Homeschooling, Autism, & "Stuff" : October 2012

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Hay People

Interesting sight in Alabama, Saturday:

Happy Fall!

Friday, October 12, 2012

My family received a complimentary game, Anti-Virus, to use and review for you. I was not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Anti-Virus is a game of logic and thinking that practices the ability to problem solve and think ahead as players work to rid the game board of a virus game piece.

My kids really enjoy Rush Hour, and when I was offered the opportunity to review Anti-Virus, I chose it because it uses the same logic, planning, thinking skills.

The red two-circle piece is the virus and the object is to move that red piece out of the cell/game board.

It's harder than it looks.

Players are allowed to move pieces diagonally only - and I realized pretty quickly that playing this game with that rule will build visual processing skills as well. I have challenges visually seeing three or four moves ahead, and this game gives me practice at it.

The booklet that accompanies the game provides 60 games beginning with simple challenges and moving to very difficult. The player(s) set up the game board to match the picture and then begin moving pieces around so that the red virus piece can exit the board through the opening in the corner.

The game board and pieces are sturdy plastic and I would put this into my list of ideas to pack on a long car trip. The game will fit on a lap or a clipboard, the pieces stay put in the board, and two kids could work on a challenge together or several could take turns with it. A timed challenge might be fun on a long trip. It would also make a great toy for a hotel room.

I really don't like to compare a review item to another product - or even mention another product in a review - but the concept of Anti-Virus made me think so much of Rush Hour that I could not resist. If you have a Rush Hour fan at home, I suspect that fan will love Anti-Virus as well. I have to make myself sit down and play - this is a kind of logic and thinking that I definitely need more practice with, it does not come easily for me, and it feels difficult, which means I need it.

I do like to have some challenging games for rainy days or for days when someone has a cold and needs something without a lot of reading to do. This definitely gives us a thinking workout without the reading! I'm glad to have Anti-Virus in my educational game arsenal at home.

Monday, October 8, 2012

"Are you going to Target? May I come, too?"

Yes, the gift card is for me to use. My high schooler gets 4% of anything we load onto that Kroger card for band expenses at school, so we buy gift cards for shopping.

Pretty big deal that my homeschooler, the one with an autism spectrum disorder, was able to guess what was in my mind by the meaning in the clues she saw as we were shopping. I love the little signs of progress!