RETHINK Autism and a lot of Rambling...

Well folks, this is my first official week of homeschooling. I'm learning a lot, but it has surprisingly gone really well! Praise God!! We have done many activities, along with reading lessons, and special lessons for J-man. I was so very worried on how well he would do with MOM as a TEACHER.... well I'll let you in on a teeny little secret. This week he did better than his little brother. Now, I know they'll each have their days, but something I discovered about him (that his teachers already told me) was that he is a VERY hard worker! We were introduced to a program called ReThink Autism. Its basically a step by step training program to teach your kiddos skills they lack. Its a form of ABA Therapy, but they show you how to do it and you do it yourself at home. They customize what lessons will be best for him and you record his results and after he masters something, you can go to the next step. Its amazing to me what he is already improving in this week alone! In addition to this program we are working on his writing, and reading. He can read the words (yes, no, dog, cat, and his name) No pictures needed. We will add mom and dad soon. Tibby has been working on independent work for just about 5-10 minutes. He has also been working on this reading book. We are on lesson 13 and he IS reading a few words now! Now, I will say, it is not his favorite book, but he is doing really well. We have also been doing hands on work, cutting (J working on this too), crafts, and cooking. So far, its been a pretty successful week! I saw something I want to get the boys over on the Pioneer Woman's blog. They're called Block Play People offered at Lakeshore. They are SO neat looking. You can get different families, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Indian, and White. They also have Community helpers and people with disabilities. We are BIG into culture, compassion, and diversity, and I think this would be just a great play and learning tool. Dan (my hubby) is from an extremely diverse family. His parents (white) had 5 girls, then the adopted 5 boys (Dan 1/2 black 1/2 white, 2 black, and 2 Korean. Dan always says their family was like a big package of Skittles walking down the street! I plan on doing numerous in depth studies on other cultures, packed with learning where they are on the map, the food they eat, the way they live, and the traditions they have. I also plan on our boys learning another language. Of course it will be a year or so, but I'm already so excited and planning the activities we will do and the food we will eat! Well, I didn't mean to make this post so long, so I will wrap it up with saying: I hope you and your families have a blessed and safe New Year. I hope to meet many new people and share many great memories!