Welcome to The Homeschool Village’s first ever Tour of Home{schools}! We are so excited that you stopped in. We hope that you will find encouragement and ideas for all types of spaces, styles and personalities.
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Four of our seven kids have Sensory Processing Disorder (also sometimes called Sensory Integration Disorder). This makes life interesting! I have learned to see the world and how the senses take in the world in new ways since becoming their mom. I have had to make adjustments and adapt the way we do things in order to help them to succeed in this environment.
There are many things in our classroom specific to our kids’ need for sensory feedback. Visually, there are bright colors on the walls and throughout the room. Some children need muted colors surrounding them in order to be able to concentrate, but our kids do best surrounded by stimuli.
We have an auditory station set up with a CD player and a pair of good headphones. The kids take turns listening to audio books and music here.
The kids have individual sensory aids specific to them such as Move n Sit cushions or neck rolls or weighted capes from Innovaid. These help them to be able to concentrate, sit for longer periods and feel more in control of their bodies.
Every week, I create a different sensory bin for our classroom. They are so easy to create and the kids love them! On the weeks when we rotate stations, this is the most popular station by far. We have made many different themed sensory bins.
For children with sensory issues, it is important to take gross motor breaks. We do this in a variety of ways. We stretch, have a marching parade around the house, use the parachute outside, or the easiest and most used option…the trampoline. I consider the yard an extension of our classroom!
We incorporate many hands-on activities into our days and have many opportunities for the kids to have sensory items at their disposal. Some of the kids like to use our homemade sensory balls while they are sitting. All of them enjoy hands-on learning. We do arts and crafts with things like shaving cream painting, finger-painting or bubble painting. I try to think of activities to correspond to our themes like carving dinosaurs out of ice or doing a pirate nature scavenger hunt.
Another popular area in our classroom is the reading corner where the bean bag chair is a great place to read, listen or relax.
A special thank you to our series sponsor, See The Light.
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