Our First Week of Homeschooling

*This post was written 8/14/2011 on my first, now defunct blog, but was popular so I wanted to share it again!*

As you know, we are using the free curriculum guide provided by Ambleside Online, which follows the Charlotte Mason method of education.  I'm starting DS off in Year 1, since he is already beginning to read and will be 7 in December.  (He would also be in 1st grade in public school, but the Ambleside years don't necessarily correspond to grade levels.)

Here are some school room (dining room) pictures.

 The shelf containing scripture memory box, readers, Peter Pan (bedtime story), Bible, and field guides

 The Year 1 books we are working through for literature, science, history, geography and poetry.

My new-to-me chalkboard! (Thanks, Robert for not throwing it away like your mom said to, and to DH for hanging it)

I followed my planner and got almost everything done that was scheduled (although a few things out of order, but that's what freedom is for!).  It felt easy and natural to teach him with this method, and I was pleased with our beginning.  He had a couple days where resistance led to tears...probably because he was expecting to not actually have to learn at home.  The first day he couldn't understand why I didn't want him in pajamas all day, but he did comply.  Hopefully, these things will work themselves out as we continue with the plan.  As we get used to this way of learning, I will slowly lengthen the math lessons, which is currently 12 minutes of Funnix lessons followed by computer games or hands-on activities to reinforce adding and subtracting.  I will also increase the amount of time he will be reading to me.  While he can read many words that surprise me, he has no love of reading and is very resistance to reading out loud.  Thankfully, he does like me to read to him, since that is the core of the Charlotte Mason method in the younger years, along with lots of outdoors time.

As the summer heat subsides, I will be increasing the outdoor time as well.  We did "walk" the baby turtle each day and create a terrarium for him, and purchase a new ball to toss around the yard.

We hunted for sticks to make this nature journal.

We captured grasshoppers and even a dragonfly, which became our nature notebook entry for the week.  The Handbook of Nature Study blog has the pond as the August focus, which worked out great for us!  I need to figure out how to dig deeper with the nature notebook than only examining the creatures we find, and this website tells me how.  Now to apply what I learn...

For handicrafts, we are learning sewing from my mother-in-law.  She is a former home ec. teacher, and I am needle-challenged, so this worked well.

We watched Spanish videos on Speekee and Salsa, using the immersion method before using some conversational software we have from The Learning Company.
We did some phonics and learned some new words, using Free Reading, which I found through Lesson Pathways.  (I'm also using Lesson Pathways to supplement math, science, and other things in the future.)

At our trip to GenCon earlier this month, DS fell in love with the ocarina, so we purchased an inexpensive plastic one for him to learn on.  This week we learned finger placements and practiced a scale.
We listened to Mozart, the composer for this term.  Listen here.
The only thing I didn't get going was art and artist study (Fragonard this term), as my printer is out of some toner colors, but I will get that started soon!

A Day with a Sensory Child

Hello, my name is Laurke and I have a son with SPD.  Its mild, and most people have no idea that he is anything other than normal.  But I know!

On bad days, he looks like this. :(

I had never heard of sensory processing disorder (aka sensory integration disorder) until about 18 months ago.  I always knew he was on the sensitive side (see here), but thought he would just outgrow it.  Instead, homeschooling gave me the opportunity to see what little things set him off, and how easily frustrated and anxious he would get.  Being a foster parent, I saw how kids younger than he could balance on bikes, tie shoes and more.  He can do these things now, thanks to Minds in Motion and Occupational Therapy, plus a bit of influence from the other boys.

So what does our typical day look like?  If its a good day, probably much like yours.  But on those off days, it goes something likes this.  Here is the checklist I created in Evernote and have on the mirror in his room, and at my command station.  What I added for this blog post is italicized.  (Feel free to adapt this and use it in your own home.)
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Routine is EXTREMELY important to sensory kids.  Keep a schedule.  Throughout the day, please LIMIT TV and  electronic time and encourage lots of active play.

Wake-up, "Spirit of the Forest" music playing (recommended by OT)
7:00 Thera-pressure (brushing/joint compressions)
7:05 Therapeutic listening (headphones or other) (special headphones like in the above picture)
Get dressed, make bed
Oral motor protocol
7:15 Breakfast at table
Brush teeth, chores
Creative play
8:30 Thera-pressure (1.5-2 hours after first session)
Heavy work (riding bike, swinging)
9:00 School work
10:00 Thera-pressure
Snack
Heavy work (trampoline, climbing)
10:30 Seat work
11:30 Thera-pressure
Oral motor protocol
Lunch  (this part of the schedule needs tweaking, since it takes him about 30 minutes to decide what he wants to eat and fix it.  However, we have been done with school work before 2, so its good enough!)
School work 
12:30 Rest/play while therapeutic listening
1:00 Thera-pressure
Finish up school work
2:00 Oral motor protocol
Snack & free time
2:30 Thera-pressure
Free time - screen time allowed
4:00 Thera-pressure
5:30 Thera-pressure
Oral motor protocol
Supper
7:00 Thera-pressure
Screen time allowed until 1 hour before sleep time
7:30 Shower, brush teeth 
8:00 Read stories
8:30 Thera-pressure.  Lights-out

Therapressure - keep brush horizontal to ground - turn arms/legs, not brush.  Don't brush over clothes.  Don't brush stomach.  Apply firm, consistent pressure.

Follow with joint compressions - Shoulders, elbows, wrists x10 quick pushes.  Fingers x3.  Hips, knees, ankles x10.  Spine (hands on shoulders) x10 fast or x3 slow.  Chest (hands on sternum and back) x3

Oral motor protocol - gently swipe roof of mouth (right, left, right) with finger.  Open mouth midway and gently press down on bottom teeth x10.
C-swipes x3 cycles - start with fingertip on gums above front teeth, around gum line, down cheek, and halfway across bottom, like a "c".
Take finger on inside of cheek, thumb on outside.  Gently squeeze cheek between fingers and pull forwards, sliding fingers across muscles in cheeks.  3x each side.
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I'm thankful that on recent days we haven't had to do the brushing (therapressure) but he does enjoy it.  I usually forget to remind him of the oral motor protocol, too, but we are both works in progress!  The protocol is supposed to help desensitize his mouth so it is easier for him to try new foods, and we have seen improvement in that area, although slow.

Here are some of our sensory tools.  In this white basket are dry erase markers and crayons for using on the white board, which he prefers over paper (too scratchy).  Pencils and pencil sharpeners for when paper is required.  He likes the mechanical pencil with the special finger grip, and sometimes will use the wristband to wipe sweaty hands on.

School basket

In the sensory box, which moves around the house, are things to keep his hands busy, eyes focused and mouth occupied.  Balloons and the duck whistle help him breathe deeply.  The wonder wand is calming.  Then there are some chewy things in there as well.

Sensory toys

 The wonderful snack tray.  I really think this has helped more than anything.  Although it irritates my overly-sensitive self to hear him sucking and chewing all day long, it helps him focus and stay calm.  We include a couple of crunchy things, chewy, and sour items.  This tray has pretzels, peanuts, Lemonheads, fruit roll-up, ice (pellet ice is best), suckers, and bubble gum.  He rarely eats the suckers or hard candy, except for Lemonheads.  Lemon is very alerting...we also put lemon essential oil into our water everyday.

Oral motor tray (aka snack tray...his favorite part!)

 Finally, varying where he can go during school really helps.  We start at the dining table, and go to the playroom for the kid-sized table for copy work and maybe math, use the computer for typing, some math, and Spanish, then to the couch or front porch for read-alouds.  See more of where we do school.

Sitting on an exercise ball helps focus and builds core strength

Resources for SPD:
Your local pediatrician can recommend/refer to an OT for evaluation.  You will likely have to ask for this; once I did, the rest was easy.
Sensory Smarts
A Sensory Life (formerly Understanding SPD)
Pinterest - SPD and OT

I linked up with iHSN!

Not! Back-to-School Pictures 2013

We're part of the iHN's Not Back-to-school blog hop!

As we began AO Year 3 in third grade, and our third year of homeschooling, I finally decided to make "real" back-to-school pics!  (Faces blurred purposely.)

 

This is my little booger covered in this year's school books, which he thought was hilarious.  Top right is his lesson horse, Dixie, who he practices with weekly.  Bottom right is the books from the left picture, plus the "free reads" (not part of curriculum, but suggested to read on his own or as bedtime stories) and our memory work box.  You'll notice our globe in the background. :)  See more of the school room here.

 

 Here he is doing some arithmetic on the dry-erase board, with iPad, snack tray and water bottle handy.  The mess on the table behind him is from Furball, the hamster.  He likes to carry bedding and food into the plastic wheel on top of the cage, then run in it, spraying mess everywhere!  At least he doesn't smell as bad as the turtle did last year...