I wish I could tell you...

....that our Christmas festivities have gone as smoothly as Thanksgiving's did. They have not. The excitement is doubled with having grandma and grandpa living nearby. (within 20 minutes!) I think we are fortunate as it is not exactly food related. It is schedule related, which I guess ties into meal times but it is beyond that.

With Prader-Willi Syndrome routine is very important. I try to keep to a concrete routine as much as I can but my brain doesn't work that way. I cannot plan out every minute of each day and definitely cannot plan it out for the week. That makes it sound like I do not have routine but for me it works like this- get dressed, breakfast, schoolwork, lunch, and quiet time. This all happens but not with an exact time. After we have a "quiet alone time" our schedule is looser to arrange for errands, interest led schoolwork, field trips, music lessons, and in the spring and fall, sports.

Without the holidays or special occasions like birthdays he seems to be okay with our schedule of events. When I have attempted to exactly plan out our week with him knowing every extra activity things tend to go badly. He will perseverate on the special events, which drives us all batty, and as we all know "things change". We have had vehicle issues the last 6 months so that has caused us to miss some events we would normally go to. We have had a lot of at home time which I do not mind, but A~man is more social than I am. ;) Plus, at times field trip dates change or have to be cancelled for various reasons.  I do see some progress in his thinking as I will say to him "things change" and he will repeat it to me and we are able to talk about the whys of how things change.

Consequently we have had a few REALLY big meltdowns in December. Like knocking my sliding laundry room door off it's track meltdowns. He hasn't been aggressive with us thankfully but we have had a few icky times. It does make me appreciate that this behavior isn't a norm for him anymore. It used to be for a few years. (and I was physically hurt a few times) Now? Once he calms down he feels remorse and apologizes. He has been doing this for a year when he gets out of control almost every time with absolutely no prompting. He asks for forgiveness which breaks my heart in two as I know he cannot help so much of it. What's a mom to do but freely give the grace needed plus a good supply of hugs for good measure?

Today my daughter asked if we had to do school work this week. *ahem* (in the past I say what days we have off during the holidays) I told her, when A~man was not within earshot that if she wanted to she could have the week off, but that A~man would be doing his work except for Christmas Eve and day. With his special needs and learning disabilities his day goes so much smoother if a part of his day is focused on homeschool help and as much routine as I am capable of. Now if it would only stop raining long enough for us to go see an awesome local light display!

Here are some photos I took today of A~man at his finest. Loving on our wonderful dog!

Totally rocking his pink PWS awareness shirt!!! (my boy LOVES pink :)

These gentle moments are ones I treasure!

Lone Star Learning~Science Vocabulary Cards Review

Lone Star Learning has created such an amazing tool for teaching children to learn vocabulary words. We were given the opportunity to try out a science set and after seeing them I remember thinking "Why didn't I think of that?"

The Science Vocabulary Pictures set one included 40 cards that were 5.5" x 8.5", fully colored and coated to make them very sturdy. The sets do not go by grade level which I think is very cool, as our home school really doesn't go by grade level either. Just ask either of my children what grade they are in and they look to me to give the questioning person an explanation. Instead, there are 4 separate sets plus a set that combines the first three sets and targets children at an early elementary level. This early elementary list has primary words from sets 1, 2, and 3 plus additional words. (82 words are in that set)

This is a great resource for children (or moms) that are visual learners. Each vocabulary word has a picture made out of it that helps the learner to remember what each word means. I especially like the reptile card. I would highly recommend these sets for children who have autism or any type of learning challenge. They are truly eye catching which is very helpful when trying to memorize a word. My daughter is 11 years old without learning challenges and my son is 13, but at a 6/7 year old level, and both children were able to learn so many new words!

The price for set one, which is what we were sent, is 29.99. As much as I love these cards this price might dissuade me into not buying many of the sets as that seems pretty high for them. If they were a bit less I could see us buying all of the science card sets. 

Make sure and check out the other reviews by other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Some members received vocabulary sets for Greek and Latin, Math, and Language Arts. All of these sets come with a sheet that describes different ways to use the cards, such as Word of the Day, writing poetry, and categorizing. There is also a card in each set that lists the actual definition for each word in the set of cards.

Disclaimer- I received a free copy of this product though the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All Opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

This school year is off to a great start!

Just this last week it dawned on me that after this next year we will be halfway through our homeschool journey. How can that be? Our first year started when A~man was halfway through his kindergarten year and we realized that homeschooling would be a better solution to me having the teachers call me to come pick him up everyday. Not to mention the three hour time out he had in his final classroom. Yes, a child with ADHD, autism and Prader-Willi was put in timeout for 3 hours. Z~girl joined our homeschool that following fall as she attended a preschool the spring that we started homeschooling. Homeschooling a child with learning disabilities has not for the faint of heart but I honestly would not have changed a thing!

We started back with official "school" in August and having a morning routine has helped the behaviors of both kids so much. We are pretty flexible/eclectic homeschoolers in the afternoon but having the morning planned out seems to equal us having a good start to the day. This year we have started using SpellingCity a lot more and I recently discovered a teaching resource page with all kinds of teaching ideas I plan on utilizing!

This is the 4th  year that we have been in a geography club, although I'm not sure what country we are going to do yet. Each month a family does a presentation on a selected country. In the past we have done Australia, Madagascar, and Dennark. It's a fun learning event plus great fun socializing with friends! We also have violin, P.E., soccer, special needs baseball, and a possible running club forming. Last year we were in a 4H lego club but we are trying to decide on remaining in that club. Oh and have I mentioned? Tomorrow we are getting a chicken coop! I have wanted chickens FOREVER. Phew...we have a lot going on and hopefully we won't have to weed any of the activities out but we may if it proves to be too busy. I treasure our times at home most of all.

What extra activities do you all participate in?

Learning to read with developmental delays using sight words

My son who has developmental delays that go along with his special needs is now 12. We first started on this "learning to read journey"six years ago. It has been a journey full of mountains and curves.  I have used everything and anything to help him learn to read. One of the most useful things we did early on is teach him sight words. Sight words are the most frequently used words in the English language. Learning to recognize and read sight words will help your child read more fluently and help them be more confident about their reading. Many of the words on the Dolch list are not words you can sound out phonetically. If you think about it we all use memorization of words as adults to read. We do not sound each word out anymore, (unless it is an unfamiliar word) but instead, just know the words from seeing them repeatedly.

Don't get me wrong I still put a lot of value on learning to read phonetically, but especially with a child who has delays, it is invaluable to initially teach them some key words with flashcards, sight word books (my kids liked the Bob books especially!) and also with games.

 Here is a site that has the complete list of the dolch sight words. This site also lets you make flash cards for your child and plugs the words into the games at the site. Another thing you can do with kids that have mastered the basic list of sight words is to make a list of the words they consistently have problems with when they are reading you a book. Spelling City lets you make your own list of such words. Recently I scheduled our annual homeschool testing  (eeeeek! ) to take place in June. We are taking spring break this next week but the two months we will have before testing I am going to take A~man's "trouble words" from his books and make a list to practice with. We may even review the basic words although he pretty much knows all of them.

Reading is one of the most important things (scholastically speaking) you can teach your child. It creates the opportunity for a life long of learning plus the pure joy of reading for pleasure.

What type of homeschooler are you?

When we began our homeschool journey (it's been 6 years this month woohoo!) I tried to follow a very structured course of action with all that we did. We took our son out of public school a little over halfway through his kindergarten year and at the time my daughter was in preschool in the morning so that made it easy to work with my son in the mornings. This really helped in getting him caught up in some areas that he wasn't being taught at school but was capable of. The next fall I started homeschooling both of them. I really wanted to try classical homeschooling. Also I wanted to buy a boxed set of certain subjects to simplify things but instead it complicated things for me as I had to do a lot of prep work. Having a child with a  learning disability requires a lot of extra time with physical therapy,occupational therapy, and a lot of specialized doctors. Add in the fact that a child with special needs requires a lot of extra time period. I'm not complaining (ask anyone that knows me) but that is a fact.

If I had to put a type on us I would say we are eclectic homeschoolers. I always start each year out with a plan of action still but often a few months into it I have to switch my approach, even if we are learning the same goals, to something different. A good example would be that for years I have used a certain series of math curriculum that focusses on one skill alone at a time until it is mastered. This worked well with both children for several years but a month ago we were able to try out a different math curriculum that focusses on a wider range of math skills at one time. Guess what? For now it is a great fit!

Another hurdle I have encountered that has gotten bigger this year is that it is pretty much impossible to teach both kids simultaneously. I have to work with them one on one.  It seems to be working itself into a groove though that works for our family. In the last four months my 10 year old daughter has started doing a lot of her work on her own. She likes to wake up early  (before me I'm a night owl;) and independently does her Time4Learning school work. She gets it done a lot easier also as normally her brother sleeps later than she does so the house is completely quiet for her. So then I get up and get breakfast for everyone (sometimes she cooks as she likes to make breakfast) and then I sit down to do A~man's computer work with him. Meanwhile she either reads, crochets, or writes letters to family and friends. I like our online curriculum as it covers pretty much everything but in the afternoon we often do a lot of hands on activities like using our Lego education kits or get books from the library to back up our T4L stuff. Right now A~man is studying about Eskimos/inuits and Z~girl is studying about the Incas and Aztecs.

Another thing we like to do is field trips! Last week hubby took both children with our homeschool group to see a play about the underground railroad. I was disappointed not to go but I was sick and didn't want to share cooties. We go to several plays a year and lots of other learning adventures with our friends. Girl Scouts also has opened up such a learning opportunity over the years as we have a wonderfully creative leader.

So that is how we approach our learning adventure! I must say things rariliy get boring in our home with this approach. Sometimes I do find myself envious of my friends that are classical homeschoolers or those that have a neat and orderly way of doing things. We tried one year having a room JUST for school...but it just didn't work for us. I guess that is the neat thing about homeschooling, tailoring it to meet your own families needs!