Back to Brain Gym

Ki and I decided we need to go back to doing some Occupational Therapy before math. Ki has Sensory Integration Disorder and Dyspraxia. Lately we haven't done much OT, but he doesn't need it very often these days. He used to need a whole list of therapy activities a few times a day.

He has been having more and more trouble learning his math and being able to have a functioning brain during math. He's been going into his 'Dyspraxic Muscle Fatigue' during math lessons. Which I term as "being a bowl of limp jello"

Brain Gym activities work well with him. They also help the others boys a bit; it's good for helping with focusing and dyslexia. Joint Compression helps Ki, too. I should get him a new exercise ball for that.

Today, as we were starting on his math, I could see the chaos in his brain taking over, so I told him that if he keeps having problems focusing on his math, we'd start doing Brain Gym again beforehand. He said that'd be good and would help him, then asked why I made it sound like a bad thing because it's a good thing. I told him I didn't intend for it sounds like a bad thing; sometimes words are like that.

So I had him do some Brain Gym and drink some water and his math time went MUCH better.

He did some CrissCross marches, some Brain Spots, and some Leg Muscle Massage things. not sure of the later really works; the book says it is a 'before math' activity. I wonder if Ki just thinks it is supposed to work, so it does.

Also, today he told me that he really like his science book! (Apologia Land Animals)

*********

I picked a few early potatoes today. my friend Kirsten was over with her little boy. I thought he might like digging in the dirt, but he seems enthralled with the 3 "Big Boys" running around the back yard. Anyway, I only got 3 small red potatoes. I boiled them to go with my dinner, then mashed then with some salt & butter; but not much. Homegrown, fresh-from-the-garden potatoes don't need much salt or butter at all.

Here is a pretty picture I took this morning. It has been raining here, but the sun had come for a few minutes so everything sparkled with raindrops.

Snippets from Our Day

They day started with us all sleeping in from our long Tuesday. The boys have PE, Boffer Sword combat, and Gymnastics/Karate (G&C-gymnastic/K-Karate). So they are very tired and sleep in on Wednesdays.
Breakfast was waffles. MMMmmm. And a Chai Latte for me. With the addition of Crystallized Ginger. They are round slices. I gave a small piece to Connor and one to Ki. Connor asks if it is a fruit. I tell him no, it’s a root. Well, that instantly gets Gavin’s attention!
[G]- “Square Roots!? I have a Square Root game…..”
[me] /thinking-‘ACK!’/ -
“no, it’s a ROUND ROOT. No square root games with a round root. It won’t work.”
[G] /oblivious to the discrepancy of the geometric shapes of the roots and once again trying to fit a round root into a square hole. /
“Connor, what’s the square root of 15?”
[C]- “7? I don’t know”
[G]- /doesn’t bother to let us in on the deep secrects of the square of 15/
“Ki, what’s the square root of 4?”
[K] /ignores Gavin/
[G] “Ki, how about the square root of 1, that’s kind of hard.”
[K] /ignores Gavin/
[me] “1.23?” /I am really pretty clueless and don’t care, but like to have fun blurting answers and can’t stand unanswered questions/
[G] “no” /to me/ then to Ki- “Ki. How about the square root of 1? That’s the easiest square root.”
[K] /ignores Gavin/
[me] “I don’t think Ki wants to play your Square Root game”
[G]- “Ki, you need to get better with square roots.”
[K] “why?” /apathetically/
[G]- “So you can do the Pythagorean theorem.”
[K] “why would I want to do that?”
[G] “so you can get into college. It’s just BASIC MATH!”
[me] “Gavin, Ki has 5 more yrs until he goes to college. He’ll learn what he needs when he’s ready.”
[Ki] – “SIX! I have six more years until college, I thought”
[me]-/counting on my fingers/.. “yep, it’s 6” /ki, lets out a BIG sigh of relief/
• See what happens when you don’t use grade levels- you never know exactly how many years until college!

After Ki did his Brain Gym Therapy, he played Math Blaster and did a page or 2 from his Miquon book.
A bit later I went outback to check on Connor and Ki. I asked Ki if wanted to do the sidewalk chalk project from his Science book that he asked about this morning. I was told “NO” by Connor, who informed me that Ki was doing experiments in Physics. Ki had a big stick and a bungee cord. Connor said that Ki had already tested gravity and found that the laws of gravity were indeed pretty accurate. I’m so glad I have Ki to prove the laws of science are accurate and hold true.

I left as Ki was testing, what I can only assume was Newton’s 3rd Law of motion, as he pulled the bungee cord back with 1 end attached to the stick to see how far it would launch in proportion to how far it was pulled back.

I then check on Gavin who is diligently hunched over his laptop and ask what he is doing. He tells me he is making a detailed model of the earth on Lightwave from some images he imported from a NASA Website. Then he goes on to tell me about the pixels and something about 500 yards I think; which is followed by a viewing of his earth model before it is renderable.

So I go to take my shower and Ki decided he’s ready to draw the Dinosaur head. He’s moved the picnic table and swept the back porch. We get out his science book and read about the Pliosaurs and the 9 foot head of the Kronosaur. Or was it a Kronosaurus? Anyhoot- He measure out 9 feet and larks the the ends. The he makes a cross measurement of 3 feet for the height of the head. He uses the picture in the book to draw the head with cone-shaped teeth. Then he labels his picture and lays down beside it to see how the huge mouth measures up to his body.

I still don’t know what Connor did today. I think he did some Geometry at a interactive math website. He was going to do some chemistry and reading.

UP & COMING!

Ki Terrill, our Up & Coming chef, made yummy Caribbean French Toast for us and another homeschool family on Friday. MUEY SABROSO! the recipe is posted below~

Sunday or Monday he is fixing his complete Caribbean Dinner. Recipes will be posted after the event.

CARIBBEAN FRENCH TOAST
We used a loaf of french bread sliced and for the 'batter' we used:
6 eggs (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 Cup O.J.
1/2 Cup Mango-Pineapple Nectar
1/3 Cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon

Up&Coming School Week:

Another great day of school planning. I love sitting with a Latte and planning out the week's scholastics. Here is what I came up for next week:

Ki (12) is still using Index cards for his daily assignments. I think we'll stick with it. It seems to work well. He also asked to get some of his stuff emailed to him. I also wrote approx how much time it should take each day on each card. So here is what I have:

Index Card for Monday Nov 17, 2008
__ Morning Chores
__ Bible * read 10 minutes or 1 story
__ Writing * Check your Email
__ Math * 10 Dice Problems D12 X D12 (oral and w/ mom) B.G., H2O, 10 Ch.Cv.Rsns
20 mins Choose a workbook.
__ P.A.C.E. correct pg 13. Do pgs 17& 18
__ Read * 20 minutes Magic Treehouse
__ Science with mom at 10:00 AM
* Approx 3 hours

Tues. November 18, 2008
__ Morning Chores
__ Bible 10 min/1 story
__ VAFB Homeschool ASL/PE/Lunch
__ Read Magic Treehouse 25 minutes
__Math 2 pages Your Choice, B.G., H2O
__Writing: Fingerspell words from Mondays assignment with mom

Wednesday 11-19-08 (yes I write the date slightly different on the cards)
__ Morning Chores
__ Bible * 10 min/1 story
__ Writing Check Email
__Math: B.G. H2O, 10 problems orally Dice D12xD12 (w/mom)
20 Minutes Workbook
__ P.A.C.E. pgs 19/20/21
__ Science with mom 10:00 AM
__ Read 20 mins Magic Treehouse
Approx 3 hours

Thurs NOV 20, 2008

__ Morning Chores
__ Bible * 10 min/1 story
__ Writing Check Email
__ Math: 30 minutes Your Choice
__ P.A.C.E. 2pgs 22-23
__Read 25 mins Magic Treehouse
__ Online Science: Check Email
Approx 3 hours

FRIDAY
__ Morning Chores
__ Bible * 10 min/1 story
__Math 20 mins Your Choice
__Magic Treehouse 20 Mins
__Finish any incomplete schoolwork from Mon-Thur
__HOUSEWORK DAY $$$
__ Homework: Check Email [writing]

Here are the emails I sent Ki:
WRITING-
MONDAY- correct your sentences from last week. Then using the same 10 words, write a short story. It can be a 1 paragraph story. (3-5 sentences) as long as you use all 10 words. Email the corrected sentences an the new writing to me. Respond to last weeks WRITING email for his assignment.

TUESDAY- we'll have school on Base after PE/Lunch. You will finger spell your 10 words with me.

WEDNESDAY- here is a list of 6 words: SLOW HUNGER CARIBBEAN CREATE BELIEVE TEACH . I want you to change the tense or write different words with the same root. You need to have 20 words total. email your 20 words to me.

THURSDAY- Use the 20 words from WEDNESDAY. Write a phrase for each word. (does not need to be full sentences) ex: if your words were [love, yellow, mango] your phrases might be [ I love you ] [a yellow yo-yo] [three mango muffins]

HOMEWORK: Due Monday [Nov 24] Morning: Choose 6 of your phrases and make them full sentences. draw pictures for 3 of your sentences.

**Email for Science:
MONDAY W/ MOM: science experiment and make 2nd whale for Ocean Box
WEDNESDAY W/ MOM: science notebook for whales chapter
THURSDAY: Netflix Documentary. watch and be able to discuss it with a parent

Connor's work was all emailed to him:
DAILY-
READ 45 MINUTES (and read 1 chapter in your Bible. It can count towards your 45 minutes)
15 MINUTES typing practice. mom's new laptop. Mavis Beacon typing program. I'll show you how to access it on Monday

DUE FRIDAY by 4PM:
3.5 hours math

ROCK COLLECTION- use your collection box (in the chest in front of the couch), place 1 specimen in each compartment. Number the compartments. Cut index cards into pieces that fit in each compartment. Date/location of the find. (use rocks from our latest trip to Shell Beach). On a sheet of paper that fits in the lid- number the paper for each specimen. Look at each specimen with a magnifying glass and by touch. Write 3 things(descriptive words) about each rock on the numbered paper. (words like 'opaque, translucent, smooth, rough, splotches, veins, monochromatic, etc)

WATCH NETFLIX: Nature: Extreme Lands

PACE: Read pages 9-11.(starting with section V. Church Government) Read ONE PAGE at a time and answer all questions you can with that ONE PAGE. Page 11. stop when you get to VI. European Gov't
ACTIVITY PAC: Complete pages J and K.

Gavin's was emailed as well. HIs stuff is pretty independent.
Read Daily. (45 minutes)
Read 1 chapter daily in your Bible. Stick in the same book and read in order.

Spend time daily doing what's needed in Physics and/or Economics

Spend 3 hours in Algebra. [either ALEKS or High School Advantage] ask dad for help if you get stuck

WATCH the Hadron You Tube TAKE this online QUIZ: http://www.physics.org/featuredetail.asp?NewsId=24 don't look at the answers before hand! no peeking! and let me know how you did.

BROWSE this website: http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/ once this week

VIDEOS/GAMES: http://www.physics.org/interact.asp watch some videos/ Play some Games. explore this website 2 days this week. 30 minutes each time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I still doing individual classes with each boy. Ki needs it, Connor half needs the 1-on-1 and half just likes it. Gavin just needs a little help with understanding his boring, dry PACE book. We are doing note taking right now and not bothering with the question packet. We'll use it later.

I'm still doing Geo Mind Builders and reading God's WORLD News a couple times a week.

and we are still working on memory verses each morning. I bought a small Dry Erase board to hang on the wall to list Prayer Requests for our Morning Prayer time.

Ki's School Day

Connor finished is breakfast and declared to us that he was going to go write a lot because he had been thinking of a new game and had a lot of rules and things to write about it. Sounded good to me. I like when he finds things to do that fit into my idea of school, LOL. I like when my boys think of things they want to write!

After Gavin and Ki were finished with breakfast I told them I wanted them to get started on something for school. Gavin decided to write a game story like Connor. Ki got his little note planner out to see what was his list today. He read through his list and asked me about a few things. He decided to do his Language Arts first. Today he is making an 8 panel comic strip of the story he has been reading; Mitchell is Moving. He has a little science experiment in his Science book today. He loves having his daily list of things that he can see what needs to be done and do them in any order he wants. Yesterday He chose for math - 10 minutes in Miquon and 10 minutes of Dice Math. I let him use whatever he rolled on the operation dice, so he had a few simple additions, since he was using a 12 sided and an 8 sided die. He rolled a Division sign and I taught him how to do that. It’s amazing how open and willing he is to learn when he does school on his terms and chooses activities. If I had said; “O.K. Today you will be doing division in school. Get your paper and pencil and I will teach you how to do division”- that would NOT have gone over well AT ALL! But when HE chose to do dice and rolled the division on the ‘operation die’ he asked ME to help him.

Yes, sometimes I tell him what to do- like make an 8 panel comic strip- but I choose things that I KNOW he enjoys and works well in doing. I tell him to do things that he has chosen in the past and enjoys.

Ki set up the desk in is room for doing his Comic Strip. He cleared it off, got his pencils, the pencil sharpener, his book and I brought a chair in for him. He seemed to really like having his own little work area in his bedroom. It’s one of the reasons I liked this house- the nice desk area in the room and one of the reasons he chose that room. He had some of his school books in there now. He took his math in there to do.

Before he did his math I had him help me with the laundry. It was good “Brain/Body Coordination/Movement” for him. He brought the basket of wet clothes up the steps (6 steps) then carried it outside (4 steps down), then he hung about 5 small towels. After that he did an Assortment of CrissCrosses. He did Scissors, Marches and To the Back. Then set himself up at his desk.
For his second set of 15 minutes in math he chose DICE.

This is what I had for his Dice option. I had a list of 6 different types of problems. We have an assortment of dice types. Fraction dice, dice IN Dice, Triple Die, 12 sided, 10 sided, 6 sided, decimal dice, operation Dice (all the different math signs, X, +,-, DIV sign, etc)
12D X 12D =
Fract.D + FractD =
TripleD + TripleD= (3 small dice inside a large clear Die- makes a 3 digit #)
TripleDie –Double 10. (a 10 sided INSIDE a 10 sided- makes a double digit #)
.## (decimal Die) > .## =
Double 10 X 10Sided =

So he can choose which ones he wants to do by simply looking and picking, He can roll a 6 Sided and do that number problem type or he can Roll the operation Die and do a problem type that has that operation.
He loves lots of options and alternatives.

Then we read out of his Science Book; Zoolology Apologia. And worked on the new terms and did a little experiment with a large dish of water and blowing opposite ways to make a Gyre Current. Yesterday we read about different types of Aquatic movement (nektonic, benthic, sessile, plankton) and then I acted them out randomly and he had to tell me which I was doing. Then we switched and I called out movement types and he had to demonstrate them.

Connor and Gavin did their stuff on their own. They didn’t need any help today, just the occasional reminder to stay focused.

DOLLY the Cloned Sheep

Connor was reading in bed with his cat when I woke up this morning. Too bad I didn’t have my camera.

Heart Shaped Pancakes for breakfast

Watched: http://www.history.com/minisites/valentine/The History Channel. a Short video of the History of Valentines day with the Pagan celebration and the Martyr St. Valentine.

“Room Cleaning” time. I like how when I give them a task they try to get out of it by saying: ‘But I was going to do my reading (or math or whatever school assignment) right now!” It doesn’t work. How many years till they get it?

Last night Ki told me what he wanted to do in school today. So I made a list on the dry erase board for him to number in which order he’d like to do his chosen work. He said that’s how he thinks school and the weekly chart will work best for him. He says a list at the beginning of the week and he’ll write in each day’s box what he wants to do that day and I’ll remind him in the morning and he’ll decide what order. I think that’ll work.

I love to see my kids figure out and design their own education.

I want to buy the rest of the Story of the World Series. I just have Volume 1.

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=story+of+the+world&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1

10:30 we did my Pilates Workout. It’s an upbeat cross between aerobics and pilates I guess. I figured we’d do that instead of Brain Gym today. We only did 5 minutes I bet. We finished with CrissCross marches. It got our hearts pumping.

http://www.amazon.com/Crunch-Burn-Pilates-Ellen-Barrett/dp/B00020HCC2

Then Ki worked on his Apple Strudel for tonight’s dinner while Gavin and Connor read their DNA book and did the internet links that go with it.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/isbn=9780794504441

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/dolly/

GAMES to play about DNA http://www.nature.ca/genome/04/041/041_e.cfm

We have homeschool Gym today.

Ki will do a little more school when we get home.

Ki is still not getting work done...

and that is Ok.
at least for this week. I told them they had the whole week to be in charge and do their school on their own. But I am biting my tongue with Ki. here's today's journal:

My husband had a snow delay at work. He didn’t have to be at work till 10. We don’t do school while Brian is here.

Gavin and I used the juicer for breakfast. Gavin did some online research on commercials. He’s always been curious how exactly game shows get their money they give away. So he is researching that today.

We did Story of the World and some Brain Gym activities. After that we talked about their school plans. Just a review of their daily work and had them go through to see what else they needed to do this week. I asked Ki what he wanted to do today from his list and asked if he wanted to make a list for today. He really liked that idea and had me write a list for him.
Brain Quest
‘beat the clock’/Froggy fractions
Reading
Explode the Code
Writing.

We did Brain Quest and then he checked it off. He likes choosing from options and making a list/schedule from his choices. He’s been designing his school days like this since he was in 1st grade. His first 2-3 yrs of homeschooling was almost ALL him deciding what he was doing when, from a list . He has always done much better when h e he can choose and schedule things himself. The last couple years we go back and forth or do a mixture.

Gavin and Connor both decided to do their Spectrum Writing. They have 4 pages due on Friday. Ki moved onto his math. First he decided to do some occupational therapy and he has seen how much easier math is when he does it.

I’m starting to enjoy when people ask me what curriculum we use.

Gavin and Connor are doing an activity with the science kit. (“CSI” DNA activities)

Gavin and Connor were running through the house. So they have to “drop and give me 20” push ups. Gavin did 30 ‘girl push ups’. In sets of 6. He has very weak arms.

The boys played Game Stories at lunch. It’s like all 3 telling a story together- building off each other, etc and threis one person in charge of the story that gives directions, tells them the consequences- what happened when Gavin went around the hill while running from the mech, what happened to Connor when he ejected? (Ki is often the “game master”)

Once again, the older two worked hard on their green work and forgot to complete their red work before they turned on TV.

Ki is still having problems. I think he needs to me to make a schedule and he can just fill in which topic he wants to do in the time slots.

He made a YUMMY dinner though!

a temporary change of course.

Feb 8, 2008
I will be late with niece’s card. I always am. Brian always acts like he’ll take care of it and never gets to it. Why should he? He’s busy too. I should just do it and not pay heed to the fact he says he’ll do it. Just do it anyway.
At least they are always cute handmade cards.
Spelling Tests. Connor asked if they’d be writing them or using sign language. I asked which he preferred and he wanted to do sign language. Gavin said he didn’t care one way or the other. I asked he’d write them. He was fine with that. I think he prefers that. Both boys have the same word list so if they both finger spelled I’d have to do one at a time.

We were doing irregular verbs. Our spelling tests aren’t soley for speling. They are for grammar and writing pactice, so sometimes they are easy words to spell, but there is a different lesson.
This week they have verb sets. Like “catch-caught” and “bring-brought”, “inlay-inlaid”. So for the test I said the present tense and they had to spell the past tense. So if I said “fight” they spelled “fought”.Gavin sat at the table and has his back to me. Connor sat between Gavin and myself, facing me. So I could watch Connor finger spell and gavin wouldn’t be distracted by it.
Ki asked to do fingerspelling for his words. He thought it was fun. I’d saw “swim” and he’d say “ AH-HA! That means I spell SWAM!” it was like a game. And it seemed a good exercise for them to have think of the spelling word with the clue word I gave them. Using Sign Langauge for our spelling has been a great thing for their dyslexia. It helps them make physical connections to the abstractness of letters and sounds.

Then we read some of Story of the World and talked about the blue, naked, fighting Celts with their magical blue armor.

I then read through the rest of what they need to do for school today and set out for the coffee shop to do some planning. The boys have asked to have a weekly chart like we have used before. A weekly chart lists what they need to do every day (read and play a multiplication fact game on the leap pad and write 12-25 minutes) and has a list of work they just need to have done by Friday. They can do that work whenever they want to do it. They can get it done by Tuesday if they work hard or pace themselves and be done Friday. Because I want to teach classes/lessons with them I have listed that in their weekly list.
For example on Ki’s chart it says:
“Read Peoples of the World book with mom and visit links. 3 times. 30-45 minutes each time.” And I have the numbers 1……2….3…. for him to cross off each time he does it. We will still have Story time and Brain Gym together in the morning.and the boys will have to schedule time to do their "with mom school work" .

I told Gavin I’d play Battletech with him when I get home. This is the ULTIMATE of “spending time in their world- esp when you don’t enjoy it.” He will teach me how to play a short game of Battletech. I want to cry just thinking about it. But he asks me to play it from time to time and I haven’t yet. So today is a good day for it. It’s a short school day and I don’t have to make dinner tonight.

http://www.hakujin.net/Games/BTech/btechq-a.html how to play Battletech and about the game. Read it and weep. it's not the difficulty, it's that it is one of those games that takes too many hours to play. I asked for a short sample game.

**Kimberly**~7th year homeschooling 3 boys~

My boys are Elliptical

Feb 6, 2008
Gavin was up making a Lego Mind storm Robot. A ‘walking’ something or other. He called it a dog. Connor discovered if you hold it an angle you can use it to clean up Legos. Gavin’s walking dog seemed a bit frail and had some problems getting tripped up easily. Connor redesigned it worked better.
(and they have a 'fleet' of catapualts now and have their castles they are storming with the catapaults and the balls from the Geomags)

Then Gavin decided to pick up his crocheting. He is getting fast at it. Connor “querro mas rapido egual Gavin” (which I’m sure is most likely improper Spanish and not spelled correctly.) I told him Gavin has gotten fast because he “mucho practicar”. So Connor got his knitting to practicar.

So my two robotic engineering boys took a break to do some needlework.
I guess, if nothing else, they are well rounded. Or at least a bit elliptical.

After showers and some chores, I read from Jesus Freaks and then from Story of the World. Ki was in charge of 3 Brain Gyms.

Then Ki and I practiced his spelling words using sign language. Connor and Gavin quizzed each other using sign language. They have to say the word, then say each letter as they sign each letter.

They went through their words a couple of times then made lunch.

We went to homeschool gym. I did some thinking there on how to arrange independent work and still get some class lessons done. I need to sit at the coffee shop to do the rest, I think

The boys did some math and their reading.
Gavin and Connor didn’t read their DNA stuff I wanted them to get to today, but they can do that tomorrow.

I helped Ki plan a few European meals for next week. (From his Peoples of the World study)

Dirigibles. what a fun word!

Feb 5, 2008

Yet ANOTHER rainy day! Rainy days make me tired.

I wrote a list on the board for the boys. I rested then ate a little then took a shower. After my shower I practiced knitting.

Here is their list from the board:
G&C read SOTW (Story of the World; they take turns reading aloud)
C lead 3 Brain Gym Activities
CGK- wrote sentences with your spelling word sets. EX: catch-caught “Will you catch a cold like the one you caught last year?”
GCK- 3 games of Beat the Clock (a quick multiplication game on the Leap Pad)
K- Froggy Fractions 8 problems from either page 12 or 13.
C- 2 Math Detective Games (a CD Rom from the Critical Thinking Skills company. It works on reading comprehension, too)
G- Algebra Cliff Notes Dividing polynomials by monomials and Dividing Polynoms by Polynoms. Page 61-64.

** When I was in school you had to get all As and A+s to be on the honor roll. It may have even been all A+s. Now they give the status of Honor Roll to anyone who as above an 85 or 90%. That’s a B+ approx. And considering the dumbing down of curriculum in most public schools, is it really an honor to get a B+?

I talked to the boys they would like to have weekly sheets again. So I need to plan out how to have weekly sheets with work they can do as they want and when they want and also still have group lessons. I will be able to figure it out easily, I’m sure and with how busy our weeks have gotten with gym days and games days it’ll probably work better. Any excuse to make more schedules and list!

Gavin and Connor did a DNA activity together from our CSI Kit. It was a pedigree chart. I will suggest they do one for their friends at church. And see if they can broaden the one they did for their family to include grandparents.

I taught Ki how to cast on with his knitting needle. He did better that I thought, too. I’ll probably teach him the knit stitch tomorrow. I asked him to do the casting on one more time for practice. I am impressed.

We then did a page from his Peoples of the World book and looked up some things online to go with what he is studying.

I taught Connor the casting on and he did it twice. His 2nd time wasn’t even as good at Ki’s first try, but he insisted I teach him the next part, the first ‘real’ knit stitch row. So I did. As wiggly as his little fingers, he managed. And he kept at it. He had to start over once, but he says it is easier than crocheting and he’ll do it more tomorrow.

Gavin was crocheting while I was teaching Connor to knit, which I just learned this morning. It’s like the blind leading the blind. Or the visually impaired leading the blind, I guess.

Gavin is also designing and building a model airplane from balsa wood. Not a kit, but where he draws and measures and cuts the balsawood to shape and pins and glues the pieces together.
Brian is working on his dirigibles.

Autodidactic Day

Gavin and Connor took turns reading from Story of the World. Gavin read about the terracotta soldiers of China, so we looked them up online. Gavin was in charge of Brain Gym today. He did crisscross marches, Body Scales and offered the choice of deep breaths or Hook Ups.

They boys did their reading while I read my email and showered. Then we left for Java Café. We had our knitting needles and yarn. The Knitting Ladies didn’t show. So Gavin crocheted a bit.

I played Othello with Connor and them with Gavin. Ki was having fun playing with the Boggle cubes. He was finding words, but his didn’t use a timer and any words counted. Words like “a” or names like “Jim”. He wrote them down on his paper. When I was done playing with Gavin, I helped Ki find more words. There was a 2nd Boggle game and that is what Connor used. It was missing a cube, so he used a Scrabble tile chosen at random when he shook the Boggle Cubes.

We had a bagel snack there. Actually, I just had a Caramel Latte and the boys had bagels. Gavin had turkey, lettuce, tomato, and onion on his bagel.

Then we went to Krystal Keep to play some games with other homeschoolers. We get there a little early. The boys like to peruse the goodies and talk to Ron.

Just one parent joined us today. Gary and his 5 yr old daughter, Elizabeth. We played a few games. We finished around 4 and I chatted with Gary about other homeschool area events.

After dinner, Ki wanted to watch about Alexander the Great, so he popped in the History Channel DVD about Alexander and I went to the store.

Brian will do math with the boys before bed. Ki asked to learn about octagons and hexagons. I hope Brian will touch on them as it will encourage Ki to be autodidactic.

courtcase, DNA, Parenting Teens

February 4, 2008

In Story of the World we have been reading about China. We got to the Great Wall today.

After SOTW I gave instructions for Brain Gym (crisscrosses and elephant 8s) while I wrote the spelling words on the board.

I explained their words and how we’d do spelling this week. We are doing irregular verbs like catch-caught and interweave-interwove. The words are in sets and to be copied into their notebooks as sets. For their spelling tests I will say one verb and they will write the verb in the other tense. So if I say ‘teach’ they will write ‘taught’.

Gavin and Connor went off to read and Gavin fell asleep.

Ki played Beat the Clock on the Leap Pad then we did a few story problems in his Froggy Fraction book.

After a small break, Connor choose a Netflix for us to watch. The Greek Gods from The History Channel. It was interesting. Lots of talk of sexual conquest and paintings of naked people. Oh well. Sex happens and is a big part of Greek history.

Then Lunch and getting ready for the court thing. It’ll be nice to be done with this.

We arrive at the court house, wait a long time (about 30 minutes). The dude decided to plead no contest so I don’t have to testify. We decide to stay and watch the court workings. So after another 30-40 minutes we watch him walk up to the judge, plead no contest and walk out with his attorney. We head out and I hope the chick (the attorney) would at least impart knowledge to the boys. She didn’t have another case for awhile. I asked if there was anything she could tell the boys about the courthouse. She says “The public defender is for people that can’t afford to hire their own defense.” Because the boys pointed the room marked Public Defendant and asked about it. That was all she had to say and left. So much for being educational.

Home again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig.

Clean up from Lunch and did a CSI Activity about DNA with out CSI Science kit. Gavin did some extra research on ‘Junk DNA’. We’ll have to continue that.

Brian did some math with the boys after dinner.

In keeping up with our Parenting Class assignment I have counted:
TOUCHES: C-7, G-5
YELL: C-0, G- is a stern, barked command the same as yelling?
“I love You.” C-3, G-2
TIME: C- 15mins (he wanted to do my exercise DVD with me), 60ms (watched movie together) 15 (I figured I could count 15 minutes of our courthouse date) 30ms (doing CSI Science.
TIME:G- 60, 15, 30.
HUGS:C-3, G-2

The snake with a GREAT personality!

January 31, 2008

Gavin made pancakes for breakfast. He cut strawberries and stirred a little sugar into them. It was a yummy breakfast.

(Connor made breakfast yesterday; waffles)

Ahhhh.. the ease of having homeschooled 7 yrs…… I can write a lovely plan for the entire week while sipping coffee and looking over past work….. Or I can get up in the morning and jot a few things down on a piece of paper from the top of my head and have a good school day.

I want to go to the store this morning so I jotted a few things down on the White Board.
G&C- read SOTW out loud.
3T- do 3-4 Brain Gym activities
G&C – read + Ki: 4 games “beat the Clock”
Ki- Read + G&C 3 games “B. the C.”

I told them that was their morning school work, I’d be back from the store shortly. They did it while I was gone. Well, they were still doing it when I got home. I was just gone about 30 minutes.

We have Homeschool Gym today, so I think we’ll just stick with the 3Rs plus history (Story of the World).

Then we will do some Home Economics….. (homeschool lingo for ‘house cleaning’ )

I’d like to get in some Sign Language as well.

after all the homoeschool activities this week, that have left us to just sticking with the 3Rs, I look forward to a nice relaxing, scheduled week next week...

Once again we used the nanofictionary Cards for spelling/writing. They had 2 options.#1- choose one character card and one problem card and write a short story using those cards and your spelling words.#2- choose a different card for each word and just use that card and that spelling word for iindividual sentences.Gavin and Ki do well with these exercises. Connor always struggles withthem for a while, them gets really goofy.
Some Examples of their work:

The black cate ate enough brownies.
His WORD was 'enough', he choose the character "the blak cat" and his problem card was "someone ate the brownies"

The Ace pilot shot down eight planes.-
the word was EIGHT, the card was "the ace pilot" (they could choose 1 or 2 cards if they took the individual sentence route)

The snake with a great personality soughed off his skin.
WORD was slough
card was "the snake with the great personality"

The 3 wisemen argued roughly about something unimportant.
WORD was 'roughly' cards were "the 3 wisemen' and 'argued about something unimportant"

I am rethinking the wisdomof giving them 'slaughter' on their list.....
**Kimberly**~7th year homeschooling 3 boys~

IMPROMPTU SCIENCE FUN-links for stuff

I awoke in the middle of the night with the most excruciating head pain. I went to bed with a headache and couldn’t find the Excedrin and didn’t want to use my last Fioricet, so Ii took Motrin- which does next to nothing usually. So I awoke with what felt like my head being split apart with hatches. It was too painful to even cry or get up to get that fioricet.

So I awoke with a headache and will have one all day. I should probably see if I can get a refill on my fioricet. And maybe taking my innopran daily like I am supposed to, will help.

Connor was awake at 4AM (thanks to Soksey biting him) and did his reading then. I need to make a daily list for him to check off again. He likes that. So does Ki.

We started with Story of the World. We are reading about the Romans and the Punic Wars. Tomorrow we will be back in the Indus Valley, I think.

Then we read out of Jesus Freaks. Ki likes that book. They all do, but Ki is the reason I bought the book.

After those two books my throat hurt. I made tea.

I gave quick instructions for Brain Gym. I told them what to do for Criss-Crosses. Connor was in charge of Body Scales (my invention- not a real Brain Gym). I gave quick instructions for Elephant 8s. Gavin choose a body part for a few more Body Part Lazy 8s. Ki was in charge of Hook-Ups.

Then it was Spelling. It is activity day for Ki. He choose to do Crayon Rubbings for his words. The last few weeks he has been copying his words down incorrectly, so we had to fix a few.

Gavin, Connor and I went over their base word list and added all the other forms to make sure they had them all. Then they quizzed each other, because it took Ki FOREVER to do his Crayon Rubbings. His brain plays between each word I think.

When Ki was done he did some Brain Gym before math. He has trouble remembering his multiplication facts, so he plays a Beat the Clock game on the Leap Pad. He said 10 was too many, so he did 5 today. Then he did 4 problems in his Froggy Fractions.

I did a lesson on Polynomials with Gavin and Connor. Kids that want to grow up to robotic engineers need to have sharp math skills.

Gavin really enjoys the book I gave him to read. He’s been reading it through the entire day.

Connor gota gift in the mail from Grammy and Pappy. A big GEOMAG kit. 166 pieces! enjoyed playing with that. Ki, too. Connor lined up the connectors by color. The red and yellow lines were longer than the blue and green lines. So he counted a short line and counted the extra in the long line He still likes to sort, line up and count things. The boys get their engineer gene from their dad. I bet it’s a monogenetic thing.

Connor made a second worry doll to go with his Ninja Worry doll. They fight each other. The 2 dolls. The Bop-It…Bop-It GOOD! Some one sang a section of Whip-It…Whip It Good. and now every verb gets turned into the Whip It song….Bop It-Bop it Good. Fix it- Fix it Good. Eat it- Eat it good. Stop It-Stop it Good.

Guess what- pipe cleaners are magnetic and you can add them to GEOMAG creations! And the GEOMAG structures are more stable if you add the rods with correctly directed polarity. He made pyramids that seem to spin endlessly. They were cool.

I reminded G&C to spend some time on their DNA research so they read a bit and visited a website about a developing embryo- with videos and everything.

Ki and I read more about the people/culture of Central America. Ki watched animation about how the Panama canal works with equalizing the water kevel in chambers. This triggered an idea for a Science experiment.
A clear glad 4 C measuring cup
2 small disposable water bottle. The first with a hole slightly below the midpoint & filled with water. (plug with finger whole transferring). Place the filled water bottle (no lid) into the glass measuring cup. The water stops coming out when the bottle and measuring cup ate even. Next we did it with a water bottle that had a hole very low down, so the water level in the glass covered the hole almost right away and it continued to leak water until the levels were the same. We them dumped ALL the water into the glass and help the water bottle in the glass. The water went from the glass and filled up the water bottle until the levels were even, even when the hole was below the water level. It was fun.

From Jan 14, 2008

(I am posting past homeschool journals that I have forgotten to put here)
Here is alist of our spelling words this week and then a little about our day.

Spelling Jan 14
G/C words in black given today. words in red are planned alternate forms to be added.
Politics political politician
Preside presided presiding president presidential presides
Debate debated debating debates
Public republic republican publicly publish
Office offices official officially
Elect elected elections elective electoral


K
Elect
Public
Puppy
Puppies
Vote
Press
Voting
Victor
*office
*official

Though words are to written from memory, I will give a bonus word to G&C and offer 5 more words to Ki to better his percentage and then a bonus word. They like their bonus words! The 5 more words for Ki will be from last week and maybe a few altered from this week. I might do people, voted, victory, hero, person. Maybe his bonus word will be ‘selected’.

The boys wrote their words in their notebook, then wrote them 3 times to turn in to me. Then they donned coats and hats and went outside to play. They did their morning criss-crosses in the falling snow while walking backwards. I sat as the table by the window with a cup of chamomile tea and a everything bagel with honey walnut cream cheese. I try to avoid the actual walnut pieces.

If we lived here, we may end up being total, radical unschoolers. We’d be reading hermits. It is so quiet and peaceful. Brian’s parents live on 3 acres. A lot is wooded. Grammy keeps a lovely garden and keeps up her landscaping. I couldn’t landscape or garden to save my life, but I love enjoying the labors of others who do so and do it well.

I need to get my camera from the house and take some pictures.
Gavin and Connor built a fire in the fireplace this morning while I was still in bed. (They did ask first and I told them yes) So after my shower I came out to a nice, crackling fire! I could get used to this!

After the boys played a bit I read from Story of the World. We sat in front of the fire on the couch and chair. It was nice.

We are into the Roman Empire. We read about Romulus and Remus. We read about how the Romans took most of their ideas from the Greek via the Etruscans. And we read about some of the Roman names for the Greek gods. I then read about Ceres and Proserpine. And I recalled I knew the Greek name of Proserpine, but just couldn’t quite remember it. It was right their on the tip of my brain. Fortunately, the book I brought for Connor ro read was a book of Greek Myths (written for children). So I looked it up in there and found it. Persephone. (per-sef- o- ny I think is how it’s pronounced).

Connor decided to read that story, so Ki got his reading book. Ki is reading from a book called “Best Loved Children’s Stories” and he chose to read The Ant and the Grasshopper. Connor found a choose your own adventure story to read for the rest of his reading time.

3 parts

This is a LOOOOOOOONG blog........ just a fore warning. The first part is some more on how I schedule school. The second is shorter and a bit about how school used to be in the early years. Then the last is a list of memory/listening skill activities.

With my of my kids being sick, School is not quit happening this week. There is some, but not enough to write home about.

Hence, I am blogging about homeschool schedules. Yesterday I shared out general weekly school schedule. CLICK HERE TO READ.

Today I will fill in some blanks. As you see on the general schedule it just says ‘math’… or just says ‘Going Places’…. or just says ‘Spelling”. On Saturdays I write a one week detailed plan. It might look something like this:

MONDAY

9AM- Breakfast and read-aloud –Pilgrim’s Progress. Story of the World, Proverbs 12:22

Spelling- G&C –Copy words and write a sentence for each. Ki- Copy Words, Do crayon Rubbings of each word with textured letters. Manuel- CopyWork John 2

Massage with Manuel (who is Manuel?). My 3 boys read.

rest of School-
Gavin- 13 yrs old
1. Saxon Lesson 65, examples, practice +3
2.Critical Thinking 1 Mind Bender problem
3. Creative Writing Assignment

Connor- 12 yrs old
1.Going Places. Read Text pages 101-110, answer questions in complete sentences.
2. Online Science (cells) take notes in notebook.
3.Math Detective 2 cases

Ki- 10.5 yrs old
1. 10 math dice problems. Multiply Double Digit Dice
2. Beyond the Code-pages 6,7,8
3. Mind Bender

Manuel-
1. Miquon J-12, 13
2. Ingles in 10 Min/dia – pages 22, 23
3. Read

I can pretty much just write assignments down for my boys. Gavin and Connor can do most on their own. I flit between Manuel and Kiel.

And some days we just go on a hike and bring microscopes or we do science experiments. Some days Ki wants to write a story for most of the day.

When we first started homeschooling my boys were 4,6,7. We didn’t have much of a schedule. We mostly did science experiments, unit studies and projects. Almost everything we studies we had Lego Projects to go with it. We used Legos for math and sorting and classification. School was only a couple hours a day. Some school days were writing checked, paying bills, addressing envelopes, going to the post office, mailing a package, looking at the map to see where it is going, talking about who we know that lives there or if we have vacationed there.

Some school days were having them help plan a week’s menu, go through the kitchen to see what we had and help make a grocery list. Then go to the store and find things to go with our planned meals.

School was very free flowing and almost unschooled those early years. The schedules started to get a little more when Gavin was in 4th grade. And Ki still didn’t have much of a schedule at all. He often got to pick 3 school things a day and in what order he did them. I miss those early days. They were so full of learning and newness. I really think that unsctructured, quasi-unschooling is the way to go until kids are 8 or 9.

IN CLOSING- some activities you may enjoy-

Games to improve memory- ("her/She" is used, but of course is for ANYchild)



1.Play the classic simple game of Memory Match- with the cards that you have to find matching pairs by remembering what you have turned over.. but start with half the cards. Or 5 pairs- something smaller- with less to remember.



2. Play 'Repeat' – Tell your child you are going to play a secret game. A game with a secret word and she can't tell anyone else the word but you and she has a mission to tell you this word anytime you ask her. say a word (like 'cookie')and have your child repeat it. Have a secret code word that whenever you say, shge knows to say her secret word. Like whenever you say "poppadiddle' she says her secret word. . Tell her the secret word and have her repeat 5 times in a row. Wait 10 seconds –say YOUR secret word and have your child repeat HER secret word. Increase the time between "Secret Word". Go for 10 secind, then 15 seconds, then 45 seconds, then repeat it over and over and tell her you will ask her again in 5 minutes…… then 15 minutes…



Go as long as you and she want and have time for.



Later increased from 1 word to a 2 word phrase.



You can also use just SOUNDS.. have her secret word be the making the sound of a car or dog, or making the sound of a secret letter.



3. Play "Hidden Treasure" (do this outside, in the yard ot maybe at the park)—hide 50 cents. (or a plstic whistle or something small) Show her the money first. Then hide it. Tell her where it is. Have her repeat back where it is. Ask her to draw where is it according to what you have told her. Wait 20 seconds (OR however long you think would be good for her) then tell her to find the hidden treasure by remembering where you told her it was.



Gradually increase elapsed time and details of where it is hidden (like instead of "under the blue pillow on the couch" have it be " 5 feet from the cat's bowl"… or "turn LEFT at the chair and walk 3 feet then turn right and measure 18 inches"…



4. Play the word Card game (or picture card or number card).. have a card with a word/picture/letter, etc…. show it to her, have her tell you what it is. Then turn it upside down on the table and have her tell you what it is and turn it over to show her. Then wait 20 seconds and ask her what is on the upside down card. Turn it over to show her. If she got it correct, wait longer next time, if she got it wrong, don't wait as long for the next time.



5. Hand Letter- write the letter of the day on her hand. Frequently throughout the day ask her to look at her hand and go over the letter sound with her. Soon, JUST ask her the sound of the letter in her hand without going over it with her.



6. Put a little red X on one of her toes . Just one toe, either foot. Throughout the day ask her which toe it is (without her looking), then she can take off her sock or shoe, etc to see if she is correct.



7. "What's Next"



At the beginning of the day give her a small itinerary.



"after breakfast we will read a book. After we read he book we will go for a walk"



While you eat breakfast talk about what is next (the book) and what is after that (the walk). Then when breakfast is done, ask her what is next--- see if she can remember it is the book. If she can, ask her what is AFTER the book… the walk.



Increase your list as she gets better with it.



"what's missing"—have a tray with 3-5 items on it (unless your child can handle more). Take the tray away- remove one item, show the child and have them tell you what is missing. As you increase, you can have 10 things and remove TWO and see if the child can tell you both missing items….. (do this outside with things like rocks, leaves, seeds, flowers..)




"Sequence"—have 3-5 items. Call out the names of two items (make sure they are NOT next to each other) and have your child touch them (or pick up and place in front of them) in the order you called them out. Increase to saying 3 things in order, then 4 then 5…… We do this with letters and numbers and words, too. OR, instead of calling out the names of the items, have your child carefully wacth as YOU touch a sequence of items and then they have to touch the same things in sequence. (do this outside with things like rocks, leaves, seds, flowers..)




"What did I say"? Say a list of 3-5 words to your child and have her tell you the FIRST word you said. Make sure you tell her how to play the game first- tell her- "This is a game where I say 4 words and you have to tell me the first word I said." Then give her an example. "If I say the words 'cat, bear, cup, ball'- the first word I said is CAT- so that is what you need to say back to me." ---If 4 is too many, start with 2 or 3. (do this outside with things like rocks, leaves, seds, flowers..)




how to make a sandwich- Pick a task (making a peanut butter sandwich or making a bed) and have her describe EACH STEP involved. Write down the steps she says, then do them like she said them. So if describing a sandwich and she says- get out the bread and put peanut butter on it" you would get out the LOAF of bread and set the peanut butter jar on top the loaf- Then help her learn the specific steps in detail—you get the loaf of bread out of the drawer. Set the loaf on the table, open the bag, take out a slice of bread, put it on a plate. Get the jar of peanut butter out of the cupboard and put the jar on the table. Get a spreading knife out and set next to the jar, take the lid off the jar and set it down. Pick up the knife and scoop peanut butter out of the jar with the knife…."

Don't forget-- a GREAT way to engage them and to help them learn is to let THEM get a turn to be 'teacher'... let them hide something for you and give directions... let them have a tray of 10 things nad take 2 away for you to figure out..... let them tell YOU a word of the day for you to remember.....

this works great with ALL school... math problems, etc...

SPELLING FUN! 20+ ideas

These ideas are not 0only great for kids with dyslexia or other reading/spelling difficulties, they work well to enhance the learning of any child!~

Ideas for dyslexia letter fun-
Choose a different activity each day! (let your child help choose which ones to play)

1. Writing in a tray of salt, shaving cream, sand.

2. Use clay to make the word. Then make a model of the word. (make the letters 'c-a-t', then make a little cat from the rest of the clay)

3. Use finger paint to spell words or practice letters, alternate hands, spell with toes, use you nose!

4. Use dry erase markers on the window. It is perfectly safe and wipes right off and kids LOVE IT! (though you may want to test beforehand)

5. Before starting the writing or spelling lessons, have the child make large infinity signs with their finger or on the chalk board. Have it so they cross the infinity sign in front of the middle of their body. (Brain Gym Lazy 8s)

6. Use plastic textured letters. Have the child hold one letter at a time to get used to the feel. Have them close their eyes, place the letter in their hand (the correct direction/position), have them figure out what letter it is. After they can recognize the shapes well, hand the letter to them upside down or backwards. Then do the same with simple words or sight words. Hand them the letters all at once, (while eyes are closed) have them figure out how to lay the letters in the right direction (not upside down or backwards) then open their eyes and move the letters ion the right order to make the words., when they can do that, have them figure out the words while their eyes are closed still.
Some kids with dyslexia often see words in jumbled order or letters backwards, upside down. It helps when they can recognize letters and words no matter what direction or jumbled order they are in. It helps the brain learn how to process the information.

7. Games like Scrabble and Boggle are good. But with your own rules or none at all. For Scrabble, get a list of words, set aside all the letters that go to those words, have your child spell the words out on the Scrabble board and find the best way to organize the words to get the most points. For Boggle, you may want to spend the first few times arranging the cubes to make sure there are some easy words there. Show the words to your child and have them write the words down. My middle son likes to arrange the tiles to make words and have me find the words. Then we make silly sentences with his words. The next time have them find the simple words (you previously arranged). Eventually you will be up to playing the game by the real rules.

8. The tiles and cubes can be used without the board. get letter tiles/cubes for an ending ( __ a t ) and take turns placing different tiles in front to make new words. Make 'cat', rat, bat..... Then ask "Which letter gets changed if we want to make 'bat' into 'bag'?" or “which part of the word gets changed; the beginning sound or the ending sound?” Don't ask what the new letter is yet, just work on having them identify which letter (beginning, middle, end) is different. You can tell them it becomes a 'g', if they can't figure it out yet.You can do this on paper, but the act of picking up and exchaging the letters by hand is great reinforcement for their brains! combining phsyical with mental helps to cement concept in the mind- check out this book- Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head by Carla Hannaford

9. HOPSCOTCH- Make a Hopscotch board (with chalk outside or colored paper inside, each sheet a different box). Write a different letter in each square. Have the child call out the letters or make the letter sound as they jump along. Use all vowels, or random letters. It's fun to use for spelling words, too. You can change around the amount and layout of the boxes to fit what you need.More mental+phsyical.

10. Throw/bounce a ball back and forth while you take turns spelling out words. Or Have the child bounce the ball to himself (against a wall or on the ground) while they spell out words. More mental+phsyical. I try to use both when I can , esp for my son with SID/Dyspraxia.

11. Spelling words-Use Index Cards- use 2 cards for each word on the list. write the word in all lower case on card #1, write the word in ALL CAPS on card #2. Use the cards to play "Memory Match". My son also likes to play other games. One is "Five in a Row" I put out a row of 5 cards and he picks up the words as I call them. "Make a Sentence"- Put out 2-4 cards (start with 2 and work up). Have your child think up a sentence using the cards. To put less stress on them. Both of you think up sentences for the cards. Another one we play is "Pick Up". I layout 6 cards and say four of them (making sure they are not in order on the table) and he has to pick up the cards in the order I called them. You can start with 3, or even 2 if needed and work up to 6 or more. click here for more WORD CARD IDEAS. this post is 2 yrs old, but Ki still used Word Cards

12. Write/draw on each other’s backs- have a guessing game. Keep score, if you want.

13. Make a photo/word book. Make words PERSONAL. Take pictures of your child’s mom, dad, pet, car, van, etc. rite the words LARGE under each picture (one per page). Take a picture of the STOP sign on your corner…….

14. Let your child use one of those Magnadoodle boards or a large dry erase board.

15. Use beads. Have the child line the beads up to form letters/words.

16. Grab Bag Spelling. Use letters (tiles, plastic, written on seperate pieces of paper) for their list of words they are working on learning. Get one brown paper bag for each word. Number the bags. Put into each bag letters to make one word. Write down which word is in ech bag for you to check them. Give them a sheet of paper and have them take the letters out of each bag (one at a time) and arrange them in the correct order. They can write the word down on the paper or just tell you.

17. Write individual letters on index cards (or squares or paper). Scatters the letters for a word on the floor. Have them use their toes to put the letters in order. For more advanced- use letters for TWO words or just add extra letters that do not belong in the word.

18. Make your own crossword or wordsearch or other words puzzles online. Print them out for your child. I use this site= PUZZLEMAKER

19. Teach your child the alphabet in sign language. Use this to spell words. (more physical reinforcement- plus b, p, d aren't similar and therefore confused) ASL ALPHABET CHART ASL ABCs COLORING PAGES ASL Alphabet Font for printing worksheets

20. WORD SHADOWS! fun for older kids, too! check it out!

** from our Occupational Therapist- Spelling. Write each letter of the word on a separate 2-3" square of paper. Tape them out-of-order and jumbled on the wall about a foot above the ground. Have child be barefoot and 'crab-crawl' to point to the letters in order (pointing with their toe)

OBSTACLE COURSE & semi-unschool

It's been a good week so far- Yesterday's blog........ Monday's Blog. Lots of pictures this week, so far!

I don't really unschool. I do have 'unshool days'...and 'unschool moments'...

 

But I also have structure and rules for the kids to follow. I guess I might call it...."relaxed, child interest guided ecclectic school with therapy"We started the day with an obstacle course before Breakfast.

 

Jump over then boxes leading to the wheelbarrow, zigzag the wheelbarrow around the boxes – there and back.

 

 feet together hop over sticks.

 

one foot jump through ladder rungs.

 

 walk the beam

 

 

 crawl under the table

 

 

do 3 figure-eight loops around the chairs.

 

 

balance and count to 10

 

 

Breakfast was waffles. Gavin diced strawberries and added a little sugar. BACK outside for crisscrosses and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. (with water)

 

SPELLING- G&C had to write variations for their words. So for evade- they wrote evading, evasion, evaded…. These variations were added to the list of words they will have to write on their test. The write all their words from memory. I don't say them for the boys to spell.

Ki played a toe touch game. I wrote the letters for his words on pieces of paper. Lay them on the floor out of order. He touches them with his toe in order while spelling them out loud. Half way through he decided to add a couple extra letters that aren't in the word and he had to find the correct letters (or figure out which didn't belong). This used both sides of his brain I am pretty sure (esp since he thought it fun to alternate which fot he used each letter) and using both mental and physical together is great for cementing facts and great for his dyspraxia.

Then Ki worked on writing a story. He likes to write stories with his words. He choose this activity. I asked him what he wanted to do with his spelling words today.(that's my semi-unschool moment). I added the toe game, because I know he needs stuff like that for his dyspraxia, dyslexia, SID.

 

Gavin and Connor wrote 10-15 sentences with their words.

 

 Ki choose to write in his story instead of read.(another semi- unschool moment..LOL)

 I sometimes allow that. It's good for kids to get some say in what and how they do some things…sometimes….. but it's also good for them to learn to follow the instructions of those in charge of their welfare, even if it is boring- after all- that's pretty much how life is …

The first school sessions are the ones that are something to write home about…… the rest is pretty boring… like last time. like usual… not much therapy or fun ways to teach going on the rest of the school day

GAVIN- 1- Switched On Schoolhouse- History (we only use the history- it's not great, but it's more of just something to do and maybe learn a bit at the same time) 2- Review Math Lessons with mom

 

CONNOR- 1. Going Places- reread story and draw 5 sequence pictures.(Connor asked to drawthe sequence pictures from his Cat Warrior book, I let him) 2. two Math Detective Cases 3- Online Science

 

 Ki- 1-Beyond the Code. 3 pages 2- Miquon F-45,45 J-13

Manuel- 1. Ingles in 10 Minutos 2- Miquon J-6,8,9

No real links this time, folks....sorry...

PUZZLES & SCIENCE

I slept in this morning. I had a headache.

We did some chores around the house to get ready for Breakfast. Even Manuel did work. Connor and Gavin made Breakfast.

The school day started with Brain Gym. With my headache, I put the boys in charge. Ki led Criss Crosses, Connor led Body Scales (these are not a Brain Gym activity. It is a sensory activity made to help Ki's dyspraxia.). Ki always wants to lead these, but I only can let him lead them if I do a round first. (to make sure it gets done as needed to work, LOL). Manuel led Lazy 8s with arms. Gavin led Hook Ups.

I made word worksheets for Ki while they did this. I used Puzzle Maker(free to use website) and plugged in Ki's spelling words for this week. I made a word search and a crossword puzzle with his spelling words.

During Brain Gym., I also used Babelfish to give Manuel his writing assignment. Babelfish is a free language translator online. Id does dozens of languages , but it's not perfect. You have to think carefully about your wording. If you type. I was right (meaning correct) it will translate the ord RIGHT ad the directional word. (right or left). So I have to think carefully about how to word things. and sometimes it's still a bit off, but if I use the correct wording it does a good enough job that Manuel can understand it.

After Brain Gym, I gave the boys their writing assignments. They had to choose an event from a short list I provided, as I have learned long ago, an open ended choice leads to 3 hours of trying to decide for my younger 2. They had to write a list of what happened in order. Gavin needed 25 things, Connor 20, Ki 15. Tomorrow they will turn their list into a story. I will Ki make a comic book story- less words, yet he gets the story writing concept. They all wrote more than needed. The seemed to enjoy iy. I had Manuel write 10 sentences about going to Danny's house on Sunday. (The boys' friends). Ki also choose their day at Danny's house.

Manuel was done first. I found a book with instructions on dinosaur origami. I started with the easiest in the book. The dinosaur snapper head. I helped a lot with the first time. He thought it was SO NEAT that flat paper made a 3-D toy! So we did another one, with him doing most of it. Then he did one all on his own. Connor loves these snapers and son all the boys were making them.

ORIGAMI ONLINE FOR KIDS

Link to Video of Connor folding Dinosaur Snapper

Then it was time to do Manuel's therapy and my boys to do their reading. it keeps them occupied and focused while I am off with Manuel.

That brings us up to lunch.

The rest of the school day will be boring to report. Miquon, Math Detective CD, Beyond the Code, Ingles in 10 Minutos, Online Science Study.

I put the online science studies together for my boys. Here is the CELL one that Gavin just finished.

Lesson 2 Cells

Go Here- read, take notes, explore-

http://www.tvdsb.on.ca/westmin/science/sbi3a1/Cells/cells.htm

Click on the link for Unit Membrane- Read and click NEXT to get to the next page. Continue this. Some pages have little animated diagrams with a PLAY feature. Make sure you watch them.

At the end is a quiz, Take it. Record your grade- Correct if needed.

Click on the Studying Cells Tutorial-

read, click Scientific Method and read.

List the 7 steps in your notebook.

Click- Size & Biology Read

Click Major Events Read

Click to Test yourself

Click on each of the 4 areas to test. record your grades I your notebook.

NEXT- Go the following Site- http://www.cellsalive.com/cells/3dcell.htm

Read, take notes, follow links

GO HERE- http://www.cellsalive.com/gallery.htm

Read and explore

NEXT URL- http://library.thinkquest.org/3564/

CLICK ON LESSONS- Do one at a time, starting with the first- Take all of the quizzes and record your grades in your notebook..

CLICK ON VIRTUAL CELL LINK- Explore- Click the PLAIN links and watch.

NEXT URL- http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/science/sciber00/7th/cells/sciber/intro.htm

Read, take notes, don't do the Enrichment Links

PROJECTS to DO-

http://library.thinkquest.org/19037/making_a_cell.html

Aspergers-Therapy-games-school

Tuesday May 1, 2007

It’s almost National STAR WARS day!!!!

Once again, the boys took to digging their underground house before breakfast. School didn’t start until after 10. well, the ‘in class sitting down’ type of school. It is good that they were digging before school. The physical work is good for them The brain needs the body to work. Learning is more complete when both there is physical activity, too.

We started with Brain Gym and drinking water. Manuel was able to do the criss-crosses much better this week! Connor is just an annoying little goof. He ended up doing extra Brain Gym because he was just playing around and being so silly.

Then we went over Spanish/English words and phrases. The boys enjoy quizzing each other. My boys say a word in Spanish and Manuel says it in English- and he says an English word to them and they have to say it in Spanish. Manuel is much more wiling to try English words for my kids- then for me. I guess it’s less embarrassing to mess up with other kids than with a ‘teacher’.

We didn’t do spelling today. We did story writing. While Manuel read with his foot propped up, I did a little lesson on time sequence in story writing. I told them what it means to tell a story in sequence of events. Starting with the first thing that happened and moving on…. to the end. First I told a little story- part of it. I said something like”
The alarm sounded early in the morning. With my eyes still closed, I rolled over and turned it off. I took a deep breath then opened my eyes. I went to brush my teeth and hair. Then I got dressed.
I then asked the boys questions about what happened first and next and last. Connor didn’t do well. He just sat there. He couldn’t figure out what happned first and next. Kids with Asperger’s often have trouble with time sequence and with his bothers jumping into to answer he just sat back. So I directed some questions to him. Just for him and was detailed and tried to lay things out in for him. He did better that way.

Then I gave the boys a list of out of order sentences for the next part of the story. They had to put them in order. Then they had to write 5 more sentences to finish the story.
Here are the sentences they had to put in order:
I followed the drops into the kitchen.

In front of the fridge I found a bone.

As I stepped into the hall, I noticed drops of blood.

I picked up Soksey.

Soksey was eating a chipmunk by the door that leads to the garage.

Ki wrote 3 sentences (I told him he only had to write two or 3). He made them out of order for ME to figure out.

He had”
 I put Soksey outside. ( Ipit sokey ot siid)
 blood fell on my shirt (blod fal on my shrt)
 Soksey brought a bird in. (Soksey brot a bord in)

Connor wrote:
“Soksey had 79, 258,010,236,547,721 chipmunks. It took me 79, 258,010,236,547,721 seconds to count them. Soksey was very happy. The lanet exploded. Then Soksey was sad! Soksey was sadder than me because he lost 79, 258,010,236,547,721 chipmunks.”

He gave himself a HUGE RED A+

Gavin wrote:
“But he didn’t like it when I picked him up, so he bit me on the hand. I yelled and dropped him. He finished eating the chipmunk. Then I closed the door and locked him outside, but before I could close the cat door, he came inside. He ran under the bed and took a nap. I made breakfast and woke the boys. They ate breakfast and we started school. Soksey woke up and tore up the school books. We did a little work on blank papers. We made lunch and ate it.”

Then it was time for Manuel’s therapy and the boys did their reading while I took care of Manuel. After that I wrote a list of schoolwork for the boys and took Manuel to Taco Bell for doing such a good job with his therapy this past week or so.

I really enjoy spending time with Manuel. He opens up and tries hard to learn English and also to explain and teach me Spanish when we are one-on-one. After taco Bell we went to a School Supply Store. They had one of those 9 tile puzzles with a split picture on each side and you have to match the tiles…. B-Dazzle Puzzles
He loved it. He would get it almost done and the last 2 or 3 wouldn’t match up and he laugh about how easy it looks but it’s really very difficult. The he’d rearrange them and laugh when the birds had 2 heads… picture is link to website. bdazzle-



I finished my purchase and we stopped by the dollar store in search of index cards, to no avail. So we went to the little coffee shop to do sit and do his schoolwork. They had one of those triangles pieces of wood with the pegs that you hop over each other and try to get one peg left. I taught him that he really enjoyed it. He played it over and over and over. He got one left a few times and would say “YO GANA!” We worked in his Ingles in 10 minutos a dia book. We read outloud back and forth and he wrote things out.Then we did math. I couldn’t get him away from the peg game… I told him if hw could win again (one peg left) he’d not have to do his math today…LOL. He had 3 left…


so I used the pegs to demonstrate the math concept. having groups og 4 or 6 pegs, tmaking equal groups, taking one of the groups away, etc... He couldn’t get it for awhile. I finally was able to make him understand the problems. They were problems like:

½ X 6 = 6 - ?

he didn’t understand ½. I went over and over it, with pictures, and using the pegs showing that ½ is the same as 3/6 (and 2/4 and 4/8…) Finally we stumbles upon the word medio… and I finally got him to understand…medio de sais = the same as 6-3…. He finally caught on. He was getting confused my the word HALF.
He is great with math as long as there is only an equation on ONE side. So we are really exercising his brain here. Teaching different ways to see things. I wrote out a few more problems and he did great.
½ x 10= 10-? ½ x 6= 6-? ½ x 50=50-?........ etc.. I think I had 7 for him.
So I moved onto ¼ x 4 = 1 out of the group of 4 pegs…. same with 1/3 x 3 =1 of group of 3 pegs… THEN we went to 1/3 x 6 =2 (if you double the 3(6)- you double the answer of 1 (2). so he was able to get the answer to ½ x 12 = ? just by seeing to double the answer again.

We finished. He played the peg game again and won. And then said that because he won, he doesn’t have to math tomorrow…LOL. We’ll see….

Ki didn’t have his work done, but I knew he wouldn’t. I sat him in my lap and we worked on it together and he did well.

Manuel rested with his leg elevated (it is still swollen) and watched Star Wars 2.

Connor was asleep when I got home. and still coughing. I bet his antibiotics aren’t working… I’ll have to take him back to check in a day or two (he has one more pill left) And I think he has impetigo. He is a face picker.. a scab picker.. he used to have open sores all over his face until he was 4 or 5. He doesn’t scab well, so wounds stay open for a week often…. anyway, he finally got out of the face picking habit….. until he had chicken pox two months ago… now he has open scratches on his face again and can’t keep his hands off….. just another autism issue…

THAT’S IT from me today! it’s TACO TUESDAY here!

Double Doodles

I have nothing to post from Yesterday- so here is a post from March-

Double Doodles is an activity where you draw the same thing with both hands at the same time and they are mirror image of each other. It's good for getting the eyes to work with the brain and getting both sides of the brain to work together at he same time. It is a Brain Gym activity.

here is Connor-

Here is Gavin-

The Schoolroom after school today- we all cleaned up well today.

Here is Ki writing his story yesterday-

Connor and Gavin writing their spelling words yesterday-

I need to get another ball or two. Ki uses the ball for his OT and They all like to sit on it for school.