Thinking Tree Review!!!!!

This review is actually not for Skyler!! Change of pace there! Damian received the Asperger's Syndrome Do It yourself Journal to use for no charge in exchange for our review.  I will be honest this is the third journal Damian has had. At first we tried the 12 subject portfolio. As soon as I handed him that big book I could see the fear in his eyes. He was totally clueless. The book is amazing by the way but, it just simply overwhelmed Damian. I did buy the pdf though and will be using it in the future! I then bought the pdf of the Do It Yourself Handbook for Eclectic Learners  thinking I could just print little by little. Well he got upset because he didn't have a real book like the other kids did. 

When Sarah offered us the Asperger's journal I was way willing to try that out!!

Damian is not the photographic picture kid like my others. He does pretty well when it is for a holiday or a special occasion but just for school not so much! So he braved through all my photography attempts. Thanks Buddy!!!!

This journal is a ten page a day journal. They have reading and a movie every day. At first this overwhelmed him so we slacked on the movie until the second week. Now he does pretty well. He happily picked out biography type movies at the library of various musicians. Damian loves music as long as it is after the 50's. He is not my classical kid. You will notice in many pictures of Damian he has his headphones. I allow this because it shuts out the noise. This is what he tells me so we go with it. 

There will come a point in his life God willing he will grow up and he will work and do everything else but when we are at home I believe this should be his safe place. My other kids are loud, they talk too much in all honesty. While I love it, Damian sees it as a distraction. Using these journals I have found many things that have distracted Damian. 

Working with the other kids was always hard for him. It is no longer hard because he does his own thing now. 

He happily reads books at his speed. Books he wants to read.

He was very happy this day, his siblings were outside watering the fairy gardens so no headphones! He got to listen to his music loud LOL. His phone is his most prized possession. He worked all summer last year for grandpa to buy that phone. We don't do service because I am not yet ready for unrestricted access to the internet but he gets to go to the library and download music and games until his heart is content!

He enjoys the object pages. Most of the time he has no idea what the pictures are, neither do I for that matter. He loves writing what he can understand from the picture though. It makes him think and there has actually been a few times he has even imagined what the object was used for. That is a BIG deal for him. So right there WIN WIN in my opinion!!!

Here he is looking up current events. He is doing this on his own with no help from me. 

Not quite sure why but he writes the multiplication table often on the math pages. I have been wondering lately if I should try to get him to do something different. But then again maybe he feels this needs repeated. He does often forget his facts. 

For his nature pages he uses drawing books. He doesn't want to go outside to draw because things move and it frustrates him. I personally do not care as long as he is trying his best.

He enjoys looking up quotes he likes himself. he does not like using any I suggest LOL.

So things that have changed since using this book. He wonders about things now. How they work, where they came from. He tells me things he read in his books. That is again  a HUGE deal. The other day he actually asked out of the clear blue, Where do cats come from and how did they get domesticated? He spent a long time on google looking up all kinds of history of cats that he shared with me. Damian never shared his day when he went to school. He never told me things, he was never interested in anything. 

I asked Damian what he liked about his book. He told me he likes it because it is his book, He can do whatever order he likes on his pages. He reads a book, does another page, reads a book, does a different page and so on and so on. This helps him to be overwhelmed or feel like he has to read for an hour straight. I asked Damian if he wanted to keep doing journal school as we call it and he said sure. That is his stamp of approval. Anything that gets a sure out of Damian is a win! So once more GREAT JOB for the Thinking Tree!! 

Miss Sarah and her ideas for school has caused many wonderful changes in our homeschool. I will forever be grateful for the kindness she has shared with my kiddos and her wonderful books. They have truly helped all three of my children in some pretty big ways!!

Linking up with Homeschooling6 Thursday Thinking Tree link up!!