Thursday, July 8, 2010

Organizing

This is the time of year many homeschoolers are getting prepared for the upcoming school year.
They could be starting a new program, changing something, or just still trying to figure out what to do.

I am going thru all my stuff, 6 years of homeschooling things. Some I have never touched because I thought I would use it later or stuff that was just given to me.
Because I have two children I didn't let Ashlie write in anything thinking Aleq would use it as well. That has worked on most of the resources that I kept to use with Aleq.

At the same time of reorganizing, I am thinking of our plan this year.
thinking, thinking and thinking....

I need to make sure I include Aleq's therapy schedule that I made for us and Ashlie's 4H time.
I am not coordinating any classes again this year except for Ashlies 4H Dog Classes. She wants to do the Digital Photography, so that is still in the works.

With Aleq's challenges it will be hard to get him into anything extracurricular. He has enjoyed bowling this summer so far and will try to get him more involved with it. I might add a couple of things for him, maybe some of the books from 4H. I really like the 4H program.

As far as academically, Ashlie in her 6th grade year will use the following for sure:
For Aleq which is between 1st and 2nd still :
Of course he will be right by Ashlie's side when we are doing her Science. He has always been right there with Science and History that is why he is very advance with that as well as Math.

Handwriting for Tears was part of Aleq's curriculum, however, it seemed very overwhelming to him for some reason. He does have good handwriting though.
According to last year at the THSC Conference I learned "if they know how to do it, move on". So I will let it be for his writing...

Now for the SPD child:

For Aleq's therapy, we have to complete it throughout the day to help him. I have discovered if we do it all at once, it does not become effective.
I went thru the The Out of Sync Child Has Fun and organized 5 schedules that I will alternate. I have not done this in the past.
The brushing techinique and joint compression of course we will do at least every two hours or when he seems to be getting overwhelmed. These techniques are amazing and really calms him down. Sometimes he will try to resist it but once we get started he is in total relaxation.

So here are his schedules:

Schedule 1
  • theraputty or make playdough, it helps with heavy work
  • wheelbarrow helps with muscle tone
  • superman helps with coordination of his gravity insecurities
Schedule 2
  • make pretzel people helps with heavy work
  • row boat is for muscle tone and coordination
  • wall push helps with muscle tone
Schedule 3
  • mummy wrap good for joint compression
  • balance board is for coordination
  • hokey pokey ring coordination
Schedule 4
  • ball roll for joint compression (he looves this)
  • swing & kick the bottle for gravitational insecurities
  • bottle push for muscle tone
Schedule 5
  • balance ball for coordination
  • swing fast then slow for gravitational insecurities
  • cat back raise alternating hands for coordination and gravitational insecurities
We still need to work on his food issues... Maybe with this schedule it will work into the plan somehow.

I use the Homeschool tracker, the basic version to help me get it all together. I have used this for about 4 years and it is my favorite.

So, I think I have it figured out.. I am ready to start back up. With them being off for 2 wks now, it will be tough getting back into routine but I know they can do it. We still use our Accountable Kids , which I have let them have free days these past two weeks as well. Wow, am I going to be a mean mommie for a while perhaps.

It is fun to take time off and be refreshed, you need that. We usually take December off and some time in spring. However, this year was a little different because of Aleq. I know we will make it though....

Love, Live and Laugh every day....

6 comments:

  1. Might you write a post (or send me an email) about how you use your schedules (or intend to)? do you use one a day? Do you do all the activities at one time or spread them out throughout the day as sort of SPD breaks? I would love to know more about your approach!

    I have been thinking (and meaning to) make some SPD menus, so to speak, for my son, either in card form or as actual picture menus, for alerting and calming breaks or for each sense, where he (and sister) could select an activity to do. Until I get around to this, your SPD schedules might fit into our lives nicely.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. No problem Martianne.
    The schedules will be used one per day. If he does not want to do a certian one or not sure I may switch it out with another one. Sometimes he has the confidence on better days.

    The activities will be spread out throughout the day. I have found that if I spread them out the therapy helps him better.

    Before school I would brush him and do the joint compression then perhaps one of the exercises. Then if we are in the middle of school time and he is having a hard time. I will say to him "let's take a break" and we will proceed with an exercise. Later one we do another one.

    If your child is not homeschooled, you could do one or two in the morning then later that evening do another one. As a mom you tend to know when they need something. I have learned what to look for when he is starting to feel overwhelmed or anxiety.

    So I figured if I can show him when he feels anxiety or can not process to take a break and do an exercise that may feel good. Does that make sense to you?

    That would be great if you could get both of them involved. How old is your daughter?

    I will blog in about a week and have pics of him doing the different exercises and other techniques that help him thru the day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Heatherloub, Thanks so much for using my book, "The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun," so effectively! I hope you and Aleq have tons of fun with these good, old-fashioned sensory-motor activities. You are doing a wonderful job of spreading the word about SPD, how it plays out in various situations, and what parents and teachers can do to help

    You may also be interested in a new book I just co-authored with Joye Newman. The new book is "Growing an In-Sync Child: Simple, Fun Activities to Help Every Child Develop, Learn and Grow" (Perigee, 2010). We include menus, like your schedules, to help parents decide what is the appropriate activity for the child and the circumstance. I think you'll like it. Check out our website at www.in-sync-child.com

    Bless you and your family!

    Warmest regards, Carol Kranowitz

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much Mrs. Kranowitz for your kind words. I feel so honored that you read my blog.

    I truly appreciate your books. The information that you had offered in the books was very refreshing and it kept me positive.

    When I first researched and found out that Aleq had SPD on my own before going to a doctor, it was almost like I finally saw light at the end of the tunnel. As a mother you go thru stages of guilt, being afraid, and just saddness for your child. Your books would keep me from feeling alone.

    My goal is to let others know they are not alone and you will have good days along with the bad on a personal level.

    Thank you for letting me know about your new book you co-authored. I can't wait to get a copy to read.

    Again, thank you for acknowledgement, that means a lot to me.
    It is so important for other mothers and teachers to know that if you feel something is not right, please do not settle for just anything. Working together with the child will work out with patience, love, and perserverance.

    Wishing you many blessings,
    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  5. Heather,

    Thank you so much for your complete and helpful response. And, I am so excited that carol chimed in on these comments, which means I now know another great resource to check out. Awesome! I look forward to checking back to learn more about what you are doing and how it is working... As I get my stuff together for the coming year, I will blog about how we are doing with our sensory stuff, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. You are very welcome.

    Excitement it was, to see her comment.
    I can not wait to order the book. I found it on Amazon last night. Can not wait to read it.

    I still have a stack of books here I need to finish, lol. Reading for me is never done it seems.

    That will be great to see how you are doing with the sensory things.

    I believe we will be making playdough tomorrow and I will post the recipe along with pics.

    Thinking of going out to cut our grass and let him play in his green playground. The other day he caught 31 crawfish and 10 toads. What shall he find today, lol.

    Take care and bunches of hugs for ya.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails