Hands On Activities! So Much Fun!

About Us

I am a SAHM/WAHM of three boys ranging in age from 13 to 29. We are working on raising our youngest, helping our oldest two, and navigating starting our retirement all at the same time. I author a few blogs, including http://teched4kids.com. I have in the past taught computer information technology classes for the local university and taught workshops for kid’s in technology education besides being the Kentucky State FIRST LEGO League Championship Coordinator from 2005 to 2008. I now advocate for STEM education wherever I can.  Life here is always an adventure!

Advocacy (IEP)

Here in Illinois there are a few places you can turn to find advocates. When making an IEP for school generally the parents and teachers get together to discuss goals and set up supports and services for the year. Parents can also call meetings throughout the year if...

Newsela and the News

Last year when we took a break to go remote our local school decided that they didn't want to pressure the kids with learning anything new. The grade school, we were doing 5th grade, simply wanted to work on keeping up the students social emotional learning. My little...

CodaKid (More Coding) or you can learn and have fun too!

There are so many ways to make learning fun. One of the things we've tied in is CodaKid (besides Tynker). On a side note though, last night we were watching the new Netflix documentary on the Social Dilemma. A documentary-drama hybrid that explores the human impact of...

Tynker Coding (adding coding to homeschool)

Debating what to study for homeschooling, one of our thoughts was 'We need a language!'. We discussed every option of language we had some experience with and looked at what colleges are accepting. Interestingly enough some colleges now are taking programming...

Playing with Fractions using Cooking

We were needing a break a couple days ago during homeschooling and making cookies seemed to check all the boxes. I was reminded of the old skit by Bill Cosby where he discussed cake for breakfast.... eggs, milk.... yep it's breakfast! Making cookies is fractions! We...

Starting Home School

Yep, we decided to completely swap to homeschool, we got our curriculum (we got extra!) and we are ready. What we learned quickly was the same as the old adage about too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup or whatever that saying is... both my husband and I...
Puzzle and Visual Skills

Puzzle and Visual Skills

Growing up my family did a lot of puzzles. There was always a puzzle on a card table sitting out in a room that we could drop past and spend a few minutes or several minutes to give it some time putting it together. Recently a friend posted a puzzle board that had...

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What is Autism?  I keep hearing about it.

What is Autism? I keep hearing about it.

Every so often I get asked "What is autism? I keep hearing about" - and it frequently includes a family member (child) that they think has it. - Well first off knowing someone is autistic isn't going to change the person. It may change what help you look for or who...

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2e, What’s that?

Twice Exceptional is a phrase for someone that is special needs and also gifted. Twice exceptional is also known as 2e. From my experience these students tend to get passed over a lot. As a parent of a 2e student we frequently heard things like he's doing so well...

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Homeschooling? Autism and the Break at our house.

When the break for the virus started our school decided at first to just give the students the first days off as Act of God days. My son's grade school was made an effort to start posting on Facebook and reaching out to the students. Letting them know that they were...

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