The yearly mud milestone. Happy Spring!

I think every parent of a special needs child has 'yearly checkmarks.' For some reason a good muddy Spring walk is one of ours. Andrew, as with many kids with sensory issues, has major issues with wet clothes. A few years ago, had he gotten wet clothes outside, he would have ripped them off in public. Last year, during an outside Spring walk, he got wet and ran home at warp speed. This year, his pants were just a tad wet and then he dunked a leg. He WALKED back to the van, at which point he stripped! But..there was zero freaking! And...when he got home, the garage door was open and he was going inside in his skibs. He said...'I'm embarassed!" I don't think he WAS actually embarassed as would answer the door naked...but he knew he SHOULD be embarassed and was laughing the whole time! ...Happy Spring!!!

Schoolin' with Laffy Taffy and other misc. stuff!

It has been quite a morning...day, week, year.. etc. I was in such a (bad) mood this morning until I remembered the incredible Monday we had at a friend's house. Some may not think it was 'incredible'... but I've prayed ...for a very long time... a friend who I jelled with...and who had a child who Andrew could also have as a friend. Not too much pressure Syd..but you and Noah seem to be a fine fit here;) Thank you Jesus. Here are a few pics of the two of them together...then you tell me what you think...










So, once I got out my funk-o-rama today, and knew that yesterday's idea for math (will blog later) would not work today, I went with the flow. We have a valentines party on Friday and were putting Laffy Taffy candies in the Valentines. I decided to make it a lesson out of it on the fly. I found that these are great to:

• Practice Speech: Say 'huh' if you don't understand what the child has said, or be more specific on sounds you are working on.
• Practice Listening: You'd be surprised how "open set" jokes are when you listen to them. You really have to pay attention.
• Practice Geography: Each joke is sent in by a child from a specific state. We found a map and each state.
• Logic: Many of the jokes require flexible thinking! A great exercise!

I am sure there are many more ways to use them.






Then...Mail time!! Grandma sent a Webkins! What a deal! Grandma knows how to wrap...so...we put some really nice proprioceptive (sensory) work ripping it open! There was also some memory work involved because Andrew said.."Not the same card!!!" (Apparently Grandma sent the same Valentines card one year ago!)

Thanksgiving Lapbook

Here is a lapbook we did at Thanksgiving. If I post now, then I can re-reference it next Thanksgiving!

I used mostly materials from an online pack. I can't seem to find what I purchased but I actually think I like THIS one better! I also used some printouts from Enchanted Learning. The cover has vocabulary words in a pocket, we talked about the five senses used during Thanksgiving, practiced 'pre-multiplicaton' (aka skip counting), and did some logic by filling in the opposite side of the drawing!




Again folks...tilt your head. We alphabetized Thanksgiving words, learned about actual turkeys (mark that down as science/biology), completed a fraction book and another vocabulary task.





This next sheet was a logic test and this is reason number seven why I like homeschooling. Andrew would get these "wrong" at school because he thinks outside the box....but i always have him explain the answer to me and if he can....he always can... he gets 'full credit.' We have only recently started doing 'grades' which means an A+ next to each problem he gets correct. (This is usually done only on math.) He doesn't get less than an A+ however... we do grades only to encourage...It is counterproductive to give him a bad grade. We just work on what we need to until we understand it!



We mapped the travels of the ships (geography) and also did a timeline of the various journeys (history.) We talked in detail about the Pilgrims and their life as well as worked on spelling and grammar (synonyms etc..)





We read an incredible book on Squanto and his entire life. I will put a link in here at a later date on that. And finally we did a calendar which is Andrew's favorite part.





Again, I find Lapbooks a wonderful tool for us to organize our thoughts as well as practice guided participation. I often look back and wonder...did we DO anything this month?? The answer is yes...it just isn't done in 'worksheets.'