Friday, December 4, 2009

Homeschool Highlights - Week of November 29, 2009



Days 55 - 60


*Note to self:  I don't know why I continue to track our days.  Our state requires 180 days of instruction.  Hubby and I made the executive decision that we will probably choose to homeschool all year around

I realized that some may wonder why I include children's church, King's Kids, and other activities as school.  Since my daughter still has sensory and separation anxiety issues, I attend all of these things with her.  I am not only her mother, but her 24/7 educational/social aide.  Overprotective?  Yes, I admit, but I feel like I am forever educating people on celiac disease, food allergies, and learning differences.  There are still many activities my daughter can not do, or must do differently.  How on earth do you plan for all this?  I'm sure most people think I'm totally insane!

Last week for example, the kids were making a paper chain to decorate the church.  However, they didn't glue or tape the chain together, like I always had as a child.  They had pre-cut, pre-pasted pieces that you had to lick to stick together.  Ugh, that's a no-no for celiac!  Envelope glue contains wheat, so I'm assuming these did to.  That was easy enough.  I wet a paper towel and Shayla was able to join in the fun. 

The same day they were supposed to design something perfect using playdough.  Shayla loves playdough, we use it all the time, BUT, again, the playdough you buy in the store or make at home contains flour, flour is wheat.  Not safe for celiac.  I don't have a problem with Shayla playing with regular playdough.  We use it at home, because she is at the age where she does not typically put her hands in her mouth.  And I tend to remind her once.  After clean up we immediately go and wash her hands. 

Back to this week!

Sunday:  Children's Church.  Living Inside Out:  Starquest Program. 


Shayla must be improving in many areas.  I thought it was going to be a recipe for disaster, but she handled herself well. 


This week was not like any other.  Michele, the children's church leader was called into worship to play piano.  Her daughter and helper, Abby, was called in to lead the praise team. Shayla adores both these gals because they have a good control over situations and that is really an important security issue for her. 


 And there were SEVENTEEN children in the children's church room.  Ages from 1 to 11.  Normally small children and babies make Shayla nervous because she associates them with crying.  Crying hurts her ears. 


We quickly came in and she took her seat.  I could tell she was very uncomfortable with her back turned to the small children who where playing with toys on the floor behind her.  She was probably worried about getting whopped upside the head with one of those annoying, noisy toys.  Anyway, since she was on the end of the table, I asked if she would like to sit on the very end so she could face the children.  She liked this idea.  She was able to do her papers without incident like this. 


Phys Ed:  We played outside for quite a bit of the afternoon.


Working on self-help/life skills:  She made peanut butter crackers for hubby's snack and folded wash cloths and dish towels and put them away.  I've learned to give up my perfectionist tendencies.  All the ritz peanut butter crackers were "inside out." And never mind how many verbal lessons I had to give on folding the squares.  Top to bottom, left to right.  Instead, praise, praise, praise.  She was using her hands and building her self confidence.  As an additional bonus, while she was working beside me, she was not making another mess for me to clean up.

Monday: 
Fine Motor/Christmas/Math:  I'm so tired of real school.  It's not as much fun, so we got out the playdough and made many creations.  Then we made simple addition and subtraction problems with playdough cut-outs.


King's Kids Program.  Seeing increased self-confidence.  More facial expressions.  Again, she is walking across the room and throwing away her trash at snack time and trying to complete the craft by herself. 


*Note to self:  I started Shayla on Super NuThera supplement today.  This is supposed to be the gold standard in ASD vitamins.  We'll see. . .

Tuesday: 


Reading:  Finished reading The Sheep Mess.  This is the last book of Series 2.  Shayla also earned another circle for her caterpillar.  On the circles, I write the names of all the books she has read aloud to me.  This is a good visual reminder for her.


We finished up the phonics review workbook we had been working on.  Instead of jumping into the Abeka (because I want to use the language, spelling, reading programs together), I am having her work on a packet of workbook pages each day from various workbooks.  Some are even preschool level, but it is good review for her. 


Continued working on the All About Me section on Starfall.  She did the section Where Do I Sleep?  She is enjoying making these stories about herself.



Math:  Calendar:  Each month we change our perpetual calendars and talk about special dates coming up.  She also enjoyed playing the virtual calendar at Starfall








Exercises:  We enjoyed the unseasonably warm temperatures for an Ohio day, on December 1.  Just the usual stuff.  Shayla has really come to enjoy the outside time.  Luckily, we have been able to go outside everyday since we began the brain balancing program!  I do have backup plans, though, because it is OHIO!





We use this board to practice balancing skills.









Writing:  We will be finished with badge 4 this week.  She has been counting the days since she mailed in for badge 3. 


Exercises:  No I didn't forget that we did that already.  It was such a nice day that we spent another half hour outside exploring and playing.

Reading/Art:  We started a small unit study for Bible - letter T.  She learned about trees.  I read A Tree is Nice and she made this tree craft with paint and tissue paper pieces. 

Wednesday: 
Exercises:  We snuck outside today before the 3 inches of rain we're supposed to get came.

Reading:  Shayla started with series 3 readers today.  She was in for a surprise!  There was a big difference between level 2 and 3.  There were more words, the print was smaller and was not in bold type.  Still she did great!  I think this boosted her little ego even more!

Writing:  Finished up Badge 4. She gets the rest of the week off from handwriting.  LOL!

Scouts at Home:  We have neglected this this year.  We are starting to work on the Puppets and Plays badge that we started on previously.

Thursday: 
Reading:  Shayla enjoyed reading her reader to Dad today. He was also impressed by how well she is coming along.  It boosted her little ego even more, if that is possible.

Writing:  Shayla recited all of Badge 4 for family members.  We addressed the envelope and sent off for badge 4 today.  She gets the rest of the week off of handwriting. 

Unit Study Day:  We did a one day unit study on Letter T.  It was a fun break to do a unit study.  As usual, we had lots of hands-on fun!

Friday: 
Nothing noteworthy. 

To find out what other homeschoolers are doing, visit Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

3 comments:

Tonya @ The Traveling Praters said...

You do such a great job! I love reading about all the neat things you do with Shayla and it makes me wish mine were small again. Blessings!:)

Calina said...

Thanks for the encouragement and commenting, Tonya. Many days I feel like I'm not doing enough for her.

Yes, I'm trying to enjoy Shayla. She's the baby. My girls are each 7 years apart, but I don't think we'll be doing that again. LOL!

Calina said...

Tonya,
I visited your blog (love the new look). I tried to leave comments after several posts and it wouldn't allow me to.