What If? Be Yourself Families
Focusing on foundations for the family
AUTISTIC FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENTS
The special needs restaurant in Richmond offers employment and/or service to people with Special needs, including Intellectually disabilities, and Autism challenged. Last year I was lucky enough to be able to go there for lunch with the middle school class (I.D.,and autistic all at the functional level) that I was Aiding in Three adults and five students arrived about 11:30 am at the restaurant, and were greeted, seated and promptly waited on. This visit gave the students a chance to see people with needs similar to their own, in a real work situation. Outings like this one are often common in the Educational setting as Community Based Instruction. My hope is to see more places like fast food chains and shopping malls to become Special Needs friendly as well.
HOMESCHOOL
When I officially began Homeschooling my three daughters Sara was 5, Jarre was 3, and Jessica was not yet born.Chris was in his third year of college. I obtained books, materials and supplies from several different sources: the dollar store teacher store teaching catalogs and online resources. Not all at the same time of course. One of my favorite products for Education was and still is the Abeka Curriculum materials. It turned out that before I had officially started homeschooling sara I had already begun to teach her some basic fundamental things of learning and education in other ways without even knowing it. Sara like so many toddlers had a love for learning and I noticed that she picked up on things very quickly. Before she was three I remember her being able to put all fifty states (individual ) in the right spot on an 8x11 puzzle. She was always a talker and I remember hearing her say the names of the states as she put the put it together. I think I probably put it together with her at first, saying the name of each state, showing her the letters as well as the piece of the puzzle then putting it in its proper spot. As a stay at home mom it was an advantage to always have the girls with me, wherever I was and doing what ever I was doing. If I was sweeping the floor, I would say "I'm sweeping the floor..." and so on. I think this kind of communication sparked sara as well as Jarre and Jessie to askall kinds of questions leading me to all kinds of answers and they were also active listeners, even when I didn't know or think they were hearing. They have all three grown grown into intelligent methodical thinkers capable of achieving greatness.
CONVENIENT OR ECONOMICAL?
Recently I was in a bind and needed to have a beverage available for a group of kids (teenagers) that would be showing up a the house in a few minutes. I realized I was all out of tea and juice from the fridge. All I had was water and that would not do. I hurried to the cupboards and as I was searching the pantry for any kind of drinkable liquid I came across a small packet of Flavor... you know, the Kool A.. nock off? Well, thanks to my youngest daughter, Jessie, I had received 10 Flavor... packets for Christmas. “They were 10 for a dollar”. She exclaimed. So I added the cup of sugar(yes, I still use regular old sugar) and the water to a pitcher, and viola! I have instant fruit punch flavored drink! But that’s not the best part. I got to thinking, How much did that half gallon really cost? Challenge yourself, do the math!