Homeschooling Week 10

Homeschooling Week 10, a set on Flickr.

Week 10 has actually been 3 weeks in the making. We made trips to the Elementary School twice a week for testing. My mother died and things did't get done. We finished it up this week though. Ben continues to take 30 minute walks each day and though we have some Halloween marshmallows and fruit chews left over; we sent the rest of the candy home with our housekeeper on Thursday. Thursday we meet with the Special Ed Team at the Elementary School to get the results of their testing and make an education plan for the rest of the school year. I'm anxious, but hopeful that everything will go well in that meeting.

Ben actually gave blood a month ago, but we finally studied about the circulatory system and blood on Halloween Day.  We went to Paradise Park last Friday for the maze and hay ride.  Ben read 100 minutes over his BookIt! goal and we went out for Pizza the same night.  We filled up two shoe boxes for the Christmas Shoe box Ministry at church.  We started a box to send to my neice's husband in Afghanistan.  He is a Sargent in the Marines so he will know who needs what we send.  It is cold in the dessert at night.  These men are out on patrol constantly and frequently leave before the Mess Hall opens and get back after the Mess Hall closes.  When all you have is rations you go to bed hungry.  And then, of course, there are the sand storms.  So we are filling a box with Handy Wipes, Visine, Chapstick, Beef Jerky, and soups in cups, etc.  Maybe some nuts and candy too.

The picture of the Lego man is there because we have started doing current events as they come along.  We read about Lego man being held in jail as lost and found property in Florida and about whale pods coming within a mile of California shores looking for food.

Homeschooling Week 09

Homeschooling Week 09, a set on Flickr.

We had a very busy week. I'll let the pictures tell the story. We made it through Ben's speech testing. The Special Ed Coordinator came to our home to observe Ben playing with Legos and lessons on the computer. We managed to eat only healthy carbs, but we are still consuming too many carbs. We need to replace a lot of the carbs with meat, cheese, and some sort of low carb vegetables if we are going to get Ben's triglycerides down to a normal level. We are a work in progress.

Homeschooling Week 08

Homeschooling Week 08
Originally uploaded by sandiesry
We had a quiet week.
We started the Bookit! Program through Pizza Hut and set our goal for 400 minutes of reading for the month of October.
We have been watching a wonderful Japanese animated series called "The Mysterious Cities of Gold." Set in 1532, the series follows the adventures of a spanish boy who goes to the New World (South America) to search for the lost cities of gold. After the animated section is a real life history lesson with filmed archaeological sights and artifacts.
Ben is doing great on his new medication and I'm so glad that I took him off the Prozac as well as the Abilify.
Ben had to give four viles of blood and he did GREAT!  He also got his first haircut in over a year and he did GREAT again!  All weekend he has been playing Lego Universe because his reward Friday was a month's membership.  Every month he will have to earn the membership.

Homeschooling Week 07

Homeschooling Week 07
Originally uploaded by sandiesry
I like the way each Spelling lesson begins with a reading passage. I use it to test Ben's reading ability and speed. They are always interesting little tid bits of information. Ben always does well with this.

We also reviewed the spelling words from lesson one thru six. I was shocked that he got every one of them correct. I think it was because he only had to recognize the incorrect spelling without having to correct it. Ben reads words very well, but he cannot spell. Given words to write in the traditional spelling test he is at a blank.

I very much like the Evan Moor Daily Math Word Problems. Every day ties into the day before and it gives a good indication of how we use math on a daily basis.

Ben has been having several side effects from the Abilify he has been on the past four weeks; including blurred vision, weak legs, and shaking hands. He has not had much luck with the Prozac he's been on for the past 6 months either, so he has been drug free since Monday. Yesterday he began taking .25 mg of Risperidone. If he shows no improvement in his meltdowns within 10 days we will add another .25 mg Risperidone in the a.m. as well as at bedtime.