Homeschooling with Allen Jr.

I have been reading other blogs and gathering information from the Internet about ideas and things for Allen  Jr.  He loves doing worksheets, but he will fly through those, if I'm not watching him and I needed more to keep him busy.  For Christmas,  we (my Mother, Allen and I) bought him the "Your Baby Can Read" DVD set.  He loves watching videos/DVDs, plus we had two VHS of the Your Baby can Read from when he was little.  He really enjoyed them, anyway, I have been using these some and he does enjoy watching them, using the book and flash cards that come with each DVD.   Back to where I was going.....I have gone to the Dollar Tree and Teacher Supply store(s) to purchase things for him to do.  Thanks to Stacy Jo, Annette and a few others, I found lacing beads (which we already had some, but I needed some to take with me places that I did not mind if we lost them), foam Number and Alphabet puzzles, pom-poms, containers, army figures, charts, learning cards, etc all at the Dollar Tree.  I went to Lakeshore Learning (www.lakeshorelearning.com) and bought some File Folder games, in the past I have printed these off and made my own from www.filefolderfun.com (Thanks Shannon for that information several months back), but I need a printer cartridge and really did not have the time right now to make more, so I bought some.  They have worked out great, he seems to really like them and has to stop and think about what he is doing.  I also got these there and they work great....Sequence Rummy Puzzle cards by Trend.  He has to put the cards in the correct sequence.  What I also liked about them was they were only $2.99.  http://www.trendenterprises.com/ProdOneDetail.cfm?ItemId=T-

24011&Description=Sequence+Rummy+Challenge+Cards%C2%AE

With the pom-poms from the Dollar tree I have made up a game(s) for him and he has to sort, count, etc.  We are working on his fine motor skills as well as his developmental skills.   

This school year has been a challenge for me in having to keep him busy and find things that are good for him so he does not get board.  I have a few other things I'm working on, but have not gotten them together yet due to the printer-working on getting that this week.  

Also I wanted to say a thank you to Becky for showing me this blog http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/   This Homeschool Mom has some wonderful ideas and that is where I got some of the things I'm doing with him from.  

Happy 20th Birthday Allen Jr.!

I can't believe my little boy turned 20 this week.  In my mind I can see him still little and running around here playing.  On Monday, my Mother-in-law, took Allen, Makaela, Summerr, Zachary and Ollivia (family friends) bowling, out to eat Pizza, then cupcakes and ice cream at her house, games too.  Then brought them all home.  He was in Heaven so to speak, he had the best time and just loved doing all of those things.  Summerr, Zachary and Ollivia are all good with Allen and interact well with him, so they had loads of fun.  While they were doing that, I ran around and finished his Birthday shopping, and came home to get dinner ready.  My Mother came over and we had him a little dinner and presents at our house.  He enjoyed that.  It is fun to watch him open up presents...he will sit there and tear one little piece of paper off and then looks at you and says Ohhhh! with big eyes and smiles, like he can really tell what is under the paper, but he can't.  It is funny.  I'm so thankful the Lord let me have my "Little" man in my life.  He is very special and means a lot to me.

Happy Birthday Allen!  I Love you!
Mom

Allen Jr. - Wisdom teeth removed.

Last week on Wednesday we had Allen Jr.'s wisdom teeth removed.  That was an experience.  He did very well over all and now it is just getting him to be patient and take it easy.  That is the hard part, he thinks he can just get up and go, when really, because of the medicine they give him, he could not do that.   I really don't like the medicines, because they make him feel different and he does not know how to deal with it so he is kind of grouchy at times.  Glad that it is over and we have a check up this week, hopefully all will be well.

First Place Pie! Allen Jr and his cooking class

Allen Jr is taking a cooking class this year.  He has enjoyed cooking and learning new things.  Last week in his cooking class he made a pie with his class partner, the teacher entered it into the Carree Technology Fair(FCCLA County Fair) and their pie won First Place.  He brought his blue ribbon home today and he was so proud of that.  We are excited for him and very glad.

Allen Jr. and more of the dental work story.

We met with an oral surgeon yesterday to see if Allen was able to have implants.  After much debate and talking, we are to have an I-CAT done and then he will decide.  In the meantime Allen does need to have his wisdom teeth removed.   We will have some very hard decisions to make concerning Allen's teeth and procedures.  This is not an easy task with his disabilities.  I'm leaning that we are to praise the Lord for everything, but not just to praise him for the situation, but during the situation.  That is not something that comes natural to do.  I know it should be, but I guess that is something that comes with time.

A Dental Proceedure for Allen Jr.

Well, today we had to do a dental procedure for Allen Jr. He had to be fasting, they gave him an oral sedation one hour before the surgery and then an IV sedation when we got there. Allen tries to get up and move around, he does not realize with these medications he needs to be careful.

Everything went really well. They were able to get started by 8:30 a.m. and we were leaving by 10:30/11:00 a.m. With Allen's disability, they cannot just go in and work on him, he does not allow that, so that is why he has to be sedated usually for even cavities to be filled. They were fixing him a permanent bridge for his two front teeth, cleaning his teeth and filling a cavity, but found two more small ones while in there. They fixed those too.

Allen did really good when we got home, he did want to get up and go, so Allen Sr. or I had to sit with him on the couch for several hours until the medications were out of his system.

We will be going back at the end of the month for his permanent bridge to be placed and they will be giving him the oral sedation again. Hopefully this will help.

Glad the Lord was with us yesterday and kept his hand on Allen.