So for the end of August and beginning of September, our main theme is SUNFLOWERS. Our colors of the unit are YELLOW and GREEN, the shape is CIRCLE, and the letter sounds (instead of just letters) are "Ssss" and "Mmmm." Other themes we'll be including are Summertime, Sun/Sunshine, and Plants/Growth. I was inspired to start with sunflowers because the kids and I planted sunflower seeds in a container pot on our deck and we have watched them grow all summer long. They are now at the end of their life cycle and withering away.
Our first week was just three days: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Here are the highlights of what we did:
Wednesday, August 27th
- We talked about sunflowers at the breakfast table, the different parts of the flower and the colors yellow and green.
- After we dropped Ryker at preschool, Gwyneth went to her Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy appointments.
- Gwyneth and I went to Starbucks for lunch where we worked on some sight words, read some library books, and then practiced walking on the cement parking beams (one of her PT goals). She surprised me with knowing 5 sight words already. The library books were all picked out to go with our themes for the week, focusing especially on the "Ssss" and "Mmmm" sounds. We read:
Shine, Sun! by Carol Greene
Purple is Part of a Rainbow by Carolyn Kowalezyk
My "s" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
My "m" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Big Monster, Little Monster by Mary Tillworth
Morris the Moose by B. Wiseman
Thursday, August 28th
- With Ryker at preschool, we were able to be alone to start our Reading Lessons from this book: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann.
I had read online that the methods in this book could work really well for a child with Down syndrome. So we did the first 15 minute lesson which covers the sounds "Mmmm" and "Ssss."
- We worked on sight words again and read more books, then went to the library to participate in the Storytime and craft they had going on. It was mostly for toddlers, so not the best age group for Gwyneth, but she still had fun listening to the books, dancing to the kid's songs, and doing a quick craft.
- We also played with our first Lakeshore Learning "Ready To Go Learning Pack." I ordered six of these portable games that each contain cards and teach the following: Rhyming Sounds, Opposites, Beginning Sounds, Sequencing, Category Sorting, and Alphabet Matching.
Friday, August 29th
- Gwyneth had her Gymnastics private lesson in the morning for 30 minutes. She had a lot of fun especially on the trampoline.
- Ryker has an hour Gymnastics class after Gwyn, so during that time she and I worked on the next Reading Lesson which reviewed "Mmmm" and "Ssss." Each lesson ends with a handwriting task to "write the sound" so I'm using a composition notebook and small markers to do hand-over-hand writing with her. Then Gwyneth played some spelling/reading games on the iPad. We love these apps:
FirstWords Deluxe
Starfall Learn To Read
Endless Alphabet (and Endless Reader)
- When we returned home from Gymnastics, it was time to do our "Fine Motor Fun Day" for both kids. We got out big plastic bowls and some empty milk jugs and I let them experiment and play with the Cuisenaire (Counting) Rods that I had bought but they had never seen before.
They dropped the rods into the milk jugs one by one, then poured and shook them out. We spun and mixed the rods in the bowls then sorted by colors. And we "built" some 2D shapes on the table and then some rainbows, flowers, etc. Ryker built some magic wands for all of us also. With the geometric shapes, I tried to have Gwyn copy the shape that I made with her own rods, but I had to guide her a lot in this. But we kept the activity fun and they played for over an hour with the counting rods.
- Later in the day, Gwyn spent more time on the iPad with the Reading Rainbow app which we subscribe to for $10/month. Both kids love this app because they each get to pick out 5 books at a time to download into their virtual backpacks. They get to turn the pages while the app reads the book to them, and there is an interactive component on many of the pages. They can exchange the books for new ones an unlimited amount of times.
Our first week of homeschooling was very quick and simple. I'm feeling really good about the choice we've made!
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