Decoding the Teacher's Weekly Letter I’m sure that most of you get a letter at the beginning of the week from your child’s teacher explaining the themes, concepts and skills they are working on in class. This is an important way for them to communicate with you what they are teaching your child in school. This letter is also a great way for you to get ideas for how to reinforce what they are doing in school at home. How can you do this? Through simple station activities as part of My Obstacle … [Read more...] about Back To School Tip #7
Archives for August 2011
Back To School Tip #6
I have a few questions for you. Do you want to do My Obstacle Course activities with your child but you have other children to tend to? Do you wish you could have another set of hands while doing the station activities with your child? Do you wish you could have some help preparing the stations or have help watching your child while you set up the stations? I assure you that you are not alone. This is how I know (except for the "other children" part, which I have heard from other … [Read more...] about Back To School Tip #6
Back To School Tip #5
As parents and caregivers, there are always going to be things that we do for our children that may not be the most fun for us (carpool, sports practices, waiting rooms, etc.) but that doesn’t mean that these things have to be completely unpleasant. I learned that by adding some things that I really enjoyed or wanted to do, I began to look at things like time in the waiting room, driving carpool, etc. as a gift of time where I had to do something for me instead of being trapped in an annoying … [Read more...] about Back To School Tip #5
Back To School Tip #4
In honor of Andrew's first day back to school, I thought I would share how I combine what I have learned over the years as a teacher and what I have learned as his mother in order to build good working relationships with the members of his "team." Working With Teachers and Therapists I am a firm believer in meeting your child where they are developmentally and academically if you want to help them progress. I found that this got a little more tricky when Andrew started school because he … [Read more...] about Back To School Tip #4
Back To School Tip #3
How Do You Want Your Morning To Feel? This is the most important tip in my mind. Take a few minutes and think about how you want your mornings to feel. If your mornings are great and peaceful, than awesome! If they are causing you to feel stressed or rushed, think about what things have caused your stress in the past. Personally, I used to feel like a pinball that had been shot out into the day at the mercy of whatever issue or need I bumped into. No sense of control whatsoever! What I … [Read more...] about Back To School Tip #3
Back To School Tip #2
Use A Checklist A basic checklist with words or picture symbols can make a huge difference for you and your child. This has helped us because like the timer, it removes the “mom” (or “dad”) aspect of telling him what to do over and over again. Start Small AND With Things You Know They Can Do While you may have a whole list of things you’d like your child to do, I have found that we’ve been most successful when we focus on 3 things at a time. These things can eventually be combined as part of … [Read more...] about Back To School Tip #2