Getting Ready to Start the Homeschool Year!

First off, I got a laptop :D MUCH easier to post now!

Here's the plan for school this year:

Language - Picture Me Reading http://picturemereading.com/

Handwriting - Continue practicing printing. I will be making writing worksheets for him of the words he's learning with PMR. Super easy to make in my word processor with software from http://www.fonts4teachers.com/!

Math - Saxon K (manipulative-based). You can get a K-3 sample here http://saxonhomeschool.hmhco.com/HA/correlations/pdf/s/Saxon_Math_K-3_Sampler.pdf

Other supplementals:
Very basic earth science book I got on clearance
Motor and sensory activities (see other post from today)
Lapbooks
Schoolhouse Rock DVDs
YouTube/Google/Google Images
Educational TV and DVDs
Life ;)

I have everything but the Math which I ordered this week (30% off and free store pickup!). I don't know when we'll start though. I have a lot of prep to do before we're ready! Ethan has been asking for a couple weeks to do school. He's more ready than I am ;)

Motor and Sensory Activities To Do At Home

From the occupational therapists we've worked with:

TYING SHOES

Criss cross

Tuck under

Pull tight

One bunny ear - small bunny ear with long tail

Bunny goes around the tree

Through the burrow

Pull tight

WARM-UP (Brain Gym)

Hand on chest, hand on stomach

Eyes look right, look left

Hand to opposite lifted knee

Thumbs up

Thumbs down

Down hands together

Cross hands

Pretzel

Cross legs

Uncross

Fingertips together

Deep breaths

Affirmations

EYES

30 seconds each eye, each direction, following finger puppet in circles

Both eyes uncovered, left to right, circles both directions

EYES - BEADS ON ROPE

Hold one end of rope on nose

Red - few inches

Green - ~6 inches

Blue - ~12 inches

Look from one to another, in and out of sequence

Follow red along rope from near to far and back

Hold one thing in each hand.

Approx 13-16" away.

Better if one is eg small flower drawn on a piece of card stock on a popsicle stick

"Look at x" "Look at y" "Look at me" Random

Raise, lower

Move eyes only, not head

Nose pointing to my nose

Advanced - While he focuses on one, raise/lower the other to draw eyes to it from peripheral vision

OTHER

Short (broken) crayon pieces to encourage tripod grasp

Encourage him to move fingers back and forth vs hand

Glue, glitter glue, or puff paint to outline pics from him to draw

Card stock to cut - stays stiff, doesn't fold as he cuts

Stack wood blocks - towers in semi-circle - use party blower to blow down top one at a time of each tower - left to right

BRAND ACTIVITIES

Pop Bead People/Critters

SENSORY

Spandex or knit tied around legs and waist at mealtime

10% body weight for weighted blankets, etc

OT at home activities

1. Take pics of items starting with A to Z

Print

Have him cut out

Make photo book

2. Turkey basters in the bathtub

3. Water gun with resistance

4. Animal hand bubble blower

5. Grab extender - carry objects

6. Shoe tying with different colored laces

7. Colored water - dropper - from big cup on right side to little cup on left side

8. Small appetizer tongs – use to get pom poms, marbles, small balls, small plastic figures from one container to another

9. Scrapbook punches with regular paper or card stock

From books and websites

Water and paintbrush to “paint” outside

Rice box (like sandbox) with shovels, pails, scoops, etc

Draw

Glue

Paint

Board games – Chutes and Ladders, Candyland

String beads to make necklaces, decorations, etc

Head, shoulders, knees and toes song

Make flags

Glue ribbon to dowels to make streamers

Dance around to music with streamers

Paper snowflakes

Beanbag toss

Bowling

Lacing cards

Paper bag puppets

Make a mobile

Cheap hats to decorate

All About Me book

Christmas ornaments

Roll balls into bucket laying on its side

String bells

Dance around to music with bells

Hula hoop

Get on all fours, blow balls etc with straws – can use as race

Metronome set to 60 beats per minute – do these in time to the beat:

            Level 1:

            Tap knees

            Tap opposite knees

            Jump

            Jump while open and close legs

            Jump while crossing and uncrossing feet

            Level 2 – Add while doing L1:

            Count

            Recite alphabet

            Recite math facts

Dress Mom up using clothespins to attach scarves, gloves, socks, ties, etc to her clothes

Squeeze empty condiment bottle to move objects across the floor

Copycat movements

Also check my Pinterest Sensory and Motor Activities for more ideas! http://pinterest.com/cmlanclos/sensory-and-motor-skills-activities/

Still Here...

I need to do an update! It's so frustrating to do it on my phone, but hopefully I'll be able to get on a computer soon :)

Days 11-20

(These are accurate for the dates, just hadn't made it on the blog till now ;))

I am thankful for...

11 Children's church workers. Their willingness to volunteer means that I can sit and learn in church instead of trying to occupy the boys. Except for the days I'm one of the volunteers ;) But doing it is a blessing too!

12 Being able to brush Ethan again. I haven't been able to "brush" him (Google Wilbarger protocol if you're interested) in two months because of a hand injury. His behavior went waaay downhill :( His OT gave me a handle for his brush and I can brush him again! By the next day we already could see an improvement in his behavior :) Just in case we thought it wasn't doing any good...

13 A huge blessing... Someone who knew we were in need took me to Walmart and bought us almost $100 of diapers :happytears

14 Cool weather, and yummy chili!

15 Knowledge of food intolerances and their symptoms. Ethan had a severe behavioral reaction to a food. When he was younger, citrus fruits gave him diarrhea and a diaper rash. My mom is allergic, so I thought he might be too. I haven't given him any in a long time. His allergy tests came back negative for citrus. I thought it might be an intolerance he had grown out of. Someone gave us some satsumas off their tree recently. Ethan and I split one. Within a couple minutes after he finished it, he told me his mouth burned. That's the beginning of an allergic reaction for me so I knew what had happened :( Later, when the behavioral reaction kicked in, I recognized it for what it was. Jesse said he was acting like he was possessed. Unfortunately, he's right... Ethan was possessed by a chemical reaction in his body that he couldn't control :( And when he started coming out of it, he realized he was out of control. And he was SCARED. Knowing what was going on enabled me to stay relatively calm and help him through it. It wasn't easy, but we all made it through...

16 Good day with Ethan. After the rough night before, it was incredibly wonderful to have such a great day! He was very even emotionally, happy, curious, etc. It was nice to not have to deal with his issues hardly at all, even if it was just for one day :) (That might sound terrible but parents of special needs children understand exactly what I mean!)

17 Opportunity to bless a teen mom-to-be (daughter of a friend) by attending her baby shower. Yes, she made a mistake. Yes, she still deserves our love and support!

18 Operation Christmas Child. We are struggling so much financially but Jesse found little bit of money for us to do one shoebox this year :) Ethan remembered doing it last year and was excited to do it again!

19 A friend who blesses us with free haircuts :) We find ways to bless her in return but she refuses to accept money for them!

20 Cuddly kiddos <3

I Know, I Know...

I'm slacking! Plenty to be grateful for, but it's not making it to the blog :p I'll catch up soon...

Day 10

I am thankful that our apartment has a dishwasher! Especially when I've been sick and the dishes are piled up...

Day 9

Today I am thankful for books! Sometimes it's nice to lose yourself for a while in a good story :)

And on a related note... I really like having a personal library of hundreds of books at my fingertips ;)