Homeschooling this last week.
Sep. 4th, 2009 08:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aelfieI'll post pictures later, but I wanted to jot down some things I learned this week.
-Don't read the stupid 20+ page report from the Doctors telling you how bad your kid has autism. Which also includes statements saying that homeschooling is a really, really bad idea. Its like getting car advice from someone who not only doesn't own a car, but rides their bike everywhere.
-The report is a snapshot of one day. Its not the continuum that you see everyday.
-Heavy protein breakfasts help Ike to focus and not be so hyper.
-Ike also responds well to 250 mg of both L-Tyrosine and GABA.
-Circle time needs to be short, sweet, and standing up.
-Lock Charlie the dog in another room. (And I mean lock, the girls will let him out if they get a chance.)
-More Brain Gym.
-We need more free drawing time with the block crayons. Ike gets frustrated with them as he's trying to use them like a crayola stick crayon and he's making lots of drawing errors (i.e. drawing a line somewhere he didn't mean to). In the mean time, simpler blackboard drawings.
-Hey! There's onion skins between the pages in the Main Lesson Book
-Erase each word of the copywork verse as he writes them, Ike gets lost looking at the whole thing (I'll let him grow up a bit more before I try that again)
-Now I know why, when looking at pictures of other Main Lesson Books, there are little stars between each word. They are not decorations, they are word spaces...they just also look really, really pretty.
-ratio for watercolor paint to water is 1:4
-I'm going to add another day of form drawing to our week I think. He needs the will practice. Its also very good for kids on the Spectrum.
-I need to look into a ballet class for all three kids. (Though I'd prefer a Eurythmy class)
-GFCF chocolate chips are hard to find.
-I'm really not looking forward to going GFCF
-Its okay to still use bribery (Ike's fave currency is M&M's) its one of the only way to train kids on the Spectrum (and yes, its very much like dog training)
-Ike's counselor thinks the report is much more pessimistic than reality. Which is actually a bonus as it will make it easier for him to get services.
-Getting Ike services for his Autism will make getting the diagnosis from Kaiser seem like a cakewalk.
-Don't read the stupid 20+ page report from the Doctors telling you how bad your kid has autism. Which also includes statements saying that homeschooling is a really, really bad idea. Its like getting car advice from someone who not only doesn't own a car, but rides their bike everywhere.
-The report is a snapshot of one day. Its not the continuum that you see everyday.
-Heavy protein breakfasts help Ike to focus and not be so hyper.
-Ike also responds well to 250 mg of both L-Tyrosine and GABA.
-Circle time needs to be short, sweet, and standing up.
-Lock Charlie the dog in another room. (And I mean lock, the girls will let him out if they get a chance.)
-More Brain Gym.
-We need more free drawing time with the block crayons. Ike gets frustrated with them as he's trying to use them like a crayola stick crayon and he's making lots of drawing errors (i.e. drawing a line somewhere he didn't mean to). In the mean time, simpler blackboard drawings.
-Hey! There's onion skins between the pages in the Main Lesson Book
-Erase each word of the copywork verse as he writes them, Ike gets lost looking at the whole thing (I'll let him grow up a bit more before I try that again)
-Now I know why, when looking at pictures of other Main Lesson Books, there are little stars between each word. They are not decorations, they are word spaces...they just also look really, really pretty.
-ratio for watercolor paint to water is 1:4
-I'm going to add another day of form drawing to our week I think. He needs the will practice. Its also very good for kids on the Spectrum.
-I need to look into a ballet class for all three kids. (Though I'd prefer a Eurythmy class)
-GFCF chocolate chips are hard to find.
-I'm really not looking forward to going GFCF
-Its okay to still use bribery (Ike's fave currency is M&M's) its one of the only way to train kids on the Spectrum (and yes, its very much like dog training)
-Ike's counselor thinks the report is much more pessimistic than reality. Which is actually a bonus as it will make it easier for him to get services.
-Getting Ike services for his Autism will make getting the diagnosis from Kaiser seem like a cakewalk.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 03:43 am (UTC)Well, my experience up to this point is that training babies/kids is very much like training puppies. Just way more time consuming and I'm not allowed to properly crate 'em.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 03:52 am (UTC)although my big kids can get in and out when they please.
You might enjoy the book "Pooches and Small Fry" a parenting/dog training book written about 15 years ago.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 04:08 am (UTC)I have a dog crate that I know an adult male human fits into. I believe I will keep it as a threat for when they protest time-out in years to come.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 04:18 am (UTC)Now that's kinky. =)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 11:28 pm (UTC)You could buy a stack of those little notebooks (the ones that are about 3x5"). They come three to a packet at the dollar store. He could write one word on each page.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 11:38 pm (UTC)He's writing the verse into his Main Lesson Book, copying from the blackboard on the wall...its a new skill.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-10 06:06 pm (UTC)Does Waldorf say your watercolor has to have a specific level of opacity? The ratio should change depending on how opaque you want it to be, what paper you're using, how wet the paper is, etc. That's why you have a tester paper near you to try it out.
Ballet sounds cool. Too bad Ike's not still in his pretty princess phase. :(