I’ve received many emails asking about information on how to home school a kid with special needs. I’m going to try to do a better job sharing ideas and a general curriculum on Parker’s blog.
I don’t have a store purchased curriculum. First, they are expensive. Second, well, they simply don’t fit Parker’s learning style.
So, instead, I create my own.
For Kindergarten we will be studying:
Numbers
Shapes
Handwriting
PECS/Signing Practice
(I’m not a big PECS fan, but I do realize their value in building vocabulary.)
The Alphabet
(This will also be where we get our weekly theme)
Colors
And a Toy of the week.
I plan to work this all in slowly.  Here’s a bit from yesterday:
Alphabet: The Letter A
Parker will need to be able to recognize the letter A by sight, sound and sign. I’ll be using the format outlined in my post The Education of One Brave Hero.
Level One
*Present two choices. We are using yellow and red.
(Of course I changed this to A and B for this exercise.)
*Ask child to “Give me (red), please.”
*Wait five seconds.
*Repeat.
*Wait five seconds.
*Top the right hand object (in our case the color red), then repeat “Give me (red) please.”
*Wait five seconds.
*Then proceed to hand over hand.
Level Two
*Switch the placement of the two items. Repeat level 1.
Level Three
*Put the two colors down in front of your child. This time you will repeat the steps in Level One, except asking for the other object. (If I had been asking for red first, I would be now asking for yellow.)
*When one color is mastered use the first color (the one mastered) and present every other color one at a time consistently asking for the target color.
This stragegy can be used when learning almost anything. Shapes. Animals. Colors. etc.
Widening a foundation using lots of different activities is important. Here Parker ‘traced’ the letter A using pipe cleaners. He used white on red to make it easier to see.
Our theme is Apples.
Parker made an apple tree with his arm,
the leaves with his hand,
and the apples with his fingertips!
Oh, the joy of painting the hand of a kid with sensory issues.
(Not)
I LOVE art projects.
Through art you can incorporate the learning of colors, shapes, and themes!
Love the handprint apple tree, I bet Junior would enjoy that one. I have ended up creating my own curriculum for Junior also, a challenge but so rewarding when you see your child “getting it”. I still remember the first time Junior showed me that he recognized his letters, a moment I will never forget.
I was just thinking about you and this in the Target today. They have in our local Target so many really nice teaching materials for like a dollar each. I was trying to figure what I might get for Parker and then got overwhelmed and decided to talk to you first, lol. Please email if there’s something specific I can send you.
I wasn’t a fan of PECS except that they are great in a daily schedule format. I really encourage this for our kids because most seem to love routine and to be able to glance at their day and what’s coming next. Nana loves to see the pics of the therapists she’ll see and be reassured that she will get out in the playground, etc. It’s really cute. She’s barely communicative, but this has been a big success with her.
That is precious!
This is just lovely!! I might have to get the paints out – arghhhh!!
I have been using big wooden beads and string and sorting the colours- haven’t tackled letters yet!!
Have a great day