Loving and Schooling an Autistic child http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:30:00 -0500 Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:30:00 -0500 Free Book Prayers for Emotional Wholeness, by Stormie Omartian, was helpful to me during a stressful time. The book is subtitled "365 prayers for Living in Freedom". Chapters include "When I Need to be Free of Anxiety and Depression", "When I Need Hope and Joy in my Heart", and "When I Need Greater Faith". Sometimes my mind would be completely blank of words to pray, and Stormie's prayers gave me a starting point. Each prayer has a Scripture that fits its topic. I'm giving away a copy of this book this week. This particular copy has a black remainder mark, and a little price tag residue on one corner. I will send it free to someone who: has a blog leaves a comment here with their blog's address posts a link to this post on their own blog Next Sunday, I will e-mail the winner of the book to get a shipping address, and post a link to the winner's blog. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/579655/ Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:30:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/579655/   I'm not sure what the standard is in other states, but in Indiana; in order for a child to rec. any type of state support, they had to have been diagnosed, on the autism spectrum, before the age of 3.   We've raised 4 beautiful gifts from God.  Our oldest 3 are all girls and each and every one of them are different.  They each had their own personality as an infant, they each did peculiar things, they each learn differently, they each have different food likes and dislikes as well as clothing likes and dislikes.  Isn't this all part of each of us being human and individual?  Isn't this part of the beauty of life itself?   When our son came along, we raised him the same way:  in the way that he learned!    Anything that did possibly seem out of the ordinary, we brought it to the attention of his pediatrician and not once was there ever a cause for concern.   It wasn't until we moved to a new school district that we had any clue that there might be an issue at hand.   Pre-K went smoothly, and there was never any incidents that involved the principal, or sending him home.  He was never written up and teacher conferences were always a pleasure.  He even questioned why he couldn't go to school as long and all week as his Sisters!   Then we buy our home on the county line, were told we were still in the same school district, and 3 days after signing the paperwork, we were informed that the house actually sits in another county!   From day one, we began having 'problems'.  But, I suppose that is another blog..lol..my point is...   Our son, could spell the words from our daughters spelling lists when they were in high school and before he could even walk!  He could remember where he had hidden a toy weeks later!  However, hindsight is 20/20, especially once you learn what you SHOULD have been looking for.  He was slow to talk, he slept most nights through as an infant, he became angered easily and most of the time for reasons we didn't understand, clothing had to be just so/so, he was beyond picky about his food, and I even found a picture where he is all slumped over while being held.  He had all the symptoms!   Our son, had all the symptoms of being on the spectrum, but none of them were obvious enough to even worry the pediatrician!   How were we suppose to know before the age of 3? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/576592/ Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:43:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/576592/    Started with a review of the USA and capitals today:  not a problem.  We moved on to some math questions:  he didn't even flinch.     Next came the Antonymns (okay, where is the spell check? ):  this was a word search puzzle and the only problem he had was with all of the letters!  He actually told me (which is a milestone in itself ).  So, I took another piece of paper and covered up the majority of the letters and we went through it slowly.  This also didn't hurt a thing because I was able to ask him what the antonymn for the word was if he still couldn't find it!    On the board for review today, was also science, weather, climate, mercury, thermometers, solar system, the ozone, barometers, history and enjoyable reading!  Not to mention, pulling out the ol' dictionary when the need arose!   I'm just in awe!  He retains so much information and craves even more - how fun!  He even teaches me things!...lol.. - Seriously! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/574971/ Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:05:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/574971/    As if we don't learn something every day   But, it's just like which grade we're in, DS likes to have a sense of 'keeping up' with the rest of the world...lol!   We'd been using Prairie Primer (Based on the Little House books) as a guide, but this year, we're shooting for an even more eclectic / unschool approach.   Today, consisted of a bit of testing, humor, writing and realizing that it won't take much at all to move right into 7th! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/574411/ Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/reverendheidi/574411/