I would ask the opinion of your children's teachers as to their expectations for homework. What would they see as needing the most intervention from you vs what they do already effectively in school. There is an age appropriateness here too, although with autism probably different.
Sounds like your mom was a tiger mom type. Mine made me enrol in summer school to get more credits. In retrospect, I wish I had been able to pursue music and not do ballet and other nerdy clubs. But that cost money and my mom was cheap. Ballet was for my really bad coordination, and I am not sure if it ever did anything except humiliate me. I never was a girly girl and hated it.
I say pic something that both girls enjoy and stick to that for 1-2 days a week and for academics/other skills stick to what the teachers recommend. In my opinion, better have positive experiences that build esteem than always working towards improvements.
I've sort of tried feeling out Lori (Liesl's teacher) on academics. She was breezing through what rare homework she had that I was asking for extra word lists/etc. Lori stated that she only sent home material that she'd already mastered - to set her up for success. Which, I suppose, prevents us both from struggling. My Mom is ALWAYS getting me flash cards and workbooks, and whatnot. But they're not always developmentally appropriate.
I suppose I'll just sort of try to get her to practice a few things. I got her a Disney Princess math workbook, and she was enough enamoured of the cover that she wanted to take it to bed with her last night. ;-) I'll see how she does at a page or two of that this weekend.
The trouble with the "1-2 days a week" thing is that it's sometimes not enough of a routine to be effective. Though I'm not sure what would be, as yet. If I put her back in dance class this fall, I might see if they'll take her in the Beginner class twice - once at each studio on different nights of the week. The repetition
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Yeah. My fear with Liesl is that if you LET her - she plunks down in front of the computer and just diddles around. Sometimes she plays little academic games (which I love) and sometimes she just watches videos. I'm never sure when to put a stop to it - because sometimes she'll watch the same show over and over again in about 5 different languages.
This summer will be rough because they'll be bored. And, budget cuts being what they are, the summer program is only 3 weeks long. So, I do have a girl lined up who is working on her masters in OT and wants to work with Autistic kids. She was an Irish dancer with the same school Liesl has been dancing with. We've got some space at a church once a week for some "lessons."
Other than that, I won't be home that much, and there is a very finite limit to what John will do with them. Maybe I'll just put out some handwriting stuff for Liesl. Not sure what to do about Rori. She needs something, too, or she's going to drive him straight up the wall. :-)
Apparently the love of all things electronic is another Autistic trait. If not the PC itself usually it's one of her handhelds. (Leapster Explorer, etc.) It can be hard to get her to "turn it off" without dragging her out of the house. And it's hard to take them anywhere when they outnumber you. :-) I can manage it, but I'm faster than John and it's much less likely that Rori will get out of my grasp.
They do have all kinds of toys, and they do play with them.
I thought I had read that schedule was very important for those with autism. At my house the schedule was a snack, and then homework. After homework play before dinner, then more play or even selected TV, but that was back in the dark ages.
As for hobbies, my parents gave me piano lessons, but then couldn't afford them. My and I took ballet, but it wasn't for chubby me, although my sister continued. Most of my hobby programming came from church youth activities where I learned needlework of different sorts and other skills (pretty similar to girl scout stuff). We met once a week. I'm rather glad we had this training as it was a good base for life skills. I don't think my mother pushed and didn't make us continue in areas that weren't of interest. But we spent a good amount of times in the library, movies, the beach, swimming pools, parks and picnics. Do you mimic the school schedule during the weekend?
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Sounds like your mom was a tiger mom type. Mine made me enrol in summer school to get more credits. In retrospect, I wish I had been able to pursue music and not do ballet and other nerdy clubs. But that cost money and my mom was cheap. Ballet was for my really bad coordination, and I am not sure if it ever did anything except humiliate me. I never was a girly girl and hated it.
I say pic something that both girls enjoy and stick to that for 1-2 days a week and for academics/other skills stick to what the teachers recommend. In my opinion, better have positive experiences that build esteem than always working towards improvements.
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I suppose I'll just sort of try to get her to practice a few things. I got her a Disney Princess math workbook, and she was enough enamoured of the cover that she wanted to take it to bed with her last night. ;-) I'll see how she does at a page or two of that this weekend.
The trouble with the "1-2 days a week" thing is that it's sometimes not enough of a routine to be effective. Though I'm not sure what would be, as yet. If I put her back in dance class this fall, I might see if they'll take her in the Beginner class twice - once at each studio on different nights of the week. The repetition ( ... )
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This summer will be rough because they'll be bored. And, budget cuts being what they are, the summer program is only 3 weeks long. So, I do have a girl lined up who is working on her masters in OT and wants to work with Autistic kids. She was an Irish dancer with the same school Liesl has been dancing with. We've got some space at a church once a week for some "lessons."
Other than that, I won't be home that much, and there is a very finite limit to what John will do with them. Maybe I'll just put out some handwriting stuff for Liesl. Not sure what to do about Rori. She needs something, too, or she's going to drive him straight up the wall. :-)
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(The comment has been removed)
They do have all kinds of toys, and they do play with them.
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As for hobbies, my parents gave me piano lessons, but then couldn't afford them. My and I took ballet, but it wasn't for chubby me, although my sister continued. Most of my hobby programming came from church youth activities where I learned needlework of different sorts and other skills (pretty similar to girl scout stuff). We met once a week. I'm rather glad we had this training as it was a good base for life skills. I don't think my mother pushed and didn't make us continue in areas that weren't of interest. But we spent a good amount of times in the library, movies, the beach, swimming pools, parks and picnics. Do you mimic the school schedule during the weekend?
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