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Special Words for Special Needs Homeschooling-Dollar Store Solutions

1:45 AM, Nov. 20, 2006

Our daughter, who has Down syndrome, was recently diagnosed with low vision and the opthamologist gave us some ideas to help with her vision limitations. Some of the suggestions she gave cost real money. Well, right now there isn’t a lot of ‘real’ money around our house. (…And the fake money that we use for money skills practice just doesn’t count.) So, I put on my thinking cap and found that our local dollar store was a great source for some things we needed!

     First, we found a small whiteboard. Our daughter needs high contrast to see writing, and our green chalkboard wasn’t working for her. The whiteboard is just the right size. It is small enough for me to set up on her desk for her to read and for copywork. It even came with it’s own wipe off black marker!

     We also found a big button calculator. Actually I bought two of them! The buttons and numbers are VERY big and it is solar powered, so no batteries to ‘eat’.

     I found a nice tote bag for our daughter to put her tape machine in. She can carry it to and from where ever she wants to take it. (The tape player is free on loan from the Carnegie Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Pittsburgh, PA.) The bag is big and sturdy enough for the machine and cassette tapes in their mailers.

     I also found another tote bag that has plastic pockets in the front, so I can put pictures of things that should be put inside. For instance, one has a picture of our daughter’s pencil/school supply box, a picture of her spelling book and her phonics cards. Now she knows ‘what’ should go ‘where’ when we go to the library or to an appointment.

     We also found giant print phonics cards! Actually, we found blank 4x6 index cards and a big black marker! I wrote our daughter’s phonics letters and symbols on them, and…voila…I saved $27.99!

     Finally, I found plastic neon-color milk crates. It is hard for our daughter to find books on the shelves, but she can find them when they are sorted in different brightly colored milk crates! All books for one subject go in a certain color box.

     Don’t misunderstand me, I know that there are ‘real’ specialty items that are necessities and/or great helps to special needs homeschoolers, but necessity is the mother of my invention! As a homeschool mother on a budget and I have been known to improvise and invent quite often!   I am sure that there are other homeschool moms out there who have made some dollar store solutions work in their homeschool. Please leave a comment and tell me what your “Dollar Store Solution” was. Maybe you improvised and found an item that worked for you. Share your idea with us! I'll post them on my next entry-Don't be shy!

Remember to laugh!
Janice

Janice is a homeschooling mom of two, who tries to keep her good sense of humor even on days when it is really had to do so. She feeds the son's dog, changes the daughter's cat's litter box and teaches a mean Algebra lesson! She still hasn't acquired the gift of bilocation-but she is working on it.

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10:33 AM, Nov. 20, 2006, posted by ElCloud

For several years, I've been getting my yearly planner at the dollar store. Not the one I use for school, but the one I keep track of appts, dates, etc. They usually have the thin 8.5x11 ones with a 2 page monthly calendar and a to-do list down one side. That's really all I need, and I love only paying $1 for it.

They also often have long narrow magnetized note pads ... perfect for making a daily to-do list on.

And you can get the pretty hardbound journals there, for your children's journaling or copywork.

April

Dollar Store school items

11:06 PM, Nov. 20, 2006, posted by TeachingHisWays

I have purchased the mini erasers in different designs (they come w/at least 25 or more in a round plastic ball) and used them for counting, patterning, etc. I was blessed to find lacing beads w/needle and lanyard at our Dollar Tree store. The beads were all shapes and sizes and were made from the soft foam material. My 3 year old daughter loves to string them on the needle and do her sewing activity. Also, the craft punches for scrapbooking make excellent activities to help develop fine motor skills. I just cut construction paper into easy to handle pieces and my daughter and the little boy I care for 3 days a week will spend half an hour making craft punch art, drawing and coloring at the art table I set up for them. I also purchased a set of the magnetic alphabet and #'s there to use on the fridge and they are also good to use on a cookie sheet w/the sentence strip cards. You can write the childs name and give them the letters that match the name and encourage them to "spell" their name by matching it to the card. Our Dollar Tree also carries the sentence strips. If you get them laminated then you can use them over and over with a wipe and erase marker. I can't think of anything out of the ordinary that I've purchased to use with my 9 year old son. If I do, I'll post again. Blessings to all!
Stacy

Untitled Comment

1:25 AM, Nov. 21, 2006, posted by eclecticeducation

I alot of times buy inexpensive stickers at the Dollar Store. My son uses them to help with fine motor skills. He get to peel them off and sticks them on the page. He has to use his pinching skills to do it. For awhile we were having to get him to practice turning his head to the right. Stickers worked great for this too. We had him strapped in his highchair and we held the sticker to his right. He had to turn his head to see where to reach for. The reward of course was the sticker that he got to stick on his paper. I also have gotten punches there. I use them for fine motor skills. I punch them out and he has to pick them up and place the punched paper on a paper with glue on it. Sometimes he fills in a picture or a letter with punches. The punches can also be used for patterning. Use two different types of punches. Start a pattern and let the child finish it. The scrapbooking supplies from the Dollar Tree would work great for lapbooking. We haven't done this yet but we plan to. They had some cute travel stickers that will work well as we study foreign countries.

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