Weekly wrap UP 2/16/18 -- Helen Keller and Homer

For History MarioFan is reading Homer's epic story as we begin to delve into our Greek history. He is enjoying this book and he remembers in drama club 2 years ago doing a play on the Trojan War so that is helping:).

In Literature we are reading Helen Keller's autobiography and doing a few projects to better understand her life.  The boys are also learning how to write a autobiography and are going to be writing their own life stories very soon.

We had the boys eat their lunch one day blind folded.  Normally these two talk non stop but on this day they had to concentrate so they were really quiet.   Maybe we should have them eat blindfolded everyday;) for a little peace and quiet lol

For dessert I bought each boy a sweetheart box of candy that they had to open blindfolded.   They did not know what the box was as I only told them to try to open it, once they did the could eat them while watching a movie.  

The boys watching the Hellen Keller movie we chose the recent version as it had the best reviews.

Next we gave a brief lesson on sign language and did a few other activities to help cement how Hellen overcame many life obstacles.

We watched a few videos on how she communicated and even found one where we could hear her talk.  Helen Keller caused quite a bit of controversy in the Deaf community when she advocated that deaf children should learn to speak rather than use sign language.  A skill she wanted to master but never reach perfection on her speaking skills. Something that always bothered Helen.

We did a few activities where the boys had to experience what it was like to be blind:)

Learning deaf/blind manual alphabet signing-- I didn't know that there are several types of signing during Helen's lifetime.

Trying to figure out what the signer is signing in the hand.  

Learned Braille and watching a video on how a braille typewriter works.  We were surprised to learn that during Helen's lifetime there was no standard system and she had to learn several different reading fonts while attending school.

Having the boys try to read braille and figure out a word while looking at the Braille handout.

Writing Braille worksheet

The boys are working on their writing assignment and next we will be doing a short poetry lesson.