Saturday, October 17, 2015

Fun School

Sometimes school is sitting down and just working on things like

handwriting
Ellie working on her Handwriting Without Tears book










or the computer
Alina working on math and language arts in a program called IXL



or coloring
Veronika works on her fine motor skills with coloring
 BUT
Sometimes school looks like this....
sorting apples by color, checking which has more/less, adding green+red

Tasting different apples to see which kind was our favorite: Fuji was Alina's, Ellie liked the Granny Smith the best


Peeling an apple - We did hand over hand

Trying to peel the apples, We did hand over hand


Ellie was able to peel two apples on her own!


Alina peeled two apples on her own!

Veronika and Gavyn helped put the apple slices in the crock pot

Apples with some cinnamon added ready for cooking!

Turning into applesauce
Ellie also helped cook dinner by peeling the carrots! 

So, sometimes we just have to sit and get things done, but we also get to have Fun at school too!

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Falling into Homeschooling

So we gave public schools a good try. We fought for things in their IEP, we called extra meetings, we emailed teachers on a regular basis, but honestly, they are not use to the situation our older girls present.
They enrolled one of our girls into a remedial math program, but remedial math assumes that you have had those subjects before, and now you are just working on making those skills stronger.
Unfortunately for our daughter that is NOT the case. She has not worked on most of those skills before, so spending a few days on this or that and then moving on to the next thing does not give her enough time to have the information sink in.
With reading, we explained that while she can read at a 2-3 grade level in English, she by no means has that level of reading comprehension. When they said that the kids needed to do a book report I KNEW there would be trouble.
For one of our other girls we explained to the school that she needed a preschool-kindergarten curriculum since she had never attended school in her life. Instead, they just worked on life skills. I get that life skills are great, but she has never had anyone try to teach her reading and writing before and that is what she needs. She needs to know how to count and add and subtract. She needs all the basics, not just life skills.
So, we have started to work on homeschooling with the girls, and they are really getting it!! I am so proud of them!!
Our little ones are learning so much too!! They are working on fine motor, gross motor, and following directions.
Working on shapes
 Working on putting numbers in order
Working on grouping by colors
Matching word and picture for the correct letter

 Quiet Reading time
Counting
 Addition and subtraction
 Journal work

Writing down her math problems after she solves them



 Yoga

Working on matching shapes
 Cutting skills
Putting numbers in order
finding blends/rhyming words




Copying visual directions
USA puzzle with states in correct shape
 More Math work