Jump to content

Menu

"Teaching the Fidgety Child"


Recommended Posts

I purchased the Old School House Magazine months ago in hopes of finding a homeschool magazine that was both encourage and not overwhelmingly Christian as we are secular homeschoolers. Low and behold I have finally had time to read a few articles today. That alone was thrilling. However, the best part was reading this article. The author, Carol Barnier, goes on and on about all these ways to school the child and they are amazing. Only I don't have the time to turn my curriculum into her recommendations! Do you know how much money could be made if she just built/wrote curriculum based on this article!?!?!?! I would pay big bucks for it thats for sure and for certain! It needs to be complete though. Like SL day 1 do this.... day 2... LOL

 

For your enjoyment:

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/cms_content?page=153941&sp=102656&event=1016TOS%7C1806673%7C1016

Link to comment
Share on other sites

May I chime in to say that this was a good article? Some great ideas for the wiggly amongst us.

 

Two of her suggestions are ones we have used with great success over the years to make math more interesting - using the white board and doing just one problem at a time (we usually don't throw the work in the trash, though). I love the idea of war with 2 cards at a time for practicing multiplication facts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another thing that I found worked when mine were starting was to have them sit on my lap for writing. I'd sit at the kitchen table and my lap worked a little like those bumpy wedge cushions for ADD and it meant I was a constant redirector.

 

Anyway, this worked for us.

 

Thanks for the article, I spent yesterday with 3 distracted twitchers as I was supervising a friend's kids for the morning too. Quite funny.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dd is 8 and we have been homeschooling for almost 2 years now. I sooooo wish that i had read it back then! I spend thousands of dollars on finding the right curriculum for her. (Most of it requires her having my attention the whole time... it is working for us though so I cannot complain. Now I have an almost 3 month old who is just settling into a routine... I am finally able to get laundry done! So if she developed a complete curriculum based on that article I would be all over it! It was an amazing article... sorry I did not say that outright.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may already know this...but, she has written a few books.

How to Get Your Child off the Refrigerator and on to Learning

If I'm Diapering a Watermelon, Then Were'd I Leave the Baby?

The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles

She also has a website called sizzlebop. I really enjoyed hearing her speak at a homeschool conference a few years ago!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I purchased the Old School House Magazine months ago in hopes of finding a homeschool magazine that was both encourage and not overwhelmingly Christian as we are secular homeschoolers. Low and behold I have finally had time to read a few articles today. That alone was thrilling. However, the best part was reading this article. The author, Carol Barnier, goes on and on about all these ways to school the child and they are amazing. Only I don't have the time to turn my curriculum into her recommendations! Do you know how much money could be made if she just built/wrote curriculum based on this article!?!?!?! I would pay big bucks for it thats for sure and for certain! It needs to be complete though. Like SL day 1 do this.... day 2... LOL

 

For your enjoyment:

http://www.christian...OS|1806673|1016

 

 

 

 

Uh... I don't mean to sound like a jerk but isn't that magazine saturated in Christianity? I mean it's too much for ME and I AM a Christian! lol

Thanks for the article link!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great article! I have two boys that need to move when working. They both sit, well bounce, on exercise balls instead of chairs for writing and math (one of them is nearly beyond the need for this now, he is nearly 10, and can sit on a normal chair for extended periods). Their writing isn't the neatest, but they can now concentrate for longer. They need to move to think. Sounds strange, but it works over here!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love that! I have a very fidgety learner, my oldest also. The white board is AMAZING! I don't know how I figured that out, but we do tons on it now. I actually give him his own and he colors on his between doing math problems and phonics and whatever else. I don't really understand why it works so well, but it really does.

 

I love her bean bag idea for memorizing and such. Good article!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good article! Barnier has been at conventions in our state several times now, but I never made it over to her talks. Somehow the expression style wears me out, lol. Anyways, yes, that's a lot of the way we've worked. There are even more techniques you can use and more medically-specific things you can try if you realize there are sensory issues going on. For instance I physically strap my boy down. And what she didn't mention (but what you may have figured out on your own) is that testing/evals were huge for us. When we finally got WORDS for what was going on and got the components broken down, then we could work with it better. My ds for instance has 99th%-ile auditory memory. My dd has good auditory memory, but it never seemed like the right channel for her to learn with. Turns out she's VSL and her auditory preference was because she had vision issues. Fixed the vision issues and the VSL started coming out and the auditory took a back seat. But with my ds with his literally off the charts auditory recall (really weird when you consider his verbal apraxia, that many people who don't know apraxia assume is a developmental delay) I don't expect that to go away. It's intrinsic to him (and he has no dev. vision problems, we've checked), so it's a tool I harness, yes. I put out a trampoline and throw him bean bags while we go through phonogram sounds. I have all kinds of kinesthetic stuff and I get him doing that while we bring in auditory, absolutely.

 

Anyways, don't shoot in the dark, get testing, that's what I'd add. She probably says that in her books. We waited till dd was 12, and it was the dumbest move I've made in all of my homeschooling. Seriously.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OhElizabeth, how do you test them?

 

 

Your ped is the first step for most people, because most people use insurance. They have a screening forms for executive function, spectrum, all sorts of things they can have you fill out. From there, they can refer you for a full neuropsych eval. DON'T take a diagnosis off those screening tools. Not only are they not conclusive, but they're jipping you of the rest of what you get in a full eval (breakdowns on IQ, processing speed, working memory, motor control, dysgraphia, dyslexia, referrals for other issues you don't realize, etc. etc.). If you have an HSA, flex account, or just a puddle of money, you can call a neuropsych directly, set up an appt., and in 1-4 months you'll be in, get the evals, and in a couple weeks have a write-up and a nice long session to talk about how it applies to his life. If that route isn't an option, you go through the ps system. Sometimes they're more helpful than others, so you just do it and see what they'll do for you.

 

Take your time and get feedback on the psychologists you're considering (neuropsych), because quality of their feedback varies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...