hide-n-(sensory)-seeking

Grace loves egg salad. Really loves it, as in she would eat it every day most likely. So it was no real surprise that one of the things she wanted to learn to make during our cooking sessions together was egg salad. So that is what we did. There are about as many ways to do egg salad as there are condiments and spices and herbs in the world. So there is endless variety when it comes to flavor, which I happen to think is awesome. This is our basic recipe. Supplies:  Eggs Mayo Mustard Step One: Grace filled a saucepan a little over halfway with water and then gently set the eggs in the pan. Make sure there is enough water to cover the eggs with a little room to spare. Put the pan on High heat, we want the water to boil. When the water reaches a boil, turn off burner. Let eggs sit in the hot water for 8-10 minutes. Step two: While the eggs rest in the hot water, fill a medium bowl with ice and just enough water to come to the top layer of ice....

What is dysgraphia? Put very simply, it is a learning disability in which an individual struggles with writing due to difficulty coordinating motor planning and information processing skills. Symptoms often include poor handwriting, confusion of capital and lowercase letters, poor spelling, difficulty putting thoughts into writing, difficulty with storing words and ideas and organizing them into written form, and many more. For an excellent, and much more in depth look at this learning disability visit this article .  Here today though, I'm going to share with you how it affects our household. In particular, Grace. Holding a normal pencil and trying to write on regular paper is incredibly difficult for Grace. She works so hard on the mechanics of the task that she is unable to give hardly any mental energy to the point of the exercise which is to learn how words are spelled. Even basic writing exercises quickly dissolved into angry outbursts or tears due to ...

The last several weeks have been short school weeks here. But productive ones. Zak sculpted a volcanic landscape out of Kinetic Sand. He said it was "from before any animals and humans, back when there was just tons of volcanoes everywhere." Despite the lack of scientific vocabulary, it was a very cool rendering. He even explained which ones were active, which were dormant, and which were still forming. I found a great idea on Pinterest for helping with handwriting skills. While the original idea was for younger children closer to preschool and kindergarten age, I immediately saw how it could be a great aid to Grace and her dysgraphia. We put salt in an upside-down lid, chosen because of it's shallow sides. I wrote the words she needed to practice in big letters on line-less paper. First, she was to use her finger or the eraser side of a pencil to trace the words in the salt, checking them off on the sheet as she went. By using the eraser side o...

Another very neat book to tell you about! I received a free copy (pdf version) for the purpose of reading it and writing my honest review. So, here goes, ready or not... Quick Overview: Life on the peaceful farm soon becomes heavy and fearful when a cruel crow becomes the barnyard bully. Despite their clever and laborious efforts to stop the crow, it seems his iron rule is simply the new way of life. The source of relief surprises even the chickens themselves!  I really like that this story incorporates unique cultural elements while being completely relatable to any family.  The illustrations of the chickens are so cute and colorful, and I like that the chickens are portrayed as clever, smart, and brave (because they have sort of been dumbed down in many books and movies).  I would love to see an introduction page that lists the names, how to pronounce them, and significant meanings (if they have any). That, to me, would help me give my kids a richer experience with a cu...

Okie doke, so in addition to daily math, the kids kept busy this week doing GeoPuzzles, math and thinking skills games on the computer, and actual reading out of science books. I was also reminded by a fellow homeschool mom that the fair was accepting entries to the exhibition hall. I had forgotten, but when I mentioned it to the kids, they really wanted to participate, and both of them found something they have previously done to enter. Grace entered her watercolor called "Bird", and Zak entered an ink sketch he titled "Dream." And guess what? Zak won first place! Though I don't think there were many other entries that shared his medium in his age bracket. I'm bummed that Grace only got a participant ribbon, because I seriously love her painting. We literally took it off our living room wall and brought it, frame and all, to the exhibition hall. But she seems un-phased, and both kids are looking forward to next year when they will have time to wor...

This week Kit went home with Auntie on Monday and spent two nights with her. She has been so excited to go and she asks so sweetly every time Auntie comes for a visit. And I love that she gets some quiet time there.  Things here at home are very busy and usually fairly noisy, and we have regularly noticed how much calmer and more organized Kit is when the big kids are gone for a bit. We cannot change the fact that she has busy, often bossy siblings that are often a source of frustration and sometimes even anxiety for her, but she can periodically retreat to the quiet of Auntie's house now and again.   While she was gone, we went swimming like usual on Tuesday, but it felt most unusual without her.  We had fun though, especially the big kids who got much more Mommy and Daddy time, and especially loved the extra wrestling with Daddy time.  The big kids each worked on language skills. Zak started a new program aimed at helping middle-schoolers become wel...

Finally got these cheat sheets done! The math ones are to help Grace with the concepts and math vocabulary that she often forgets or gets confused by. The grammar ones are for both the big kids. While I'm not a grammar Nazi (I don't care if they never now what a participle is, I had to look it up even though I use them all the time), I do want them to know and properly use the basics. This means the major parts of speech, punctuation, capitalization, complete sentences, and probably a few other things along the way as well. But I believe that solid reading skills are the foundation for good writing skills, so we focus much more of our energies and time on reading rather than developing formal writing.  Anyhoo, for those who were interested, here they are. Side 1 Addition, Side 2 Subtraction Side 1 Angles and Shapes, Side 2 Math Concepts Grace still struggles with the order of the months and especially their abbreviations. ...