Thursday, September 1, 2011

Another crazy day, but we did manage to get all the book work done. We started the day as we always do with Choices and then speech. After, Luke worked on his Abeka curriculum and we used manipulatives to cement the basic addition concepts he is learning. Our math manipulative box is really nothing special, just a box of number magnets with operation symbols and some dollar store creepy crawlers. We also practiced patterns by putting the manipulatives in order, like snake, spider, lizard, snake, what comes next. We also practiced the concepts of same and different, big and little, etc. For phonics and handwriting, we really only did his Abeka. We did, however, create monsters with the fuzzoddles he has and we made up a story to act out with them. We also read the first book in the Bob books set. He read the entire book alone. I am not sure if he has memorized the book or truly knows the words though. Will need to make some flash cards to ensure that he really is reading the words and not just memorizing the book. Luke also played with his cousins Peyton and Sophie again today. He attempted to teach Peyton how to play nice with our pets and we all went to dinner together, where he practiced eating right, using good table manners, and communicating his needs effectively. He rode with his grandpa to and from the restaurant and grandpa said they had a nice conversation about police officers and their jobs. He stated that Luke worked really hard to pronounce words effectively and he was able to be understood.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Today, was not exactly a typical day, probably will need to review what we did today tomorrow. Today, Luke went to Choices for his three hours of behavior management and social skills therapy. He also worked on handwriting there as well. Once home, he was given the opportunity to practice everything he had learned as his cousins, ages 2 and 1 were staying with us for the day. He helped watch the little ones while I made lunch. They played with his trains and he attempted to teach them how to share, not an easy task. Peyton, his two year old cousin, sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and I had him pick out the rhyming words for phonics. We used skittles and created patterns and talked about what color should come next. He used pretzels at snack too to show Peyton how to make several letters. We did do his Abeka phonics, handwriting, and math, but he was very distracted with it as Peyton did not nap with the baby. Not the most productive day as far as book work goes, but definitely taught useful skills that Luke needs to perfect.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Today was not a typical school day by any means. Today, Luke had to go to the neurologist in Oklahoma City. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to drive each way. Instead of losing a school day, we decided to make the most of it and have a field trip/car schooling day and it was quite productive. On the way to OKC, Luke used his leapster to practice math and handwriting, watched a phonics video and read a couple of books with his tag reader. Once we arrived, we had to wait about 15 minutes and he used my iPhone and utilized both the montesorri spelling and math app. While in the doctor's office, he practiced talking in turn, listening, and following directions. After this, he had to get blood work which usually would have thrown the whole day but he did very well. Once we were done, we took him to lunch where he practiced ordering his food, eating carefully, and using good table manners. After lunch, we went to the Science Museum of Oklahoma where we spent 4 hours playing and learning. Here are some of the things we did.

He and his dad built and raced lego cars. Luke's car kept winning and his dad had him show him what he did so his could win too. This was physical science and critical thinking at its finest. He also had to teach his dad how which aided his self esteem and made him feel like he was a winner. There is nothing better than that!

After this, we played with several other toys that all taught us about physical science. Luke made a path from sticks and pipes and then put marbles through it to see if it would land in the basket. He became frustrated after several attempts and we explained that he had the angle off and once he changed the angle it worked. He thought it was awesome.

The coolest part of our day came at the end. Luke loves trains and spent several minutes staring at the train table. The person in charge of the exhibit called him over and invited him into the control room. He explained about all the different types of trains, how each train moved with electricity and explained what a conductor was. He allowed Luke to be the train controller, blow the whistle, stop and start trains and even change out some of the trains. Luke had a blast!

On the way home, Luke played with his tag reader some more and pulled out the old LeapPad we have and played some games. All in all, he had a very good, but exhausting day.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Today was a full day for us. Luke started the day at Choices for 3 hours of behavior management, social skills therapy, and some tutoring. He then went to speech with Sara and was happy to see her. After he made it home, he watched the Abeka video and completed the lessons in math, handwriting and phonics. We then made more playdoh and he practiced forming letters with it. We also played a math game which he had a great deal of fun with. After that, we watched Word World and Sid the Science Kid on PBS. We did an experiment with foods that rot. Thankfully, we had a banana that had done just that. He drew a picture of it in his science journal. For art, we made objects out of playdoh. Here are the additional resources Luke used today.

Friday August 26, 2011

Despite of Luke's ear infection, today was a great day. Luke is still having some discomfort, but he was able to get a good amount of work done, even though we weren't exactly back on schedule. For math, Luke used his hands on Match the Number Counting Center from Lakeshore Learning. This center provided him with number recognition review, adding and subtracting practice, and handwriting and sensory stimulation with sand paper number cards. It also allowed him to both see and create math problems which has been extremely helpful in the past.

For Phonics and handwriting, he used the learning letters activity kit from Lakeshore learning. This kit let him create each letter using playdoh, practice matching the upper and lowercase letters, sorting letters by upper and lower case, and we played a game with the letters to review his letter sounds. He got all but 6 right. This was also a very sensory stimulating activity. In addition to these activities, Luke practiced his calendar skills by using our magnetic calendar. We reviewed the days of the week, talked about the weather outside, and talked about concepts like yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We also talked about how many days are in a week, month, year.

Luke also practiced life skills. He helped me clean out the refrigerator, he took out the trash, mopped the kitchen and dining room floor, and helped dad with dishes. Each of these tasks will help Luke someday be able to care for his own home and therefore, I deem them quite important.

Our school day is pretty much over but Luke is currently playing LeapWorld, an online game developed by LeapFrog to help children with all areas of learning and problem solving. I believe this is very much a school activity and problem solving skills are part of his IEP, therefore, I am allowing this to meet a small part of this goal.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Today, Luke was still feeling yucky so school was mostly educational television and dvds again. He watched the first episode of Liberty's Kids- a cartoon about our break from England and the U.S. becoming a nation. He seemed to enjoy this and when we talked about it, he only wanted to say that he thought being a blacksmith would be fun so might have been a bit over his head, but I think it is good for him to have exposure to history. He also practiced rhyming as we played a rhyming game I made up. We listened to School House Rock and a LeapFrog CD while he rested and I worked. He also watched several episodes of Sid the Science Kid. We talked about growing and getting bigger. He pointed out that his cat Sheldon has grown a lot. We did watch both a math and phonics dvd. The math dvd, Math to the Moon practices skip counting to 100 and the phonics dvd, LeapFrog Talking Words Factory gave him some practice with building words. We did no book work today as Luke just wasn't up to it.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

School officially started Wednesday for our public school schedule (which is only 171 days I might add), thankfully, we started on the 15th with our daughters private school. However, my blog did not start then so I hope I will be allowed to count those days. Wednesday started with a hitch. An ear infection completely changed our plans for Wednesday. Luke has been feeling quite icky and just wants to lay around. Therefore, instead of attempting book work that most likely wouldn't be comprehended due to his pain causing more sensory issues than usual, we decided to lay around and watch educational videos and television instead. We started off the day with a Growing Up marathon on Animal Planet. This show follows the development of baby animals. As we watched, we talked about things like conservation and extinction and what we can do to help. Luke immediately decided a pet lion or a pet lynx would be a whole lot of fun, so we talked about why wild animals are in captivity and what they need to live long and productive lives. He then reasoned that if we all had animals in our home, they would be extinct just like the dinosaurs and mammoths. We then listened to our Math U See skip counting cd and watched Leapfrog Math to the Moon. It is probably a little to easy for him but I decided it didn't hurt to review already learned material. In addition to this, we watched several episodes of Word World and while he chose not to use his moveable alphabet to build words, I think it still provided some educational value. While today might not have been as productive as many days we have had in the past or will have in the future, Luke still had the opportunity to learn. I am choosing to count this as a school day because in the public school, the day would still count, he would just be marked absent for being sick. Here, he was sick, but he still had an enriching day full of learning opportunities. Today we worked on numerous IEP goals. Luke practiced counting and skip counting to 100. He worked on putting the phonetical sounds together to create a word. He worked on conversing with me and sharing his opinions and listening to mine. Overall, for a sick day, it was quite productive!

To Infinity and Beyond... A Homeschool Journey: Education is not filling a pail but the lighting o...

To Infinity and Beyond... A Homeschool Journey: Education is not filling a pail but the lighting o...: Isn't that so true? As a parent and a teacher it is so easy to fall upon that which is typical for our public school system. In school, ther...

Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire. ~William Butler Yeats

Isn't that so true? As a parent and a teacher it is so easy to fall upon that which is typical for our public school system. In school, there are facts to memorize, tests to take, and even teachers feel the pressure test scores present. Because of this, it is far easier for them to lose sight of the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is not to be a good test taker, or atleast it shouldn't be. It is the job of parents and teachers to teach the children to think for themselves, to explore, create, and grow, to love learning. This cannot be taught through tests or memorizing facts. The answers cannot be given freely. Instead, we must teach the child to find the answers, encourage him to create his own opinions, and give him a hunger for knowledge. We all remember things better when we have the desire to learn, kids are no different. I can still remember cramming to take a test, just to forget everything I learned the moment the bell rang. This is not learning. Learning requires active engagement. It requires a desire for knowledge. This is what I hope to teach Luke. The answers are great, but how to find them is so much more important.

My educational Shadow

Yep, I have one of those. She is responsible for showing the Department of Human Services that I am homeschooling properly. I homeschooled for nearly ten years without any issues whatsoever, graduated one child with honors, and my second child successfully tested well above grade level when she tested for the school she attends now, but apparently, when you adopt from DHS, particularly a child with special needs, they see fit to harrass you and make demands in hopes that you will place your child in the corrupt public school system, rather than effectively meet their needs at home. I know not all social workers are like this, but I know the ones I am working with are. They made it clear from day one that they objected to my decision to teach my children, even before Luke came into my life. They placed a clause in our adoption agreement giving them the power to watch over his education to ensure I met his needs. This clause has become a royal pain in my behind because I know that Luke is not best taught with books. He needs a great deal more. Last year, we used nothing but books so we could turn our progress in, but there was little progress to show for all the work we did. This year, we will use some books, but we are adding in so much more. This blog will provide me with a way to keep track of what we are doing and it will hold me accountable and allow my shadow (a teacher who is aiding me in providing accreditation) to see first hand what we are working on.

The journey so far

Homeschooling has definitely been a journey with a great deal of ups and downs. I started homeschooling back in 2002. At the time, I was mom to two daughters who were in kindergarten and 4th grade. Back then, we were totally school at home homeschoolers. We sat down with text books and basically pretended we were a school. A whole lot has changed since then. Our daughter Jess was diagnosed with ADHD and we realized that school at home just didn't work for her and became a little more relaxed. We also added to our family through adoption. It wasn't exactly the plan for us to bring home a child with significant special needs and a toddler at that, but thats exactly what we did. In 2006, we brought home a 3 year old with intense issues stemming from abuse, neglect, and a multitude of learning disabilities. Since, we have received the dreaded autism diagnosis, along with a few others RAD, ADHD, PTSD, SPD, etc. In 2008, our son Luke was officially adopted and in 2009, our daughter Kara graduated high school as a homeschooler. Since she has went to cosmetology school and is now a liscensed cosmetologist at just 18. Our daughter Jess is a ninth grader this year and for the first time ever is attending school at OBA. Our son Luke homeschooled last year and will be my only child at home this year. I think that might be good for him as he needs a great deal of one on one. So that is the journey up to this point. Join me as we embark on another adventure: homeschooling a child with autism. This one scares me a bit. I worry that I don't have the skills to teach a child with special needs. I worry that maybe Luke cannot learn. I worry that he will lose important social skills by homeschooling. However, I do know that school didn't work. We tried that and it was a miserable experience for both of us. I know in my heart that even if Luke never reaches the goals I have set for him that he will be happier, more emotionally adjusted, and more capable individual because we homeschooled.