I was able to make our school lessons fun this week by doing some hands on learning.
We worked on our Colors & Shapes Brownie scout badge here. I love incorporating scouts into our 1st grade curriculum. It breaks up the everyday of homeschooling. It really teaches many things, including social studies and science. If she's really into it, we take a longer time and study that badge more in depth. We also go to a weekly girl scout meeting with a troop, but as with public school, it is mostly just crowd control time. Shayla is so busy watching the others around her, that I don't know how much she actually takes in.
Last week we did a literature based unit study, Peter Rabbit. We haven't done one of these for awhile. It was fun to do one of these again, we used to do one each Friday. We also worked on Letter I. From insects to icicles, to Isaac and infinity. And lastly, we worked on self-esteem last week. Which is probably an underlying cause of Shayla's selective mutism. For more on these, go here and here.
What are you doing with your kids? For more ideas go to 5 Minutes for Special Needs and Proverbs 31.
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5 comments:
Homeschoolers get my vote although I'm far too feeble to do that myself. Interested to read about selective mutism as we have a little of that going on here from time to time. I'd be interested to learn what tactics you have, if any, that you'd be willing to share.
Best wishe
Maddy,
Most anyone can homeschool. I think it's just an extension of your parenting. I love being able to help her where she's struggling, to be the first to see her read, to explain things to her so I know she is understanding things, instead of being rushed through to maybe catch up later. I love being able to praise her for her accomplishments and shelter her from the cruelty of kids that might make fun of her. I know I can't shelter her from every situation, but I want to help her confidence and self-esteem before turning her into the world. Kids can be so mean!
We did try public preschool and several programs that our local school district offers. I found that she was so distracted by everything going on around her (sensory overload)that the other kids were done with the paper by the time she wrote her name. Knowing this, I think we accomplish much more at home. Besides, I'm sure that after attending school all day, they would send the undone papers home to be done during our family time. No thanks!
So far my efforts at working on her selective mutism is not working. It's downright frustrating! She speaks fine at home, but outside of these four walls, not a peep! Her last year of preschool, she went to school the entire year and didn't speak once to anyone - including me (at the school!)
Another thing I find is that there really isn't much information out there for helping your child suffering from selective mutism.
I'm trying to be optimistic. I was an extremely shy child. I remember having to go to speech therapy myself because I would only whisper when called upon in class. One day I just came out of it.
Thanks for participating this week. I hope you have a wonderful and productive week.
She did such a lovely job on the mobile -- what a fun project to work on! :)
~Michelle @5MFSN
It was fun to read about your week! I'm not sure if you would be interested, but Kris @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers does a Weekly Wrap-up every Friday/weekend. Just thought I'd throw that out there!
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