Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Studying SEE During Military Deployment?

So leaving the building after sign class tonight, I made everybody wait in the dark by the door while I searched for my keys-- which turned out to be looped around my finger. Yeah.

The really sad thing is that this is not the first time this has happened.

We're slowly gearing up around here for Jer's upcoming deployment, and right now we're trying to figure out the best way for him to keep learning Signing Exact English (SEE). He's a little behind me because he has much, much less time to study, while I sit around the house all day signing for lack of anything better to do. At any rate, we're not sure how much time he'll have and what technology he'll have access to, but we'd really like to figure out a way for him to see someone signing in addition to just reading the lessons on paper. I'm thinking I might have to set up a video camera and sign all the vocabulary, and then either e-mail it to him or send it to him on DVD, depending on what he has access to. Anybody been in a similar situation?

We're also trying to get Connor ready for his daddy's deployment, and make sure that he remembers Jer while he's gone. Our current plan is to take a video tape of Jer reading and signing some of Connor's favorite books and singing some songs, and then Connor can watch it every day. We're trying to figure out the best way to explain Jer's leaving to Connor, too. We have a video, which involves Elmo's daddy deploying, but unfortunately at two years old Connor does not yet read closed captions, so it doesn't really help. I'm going to try to find a few books that are written for military families to help with this sort of thing. I'll also be looking for books dealing with going to preschool at the same time. Provided I can find my keys to get to the store.




~Jess

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey! I just ran across your blog via Facebook. Sounds like you've already got some great ideas on how to handle the deployment with Connor. Have you heard of the Daddy Doll? I don't know if Connor cares too much for stuffed animals, etc., but I have heard many success stories of kids that adore them while their dad is away. http://www.hugahero.com/

Priscilla :)

 
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