Author: Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life

I try to create a culture of celebration in our home. For life, for the little things, for wonder and for whimsy. I try to find the beauty around us and teach my son Wyatt to find it, and appreciate it and love it as well. We are a homeschool family, and we love it. We love the freedom it gives us to explore a topic or idea more deeply, and I like that I can adjust our schedule around Wyatt’s other needs. Wyatt has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and his week often has therapy, doctor’s appointments, naps peppered throughout which would make a traditional school schedule difficult. He is also an asynchronous learner, and I love that I can tailor learning to where Wyatt is at that moment. We have a house full of animals and will probably add more because we like a zoo. We have one cat, Miso, who is a rescue. She is 14 years old and my little floofy girl. We also have one leopard gecko, Luna, a pictus gecko named Harlow, a pacman frog named Freddy, and two crested geckos, Applejack and Oliver. We love all of our little friends! My husband Billy, Wyatt, and I are all curious, creative, stubborn humans which makes for some fun times around here. We love the outdoors, except we are not made for high temps so we retreat inside when the temps start to soar. We are nature lovers through and through. We are trying to downsize our lives too, to live more simply, to buy things that last and eat real food from small local farmers. (and of course Goldfish crackers) We live seasonally and are always up for adventure. We love books and reading, and can be found at the library at least once a week!

Homeschool Curriculum Picks for 2023-2024

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling14 Comments

Every homeschool mom starts researching like a madwoman starting in the late winter, deciding just which curriculum they are going to use the next school year. It is hard not to get distracted too, and just buy something new to finish the year with as well, to be perfectly honest! All the shiny new curriculums, full of new topics or projects or ways of teaching and learning. Some people have curriculum they love and stick with every year, some have curriculum they use for every subject, some follow different schools of homeschool styles, like Charlotte Mason or Waldorf or unschooling or roadschooling and there are people like me, who maybe do a little of everything. Our homeschool is a bit more eclectic, much like the people in the home, so I guess that makes sense!

Anyway, after MUCH deliberation, I finally decided on and have purchased all of our curriculum for next year! (well, with the exception of our extra language arts – I will get to that in a minute)

Math: The Good and The Beautiful

The Good and the Beautiful is an open and go type curriculum, that doesn’t require any extra planning on my end, which I love, because that is one subject I don’t really want to do that for. Wyatt struggles in math, and halfway through first grade I chucked the curriculum we had been using and started completely over from the beginning, with the Kindergarten level of The Good and The Beautiful math and he seems to be understanding it a lot better. The lessons are easily digestible for him, and math is no longer such a chore for us to get through. He is technically “behind” since we started over, but Wyatt is Wyatt and we don’t worry about constraints like that too much. We learn where he is, which is what he needs! He will get there, and I always say Wyatt does things in his own time.

Reading Mechanics, Grammar, Etc: The Good and The Beautiful

This is another one we actually started over with, like math, for the same reasons. The only difference is that Wyatt loves words and reading so it wasn’t like his attitude toward math. I just felt that The Good and the Beautiful had such a great, simple delivery system that made learning easier. The Good and The Beautiful is a non-secular, religious curriculum so there is mention of non-denominational faith in both subjects. Oh! I forgot to mention, The Good and the Beautiful also offers FREE curriculum as downloads! I think it is wonderful that there is such a fantastic resource available to anyone who wants it, since homeschool curriculum can really add up!

History: History Quest

I am so excited about my pick for History this year! We are going to use History Quest from Pandia Press, which is a secular history curriculum. I did a ton of research for history this year, it is a favorite of Wyatt’s and mine, to be honest. I love how this one is laid out, with reading and discovery and projects, as well as built in “hygge” weeks where we just read one of the suggested books that week, nothing else. It seems very inclusive and sensitive which was something else that I was looking for. I have been spending time this past week working on lesson plans and I am excited by what we will be doing. Our second week of school, Wyatt will be researching a local Native American tribe, first by searching the native lands database to find what lands we are on then following up with the research and project. This curriculum is very comprehensive, and I can actually see us slowing it down, spending more time on certain times and topics, and extending this curriculum into next year. We are actually still working on our Traveling the States curriculum from The Waldock Way, which Wyatt absolutely LOVED this year. We will be adding in the states we haven’t covered yet here and there throughout the year until we finish up.

Science: Blossom and Root Year Three

I have always loved Blossom and Root for science! I feel it is their strength, their science and nature curriculum, and we have enjoyed it every year! Sometimes we need to break it up a bit with some rabbit trails into different areas, but for the most part it is awesome. They have so many options and approaches for every learner, and every “wonder” (unit) has options for the basket book families, the minimalists, the visual learners. Then from Wonder we move on to Explore, which is the hands-on part, with labs and projects and demonstrations, and again there are multiple ways to approach exploration for each unit. There are ideas for the arts and crafts crowd (usually our choice!), the table top learners, the outdoor explorers. I usually opt for the arts and crafts version but sometimes we mix it up, or do all three, the same as I do for the Wonder part of the week. It is very comprehensive, so sometimes I skip over some of the information (like when we learned about vascular and non-vascular plants last year! I mainly skimmed it) but that is what I like about it. You can pick and choose. It is a secular based science curriculum and I think it is very affordable for all that you get with it!

Music: Legends of the Staff of Musique

So this is the first time that I have ever purchased a music curriculum, and we haven’t started this yet so I can’t really review it. However, it looks very approachable for us, and is designed for homeschool parents who are not musically inclined. Like me, that is me. This description sold me on it: “No instrument purchase necessary!  High/Low, Fast/Slow, Loud/Soft… using only your voices, you and your child can explore the foundation of music literacy together in a wonderfully holistic way.” I am also looking into music therapy for Wyatt as an additional tie-in, since he loved music therapy camp this year!

Art:

Here is where I start going it alone! We had such a good time last year in art, learning about so many different artists and styles of art and architecture and so so much, that we are going to continue along the same lines this year. We are also going to have art on the weekends so that Billy can join in! We loved when we had art with Billy!

Last year, I designed Wyatt’s language arts myself, choosing all the books, the copywork, the comprehension questions and discussions, and accompanying projects – and we loved it. We are doing it again this year, but instead of all picture books like last year, we are doing all read together/read alouds. Some of the books I will design my own book study, for other books I will purchase unit studies online. I have two lined up already – Children of the Longhouse by Jospeh Brucach (which actually aligns perfectly with hygge week in History Quest!), and Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling. We will begin the school year with these two and then see where the year takes us although I do have some ideas already.

Phew! That was a lot just to type out! I am so excited about our upcoming year, and am busily putting all of this together and planning weeks and field trips and projects! I think it will be a great year!

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP, mom life20 Comments

I am soo tired this morning! I think it is all this rain! We need it though so I won’t complain. Everything has been so dry and parched that a few days of straight rain will do everything good – for the farmers, for the gardeners, all manner of flora and fauna.

I can say we have some very happy bees! I have no idea where these ladies live but they are loving our lavender. It’s amazing how alive a yard can be when you stop and look. Sadly Billy told me that if you pay attention to your car’s windshield, you can tell just how reduced insects are these days – remember road trips and having to wash the dead bugs off the window? Do you still need to? Anyway we try to do our part over here in helping the insect and animal populations – we have so much life out there in our yard. Sometimes too much, but that is a story for another time. But we have little baby praying mantids, katydids, grasshoppers, jumping spiders, a blue jay nest with blue jay fledglings, possums, and I am sure some other nighttime creatures I don’t know about. And of course, butterflies and caterpillars. I do give them a helping hand, we have established a pretty good food chain out there so I bring some in. Some for the predator insects, some to help grow and release.

Speaking of little creatures, my little tadpoles are all tiny tiny toads now! We only have two left, and I have named them Simon and Garfunkel. They are still way too tiny to release, so for now they live here. We are enchanted by them and how very wee they are. How do these things make it in the wild? I am sure that is why they have so many eggs and tadpoles, it is definitely a numbers game.

Last night I spent a rainy, relaxing evening with my friend Kelly. We talk everyday but don’t always get to get together in person and it was good to just hang out. I got to visit with her daughter Tadpole girl, who showed me some of her new cool things she made, and then Kelly and I got to just sit and chat. I also got to check out her tadpoles and toads and insects and plants. She has a bunch of cats but has a large house and you never even realize there are more than one or two or three most of the time. I only saw three last night, Cecil, the buff old guy in the first photo, Buddy on the chair by the window, and then Pal, who is still sort of new to the house. Buddy and Pal were stray cats until this winter when it got really cold and Kelly let them in to warm up. I said, well, they are yours now, they are going to get comfy and that’s it. And she was like “No, no, we have enough cats, these are my outdoors buddies I feed..” Mmm hmm. Looks like I was right, and these cats have landed in the lap of luxury. Buddy in particular looked super cozy. And those toads are both girls, nothing going on there in that photo!

This has started already – homeschool planning for next year. I have a pretty good idea of how our structure and routine is going to work. I have all of the curriculum bought, and I am busy reading through it and looking at what we can do to enrich our studies in the fall. We are going to start a small version of summer school July 10th and do that for about a few weeks or so, then take another small break before we start up again for good in September. We are not super hot day people and it keeps us busy inside during the hottest hours. We have zero shade in our yard and it feels like the surface of the sun in the summer! We won’t be going all out schooling but it’ll be good for both of us. And I love my new planner from Schoolnest, and I also very nerdily like that the tabs match so well.

Annnd my cup is empty! Time for a refill! So not too much exciting happening around here, just…life, I guess, and that is perfect honestly.

How are you all doing? What is going on in your world?

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn books and reading45 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hello everyone! I hope the past week treated you well! We had an easier week, just one specialist appointment for Wyatt, and lots of playing, and nightly evening walks for Billy and I while Wyatt rides his little Rifton adaptive bike! Guys, he loves it so much! It took a doctor, a therapist, a social worker, and me a ton of paperwork to get it, but once that was all completed, we got it in two weeks! It was absolutely crazy how fast it was approved and got here!

Read Last Week:

This book was such a hoot! It cracked me up and also gave me a little anxiety. LOL.

Reading This Week:

I am waiting for this Karen White book to come in. The library shows it “in transit” on my account so it should be here soon, so I will start with This Wicked Fate, the sequel to This Poison Heart. For some reason all of my YA and Middle Grade holds are coming in to the library like crazy wildfire and piling up and my actual adult books are slowly trickling in.

Posted Last Week:

My Sorta, Kinda, Camping Shopping List

A Full Father’s Day: Classic Cars and a Picnic

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching and Listening:

Billy and I watched School Spirits, which was actually a lot better than we had thought it was going to be. I am sucked in and need answers! We also finished up the American version of Ghosts, which we also really like. (we were all about ghosts apparently this past week) We also are still continuing our rewatch of Death in Paradise. We are in the Humphrey Years right now.

We didn’t watch any movies but we have a fun cheesy campy July of movies coming up. We decided to fully embrace shark week this year, and are doing like a shark month. Jaws, The Meg, Shark Night, Deep Blue Sea… we are just going shark wild. Wyatt and I are starting a bit of summer school starting July 10th and we are going to do some shark stuff as part of our studies as well. I am pretty excited, I love a campy summer movie binge!

I am behind on some of my favorite YouTubers! Darling Desi, who I have mentioned before, Forgotten Way Farms, The Cottage Fairy, among others all have new videos that I haven’t watched. I am thinking Wyatt might get a trip to Grandma’s this week and I can stay home and fold laundry and catch up. Or I will tell Billy to go play video games at night or something and catch up. Either way, I am catching up!

Listening. Old stuff still mostly. Wyatt has decided this is a new favorite song of his. Pretty sure I loved this one at his age too. I mainly put on a playlist and roll but Wyatt has actual requests, and this is a frequent one. Sometimes at 7 am.

And that is from around here! What has been going on in your world?

My Sorta, Kinda, Camping Shopping List

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn family, travel11 Comments

My husband was bound and determined to get us in a tent camping this summer. The idea did not thrill me, I am not a camper. It’s too much outside. Like, I like to be outside and do outdoors things but at the end of the day I like to be in a house or a cabin or a lodge or hotel room or something. Not a tent that is basically like being outside, where it is hot and stuffy or cold or just smells weird or bugs can get into or bears can take out the side with one swipe of a mighty paw. But… the guy puts up with all my whims with barely any complaints so… I made a reservation for a campsite through hipcamp. Baby steps guys. This one is on a farm nearby and looks super cute, and is only two sites, and they are not close to each other. I thought it would be a good starter camp for us – well, Wyatt and I. Billy camps all the time. Just not with us.

Of course, this meant though that I had to browse the internets to see if we needed anything for our overnight camping trip. Which led me down a path of adding things to a camping list. I mean, we don’t need all this for our intro trip, but if it goes ok and we do more camping, we may need to add to our stuff. Billy has all the actual things we need, those things that are useful and actually needed for camping – my list is more…. extra.

Note: This list does contain affiliate links that would provide a small compensation to me if you were to purchase something, at no extra cost to you.

This nifty neat picnic table cover that is fitted is calling my name. I love a citrus fruit pattern in the summer, and I am always a bit squeeged out by picnic tables. They always have yuck on them. This looks perfect to cover up the yuck and keep the table area clean while we are camping.

Um, fun right? I would like to see unicorn flames in our fire. Not like burn a unicorn obviously, but just pretty unicorn and mermaid colors. These magical flames would probably be cool for Wyatt to see too!

If you read here, you already know that coffee is an important part of my morning. I am a literal zombie until I get at least a cup in me, so the coffee situation needs to be a high priority. I really like this percolator! I love that it is stainless steel, a good sturdy material, has a lifetime replacement guarantee, and the company is veteran owned. This is something I am probably going to get for our upcoming trip, for sure, because I think we could even use this on the stove in our kitchen, so dual purpose! Or what about in case of a power outage? We could make a fire in our firepit in the yard and still make coffee! Coffee is so important! LOL.

So this is something else I am thinking about getting before our little trip. I can’t decide though between the quippy little phrases or the names. I think it would be a fun surprise. I mean, it would be even better over magical flames, do you agree?

Remember, I said this list was going to be a bit extra. Look at this! A cutesy little s’mores caddy!

And for a little in-tent comfort…. a tent fan and a giant mattress. Confession: Billy purchased a giant mattress already for camping. He did it last year in hopes that I would agree to go. So we do have this already. He used it alone on his last camping trip and he said it was really comfortable!

And of course, one of my own camping journals!

And just for me things! If I make it through this camping overnight, I could definitely wear that shirt. The headband might be a necessity though! With my insane hair I will 100% have camping hair and sometimes I just don’t feel like braids or a pony.

So are you a camper? Or an outdoorsy non-camper like me? Or are you more of a city or beach vacationer?

A Full Father’s Day: Classic Cars and a Picnic

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Detroit, family10 Comments

We had a very vintage Father’s Day. Every year on Father’s Day, Greenfield Village has a Motor Muster, and is jam packed full of classic cars, vintage style refreshments, and historic re-enactments. We have been going for a few years now, and this year by far was the absolute busiest we have seen it. There were also three times the cars on display as well!

I took fifty billion photos but I will refrain from sharing all of them – I really took a million. We all had favorites though, and favorite areas! Billy loves all things VW and they had so many this year. Our favorite was a 1977 Camper Van that has been in the same family since 1981. Wyatt wanted to get in it so bad – he is apparently a new fan of them as well. They would be pretty cool to tool around in! One of my friends in high school had an orange one and I didn’t appreciate how neat it was until much later. The green one pictured is the one that has been owned by the same family since 1981 – it is even the perfect color!

This year Hagerty Driver’s Club had old Broncos on display, and they were a huge draw, especially since the new Broncos are out. This is the Motor City all, so we are all about cars here. I dream about owning a vintage Bronco, they are so awesome and massive.

I settled for a polaroid of my guys posing in front of it.

Wyatt and I both also liked this crazy looking van. It was so super glittery and colorful how could you not like it? Wyatt also wanted to get in there and play too. Apparently we need some sort of van.

We all loved the historic re-enactments – they were all CCC and Forest Service related, so of course we did. Billy and I love that whole era so it was really neat to walk around the CCC encampment, and meet the women of the “She-she-she”. I loved that they were teaching women real skills so that they could get jobs, things like refinishing furniture and sewing. Eleanor Roosevelt did not like women being left out of the opportunities that were presented by the CCC so she started her camps for women to learn these skills. There were also “Forest Rangers” from the 40s. During the war, these men were usually out managing timber for the war efforts.

However Wyatt’s favorite moment of our time there? Meeting the pack horse librarian who gave him a library card. Prepare for us to go exploring a new rabbit hole together!

Ok and finally, the Vernors truck!! Vernors is the ginger ale choice in Detroit. It is the cure all you know. It can heal any ailment! And look at that mischievous looking imp on the logo.

Ok last photos just for fun…

We left after lunch and headed home for a quick little nap. After nap, Billy wanted to go to our favorite picnic spot, where we like to just go and relax and enjoy the shade and breeze that we always get there.

It was a very full, outdoors kind of day and was completely wonderful!

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP, family, garden13 Comments

Good morning everyone! (or afternoon or evening or whenever you are reading this!) I felt like just having a chat this morning while I drink this wonderful, lifegiving, cup of coffee.

I’ve been sharing about so many of our big events lately, Wyatt’s EEG, RicStar, but I haven’t shared many of our small moments or just small joys – even as simple as just this cup of coffee, which is nothing special, but still one of the best moments of my day, that first sip of that first cup.

Every morning, I get Wyatt his breakfast, make my coffee, and check on all of my little creatures. Our tadpoles have made some exciting new developments!

They are now teensy tiny little toads! Well, except one late bloomer. That one is still hanging onto its tail and is still very tadpoley. It is swimming around in the water. This container is pretty small and the water shallow because they need more land right now and don’t necessarily have the strength to swim in deep water yet. Sadly, I learned that the hard way. These little ones are the size of my pinky nail, I swear. They are so small. I am going to raise them a bit longer because they will just get eaten or drown if I release them now, they are just so baby still. Although I told Billy it will be hard for me to let them go, and I do have two giant tanks still, just sitting in the basement…. I could name these three Peter, Paul, and Mary! Or Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Or Huey, Dewey, and Louie. So many options. Toads are more of a pain to take care of than lizards though, at least for me. So, they will probably end up being released into the pond when they are big enough.

My caterpillars are getting huge too. Monsters! They are at the eating machine stage right now and have quite a few that have already gone into chrysalis. I also still have some wee little baby caterpillars too. I am at capacity with caterpillars right now! So many!! These are Black Swallowtails, I am not doing monarchs this year, and after this little group I will probably be done with caterpillars for the season too, although caterpillars will keep being born on my rue and lovage until fall.

My strawberries are going like crazy too!

We took Wyatt to a city street festival the other day. It occurred to us that he has not really ever been to one, and our city has them constantly. He was pretty excited. It was the BBQ and whiskey fest, so we went early and had macaroni and cheese that was delicious, and left before the crowd got crazy. We also got a blue-raspberry slush from this super ornate tent with slushes. And seriously, we are terrible parents because this kid has never seen an amusement park ride apparently in his life. He could not get over the Ferris wheel or little mini tiny kid roller coaster these things always have set up. Wyatt is not allowed to ride anything that can whip his head around due to his shunt, so it just never entered our thoughts to even take him to things like this before. He was content to watch, and didn’t ask to ride it, he was pretty blown away by watching it rocket around. He also enjoyed watching people come down the big giant slide – thankfully not like the Belle Isle slide debacle from last year!

Annnnnddddd…. the most exciting news of all! Wyatt’s adaptive bike came on Sunday! Two weeks ago the clinic where Wyatt goes to therapy, the social worker there, and I all worked on his application for an adaptive bike. One week ago I got the email that he was approved, and then Sunday, we got the bike! We were all shocked that it came so fast!! Wyatt was so excited that despite being super exhausted from our super fantastic and very full Father’s Day (more on that tomorrow) he wanted to get on it immediately, no shoes, not properly hooked up, but just on it. We were all super excited, honestly. I am so happy that we got it so fast, now we can use it for months and months before winter comes.

And that is all from my little corner of the world this morning! How are you all doing?

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized29 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Last week was Music Camp – and a complete whirlwind of a week, honestly. I did not get much reading done but this week, my plan is to take things slow and easy for Wyatt and I. So far our summer has been jam packed full of goodness and being busy and I hope to take a few weeks of laid back summer daydreaming and just chilling in July.

Read Last Week:

I finally got to this one and it was a total treat! I flipped through it while drinking some coffee, wishing I was in the woods or the mountains somewhere, looking into the wilderness from my own lodge room. It was a book for dreaming by, that is for sure.

Reading This Week:

I totally used to be able to read this many books in a week. Those days are over for me right now, but I am going to hopefully read at least two of the three!

I did start Dial A for Aunties last week and it was making me snort laugh out loud while reading it, all in the first chapter so it is off to a good start. I can’t wait to dive back into it later tonight!

Posted Last Week:

Camp RicStar!

Camp RicStar – Part Two!

Watching and Listening:

Billy and I are still watching Death in Paradise at night. We do a lot of rewatches when we are tired out or need comfort tv (me). We hadn’t seen the first few seasons in a while and it is fun to revisit them.

While I was gone I watched a lot of my YouTube peoples after Wyatt went to bed, mostly With Love, Kristina and The Cottage Fairy .

And that is about it from here today folks! Happy Father’s Day to all of you fathers or grandfathers out there!

Camp RicStar – Part Two

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn special needs child, special needs parenting15 Comments

Yesterday I left off with the end of Day One at Camp – however, our day was hardly over and we (me really) still had far to go.

We left camp exhausted and ready to get to the house I had rented on VRBO and just relax. I had picked this house because it’s main selling point that they advertised was that it was CLEAN, and the yard looked fantastic – big and grass neatly mowed perfect for playing in, and bonus, was handicap accessible. However, when I arrived, I was instantly taken aback. It looked abandoned and sad and uncared for. I pulled into the driveway, left Wyatt in the locked car, and surveyed the yard, which was like overgrown field. I went up the uneven wheelchair ramp, and the door we were supposed to use was covered in some indeterminate substance and looked absolutely filthy. I just could not deal at this point in time because…. Billy had also called me and had been to urgent care and was probably heading to the hospital. I was literally at my emotional edge. I looked at my child in the car, decided I didn’t want to even go into the house at all, because either I left him alone in an unknown neighborhood in the car (and for some reason I kept thinking about Cujo), or went through the whole process of getting him and his wheelchair into the house to maybe just have to leave anyway. So I went back to car and immediately made hotel reservations. We ended up 2 minutes from the music hall, at the Towneplace Suites by Marriot. I am such a rental house person that it has been forever since I was in a hotel, and this one was like a godsend. It was sparkling clean in our room, spacious, quiet, and even had a kitchen. I think it is probably a business traveler hotel but Wyatt and I were there too, and it was perfect. Comfortable, safe, clean. I could not recommend that hotel more.

Later that night I did get a call from Billy – he was going to the ER. Hours and hours later, we finally learned what was going on with him. A kidney stone! I had been a ball of nerves because I was so far away, so his mom was checking in on him, which made me feel better. However, this also meant he would not be making it up to Lansing to meet us the next night as planned. As long as he was feeling better, we could all deal- well the adults at least. Wyatt really missed his dad which is understandable, and was just another part of Wyatt’s emotional state while we were there.

The morning of Day Two arrived and I felt like I had been through the wars already. But we packed up and headed out, although luckily we got to spend more time sitting around first, and I could have coffee.

Day Two was much like Day One. Wyatt had his good moments, and not as good feeling moments. But he was growing and stretching and that was good. We were both out of our comfort zones and it does you good sometimes to step outside those. I ended up leaving with Wyatt an hour early, he was just so fatigued I couldn’t bear to ask him to go much longer. I talked to the director, and we decided that Wyatt and I would arrive the next day in the afternoon, for rehearsal for the big performance and then the performance.

Wyatt and I spent some quality time playing and reading in the hotel, and then we both went to bed early. I was asleep by 9:15! The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast, got ready slowly, and after a fake nap from Wyatt which I had been hoping for a real one, we headed to the music hall.

Wyatt rocked rehearsal. Like nailed it. He did awesome and amazing. However, once Billy and his parents arrived, that was over. He was done. He didn’t want to participate in camp, and didn’t want to sing in the concert. He ended up going up for his group’s turn but halfway through the song, just sobbed. Yep, my kid was the crier in the concert. After his group was done, I walked straight outside and sobbed myself. It was a long three days, stressful at times, fun at times, highly emotional for us both. But we did it, we made it, and we grew from it, because Wyatt has been a nonstop chatter machine since we got home. Music stimulates all areas of the brain, and I can see how this intensive therapy really seemed to light a fire in him that I haven’t seen for a while. He is curious, mischievous, exploring, and is just using so many words!! I really do attribute this to our time at camp!

As for Billy, he is doing better. He is not back to normal yet and won’t be until that kidney stone is gone, but at least we know the issue and have a plan and things are feeling less painful for him.

And today, it is Friday, thank goodness. Pizza, movies, and then some relaxing family time this weekend as well.

I would definitely recommend this camp or music therapy to anyone thinking about either. Despite our struggles, it was a growing experience for Wyatt, that pushed him in good ways, and I feel that I have seen some very positive gains even from our short stint!

Camp RicStar!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn special needs child, special needs parenting18 Comments

I don’t even know where to start talking about this! Our last three days have been just so much, so full of everything – laughter, singing, dancing, learning, growing, challenges, and tears.

Let me start by telling you what it is. Jeanie from The Marmalade Gypsy told me a few years ago about this camp, and I knew as soon as she told me about it that it was something I wanted Wyatt to do. He has always loved music and singing and playing instruments but then Covid hit, and we all know what that did. It was created by Judy Winters, to honor her son Eric. Judy sounds like an amazing woman and mother, and I had the honor of meeting her yesterday very briefly before the performance.

From the website:

The Eric ‘RicStar’ Winter Music Therapy Camp was created to honor Eric Winter, a 12-year old CMS music therapy client with cerebral palsy who had a passion for music and a dream of starting a music therapy camp. Shortly after his passing in 2003, Eric’s parents, Dick and Judy Winter, along with Cindy Edgerton, CMS’ Director of Music Therapy Clinical Services, made the dream a reality and founded RicStar’s Camp. Eric’s parents continue to honor their son as advocates for individuals with special needs, with his mother, Judy Winter, leading the way as an author, speaker, and nationally recognized voice on special needs parenting issues.

Also: [This] is a one-of-a-kind, inclusive day camp that provides opportunities for musical expression, enjoyment, and interaction for all persons with special needs and their siblings.

This was the year, I decided. I signed Wyatt up, exchanged a few emails with the Camp Director Cindy, who is also the Director of the Music Therapy Department at MSU, where this camp is held, made plans, and made some reservations to stay in Lansing. And I just realized this post may get long and become a two parter!

I knew going into this that Wyatt would love it but that it would also be tough for him, but I thought, we are doing this anyway, and we will just play everything by ear and be flexible and follow Wyatt’s lead which is just what we did.

So. Monday morning Wyatt and I drove up to Lansing in the wee hours of the morning (7 am), directly to the MSU Community Performance Hall where camp is held every year. We got there, tired but excited, and slightly nervous if I must be honest. Or at least I was. Wyatt was fine. We got all checked in and waited for everyone to get there. Wyatt was green group, and it was a small group of kids ranging in age, with his age being maybe the oldest in that group (there were a few other kids around his age, and a few younger).

The days are divided into five sessions, with a half hour lunch. Each session focuses on something different, and this year they had sessions such as Play a Song, where the kids got to play instruments and sing, percussion, blues and beats, guitar jam, a parachute, music and movement session, and musical theater. I knew this was going to be a long day for Wyatt, and stretch him and challenge him, but we were going to give it our all, along with the support of the many understanding therapists and counselors and volunteers, all of whom were simply amazing.

I say this was going to be a challenge, because for Wyatt, this is like all of his therapies, occupational, physical, and speech all rolled into one in every session, for five hours. It was going to be fun for Wyatt, but also WORK. It was going to be hard, it was going to be tiring, but also in a playful fun way. Wyatt has a motor planning disorder, which means that for him the signal between his brain and his body sometimes gets confused or lost altogether, which can create frustration for him. And even when they connect, it is due to work on his part to make it all fit together. For example, in percussion one afternoon, the kids sat in a circle with a paddle drum (which has made our Wyatt wish list!) and sang The Ants Go Marching while passing drum mallets around. For every ant added (1 by 1, 2 by 2, etc) another mallet was added. So Wyatt had to watch for a mallet to be passed to him, hit his drum once, then pass it on, while singing and watching for another mallet. For Wyatt to do all of this processing at once and make his body respond the way it should was huge, and kiddo knocked it out of the park. All of our days were like this, with struggles and gains, but this one, this one was a huge win. We are going to do similar things here at home, because attending with Wyatt, I was able to learn as well, about music therapy, how much it affects the entire brain, his body, and learn as well different things I could do with him at home.

Wyatt ended up needing a nap at lunch time. He was just worn out. He took a little disco nap in the car with me, then we rejoined his group. He was still tired out but was able to participate.

We had musical theater the first day, where Wyatt volunteered to be Lord Farquaad, the villainous king. We also had guitar jam, which Wyatt never ever ended up liking. The only reason I can think of is that it was a) difficult and frustrating, and b) the music was sort of slow and bluesy, and slow saddish sounding music makes him cry, no matter where we are, even when they are in cartoons.

It was the one session everyday that Wyatt just didn’t even try much, and would just cry instead. It broke my heart so we usually ended up taking a break once the tears started. (if any special needs educators or therapists out there read this and have an idea about this, I would love to hear! It happened no matter what time of day)

In the afternoon we had Play a Song, which Wyatt LOVED! He sang his little heart out. In the application we had to list songs our children like and the very first song they did was one of Wyatt’s favorites, Howl by the Okee Dokee Brothers. Play a Song was a mix of these songs so sometimes they were songs we didn’t know, but that was ok, Wyatt enjoyed it anyway. Then they sang Let It Go from Frozen and Wyatt really let it go! He was singing with all his might, and doing the arm motions and was so loud (they decided my child did not need a microphone, he was loud enough without it). The therapist in charge was like, Wyatt you are the perfect embodiment of Elsa! Listening to him sing and just be so filled with joy brought on the first moment of happy mama tears, let me tell you.

From there we moved on to percussion and then more percussion with beats booms and blues. Wyatt really enjoyed playing the drums.

And that was the end of Day One!

I will post more tomorrow – I still have so much to share, and I want to share it all for anyone out there who is considering this camp or even music therapy!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized21 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hi all! Last week was all appointments and appointment follow ups, phone calls, phone calls and more phones calls. However, I did get a lot done and I feel like we have a new, good plan for Wyatt that all his doctors are aware of and working toward. So, I feel like it was also a very successful week too, which made all the talking on the phone worth it (hopefully!)

This week Wyatt and I go to music camp! We leave tomorrow morning and I have an Airbnb all reserved for us – I have a feeling we are both going to get back to the house tomorrow night and want to just veg after a big, awesome day. We will be home Wednesday night, and while I am anxious because that is who I am, I am also very excited for Wyatt, since he is going to love this!

Read Last Week:

I read two whole books last week! First, The Shop on Royal Street by Karen White. I absolutely loved this book and when it ended I was so frustrated that I didn’t have the next book in the series right on hand so I could start it immediately. Lol. I have a hold at the library but it looks like it won’t be in before I leave for music camp, so I will have to wait just a little bit longer! I read it fast, but not as quickly as I read The Villa by Rachel Hawkins! The Villa was a fast read, one I couldn’t put down. It was a crazy ride and I loved it, although it was very tense and heavy in parts honestly. I felt sort of sad after I finished just because the material was sort of intense. It was really good though, and I read it all in one day. I would love to stay in an Italian Villa for a summer but maybe not one like this one…

Reading This Week:

This week I need something a little bit lighter, especially after reading The Villa. I am reading an ARC of Lisa’s newest book, a cozy mystery called Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing, which comes out July 18th! I am also starting Dial A for Aunties.

Posted Last Week:

Dream Night at the Detroit Zoo

Strawberry Moon Party

The Spring of Cary Grant: Notorious

Stephen King Summertime Reads

10 on the 10th – June (and Weddings!)

Watching and Listening:

Billy and I have been rewatching Death in Paradise, starting over at Season 1 again. We also started a BBC show Full Steam Ahead, which about “golden age of steam” and “how Victorian railways created modern Britain.” We love the team of Ruth, Peter, and Alex and watch pretty much anything we find that they have done, including rewatching all the farm series shows many times. We were just saying the other night while watching how cool it would be to hang out with them and have a chat over drinks and talk about history. You can find them on YouTube right now. We are still also watching Newhart here and there.

As for listening, I started a new audiobook, Billy Summers by Stephen King, but it is not a true Stephen King book. I mean it is, but it is not a horror book per se, more of an action-crime type one that doesn’t interest me. So I returned it and I am looking for something else to listen to.

And that is that for today! I hope you all have a good week!