Tot School Tuesday - We don't do sick days

The boys passed around a bad bug last week.  We had high fevers, lots of snot and a little bit too much time indoors, but we survived.  Contrary to our normal stance on the television, the boys spent a lot of time in front of it this past week.  Probably more than they usually get in a couple-month's time.  They discovered Toy Story (1,2 and 3), and I discovered that there are parts of Toy Story that I'd rather not hear my almost three-year-old repeat.  

"Shut up Buzz, you're an idiot," just doesn't have a great ring to it when said by a little.  I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Disney movies... we'll file this recent lesson under hate.

 Onto Tot School...In between the television marathons, but still donning our PJs, we did a lot of new activities.  A great homeschooling mama that I know from church blessed us with many hand-me-down pre-school and kindergarten activities that her daughter was no longer using.  Her daughter happens to also be on the spectrum, so a lot of the activities included manipulatives are were right up Stone's alley.

We focused on "What Goes Together," and used a lot of tools from this concept kit.  This was a new tool to us and the boys really had a lot of fun with the games and activities provided within the kit.  Here's Stone playing the included matching game...the kid loves a spinner!

We also pulled out our Grasshopper Kits and took turns with the different activities.  Holden really loves to go "fishing" for the pom-pom balls.  His fine-motor skills blow my mind!

Stone rolled out the play dough into snakes...

And Cash chopped the snakes into little bitty bits!

We also made a few original creations... Cash made a dog bone, so I crafted a dog.  See it?  No, it's not a dead lizard, it's a dog.  Come on!  Use your imagination!

Holden made an airplane.  I love this photo!  You can tell by his face EXACTLY how his airplane sounds!

Daddy had a day off work (PERFECT when you have a house full of sickies) so he worked with the boys on the fine art of MightyMind.  We're missing a few pieces from our set, so he couldn't unleash his full skills on the high-level cards, but the boys learned some things from the master.

Another new-to-us toy was this Lakeshore Beginning Sounds Tile Kit.  We played following the directions for a while, then Stone and Holden had fun spelling out their own words with the tiles.  Since the box has repeats (3 letter A's, 2 letter B's, etc.) spelling your own words can easily be done without incident.

We've shaken up Big Brother time a bit and Stone even has a new check card to follow his activities and make sure he completes each 30-minute step of time (trace work, game, independent reading, free play).  I went with a visual check list and incorporated photos of him doing each activity.  I laminated it so he can use a dry erase marker to check it off each day. He really enjoys showing Daddy what he completed at the end of each day, so it's been a great motivator!