are no ABC's, but rather 1, 2, and 3's. A 3 means the student is exceeding the standards for his grade, 2 means he is meeting them, 1 means he is below grade level. The only letter grades they get are U's, N's, and S's on the social skills (Unsatisfactory, Needs improvement, and Satisfactory.)

There is also some kind of literacy standard called DIBELS, and a score given as a fraction over the minimum standard. Mr. P's DIBEL was 80/32 (yeah. He's MY son!) and Mr. R's was 40/32.

Mr. R's report card was a straight line of 2's. Seems good. His IEP (Individual Education Plan, which is what specifically the school is going to do for him in special ed.) behavior sheet was mostly 90-100%. He gets a score every day, which I have to sign, on 10 different behavior aspects such as "Respects other's property", "Focus on Teacher", "Bus Behavior", etc. He got a 78% on "Focus on Teacher", because pretending his pencil is a rocketship and designing robots are more interesting than CVC drills. It seemed he was doing great!

He even was awarded Student of the Month for December and March, and won an art contest.

So I flip through his IEP goals (he's got 5 official ones) and 4 are marked "Will Meet Goal By End of Year", with a commentary. The fifth one did not have any information at all and appeared to have been overlooked.

The commentary, however, was dire. "Lacks focus". "Attention deficit problems are interfering..." "Unable to use correct punctuation" (To be fair, the boy could not even read in September. I'm not real worried about the way he ends sentences at this point.) Over and over again, in the IEP summary, the words "Attention Deficit Problem" were used as Mr. R's inability to, apparently, even minimally interact with students, teachers, or to learn was described.

Mr. R does not have ADD or ADHD. It is not part of his IEP. It is not an official diagnosis. He has never been treated or on medication for it. In October, his teacher completed a 3 page questionnaire on the matter for Mr. R's doctor - and rated him as "Never" or "Rarely" exhibiting ADD behaviors. The parent report also indicated a low occurrence of ADD behaviors, and I ended firing his pdoc after he insisted that I should give Mr. R meth Ritalin, despite not meeting the criteria for an ADHD diagnosis. (I also had his pediatrician evaluate him in the past - and results were negative).

Of course I wrote back, asking for a parent teacher conference. I had actually requested one LAST quarter, but after much phone tag, forgot about it. (Ok. I'm a bad mom. My kids ride the school bus too. Lynch me later.)

A sentence in the lengthy teacher note back..."As you know, this is so important for children with attention deficit disorder...."

So, despite being on grade level, receiving good behavior reports, and on track to meet all educational goals, Mr. R is apparently not learning, disrupting the classroom, and unable to complete his work. I'm a little confused. Even more disturbing, despite getting a note on his behavior Every. Single. Day. , this is the first I've heard of it! No note. No phone call. No mention from his guidance counselor, special ed. teacher, or regular teacher.

Highly unacceptable.

What I need to know is, what, exactly, are the behaviors? Why are they not marked on the sheet? When are they occuring (he eats school lunch, and I have not even attempted to enforce the no artificial colors/preservatives rule, although I did give the teachers a written, brief overview along with a typed list of foods likely to cause a problem. And yes, that's part of the IEP so legally, they are bound to follow it. I've just sort of let it go, since Mr. R has not had any problems. Not anymore!) He started going to a mainstream classroom in December - is this when the problem started? Did it start when they came back from winter break? Did it start after husband dear split his rib and is unable to work? Did it start after he had trouble with a class bully, after he was out with pink eye, or after he developed a crush on a girl in the mainstream class?

Must. Have. Conference. Now!

Labels: bipolar, education, Family Life, special education

I would be, anyway, if I had a medical license.

This post has been percolating for a while, but I'm finally going to post it in the hopes that it will help someone else. I'll be including links, so you can read and evaluate for yourself. Remember, use your critical thinking skills and to note the source! Is it an independent study, a nutritional supplement trying to sell vitamins, a pharmaceutical website hoping you don't take vitamins? Some of the studies are very clinical and quite dry reading... take them in small doses!

My son was diagnosed with early-onset bipolar disorder (used to be called Manic Depression). He was on a prescription antipsychotic for
6 months. Now, his illness is managed solely by nutrition and supplements. Here's the story.

He's only been off the meds for 4 weeks, but his behavior scores at school have actually increased.

(Bipolar disorder - wikipedia)
(Bipolar disorder in children)
(Nutrition and biplar disorder)

Before everyone jumps into the comments to flame me about bipolar kids, please know that I am not one of those moms that makes excuses for every little thing her kids do. My discipline is a mix of James Dobson, common sense, and St. John Bosco. With a little Dr. Ray thrown in. I truly, truly believe that many cases of "A.D.H.D." stem from institutionalized education designed for girls and not little boys, for auditory learners, not kinesthetic, and from bright children who are bored while they wait for slower kids, who happen to be the same chronological age and not the same intellectual ability.
I am the second oldest of eight children, the youngest of whom was born when I was in High School. I worked my way through high school babysitting, and taking nanny jobs in the summer. The church I attended was full of large families. I have 6 kids. My dear son acted like no child I've ever seen. Except maybe Linda Blair, when he was really mad. It was not that he was high spirited (he is), strong willed (he is), very creative (yep), with poor impulse control (pre-pubescent boy, what do you expect?). It was way more than that. It was not something that could be cured by a good thrashing, more discipline, or relaxing the rules. It was not a rebellion against authority, or a passing bad attitude. My other children were completely different, and normal parenting things worked with them. Not dear son.

At age 4, I decided there was NO WAY the kid would make it in a public school. There was also no way we could afford to put him in a private school. So I started my doomed attempt at homeschooling him. We started with "This is A. It says /a/."

When he was 5, we removed all of the furniture and the light fixture from his room.

When he was 6, we removed the bed as well. He would sleep underneath it because he liked the closed in spaces and was that terrified of his closet. He still didn't get that A made the /a/ sound, after two intense years of collages and flashcards and letter theme days and "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". This was a big lesson God taught me. I learned to read when I was 4, and thought that children who couldn't read by kindergarten had lazy moms. How I could ever have been that judgemental, I'll never know. But I was a snob in that department.

When he was 7, I sought treatment for an eating disorder - his eating disorder. He would eat everything in the house (raw spaghetti noodles, too). Then, he would say he was so fat he wanted to die. He told me if he saw a car driving down the road, he would jump in front of it so it would squish him. Then he wouldn't have to be fat. The child was small for his age, and you could count his ribs if he did a backbend. We put grates on his windows so he couldn't climb out or break them. We had padlocks on the pantries and a bicycle chain on the fridge. Turns out he didn't have an eating disorder. He has BiPolar disorder (BP). I was glad to finally get his diagnosis, since I had come to that conclusion independently based on my own research.

Also at age 7, he began attending a small private school with his brother. He was in a mixed Kindergarten/First grade classroom. His brother, a newly minted 6 year old, was in Kindergarten - and my son was placed there as well. Brother made progress - his teacher called him a model student. My BP son would have failed Kindergarten, except I withdrew him early because of a lot of complicated politics at the church. He was there on scholarship - my family has been associated with that church for quite a while, and although I didn't attend the parish, my brother, landlord, and several friends did. I cleaned the school twice a month and volunteered as part of tuition, as well. My son's first grade teacher, in her sixties and truly a gifted educator, agreed with me that something was seriously wrong.

Before he started school that year, I took him to our priest for a special blessing. Not quite a full exorcism, which requires an investigation and the approval of the bishop, but one step down from that. I really do think I explored every option. (well, I didn't do past life regression. I said I'm a quack, not stupid and crazy.) I read all manner of books, prayed, slipped Scripture verses under his pillow. Husband annointed the house with oil and rebuked Satan. (He's a Baptist turned non-denominational).

I had him tested by the local school district, who gave him the ironic label of "Significantly Identifiable Emotional Disability". I say ironic, because they did not identify the emotional disability, just called him SIED. But he did qualify for services, which, in that rural district and through the private school, was going to consist of twice weekly sessions with a social worker to work on self esteem issues.

I declined, and was then accused of child abuse. It seems that putting dear son in the shower to help snap him out of his 6 hour rages is abusive. I thought not giving your child a bath was abusive, but I guess I'm not a trained social worker. A child voluntarily taking a bath is ok. Making them do it is not. Go figure. I think it's because the school district, one ofthe less affluent, wasn't going to get their federal funds for my son unless they provided some sort of service for him, and they were trying to pressure me. Ha! I am not easily pressured, swayed, or influenced. I believe I am what people call mule-headed.

Anyway, throughout all of this, I was working 2 jobs, then 1 job, had a baby, and spent several months with my husband working out of state to support us. Still seeking treatment through the medical establishment. Finally getting a diagnosis. My husband and I made the decision to put dear son, age 7, on antipsychotic medication. A dangerous proposition, especially as this was an off-label use (that medication has been approved for use in autistic children over this summer, however). However, bipolar disorder has a 15% fatality rate (from suicide), not counting shortened lifespans from alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and risk taking behaviors, which BP's do at an astronomical rate. He had already talked about killing himself, and we ended up having to lock the knives up for a while, with the food, since I kept finding them in his room. Remember, this kid was a scrawny 7 year old, not a troubled teen!

A few weeks went by. Dear son, always the special one, will not take medicine or pills. Those little Triaminic strips were my lifeline when he's snotty! Unfortunately, they don't come dye free, but then again, he hasn't been sick since we started the supplements and probiotics, so maybe he's finally getting a healthy immune system. He's also the biggest wimp. So, we figured out how to put the pills in a spoonful of applesauce - sometimes several spoonfuls - and tweaked the dose and the timing. The medication made him more normal. Able to stop himself before he got mad- and when he got mad, it was all over. Could be 4-6 hours before he was coherent again, another 2-3 before he was a little boy again. He had those rages several times a week. He is about 18 months to 2 years behind in emotional development, plays better with 6 year olds than 8 or 9 year olds, and I think a large part of this is the time he missed when he was raging. He would rarely remember anything that happened, would express surprise at broken toys, would ask me what happened to the wall... he literally had 15-20 hours a week of his entire life missing.

The medication gave our family a break. It allowed my spirit, as well as his, to heal. I had a heart for my son again. I had been praying for years - literally - to love him the way I do now. So much damage is done, however, when I would spend hours holding him in the basket weave hold while he thrashed and spit and bit and said all manner of nasty things. Everything was on hold all of the time because of him. Property was damaged, meals destroyed, siblings caught in the crossfire, and many trips were not taken. Family relationships were affected as many thought I was too easy, should spank him more, needed to crack down, needed to be consistent. Even though my other children were turning out pretty good. Others in my family thought I needed to lighten up, relax, give the kid a break. I couldn't win for losing. My dear son also developed quite and acrimonious relationship with his grandmother -but a detailed look into her family relationships will probably never appear on this blog!

The meds helped us heal, and allowed us to get on with our lives. I took dear son out of school in April. He turned 8, I quit my job and was home with him, again trying the homeschooling to catch him up. Husband went out of state for 7 weeks, we moved across the country, and dear son started in a wonderful special education program at the public school. His class has 5 students, 2 adults (teacher and assistant), and is designed specifically for children who are behind grade level due to emotional/mood problems. It is truly a godsend! Everything I love about dear sons class, however, I hate about Son #2's. I believe I've ranted previously about Everyday Math and invented spelling, so on with the BP story.

The medication sabbatical, and a training system detailed in "Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach", really helped us get our feet back under us. The credit system from the book has since been dropped, but it allowed him to see he could do better. It allowed me to replace my mental image of him, to see he could do well, even excel, be normal, have a conversation. It was exactly what we needed. However, I wasn't comfortable giving him this medication for life. There are serious side effects, including heart disease, high cholesterol, and long term use can cause diabetes. I kept looking for a better way.

I had been searching for answers for him for years. Through lots of research, I settled on a plan. At first, I banned sugar. Turns out the real problem was the fake food dyes that sugary kid treats contained. Now he can eat sugar - as long as it's in something natural! Lucky for him, his SAHM is taking up baking again.

Now, his diet is no artificial food dyes (Red #40, Yellow #5, Blue Lake, etc.). No MSG. No petroleum based preservatives (BHT/BHA/TBHQ). They put those things in the bag that keeps cereal fresh! Should we really eat these? No artificial sweeteners. I use Equal to kill fire ant mounds in my yard. Again, can this possibly be healthy? I've got a ton of links, and books, that helped me come to this conclusion - you are what you eat, and what you don't eat. I'll try to post them sometime in the future. I also am making my way through my 6th bout of Gestational Diabetes, so nutrition and health is very interesting to me.

(Side effects of food additives)
(Links to studies on apartame)
(Links to studies on MSG)
(More on MSG)
(Anecdotal evidence, plus recipes and resources)
(The Straight Dope on MSG) (this is like Snopes.com)
(Studies on BHA/BHT/TBHQ)

Next, I treated him for a condition known as Pyroluria. It's standard to treat BP people in the Netherlands for this, but in America, big Pharma would never allow that! I'm down on the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA, and my skepticism grows everyday - again, that's another story (did you know a major sponsor of the American Diabetic Association is Hershey? And Cadbury-Schweppes, the creme egg people?). Now, pyroluria is a vitamin deficiency - like scurvy or rickets. Specifically, it is a B vitamin deficiency, and usually zinc too (B vitamins and zinc are linked in their metabolizing process). Often, there is a copper toxicity. Too much copper displaces the zinc. There is a simple urine test for this, but it costs $70 and I haven't had it done. In one study, interestingly, almost 7o% of schizophrenic patients, and 80% of alcoholics were diagnosed with pyroluria, and their symptoms improved or disappeared once they started taking the vitamins! Alcoholism and bipolar are well known to be co-morbid, that is, appearing together, and the current theory is that many bipolar people use alcohol to self medicate.

(Pyroluria)
(Treatment history and results)
(Natural treatments for pyroluria)

We also supplement with omega-3 fatty acids. Even American studies have shown that in addition to heart health, these important nutrients increase focus, help alleviate depression, and stabilize mood.
Throw in some acidophilus - yeah, the stuff in yogurt that you take so you don't get a yeast infection - to cure his burpy/fart problem. That's it.

Now, the kid, as I mentioned, would probably die before swallowing a pill, so I searched high and low and found chewables without food dyes in them for the B vitamins and Zinc, and he takes Coromega, which is like a spoonful of orange pudding in a little packet. Acidophilus is naturally chewable.

That's the story of our journey into, and out of psych meds. I'll try to keep this updated with links to my other, future posts where I detail my sources, research, and anecdotes.

We are successfully treating bipolar disorder through nutrition. Dear son can read at grade level now, and is in a mainstream classroom for math and science. He loves school and gets good reports and progress reports. He knows many sounds for A - apple, father, ate, and the silent one - read (past tense). He is teaching himself cursive (so he can read my notes to his teacher, I suspect!) and also teaching himself to draw from books and online tutorials.

He's a regular kid again! Thanks be to God.

Books that helped tremendously: (plug it into my Amazon link on the right side to be taken to ordering info and reviews)

No Greater Love, by Mother Teresa

The Explosive Child, by Dr. Ross Greene

The Myth of the ADD Child (and 50 ways to help them), by Thomas Armstrong

Eating Well for Optimum Health, Dr. Andrew Weil

The Strong Willed Child, Dr. James Dobson (didn't help with dear son, but sure did for brother #2 and sister #3!); The Difficult Child, by Stanley Turecki

The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas A Kempis

The Joy of Cooking, by Irma Rombauer. (The old one, not the new 2006 one. The new one uses things like cream of mushroom soup - can't do that if you're avoiding MSG! The old one tells you how to make everything from scratch. I got mine new in 1997.

Transforming the Difficult Child, The Nurtured Heart Approach by Howard Glasser I was truly desperate to try this approach, but something had to give. I thought it was a miracle short term, we used it for 3 months when I was home alone and husband was out of state. It helped us "reset" our expectations, and our other discipline works very well now.


Tags: Family Life, Nutrition, Special Needs, Bipolar, Mama Says

Labels: bipolar, Family Life, health, special education, Special Needs, therapeutic diet