Tuesday 30 August 2011

Free Movies!

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Did you know that as a home educator this autumn you and your children can go and see some free movies? Not only that, they are giving away free educational resources to go with the movies.

You need to check in with your local cinema about what's available, but if you live in Bedford you can see Rio, Cars 2, Rango, Winnie the Pooh or Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

So... who wants to come with us?

Friday 19 August 2011

Summer update

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We've had such a busy summer, I can't believe how quickly 9 weeks flies by!

My littlest sister got married, and cosmo was the most handsome little page boy you ever saw, we went on our first ever family holiday, we've moved house and this Friday we have tenants movin into the house we own.

At the beginning of the holidays we got the final diagnosis that cosmo is indeed autistic, albeit very high functioning. It's interesting to note that the paediatrician was very clear to me that this label does not affect his potential or necessarily his development. It's a diagnosis of the way his mind works, not what it's capable of.

For example, I've been told before that autistic children don't know how to recognise other peoples emotions. What we've discovered is, although cosmo hasnt learned to differntiate emotions by himself, once you teach him the cues (eg tears = sad, shouting = angry, teeth showing = smiling/happy) he can readily spot these cues in other people. He also picks up details that help him process what others are feeling (the boy must be tired because he is wearing pyjamas).

I won't deny the summer has been very hard for him. A lot of people, a lot of change, but he's been doing very well. I'll be glad to get back into term and a bit more of a routine with him though. It should help calm things down a little.

This week he has learned to write! He can write his own name, so I'm confident he could write many other words (he happily spells them with fridge magnets) but he is completely unwilling to try. In fact the only reason he wrote his name is because he got a cars sticker for doing it. I'm not pushing it. I know he can and we'll practise later. I'm just excited because this is a huge step forward in his fine motor control.

We've also been working on a few other things since we moved including potty training (hell for about 4 hours, but relatively painless for the last few days) and choosing his own clothes.

Now that cosmo has a wardrobe he has been allowed to choose his own clothes each day (much easier than digging through drawers) and my father would be proud. He likes to choose smart shirts, everyday, regardless of what activity we are doing. I'll let it go for now, but once the novelty wears off I may have to have a word about choosing appropriate clothing.

We've also been at the library a lot. We've been taking part in their summer reading program and Cosmo loves that every book he reads sends money to sick children. He considers library books to be his 'work' like daddy, because he's earning money (even if he never sees it).

Lychee has been working hard too, her confidence in the swimming pool has improved massively and her speech is coming along well in terms of intonation and vowel sounds. 'heyow' for hello and 'mimimi' for milk etc... And she now reads about 50 words, nearly time for fast mapping...!!!