In early 2017, my eight-year-old was hit directly in the eye with a Frisbee. He could see the Frisbee leave his friend’s hand yet did not know that it was about to give him a swollen black-and-blue eye. This occurred around the same time that he asked me, “Mom, how do you read when the…
Is it a celebration or schoolwork? Common holiday activities can build executive functioning skills. Soon after Thanksgiving, my thoughts turn quickly to Christmas and all the preparations I desire to complete while still homeschooling well. Baking When I worked in home health as an occupational therapist , one of my favorite clients had the most beautiful farmhouse…
The number one question homeschool families ask me as an occupational therapist is, “How do I help my children with their handwriting?” Many of these families have tried all sorts of fine motor skill activities and even different curriculums. Three frequently overlooked aspects of handwriting: Motivation When we drill handwriting strokes and our children are…
Growing up, I learned about the five senses: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. These senses affect how a person perceives a situation, what knowledge he or she takes in from a lesson, and even what level of alertness is experienced. This leaves out two very important senses for body awareness. Proprioception- This sense is…
“Our aim in education is to give a full life. We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests. Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking – the strain would be too great – but, all living;…
I often tell my clients, “self-awareness breeds self-advocacy.” More specifically, observing and self-monitoring to make decisions is an executive functioning skill called metacognition. We all have strengths and weaknesses even within executive functioning skills. Evaluating our strengths and admitting weaknesses allows us to ask for help when needed, to accept or ignore criticism, and even…
“Just follow their lead,” casually mentioned a well-intentioned homeschool veteran. I must have quizzically stared at her. I had no idea what that meant or how it pertained to school. Initially, I thought it meant unit studies based on topics of my children’s interests. In 2017, when we started homeschooling, my third-grade daughter loved horses….
It’s been an awful day; the definition of awful day is different in every homeschool, but I can guarantee that we all have them. The first question coming from our current culture is, how are you taking care of yourself? Looking at magazine covers and social media ads, you can interpret this to mean: “What…
Field Trips that complement a certain topic of study are amazing for experiential learning; however, with intentional questions, they also build executive functioning skills that translate to lifelong learning. Executive functioning skills are defined in the book Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary “Executive Skills” Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential, by Peg Dawson, EdD,…
Our “school year” is officially over. This means we hit the 180 days that the state of PA requires. But, we firmly aspire to the Charlotte Mason principle that “education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” So, how do we keep our focus on literacy during summer learning? Our homeschool has 3 primary…