I am falling so far behind on writing in our school journal. Actually, though, this month is a quasi-vacation month. We are just doing reading & Bible daily and math and writing are about every other day. Today I had the boys make chew necklaces. Ki and Gavin need oral stimulation and I knew Connor would enjoy it. I had C&G braid those long clown balloons to make an oral stimulation device – a chew toy essentially. And the braiding was good hand-motor control therapy. I had Ki cut cord and tubing and then string the tubing onto the cord to make a necklace. He made 2; one with straws and one with tubing. Connor made one with tubing.

I am working on fitting more sensory therapy into our day. I think it will be very beneficial. I was talking to the new mom I met today; the one whose daughter also has sensory issues, and it motivated me to get going on all these sensory therapy ideas I have been wanting to implement.

We are doing a Christmas alphabet. Someone here suggested that. I think it may have been Chris, but I’m not sure. But the boys love it. Everyone gets a different letter to decorate for the page and they person of the day gets to choose who gives their word first. The also need to be able to give me a sentence as to why their word is a Christmas Alphabet word.

Here are some things we have:

A-    angel (The angel, Gabriel, gave the good news to Mary), Abraham (the forefather of Jesus), Anointed (Christ means anointed one), Adoration (the angels sang songs of adoration)

B-    Bible, Bethlehem, Baby

C-    Christian, Church, Christ, Child

D-    Delightful (the wise men gave delightful gifts), David, delivered, donkey

E-     East, engaged, earth, Emmanuel

F-     Friend, father, faith, frankincense

G-    Gifts, gold, glory, Gabriel

H-    Holy, halleluiah, Heaven, Herod

Then we had sheepherding races. Each boy had 10 sheep (cotton balls) and their own fold (a bowl) and a staff. They started at the same spot and blew through their staff (straw) to get their sheep to the fold, then sucked each one to pick it up and drop it in the fold. I forgot to explain that fast, short blows would cause a headache. Gavin did long, slow breathes and won.

That was another sensory therapy game. It worked oral stimulation and respiratory control.

And I made applesauce today! Applesauce can be used for a few different oral sensory therapies, but Ki can’t have store bought. I have been meaning to make my own, but never got around to it before. Ki got to SMASH the cooked apples (good therapy) and then we put them in the blender to make them extra smooth. We’ll let them cool overnight and play with them tomorrow.