Poor Lira. She has a focusing problem and that is something I need to figure out how to work around. If I am sitting with her, working problem by problem, she zooms along like a freight train. The moment I walked away, she stalls. Math can take an hour or more. Our timers work wonders but she often has a manic-attack of rage when I pull them out so I really try to use them as a last resort. (In case I have never said it before… Autism stinks!)
If you have any ideas, please feel free to leave them in the comments.
Despite the long hours of pencil pushing, Lira did have some fun last week.
Don’t judge me. One of Lira’s aversions to school is when she has to do a lot of writing. Since she only learned to hold a pencil two years ago, I try to find different ways to do school lessons without pressing that sensitive issue. Don’t get me wrong… she does writing and penmanship, but I know when I can get that from her and when I cannot. Sometimes, it is just much easier to allow her to draw lines and make matches than to force her to write.
I saw something new emerge this week. Lira loves to read to her brothers. I even had her read to my father who was visiting one night… much to his chagrin. But, he was a good sport and listened to Cinderella, inserting questions and comments as needed.
We love flannel boards but I do not have the time to make them myself. So, I picked these from Creatology up at Michaels and I love to have the children tell me stories while they play.
These stamps are a lot of fun. I found them at Oriental Trading, but I don’t think they have them anymore. Lira loves to make her own math worksheets and them answer them. I love how she grades herself too.
I have a second grader and we spent this week organizing and preparing our school room. We printed pictures for our workboxes and personalized our desks. I also have a daughter that gets a little frustrated (to say the least) at all of the writing she has to do. She wants to do “fun stuff” like her brother (my 5yr old). We try to work out as much coloring and crafts as we can in her day. I never thought of the “lines” like you did. Thanks for the idea. Love your site!
Thank you, Kathy, for reading and for the comment. Do you mix up the workboxes with some fun stuff?
This week, which I have not posted yet, I let Lira do her spelling with beads instead of worksheets and that seemed to quiet the whining a little. Little things like that help keep her from giving the evil eye to her brothers… sometimes. 😉
We dont do the workboxes. I love the idea of them though. I also love the stamp idea! How neat is that?!
I have a 2nd grader this year (and a first grader and preschooler).. My second grader will be learning about Native Americans this coming week.
This past week we learned about Thomas Edison. I put a short little workbook/lapbook idea up on my blog at http://lifeasaconvert.blogspot.com/2011/08/who-invented-light-bulb.html
I dont know why but Im super excited for 2nd grade this year. My little guy has been a late bloomer with reading so I think thats what excites me most.
You are doing great things here! So glad I found you and thanks for linking up to NOBH!
Oh my…I can relate to all of what you’ve said. My son who has Aspergers is the same way. If I am right with him, he can do it, but the minute I walk away, he starts having meltdowns or just stares at the paper. I do a lot of adapted work for him too because you have to pick your battles. As long as he’s learning, then I’m happy. This will be our first year doing workboxes and I am really excited and have loved gathering ideas. I hadn’t thought about using the felt board and we have several…great idea!