Leaf Men

Last week, we went out for a quick walk around our complex in search for some great leaves that had fallen. Our mission was to create Leaf Men.

Handwriting W/O Tears - 1st lesson

Since our morning plans were foiled to hang out with some friends and (for my sanity sake - mommas), during Tank's nap, Turbo and I did our first lesson in the Handwriting Without Tears program. I had been looking over it to see how we could implement it into our day. We listen to the cute songs in the car while we are driving, which incidentally, there seems to be A LOT of driving time lately. This song we have been focusing on because Turbo seems to struggle with remembering that letters begin at the top, instead of where he usually starts them, at the bottom.

While Tanks slept and it being a beautiful day outside, we laid on the grass in the crunchy leaves and began practicing our Pencil Pick-Ups. We tried different tricks to pick up the "pencil", which was a crayon, so that it sat correctly in his fingers. Then we finished the already drawn pictures in his workbook. By lying on his tummy, he was able to sit still longer to work. He also was able to strengthen his core.




Next, we moved on to the letter "F". I showed him how the wooden manipulatives could help him create the letters on the blue mat while using the happy face at the top - hence the song - start your letters at the top.

He made the letter "F" with the manipulatives, and then we moved on to the small chalk board. Here, he watches me write the letter first (WATCH). Then he uses a small sponge to clean it off (WET). Then uses a paper towel to dry it off (DRY). Finally, it is his turn to write it (TRY). This process allows him to have the repetitiveness that he needs to learn the letters rather than doing copy work all day long.

Then we moved on to the sidewalk. I drew pictures as he was to guess what letter started with the object, i.e. Ball, Cat, Pig, Kite, Dog, Truck, Ant, etc. I would write the word leaving out the first letter, then he was to fill it in. This lasted for quite some time, actually.

Then we snuck off and played in the crunchy leaves for a bit.

Afterwards, we cleaned up our stuff and went inside to work on the computer. Someone shared with me this website: http://www.abcya.com that has age-appropriate games for different levels, along with some fun holiday games too.

Gorilla, Mr. Peanut and 2 Spidermen....Meet our family

For Halloween this year, the boys dressed as Spider Men. Not that hubby and I had any intentions of dressing up to go to the Fall Fest at a local church, but when he found our ould Gorilla suit (yes, we OWN a gorilla suit) while cleaning out the garage, we just couldn't resist. We have had (or rather my parent's) a Mr. Peanut costume (Planter's Peanuts?) for years and years, so it was time to break it out again.

Our friends, couldn't believe that we of all people would dress up. HEY! We USED to be fun like that before kiddos came along. It is about time that our inner Party Animals came out! (Don't worry, we put those animals to bed at 9 pm)

But what I wanted to say was that Turbo (and Tank too) did AWESOME in a place where they usually would have a meltdown. Tank was way past his bath and bedtime, but did great! When we finally stopped playing games, we sat down on the floor in the Fellowship hall to eat hotdogs and nacho, he grabbed that hotdog and chowed down! Not small bites for me, mama...I'm a big boy now!

But this is where the real joy in both mom and dad's hearts set in: While in the Fellowship Hall to eat, we both looked at each other wondering how this night was to end. It usually ends up in tears and frustration while we battle Turbo to stay seated and eat. But then something popped into my head: BLOCK EVERYTHING OUT! GET HIM DOWN TO A GREEN/BLUE LEVEL! But do whatever it takes!

I quickly scanned the room for something, anything that would block out any visual/auditory stimulation but was appropriate for the situation. AHH HAA! I found a little cubbie hole in the corner of the room that was a perfect hide-away spot for him to sit in and eat. It worked perfectly! He sat in the cubbie hole, while I "blocked" entrance to it with Tank and me and Dad stood behind me. He ate his entire hotdog, drank his lemonade and had his cookie for dessert without any problems! Not once did we have to remind him to sit and eat. Afterwards, we played one more game and left without any incident!

PRAISE JESUS! IT WORKED!!!!!!! Oh I am so excited! We have strategies and they work!!!!

Letter W

With fall setting in and Halloween less than a week away, I decided to skip our schedule of letter learning all the way to "Ww". To keep Turbo's interest, we made a Witch and a Web...plus added a spider!



For the witch, I used my artistic ability, to draw her profile and had Turbo cut her out. Then he glued her face and her hat onto another piece of paper. Once that was finished, he added eyes, along with a googlie eye, colored her lips red and added some warts to her nose and chin. For the tactile part, I asked him to make squiggles (ya like that...squiggles) of glue so that he could paste yarn for her hair. He wasn't too into that because that would mean getting his fingers sticky and messy. So, I had to help.



Here, I made dots to help him with writing. To connect the dots helps him to see how a "W" is correctly written.


For the spider web, I asked him to make the same squiggly lines for the web. Now, if I had thought ahead I would have looked for my glitter to find that it was all gone, so I would have planned something else. However, this was not the case for today. While Turbo is make glue squiggles I realize that I don't have glitter, and I have to improvise. With what? Might you ask?

CAKE DECORATING SUGAR SPRINKLES.
That's right, ladies and gentleman, you can lick our spider web for a sweet treat! (but I don't recommend it. Neither does Turbo, or course, this recommendation came after he tried it.)

Then we added a spider with a bunch of googlie eyes, and labeled our art!

Marbled Pumpkins - Fall Craft

It is getting so late in the month for us to just begin to do Fall crafts, but we finally did our first one!


We cut out some pumpkin shapes, both big and small, and we taped them into a baking dish with squirts of paint in the corners. Next, we added a marble, and Turbo was to shift the marble around the pan picking up paint and painting his pumpkin!

Next, we did smaller ones, and hung them on a piece of string that we are going to use for a garland on our front door. Not too shabby for a fall craft!

Our School Room

After a ton of mini-hours...you know what I mean. Those "hours" where you just don't seem to get anything done because of those HUGE interruptions!? I know that it isn't "school-room" material. But on a $50 buck budget to "decorate" and a ton of hand-me-downs, our school room is finally ready for some action! Here are some pics where Turbo and I will spend 2 hours of our day, while Tank is snoozin' upstairs!

Here is our "workboxes". We will use these to keep our day in order.


Here is a chart of things for Turbo to keep tabs on while we work. Each day we will put a picture of what we will be doing and for how long. That way he has an "end" result to look forward to and can learn how to tell time to boot!


Our calendar and Bible time


Chalk board. My hubby helped me with this by using spray on chalk board paint. We will see!


Our supply center. I used an old dresser that we were going to put in the garage sale, but thought better of it when I was running out of room to put things. We used an old table and bar stools as our work station, but knowing Turbo, most of our stuff will be done on the floor!


Reading center and Computer center




We are so excited to get started! We are going to start school September 13th...you know, after mommy has time to recoup from our Vegas vaca!