Tuesday, 27 November 2012
The excitement of learning!
I'm 3.5 weeks post op now! November seems like a bit of a write off to me but then I'm so much better and so far I think the op has been a success which is great. (athough it's very early days to know this!)
Since I last wrote we have got into a great wee routine of us working down at the sofa. I thought the control freak side of me would really struggle to have S at home without the routine of "Independent Learning" and "Together Time" and all the things we have got so used to doing. However, I have been a lot more aware of when S is learning things rather than going through the motions. Admittedly we are not nearly doing the same volume of work as we were but I think the quality of learning has been really good!
S has now tackled "money" and "division". Both of these topics he dreaded but has become quite quick at them as the penny has dropped (no pun intended!!). For money it took him over an hour to complete each page. If he was in school there is no way he would have been allowed to spend so long on one task! This is the beauty of home schooling! It might seem that we are not achieving very much but actually we can work until the concepts are understood and then not waste time the next day trying to unpick badly learnt concepts! We did spend A LONG time on money last week but today he completed a task on education city and got 100 per cent which was great!
Outwith maths S has been working on his Volcano project. This has been a relatively successful venture! Most of the time I have given S a topic to find out about and left him to it. My perfectionist tendancies have not coped very well with his presentation but to give him his due he has found out about each of the topics and seems to have understood what he has read about. Today, we spent an hour reading about volcanoes today and discussing them and he loved it! He asked so many questions and was fascinated by it all! When S is interested he continually tells you back what he is learning just to make sure he has understood the concept so today the whole time was punctuated with "so basically...". Whilst it was quite a full on session and exhausting for me it was so lovely to see him engaging so much with the topic and material! That was what I loved about teaching in the first place. Forget that I am trained to teach RMPS; to see a child so excited about learning and understanding anything is fantastic!
So, I am happy with how things have gone. We haven't done very much formal reading or English but actually we have been reading and comprehending for a lot of the time and I am pleased with how he has begun to show a eal understanding of what we are reading. I'm not sure how the following few weeks will go. As I feel stronger I am aware that I am beginning to want him to do more and at the same time once I am back to full strength I am determined that we start to go out more and that I start to socialise more and in turn S socialises more. The house whilst being a comfort in times of recuperation can also be a bit of a prison and I think for both of our well being we need to get out more!!
Thursday, 15 November 2012
Home schooling with new challenges!
I would totally understand if not a soul is following this blog now as it has been so long since I have updated it! However, we ARE still here and we ARE still working away!
We have now passed our anniversary of a year of home school! That was a huge milestone for me to reach. For S, I think it was too although maybe less significant! For me we made it through a year! S has learned a lot. I have learned a lot and more importantly I don't think our relationship has suffered at all and I am not completely insane!
Looking back over the year has been good. Lots of highlights to celebrate which is great. At the same time I realise that personally for me how much life has shrunk and how little I am socialising with my friends. That has been the hardest part of home schooling. On the one hand I have made some fantastic new friends amongst the home school community who I have learned so much from and who I admire and like so much. On the other hand though in some ways I feel like I've drifted out of circulation from my other friends. I've chatted to S about the isolation factor and we have both agreed that next term this will change!
The biggest change since I last wrote is that I've not long had major surgery! This has been on the cards for months and we have known about it for long enough to prepare. In a large part encouraging "Independent Learning" time was to prepare for this time. It's not all gone exactly to plan...
If I'd been working I would have been officially signed off for 6 weeks. If my 4 children had all been at school I would have had a child free house from 9-3 everyday giving me all those hours to recuperate! As it is I have S and I have a responsibility. Thankfully I wasn't in hospital for very long and thanks to family being brilliant I had a full week of no teaching responsibilities which was just as well as I was fit for nothing. This week has been different. When I'm not very well I get very emotional easily (I'm sure so many could relate to this!). On Monday as I sat and tried to plan the week ahead with my immobility being a reality and no longer a future concept I found myself struggling to plan and to concentrate and to not get emotional! I realised very quickly that I had to somehow work out a way of working with S that suited both my emotional well being and his!
I'm happy to say that 4 days later we seem to have struck a perfect balance! I think many think I'm bonkers to keep going just now teaching but I think that if I didn't I would really be cheating S and in the long run does him no favours at all. He so much needs to know his boundaries and his routine. If he was to be left to his own devices not only would he get bored and difficult very quickly but he also would be very difficult to get back on track when I'm totally recovered. The recovery period for this op unfortunately is quite long so we needed to come up with a long term strategy!
So, our new routine is that as soon as the other 3 have left for school we sit on the sofa together and work through our maths, reading and English for the day. We don't set a limit on this but it takes us about an hour to do this. This week we've cracked "division" - a topic that S dreaded adn thought he couldn't do. Well he can now! After this I have set S a project - for the following 2 weeks he is going to find out all about volcanoes and after 2 weeks he will print it off and give it to me. This will be his "independent learning" and will include, reading, comprehension, story writing, ICT and art so will cover a lot of things. We've only been doing it for a few days but already he has spent 2 hours on it so I'm really pleased. At this time I go back to bed to rest and sleep. This means that I can with a clear conscience still say that I am teaching S but also that I am able to rest properly and not resent having him to teach. It's working really well! At the end of this week I feel that we really have achieved something and can see that for the next month we have a practical way to work.
I'm sure there are plenty more things I could write about but "home schooling when mum is sick" is a big thing for me and one I worried about and I am sooooooo relieved to have worked out some sort of solution that is workable for us both!
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Report Card Day!
It's parents evening next week for my other 3 children. This inevitably led onto some banter with the kids about S's parents evening and what sort of report he would get! Ironically a few days later I got a phone call from the council asking me to submit a report on our first full year of home school. I think this is an annual thing but from chat amongst the home school mums different council folks have taken different views, some taking this very seriously and some leaving us to our own devices. To be honest I'd been dreading this a bit wondering just how much detail I needed to go into but in the end it was fine. I wrote it in an hour today and actually was quite amazed to think back over the year!
This week has been a big week for me! After 7 years I have decided to abandon facebook! There are loads of reasons for this. The trigger in the end was a wee privacy scare which I'm not actually sure had much basis to it but was enough to tip me over. I have had several conversations for and against Facebook recently all of which have made me really think about its value! I love it and had very many fruitful conversations through it with folks privately (although that was the privacy scare called into question this week!). However, I am addicted to it! I do check it frequently through the day and it is never far away! Life tends to be thought of in terms of facebook statuses and it is very quick to get in the habit of looking someone up and finding out all about them without actually speaking to the people themselves! So, I decided that enough was enough and I'm virtually finished deleting everything on my account to prevent me from simply reactivating my account! I think I'm going to regret it but I think it will be good for me! The upshot is though I think most folks who read this blog do so through facebook so think I've not helped folks here!! Oh well!
Schooling in the past week has gone ok. S has been very controlling in how we do things and his motivation has certainly driven things which I find so frustrating! My twins decided to have a day off on Monday and well and truly pulled the wool over their dad and my eyes! They were very unwell until 9:30am when a miraculous recovery took place! They were going to have a ball! Or so they thought. I was very annoyed with them. Not only does it waste their teacher's time but also wastes S's time as he finds it so difficult to concentrate when they are having a ball! So, Monday was a bit of a write off! The rest of the week has been fine. Following a couple of weeks of lots of different things going on I had decided that this was going to be quite a stable week without too many distractions. I think S really did need this. He has settled right back down after quite a hyper time. I'm going slightly stir crazy but can cope with this! We only have one week left until the October break so I think we can afford to take the foot off the gas a bit and be less structured again next week!
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Another wee reality check!
The end of term is racing towards us! I am amazed at how quickly this term has gone passed and am amazed at how much learning we have actually done! This week alone we have tackled "equivalent fractions", "fractions of groups" and introduced decimals. That might sound like pretty mundane stuff but from someone who was told throughout secondary school that I "struggled to grasp the basics" I feel not only a sense of acheivement that S has grasped the topics but that I have been able to teach them! Actually, dare I admit it I am really enjoying teaching maths! For probably the first time in my life I am seeing how much all the topics in maths link together and how much it all makes sense!
In the midst of all this though there has definitely been a build up which led to a reality check today. I have become slightly complacent over the past couple of weeks with the new calmness at home and the change of temperature. With S cooperating so much more it has been a bit too easy to drift through the day working. S has actually been doing more work than he was before and has learnt a lot but I have inadvertantly allowed him to take the reins a bit too much in deciding when we do things! I realised this today when he point blank refused to do his independent learning at the time I requested. It was a stark reminder all of a sudden of the attitude that I battled with for a lot of last year and one that I don't want us to slip back into! This has been my fault though and not S's. I had to put my foot down and instead of a more lazy afternoon that we normally have we worked all afternoon! This might sound very control freakish of me but it is so important for S. His behaviour was getting to the silly loopy stage which for S is the start of a spiral when he starts to get himself into a lot of trouble and we reach meltdown! He so much needs to have structure and I have to remember that if given an inch he takes a mile and we were heading down that road. I do think I got him back on track.
Tomorrow will be another new experience for S. We are getting together with the other home ed families for "Roald Dahl book day". All the kids are to dress up as characters from Dahl's books and we are selling baking to raise funds for children with brain injuries (I think!). This will all be well and truly out of S's comfort zone. It is in a different hall from normal (although thankfully S knows the hall we are going to very well), the activities will be totally different from what we normally do together, and it's another day out of routine! I think that after tomorrow I need to be careful in the following two weeks to try to return to a fairly "safe" routine and limit the extra things that I've been doing. Whilst I have so much enjoyed getting out and about more and doing other things I need to have a balance!
Thursday, 20 September 2012
I wonder who's learning the most?
I am amazed! 4 weeks of our home school term have flown past! It is our long September weekend here and we are racing on towards the October holidays already!
This term so far is going really well on the whole. S's bank is working brilliantly! It has been a great incentive for S and so far he has earned more than 90p each week which is far more than I expected he would manage. It has given us both a very visual record of how the week goes. EVERY week he has earned his lowest amount on the Monday and his highest on the Wednesday. It has very clearly shown us how long it takes him to settle into the week and then again how much it flags by Friday! It also though has given S a visual way to see that some behaviours are not acceptable and that at the same time when he really puts his mind to something and works really hard his efforts can literally pay!
I think for me the biggest breakthrough so far this term is our new "independent learning"(IL) slot. I really did wonder if this was going to be a step too far to expect him to do this every day when he is only 9 but really functionning at a younger lever. However, he has taken to it straight away! As long as I am careful not to introduce any new concepts to the work and it is all pure revision he is working away well. In fact the other day was amazing. I'd asked him to do 30 mental maths questions instead of 15 as we were going to be busy the following day at "IL" time, He went off and did 255!! He was so motivated and got a score of 251! Now, the control freak part of me was finding this a real test as I'd spent 6 hours the previous two nights planning the month's work! By S doing all of this he had basically used up 2 and a bit weeks of my mental maths planning! But it was a real lesson for me to let him run with it! What harm was he going to do by being excited to do his maths?? It was lovely! He not only did that but then completed the IL work on times tables and spelling! That was an easy extra 2p reward!
Another breakthrough for me has been his continued enjoyment in reading. This term I am introducing more formally a time where I read to him. Last term we tried reading "War Horse" together but it was too hard for him. This term we are reading together "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory". It's early days but he is so much enjoying it! Today we came across a couple of idioms, one being "pulling her leg" and had great fun learning what exactly that meant. I thought he would find this book quite boring as we have watched the film endless times as it is one of his sister's favourite films. However, he has memory difficulties and his attention to detail is obviously not great watching the films as it is all as if it is brand new when he hears it read! It is a joy to read to him! We started the term reading a Horrid Henry book which he loved and even got his granny to read the funniest chapter to him for the second time. Alongside this we also have our official "reading books" which he either reads to me or we do paired reading with. This year he is either stopping to ask me to explain things or is finding the humour funny, both of which he has never done before. It is so good! If nothing else, this term I think is beginning to give him a new enjoyment of books which hopefully will be like a seed that I can water for him and we can grow it together!
Language work I definitely find more of a challenge! I did get help from our local headteacher a couple of weeks ago as I find it really hard to guage if I am getting anywhere with him. I still am feeling a bit wobbly about that! Basic grammar I'm not so worried about but teaching him how to write stories and comprehension I'm not so sure about!! Having said all that we have had some great discussions on the books we are reading together and on the Solar System. I think I need to really work on my ability to think out of the box! Comprehension is happening in a very informal way throughout all our learning! Steven has very much taken to the concept of "Together Time" as oppose to his IL time and we have had good discussions together - again a new thing this term.
In the midst of all this I attended my first seminar on helping autistic children. It was on anger management and was brilliant. For me it was such a good day to take time out and just think about the issues that S is faced with and we are faced with every day! Over the past month I have encountered all sorts of comments and opinions about life with S (which in itself is amazing as I don't actually get out and about very much!!). I am getting quite scunnered with folks constantly telling me that the things S struggles with are just normal struggles for all children - or that my children are just not well behaved. Or, I've been told to get S "back to reality". These comments actually hurt a lot! As a parent of a child on the autistic spectrum I am constantly berating myself for not pre-empting a situation or parenting him "properly". I constantly am in a situation where I can see S really not coping and then losing the plot and blaming myself for not handling it better. I am watching a child who finds the most simple of everyday tasks a munro to climb and for whom even flushing the toilet is a painful sensory experience. I think folks seem to forget I have 3 other children who are "normal" and who I am parenting and I can see quite clearly that S is finding things that bit harder. When the door is closed at the end of the day and we are on our own most of the folks who make the comments have absolutely no idea what daily life is like! We have altered just about everything we do every day because of S, in ways that even we forget now! We opt out of many things because we know of the stress that is involved if we do certain things. However, out of all my moans and groans above we are not parenting for the benefit of others and for a parenting award badge. We are parenting because God has given us 4 precious bundles to look after and to do our best for. S is an entirely different child from this time last year. The stressed child we took from school last October is unrecognisable now. There is a calmness and a contentment about S that is hard to put into words and whilst he might not be experiencing "reality" which parent in their right mind could put him back into a situation that caused him so much stress? The seminar I went to was so good for me to hear just why S finds things so tricky and to hear that it is not my parenting that has gone wrong and not to feel so guilty. It was so good to get positive help and ideas (that's a whole other blog in itself!!) and I am really excited to start implementing them.
Maybe I've annoyed people by writing all that is above! Maybe I'm overstepping the mark by making these feelings so public! Maybe I'm overstepping the purpose of this blog. However, I don't think I'm alone in feeling like I do as a parent of a child on the spectrum and I hope that the blog does help folks to understand a wee bit more of what life can hold.
Anyway, I'm rambling now so will sign off. So much more to say from the month - lego therapy, friends, ICT, and many more but maybe I'll get more chance another day...
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
We're Back! Let the term commence...
Believe it or not this is the third time I have started to write this blog entry! I have so much to write I get so carried away and then something interrupts my train of thought and each time I have deleted the whole lot! So, this time I am going to publish the post whatever happens!
So, term has begun! I was so apprehensive about term starting! This was the first long holiday S and I had had together from home schooling and I had no idea how it was going to go when we returned. Many home educating families don't stop for the holidays and I can understand why that is but S and I so much needed to have a holiday and it really did both of us so much good! As the beginning of term approached I started to feel really quite nervous and became a bit fragile emotionally. Having had the children off all summer, whilst it really was a fantastic summer, I hadn't had 2 minutes to sit and get my head together about the term ahead. We moved house right at the beginning of the summer and the moving has been so much more work than when we moved into the rental house. The first week back was really just me bluffing to fill time! Of course we did totally valid activities - like writing a report on school holidays and some revision maths and spelling activities but really I was trying to buy time. Mum and dad came to the rescue and offered to take S for 2 nights to give me time to plan. It was fantastic and so much appreciated. I worked so so hard but got my head back into teaching mode and had a good think and got so much sorted for S.
It has paid off!! We have had a fantastic first week and a half back to home school! For really the first time since we started not only are we learning a lot but I can honestly say we are both enjoying our time together. I have made some pretty big changes to our routine as if this is going to have a long term future certain things need to be established and I am realising how important it is to begin to teach S already the skills he needs to work independently. So what are our changes:
1. Independent Learning:
Each day now begins with independent learning. During the first hour of home schooling S has to complete a mental maths activity, another maths activity and a spelling activity. Nothing will be complicated at this slot and mostly it will be revision. The tasks are written on a small whiteboard I got us and he has to find the right pages and complete the work by 10 o'clock. Whatever time he has once he's finished is his up until 10 o'clock when we start "together time". This morning he chose to start at ten to 9 and was finished by 9! On other days it has taken him longer but the point is that he is doing this all by himself.
2. Together time:
This is the main teaching time of the day when I will sit with him and work through the English and Maths for the day which includes reading, handwriting, grammar etc. At times here I will set him tasks and then disappear to let him finish them. This time goes on until lunch time and once English and Maths are finished we move onto topic work. This term we are looking at the Solar System which he is loving already. Today we started making properly a model of the solar system which glows in the dark!
3. S's Bank:
This is probably the biggest change for S. For many many reasons I couldn't face going into another term of lack of co-operation. The day before S went to mum and dad's was an incredibly uncooperative day and I didn't cope well at all! I am facing an op in a couple of months which will floor me for a few weeks and am so aware that S needs to start to co-operate and to work with me and not against me for home schooling to work at all this year! So, major changes had to take place! Now we have 3 home school rules above the desk:
1. No moaning at all
2. Try your BEST not your worst or a little bit!
3. No playing until ALL the task cards are finished.
Here's the new bit! (which I got from a website!!!) Every day S starts the day with 20p. Every time a rule is broken (so every time he moans or he doesn't bother trying and does scrappy work) he loses 1p. If he does fantastic work then he can earn pennies. At the end of each day whatever money he has earned he banks. At the end of term we will have a treat up to the value of the money he has banked. I reckoned that each term is about £8. I could easily go out for a coffee and spend £8 and so thought it was worth a try. It is AMAZING!! One day he did moan about the money but when I pointed out no-one else I knew earned money by going to school he seemed to accept that and immediately get on with things. The moaning has gone from extreme to almost non-existant virtually overnight! Part of S's diagnosis on the spectrum means that he can be very very controlling. I'm hoping that S's Bank shows him that he can channel this controlling element of his character into a positive and not a negative. So far the lowest he has gone is 15p whereas today he earned 23p by working so hard! I so much hope this works for a long time! He has really enjoyed his learning.
Where he does need help is learning to express when he is stuck! His language difficulties are definitely impacting his learning in a much more evident way. His maths is going from strength to strength. Last week we learnt the 7x table. In the car one day afterwards he reeled off quite happily the 8x, 9x, 11x and 12x table that he had worked out himself! His mental arithmetic is much much better than it was this time last year. His reading is really quite good but his understanding is very poor. His grasp of vocabulary is still so sketchy and this is causing him to misunderstand questions in all his subjects. Reading comprehension is a nightmare for him naturally. His lowest "bank" day last week was a reading comprehension day! It is fascinating for me to look at the week and see how clearly the difficult subjects impact on him as a whole. I need to learn too...
So, all in all a very very positive start and an exciting start. This term and next hold a lot of challenges for us mainly with me being out of action but the signs are very good and I'm hoping that with the right amount of prep and planning things will go fairly smoothly!
So, a long post again, but actually I think that's the main things I needed to say so will publish now before I'm distracted!! More soon...
Thursday, 21 June 2012
The moment the light goes on...
I was going to write my final blog of the academic year tomorrow but this week has had so much to blog about I thought it would be better to get some of it down before swamping you with my rambles tomorrow!
This week started on a flat note! The end of the week still seemed an eternity away for both of us and the prospect of getting through the final mental maths pages and then perhaps even more daunting "Money Maths"! Monday and Tuesday were a struggle! Then yesterday I decided to be spontaeous, break with my diary, down tools and take S down to a friend's farm for the day. While we'd been looking at the Olympics we learned that they used to train by carrying a calf on their shoulders. As the calf grew into a cow the athlete got stronger with the weight carried growing. This sparked off a big conversation with S about many things including names of baby animals which is still a big vocab hole for him. S expressed how much he would love to hold a lamb and learn how to talk to sheep. My friend who also home schools lives on a farm and I told her about this request. So, we were invited down and off we went.
We had such a great day. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for a drive south. At the farm we got a wee tour round the milking parlour, the calves, the hens and then S was taken on the quad bike up and around the fields to see the sheep. He loved it! We had lunch together of freshly baked bread and then the kids all played together whilst we put the world to right! S giggled away with his friend and was so happy! There are always little pointers with S as to how happy he is. There is an unrestrained laughter which to be honest we don't often see outwith the house as he is always working so hard to suss out a situation! He also went on the quad bike happily and ate the home made bread. These are 2 things completely out of his norm and comfort zone but he did it! A huge success! At the end of the day we were given loads of beautiful double yoked eggs to take home to the family. So a fantastic day. To see S so happy was just lovely. It did me so much good as well to speak to another home schooling mum who has similar dilemmas to me in various ways was so cathartic and to be out in the fresh air was much needed!
So, this morning we approached our work with a fresh mind! We have really been struggling with subtraction and division and I have been losing patience. The penny has certainly not dropped and I was so reluctant to end the term on a negative note! It has been very interesting over the past couple of weeks to spend more time than normal with other home school families and to hear all the different ways of teaching. Some are very laid back in their approach to teaching their kids whilst some are really quite routinised. What is very clear about all of the parents is that they value their children just for being them and not for their achievements and abilities to "fit" in. I have been challenged about how rigid I am in working through our "curriculum" and not taking a step back to think about what is right for S at this moment. In my defense though I am so keen to teach S that when something is tricky or hard it is not right to just throw the towel in and not do it. I think sometimes with home schooling it can be very much the easier approach to abandon ship with a topic if it seems to evoke stress and be too hard. If I did this with S we would have done very very little since October. He wouldn't write, we wouldn't have touched money, time, multiplication, subtraction or symmetry! He would be an expert in his 6x table and could tell you all about fractions but that is all! Today was a perfect example of this. Following our pretty hopeless days on Monday and Tuesday I was dreading dragging him through the final pages of his mental maths book and maths workbook. After such a positive day yesterday I was determined to finish the term on a high! So, this morning I decided to try to take away all the anxiety from S that I could. S definitely is an auditory learner and finds it much harder to work out what he has to do simply by reading. I decided to read the questions to him and to be his scribe. This worked quite well for mental maths although still subtraction was not really clicking! I found a number square and decided to use that. Success! He flew through the final 10 questions. Now granted this is not mental maths but it's a strategy for S to use until he gets more and more familiar with the tasks!
From this we moved onto the dreaded money. The first questions involved division. I knew they were going to be quite tricky for him. He's so tired that he is much slower than he is capable of and so I continued to scribe. For the first time though I drew a number line along the top of his workbook following the success of the number line in subtraction. It was great! The penny started to drop! What was the best bit was by the 2nd batch of money questions S took the pen out of my hand and said, "I want to do this next one. Let me do it!" It was fantastic. He had a spark! He had a twinkle in his eye and was ENJOYING his maths! We flew through the final two pages! It reminded me why I went into teaching in the first place. To be able to teach someone and for a topic to come alive is just fab! You may be thinking I'm getting a little overexcited at really quite a minor unexciting thing but I feel this has been a milestone in many ways! If I'd decided to just let S dictate what we studied we would have abandoned this topic and had a long long break from it. What I am learning though is that the excitement at grasping a difficult topic is so great for both S and I but actually more so for S that it is so good to persevere! Yes it is quite dull at times and yes it's a long road but the skills mastered are lifelong in many ways!
I bet your glad I didn't put all this in tomorrow's blog! I'm asking S to write a "report" on his first year of home school to go with a report I will write (just in case the council do want to know which from what I've heard is doubtful!!). I'm fascinated to see what he writes!
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
So who exactly is on the spectrum?
We're nearly there... This term seems to be going on forever! At the same time though I have a scary amount to fit in to the following two and a half weeks so in many ways would like the days to have extra hours in them!
Since I last blogged I have had much food for thought. S's diagnosis has been defined and finally, after many years, I feel that we can now really begin to understand and help S rather than survive with him and stay afloat! Saying all that increasingly, with regards to home schooling, I have been having to reign myself in from my own "spectrum" tendancies and be more aware of my son! Let me explain that! We have got ourselves into a great routine. I'm sure I've explained this before so bear with me as I spell it out once more. We begin each day with 15-30 mental arithmetic questions. We then do a page of S's maths workbook which is preceded by a little bit of teaching or revision. This is sometimes then followed by a game on Education City. After maths we have a wee break. Once fed and watered we return to spelling which is either 1 or 2 tasks on the week's words from his Andrew Brodie book. We then read a chapter of his reading book (Monday - S reads to me and then Tues-Friday we do paired reading) followed by a short activity or discussion on the chapter. This is followed by a language activity of some description whether that be a reading comprehension card, a page of grammar work, story writing or an education city game. Depending on how long maths and English take we then do Science work (either practical or book work related depending on our topic), or we do some Geography (we've been working on the continents this term) or some other activity. We then stop for lunch. That can be any time from 12:20-1:00pm depending on how long the work has taken.
So it's quite structured! I'm so aware that we are in many ways more formal than many home school families are and I know that some would think I am kind of missing the point of home schooling by keeping it so formal. It has been implied that I'll in effect "grow out" of this way of schooling S and that I'll eventually become more relaxed. But you know it works for us! For S he knows now exactly where he stands and actually can go to the desk and almost work through the programme for the day himself. For me it has reduced the preparation massively and I am confident that S is learning the same as his peers in the main subject areas and that he will hopefully manage to keep up. Flexibility... well, that's a whole other area! Where I am noticing how "spectrumy" I am becoming! As S has become more and more tired at the end of term I am having to reduce our timetable quite a lot. S is coping with this fine! I however am finding it quite frustrating as I know we will not be completing work that I'd hoped we would. I really need to relax!! Today for example, I was wrapping presents for our girls' birthday and S asked if he could help. He did and he really enjoyed it! He then asked if he could learn to tie his shoe laces. I shocked myself and thought, "why not!" and so we mastered knot tying as the first step. It was a real learning point for me. Wrapping presents and tying shoe laces is not something that comes easily to someone on the spectrum and for S this was real life learning in a calm and stress free situation! Surely that is better than struggling through the basics of division when he's tired!
I have been mulling over many other issues over the past few days. As I come to terms S's more specific diagnosis I am learning AGAIN just how much I need to challenge my own views of parenting with respect to S. I love him just as much as my other 3 children and want to offer him the same opportunities in life as the others. I am realising more and more though that things are not straight forward for him and that I really need to stop expecting him to just slot in to what other children can do. Being a parent for the past 10 + years has shown me just how judgemental I was and can be about other parents and indeed children and I'm mortified to admit that. Having a child with special needs has really highlighted that in me and made me really face up to what really is important in people and humanity as a whole. Being a Christian has really been a saving grace to me literally! To know that S and indeed all my children have been "fearfully and wonderfully made" is such a blessing to know and to know that God has a plan for each of these children and he has them in the palm of his hand. I must continue to strive to do my best for each of these children as I really do believe that this is the job God has given me to do just now.
Very philosophical this week! I hope to blog again before the end of term but we are moving back to our own house (now it is all fixed :0) ) and so the next 3 weeks are likely to be somewhat mental! I'd love any feedback. Maybe you think I'm talking rubbish! For now though I will sign off!
Friday, 1 June 2012
The end of the tunnel is coming...
I am amazed that my last post was so long ago! The weeks are flying past! That surely is a good thing...
So how has this term been? Overall I think things are going well and the fact that I haven't blogged in so long is probably a reflection that there hasn't been anything particularly of note to write about which I think is good!
We have plodded on with our routine this term as much as we can. We are getting through the workbooks and topics and have accomplished quite a lot academically this term. The sun and the heat have been unusual obstacles for us to overcome! Neither of us are very good at dealing with the heat so it's just as well this is a rare problem for us to have! Having said that it did work to our advantage! For example, a lot of our maths this term has been revision of what we have done through the year. Symmetry came up. This was one topic that didn't quite click when we looked at it at first. This time though we were studying it when we were sitting outside at the "new" garden table which has an opaque black glass top. I pointed out to S the reflection of the objects in the table and how that was just like symmetry. It was lovely - the penny immediately dropped and we were off! Basic symmetry is now sorted!
Over this term I have begun to realise just how much I depend on a routine as much as S! I'm so aware that a lot of home school mums are beginning to wind down as summer approaches and that there are so many distractions that things can change quite a lot. I don't find that so easy. S certainly doesn't find that easy and if we have one different day I pay for it by having two difficult days until we are back into the flow of it. I don't think that is helpful or fair for him and so try as much as possible to keep our maths, english and topic (which does change every day whether it be geography, history or science) going every day. Afternoons are totally flexible and that seems to work. I have been struck this week though at how tired S is. His stammer is returning and his stress levels are beginning to rise. The point of home schooling is to avoid this so I'm going to reassess my planning for the next 3 weeks to see if I can somehow change it to take the pressure completely off. I don't want to undo all the positives of the last few months by him becoming so exhausted that we go backwards!
As my confidence is improving on the teaching side of things I am also beginning to see where we need to help him in other areas. I am very fed up of the moaning and groaning that comes with the beginning of each home school day. S has such a big moan and then once he gets down to work is great and seems to forget it. I however find it far harder to listen to such an exaggerated moan and then put it behind me! So, I have had to spell out consequences for his moan! We now have a points system and for everyday that he has monumental moans he loses a point and will fall down a point on the ladder. If he ultimately gets to 1 then I will phone a school! If however he doesn't moan and works hard he will stay up at home. We got to 8 this week but no further down and having just introduced the system this week it transformed the atmosphere in the house! We'll see how long that has mileage but i did explain to him that a positive relationship between myself and him was so important to me and if that was spoiled by home schooling then we would have to rethink the whole thing! I am so aware I need to start introducing more work on strategies to help him to deal with things in life he finds tricky. This is one area I so wish I knew more home schooling mums of kids with special needs! We have so much appreciated all our home school friends that we have made (mums and kids alike) but none of my friends are dealing with children on the spectrum and that can be a lonely experience!
As our time together goes on it is fascinating seeing the areas that S really likes. He loves History and Geography! The reading books that we have done (Time Capsule - Oxford Reading Tree) have been fantastic in introducing different times in history. A big favourite was one about the 2nd world war which led us to look at Anne Frank. We found a great website that let us tour the Secret Annexe. S was fascinated by it! We have also been looking in Geography at maps and different continents. Again he has loved this and has really enjoyed finding out about different countries and cultures. This is so interesting for me. I never really liked history! To be honest I found it quite boring! Geography was similar although I did enjoy doing a crash higher in it in 6th year but think I would have hated doing a higher the traditional long way! This really tests my teaching though as I need to keep history and geography alive for him as he is so interested! I'm so pleased to see him so interested!
My mum came over one day this term and spent the day teaching S. It was great! Mum was so creative with him and S just loved it! It was so special hearing them working together and really gave me such a break! It is good that what she did with him was so different and he coped really well with that. Hopefully we can do this more. Some folks have offered to help out and I think next term I might start taking them up on the offer more.
So, my attention is now beginning to shift to next term. I am amazed we have made it to nearly the end of our 3rd term and it's gone so well. The other 3 kids are very happy too which is fantastic. I am starting to plan next year and S is happy to chat about it to.
There's a LOT to happen before then though....
So, a long post but hopefully an encouraging post to update you on some of the things that have happened. I'll hopefully write again before the end of the school year!
Friday, 27 April 2012
And we're off...
Blogger in it's infinite wisdom has changed and "updated" so I hope this works!!
I did start trying to type this on my phone but as I am constantly making mistakes I thought it would be wiser to wait until I got a moment to type it properly!
When I was a "real" teacher my head of department once described the beginning of the school year like the entrance to a long tunnel. At the beginning of the session we would be heading into that long tunnel, not to be seeing daylight again until the light at the end of June! Well, I am once again empathising with that view again as we start another term. I have to admit that the feeling did consume me last Monday as the prospect of another term lay ahead and what I could have been doing had S been at school flashed through my mind... But, more positively here was another term to learn new things together, to settle even more into routines and to working together and is full of so much promise with so many different things going on.
I am so encouraged. This term has started so much more positively than I ever could have predicted. My aim for this term is to build on the maths and english that we are now in a good routine with. This term though we need to spread our wings a wee bit in a curricular sense and learn about other things. To start with we are going to look at the human body. Years ago David and I stupidly signed up to one of these "Build your own skeleton" magazine deals. Several hundred pounds later and a ridiculous number of magazines and muscles later we cancelled our subscription as we realised we'd been well and truly sucked into this deal. We have kept all the issues and the bones etc and I have decided that rather than hide it away in the cupboard in disgrace "Jimmy" (as S has named him!) should be built and studied and put to some good use!!
So, the term has started and already after just 2 weeks we have established science on a Tuesday afternoon. As I type the ribs, heart, lungs and spine are lying behind me! S took no time at all to settle back into the term and amazingly has worked independantly for much of the time. I was in no way anticipating him to be working like this yet! I was hoping to begin to encourage this for next year and to start setting little projects but a few times over the last fortnight I have laid the work out on the desk and found him working his way through it! He has even started looking at my planner and working out what he is to do! It is so good!! The workbooks we began in March are great and still working a treat. They seem to be on just the right level for him and are taking us in a very logical way through the topics we need to look at.
Other positives are in English. His story writing is definitely beginning to take shape and there is evidence that the time spent on punctuation, sentence structure, adjectives and verbs etc is beginning to pay off which is lovely. Today, we read through some poems. I used to HATE poetry at school. I found it dull and on the whole pointless (apart from war poetry that I found fascinating). Today I wanted to introduce some work on it and simply read 5 or 6 poems to him. It was so good to see his face light up as he worked out what was really happening in the poem or as he simply enjoyed the humour. That is one of those times that I just love teaching and what better pupil to have than your own child!!
The weekend was a great time for us. Our church play host to an American School every couple of years and all the students are spread out across the families in the area. We had 2 boys. We spent time with these boys and a lot of their friends and it quickly became evident that many of them had been home schooled for their primary school days. This was so good for S and I to chat about and not feel like the odd ones out. These young folks were lovely and so confident in their faith and themselves that it was such an encouragement. All of them spoke positively about their home schooling experience and in fact many of them spoke about how they would like to do it themselves when they start families. In the back of my mind I always remember that we are experiencing both types of schooling with my other 3 at school and we are still sure that that is the best place for them to be but for S it was really good to see that these "home schooled" kids were normal, fun and intelligent and that S could do just as well as them!
So, that's quite a ramble for my first post back! I'm so glad it's Friday as I type. We've only been back 2 weeks but I am tired and looking forward to a couple of days off! That light at the end of the tunnel is nearly there...
Thursday, 29 March 2012
We're done!!!!
I can't believe it is so long since I last wrote! The days are flying! I also can't believe it is the holidays again although at the same time I am so thankful they are hear and so much looking forward to 2 weeks of no lesson planning or teaching!
Things have been going well since I last wrote. The new regime is definitely working and I feel that we have found the way of working that works for both S and I. Preparation is not taking nearly as long and more importantly I am beginning to see results from S, he is happier and we are definitely making progress. I do have to continually give myself a wake up call as whenever things go well I have a tendancy to immediately increase the work load which is not good and I almost immediately get a reality check as S tires very quickly and the co-operation disappears!
This term has been a good term for really getting to terms with basics! We have worked hard on mental arithmetic and basics of spelling and grammar. When we first began our home schooling journey I was disappointed at how slow S was with his mental arithmetic. Having grown up in a schooling culture where we were drilled in mental arithmetic daily I have taken it for granted how helpful that is in life! While S is only 8 just now I was disappointed at how slow he was even with the most basic mental arithmetic questions. Since February we have been working through a book where everyday S answers 15 questions. Ideally these are supposed to be timed but that was proving to be too stressful for S so we took the timed element away. At first S relied on my numberline on the bookshelf for every single question. I decided that I would let this happen as I wanted his confidence to build first rather than me stressing him out over something he clearly found difficult. Over the last 4-5 weeks it has been great watching his confidence build. Without the timer it would take him 3-4 minutes to complete the sums and gradually his accuracy was improving. Yesterday he completed all 15 sums in probably just over a minute and got 14 correct. More encouragingly, as I told him, I watched him (he didn't know this) and he didn't once look at the number line! I was so so happy for him! We are calling this his warm up every day and we will continue it next term as I see the value of this so much! Next term we are going to work on S's times tables and include the mental arithmetic of his tables too.
Spelling likewise has become an easy part of each day which before February we really were not getting on top of. Again we have found material which helps both of us to work consistently through blends and spelling rules and S seems to be enjoying doing the work and achieving success.
This term the focus has definitely been on maths and english (including within that arithmetic, problem solving, reading, spelling, comprehension, story writing, grammar) and I am very aware that we have not done much formal science, geography, history etc. Having said that it is amazing what comes out of his reading books! This term they have included Leondardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Scientific discoveries and Elizabethan England to name just a few! Naturally we have found ourselves having discussions about all of those things. We have also been following the growth of the frog spawn which our neighbour gave us. As I type we have a flora tub full of tadpoles in the back garden. As these grow legs we will return them to the pond and hopefully see little frogs before long. The same neighbour has got us involved in weather tracking for the met office which has been great. It has linked well with our maths on measuring and on data handling as we have charted the maximum and minimum temperatures and looked for rainfall and hours of light. Luckily for us this has been a record breaking week for sunshine and temperatures so that has added excitement.
This term has also seen more obstacles for us. The summer is definitely going to be trickier to sit and concentrate when the weather is so good. S is not so good at working outwith a routine and so I don't see a huge future in learing outside or messing up the routine we have very much. Alongside that the family have had a couple of weeks of bad colds where the twins have been off a fair bit and that has made things far more complicated. Despite all that we've done a lot this term and once again at the end of the term I am very happy with how S's doing and that we are still doing the right thing having him at home. Next term I would really like him assessed in some way. I need to encourage him to work more independantly, which with his language difficulties is actually beginning to prove quite difficult even with maths, as his language processing skills are being utilized more. I need though to constantly remind myself of how far we have come and what obstacles we have overcome to get where we are and put everything into perspective!
For now though Happy Easter everyone and see you for the summer term!
Things have been going well since I last wrote. The new regime is definitely working and I feel that we have found the way of working that works for both S and I. Preparation is not taking nearly as long and more importantly I am beginning to see results from S, he is happier and we are definitely making progress. I do have to continually give myself a wake up call as whenever things go well I have a tendancy to immediately increase the work load which is not good and I almost immediately get a reality check as S tires very quickly and the co-operation disappears!
This term has been a good term for really getting to terms with basics! We have worked hard on mental arithmetic and basics of spelling and grammar. When we first began our home schooling journey I was disappointed at how slow S was with his mental arithmetic. Having grown up in a schooling culture where we were drilled in mental arithmetic daily I have taken it for granted how helpful that is in life! While S is only 8 just now I was disappointed at how slow he was even with the most basic mental arithmetic questions. Since February we have been working through a book where everyday S answers 15 questions. Ideally these are supposed to be timed but that was proving to be too stressful for S so we took the timed element away. At first S relied on my numberline on the bookshelf for every single question. I decided that I would let this happen as I wanted his confidence to build first rather than me stressing him out over something he clearly found difficult. Over the last 4-5 weeks it has been great watching his confidence build. Without the timer it would take him 3-4 minutes to complete the sums and gradually his accuracy was improving. Yesterday he completed all 15 sums in probably just over a minute and got 14 correct. More encouragingly, as I told him, I watched him (he didn't know this) and he didn't once look at the number line! I was so so happy for him! We are calling this his warm up every day and we will continue it next term as I see the value of this so much! Next term we are going to work on S's times tables and include the mental arithmetic of his tables too.
Spelling likewise has become an easy part of each day which before February we really were not getting on top of. Again we have found material which helps both of us to work consistently through blends and spelling rules and S seems to be enjoying doing the work and achieving success.
This term the focus has definitely been on maths and english (including within that arithmetic, problem solving, reading, spelling, comprehension, story writing, grammar) and I am very aware that we have not done much formal science, geography, history etc. Having said that it is amazing what comes out of his reading books! This term they have included Leondardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Scientific discoveries and Elizabethan England to name just a few! Naturally we have found ourselves having discussions about all of those things. We have also been following the growth of the frog spawn which our neighbour gave us. As I type we have a flora tub full of tadpoles in the back garden. As these grow legs we will return them to the pond and hopefully see little frogs before long. The same neighbour has got us involved in weather tracking for the met office which has been great. It has linked well with our maths on measuring and on data handling as we have charted the maximum and minimum temperatures and looked for rainfall and hours of light. Luckily for us this has been a record breaking week for sunshine and temperatures so that has added excitement.
This term has also seen more obstacles for us. The summer is definitely going to be trickier to sit and concentrate when the weather is so good. S is not so good at working outwith a routine and so I don't see a huge future in learing outside or messing up the routine we have very much. Alongside that the family have had a couple of weeks of bad colds where the twins have been off a fair bit and that has made things far more complicated. Despite all that we've done a lot this term and once again at the end of the term I am very happy with how S's doing and that we are still doing the right thing having him at home. Next term I would really like him assessed in some way. I need to encourage him to work more independantly, which with his language difficulties is actually beginning to prove quite difficult even with maths, as his language processing skills are being utilized more. I need though to constantly remind myself of how far we have come and what obstacles we have overcome to get where we are and put everything into perspective!
For now though Happy Easter everyone and see you for the summer term!
Friday, 16 March 2012
Old Habits Die Hard!
What a difference a couple of weeks can make! Dare I say it, after nearly 6 months of home schooling I feel that we have finally started to settle into a routine. The "new" way of working seems to be a success. S is happier and I am getting less frustrated! We have learnt many new things over the last fortnight and only the one day of stand offs that I wrote about before!
Using all the new material has made planning a lot easier for me and has made the lessons a lot simpler. S now knows that there is a routine we will follow and that once he's completed all his "jobs" his time is his own.
Both of us so easily can slip into bad habits. For S, the habit of moaning about even beginning to work is a habit that will be hard to break. I'm hoping that eventually that does disappear but am beginning to accept that that is S and that if I don't react to it then it is fairly short lived!
My habit is to pile on far too much work to him! Because things are going well my tendancy is to push him further! In turn that makes him uncooperative and stroppy! In turn that makes me frustrated and grumpy. On Wednesday I had to give myself a wake up call when I looked at what I had planned for the following fortnight! There was FAR too much Maths! So, thankfully, I realised BEFORE the term began and have revised my plans for him that should lead to a happier term! My desire to "complete" workbooks and to have a sense of satisfaction is a really big temptation for me to overcome when I am teaching him. Actually, to have a happier, more content son who is enjoying learning is ultimately far more rewarding but in my perfectionist tendancies I like to have completed workbooks and a sense of completion by certain dates! I think I will have to continue to strive to lose that desire!!
Over the past few weeks we have been looking at punctuation marks; commas, question marks, capitilisation, full stops and exclamation marks. We have also started writing stories on the laptop. What a big hit! S loves it! He has started writing a story about ghosts and is enjoying letting his imagination run away with him. I am thoroughly enjoying watching this process. As I write S is acting out his story with his sister (who is off again with the cold!) and is so excited. When we began home schooling S HATED story writing and hated writing. To see him so enthusiastic about his stories is lovely. The word processor encourages him to correct his stories with all the red, green and blue underlining (those bits that normally are such a pain!) and I have started encouraging him to read his stories out aloud at the end which is working well as he can hear any more mistakes.
The other big success is that this week he asked me if he could do the reading comprehension card, because, wait for it... he loves them! Again, 5 months ago this was a dread and a real low point but he loved it. He loves it when I read it to him and he then answers the questions. It has become very apparent to me this week that his language difficulties are beginning to impact more and more on other curricular areas. In comprehension he does really well if he listens and then answers the questions but if he is left to read on his own it's a different story. In maths as well, if I sit and read the question to him he often finds the answer really quickly and easily but if left to his own devices he is stuck straight away! Problem solving is very hard for him - far too much language to decipher. With all these in mind I am so relieved to have him at home and am slowly beginning to relax and feel happy that we can use freely things like the laptop, me or any other thing that helps him to work through his work. At school I would imagine now he would be needing a laptop and later on a scribe so I am hoping that I can equip him with the skills and strategies needed to get the tasks done.
This week on the BBC a programme started following children at a High School in Edinburgh. It featured a boy on the autistic spectrum with Aspergers. If there was ever a programme that would make me certain not to have S in mainstream then that was it! I could have wept! What the producers of the programme and the teachers of the school considered to be him "settling in" and coping I saw as a little boy being subtly bullied and really not coping. It was horrible to see him having to eat his lunch on his own in a quiet corner of the school. It is the worst feeling in the world to feel lonely in a school and when a child has difficulties of his own then this is so much more exagerrated! If I can save S from having to deal with all this at a time when he is going through adolescence then I will do all I can to do that!
One last wee thought! I realise some folks reading this blog will not be religious and this all might sound a bit odd to them but a real step forward for me has been that I have timetabled in for me half an hour before I start teaching every day to sit and read my Bible and to pray. Having this in my day has made a massive difference. I cannot get over how practical a book the Bible is and how appropriate it ALWAYS is to life whatever stage or situation it is. I have had the opportunity every day now to hand the day over to God and to rely on Him rather than my own impatience and struggles. Funny then when after praying for patience S has asked if we can fall out today cos he'd like to fall out!! But, what a difference!
Anyway, must go prepare the lunch. Our home school week is finished and it's time for a break!
Using all the new material has made planning a lot easier for me and has made the lessons a lot simpler. S now knows that there is a routine we will follow and that once he's completed all his "jobs" his time is his own.
Both of us so easily can slip into bad habits. For S, the habit of moaning about even beginning to work is a habit that will be hard to break. I'm hoping that eventually that does disappear but am beginning to accept that that is S and that if I don't react to it then it is fairly short lived!
My habit is to pile on far too much work to him! Because things are going well my tendancy is to push him further! In turn that makes him uncooperative and stroppy! In turn that makes me frustrated and grumpy. On Wednesday I had to give myself a wake up call when I looked at what I had planned for the following fortnight! There was FAR too much Maths! So, thankfully, I realised BEFORE the term began and have revised my plans for him that should lead to a happier term! My desire to "complete" workbooks and to have a sense of satisfaction is a really big temptation for me to overcome when I am teaching him. Actually, to have a happier, more content son who is enjoying learning is ultimately far more rewarding but in my perfectionist tendancies I like to have completed workbooks and a sense of completion by certain dates! I think I will have to continue to strive to lose that desire!!
Over the past few weeks we have been looking at punctuation marks; commas, question marks, capitilisation, full stops and exclamation marks. We have also started writing stories on the laptop. What a big hit! S loves it! He has started writing a story about ghosts and is enjoying letting his imagination run away with him. I am thoroughly enjoying watching this process. As I write S is acting out his story with his sister (who is off again with the cold!) and is so excited. When we began home schooling S HATED story writing and hated writing. To see him so enthusiastic about his stories is lovely. The word processor encourages him to correct his stories with all the red, green and blue underlining (those bits that normally are such a pain!) and I have started encouraging him to read his stories out aloud at the end which is working well as he can hear any more mistakes.
The other big success is that this week he asked me if he could do the reading comprehension card, because, wait for it... he loves them! Again, 5 months ago this was a dread and a real low point but he loved it. He loves it when I read it to him and he then answers the questions. It has become very apparent to me this week that his language difficulties are beginning to impact more and more on other curricular areas. In comprehension he does really well if he listens and then answers the questions but if he is left to read on his own it's a different story. In maths as well, if I sit and read the question to him he often finds the answer really quickly and easily but if left to his own devices he is stuck straight away! Problem solving is very hard for him - far too much language to decipher. With all these in mind I am so relieved to have him at home and am slowly beginning to relax and feel happy that we can use freely things like the laptop, me or any other thing that helps him to work through his work. At school I would imagine now he would be needing a laptop and later on a scribe so I am hoping that I can equip him with the skills and strategies needed to get the tasks done.
This week on the BBC a programme started following children at a High School in Edinburgh. It featured a boy on the autistic spectrum with Aspergers. If there was ever a programme that would make me certain not to have S in mainstream then that was it! I could have wept! What the producers of the programme and the teachers of the school considered to be him "settling in" and coping I saw as a little boy being subtly bullied and really not coping. It was horrible to see him having to eat his lunch on his own in a quiet corner of the school. It is the worst feeling in the world to feel lonely in a school and when a child has difficulties of his own then this is so much more exagerrated! If I can save S from having to deal with all this at a time when he is going through adolescence then I will do all I can to do that!
One last wee thought! I realise some folks reading this blog will not be religious and this all might sound a bit odd to them but a real step forward for me has been that I have timetabled in for me half an hour before I start teaching every day to sit and read my Bible and to pray. Having this in my day has made a massive difference. I cannot get over how practical a book the Bible is and how appropriate it ALWAYS is to life whatever stage or situation it is. I have had the opportunity every day now to hand the day over to God and to rely on Him rather than my own impatience and struggles. Funny then when after praying for patience S has asked if we can fall out today cos he'd like to fall out!! But, what a difference!
Anyway, must go prepare the lunch. Our home school week is finished and it's time for a break!
Thursday, 8 March 2012
I'm getting better - apparently!
It's been a big week for me in the world of home schooling! Our learning curve has gone steeply up but I am feeling we have finally made some significant progress!
Last week the ed psych came to visit us. Since coming out of the "system" we don't have formal visits anymore but thankfully the ed psych agreed to continue to work with us, giving me some very valuable professional advice if and when I need it. Thursday's visit was such an encouragement and helpful visit. She agreed to look at some of S's work and gave me some pointers as to the quantity of work and simple things as to the presentation of his tasks. I wasn't overly surprised when she told me I was doing too much with him and that I was putting far too much on a page for him. It seemed so obvious when she pointed it out that I felt a bit daft but was immediately quite motivated to do something about it!
The way I have always taught, whether that be in a formal classroom set up or in a Sunday school set up or anywhere, is to produce my own materials. I work at my best when I know exactly what is behind a question and understand the logic behind the topic. I've carried this on with S but am beginning to have to admit that this is not working for him! My mind doesn't work like his! My learning style is not his! My strengths are not the same as his and likewise my weaknesses are not his! I feel like I have had quite a significant wake up call in how to teach! Again, you can get away almost with teaching a large class in a certain way. There are bound to be a certain number of pupils who click with your particular style of teaching and learning. On a one-to-one basis though there is no hiding! After chatting with the ed psych I have decided to take a different approach and have ordered in some new text books which are well written and look attractive and mean that I can pace the work far more appropriately!
So, this week our new approach started! What a difference! Please don't get me wrong - it's not been plain sailing! It'll take a while for S's negativity towards any sort of "work" being mentioned to be changed but our actual time learning has been really quite good! He has really enjoyed the drop in the amount of work I am asking him to do (not surprisingly really!) and is finding the level far more appropriate! He said to me yesterday (completely unprompted), "mum, you are getting to be a better teacher! At first you were a good teacher. The second day you were not so good, the third day even more not so good and by the fifth you were rubbish! You are getting better now!" and then today he offered me one of his special sweets as a reward for becoming a "better teacher"! Fortunately, I learned fairly early on in the home schooling process to develop a thick skin! I have to laugh!
So this week we've done a fair bit of learning even though he thinks he's done less! We've benefitted hugely from the flexibility of home schooling. We've started to look at measuring - length, mass and volume and have had great fun measuring things from all over the house and finished by making custard creams - when S got to measure all the ingredients. We've done some reading, looked at commas, studied the sun, looked at spelling -ing words, worked on mental arithmetic and plenty more!
One thing I am really struck with now is how much I really KNOW my son. We as parents pride ourselves, and rightly so, on the fact that we "know" our children best! I've been really challenged by how little I did really know my son. When it came to learning I knew so little about S! I have realised that for all those hours when he was packed off to school I handed over such a big chunk of his time to other people! I am really having to work hard at learning just what does go on in his head! I'm learning what and who S really is in EVERY aspect of his life and am valuing him more and more every day! I feel that I am beginning to really KNOW my son! It makes me feel quite guilty that with my other 3 I quite happily open the door in the morning and hand them over to other people for really quite a significant part of each day and for these people to take on quite a significant part of their learning and life! I don't ever want to become one of these home educators who insists everyone should be home schooling because I don't believe that. School is definitely the right place for my other 3 children to be but I have been really challenged to look at what it is I really value about my children and what it is I really want to encourage them to be. Do I want them to do well academically for my pride or is it for their well being? Do I want them to cope at school because I want people to think I'm a good parent or is it because I want them to "fit in" or is it because I want them to be happy? Of course I want them to be happy - but how much of parenting is really tied in with me? How much do I insist on with my children because of what it makes me look like rather than what is for their well being and their development? I don't think I am maybe expressing myself very well here but I'm sure you are getting the idea! The joys of blogging!
Anyway, all in all I'm feeling very positive about home schooling just now. I cannot believe we are only 3 weeks away from the end of another term! If we can really get into a "new" way of working it will be so good! I'd better stop now! Well done if you've made it to the end of today's ramble!
Last week the ed psych came to visit us. Since coming out of the "system" we don't have formal visits anymore but thankfully the ed psych agreed to continue to work with us, giving me some very valuable professional advice if and when I need it. Thursday's visit was such an encouragement and helpful visit. She agreed to look at some of S's work and gave me some pointers as to the quantity of work and simple things as to the presentation of his tasks. I wasn't overly surprised when she told me I was doing too much with him and that I was putting far too much on a page for him. It seemed so obvious when she pointed it out that I felt a bit daft but was immediately quite motivated to do something about it!
The way I have always taught, whether that be in a formal classroom set up or in a Sunday school set up or anywhere, is to produce my own materials. I work at my best when I know exactly what is behind a question and understand the logic behind the topic. I've carried this on with S but am beginning to have to admit that this is not working for him! My mind doesn't work like his! My learning style is not his! My strengths are not the same as his and likewise my weaknesses are not his! I feel like I have had quite a significant wake up call in how to teach! Again, you can get away almost with teaching a large class in a certain way. There are bound to be a certain number of pupils who click with your particular style of teaching and learning. On a one-to-one basis though there is no hiding! After chatting with the ed psych I have decided to take a different approach and have ordered in some new text books which are well written and look attractive and mean that I can pace the work far more appropriately!
So, this week our new approach started! What a difference! Please don't get me wrong - it's not been plain sailing! It'll take a while for S's negativity towards any sort of "work" being mentioned to be changed but our actual time learning has been really quite good! He has really enjoyed the drop in the amount of work I am asking him to do (not surprisingly really!) and is finding the level far more appropriate! He said to me yesterday (completely unprompted), "mum, you are getting to be a better teacher! At first you were a good teacher. The second day you were not so good, the third day even more not so good and by the fifth you were rubbish! You are getting better now!" and then today he offered me one of his special sweets as a reward for becoming a "better teacher"! Fortunately, I learned fairly early on in the home schooling process to develop a thick skin! I have to laugh!
So this week we've done a fair bit of learning even though he thinks he's done less! We've benefitted hugely from the flexibility of home schooling. We've started to look at measuring - length, mass and volume and have had great fun measuring things from all over the house and finished by making custard creams - when S got to measure all the ingredients. We've done some reading, looked at commas, studied the sun, looked at spelling -ing words, worked on mental arithmetic and plenty more!
One thing I am really struck with now is how much I really KNOW my son. We as parents pride ourselves, and rightly so, on the fact that we "know" our children best! I've been really challenged by how little I did really know my son. When it came to learning I knew so little about S! I have realised that for all those hours when he was packed off to school I handed over such a big chunk of his time to other people! I am really having to work hard at learning just what does go on in his head! I'm learning what and who S really is in EVERY aspect of his life and am valuing him more and more every day! I feel that I am beginning to really KNOW my son! It makes me feel quite guilty that with my other 3 I quite happily open the door in the morning and hand them over to other people for really quite a significant part of each day and for these people to take on quite a significant part of their learning and life! I don't ever want to become one of these home educators who insists everyone should be home schooling because I don't believe that. School is definitely the right place for my other 3 children to be but I have been really challenged to look at what it is I really value about my children and what it is I really want to encourage them to be. Do I want them to do well academically for my pride or is it for their well being? Do I want them to cope at school because I want people to think I'm a good parent or is it because I want them to "fit in" or is it because I want them to be happy? Of course I want them to be happy - but how much of parenting is really tied in with me? How much do I insist on with my children because of what it makes me look like rather than what is for their well being and their development? I don't think I am maybe expressing myself very well here but I'm sure you are getting the idea! The joys of blogging!
Anyway, all in all I'm feeling very positive about home schooling just now. I cannot believe we are only 3 weeks away from the end of another term! If we can really get into a "new" way of working it will be so good! I'd better stop now! Well done if you've made it to the end of today's ramble!
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Predictive proofing!
This is just a wee short one to correct any misconceptions I might have planted! Mum told me today that did I realise that I'd written last time that I'd been teaching S "homophobes"!!! You'll be relieved to hear that certainly not and rather it was homophones and I have learned the lesson not to write my blog on my phone and if I do to be far more careful in proof reading! Sorry!
So far we are having a pretty positive week so I didn't think it would be a bad idea to write a wee entry rather than to go on about the negatives. My girls have both been unwell - one more than the other but thankfully we seem to be coming out the other side and as I write the twins and S are running around the house with toilet paper bandanas on their heads!
Despite S's initial grumblings about having to work whilst his sisters have been watching endless movies snuggled up on the sofa, he has actually been really quite productive working away. I'm noticing how much happier S works when he's not sitting on his bottom. I and no doubt most folk who read this) learn best sitting properly and concentrating. S however seems to learn best standing up and constantly moving! I have read that this can be quite common with people on the autistic spectrum but am still at the stage of being constantly amazed at how true to the books S is behaving! This week we are completing our work on fractions. I'm aware what we are doing is tricky and also more and more aware how maths is all linked and when one element of maths is weak it can affect so many other parts of it. He's getting there though and we have been doing work with the fractions cubes which has helped. In English we have been working on his story and looking at commas and vowels. Unfortunately my computer has been a real burden this week as it seems to have lost his whole story and my work on it!! Groan! We need to replace it but are trying to time things right with finances, internet access etc and it isn't really a simple thing just now! Very frustrating though for S and I who have just lost some really good work!
Anyway, that's all for now. The week is quite mad ahead. I am getting away child free for a night on Friday which I am so looking forward to recharge my batteries spiritually and mentally but which also means I have quite a bit to get through before I go.
So far we are having a pretty positive week so I didn't think it would be a bad idea to write a wee entry rather than to go on about the negatives. My girls have both been unwell - one more than the other but thankfully we seem to be coming out the other side and as I write the twins and S are running around the house with toilet paper bandanas on their heads!
Despite S's initial grumblings about having to work whilst his sisters have been watching endless movies snuggled up on the sofa, he has actually been really quite productive working away. I'm noticing how much happier S works when he's not sitting on his bottom. I and no doubt most folk who read this) learn best sitting properly and concentrating. S however seems to learn best standing up and constantly moving! I have read that this can be quite common with people on the autistic spectrum but am still at the stage of being constantly amazed at how true to the books S is behaving! This week we are completing our work on fractions. I'm aware what we are doing is tricky and also more and more aware how maths is all linked and when one element of maths is weak it can affect so many other parts of it. He's getting there though and we have been doing work with the fractions cubes which has helped. In English we have been working on his story and looking at commas and vowels. Unfortunately my computer has been a real burden this week as it seems to have lost his whole story and my work on it!! Groan! We need to replace it but are trying to time things right with finances, internet access etc and it isn't really a simple thing just now! Very frustrating though for S and I who have just lost some really good work!
Anyway, that's all for now. The week is quite mad ahead. I am getting away child free for a night on Friday which I am so looking forward to recharge my batteries spiritually and mentally but which also means I have quite a bit to get through before I go.
Friday, 24 February 2012
A week of 2 halves!
Well. What can I say? If I had written this blog on Tuesday it would have made for a depressing read! Tuesday was a bad day! If there was anything at all S could refuse to co-operate with then he certainly did! My patience struggled big time and at one point I simply had to excuse myself from the room to calm myself down! We had to have serious words as I can no longer take this day after day, hour after hour. I think S actually got a bit of a shock to see me so emotional and certainly the threat of returning to school was enough for his attitude to improve! I hate threatening him with school. It is quite obviously a distressing thought for him but I have tried to explain to him that the constant moaning from him is doing our relationship no good at all and that he needs to be more considerate if his mum. In saying all that in the forefront of my mind is the fact that I am saying all this to an autistic child and whether what I am doing is really quite unfair and that I should be more adult and carer minded. Having said all that our relationship is an honest one and I have always believed that if you are honest with your children about hoe you feel (obviously there will be some limits) then they will be honest with you.
Anyway, from Wednesday onwards it has been like teaching s different child! Today a bit of grumpiness definitely returned but he has had 3 productive days! Despite having a rubbish day we have had 4 pretty good days. We have looked at fractions this week including a fair bit of work on his times tables. His mental arithmetic and tables I don't think are very solid so I am trying to get him looking at them every day. We have learnt how to find fractions of amounts and equivalent fractions having spent Monday revising what we did in October. In reading we have started stage 11 books in ORT and he is loving them. We did some comprehension on the first 3 chapters and have had good discussions. We have looked at indexes , homophones and synonyms and I ordered him a great (cheap) child's thesaurus which we have started to use. We have done some story writing. S didn't really like my idea but was so enthusiastic about a football story that I let him write it. It was the most he has ever written and he really enjoyed writing which is a first! We have agreed we are going to make a whole newspaper this term with a set that granny gave him. Finally we also looked at wind and water power. We attempted to make a windmill which was a disaster but today made a water generator which he absolutely loved and proudly showed off to everyone later. That ended the week on a real high! Don't really think he gets the energy concept yet but we'll get there.
So not bad overall. The encouragement from friends and family has been crucial for me this week as I was struggling so much. I have had so many other things on my mind too which are not really helping "clear my head" so it is such a help to know that there are some folks out there not waiting for me to trip up at the first hurdle but really praying for S and me as we work together.
In the midst of all this we started gymnastics, went to swimming lessons and had all the other normal goings on! I now have a sick twin so must go and resume mummy duties.
Anyway, from Wednesday onwards it has been like teaching s different child! Today a bit of grumpiness definitely returned but he has had 3 productive days! Despite having a rubbish day we have had 4 pretty good days. We have looked at fractions this week including a fair bit of work on his times tables. His mental arithmetic and tables I don't think are very solid so I am trying to get him looking at them every day. We have learnt how to find fractions of amounts and equivalent fractions having spent Monday revising what we did in October. In reading we have started stage 11 books in ORT and he is loving them. We did some comprehension on the first 3 chapters and have had good discussions. We have looked at indexes , homophones and synonyms and I ordered him a great (cheap) child's thesaurus which we have started to use. We have done some story writing. S didn't really like my idea but was so enthusiastic about a football story that I let him write it. It was the most he has ever written and he really enjoyed writing which is a first! We have agreed we are going to make a whole newspaper this term with a set that granny gave him. Finally we also looked at wind and water power. We attempted to make a windmill which was a disaster but today made a water generator which he absolutely loved and proudly showed off to everyone later. That ended the week on a real high! Don't really think he gets the energy concept yet but we'll get there.
So not bad overall. The encouragement from friends and family has been crucial for me this week as I was struggling so much. I have had so many other things on my mind too which are not really helping "clear my head" so it is such a help to know that there are some folks out there not waiting for me to trip up at the first hurdle but really praying for S and me as we work together.
In the midst of all this we started gymnastics, went to swimming lessons and had all the other normal goings on! I now have a sick twin so must go and resume mummy duties.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Here we go again!
I am still not quite used to just how much I am needing the school holidays these days! In a relatively short time I have gone from being a full time stay at home mum who found the school holidays more like work and saw the first week of term as holidays to now - still a stay at home mum (a bit confused as to what exactly my role is) who loves the holidays so much and enjoys the chance to lose one role and enjoy fully relaxing with the kids!
The holiday was great! It highlighted to me once again just how tired S was before the holiday. Retrospect is a fine thing and seems to be teaching me the same lessons repeatedly - when am I going to learn them?? I have been teaching S way beyond his level and am determined this term to teach him more appropriately. Surely this might help to stop the lack of cooperation I am beginning to dread!
Today was a good start. The first task was too hard so with my new found attitude we abandoned that straight away and changed track. He then flew through his maths, language and reading. We tried to finish the morning making windmills. We are going to look at energy for the next wee while and I had already changed my plan due to the weather. The windmill was hopeless! My gut reaction was to get him to do something else but I decided not to move the goalposts for him and call it a day. He was positive, I was positive, he'd done some learning, I reckon that's not too bad a first day!
The holiday was great! It highlighted to me once again just how tired S was before the holiday. Retrospect is a fine thing and seems to be teaching me the same lessons repeatedly - when am I going to learn them?? I have been teaching S way beyond his level and am determined this term to teach him more appropriately. Surely this might help to stop the lack of cooperation I am beginning to dread!
Today was a good start. The first task was too hard so with my new found attitude we abandoned that straight away and changed track. He then flew through his maths, language and reading. We tried to finish the morning making windmills. We are going to look at energy for the next wee while and I had already changed my plan due to the weather. The windmill was hopeless! My gut reaction was to get him to do something else but I decided not to move the goalposts for him and call it a day. He was positive, I was positive, he'd done some learning, I reckon that's not too bad a first day!
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Regaining some perspective
If there is one thing I am learning about home schooling is that you can never assume you are "sorted" and that you have "nailed it"!
Last week was positive at the end. This week has been a rollercoaster! I have had to be forced into reviewing everything I am doing having come to a crunch point with S this week. His lack of co-operation really got to me at the beginning of the week and I took some time out while S played with his dad (on his dad's day off). I only needed an hour away but was so important and helped me to refocus and realise that a massive amount of his frustration was caused by me!
I have been asking him to do far far too much every morning. The timer system we started (did I mention that last week - I can't remember) actually helped not just S but me to see how much work I was giving him! Even once "complaining" time was deducted off the time he was doing well over an hour of maths work and English work. He is 8! He is not about to sit standard grade exams! On a one-to-one basis that is far too much! The task I'd given him which tipped him over the edge on Monday was a book report. Now while I don't actually think a book report is a bad thing at all the way I'd presented it to him was way beyond him! I'd given him a list of 8 questions I wanted him to include in a book report. In retrospect that was BONKERS!! He is 8, with a language difficulty! What on earth was he going to make of all that!
So, when I returned that night I had a surf on the net to find book report templates and started again. I decided that the "maths test" I'd scheduled for Wednesday was totally over the top (- why do I need to assess so much when we are at home?) and took a step back from what we are doing.
As a result yesterday went much much better. I decided to try going over the score with encouragement which had (not surprisingly ) a positive affect on S and he loved it. He spoke about his complaining and quite clearly has absolutely no concept of how difficult it can be on other people to hear complaining all the time. He loved the new book report template. He did struggle when he was to draw a picture (this is not one of his stronger areas) but we resolved that when I let him photocopy the picture he had in mind - he loves using the photocopier and we got through that hurdle straight away! He completed the report no bother and now has a lovely report to show for the last book. He even said at the end of the day that his book report had been his favourite piece of work that day!
I have been very much reminded today that home schooling a child on the spectrum is hard hard work. Nothing can be assumed and everyday can through up the same battles over and over again. This can be very waring as a parent (+ teacher) but then on the flip side there are such wee gems of times where the penny drops or when there is an obvious feeling of security seen that the hard work pays off. I really really need to get it into my head some of the things that the "spectrum" does definitely affect in the schooling process. This week a lot of the problems have been me completely forgetting not only the spectrum issues but also S's language issues. I can't forget these things for his sake!
With all that this week has taught me I'm going to look at next term differently again. This term has been good to start the routine that Mon-Wed are desk days and Thursdays and Fridays are practical days. I think we will carry that on. However, I am going to not overload him next term. An hour of maths and an hour of english are too much (and often he has been doing more) and so I'm going to reduce them both to half of that and try to include more variety in his tasks.
What is the biggest surprise of all is that S is very keen to continue! Despite my grumpiness and nagging him to write neatly, try harder etc etc he is so happy at home! I am traumatised after a session of complaining and moaning yet he so quickly forgets all about that and has a great ability just to remember the productive parts and the bits where he achieved success! I wish I was like that! I am learning so much from him!
Tomorrow my mum is coming to do some history and family history with him. We are all looking forward to it very much. I'm looking forward to seeing someone else working with him and it will be good to be out and about. On Friday we are going "geocaching" with a neighbour - weather dependant which should be good too!
So - that's our wee update for now! Thanks for folks comments. Again - they have made a massive difference to me and have helped me wise up at times or simply encouraged me to keep going!
Last week was positive at the end. This week has been a rollercoaster! I have had to be forced into reviewing everything I am doing having come to a crunch point with S this week. His lack of co-operation really got to me at the beginning of the week and I took some time out while S played with his dad (on his dad's day off). I only needed an hour away but was so important and helped me to refocus and realise that a massive amount of his frustration was caused by me!
I have been asking him to do far far too much every morning. The timer system we started (did I mention that last week - I can't remember) actually helped not just S but me to see how much work I was giving him! Even once "complaining" time was deducted off the time he was doing well over an hour of maths work and English work. He is 8! He is not about to sit standard grade exams! On a one-to-one basis that is far too much! The task I'd given him which tipped him over the edge on Monday was a book report. Now while I don't actually think a book report is a bad thing at all the way I'd presented it to him was way beyond him! I'd given him a list of 8 questions I wanted him to include in a book report. In retrospect that was BONKERS!! He is 8, with a language difficulty! What on earth was he going to make of all that!
So, when I returned that night I had a surf on the net to find book report templates and started again. I decided that the "maths test" I'd scheduled for Wednesday was totally over the top (- why do I need to assess so much when we are at home?) and took a step back from what we are doing.
As a result yesterday went much much better. I decided to try going over the score with encouragement which had (not surprisingly ) a positive affect on S and he loved it. He spoke about his complaining and quite clearly has absolutely no concept of how difficult it can be on other people to hear complaining all the time. He loved the new book report template. He did struggle when he was to draw a picture (this is not one of his stronger areas) but we resolved that when I let him photocopy the picture he had in mind - he loves using the photocopier and we got through that hurdle straight away! He completed the report no bother and now has a lovely report to show for the last book. He even said at the end of the day that his book report had been his favourite piece of work that day!
I have been very much reminded today that home schooling a child on the spectrum is hard hard work. Nothing can be assumed and everyday can through up the same battles over and over again. This can be very waring as a parent (+ teacher) but then on the flip side there are such wee gems of times where the penny drops or when there is an obvious feeling of security seen that the hard work pays off. I really really need to get it into my head some of the things that the "spectrum" does definitely affect in the schooling process. This week a lot of the problems have been me completely forgetting not only the spectrum issues but also S's language issues. I can't forget these things for his sake!
With all that this week has taught me I'm going to look at next term differently again. This term has been good to start the routine that Mon-Wed are desk days and Thursdays and Fridays are practical days. I think we will carry that on. However, I am going to not overload him next term. An hour of maths and an hour of english are too much (and often he has been doing more) and so I'm going to reduce them both to half of that and try to include more variety in his tasks.
What is the biggest surprise of all is that S is very keen to continue! Despite my grumpiness and nagging him to write neatly, try harder etc etc he is so happy at home! I am traumatised after a session of complaining and moaning yet he so quickly forgets all about that and has a great ability just to remember the productive parts and the bits where he achieved success! I wish I was like that! I am learning so much from him!
Tomorrow my mum is coming to do some history and family history with him. We are all looking forward to it very much. I'm looking forward to seeing someone else working with him and it will be good to be out and about. On Friday we are going "geocaching" with a neighbour - weather dependant which should be good too!
So - that's our wee update for now! Thanks for folks comments. Again - they have made a massive difference to me and have helped me wise up at times or simply encouraged me to keep going!
Friday, 3 February 2012
Think we might be getting somewhere...
I'm cheating a bit! It's not even lunch time on Friday and I'm writing this! Truth is I'm not feeling very well today and quite honestly would like to go back to bed! However, in 10 + years of being a mummy I've learned that you ain't allowed to be "ill" and you have to keep going! So, we've (kind of) done a morning's work and we are off to the home ed network's sports afternoon in an hour - so I reckon I can take some time out whilst S is in his imaginary world of football world cups (playing in the same room as me with a small ball!).
This week has overall been a positive week. I've been very aware that I think I'm slipping into the dangerous trap of moaning and seeing the negatives which is obviously coming across to other folks and I've had a couple of implied comments that I should be packing S back to school. This is the LAST thing I would do and realised that I have to be more honest about how things are going and not so negative. We have done a huge amount but more importantly S is a happier boy. My eldest is just one academic year ahead of S and there has been a definite shift in what is going on in the playground, the language used and the issues at school (not the language used by him but what he is telling me about). The more I see the kids and what they tell me about the more I am convinced we have done the right thing! My other 3 kids are so much more able to tell me about what is going on and discuss things and cope with things but it makes me sick to think of S being back in that situation. I've realised also that my negativity is partly because of the isolating nature of home schooling - and home schooling an autistic child possibly more so (although I can't really comment on home schooling an "unautistic" child! I decided this week that I have to be far more proactive at making opportunities to socialise for both of us. So, this week on the 2 afternoons that we have free we had friends round. What a joy! What a difference for both of us! I feel far more human (I could never survive on a deserted island!!!) and it is so good for S too!
This week has been an experiment. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we worked intensively on maths and English and did a little speech therapy work too. On the whole this went well. One area we looked at in maths was far too hard for S and we came across some pretty big time uncooperation but we overcame that, changed the method and got through it. We have looked at subtracting 2 digit numbers, time, number sequences and money work. He did a lot of work! We finished stage 10 reading books (so that is 2 stages completed since I started teaching him), and have looked at grammar and spelling. He has been given the task of completing a book review on the stage 10 books he has read that I will then hand into the school. He is really excited about this!
Thursday and Friday have been "non-desk" days! Yesterday we made a CD car racer with an elastic band, CDs, a pencil and a toilet roll tube with inserts from a kit. We had great fun racing it in the hall and discussing ways to make it faster and better. S decorated the wheels. We discussed what made it go and what makes other things "work" too. What was energy? What are forces? This we decided would be a good topic for science for the next few weeks. S then made scones. He did the whole thing. Whilst normally scones would take 10 mins to prepare it took S an hour and a half! I was a bit twitchy about it at first but then relaxed and realised it doesn't matter at all how long it takes him - this is the beauty of home school! He LOVED it and made some beautiful scones!
Today we have completed speech therapy homework and played a recycling game that I picked up in a charity shop! It was good fun and we discussed what recycling was, what you can recycle and then after the game watched a short you tube clip on how to recycle!
So - a busy week. Outwith official "home school" time S has started a swimming club, gone to his football training and our church kid's club and today it's the home ed network sports afternoon so there is definitely no lack of interaction with other kids this week!
So lessons learnt for both of us this week. S is beginning to understand (I think....) the need to not be so negative (we have introduced the "incredible emotional scale" today which I explained to him) and I am also beginning to understand that in a different way to S! I'm hoping today to finish prep for next week and then start next week on a positive footing and go for it!
This week has overall been a positive week. I've been very aware that I think I'm slipping into the dangerous trap of moaning and seeing the negatives which is obviously coming across to other folks and I've had a couple of implied comments that I should be packing S back to school. This is the LAST thing I would do and realised that I have to be more honest about how things are going and not so negative. We have done a huge amount but more importantly S is a happier boy. My eldest is just one academic year ahead of S and there has been a definite shift in what is going on in the playground, the language used and the issues at school (not the language used by him but what he is telling me about). The more I see the kids and what they tell me about the more I am convinced we have done the right thing! My other 3 kids are so much more able to tell me about what is going on and discuss things and cope with things but it makes me sick to think of S being back in that situation. I've realised also that my negativity is partly because of the isolating nature of home schooling - and home schooling an autistic child possibly more so (although I can't really comment on home schooling an "unautistic" child! I decided this week that I have to be far more proactive at making opportunities to socialise for both of us. So, this week on the 2 afternoons that we have free we had friends round. What a joy! What a difference for both of us! I feel far more human (I could never survive on a deserted island!!!) and it is so good for S too!
This week has been an experiment. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we worked intensively on maths and English and did a little speech therapy work too. On the whole this went well. One area we looked at in maths was far too hard for S and we came across some pretty big time uncooperation but we overcame that, changed the method and got through it. We have looked at subtracting 2 digit numbers, time, number sequences and money work. He did a lot of work! We finished stage 10 reading books (so that is 2 stages completed since I started teaching him), and have looked at grammar and spelling. He has been given the task of completing a book review on the stage 10 books he has read that I will then hand into the school. He is really excited about this!
Thursday and Friday have been "non-desk" days! Yesterday we made a CD car racer with an elastic band, CDs, a pencil and a toilet roll tube with inserts from a kit. We had great fun racing it in the hall and discussing ways to make it faster and better. S decorated the wheels. We discussed what made it go and what makes other things "work" too. What was energy? What are forces? This we decided would be a good topic for science for the next few weeks. S then made scones. He did the whole thing. Whilst normally scones would take 10 mins to prepare it took S an hour and a half! I was a bit twitchy about it at first but then relaxed and realised it doesn't matter at all how long it takes him - this is the beauty of home school! He LOVED it and made some beautiful scones!
Today we have completed speech therapy homework and played a recycling game that I picked up in a charity shop! It was good fun and we discussed what recycling was, what you can recycle and then after the game watched a short you tube clip on how to recycle!
So - a busy week. Outwith official "home school" time S has started a swimming club, gone to his football training and our church kid's club and today it's the home ed network sports afternoon so there is definitely no lack of interaction with other kids this week!
So lessons learnt for both of us this week. S is beginning to understand (I think....) the need to not be so negative (we have introduced the "incredible emotional scale" today which I explained to him) and I am also beginning to understand that in a different way to S! I'm hoping today to finish prep for next week and then start next week on a positive footing and go for it!
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Plod, plod, plod!
After last week this week was entirely different. S was far more positive... until Friday. He worked so hard on Monday and Tuesday which was great. Unfortunately Wednesday went a bit pear shape with other appointments scuppering the day which I didn't know about much in advance - but then that is an occupational hazard of home schooling.
Friday was a negative day and I had no energy to battle with him so other than a bit of maths we didn't really do much. I wanted to see how he would feel after a particularly unproductive day and was pleased that even he realised that it is pretty dull not working for a whole day when everyone else in the family is busy.
I'm going to watch over the next couple of weeks to see if there is a pattern. I think S IS productive Monday-Wednesday and then I think Thurs/Frid seem to tail off - probably for both of us to be honest. So, I'm thinking of replanning a bit and doing ALL our maths and english for the week in the first 3 days of the week and then trying to go out and about for the last 2 days - like PE (might even brave swimming!!!), map work (orienteering), SaLT out about and that sort of thing.
On a personal level I'm feeling particularly caged this week. I don't know if it's partly to do with the fact that Christmas is over, the move is done and for the first time in weeks I don't actually have very much to do while S is working. I'm also so aware that when all 4 were at school I really could please myself and nip off somewhere in the car and do whatever. I can't do that now and that takes a long time to get used to obviously!
All in all though a positive week I think. We have various trips lined up so once the snow and ice die down a bit we have plenty on the horizon to keep us busy.
Friday was a negative day and I had no energy to battle with him so other than a bit of maths we didn't really do much. I wanted to see how he would feel after a particularly unproductive day and was pleased that even he realised that it is pretty dull not working for a whole day when everyone else in the family is busy.
I'm going to watch over the next couple of weeks to see if there is a pattern. I think S IS productive Monday-Wednesday and then I think Thurs/Frid seem to tail off - probably for both of us to be honest. So, I'm thinking of replanning a bit and doing ALL our maths and english for the week in the first 3 days of the week and then trying to go out and about for the last 2 days - like PE (might even brave swimming!!!), map work (orienteering), SaLT out about and that sort of thing.
On a personal level I'm feeling particularly caged this week. I don't know if it's partly to do with the fact that Christmas is over, the move is done and for the first time in weeks I don't actually have very much to do while S is working. I'm also so aware that when all 4 were at school I really could please myself and nip off somewhere in the car and do whatever. I can't do that now and that takes a long time to get used to obviously!
All in all though a positive week I think. We have various trips lined up so once the snow and ice die down a bit we have plenty on the horizon to keep us busy.
Monday, 23 January 2012
Back online!
It feels like a long time since I have updated the blog so am so happy to be back!
So the move has happened and we are very settled into our temporary new abode - while work is done to our house. The move has gone incredibly smoothly which has been a big relief. The fact that S has been involved from the very beginning with the new house has certainly helped the whole family and has meant nobody has really been unsettled. Last time we moved the twins were just 2 and a half so what a difference to move 4 school aged children!
So how's the schooling been. Well - being totally honest it has been a bit of a battle! S has peaked in his unco-operation which I have found very draining on top of the physical exhaustion that accompanies any house move. On top of that one of the twins was off school for 2 days full of the cold. Whilst she was desperate to be "home schooled" I was struggling to share her enthusiasm to come up with 2 children's lesson plans! I relented for the second day and she worked so hard all day it was quite incredible! S on the other hand complained his way through just about every task that we did leaving me feeling like I'd been through the wringer every day! I have noticed that whatever happens in the morning (or frequently the afternoons with everything that has gone on this past while) S very quickly forgets all about it and moves on. I on the other hand feel quite traumatised after a session of battles and take hours to recover, by which time normally the other 3 children are home with their own traumas to deal with!
The psychologist came at the end of the week and I had a really good session with him. (He's S's psychologist really!!!). He pointed out that where S is obviously really benefitting from home schooling the offshoot of that is that his self confidence is improving to the extent that he is far more able to express himself when he is not really wanting to co-operate. I think in a funny sort of way I should be pleased then!
Because of all the difficulties of last week we have started a new system. I am now going to record all his complaints and his positives. Whilst I really strongly disapprove of "keeping a record of wrongs" (1 Cor 13) S responded immediately to the thought of having a record of his moaning and groaning and rather than me lose my patience with him I simply write it down which helps my sanity too. Having spoken about it with the psych I am going to write them down and then S's challenge is too either make sure there are more positives than complaints (complaints will be in red and positives in blue) or that he sees he's had a good moan so then can let that be the end of it for the day! So we'll see!
From a learning point of view we've done a lot! We've tackled symmetry, sentence writing, read a book, looked at magnets and magnetism, studied -ing words, learnt how to draw circles with a set of compasses, looked at scale on maps, learnt how to round numbers, looked at "qu" words, done some dictionary work, and done a little bit of history. We've done other random things too but they would be the main things for the week.
After the struggle of last week today was a really good morning. I have to continually remind myself to think beyond what is obvious and not to jump in with assumptions when teaching S. When he fully understands a task, is totally secure and happy with the environment and the task he works fantastically well and is a real pleasure to teach. My challenge is to reach that point with him faster and faster and for him to complain less! I feel that he is learning a lot. His reading is beginning to get more fluent and as my confidence grows to be more and more flexible with my lesson plans we are covering many things which is great.
This week we are hoping to look into Burns and hopefully incorporate it into a wee visit to a museum in New Lanark to tie it into our history which he has come across in his reading. At the same time as that I'm hoping we can use some of our map reading skills too. Finally I am hoping we can do something that really does exploit the benefits of home schooling!
So a mixed week but overall I think a positive week! I'm so glad to be back online and to be able to use the computer programmes with S again which will bring the computing dimension back into what we do which has to be a good thing.
Right - off to try to Tesco shop!
So the move has happened and we are very settled into our temporary new abode - while work is done to our house. The move has gone incredibly smoothly which has been a big relief. The fact that S has been involved from the very beginning with the new house has certainly helped the whole family and has meant nobody has really been unsettled. Last time we moved the twins were just 2 and a half so what a difference to move 4 school aged children!
So how's the schooling been. Well - being totally honest it has been a bit of a battle! S has peaked in his unco-operation which I have found very draining on top of the physical exhaustion that accompanies any house move. On top of that one of the twins was off school for 2 days full of the cold. Whilst she was desperate to be "home schooled" I was struggling to share her enthusiasm to come up with 2 children's lesson plans! I relented for the second day and she worked so hard all day it was quite incredible! S on the other hand complained his way through just about every task that we did leaving me feeling like I'd been through the wringer every day! I have noticed that whatever happens in the morning (or frequently the afternoons with everything that has gone on this past while) S very quickly forgets all about it and moves on. I on the other hand feel quite traumatised after a session of battles and take hours to recover, by which time normally the other 3 children are home with their own traumas to deal with!
The psychologist came at the end of the week and I had a really good session with him. (He's S's psychologist really!!!). He pointed out that where S is obviously really benefitting from home schooling the offshoot of that is that his self confidence is improving to the extent that he is far more able to express himself when he is not really wanting to co-operate. I think in a funny sort of way I should be pleased then!
Because of all the difficulties of last week we have started a new system. I am now going to record all his complaints and his positives. Whilst I really strongly disapprove of "keeping a record of wrongs" (1 Cor 13) S responded immediately to the thought of having a record of his moaning and groaning and rather than me lose my patience with him I simply write it down which helps my sanity too. Having spoken about it with the psych I am going to write them down and then S's challenge is too either make sure there are more positives than complaints (complaints will be in red and positives in blue) or that he sees he's had a good moan so then can let that be the end of it for the day! So we'll see!
From a learning point of view we've done a lot! We've tackled symmetry, sentence writing, read a book, looked at magnets and magnetism, studied -ing words, learnt how to draw circles with a set of compasses, looked at scale on maps, learnt how to round numbers, looked at "qu" words, done some dictionary work, and done a little bit of history. We've done other random things too but they would be the main things for the week.
After the struggle of last week today was a really good morning. I have to continually remind myself to think beyond what is obvious and not to jump in with assumptions when teaching S. When he fully understands a task, is totally secure and happy with the environment and the task he works fantastically well and is a real pleasure to teach. My challenge is to reach that point with him faster and faster and for him to complain less! I feel that he is learning a lot. His reading is beginning to get more fluent and as my confidence grows to be more and more flexible with my lesson plans we are covering many things which is great.
This week we are hoping to look into Burns and hopefully incorporate it into a wee visit to a museum in New Lanark to tie it into our history which he has come across in his reading. At the same time as that I'm hoping we can use some of our map reading skills too. Finally I am hoping we can do something that really does exploit the benefits of home schooling!
So a mixed week but overall I think a positive week! I'm so glad to be back online and to be able to use the computer programmes with S again which will bring the computing dimension back into what we do which has to be a good thing.
Right - off to try to Tesco shop!
Thursday, 12 January 2012
You Really Can Never Second Guess Kids!
After thankfully a good night's sleep I was all geared up for a productive day. S on the other hand was not! Every single step of the way was a real struggle today! I really didn't think he took much in at all and today was needing to stand my ground to get him to get through any of the work that I had planned for him to do. This morning saw the confiscation of a wii game and the postponement of snack time until he had completed tasks that I considered to be quite straight forward. Quite honestly it was painfully slow and hard to get him to do anything!!
However, I persevered and eventually he got through the maths, english and geography work that he needed to get through. Today we looked at right angles and parallel lines and then did a puzzle and Education City game on polygons which he got full marks on which was great. Then, in reading I left him to read alone and then answer 10 true/false questions on what he'd read. As suspected he read really quickly and then guessed all the answers. After 3 attempts at the questions he gave in and sat and read the pages I'd given to help him to answer the questions and - guess what - he got full marks! He did a page on spelling words too which again he tried to rush and had to repeat by reading properly! After this I did a bit of work with the road atlas. Yesterday's maths sheet involved grid references. He actually quite enjoyed this so today I got him to find 10 towns across the British Isles using the grid references and page numbers. He LOVED this! That was the easiest piece of work he had to do!
That was our days work today. If he worked without moaning he would have got through all of that fairly quickly - however, it seemed to take an age. I was not convinced much had gone in at all. How wrong I could be! Later on in the day he came and presented me with a map he had drawn of the area. I looked at it and then turned the page to find a whole page on polygons and parallel lines that he had taught his imaginary class with! I was gobsmacked!!! After all his protests he had taken EVERYTHING in that I had said and regurgitated it to these imaginary classmates.
What I've not included until now is that S was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum just a few months ago. This was huge news for us and continues to be a big time learning curve for us and particularly me as I work with him. I've not mentioned it on the blog up until now as that is not the reason why we are home schooling S and I want to try to keep certain things private. However, today was a day that all that happened was very "autistic" and not really explicable in any other way! The more I find out about what is going on in his head the more that days like today make sense and not make me want to throw the towel in! Today was one of those days that it was a big reminder that you can never second guess kids and particularly not kids with autism! S is so happy at home and although he complains constantly at home school time and can make teaching him so infuriating it is such a precious thing to be able to see the gems come in amidst all the hard times and to be able to help him.
Moving day is Saturday and as yet we have no internet or phone connection in the house!! We will be getting access to the internet for S everyday but not at the house so my blogging from here on in may be a little sketchy! It will be good for me though not to lose every night to surfing, facebooking and blogging!
However, I persevered and eventually he got through the maths, english and geography work that he needed to get through. Today we looked at right angles and parallel lines and then did a puzzle and Education City game on polygons which he got full marks on which was great. Then, in reading I left him to read alone and then answer 10 true/false questions on what he'd read. As suspected he read really quickly and then guessed all the answers. After 3 attempts at the questions he gave in and sat and read the pages I'd given to help him to answer the questions and - guess what - he got full marks! He did a page on spelling words too which again he tried to rush and had to repeat by reading properly! After this I did a bit of work with the road atlas. Yesterday's maths sheet involved grid references. He actually quite enjoyed this so today I got him to find 10 towns across the British Isles using the grid references and page numbers. He LOVED this! That was the easiest piece of work he had to do!
That was our days work today. If he worked without moaning he would have got through all of that fairly quickly - however, it seemed to take an age. I was not convinced much had gone in at all. How wrong I could be! Later on in the day he came and presented me with a map he had drawn of the area. I looked at it and then turned the page to find a whole page on polygons and parallel lines that he had taught his imaginary class with! I was gobsmacked!!! After all his protests he had taken EVERYTHING in that I had said and regurgitated it to these imaginary classmates.
What I've not included until now is that S was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum just a few months ago. This was huge news for us and continues to be a big time learning curve for us and particularly me as I work with him. I've not mentioned it on the blog up until now as that is not the reason why we are home schooling S and I want to try to keep certain things private. However, today was a day that all that happened was very "autistic" and not really explicable in any other way! The more I find out about what is going on in his head the more that days like today make sense and not make me want to throw the towel in! Today was one of those days that it was a big reminder that you can never second guess kids and particularly not kids with autism! S is so happy at home and although he complains constantly at home school time and can make teaching him so infuriating it is such a precious thing to be able to see the gems come in amidst all the hard times and to be able to help him.
Moving day is Saturday and as yet we have no internet or phone connection in the house!! We will be getting access to the internet for S everyday but not at the house so my blogging from here on in may be a little sketchy! It will be good for me though not to lose every night to surfing, facebooking and blogging!
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
So so tired!
Is it not meant to be the case that when your children get older you are meant to get more sleep? To be fair to my lot sleep has been pretty good for the last 4 years but last night was a howler as one of the twins decided to put her music on full blast TWICE in the middle of the night! While she drifted off peacefully to sleep both times it woke me and took me forever to get back to sleep - just in time for the next rendition of songs! Needless to say I have been shattered all day today!
The house move is going quite well I think. I'm at the stage of wanting to hire a skip for all our clutter and am loving the new house as it is so clear! The kids are loving playing in the new house which is lovely and they hate coming back! S and I worked in the new house this morning as we waited for a delivery. This was obviously a little bit too much "outside the box" for S today and it wasn't the easiest work session that we've had but we covered our maths and english topics for the day so I was happy with that.
Yesterday was fab! The day for various reasons was very topsy turvey but S handled this really well. We did lots of domestic moving chores in the morning and then sat down just after 1 to do his school work. I explained to him that he had a list of "jobs" to do and that if he worked really hard he'd manage them all before his siblings got home from school. Boy did he work hard! It was great! He did mental arithmetic, jotter work, a worksheet and some direct teaching from me on maths and then he did his reading, a listening comprehension and then 2 computer programmes on verbs on tenses and appropriate use of verbs! It was interesting to see what he was like in the afternoon as normally we work up until lunch time. He was so much better. It doesn't really give us very long though! This week is a bit abnormal with the move taking a lot of time and so as long as we are covering maths and english, anything else is a bonus!
One thing I am very aware of already this term is how suddenly I no longer feel a pressure to keep him up with all his peers. I am beginning to feel more confident that he is learning and will be keeping up with his peers but that we will be doing things at a different pace and in a different way. I am definitely covering ground often that he is bound to have done before but had just not fully understood and also we are going into more depth in some things than I think he would need to go into at the level he should at school but I am beginning to really appreciate the freedom I have as a home educator to go as far as I think is appropriate and not what some paper says I should do.
The house move is going quite well I think. I'm at the stage of wanting to hire a skip for all our clutter and am loving the new house as it is so clear! The kids are loving playing in the new house which is lovely and they hate coming back! S and I worked in the new house this morning as we waited for a delivery. This was obviously a little bit too much "outside the box" for S today and it wasn't the easiest work session that we've had but we covered our maths and english topics for the day so I was happy with that.
Yesterday was fab! The day for various reasons was very topsy turvey but S handled this really well. We did lots of domestic moving chores in the morning and then sat down just after 1 to do his school work. I explained to him that he had a list of "jobs" to do and that if he worked really hard he'd manage them all before his siblings got home from school. Boy did he work hard! It was great! He did mental arithmetic, jotter work, a worksheet and some direct teaching from me on maths and then he did his reading, a listening comprehension and then 2 computer programmes on verbs on tenses and appropriate use of verbs! It was interesting to see what he was like in the afternoon as normally we work up until lunch time. He was so much better. It doesn't really give us very long though! This week is a bit abnormal with the move taking a lot of time and so as long as we are covering maths and english, anything else is a bonus!
One thing I am very aware of already this term is how suddenly I no longer feel a pressure to keep him up with all his peers. I am beginning to feel more confident that he is learning and will be keeping up with his peers but that we will be doing things at a different pace and in a different way. I am definitely covering ground often that he is bound to have done before but had just not fully understood and also we are going into more depth in some things than I think he would need to go into at the level he should at school but I am beginning to really appreciate the freedom I have as a home educator to go as far as I think is appropriate and not what some paper says I should do.
Monday, 9 January 2012
Here We Go Again...
After what seemed like a long holiday it was back to work today! I hate starting back after Christmas holidays! After all the fun, cosyness, chilling out and family time of Christmas it's always a thought to get back into the routine. I feel so so sorry for the kids going back to school! I don't know if that says more about how I used to feel going back to school or how they feel! Anyway, whatever the feelings were we all had to face up to the new term today!
On Saturday I spent a couple of hours looking to the week ahead and was amazed at how quickly I'd forgotten just how much time it takes me to plan the lessons for S! I felt quite daunted at the prospect and the responsibility once again of teaching him and how to ensure I was covering everything I should! At the same time though I feel quite motivated this term to get into a routine and quite excited to see S progress. It has been fantastic to hear folks comments on S (family mainly) on the change they see in S since taking him out of school! I'm quite amazed that in such a short space of time there are noticeable improvements and changes! I so quickly get caught up with the daily challenges and difficulties that I lose perspective of the bigger picture and the reasons for doing what we are doing.
So today started. To add a bit excitement into the mix we are moving house this week! Normally to have all the kids starting back at school would have been great timing for us to get moved. This time however is definitely a different experience - to try to move house (which we are doing ourselves), home school one child and get the other 3 to school all equipped - is quite a challenge! I will be so relieved to get to this time next week with my eyes still open and my legs still able to support me!!! It's hopefully just a temporary move and we will be back "home" in a few months but we still have to move pretty much everything! With all that in mind I am hoping that S will work in the mornings and that in the afternoons we will make the most of the time and ferry things up to the new house.
So what have we started this term. In Maths I have introduced this term "warm up Maths" where S will do 10 minutes of quick mental arithmetic. We then started "Shape". Today we looked at "polygons" (I tell you - I'm learning a lot too!!!) and named the main polygons. We discussed right angles and parallel lines. I'm pretty sure he's done this before but was quite clearly not that clued up about it so we will develop all this during this week. I left him to do a couple of maths tasks on his own which he did which was great. Following this we went on to our reading and then introduced a new idea. Last term I'd hoped he would have done a news report on a Monday morning. This bomb dived though and I don't really think he is quite ready for it. Instead we are now going to look at a match report from the weekend's football. (S is football daft now!). I'd hoped to find all the verbs in the report today but I realised pretty quickly that that was far too hard. Instead today we picked out all the "wow" words. S loved it! He objected to ALL the tasks we did today apart from that! Once we'd done that I got him to look at the short piece of writing I'd asked him to do today and pick out the "wow" words he'd written. He'd not done many at all and it was great to see him immediately realise the difference! Hopefully we can build on this and I fully intend to exploit his football obsession in as many areas as I can!
All in all we didn't work for long today (in length of time) but he actually did achieve a lot! Following today he can definitely spell "favourite" and "present" which he couldn't this morning and hopefully can discuss a bit of shape and "wow" words. His lack of co-operation returned with a vengeance and I will struggle with that big time if I can't get a handle on it soon!
So much to say but I must go (well done if you've persevered this far!!). Sleep is calling.
On Saturday I spent a couple of hours looking to the week ahead and was amazed at how quickly I'd forgotten just how much time it takes me to plan the lessons for S! I felt quite daunted at the prospect and the responsibility once again of teaching him and how to ensure I was covering everything I should! At the same time though I feel quite motivated this term to get into a routine and quite excited to see S progress. It has been fantastic to hear folks comments on S (family mainly) on the change they see in S since taking him out of school! I'm quite amazed that in such a short space of time there are noticeable improvements and changes! I so quickly get caught up with the daily challenges and difficulties that I lose perspective of the bigger picture and the reasons for doing what we are doing.
So today started. To add a bit excitement into the mix we are moving house this week! Normally to have all the kids starting back at school would have been great timing for us to get moved. This time however is definitely a different experience - to try to move house (which we are doing ourselves), home school one child and get the other 3 to school all equipped - is quite a challenge! I will be so relieved to get to this time next week with my eyes still open and my legs still able to support me!!! It's hopefully just a temporary move and we will be back "home" in a few months but we still have to move pretty much everything! With all that in mind I am hoping that S will work in the mornings and that in the afternoons we will make the most of the time and ferry things up to the new house.
So what have we started this term. In Maths I have introduced this term "warm up Maths" where S will do 10 minutes of quick mental arithmetic. We then started "Shape". Today we looked at "polygons" (I tell you - I'm learning a lot too!!!) and named the main polygons. We discussed right angles and parallel lines. I'm pretty sure he's done this before but was quite clearly not that clued up about it so we will develop all this during this week. I left him to do a couple of maths tasks on his own which he did which was great. Following this we went on to our reading and then introduced a new idea. Last term I'd hoped he would have done a news report on a Monday morning. This bomb dived though and I don't really think he is quite ready for it. Instead we are now going to look at a match report from the weekend's football. (S is football daft now!). I'd hoped to find all the verbs in the report today but I realised pretty quickly that that was far too hard. Instead today we picked out all the "wow" words. S loved it! He objected to ALL the tasks we did today apart from that! Once we'd done that I got him to look at the short piece of writing I'd asked him to do today and pick out the "wow" words he'd written. He'd not done many at all and it was great to see him immediately realise the difference! Hopefully we can build on this and I fully intend to exploit his football obsession in as many areas as I can!
All in all we didn't work for long today (in length of time) but he actually did achieve a lot! Following today he can definitely spell "favourite" and "present" which he couldn't this morning and hopefully can discuss a bit of shape and "wow" words. His lack of co-operation returned with a vengeance and I will struggle with that big time if I can't get a handle on it soon!
So much to say but I must go (well done if you've persevered this far!!). Sleep is calling.
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