MojoMommaMagic Homeschooling

What does "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" mean for your homeschooling?  This should've been my homeschooling mantra a long time ago--the quote from Friday Night Lights is an all time favorite of mine.  Like I've told so many, I made ALL the homeschooling mistake. Twice! It's a wonder Liam and I both survived how rabid I was those first 4 weeks.  Currently in our collective landscape, lives are tipping and unbalanced with moderately still-frenzied pandemic-schooling, fifty shades of remote learning and micro-pods popping.  So, It's GO TIME: to start fresh with CLEAR EYES and a FULL HEART in our own homeschooling. Come along with me? CLEAR EYES Enter into this homeschooling jam with CLEAR EYES.  For me, that means a powerful WHY.  Why are  we homeschooling? What do we hope Liam gains? What's in it for him? For us? What does it require of all of us?  Coming back to the basic WHY with clarity is a MUST. Here's a free PDF download that I created ...

It's been a hot minute since I've blogged. This one may step on some toes, y'all. It may cost me some Facebook friends. What I have known for sure since I was 7 years old is that when something is beyond hard, I write. I write. And I write. Musical Bridges After Liam's Tomatis Therapy ended today in Seattle I still had the memorial service for George Floyd playing on my phone, as I plugged it in to re-start his latest werewolf audiobook in the car. "What's that music?" Liam asked It was the organ of ABC broadcasting on YouTube during the 8:46 of silence for George Floyd's Memorial service. I'd been watching it while he was in doing his therapy. I swallowed hard. Here was our sliding door moment. "A very important man was killed." I said. Then tears pricked my eyes. A lump formed in my throat. I couldn't say more....I swallowed again, struggling. "Oh. Who was he?" Liam inquired, all innocence and curiosity. ...

Whooohooo! We begin the third set of Tomatis Method therapy sessions next week... I talk a LOT about Tomatis. To everyone. Everywhere. All the time. My fantasy career is to become a Tomatis practitioner within Liam's lifetime. As an ENFP, I chat up his doctors, former teachers, social media connections, random parents struggling to meet their child's needs, my home gals at yoga, Target clerks, you name it. I am a Tomatis Evangelist. Zealot. Total Fangirl. What's so GREAT about this really strange word "TOMATIS" and the Method? Neuroplasticity, baby! The Tomatis Method improves motor, emotional and cognitive abilities, through music and language. It uses the ear as the "battery to the brain" for neurosensory stimulation. It's the trinity of psychology, neuroscience & physiology. And still if I had to give you just one word: HOPE! Tomatis In Short: https://www.tomatis.com/en/short CATCHING THE WAVE: Top Benefits of the Tomatis Me...

Reconnecting with WONDER Recently I read Kindness and Wonder about Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers). One story grabbed me about a preschool that had a local sculptor who was also a professor come in and teach sculpting once a week. One year, they changed it up.  The sculptor simply came in with his supplies and sat in the middle of the preschool area and enjoyed sculpting in front of them. That's IT. No "formal" lesson plan or telling the children how to sculpt. He brought his joy and love of sculpting and integrated. Guess what they found? In this cohort, the children created more sculptures than any cohort ever had before and on measures of complexity and creativity , they far surpassed prior peers.  This story circled me back to the concept of Big Sistering  learning discovered in The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart. The concept of the homeschooler as a collaborative partner in learning.    A Glimpse of Practical Magic  This we...

  You Say Toe-may-toe, Toe-mah-toh, Tomatis… Of the 2000+ hours of intervention we’ve had to help Liam learn, thrive and grow over the past decade, we finally found THE KEY a mere six months ago.  We’ve done it ALL…We have been fans of wonderfully skilled helpers and teachers along the way. The OT's, PT's, pediatric psychiatry, psychology/counseling, pediatrician and pediatric neurology.  When in the school system it was the IEP, FBA, ESP, 504 and BIP (all another post). Not to mention the looooong waiting lists for ABA therapy--that thankfully never happened.     TOMATIS THERAPY. A word I never knew until six months ago let alone knew how to pronounce. It began with a most unlikely mother’s day gift of the book The Brains Way of Healing by Dr. Norman Doidge and a printed referral for the closest practitioner of Tomatis Method, Dr. Liliana Sacarin.  To say I was skeptical was the understatement of the year. All I’d wanted for Mother’s ...

To Camp or Not to Camp? In July, we had an advertised week-long "sensory-friendly" camp planned and purchased for Liam. It was touted as a camp for children on the autism spectrum or with sensory needs. It ran 9 am-12 noon each day- 3 hours of "fun." With an adaptive recreational specialist, mind you. Three hours. Five days in a row. Let's be honest, people. Even if Liam was successful for only 30 minutes--so I could read, have iced lavender coffee or phone my mom---well, I might just pee my pants with joy! Hubs and I went back and forth. Back and forth. Was Liam ready? What if? What if? What if? Liam had made progress, sure. But was it enough? Should we just cancel and try to get a refund? The Dignity of Trying The week before the camp, I scheduled a meet and greet with the primary camp counselor. Liam likes to be prepared. See the schedule ahead of time. Get a feel for the room. Vibe on the teacher. I heartily patted myself on the back for...

What Scuba Has Taught Me about Homeschooling RULE #1 NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH- a s every good entry-level dive student knows, this is the most important rule of scuba. And for good reason — breath holding underwater can result in serious injury and even death. We’ve also learned the SIMPLE and effective value of beginning each day with a BREATHING EXERCISE before we need it. By that I mean, before Liam has hit fight, flight or freeze with anxiety or sensory overload. Our current favorite way to do this? Yoga Pretzels cards pictured here. There’s a fun section of cards just for breathing that includes bear breath, rabbit breath, or sometimes we make up our own. RULE #2   PRACTICE SAFE ASCENTS-  Almost as important as breathing continuously is making sure to ascend slowly and safely at all times. If divers exceed a safe ascent rate, the nitrogen absorbed into the bloodstream at depth does not have time to dissolve back into solution as the pressure decreases...