I learned how to sign the song "You are my Sunshine" and it wasn't too hard. Like playing guitar, once you learn a chord or note you know that chord when you want to play a new song. The more words I learn the easier it is the complete new sentences and even songs. I already knew a lot of the words in the song.

I may go back to the lessons or learn a new song. I haven't decided yet.

I am deciding to try something new. Most people have a really easy time learning song lyrics and memorizing things using music. I wonder if it works for sign language? Instead of going with the lessons I'm going to learn a song in sign language. Lets see how this goes!

ANGRY 
AUNT  
UNCLE 
BABY 
BEDROOM
BRUSH-TEETH
CRY 
EXCUSE
FEEL  
FRIEND 
HAPPY  
HELP  
HURT
IDEA
LOVE  
SAD  
SORRY
STOP 
WANT
WASH 

These are some of the words I've been learning. I haven't been able to get through many lessons, but the 4 lessons I have done I have down pretty well. I now know about 80 words in sign language! I can talk and understand a simple conversation and am also able to pick up words I haven't learned yet just by using context clues. 

As the words get more complex learning the signs gets harder and harder. Like most other languages, signs that look like what they are are easy to remember. Signs that are difficult to remember have little or no resemblance to what the word is. I'm on lesson number 4 now and hope to be on lesson number 5 by next week.

ASL Website

The lessons on this website are really helpful. Instead of just having a pictures of how to say the words it gives you a video. It also gives you sentences to do which is really cool. It's surprises how many simple sentences you can create after only 3 lessons. I'm excited to keep going.

Talking to people using simple sentences in sign language is really fun. Knowing just a few dozen words can get you really far!
Practicing whenever I can and trying to sign while im talking makes it a lot easier to remember words. Instead of learning random words its also easier to make a list of things you want to say in a conversation.

Also: "Good Morning Beautiful" is a good one to learn :)

I think its really  interesting how signs cane be connected just like words are. For example, "dad" and "grandpa" are connected because they are related. In american sign language the sign for  "grandpa" is added on to the sign for "dad".

Also the sign for girl and boy are somewhat similar. It makes it easier to remember the signs knowing that they are connected just like speech.

Watching Sing Language

Today we had a class meeting and I was able to recognize some of the signs that the interpreter was saying! It was really cool and makes me want to learn more. 

Update

I have continued to study and work on sign language. I have not learned any new words but have continued to practice the words I already learned. I have found that thinking "what would this conversation be in sign language" has helped me practice. I've also used "good morning" regularly. 

These are my strengths and weaknesses

I think that this is really cool. Having a future mindset will definitely help me accomplish my goals in life and humor and zest will help the journey be more fun.

Hey guys, I learned a lot of new words this week. I found some lesson plans online and am going to try and do one a week. Here is the link if you guys want to try.
http://lifeprint.com/asl101/lessons/lesson01.htm




New words :

AGAIN / repeat / re- / over / 
DEAF
HEARING (culturally) / speak / say / public 
LEARN
LIKE (emotion)
MEANING 
MEET
NAME 
NICE / clean
NO
SIGN (as in "signing")
SLOW
STUDENT
TEACHER
THANK-you
UNDERSTAND
WHAT
WHERE
WHO
WHY
YES
GIRL-[woman, lady]
BOY-[male, man]
BROTHER
CHILD-[also see variation: CHILDREN]
DAD-[parents] [grandpa]
DIVORCE
HAVE
HEY
HOW
HOW-MANY-[also see variation: MANY]
LIVE-[life, address]
MARRIAGE-[husband, wife, marry, married, spouse]
MOM [grandma]
SINGLE-[alone, someone, JUST, ONLY, SOMETHING]
SISTER
SLOW
SPELL-[fingerspell]
WORK

Welcome!

Hello,

Michael Funkhouser here reporting from Mrs. Mckay's AP Psychology class. I'm going to learn sign language and my goal is to be able to have a conversation with someone by the end of the trimester. 

Words I've Learned:

The alphabet

Goodbye

Yellow

Hello, my name is..

Girl

Boy

Thirsty

Yellow 

Blue

Orange

Cookie 

Banana

Grandma 

Grandpa

Eat 

Drink 

Milk 

Water

Radio 

Candy 

Yes

No 

Snow 

Cold 

Hot 

Rain 

Nice to meet you

Hello

I'll keep you guys updated!