Me: You’re a goofball.

Josh: I’m not a cheese ball! You’re a cheese ball!

Me: I said ‘goofball,’ not ‘cheese ball.’

(Brief pause.)

Josh: Mmmm, cheese ball!

Crazy kid 

I once was an avid fiction reader. In fact, I used to read Gone with the Wind annually. But over the years of homeschooling, time for myself dwindled to the point where I rarely had time to read fiction. (I shouldn’t just blame homeschooling; my discovery of the Internet is equally responsible, I must admit!) When I did make time to read a book, it was usually Earlene Fowler’s latest Benni Harper mystery.

Now that I have the time to read fiction, I’m doing just that. Last night I finished the newest entry in the Benni Harper series, Spider Web, and really enjoyed it. The character of Benni is a woman who is intrigued by mystery and who happens to be married to a handsome police chief. Each book’s theme is related to the name of a quilt pattern; being a quilter, I appreciate that. I especially love that Ms. Fowler includes Benni’s Christian faith in every book.

And now I have yet another reason to love these books. In Spider Web, Ms. Fowler introduces a new character who will apparently turn up in the next book, and she has Down syndrome. How cool is that? I can’t wait for the next book!

Maybe that doesn’t sound so exciting to you, but this is my first-ever laundry chute and I love not having to lug everything down to the basement laundry room.

I’m not the only one who thinks it’s cool. Since Josh got over his initial fear of it (I think he was blown away at first by the idea that things could fall down it), laundry day hasn’t been the same.

He likes to summon me to the base of the chute so I can watch the entire process. Then he drops a week’s worth of collected dirty clothes down, one piece at a time, while shouting things like “Look out below!” and “Here it comes!” So it takes a while until everything makes it down the chute.

But he gets such joy out of doing this that I just wait patiently in the basement until all his laundry arrives. That’s the thing about Josh: he can take the simplest thing and turn it into fun. No wonder 99% of adults with Down syndrome say they’re happy. It’s their gift, and in that respect they’re far ahead of many other adults who don’t have the spare chromosome. They can find joy in the simplest pleasures; that’s why they’re such a joy to have around 

Now this is just one study. Also, our son Josh has been fortunate that he hasn’t needed occupational therapy. But our experience with the Wii has been that Josh is not only very good at playing video games on the Wii and enjoys it tremendously, but that it’s been good for him in other ways, too. For instance, when he doesn’t understand written directions on the screen, he’ll write them down and show them to us so we can explain them. He sometimes keeps those directions and refers back to them. So he’s practicing his printing and reading skills.

Most importantly, the Wii levels the playing field between Josh and his siblings, and between him and other teens. He may not be able to keep up with them when playing basketball or baseball, but they’re all amazed at how often he beats them at Wii games. It’s the one area where no one cuts him any slack and yet he can win. So it does wonders for his self esteem. That alone makes it a pretty valuable tool.

I know many homeschooling parents are opposed to having video game systems in the home. I was, too. In fact, we never allowed one in our home until my sister sent my kids a system when they were teens. They played it a lot for a time but none of them became addicted to it.

Josh, on the other hand, fell in love with it early on. But it’s turned out to be a great tool for him. I think homeschooling parents should consider allowing these systems as long as they keep control of them. (They may even find they like playing them; my husband plays against Josh for a little while most evenings, and while he does it for Josh, he sure looks like he’s having fun, too!)

Ok, so it was a working vacation, as I spent the time finishing my new book. My husband took over my teaching duties, and I have to say that he did a great job. Josh got to make a life-size human skeleton (complete with organs and muscles) out of paper. (My husband is very artistic.) They also made several different animal and car models and did a study of bird anatomy that included making several lovely paintings.

Unfortunately for Josh, I’m not that creative. Over the weekend, he was actually pretty excited about doing school with me again today. But after a morning spent doing math, practicing sight words and writing thank-you notes for his birthday gifts, he must have decided that he hadn’t missed much. His first comment at lunch was “When are we taking a break again?” 

The article mentioned this young lady’s blog. Since I refuse to pay $6 for a magazine, I memorized the blog address and actually kept it in my brain until I could get home and type it into my browser. (If you know anything about menopausal brain fog, you know that was an accomplishment!)

I was rewarded with a peek into Sarah’s world. It’s a lot of fun. Whether or not you know and love someone with Down syndrome as I do, I think you’ll like this blog.

But I’m not the only one who benefits. Josh loves doing school with his dad. They work on fun art projects while playing Tom Chapin cd’s. My husband is artistic and patient, so he’s very good at teaching Josh. They’re used to working with each other in the workshop, so they’ve already established a pattern of doing projects together. (I’m sure the fact that they’re creating things, instead of working on math or reading, only adds to Josh’s enjoyment.

Their most recent project was a nativity scene (figures and stable) that my husband found online. It’s now sitting in our dining room, awaiting the arrival of the rest of our family this weekend.

Having homeschooled my kids since the mid-1980s, I’m starting to want to do other things. My husband taking on homeschooling one day a week has made it easier for me to keep doing the other four days.  :)

It was a very expensive piece of equipment that many families couldn’t afford. Another young man we knew used a wooden board with pictures of faces; he’d point to the sketch of a face expressing the emotion he was feeling.

Times sure have changed. Now there are apps for the iPad that fill the same purpose as a Dynavox for youngsters with special needs. Wish we’d had something like that for our son when he was young.

The advantages of an iPad for kids with special needs go beyond supplying them with a voice. In a recent discussion here about the iPad, read Karen’s comment that explains all the ways she uses an iPad to educate her daughter with Down syndrome.

We do live in interesting times, don’t we?

It’s the story of a little girl named Misty who can’t find her favorite toy, a stuffed monkey. It’s bedtime but she can’t go to sleep without him. So she and her dad retrace her steps and find an assortment of other treasures she misplaced that day before they finally find Chimpy.

I know this doesn’t sound like an unusually spectacular book, but here’s the thing: Misty has Down syndrome. She’s the main character of the story, and she’s in every photo in the book.

So little children who read this book (or have it read to them) will hopefully see Misty as a little girl, not someone with a disability. You know how little ones like to have books read to them over and over? Maybe after reading Where’s Chimpy? enough times, young children won’t think twice about Misty being any different from them.

And maybe, as they get older, instead of staring at other children with Down syndrome, they’ll smile at them, or maybe not even notice anything different about them. That would be cool….and a nice change.

BTW, we have a well-used paperback copy of Where’s Chimpy?, but I also have my own hardcover copy of this book because I like it so much. 

Our youngest child turns 18 next spring. According to Wisconsin law, we can legally stop educating him after that semester, whether or not he graduates.

Of course, he’s not done learning (is anyone, really?) and we’ll continue to work with him as we always have. But it’s a strange feeling to think that we’ll no longer be officially homeschooling after this school year.

I’ve been teaching my kids for well over 20 years; 27 years this month, to be precise, if homeschooling begins at birth. It’s really hard to think of myself as anything but a homeschooling mom. I guess I’ll have to start adjusting that view.