Homeschool Highlights - Week of March 16, 2009

Days 126 - 130 (Only 50 more days of 1st grade for those that are counting down with me!)

Writing: Shayla finished Badge 1 of the Hide the Word in Your Heart Club! I showed her how we address an envelope. We will send it off this afternoon! You can see how proud she is!

Learning Through Play: We have not been playing as much as we had, so we played Fisher Price Memory Doctor today. It's a simple version of a memory game.

We also played a simple game. I take three cups and put a candy or something underneath one. Then shuffle them around. I'm trying to get her to track them. I think this would be good for visual processing disorder. Ok, ok, here, I don't know what it's good for, but it's just plain fun!

We went on a "magic carpet ride" through the house. I hope she enjoyed this one because it will probably be her last, she's getting too heavy to pull! As I pulled her through the house we discussed things we saw. (language, imaginative play). I got this idea from the Toddler Activity Book by Trish Kuffner. Even though Shayla is approaching 8 yrs. old, she still enjoys the activities in here.

Reading/Phonics: Shayla was becoming frustrated with the Abeka 1st grade reading and phonics program, although I thought she was doing great. So, I backed off the past two weeks. The first thing I did was changed our schedule. We would only do reading or phonics daily, not both. It simply took too much time and frustrated her. The second thing I did was have a game week.

We played Boggle Jr. She really got into this. She was even doing the four letter words correctly and before the buzzer went off. Then each time she "got a new card," she counted all the cards (math).

We spent time making words out of these magnets. This reinforced the blends that we have been working on with the Abeka program.

We spent time at Starfall. If you have not checked out this site, you don't know what you're missing. It's a great free reading/phonics resource for preK-early elementary age.

Social Skills: We attended Kings Kids Club at a local church. I was very pleased with Shayla today. We arrived early so we played with toys in the nursery until the kids came after school. During this time she got so involved in playing that I think she forgot where she was! She was making noises and laughing out loud! She wrote her name on the attendance sheet (a first)! During song time she did remove her fingers from her ears briefly. She also participated in the song movements appropriately today! (Also a first) She removed her fingers from her ears for storytime and snacktime. She also ate her snack today, which she had not been previously doing for awhile. She also used a spoon to eat her rice cream! Yay, Shayla!

Social Skills: Scout troop meeting. I was so pleased with Shayla, she broke away from not only me, but her older sister as well. Christy broke the scouts into their respective age levels. Morgan went with the cadettes and Shayla the Brownies. They were discussing different ideas for community service projects. Shayla did sit there with fingers in her ears, but by golly, she sat there and listened to all the kids. Yay!

*Note to self: I suggested the cadettes do something for the local crisis pregnancy center because many classmates at their public school are pregnant. If this idea is not accepted by the troop, we may do something independently.

Scouts at Home: We're continuing work on the Creative Composing badge.

Art: We learned about color patterning and made a Color Patterning Caterpillar for her art book.

She also colored a picture for a coloring contest.

Science: We have been reading about different classifications of animals. Today we learned about reptiles by reading library books and doing several worksheets.

We also studied amphibians and mammals this week. We read library books about some of her favorite mammals, such as elephants and giraffes.

Music & Movement: We danced and followed directions to Hap Palmer's Learning Basic Skills Through Music - Vol. 2. We have homemade manipulatives to go with these songs. They are great for listening and following directions.

Field Trip: We attended our local theater for the Children's Theater Foundation's presentation of James and the Giant Peach. Luckily, we had watched the movie several months ago, otherwise it probably wouldn't have made much sense. My hubby, who hadn't watched the movie before was clueless.

We also started using Kids Making Music. We talked about how the body is the best music maker. We made noises like clapping, slapping, snapping, etc. I hope to use these sounds to bring her out of her SM shell by making verbal sounds BEFORE whispering or speaking.

Phys Ed: Lots of outside time to enjoy this beautiful weather and 70 degree temps. It probably won't last long, around here!

Homeschool Weekly Highlights - Mon. Mar. 9 -

Days 121 - 125

Writing: Shayla completed writing out Psalm 23:1-6 and John 3:16-17, and John 1:12 for part of Badge 1 requirements! She can recite the verses from memory, too!

She will send off for badge 1 next week.

Speaking of badges, I ordered and received her Brownie try-its this week. She has earned nine badges so far (8 at home and 1 with her group), but she is motivated to start work again, because she loves badges right now. (Scouts at Home)

I actually got them put on her sash before we worked at the cookie booth sales on Friday, yay!


Scouts at Home: Told you the badges were motivators. Both girls started badgework this week. We started on the Creative Composing badge. I'll post more about this later.

Math: We watched Learning Treehouse Addition DVD. Practiced addition flashcards and used various manipulatives (m&m's, etc) with addition and subtraction workbook pages. She seems to be understanding addition and subtraction a little better, but still not memorizing any facts!

Language: Adjectives. We're reading Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood. Each page describes how the child is like an animal. We made our own version of the story. Here's what we came up with for Shayla:

I am as

Shy as a turtle

Quiet as a mouse

clever as a fox

mean as a shark

grumpy as a bear

playful as a puppy

fast as a bunny

wise as an owl

pretty as a butterfly

tough as a rhino

wild as a monkey

gentle as a lamb

lazy as a lion

busy as a bee

Morgan taught me how to use Google image. I made pages by saving black & white cartoon pictures with the words we chose. Then she colored the pages and we made it into a book. It turned out so cute.

Spelling: This weeks list is short o sound words. Thus far, she has been able to correctly sound and spell each word the first day of the week.

She loves to practice her spelling words when she can use sidewalk chalk.

Reading: She is continuing the Abeka 1st grade reading curriculum. But we have split phonics and reading up. She is only doing one or the other in a day.

Another helpful hint we've been using lately is a tip that I got when I suspected that Shayla had dyslexia. Most days, it appears that she doesn't have dyslexia, but some days, like today, she struggles and rubs her eyes, gets i's and l's mixed up, as well as b and d, p and q . *Interestingly, I've had problems with her the past two days, I also have had our CFL on while doing reading.

First read about light sensitivities and the problems it can cause at the Irlen Institute. We have been using folder dividers to cover Shayla's reading book. It seems to help her.

These problems may also be related to spring coming. Shayla is highly allergic to grass and tree pollens. Spring is the worse season for her. I've actually thought of taking spring off from school because it affects her behaviors so much. She's like Jeckyl and Hyde.

Art: Shayla completed another page in the art book we've been making. We learned about secondary colors. We did some color mixing with paint, then we made blotter bugs. I made some simple bug shapes and Shayla painted one side, then we folded the paper in half and blotted it.

Homeschool Week Highlights - Monday, March 2, 2009

Days 116 - 120

Monday - Kings Kids Day

Shayla decided she wanted to attend the Kings Kids program at one of the area churches because there is no Scouts this week. It's basically like VBS only it's an afterschool program held on Mondays during the school year.

Yes, I said SHAYLA decided, and furthermore, she has decided to go again this week!

Although it looks like she's not having fun because she always plugs her ears, she's having a blast. That's all she talked about the rest of the night!

She covers her ears because she is anxious about a loud sound scaring her. She has always done it. When she becomes more familiar with situations, she slowly quits doing it.

Medically she does it because as a toddler, it was found that because of her allergies, sometimes she hardly hears in one ear and the other ear overcompensates, she hears EVERYTHING! Things are too loud! It's hard to explain, but for more info, google meniere's disease and/or sensory processing disorder.


We watched more videos at heartclub.com. We made the crafts, we made the clothespin butterfly and the painted rocks.



Circus Day - Tuesday


We try to go to the circus every year. It's just something we all enjoy.


Guess what new thing she tried here? This is giant, literally!


Shayla rode the elephant (with her dad).



I know this might not seem like a big thing, but for those few of you that are following us on our journey, this is huge for Shayla!


We watched an episode on Barney today - PBS - wouldn't you know, the theme was circuses.


Math: We used her plastic "circus animals" to teach basic addition and subtraction. She also completed 2 workbook pages and practiced writing her numbers with the number poems.



Wednesday and Thursday we had two days of "normal stuff." Workbook pages, handwriting, reading aloud, living science, etc. etc. What's living science, you ask?

Her two goats, Daniel and Lazer. We had hoped to have a milk goat by now, but maybe someday!

The five chickens. One mean old rooster and four hens. We tried letting them out to be free-range (and to save on the feed bill), but immediately that rooster came out and flogged our st. bernard. Back in the pen they went! Maybe we'll let the hens out.



Shayla helping us get the maple sap from the trees. We boil it down to maple syrup, sugar, and mmm...candy!




Friday Field Trip Day!




We went to the Ohio Bird Sanctuary. Sorry I have no pics, because my camera let me down again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.




Anyway, we met several families from our homeschool group that we didn't previously know. We enjoyed learning about the birds. Since it was a group tour, they did a demonstration with Seymour the owl (yes, a real live owl). The kids got to dissect an owl pellet. We found the skeleton to the front half of a rat and lots of fur. I know EWWW, but come on, hands-on is how they learn!



Afterward, we visited the gift shop. I was shopping for Shayla a t-shirt. In the past few years, everytime we do a "day-cation" we buy the girls a t-shirt - they both love it! I was looking through the stacks for the right size, but I also wanted the logo on it. I found one with Seymour the owl on it. I asked Shayla if she wanted that one and she said, "Uh-Huh!"

This is huge! She must have forgotten that she was out and about, felt very comfortable, or she is trying harder to speak in public. This is the first sound she has made in public in a long time!




What a great week!

More Books for Home Speech Therapy

At the beginning of the year, I started a quest to help my daughter overcome her selective mutism.

What I found was probably there all the time, but I just didn't see it. Lately, I have been directing my attention at the whole child, not just the selective mutism behavior.

I must say, I'm having a great time bringing my daughter "out of her shell." Some days are tedious, some discouraging, but we're both learning and growing.

Here's several books that we've used as conversation starters:

Cat's Got Your Tongue is a story about a little girl, Anna, who is entering kindergarten. She is unhappy and avoids sharing her true feelings about it. Her teacher notices that she is not transitioning well and suggests counseling to her parents.

Anna goes to counseling and over a period of time, learns to use her words through play therapy, namely puppets.

Anna and her counselor put on a puppet show for her parents and teacher in her school classroom for familiarity, then they decide it would be fun to put the show on for the kids.

After overcoming her fears and anxieties, Anna is able to make friends.

My thoughts were mixed with this book. I wasn't sure my daughter would like it because the pages were black and white. However, she quickly identified herself in Anna.

The breakthrough moment came last week when we were washing dishes together. My daughter was asking questions about the book. She told me she wanted to be able to speak in public! She said she wanted to be able to make friends! She told me that maybe we should find a counselor that would help her learn to talk!

I about fell on the floor! I think I scared her when I hugged and kissed her all at the same time!

Since then, we have been more able to talk about everything! She is trying new things left and right now!

I guess I honestly believed that my child enjoyed the attention she received by not speaking. I thought it was a control issue. How wrong was I!?!

To Be Continued. . .

Double-Dip Feelings is just what the title says. It talks about how it's possible to feel several emotions at the same time.

We had a lot of fun with this book and it started many conversations. She enjoyed the colorful illustrations.

BTW, we are still filling the jar with candies everytime she tries something new. I also write her "tries" in her own little notebook, so we can review all her accomplishments.

Does anyone else have any suggestions? (books, resources, games, anything to try) Please share!

For other tips, visit 5 minutes for Special Needs

And We Are THAT Family.

Songs for Teaching Writing

I'm totally convinced that Shayla could learn anything if it were put to music. She memorized all the states and capitals at 2 years old from songs.

Now she's struggling with letter and number formations. She just doesn't remember how to write it. She can traced a dotted letter/number with no problems. She starts at the right place, stops at the right place, but can not do many of the numbers and some letters independently.

Does anyone know of any songs or rhymes to teach proper letter/number formations?

She is also struggling with learning her addition tables. Are there any addition table songs that you know of?