Autism

Benefits of Homeschooling a Child with Autism

February 16, 2013 by Angie Leave a Comment

Some people begin homeschooling out of a desire to raise their children in religious environment. Some begin homeschooling because of concerns for their child’s safety. Of course, there are about as many reasons as there are homeschoolers. One of our first reasons for considering homeschooling was the belief that it might be the best environment for our son with Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of high functioning Autism). However, it wasn’t until he actually asked to be homeschooled just so he {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, homeschooling

The Sacrament of Reconciliation for People with Autism (and Other Special Needs)

February 11, 2013 by Angie 3 Comments

Last year, I was very pleased to be able to share with you about the wonderful Adaptive First Eucharist Kit from Loyola Press. Not only do I love the excitement of First Communion, but being the Mom of a child with Asperger’s Syndrome, I can understand the worries that come with having your child special needs working on these important sacraments. Going perfectly hand-in-hand with the Adaptive First Eucharist Kit is a new Adaptive Reconciliation Kit. (Reconciliation is the Sacrament {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, church/faith, first communion, reviews

Multiplying and Dividing Fractions { Joie de Vivre no. 2 }

January 31, 2013 by Angie 2 Comments

$a joy of living: multiplying and dividing fractions$

I love Noah, but sitting with him while he works on math can be painful. I don’t know if it’s the Autism, the ADHD, or just a lack of ever really internalizing all of those basic math facts that a person should, but it takes him a long time to do math. To his credit, he scores well in the end, but it takes a long time. Our most frequent math nemesis for a while now has been making denominators {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, homeschooling, joie de vivre, joys and blessings, special needs

How Do You Find the Time? And Other Questions I Am Asked.

June 26, 2012 by Angie 14 Comments

I’m excited about the list this week, but it was a hard one to come up with. I even needed to send out text messages to family (and post on Facebook) for ideas. Sometimes, it’s just hard to remember what people ask me. So, now that I have ten questions compiled, I’m sharing ten questions that I get asked, as well as the answers to those questions. Ten Things I am Frequently Asked About 1. How do you find the {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, blogging, children, church/faith, family, homeschooling, life as an artist, marriage, motherhood, Top Ten Tuesday

Why Eclectic Homeschooling Works for My Son with Autism

June 19, 2012 by Angie 20 Comments

Why Eclectic Homeschooling Works for My Child with Autism

I have often longed to be able to attach myself to a certain curriculum supplier. To me, it just sounds more decisive to be able to say something like, “We use Sonlight” than to say, “Oh, we use a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Whatever strikes our fancy.” Alas, picking one set curriculum is just not how I roll. Today, I thought I would look at the reasons that being an eclectic homeschooler works for {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, homeschooling, Top Ten Tuesday

7 Quick Takes: May 11, 2012 (Vol. 120)

May 11, 2012 by Angie 3 Comments

~ 1 ~ This week we did something that I have been putting off for at least two years. Well, hang on. That’s not entirely true. It was just the biggest step of what we had been putting off. In January, we finally took Noah into the orthodontist, which is what we had been putting off for two years. While I was cringing about the money, I was mostly cringing about how he would handle it. In February, he was {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, food, gardening, mortality, television

10 Things We Did To Encourage a Struggling Reader

March 13, 2012 by Angie 36 Comments

Struggling reader, reluctant reader, whatever you call it — Noah (who has Asperger’s Syndrome) definitely had an extremely difficult time reading when he was younger. When he left school after second grade, they told me that he was just barely at grade level. Of course, what this meant is that he was just barely at a second grade level when he was at the end of second grade. Even once he came home for school, he was still a struggling {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, books, homeschooling, learning ideas/activities, Top Ten Tuesday

First Communion Preparation for Kids with Autism (and Other Special Needs)

November 2, 2011 by Angie 6 Comments

Adaptive First Communion Preparation Kit for Children with Special Needs

—– I was recently contacted by Loyola Press to review the First Communion kit that they have available – Adaptive First Eucharist Preparation Kit (which has a subtitle of: For Children with Autism and Other Special Needs). The people at Loyola Press had read about my own personal experience with having a child with Autism making his First Holy Communion, and they knew it held a special place in my heart. I agreed to review the product, knowing that I {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, first communion, reviews

How Many Days in Summer Vacation?

May 12, 2011 by Angie

We’re busy trying to finish up our last week and a half of the school year, and everyone in the house in getting pretty antsy. There is a lot of talk about having a summer vacation and just enjoying some time off. One night when we were having dinner, I told the kids that they were only getting a few days off for summer break. I told them, “Once we’re done, we’ll take the weekend off, then two more days. {Read More}

Filed Under: Autism, homeschooling, humor, television

7 Quick Takes: September 17, 2010 (Vol. 53)

September 17, 2010 by Angie 9 Comments

~ 1 ~ After starting on school extra early today, I was able to spend a planned day out of town with my Mom while my Dad watched the kids. What a good Dad! It was a fun time of shopping at a lot of old favorites, as well as going to a Whole Foods store for the first time. This may sound dumb to those of you familiar with Whole Foods, but I didn’t know it was going to {Read More}