Lets Talk Homeschool

Now that I am getting through the shock of letting my oldest child beginning public school this year, I have realized I have quite a challenge in front of me. I thought I had this homeschooling thing down, I am an old pro by now, and then life threw me a curb ball. I have to begin kindergarten with my youngest child who has Autism.

I have been avoiding thinking about this. I hate wandering around the internet feeling like I don’t know anything. Feeling like I have nothing to stand on, no foot hold at all, I just have to create something from thin air. Those are the same feelings I had when I started homeschooling.

Right after the birth of my first child, I knew I could not send that precious girl away from me into the great big world at the tender age of 5. But when it came time to actually start teaching her, I realize I had no idea what to do. I was terrified. That is the same way I have felt for about a month now.

With Sophie, it is a whole new ball game. To start, she doesn’t like to be read to. She doesn’t seem to connect what I am saying with the pictures and has no interest in hearing me talk while I hold a book. This throws my game plan down the tubes. I could always win my other kids over with a book. I loved the way I could sneak in learning in such a natural appealing way. Now I have to figure something else out. I have to find a way to teach her to like books or find another way to teach for now.

So here is my plan of attack. Sophie is doing very well and just now starting to recover some from her autism. Her eye contact is wonderful, she is starting to sometimes use sentences and she seems very present. Until now she would not try anything new without tons of anxiety, but she is doing better, so I will start to introduce new things. Sounds simple enough.

I thought about my kindergarten classes with my first 2 children. I used Five in a Row, a unit based, book based curriculum. I thought I would start with Before Five in a Row Books for younger children. Remember how I said she doesn’t like books, well I thought about my other children and we would read the books and then do a fun activity. I am thinking that possibly reversing this order might work better with Sophie.

For instance For The Carrot Seed I would get a bunch or carrots and seeds and show Sophie how to plant a seed and let her examine the bunch of carrots. Or for The Snowy Day I would pour some white rice flour into the toy box lid and some dollhouses and dolls and make foot prints and sprinkle snow on the houses and people. Maybe doing the activity will help her relate to the book and get her interested.

Ok, you have probably figured out that I plan on playing with her. I am going to try to find a safe secure way for her to start to explore her world and hopefully my 8 year old and I can get her to come out and play with us.

I am bringing you all along on this journey with me. I will write what happens while I begin homeschooling with Sophie. I am not a professional anything, I am a mom and these ideas I have written here may not work. You will just have to come back in a couple of weeks and see.

To learn about my biomedical treatment of Sophia visit WakingSophie.com