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.

language arts & dyslexia

This is a NanoFictionary story Ki wrote. I corrected a few things in blue-

There is 2 xplorers they persuwtid [parachuted] there cars out of there
plans [planes]. Then they ran in tow ech other on the shakes remote islandand died the snake uyuy whitnis [witnessed] it all and they ware naver seen oh gen [again].

BOOKS BOOKS!

I bought graphic novels for the kids to read. I know; “Graphic Novels” make them sound like smutty books. No, I did not buy Smutty Books for my boys. They are comic books, but in a book format (a novel) instead of the comic book type book. The ones I bought are based on the kids’ cartoon Teen Titans. Ki loves them! Ki is my slow reader. Reading is a lot of hard work for him due to his dyslexia and SID and dyspraxia. So these short portions for reading are good for him. He has been reading a lot this trip. He even asked me if I had another book for him to read!

I’ll be stopping at Barnes and Nobles in the next big town to see if I can find some more graphic novels got Ki (and his brothers)

☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺

Yesterday while I was sitting in the van at the gas station, the boys all went in to use the restroom. Apparently, they took in some money and bought snacks. Ki bought Jolly Ranchers for himself. He bought a bag of Swedish Fish for me. I thought was sweet of him to use his money to buy a snack for me. I never would have done that for my mom or dad when I was a kid. He is just so sweet and thoughtful; such a HUGE difference than who he was about 6-9 yra ago. He was so angry and full of rage and violence. He’d bring papers home from Sunday School with Jesus and the sheep colored as covered on blood and killed. Sometimes Jesus would have a sword and all other people on the coloring page were bloody. It’s been a long road and lots of therapy, but he is doing so well now.

☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺

I need some Shut Eye. My Fioricet makes me sleepy.
☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺☺♥☺

I bought books. Lots. 2 Graphic Novels for Ki (Avatar cartoon). For Connor, I bought 2 Cat Warrior Graphic Novels and the Next Cat Warrior Hardback (next for him and fairly new, as the paperbacks won’t be out till Nov.) HE was a little concerned about the price since it was only available in hardback so cost more than the paperback. I told him not to worry about it. I bought “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” for Gavin. C&K were in the store with me. I wanted to get Holes for Gavin. I thought Connor would like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It seemed his kind of writing. I guess he and Ki both liked it, because they said I had to get it for Gavin. Hmmmmm….. maybe they hope to read it next. As soon as we got in the van Ki and Connor were reading their books. Gavin was on the cell phone with his best friend back in Ohio.

* I bought To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. She wrote The Doomsday Book, which is one of my favorites.

BEANS

He was doinghis Online Aleks math. He had a problem he didn't quite understand (even though we have done them before plenty of times in the winter this school year)the problems were a feaction times a whole number.....
2
6 X 42 = _____

Connnor said. "That's easy Ki. Just divide 42 by 6 them times it by 2"... all those numbers being spoken confused him. Connor hadhim do it on a calculator....42 divby 6 time 2.. which gave him the correct answer.
then he did another on his own and got it the second try. I think it was 3/4 X 12.

So I got out the beans, empy egg carton, pen and paper. I wrote a 36 at the top of the paper and numbered the sections in the egg carton (1-12). I told him to count out 36 beans (into the lid).then I told him we were going to seperate the beans into groups. I wanted him to seperate the beans into 6 groups (egg carton sections). He did.
6 beans in each.

So I wrote the fractions 6/6. I asked him how many of the 36 beans do we have if we count all 6 of the 6 groups? he said 36. so we wrote 6/6 x 36=36 and said 6 of the 6 groups of 36 beans equals 36 beans (we taught early on that the times symbol is like saying OF- it helps that way). I reminded him that the bottom number of the fraction is the number of groups we are using.

So then I wrote the fraction 1/6 X 36. (remember the 'X' is 'of') so I said "1 of the 6 groups of 36 beans = how many beans?"

He knew. 6.

so I wrote the fraction 3/6 X 36= and asked him how many beans in 3 of the 6 groups of 36.he got it. Then I had him redistribute the 36 beans into 9 groups. and we did the same thing with the fraction 2/3 ( 2/3 X 36 =?)Then he used 24 beans. and I wrote a couple problems for him for his 24 beans.
2/6 X 24= ___
1/8 X 24=___
2/3 X2 4=___
he used the beans and put them into the correct number of groups and figured out each of them. He said he knows how to do but doesn't think he can explain it. Tonight I will have him 'teach' it to his dad.

The sad thing is I have done this same activity with him previously. Ki seems to lose information that isn't used weekly. I can't have him review all his school every week. The memory issue seems to be part of Sensory Integration Disorder (I didn't know my times table by memory till high school and even then still had to count out a lot in my head for multiplication). I read somewhere that a 'normal child' may need to repeat/review something 10 times but a child with SID can take over 50 times of review before they remember it... something like that. I wish I could find the website that has that information

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~

Fictionary

Spelling is a dull dry subject for my boys. And a frustrating one sometimes. So it is the subject I try to be the most creative in planning.

we have the game nanofictionary . It is a card game that has Character cards, Problems, Resolutions, settings.. and some action cards (like steal a setting from someone else, etc).It's a fun story teling card game.
You draw cards and collect the elements if your story. The first person ready gets extra points, (then 2nd gets 1 less extra, 3rd gets 2 less......), but you get more points for having extra characters and stuff... so you could be ready last and have as many points as the guy that is ready to tel his story first.

I seperated the character chards out this morning. The characters are things like:
The evil twin
a black cat
FBI agent in disguise
mad scientist
senient broccoli
the guy that says DUDE
The 3 wise men

The boys are to draw cards at random, one for each spelling word- and made a sentence with each word/card combo.They are in thhere laughing and making up sentences right now.I have a sore throat. Gavin and Connor took turns with the morning's story reading for me.

Ki did extra sentences. He seemed to like this assignment.
**Kimberly**~7th year homeschooling 3 boys~

Game Show Spelling

(from Jan 11, 2008)
We do a sequential type of spelling with the older boys. For some reason it just confuses Ki.Anyway, we did something a little different yesterday and they seemed to like it.

I always start them on Monday with a small list is words and we build on them throughout the week and by Thursday they have about 20 words.Normally they write them all from memory (as opposed to conventional spelling where the teacher calls out one word at a time and they write it). It works well. They actually improved when we switched to that way.BUT- Here is what we did this time:Monday the base words were
people
popular
populate
vacate
locate
solve
resolute

they had to write each word 3 times and think of 3 alternate forms to write down. They wrote: vacated, solving, location, locating,solves.

Tuesday I went over the words and added a few. They wrote 10 sentences and used 15 words (as many alternate forms as they could think of to use)I have them think of the other word forms on their own and they figure out how to spell them and we go over them.

Wed- I listed all the forms they had come up with and corrected any spelling. (they got almost everything correct) Then I added a few more forms. And I had them look up definitions to a few words and write the whole list correctly in their notebooks.I think our list by then was:
people
popular, unpopular, popularity
populate (s) (d), populating, population, populations, repopulate, repopulating, repopulated
vacate (s) (d), vacation (s), vacationing, vacationed
locate (s) (d), location (s), locating, relocated, relocating, local,
solve (s) (d), solving, solution, resolve (s)(d), resolvin
resolute(d), resolution (s)

Thursday-we spelled words using sign language. I do a few with them and then they quiz each other while I do sign language withKi's words.That was all pretty much the same as always.

Friday's test was different.Gavin slept in, so I started with Connor. I said the word an he had to finger-spell (sign language) to me. When I got to 15 I told him that he had 13 out of 15 and asked if he wanted to keep that score or do more words to try to better his percentage. but if he missed them he'd lower his percentage.
It was kind of a Game Show Flavor... "Do you want to take the money you already won or try to move up and earn more at the risk of lowering it"

He liked that idea. I'd ask him at each word if he wanted to stop now with what he had or go for one more. He stopped at 19 and didn;t miss anymore, so we figured out what his percentage would have been if he had stopped and how much better his percentage was now. Then we worked on a bonus word. I helped him figure out how to use the words in his list to help him spell 'revolutionary'.

I did the same with Gavin, he thought out the risk of doing more words more than Connor did. He figured put 'revolutionary' on his own so he got more bonus points.

Ki finger-spelled his words to me and asked for a bonus word.Just thought I'd share our 'game show risking more points' method. My boys love to watch those shows, where the contested is asked is he wants to walk with the money or risk losing it to make more.

**Kimberly

To School.... or NOT to School......

My youngest is the most unschooled. I should have seen it from the beginning. When he was 3 he counted to 3, when he was 4 he counted as high as 4. When he was 5 he counted all the way to FIVE! I asked him when he was going to count all the way the higher numbers. He told me:"When I'm six, I'll count to 6. When I'm ten, I'll count to 10. When I'm twenty, I'll count to whatever that number is."When we started homeschooling he was almost 5. He told me he wasn't going to learn or do any school until he was 6. 'SIX is the age to start school. I'm not 6 yet, so I won't do any school yet. I will when I;m 6"...and he did (and he decided to count all the way up as high as he could, not JUST to 6"When he was learning to ride his bike and had training wheels he could ride without them the summer he turned 6. You could tell because the training wheels never touched the round. He refused to take them off though. He told me "I'll take them off when I'm 7. 7 is the age to have training wheels off. I'm not old enough yet." The first nice day after he turned 7 (it was rainy, I remember because my husband hated waiting to take them off when he knew Ki could do it already), he told us it was time to take the training wheels off because he was 7 now. and he rode off down the street just fine.He has always made his own school schedule and decided what games to play to learn spelling words. I started spelling words with his bothers when they were 5th and 6th grade and he wanted to try as well, but he made up how he wanted to learn them. He makes up part of his own spelling list.I dont think there is anything wrong with teaching my kids what I want them to know along with them learning about what they want to know. I guess that keeps me from being a full unschooler, it also seems to keep from fitting into any other type of homeschool group, LOL. But I don't like to have a method/label dictate how I should do things. So I do the parts of it that I want and not the parts I don't want.my boys are working on some independent research right now. they choose their subject and I have a few requirements. (they are making Power Point Presentations- I figured it went with their interest of robotic and computer engineering type stuff). Ki (11) decided to do a puppet show as part of his research project. He decorated the couch and did his first act last night.

I am not a total UNSCHOOLER. I am more of a....."Child Interest Guided relaxed Eclectic with some unschooling tendencies" I think as the parent it is my responsibility to make sure my kids learn certain things. But I donlt go by what texts or reports or curriculum tell me they need to learn 'this school year'. I use their interests and needs. Like they older 2 are interested in Computer/Robotics so I teach them thinks like math and PowerPoint and brian teaches them computer programming. Gavin and Ki had lots of dyslexia, so I use certain techniques with them. A special Spelling program. I am not interest in spelling tests or how well they do on spelling tests, but the program is great for teaching kids with dyslexia decoding and word roots and foundation. WE choose what they learn, but we make our choices based on their interests and needs and with their input of what they want to learn.--Kimberly the partial unschooler7th yr homeschooling 3 boys

ASL spelling meltdown

We use sign language with our spelling list. We fingerspell the words and we learn the signs for some of the words. 1 or 2 xs a week we have ASL class with spelling words. We start by doing the alphabet together, twice. I use both hands, sometimes they do. I will have everyone's words on the dry erase board. And I call on the kids and tell them to spell a specific word. They are to use their hands AND their voice. So they are using more than one part of their brain simultaneously. It enhances learning when they can use multiple areas of the brain or multiple ways of thinking at the same time, esp when they use both sides of the brain at the same time.

Anytime you can something physical to something cerebral it enhances learning,
Today, we did the sign language alphabet twice,then they took turns fingerspelling words. After that I would finger spell one of their words and they'd have to figure out which word. and I don't do it nice and slow....

Then Ki did GRAB BAGS! a brown lunch bag for each word. the lunch bags are numbered and inside are plastic letters (or letter tiles or squares-of paper with 1 letter each). He dumps out the letters in the bag, unscrambles them to get one of his spelling words. He lists the numbers on a piece of paper with the word from that bag next to it.

he had a little melt down half way through. he was SURE a word was something different. it was the word 'fart' but he was SURE it was 'fatten' because the 'f-a-t' came out of the bag first, so he was trying to find the missing letters and wanted to go through other bags and through the pile of letters he has already done and had them all jumbled...... he got pretty upset when i had him put all the letters back, remove all the letters he has already done and LOOK AT the letters from that bag. He get saying it was SUPPOSED to be "flatten"! (yes, 'fart' is one the words he chose himself this week)

he finally got through them all. and I did joint compressions with him and had him do wall push ups.

Spelling went well

finally, a school day post-

With Brian off work and all the running Ihave been doing- we aren't on our list and schedule fully. But working toeards it.

I am getting a cold and feel miserable. Ki is, too , and had me up a good part of the night. So I slepy in till 9:30.

The boys did their morning list- gavin didn't do his all the way. No TV for him today. Well, unles Brian get home from his errand and outranks my decision.

I did spelling with Ki. We went through his list and spelled his words in sign language and I taught him the word signs. This combined both the body and the mind- for more complete learning. So when I do the word sign he can spell the word. If I sign spell he makes the sign and tells me the word.He has to say the letters as he signs the letters. It seemed to go very well!

Then Connor and I had a dentist appointment. Brian had the boys making lunch when I got home at noon. Though they just had breakfast at 10. But when I ask him to make sure they get breakfast or lunch while I amout- he doesn't-- yet he makes them when it's not needed. Lunch 2 hours later is a waste of time. I think Gavin was happy for a reason to piddy and not do work. He is not in my good graces today. I don't know why I even bother ding school when Brian is home. He messes up my plans, takes the kids away from their classes, lets them do whatever........

I sat down with Ki and showed him how to compare fractions... to see which is larger... is 5/7 larger or smaller than 8/12?.. that type of stuff. So he is checking the work he did yesterday. His dad just siad "do this page" and didn;t sit down with im or explain or anyhitng. He volunteered to do the math and asked what they were doing. I told him. You need to sit down with him and go over how to do it. He didn't. Gavin had to copy terms witht heir deffinitions and all Brain had him do was read. So we are doing the same math today as they did yesterday!

The boys did their reading. Connor did some simple Leap Pad stuff. Gavin spent some time with Ben's Guide to US History. Online.

I took a long nap, my cold is getting worse.

Pre-Writing Skills -

These next few post are from 18 months ago on my old homeschool journal. I just thought I'd share them:

My best friend was telling me how she is concerned about her son. He is almost 5 and she says there is NO WAY he will be ready for Kindergarten this fall. (Idon't think he's as far behind as she thinks) She doesn’t homeschool and, honestly, she is one of those people that shouldn’t homeschool. She said she had him sitting at the table with paper and pen working on writing his name and he was crying. I told her I’d help her out. I know Ethan and ‘normal’ schooling of ‘sit and fill in this workbook’ are NOT going to work with him at all. So I have typed out 4 different lessons (each will take 2-4 weeks I bet) for her to use with Ethan. I’ll share them at the end here. I am having her use a few things I learned from my Brain Gym book. Ethan is one of those boys. Young, immature, ACTIVE, ‘his own person’, not super socially interested in things….. I have 3 kids on the autism spectrum and Ethan reminds me a bit of my kids, but I really don’t see anything abnormal in him. I would say his actions, behaviors are low on the ‘normal’ spectrum, but he’s not quite on the autism spectrum side. (of course, I'm just a mom, not a professional..) BUT I am afraid the school system will be very quick to label him with lots of things.

So here is the first sheet of lessons I made up for her to do with Ethan. I am having her start at the very beginning of writing basics. You have to learn to balance on your skates and to just skate forward without falling long before you learn to do those fancy flips on the oice.


Lets start with the basics. For the first week, we’ll practice “o”s. They seem overly simple, but proper ‘o’ formation is very important to proper writing skills. A proper ‘o’ is formed by starting at the 2 o’clock position and making a circle around to the left (counter clockwise) and ending back at 2 o’clock. Set a timer for 15 minutes for each day of practice. (remember, when I say ‘you’ I mean you and Ethan usually)

Ideas for O Practice. Do # 1-3 on the first day. On the second day do a short review (make sure to do Lazy 8s) and move to #4-5. Day #3 start with Lazy 8s and then move to #6.
Stay with each task until they seem to get it. Continue #6 a couple days, always start with Lazy 8s. Then do #7 for a few days, always start with Lazy 8s. (always do all circles and Lazy 8s in the counter clockwise direction)

use a 12” measuring stick and attach 2-3 feet of ribbon. Use your ribbon stick to draw LARGE ‘o’s in the sky. Make them BIG and always make them in starting at 2 o’clock and going counter clockwise. You don’t have to stop between each “o”, you can make continuous loops. Also make figure 8s that are laying down. (Lazy 8s- like an infinity sign). Go in the same direction with the 8s as you did with the Os.
make “o”s on each other backs. (always from 2 o’clock and around to the left)
Finger paint ‘o’s, use a salt tray or a shaving cream tray. (always from 2 o’clock and around to the left)
NOW get out a clock or a picture of a clock face. Find 2 and start there. Trace around the edge of the clock, counter clockwise, ending at the 2. Do this until the child can start and finish without help. (always start with Lazy 8s.)
Have the child trace a large circle on a piece of paper or chalk board. Have the clock picture there to use for reference. Have them find what would be 2 o’clock on their circle and make their Clock Os. (always start with Lazy 8s.)
on blank paper, make continuous loops (in our Clock O direction). (always start with Lazy 8s.)Finish with clock Os.
Use wide lines (about 8 inches apart) for the loops. Each day decrease an inch in the distance between lines until you can get to 3 inches apart. Stick with that for a couple days. always start with Lazy 8s.


*other ideas.. use cooked spaghetti to properly form the O. Use playdough snakes, use a shoe string. At mealtime, have the child make a ‘clock O’ on their plates. Put a thin, long (3-6 feet) rope on the ground and have child walk the LARGE O, starting at 2 O’Clock. Use that long rope to make a Large Lazy 8 for your child to walk. Ask your child to think up other ways to play Clock Os or Lazy 8s. Lay on the floor and make big clock Os and Lazy 8s with your feet. Use dry erase markers on the window, use your finger on the bathroom mirror after a shower. Have him point out Os in a book (when you are reading to him or without being read to).

*Make sure you sit with your child and do the activities with him. (ie- make your own twirly stick, have a clock face for both of you and do together…..). AND if you gather the needed materials and sit where he can see you and just start doing things yourself, he’ll probably come over and ask to do them, too. I use this trick to get my kids to do lots of things. They can’t stand it when it looks like Mom might be having fun without them.

Use these activities to count out loud with your child for added scholastics if you want.

*******http://www.braingym.org/******

FUN THINGS (carnival)

So, I hear the Carnival Topic is FUN. I have no NEW FUN as I have been battling pneumonia recently. So I bring to you OLD FUN! Here are FOUR old posts and link and descriptions.


Sometimes FUN is just letting the boys make their own waffles for breakfast, or deciding to go for a Nature Walk or play at the park. Making our own Obstacle Course is Fun. We have FUN doing Science Experiments together.

MATH DICE- Ki likes this best. He esp likes when I just tell him to think up 10 Math Dice Problems and he can choose anything he wants. He knows that I won;t allow anything too sipmple. Like 4+3=7.

Here is the Scoop-Sometimes we use dice for math (and grammar, but that's a differen post)

Here are some pictures of our math dice.

These are 10 sides dice with another 10 sided inside.(the '0' is the '10') So if the outside lands on 6 and the inside is 3, the number is "63" They use 2 or 3 of these and add, subtract, multiply and sometimes divide. usually I use the 3dice divided by a 2dice

The top 3 dice here have 3 inside. These are the ones we use for dividing. There is also a 6sided inside of a six sided in the picture.

Here are our fraction dice and our math operation dice. Also shown are the decimal dice. Sometimes we use both types together and they have to change the decimal to a fraction or vice versa.

These are our 12 sided, 10 sided and 8 sided. For when I want them to have numbers bigger than 6.... or 66...

Here is an example of double 8 sided and the operation dice....

A more simple math sentence with dice......

and our many 6 sideds... I often just tell them to use 3 to make the BIGGEST number they can and then 3 to make the smallest number for subtraction (usually Ki) or division (the other two)

Here is a game we have played a couple of times. I think we need to make it a once a month fixture in our schooling. It was so much fun! Make sure to check out the videos!

DICE of FORTUNE

we played ---- Dice of Fortune (think - Wheel of Fortune)

Use 2 dice. Each dot is $100. So if you a 2 and a 4, you get $600 per letter. Vowels cost $300. (it is a one time per turn fee, so even if there are 3 a’s, it is still $300). Snake Eyes is Bankrupt. Double 3 are ‘lose a turn’ (but keep your money) and double 6s are -$500.

Use white board for the puzzle. Draw boxes and fill in (not turning anything like Vanna yet).

Keep Score on the window. Put a piece of white poster board on outside of windows to make the dry erase marker show up better. I couldn’t find poster board, so I cave them each apiece of colored paper and they kept their own score- which was good- they had to do math.

A $500 bonus for solving the puzzle.

We had a lightning round at the end. They eached guessed 2 letters (for a total of 4) and they each rolled one dice to guess a 3^rd letter and got points for it. Connor guessed the vowel. Then I added one letter at a time until someone guessed it and got $1,000. Gavin guessed it with very little letter showing.

Too bad it wasn’t real money….

here are vidoes.... there are a lot of videos--- jut choose what you want to watch, I dont expect people to watch all of them... Double Click Them

Connor won- he had the most points. Gavin was stuck on werid letters. like W and H....

Lapbooks are fun, too.

Ki’s LAPBOOK

Ki and I made a lapbook for CINCO DE MAYO. Gavin and Connorteamed up to make a lapbook, too, but i don't have their pics yet.

here are thepictures for Ki's:

they liked the stickers that are like a wild party

we cut the bottom velcro in half so we can open the book. The marker helps keep it closed.

opened we may add more things later

POCKET GAME POUCH

3 games

match the Spanish Written with the numeral. We used magnets

BOTTOM FLAP (under yellow game pouch)

TOP FLAP-

midsection next to yellow game pouch-

SKATEPARK SCIENCE
We have a nice skatepark close to our house. During the school year it is great to go there and play or learn about physics becuase it's EMPTY!

(fall 2005)

You can read about our GREAT 1st day here: Skateboard Day We spent the afternoon at the skatepark making cars and testing them and riding scooters.

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...

FUN VIDEOS and pics of science!

The only reportable events from yesterday are the Mentos Experiment and the fact that we were given a pop up camper trailer. It sleeps 8 and has a fridge, stove, sink….. The man is a friend of my husband and was thinking of asking $100 for it but decided to just give it to us. He said his family got more than their money’s worth out of it and hopefully we will get lots of fun, too.

MENTOS:


Gavin-
SODA BOYS & MENTOS

Add to My Profile More Videos

Manuel-


Today we watched a few videos of the Metnos Experiment and read an explanation. So now we know ways to make our Mentos Experiment better. We will try it with diet coke and Mentos nd also try it with salt. I think I will assign the boys the task of figuring out how to implant a delayed trigger (like on the videos- whish are AWESOME and linked at the end of this blog)

And Manuel was singing a Tobymac http://www.tobymac.com/ song. He only knows 2 lines and slurs the third line all together. It’s funny because he only speaks Spanish (he does know a handful of English) and he has no idea what he’s saying. He sings “Shake it---Don’t break it….” the next line is “took your momma 9 months to make it”- but he can’t quite say that line.
He calls the Tobymac my “CD Muy rapido”


Soksey brought a bird to us. I guess he thought we were hungry. I really wish he’d eat what he kills

Ki got a 95 on his spelling test. I told him to study his words, he did, said he was done studying. I asked if he was sure, he said yes and told me to ask him his words. So I did. He spelled them all except for one. I gave it to him again and he got it correct. I figured he spelled them for me out loud and it counted as his spelling test. He missed 1 out of 10- then corrected it and got it right- so I gave him 5 points for it. Told me had a 95%. Later I had him spell a few words with his feet; using his foot to ‘draw’ the letters on the ground. I think I’ll add that activity to his spelling routine- It will be good for his SID.


After that, Ki made French Toast. He made the batter and made his French Toast, then the other boys cooked theirs. Ki helped Manuel with his.

Connor finished book 5 from Cat Warriors.
CatWarriors Barnes&Nobles




His reading has gotten so much better. He’s been able to read since he was 4 or 5 (it’s hard to tell exactly with autistic kids). He was always able to read on grade level. but he was very, very slow and had very poor retention and comprehension. I changed his Language Art program around _I stuck him with a reading program that was 2 grade levels lower than his reading level- but on his comprehension level. It is a Silver Burdett book and workbook-Going Places) and I added lots of things like doing puppet shows, dioramas, drawing book covers, etc… for each of the short stories. And now he just ZOOMS through books on his reading level with great comprehension. He thought he couldn’t read this book 5 on the 3 weeks you get from the library- so he bought the book. He read it in 6 days.

Ki has started reading ‘real books’- no longer those 10 words a page kindergarten readers. He wants to read the Cat Warrior books, too. He reads the titles (this book is called ‘The darkest Hour’) but he can’t read much more. He has read a couple other books that are about 3rd grade and he reads a passage here and there or bigger books.

This is why I don’t force my dyslexic kids to read 30 minutes a day of books that are a bit too hard. I do not push at all. I let Ki read simple Dick and Jane type books over and over and over and over and let him progress when he was ready and wanted to. same with Gavin). and it happens. One day (towards the end of 4th grade, they just decide they are now ready to go very simple Kindergarten pre-readers to reading on level AND the WANT to.. They are excited to read, they have the desire. I know they wouldn’t have the reading desire if I was continually pushing them to read before they were ready.

Today was spelling tests and math tests and Science Experiments. For Math tests- well, lately I have the older two doing Saxon- but JUST the examples and practice problems for that chapter (and make up 3 of their own problems), so I decided on Fridays they will do the Problem Set at the end of the last chapter they did.

I’ll grade them later- we’ll see if this works.

We did more science fun today. Last night I put a little water in one of the 2Liter bottles and topped it with a balloon.

I put it in the freezer overnight. We took it out this morning. The bottle was sucked in on the sides and the balloon shrivled. it's hard to tell with the small picture- but the ballon and bottle are both shriveled.

Then we put it in a pan of water and watched the balloon fill with air as the hot water melted the ice in the bottle.

a little more air into theballoon


enough to make it stand upright!


a little more air.....


It's getting quite full now...


The balloon at it's max. Though I think it would have gottenbigger once the water IN theballoon boiled.

At the end the bottle itself was swollen with air so I turned off the stove. I didn’t want it to explode.
Not sure if you can tell, but the upper portion of the bottle is expanded and fat with air. It was bulging quite a bit.

Then we did the Ghost in a Bottle trick…. Here is a poor video. You can’t see the coin hop- but it does. You can hear it.


It does tiny hops as the ghost is trying to escape. Freeze a glass cola bottle (we used IBC) then take it out the next day, put a drop or two of water on the rim. Put a coin on it. As the air warms and tries to get out, it pushes the coin.

URLS for cool Mentos videos!
MENTOS & COKE

MENTOS & COKE Holiday


MENTOS & COKE Dominos


DON’T Do this one at home- but neat to watch- MENTOS ROCKET