Mr. Man uses Geoboards as part of his Occupational Therapy. Every time they come out, Monkey wants to be part of the activity. So, we decided to get a set of our own geoboards from Timberdoodle and post a review on them.
The Timberdoodle geoboards come with 4 boards, 20 activity cards, and 96 rubber bands. The boards 
themselves are of good, sturdy quality. They are smaller than I have seen with other boards, at 7.5 inches square. However, I found that I actually preferred this compact size. The cards are brightly colored and fit onto the frames well. There was one card that was not usable because the holes were not punched correctly. I really liked that the rubber bands were colored and could coordinate with the patterns. In comparison with other geoboards I have seen, I definitely prefer the boards that include patterns. One problem I had with this particular set of geoboards was many of the rubber bands snapped the first use out of the box. I don’t know if this is typical or if we simply got a bad set of bands, but it was very disappointing. After one use, we already need to replace the bands and this was not due to excessive roughness on the boys part (for once!)
This kit was a bit of a flop for us. Mr. Man sees them as a chore, so he wasn’t overly excited about this set. Monkey played with them but tired quickly. So overall, they serve their purpose but were not a huge success. My biggest pro was the quality of the boards themselves and my biggest con was the low-quality rubber bands. My overall feeling towards them was that they are typical geoboards, nothing overly exciting. They do their job. If you are looking specifically for geoboards this is a good sturdy set that looks like it will take some wear and tear (with back up rubber bands), but in the end, they are simply geoboards.
Disclaimer: Timberdoodle provided me with a discounted set of geoboards in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and received no further compensation.
I was pleasantly surprised that this activity caught Mr. Man’s attention ard REALLY kept his focus. He was persistent, despite the fact that this activity is challenging for him due to fine motor weakness. This ended up being a great activity for him! It really had him working on many of the skills he focuses on in OT. He was able to work on fine motor skills, processing/planning skills, and it slowed him down enough to help him work on his difficulties with impulsivity. I would definitely purchase more of these for Mr. Man.
Monkey, on the other hand, surprised me for a different reason. Monkey loves art, but he showed little interest in this activity. In fact, he did one color (with much encouragement) before walking away completely. Monkey usually loves art, but I think this project was a little too structured for him. He enjoys a more free and messy approach when it comes to his creativity. Monkey is also a bit on the outside of the 7-13 recommended age range for this activity, so that may have been part of his disinterest, too. Although, Mama is definitely beyond the age range and I wanted to do my own design!
colorful and simplistic way to introduce children to a variety of new words. Each page is illustrated with engaging and fun cartoons that easily capture the children’s eye. The vocabulary words are clearly visible and the definitions are simple and straight forward. I really liked the use of the appropriate amount of empty space on the pages so the words do not get lost in the illustrations. The book is divided into eight different sections by topics such as Words for Time, Words for My epic everyday life and Words for My epic outdoor adventures. I will likely add using this book into our school day by using it to illustrate a “Word of the Day”.
Both boys loved the word cartoons section located in the back of the book. In this section, you are able to scan a QR code and watch a short cartoon video that shows the meaning of the words. This was very engaging for them. However, I do wish that these codes were located on the pages with the words throughout the book, instead of all on a two-page spread with reference back to the page number which included each vocabulary word.
I wanted to share a few things with those who find themselves home with their children all day and aren’t sure what to do with them. First, remember, when homeschooling there is a period known as deschooling. This is a time of transition between school and homeschool. Learning at school is entirely different than learning at home. Let’s be honest, how many kids actually respond well when Mom wants them to do work? Most likely, they will fight you. They will whine, complain and turn on the tears. We’ve homeschooled for two years and we still turn on the tears regularly.
Allow them to create and tell stories, build with legos, cook (so much can be learned in the kitchen). Play board games. I cannot stress enough the amount of learning that happens through board games and they don’t even realize they are learning!
Remember to give yourself grace and your children patience. None of you were prepared for this! Today, it’s 3:00 and I am still fighting my kids to finish their math. Yes, it happens to the best of us. What have we done today? Mr. Man spent the morning reading to Monkey. He read him the entire first 
This cute little bear connects to your phone using an app and BlueTooth. You hide the bear and use the app to send pre-recorded (or you can use it walkie-talkie style) clues to those who are looking for the bear. This puts a fun spin to the typical hot/cold style game of Hide and Seek!
First, what is 
My children are a little young for the product. We knew this when we began, the recommended age for this product is 8+. Mr. Man is 7. However, with ASD he sometimes takes to activities such as this in a way that surprises us all. Sadly, he showed absolutely no interest whatsoever. This is the way of our life, everything is “go big or go home”. One problem he had while we worked through the puzzles was that it was very difficult for him to manipulate the pieces or place the tiny balls due to fine-motor weaknesses. I myself became frustrated at the balls constantly falling when trying to insert them in the starting position. I feel like this could easily be fixed with a small piece of clear plastic on this part of the computer board. Perhaps with a hole to load the balls into. The plastic would keep the balls from constantly popping out of place and requiring one to reset the whole system. I also realized, after we started, that this is a hard activity for a child who struggles with cause and effect.
Who would it work for…
I am a planner. I love creating curriculum, planning our days… I just love it. Don’t ask me to create a bulletin board ever again! But, I will plan a unit study for you, no problem. I’m the mom who would spend July planning our entire year. Then get frustrated when those plans were ruined within the first week. I had to teach myself to start planning for a shorter amount of time. I’ve also tried just about every planner on the market (digital and physical). Yet, I always found myself frustrated. Look at all the things we didn’t get done! Then I started something new. Instead of writing down what I planned to do, I wrote down what we actually did each day. While this was a big confidence booster that we do indeed accomplish a lot, it still didn’t quite fill my need to plan. This is our current method and it’s actually working for me. My kids go to an enrichment program on Fridays, so this is my planning day. I use regular old lined paper and write down the lessons we plan to complete in the next four-day loop. Then, as we complete a lesson or activity, I highlight it. This shows me exactly what we accomplished, while still giving me a basic outlined plan to follow. On Friday, I simply move anything we didn’t get to into the first available spots for the next week and we move on with our lives! It is so ridiculously simple. Anyone else LOVE simple?!
This helps give Mr. Man a visual and helps him transition between activities. We will also be implementing a new incentive activity that will, hopefully, eliminate some of the whining I hear when I say the word “school”. Since Pokemon is currently THE thing in our house, the boys will be collecting Pokemon eggs. Each egg contains a Pokemon which they can add to their book as they try to “catch them all”. To earn an egg the boys will collect tokens by doing schoolwork without whining and following the newly implemented Family Rules. Tokens will go onto their token boards and can be traded in for a Pokemon egg when they have ten tokens.
MamaBean Az 