w/c 15 September 2014 Highlights.

Briteschool homework was fun this week : )
Instead of writing a report on cell structure M chose to make 3D models of animal and plant cells. This week we started work on the animal cell.

It is so nice that Home Ed allows M the time to explore new concepts and find alternative methods of recording his knowledge. He finds physical handwriting so challenging, yet is not short of ideas or lacking knowledge. This also helps build his motivation and self confidence as time goes on.

M utilised the site http://www.neok12.com to watch several age appropriate videos on cells and took the accompanying quizzes for fun. I read the questions and M gave me the verbal answers - this means I am confident M has mastered this topic.

We also had several interesting conversations about the lessons fairy tales try to teach us, which involved several trips to the bookshelf, before M finally came to his conclusions and wrote up his homework report on Monday. He is struggling a little with creating his own Fairy tale as this is a task that directly challenges his ASD style thinking, requiring as it does quite a lot of imaginative creative thought. Tasks like this require a couple of hours a day, spread over the week to complete.


We also signed up for a 5 week Reading eggs trial just to mix up reading practice a bit.
Our Skills sharpener for Grade 1 Reading from Evan Moor publishers arrived and looks suitable for daily practice. We are using Evan Moor daily for Literacy and Maths. The workbooks are clear and nicely structured which suits Marcus. It will be interesting to see how quickly he moves through the grade levels this year.

Friday was an interesting trip to collect our new puppy, an hour's train ride from Swansea North into rural Carmarthenshire. M was fascinated by the scents and smells (sheep and cow farming country) enroute in the car to the breeder. He also engaged really well and asked lots of very sensible questions when selecting and then being taught to care for his new puppy. Since coming home he's followed those instructions to the letter. We've chosen a miniature poodle so M can to do obedience and agility classes, as the pup grows. All going well Marcus and his new pup, Coal, will be attending a weekly puppy class and building their skills together. I've sourced a lovely a dog training club that accepts children as handlers and am hoping that this will open up a new friendship group and broaden M's social horizons over the coming years.

Black curly hair means we match!