Weekly Wrap-up: Preparing for transition

I had been hoping to use this week to get me back on track and fall into a nice home school routine again.  It didn't all happen the way I had hoped.  We started our week with school.  The kids learned about the letter M and Philippians 4:19 "God will meet my needs."  I had planned some math activities for the number 11 and circles but we have yet to get to that.  The beauty of homeschooling is that if something doesn't get done by Friday, it's okay because you still have Saturday.  Sometimes we will work an activity at supper time if the kids are not too tired.  That may be the case for us today.  Although it sounds like we didn't do much this week, we really got a lot accomplished.

We took down the Christmas tree and most of our Christmas decorations.  The kids (especially Peanut) like the Christmas sensory bin so I didn't pull it apart and let them use it again this week.  I'm hoping to get a winter themed bin made for next week.  We took advantage of all of the packages arriving at our house too and played with some bubble wrap.  Another awesome fine motor activity!

We used our new play dough toys and our new gluten free dough called Aroma Dough  Nana bought an entire case of it and I have to say I am in LOVE!  The texture is wonderful and the scents are really nice.  Aroma Dough will come in handy for multiple activities for us.  Our children can smell, but don't have the concept of smell yet (it's an ABA goal).  So I was using the dough for an olfactory activitiy as well.  We have been using our dough a lot this week.  We also got a case of Soy-yer-dough that I am happy to say we are now fully stocked.  It felt good to throw out all of our old dough and fill the basket with new containers.

  

We also spent time playing with these wonderful beads made by "B."  They are called B. Pop Arty Beads  They made for a great fine motor activity and opened the door for some creative pretend play.  We love these beads! (Although they have an interesting smell.)  Even better, their entire product line is BPA-free, lead-free and phthalate-free! (Makes this "non-toxic" mommy VERY happy).  We also got a pack of their Stackadoos as a Christmas gift as well.  I have some ideas about how we can use these next week.

(I know the "W" sit kills me.  That was corrected as soon as the picture was taken.)

We also did some painting and made cards for a friend who has been sick.  The kids had a blast making a GIANT mess!

My wonderful mother in law (aka: Mimi) got us some awesome bins for Christmas that make the perfect work boxes!  The kids LOVE them!  I introduced them this week per the request of my children.  I still have some fine tuning with them but they work well for the kids and motivate them to get their work done. (I'll post more detail on that on a later date.)

Sassy turns 3 tomorrow.  I can't believe she is already 3!  She decided she didn't want a party so Babes and I are taking her out on Sunday afternoon after church for some quality Mommy and Daddy time.  This morning we gave her a Ladybug tea set and a "real" tiara which she was very happy to receive.

A princess having tea with her "Foxy"

With turning three also comes the dreaded transition.   All the Special Needs parents out there know exactly what I'm talking about.  When your child turns three they stop their early intervention therapies and services and are turned over to the school system for services (more on that later too).  We were delayed getting started (things fell through the cracks, not on the part of the school system.) so we still have to meet with the school to talk about what we want for Sassy.  We plan to home school her as well (we already do), but I would like her evaluated to find out her educational level (she's advanced for sure) and to see if she has any delays or deficits in any area we are not seeing.  I would also like to see if there are any other options for socialization with other kids.  We really just want to see what is out there.

So that is our week in a nutshell.  Busy and disorganized as usual!  More to come next week, maybe even a re-design of the blog site!! (yippie!!!) I hope you all had a wonderful week!!

God Bless!

Mommy Provost
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