The Week of March 3rd-7th, 2025
We are officially on the back end of our 2nd full year of homeschooling. The vibe feels different this year. As the one directing our boys' education, I feel more confident in the path we have chosen for our family. And for his part, my older son has fully bought into our routine. He looks forward to our learning plan and our curriculum units. More importantly, he has made A LOT of progress because of how we approach learning. With that said:
5 Homeschool wins this week...
Coloring with my toddler
My younger son is only 20 months old, and obviously, far too young to consider "homeschooling" in any real way. Still, he wants to be doing everything that big brother is doing, and big brother does school.... So, I always make sure to have little bits and pieces of projects for him too. We are currently working on coloring. A few times each week, I bring out a coloring page and invite him to color. (We have a "shape" "color" or "number" of the week, so I usually stay on theme.) This week, Deeks really got down to business! He spent more time than ever sitting and coloring with me.
Guided drawing / tracing lines My oldest son has several long-standing goals in Occupational Therapy. These include: Using writing tools for functional purposes (eg writing, coloring); drawing lines on paper; tracing -- among others. This week, we did a mini-unit on SLOTHS, and I included in our learning, a worksheet that required tracing different styles of lines to "feed the sloth" their dinner (ie leaves). Malachi worked with me to complete the entire worksheet! It required a lot of physical support to help him hold the marker and maneuver it over the lines. BUT, he hung in there and focused on his moving hand. It may not seem like a huge accomplishment, but his willingness to participate in an activity like this.... BIG progress!!
Worksheet by Babies to Bookworms, babiestobookworms.com
Reflecting on a book As part of our mini-unit on sloths, we read the book "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth, by Eric Carle. As I read, I modeled use of language on Malachi's AAC assistive technology/communication device. I modeled words such as "slow" "up" "yes" "no." Whenever we read a book, we take time at the end to reflect on the story. I share what I liked about the book, and then, ask each boy if they liked the book. Malachi will usually say "yes" or "no" on his device. Sometimes, he will say "good" -- as in, it was a good book. Except, when it came to this particular book about sloths, Malachi used an entirely new-to-him word: "love." He was adamant in telling me that he loved this book. It's so fun to see him learning to use his device to expand his expressive vocabulary.
Understanding the context of a book We also read the book Are You Big?, by Mo Willems. (I purposely select books at the library that I know will allow for a lot of language modeling on Malachi's AAC device as that is one of our primary goals for this year.) I liked this book as it provided an opportunity to repeatedly model the core word "BIG" in different, sort of funny ways. Malachi got a real kick out of it. At the end of the book, the author asks: "Are you big?" I modeled use of the word again on his device and then handed it to him. I asked: "Are you big?" And he selected "big" (several times), nodding, with a grin, answering my question with intention. That is HUGE!
Choosing not to answer me Another milestone in learning came when Malachi told me "no," that he would no longer participate in school for the day -- that he was done. Following up on the Are You Big? book, we read Are You Small?, also by Mo Willems. Again, this book provided a ton of opportunities to model that core word of "small" (or "little"). And Malachi really liked this book, as well. But, at the end, when I asked Malachi if he could show me where "small" was on his tablet, he simply said: "no." No, he would not show me. He was finished. And that expression of choice, too, is something that we honor and celebrate.
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