Thursday, October 28, 2010

Homeschool: Coats and Scarecrows!

This week we finished up our Fall Theme. I'm kind of sad, because we so enjoy making fall crafts. (Ok, I really enjoy making fall crafts!)  But, we must go on. I'll probably do some more fallish things when US Thanksgiving gets closer.  
Bible:  We looked at Joesph's life.  I had her make a colorful coat out of paper. First, I had her cut strips of paper into little squares. Then she glued them onto a coat shape.  We then glued the coat onto black paper.  This was a two day activity as she was tired after cutting. So, day two was gluing.  
You want to go out and buy one just like it, don't ya!
I met with the PT this week and she gave me some specific goals for Matthea to work on.  I'm excited because, well, I'm doing some already. I don't need to add too much.  The other reason for excitement is a clear direction. So, next week I'll make my lesson plans more around her goals.
Scarecrows Theme:  This week we looked at some scarecrows. We made two different kinds. The first is made with felt glued onto the back of a tin can lid. This was really to difficult for her as the felt and glue were just too sticky.  But, he still turned out cute...I just have to say that I did most of the work. Oh, I plan to put a magnet on the back for the refrigerator. 

The other one was with a paper plate. I didn't have just plain white paper plates, so I used the backside of a "Dora" Birthday Plate.  I think if I was going to do it again, I'd go and buy white plates. But, it still worked.  I precut out shapes and then she glued them on. I helped with placement.

This one is a girl scarecrow. I braided her hair.
We still are working on numbers 1-5 and practicing saying them.  Also, working on the concept of two things.
Also, still continuing with saying the uppercase letters and matching lowercase a,b,c,d to the correct uppercase.
Writing: still working on the tracing concept.  But, will be changing this up a bit next week.

We also met with a ST this week. She is from the States and has been a huge help in directing us in speaking. We are working on /m/, /p/, /b/ sounds adding vowels to it. An example is /bah/, /ba-by/, /bye/, /boo/, /bee/, etc.  She does well with all, but the /oo/ is the hardest. The ST also told us we could go to the next horn in her horn therapy.

Thursday, Matthea got to participate in the Storybook Parade at the Son's school.  If you didn't get to see pics of that click here.

And tomorrow we will go and visit the surgeon to see if Matthea can remove her feeding tube.  If you are curious about what it looks like and what I'm talking about click here.  Since that post we saw the surgeon and he wanted her to not use it for six months. During that six month time, she has had one pneumonia episode that was NOT related to aspiration. And nothing else until a few weeks ago when the weather changed and she tried to empty out the swimming pool in Taichung. She came down with bronchitics. She is better now.  The other issue was weight.  She hasn't lost any weight, but she hasn't gained any either. So, I'm a bit nervous as to what this surgeon will say.  I do want what is best for her and am prepared to have to wait another six months...but, I'm also hoping to have a huge celebration.  So, for now while I wait...I will just trust in the Lord to show us what is best for Matthea. Because, He loves her and knows her better than I do.  

2 comments:

Jenny said...

I think one of the hardest things, to this day, is to comprehend that God could love my children more than I do...it's silly to read as I type it out, because HOW LONG have I had a relationship with Him?! I can give up control over my own life - much harder for me to give up control over my kids...

That is one fancy coat. I love fall crafts, too. Except it doesn't seem like fall lasted very long here. I just turned on my heater this morning.

MaDonna Maurer said...

Well said, Jenny. I struggle with the same thing...a constant life lesson.
It just got fall feeling here, but almost too cold. We may have to dig out our heaters earlier this year, too. Usually, it isn't until Dec. when we need them...but I'm wondering...