Our Homeschool, Week 11: "Christmas"

Last week was Christmas, so of course we drew inspiration from our Christmas board!

Bu really liked his felt gingerbread man. I helped him with the face and he decorated the rest, hence the boot as a bow-tie :)

Below, there are a few of our tabletop activities...We did some penguin counting and I made a Christmas tree with letter ornaments so we could work on our letter recognition. He loved that Christmas tree! We also worked on color sorting "presents" and made some gluten-free salt dough ornaments as an art/sensory activity.

This was a last minute stroke of genius that hit me LOL..I wanted a quick little something to give to extended family for Christmas, so I just had some 4X4 photos of Bu with Santa printed up. I couldn't find appropriately sized envelopes and felt just a photo was a little wimpy, so I got to thinking! I set up a station with paint so we could make handprints on the back of the photos...then, when the handprints were dry, I laminated each photograph. I made a hole with a regular hole puncher (making sure to avoid Santa's head and the handprint on the back!) and strung a ribbon through. Voila! Instant ornament! Everyone loved them, and they were so easy and quick to make!

This week, we're learning about rainbows with our Rainbows board...We'll also be using this New Years Eve pack on the 31st, in case anyone else wants to print it! 

Target One Spot for Homeschooling Supplies

I LOVE Target! I especially love their One Spot...it's always the first thing I see when I walk into the store, and my favorite place to linger. There's usually some sort of educational game or book available, but the best is finding random items that you can turn into activities! (By the way, this is totally not a sponsored post...I wish! I just love finding homeschooling supplies and activities on a budget, and I'm an oversharer LOL)

The number matching and letter matching games were each $1. They each come with wooden clothespins that your child can use to clip onto the cards to select the appropriate answers. The number game has numbers drawn on the pins so they can match the number to the appropriate amount of dots, while the letter matching game  has plain pins that are used to select the appropriate starting letter of the picture on the card. The last item was also $1...it's number sequencing puzzles. We introduced these last week and Bu loved them, so imagine my excitement to find 16(!) for $1(!)

These were each $3...it's a felt gingerbread man and a felt snowman, with all sorts of fun felt goodies to decorate them with. I'm planning to use the gingerbread man this week as part of our Christmas week, and saving the snowman for when we study Winter.

Lastly, I got each of these knick knacks for a dollar apiece. The garland will be put together today, it's just paper bands with sticky ends that we will link together. Good practice for coordination! The felt snowflakes will be used for a color matching activity with a sensory twist. Speaking of sensory, I LOVE burying little fun erasers in bins of dry beans, rice or cereal and helping Bu pick them out. Easy sensory activity that requires very little pre-planning!

What fun goodies have you incorporated into your at-home activities lately? I'm always searching the One Spot and Dollar Tree for fun items, let me know what you find so we can share ideas!

Our Homeschool, Week 10: "Trees"

This week, we worked on activities from our Trees board! We repeated the leaf-matching activity that we first tried out in our "Autumn" themed week. Yay, versatility!

I think Bu's favorite activity was this "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" themed task. We used our handy alphabet magnets to practice letter recognition on this tree worksheet. We repeated this activity 3 separate days throughout our week, Bu really liked it!

Speaking of "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," here's the guy reading his copy! He's loved this book since he was teeny, so it was nice for him to work with something familiar this week.

We did our usual pre-writing activities and a do-a-dot, which are pretty popular around here. Pictured below, you can see that we did a puzzle that has numbered pieces. Bu loved hearing me count out each piece as we laid them side by side, and he clapped every time I reached "10" and the tree was revealed! We did this activity at least twice, he was really into it. We also worked on identifying colors by matching pictures of leaves to pictures of their corresponding color crayon.

We didn't get to it, but this could be a great week to introduce the concept of planting and maybe even plant a veggie or herb so you can talk about the process and eventually reap the rewards of your patience!

Next week is Christmas, so of course, we'll be using our Christmas board! We have a lot of fun planned. I hope everyone has a great week and holiday!

Currently...

Doing: Going through all my receipts to see what I can try to get reimbursed through my son's homeschooling grant! ::fingers crossed::

Working on: STILL handling the med waiver stuff 3 months later...

Watching: Classic Who! It's a little tedious so far, which I expected...but how can I call my a proper Whovian if I don't watch the original series?

Loving: how fantastic Bu is doing in all his therapies...there's so many wins every single week, it's really encouraging and awesome

Anticipating: Christmas! and the rest of the holidays! I love all the family gatherings and memory making around this time of year.

Our Homeschool, Week 9: "Weather"

This week, we worked on a weather theme. We had a short week because we went to DISNEY WORLD from Wednesday to Friday, but we did do a few activities off our Weather board before we left. Below, you can see pre-writing worksheets, a letter recognition activity, and lacing cards that I got from Pinterest.

We also traced "W' for weather, did a do-a-dot (we love those!) and did a fun matching activity with photos of different weather concepts.

And of course, the learning doesn't stop just because we're on vacation. We took a break from hot and rainy south Florida and had some breezy, chilly weather in Orlando...and we also learned about different weather systems and habitats on Living With the Land in Epcot!

Next week, we will be working on activities from our Trees board. See you then!

Our Homeschool, Week 8: "Dinosaurs"

This week, we had fun working with our Dinosaurs board. I LOVE dinosaurs! There were a couple of activities that we didn't get to because of time restraints (we had a lot of doctors appointments last week) but I'm happy with what we did do!

I was expecting him to place 2 or 3 stickers at most, and probably involving a fuss. He placed the ENTIRE sheet worth of dinosaurs. He picked where each would go (including on the sun and in the volcano smoke), placed it on the paper and "pat-pat-pat"ed them down. His first completely independent art project (besides my prehistoric jungle background lol) 

We had fun watching these grow...who am I kidding? Bu wasn't interested in the slightest! LOL I was plenty excited for both of us, though, and I can see how most children might be into this "just for fun" activity. It could be a great segue for talking about absorption and cellular structure with slightly older kids. 

A few examples of the activities and crafts we got to later in the week. We pretty much kept to art activities and reading our favorite dinosaur book, with some counting and letter recognition activities mixed in. We kept it fun and light, but there's many ways you can take the theme of dinosaurs into much more "scholastic" territory.

Next week, we'll be working on our Weather board. It'll be a short week, because we're going to DISNEY!!!! We're so excited!

Our Homeschool, Week 7: "Thanksgiving"

For the last week and a half,  we've been having fun with activities from our Thanksgiving board. We did lots of different things, including color sorting "fruit" for "pies", number recognition and counting, and puzzles. Of course, there were lots of crafts and sensory activities as well. We even had a visit from one of our backyard hens during a letter recognition activity!

You might notice the EEG hat on Bu in one of the above photos...we made sure to stick to our schedule even during the EEG to make sure we got accurate readings! Homeschool is a typical part of our day, and I wanted to make sure the EEG reflected that.

The first week of December, we'll be working on the Dinosaurs board. I'm looking forward to that, I love dinosaurs! 

Currently...

Doing: waiting for the ipad to run out of battery so Bu and I can get some homeschooling done :)

Watching: ANTM...catching up on an episode I missed a few weeks back. I'm a little sad that they've officially cancelled the show, I've been watching it since the beginning! I've seen every episode and even all of the British, Australian and Canadian series.

Thinking about: how grateful I am that we FINALLY got Bu's EEG handled, now we can go into the holiday break with one less thing weighing on us. We can just relax and enjoy each others company

Eating: tortilla de chorizo y papa (my dad's latest cooking fixation LOL)...I'm not complaining, I could eat this every day! I'm also excited to try making my first ever green bean casserole later today. Sort of a "trial run" before I make one for the family on Thanksgiving.

Anticipating:18 days until Disney! Turns out my grandparents are coming also, so it'll be FOUR generations on our family trip. This is so special and I'm so happy for this experience!



Also, WOOO IT'S MY LITTLE SISTER'S BIRTHDAY!!!!

Our Homeschool, Week 6: "Bugs"

We sort of took the week "off" from homeschooling this week. It was a busy time for the family, lots of running around...so we did a lot of puzzles, reading and educational apps, but not a lot of "on theme" tasks.

For anyone that wants to check out the Bugs board for themselves, the link to the Pinterest board is HERE.

And this next week, we'll be doing Thanksgiving activities. We have a couple of medical appointments, so the homeschooling will likely go on into the weekend...but we're intending to not take it so easy this week! There's no shortage of holiday-themed activities, and we intend to partake in them!

Our Homeschool, Week 5: "Autumn"

This week, our lessons were centered around the fall season! It's getting dark out earlier, but that's unfortunately the only real indication of autumn so far here in Florida.

Regardless, it's my favorite season! I can't wait until we (maybe) start to feel some nice breezes, (possibly) less rain, and (perhaps) even some light sweater weather!

Not likely, but I always maintain hope!

We had a lot of fun this week, focusing on a lot of fine motor and math/counting activities with some crafts thrown in. Here's some of the stuff we did:

I found these leaves in the Target Dollar Spot. It brought a bunch, but I only used two of each of the five colors to create a matching game. We labeled each color as we searched for its mate.  

We also got this nifty autumn decoration kit on clearance at Target. I'm not sure why, but after Halloween, all the fall stuff goes on sale. I guess to make way for Christmas? Works for me! I can still use all this stuff! (And what about Thanksgiving, huh???)

This was originally $5, marked down to $3.50, and then half off at the register.  It was all foam stickers and a few extra knick-knacks, but Bu loved helping me put things in their spot and I loved all the sensory and fine motor practice he was getting! He loved this so much (to my surprise) that he ran off with it and took ages to surrender it for its intended purpose.

And lastly, here's a mishmash of a few activities.

A) Lots of do-a-dots and shape recognition (I asked him to mark all the circles, then all the triangles)...
B) picking up buttons and putting them in a piggy bank. Lots of patience and coordination required!
C) counting from 1-6 with candy corn (on clearance!)
D) our favorite (for now) shape and color puzzle
E) a close-up of the worksheet I used for shape recognition, plus a pumpkin I cut out of construction paper and laminated with the alphabet written on it. I found awesome plastic clothespins at the Dollar Tree a while back that are a little easier for small hands to open, so we played a letter recognition game where I'd say a letter and he'd have to find it on the pumpkin and cover it with a clothespin.
F) do-a-dot autumn leaf!


To find the links to these worksheets and a lot of these activities, you'll find my Preschool- Autumn Pinterest Board HERE. And make sure to check out the Preschool - Bugs Board so you can follow long with our activities for next week!

Currently....

Listening to: Day 3 of the Autism Summit Online...they're currently discussing the importance of eating organic long-term and avoiding cow milk at all costs.

Working on: trying to get Bu to possibly eat pancakes...I read that kids need foods presented to them up to a dozen times before they'll taste them. Bu used to LOVE pancakes when he was eating a typical diet, but they've fallen out of favor for well over a year now. He doesn't care for sweets. But pancakes are such a great vehicle for proteins and fats, I would LOVE if he'd give them a chance again! So I made him paleo coconut pancakes (they're yummy!) and I slathered on a bunch of extra coconut oil. I'm hoping he'll eventually give them a try if I offer him one at every meal lol

Annoyed by: Brady (one of our cats) is refusing to allow me any personal space, which is making the action of typing quite challenging.

Eating: rice, black beans, and grilled chicken. Not paleo, but still GFCFSF. I've been too slack since my birthday, and I've been feeling crappy as a result. My face is acting up and I'm not pleased with that. FINALLY did groceries today for the first time in almost a month, so hopefully we'll be good now!

Anticipating: Less than one week until the EEG. I'm not as nervous now as I was before the first appointment, but I'm getting more and more anxious the closer the day gets.

Portfolio.

It was just brought to my attention that I'm supposed to keep a portfolio of Bu's homeschooling activities (tasks, materials, samples of his work).

I'm so excited! I already have those handy binders where I'm keeping his completed worksheets and art projects, plus of course, this blog. And now I have an excuse to buy another planner just to keep track of our lessons and field trips!!!!

The fact that this news thrills me rather than freaks me out is further evidence that I picked the right path for my family! LOL

Our Homeschool, Week 4: "Halloween"

We had a LOT of fun this week with our homeschool theme! There's no shortage of inspiration when it comes to fun Halloween activities.

We started the week with a field trip to the pumpkin patch! We picked up all sorts of different pumpkins and noted their attributes: shape, size, color (there were some crazy variations!) and weight.

 

I had my little box of materials (along with my handy folder of the month) on the kitchen counter all week so that we could always jump right into our tasks as soon as we'd get home every day from therapy. I do this so we can get things done before the opportunity to get distracted by the ipad or tv takes hold!

 

His favorite activity was the magnets on the ABC pumpkin. We got that printout HERE.  

 

As you can see, we did a lot of sensory activities this week (painting. crumpling paper for the "stuffed pumpkin" shown below, decorating the windows with gel clings). We also worked on a lot of fine motor activities like dot-a-dots and lacing cards. Our cognitive activities included our puzzles, counting pumpkins and letter recognition/sorting.

In the next month, our weekly themes will be Autumn, Bugs, Thanksgiving and Dinosaurs. I have attached links to each of the corresponding Pinterest boards for anyone interested in following along with us. We plan on taking the week of the Thanksgiving holiday "off", though we will likely still do certain simple tasks in order to keep the routine at the front of Bu's mind.

That's it for our first month of Pre-K-4! How's everyone else doing? We're having a lot of fun with this and as I hoped, it's been very easy to stick to with this level of pre-planning and organizing.

#TBT...The HAES edition

#TBT...when homegirl started her HAES lifestyle with a fashion blog...forcing myself to see how CUTE I was at my size broke my effed up relationship with my own body. I always thought fat = impossible to be pretty, but how could I deny how cute I was in these outfits? LOL

It's definitely a shallow way to start the self love process, I'll admit it HAHA but I'm glad I took this step, so I could eventually fully embrace my HEALTH regardless of my weight! If I hadn't taken this silly (to me) step, I wouldn't have fully embraced how INCREDIBLE my body was during pregnancy, and how AMAZING it was for carrying, birthing and feeding my baby!

Share your TBT posts! And tell me, what started YOUR self love journey?

Currently...

Writing: an article in the New York Times ticked me off, so I wrote a blog post about my thoughts on it...

Working on: Bu's halloween costume. I was inspired by the therapists at his center, they've had a different dress-up theme every day this week and I couldn't resist a particular one!

Watching: PBS: Inside the Court of King Henry VIII. I finished the Tudors over the weekend. I also watched "Angels Take Manhattan" this morning (Doctor Who). SO MANY TEARS. 

Learning: about the PLSA grant. We just got approved for it and I have no idea how it works.

Loving: Bu is suddenly interested in waving hello and goodbye to people. He also will pet the cat independently if we ask him to.

Anticipating: HALLOWEEN. But especially tomorrow when Bu shows up in costume for therapy. I can't wait to see the therapists reactions. 

Our Homeschool, Week 3: "Trains"

Last week, we got right back to the homeschool grind!

These are some of the materials we used...The collage set was a birthday gift and it is meant for one-time use (it's sticky so you can actually make a COLLAGE, but I used it to sort). The accordion folders were a dollar each at Target (we LOVE Target) so I organized a month's worth of lessons into each one. Many of the items are even reusable in case I want to use this same system next year (with a boost in difficulty, of course). And lastly, my handy laminator! It cost me $30 a year ago and it has more than paid for itself.

 

This week, the theme was Trains. You can find the corresponding Pinterest board HERE. We pulled out an ikea train set that we'd had for a while to work on appropriate play and also play with magnets. We did lots of puzzles, lacing cards, and fine motor activities this week, too. He was very interested  in all the activities, and even asked to do extra puzzles!

 

This week, our theme is Halloween, of course! We have a field trip planned and everything! Follow along on the Halloween Pinterest board to do the activities yourself, and I'll be back with a recap this weekend!

Currently...

I haven't done a post like this in a long while...certainly not on this site. I used to do a "Currently" post once a week when I was blogging during my pregnancy and throughout my son's first year, and those are some of my favorite posts to look back on. It's such a fun way to get a snapshot into a typical day at any given point of our lives.

Each one is a little different, to reflect the goings-on of the moment, but I look forward to making these a typical part of this blog. 


Working on: the living room. ABA was cancelled today and we got through our homeschool lessons early as a result. I'm trying to catch up and even maybe get a head start on some household things with the few "extra" hours we had today.

Watching: The Tudors. I had watched the first two seasons religiously when they originally aired, but abandoned it for some reason. I've always been fascinated with Henry VIII, so I started watching it again a few weeks ago. I'm just 6 episodes from finishing the series.

Thinking about: IT'S BACK TO THE FUTURE DAY. There must be a movie marathon playing SOMEWHERE....

Eating: Alas, nothing right now. Wishing I had some Vaca Frita, though.

Loving: my son and his renewed interest in the Superhero episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. I'm also very happy that the first thing he did when he got home today was to start independently working on a puzzle. Also, my Back to the Future planner sticker LOL

Anticipating: my dad decided yesterday to treat the whole family to a trip to Disney in December to see the last year of Osborne Family Lights before our annual passes expire. So looking forward to the trip!!!

Our Homeschool, Week 2: "My Body"

This week SHOULD have been themed on our bodies, identifying arms and legs, etc.

But ALAS, ironically, my son is super sick. His body has rebelled ;) so we took it easy this week.

I am still including the link to the "My Body" Pinterest board for anyone that wants to complete it. The great thing about these themed lessons is that you don't have to go in any particular order, since you can tailor the difficulty to your child's skill level. We'll probably go back and do this lesson at the end of our "year".

Next week, we should (hopefully) be back on track with Trains. Here is the link to the board for anyone following along! I hope mommas and poppas are finding these posts helpful.

Thirty.

My twenties were full of some ecstatically high highs and some crushingly low lows...but...

I'm happy, I'm healthy, I'm content, I've embraced my shortcomings and decided to make them my attributes, I've let go of all the losses that I let define so much of my twenties and let them become just a part of my story.

I know I'll never stop growing, but I also know EXACTLY who I am.

I'm thirty, and I feel beyond lucky to have the privilege to be able to say so.

LOVE to each and every one of you that reached out to me. I'm happy to call you all friends.

Our Homeschool Week 1: Bears

I decided I wanted to chronicle our "Pre-K-4" (used very loosely) on this blog so that if others are interested in at-home unit/themed studies and activities, they could maybe get ideas from ours and see the sources of our materials.

I have a pretty well stocked area that I use for Bu's at home therapies (practicing things he learns at his daily OT/PT/ABA/Speech, things I find on Pinterest to work on applicable skills, etc) so for these units, I used the materials I already have and applied them to the tasks, while supplementing with worksheets I found from various sources online. It would take ages to link the source of every task, so instead each week, I will include a link to my Pinterest board that pertains to that week's lessons, so that everything is accessible in one place. I will not always complete every task on the board each week, and I will also tailor the activities to fit my son's skill level, and I encourage you to do the same. I will also continue to add to the boards even after I complete that week's tasks.


Some of the things we did this week included puzzles, lacing cards (that we printed and laminated for future use), and we made a bear out of paint, using a plastic fork as a painting tool. I aim for 2-4 activities a day, as my son already receives 3-4 hours daily of structured learning time with his therapists, but adjust this as you wish to fit your goals and schedule.

This link will take you to the Preschool - Bears Unit board. I look forward to seeing comments from all the mommas and daddies that find this useful, and if you find any other activities that fit the theme, please let me know of those as well so the resource can continue to grow! :)




**EDIT** I wanted to add that next week, our theme will be "My Body". If you which to follow along in our activities, you can find the Preschool - My Body Pinterest board HERE so you can do the activities with us!

Our Disney Experience with the Updated DAS

Some information on the changes to the DAS at Disney World since the last DAS video we posted. This is accurate as of September 27, 2015.

Been a little quiet.

Doing a lot of last minute prep for Disney this week...I don't know how it always happens this way! The trip has been planned and paid for months, and yet we leave in 48 hours and I still have a bunch of stuff I have to buy and pack.

It hasn't really HIT me that Bu will be 4 YEARS OLD this weekend.

I shall have a 4 year old.

I guess it's the same as me turning 30 this year...I've thought about it so much and so often that at this point, there's no big "WHAAAAA...????" moment. 

I'm also thinking a lot about how we have Bu's ambulatory EEG just 2 days after we return, and we're jumping straight back into homeschool so our schedule will change again...there's just a lot happening. I hope I'm able to disconnect from all that long enough to enjoy my baby's birthday and Disney as a whole.

It's our first trip as just the family of 3, so I'm looking forward to that! I love going on trips with the whole family, but it'll be fun to try out this dynamic finally.

Ok, better get back to packing and list-making. And packing lists.

Saturday Morning...

...which I've spent completing a unit-based Pre-K4 curriculum.

If you follow our autism blog, you know that we are secular homeschoolers. However, Bu (the name by son goes by on the interwebs) recently added ABA to his therapy schedule, which means we are out of the house from 8 or 9am until about 4pm most days. Considering that Bu starts his bedtime routine at 7pm, our homeschooling has fallen by the wayside recently while we adjust to this new schedule.

Typically, our homeschool revolves around sensory or fine motor based activities with a bit of an academic spin...so for example, we might thread beads on pipe cleaner for fine motor practice, but we will count each bead, sort them by color, etc.

For this next "school year", I want to try a new approach. I am going to try a unit-based approach, so we can use a theme each week. This will hopefully keep me more organized and that will in turn mean that set up for each task should take less time, so we'll be able to do more in the limited time we have after therapies.

I have about 40 different units/themes set up on my Pinterest, so I know that every week, I can select a unit (which I've already scheduled around holidays) and print or prepare all the required stuff for the activities I've selected. I've made sure to include writing practice and sensory work in each of the units. Some of the tasks or activities might be advanced for my son, but he's constantly surprising me, so we'll never know what he's capable of until I present him with the tasks :)

I'm excited to start! I have some time to prep though, we won't be starting our curriculum until after Bu's birthday at the end of the month because we're taking him to DISNEY WORLD!!!!!! So we're looking at an early October start date.

On an unrelated note, I mentioned before that I eat GFCFSF (or try to), but in the last 3 days I've gone full paleo (except I'm #teampotato) and I want to EAT ALL THE THINGS. I'm not craving anything in particular, I'm just SO HUNGRY. ALL THE TIME.

That's today in a nutshell. I leave you with a picture of my snack, a pile of grapes...some of which have an eggplant complex ;)

An Intro...

First off, thank you to my friend Rachel for the most epic of blog names!

I had a hard time coming up with something because I wanted to encompass all of my interests in one title...no easy feat.

I thought I should introduce myself with bullet points, since I can't think of  another way to smoothly transition from each of these random descriptors to the next:

*First and foremost, I am a mother. Specifically, momma to one preschooler who also happens to be on the autism spectrum. I write and vlog about our journey through autism together here.

*I have been blogging for half my life at this point...I started my first livejournal when I was 15, and I have had a series of online journals since. I've had a fashion blog, a blog where I documented my pregnancy, and several just-day-to-day sorts of blogs. I also write about birth and pregnancy in general here.

*I'm into what's known as "Crunchy Living", meaning I tend to stick to more natural and unprocessed foods and home products. I brew my own kombucha, make my own deodorant, toothpaste and shampoo, and clean my home without chemicals. I also practice positive/attachment parenting, have experience cloth diapering and still babywear my almost-4-year-old

*My son eats a gluten, dairy and soy free diet, and I do my best to eat that way as well. My son has the advantage of not having to fight cravings after 20+ years of conventional (tasty, but awful) foods, so he has an easier time at it than I do...

*I am a HAES advocate, meaning I promote the idea that someone's weight, size, or outward physical appearance in general is no indication of their health. I blended my love of all things birth and pregnancy with these principles to create the group Plus Size and Pregnant on facebook, to provide support to other plus size women preparing to conceive, give birth and parent.

*I am a bit of a geek and have a huge obsession with Harry Potter, Star Trek and most recently, Doctor Who. I also am DEEPLY passionate about all things Walt Disney World and make it a point to go as often as possible.


That's me in a nutshell, and a pretty good idea of the sorts of things I'll be talking about in here. I haven't thought much about what I want the format of this blog to be, how often I'll write, etc. I'm just sort of going with the flow, so welcome to anyone that wants to come along for the ride!