Brain Gym Day 1

Yesterday we were in a 24 hour hole with Caleb, one of those days where no matter how hard he tried he could not get things right, and the longer he worked on it the worse it got.

Now I do not claim to be the best or the brightest mom, but you would think after just having finished a class four days ago about the brain and how it functions, that I would have clued in a little sooner!!!

Well last night at dinner the "light" came on for me and I saw how Caleb had retreated into "fight and flight" mode earlier in the day, and never came out of it. So we backed off last night, both of us needing a break.

This morning I put into action some of the things I learned last weekend. I put the kids through some opening large motor movements then we did these "lazy 8's". I thought it would be too easy for Caleb, but he really struggled bringing the crayon up the middle and making anything that resembled circles at all.

So I drew it for him to trace over and over. Right hand, then left hand, then both hands together. He seemed to relax with it and move smoother as he went.

Then I sent him to his room to do his reading. He said he read just like always, but seemed to understand what he read better (without me telling him what it was supposed to do). Then we worked on some misspelled words from yesterday. It took him 15 minutes yesterday to figure out how to spell "apples". Today he corrected and rewrote 4 sentences in the same amount of time!

I also used it with Hannah, but did not try anything I could measure with her yet. Notice how low her "eight" got using two hands!

So after today, I am willing to take 15 minutes or so of my day and try these activities with the kids to see if we see lasting results. I am happy to say that most of the time now I am able to look at their "learning challenges" as a challenge for myself instead of an inconvenience. Thank you Lord for changing my attitude!!!

Happy Schooling!!