Saturday, September 8, 2012

Why Explosion Will Be Homeschooled

Oh, there are many reasons, but it was really brought home when I read this article on CNN: Why autistic kids make easy targets for bullies. As they point out, verbal, high-functioning kids are the ones most targeted for bullying.  This is hardly a surprise.

Some of you might be  interested in knowing that we've set up our school schedule for the term. We're using Pathway readers and workbooks, although it's rather funny to be doing a Grade 1 reader (Days Go By) and Preschool desk work. Explosion, while reading very well, has major motor control problems - trying to get him to print even one letter can lead to a complete breakdown. We have five interrelated workbooks which reinforce the same material in various ways through the year, so on Monday, we'll do "Working with words", then on Tuesday, the page is "What do I use?" (Do I use crayons or blocks to colour a page? Colour only the right picture.), on Wednesday, he'll practice writing the number 1, on Thursday he'll identify and *carefully* circle the matching pictures and on Friday, we'll work on the colour yellow. It sounds very simple, but these Amish-developed materials emphasize doing everything very carefully and neatly - first with pencil, then with crayon. A child with better motor skills could certainly do more than one of these a day, but my goal is to make this enjoyable and rewarding.

We're also adding a good deal of classical children's literature - Just So Stories, the Blue Fairy Book, Make Way for Ducklings, and other great stories.

I felt like I was wrapping a present as I put erasers, crayons, safety scissors and Elmer's glue in a little pencil case for Monday morning.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment - positive or negative - and let me know your thoughts. Don't forget to subscribe to Canadian Doomer in a Reader or by email.

7 comments:

  1. I absolutely agree with your reasoning on this. Kids pick on any kind of difference and sadly, even today, schools dont control this. I am sure he will learn more at home and hope he can find an interest or activity that allows him to mix with other kids who accept him for who he is.

    Some of the montesorri type activities that emphasise motor skills might be something he enjoys ( sorting, whisking, screwing etc). 

    Good luck with your home schooling!

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  2. "lead to a complete breakdown"

    I want to homeschool my son (mainly because he watches more movies at school than at home but that's a rant for another time) but, I worry that we will clash too much.  He tends to behave better with non-family members.  How will you handle this kind of thing?

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  3.  Jessica, my initial thought is "You're asking ME?" LOL I expect that this is something that every homeschooling mother has to deal with. Today at church, I complained a little to one of the older women that "WHY is it that they behave so much better for my husband than they do for me?" She said, "They're all like that."

    I am NOT a homeschooling expert, not even close.

    Regarding the clashing, that's not a homeschool thing really, and, you're going to have to keep in mind that you're the grown up with the ability to maturely deal with clashes. And they'll happen. At our house, with an autistic son and an Aspergers husband, we have a rule that ANY one can remove themselves from the room/conversation/conflict if they need to. I think it's a good rule for any household. Our son doesn't go to his room as punishment but as a way to defuse the situation and get himself back under control.

    Since your son has been in school, you might want to consider some "deschooling" time in which you just spend time enjoying each other's company and doing interesting things.

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  4.  Well, mostly, he enjoys trains. If there were a Thomas and Friends curriculum, he'd be all over it.

    He *does* have friends, primarily (okay, entirely) through church. I think it's hilarious that every single week he brings our deacon's son over to me and says, "This is my friend." The other little boy is a year younger, but they play well together.

    I'll look into the Montessori stuff. Another thing I was considering was taking a bit of money and heading to Scholar's Choice. They now have a line of learning tools designed specifically for autistic kids - like a magnet board for learning proper letter formation. The biggest issue with Scholar's Choice is that they are so very expensive.

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  5. Thomas and friends are awesome, who woudn't like them?  Are they still voiced by Ringo Starr ( Beatles) here, or is it an American voice?

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  6.  It was George Carlin, then Alec Baldwin, and the newest episodes are Micheal Brandon. However, I have to say that we don't have cable, so he watches movies (Thomas and the Magic Railroad - Baldwin, Hero of the Rails - Brandon, etc) and some episodes on DVD.

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  7. I am all about the best possible educational choices for your child.  I am sure ethat Explosion will blossom as you educate him.  I went and looked up the published of the program you are using and they have some interesting stuff.

    I got a kick out of Monkey at the library on Saturday telling the librarian that he needed books about ice age animals becuase he was studying Beringia and Paleo-Indians.

    Jessica - we have days when it takes every fibre of my being not to smear him with honey and stake him out for the ants...  He is your kid and he is going to know every button to push.  In our world bribery works really well - behave and do your school work and you can go to the after school program at the Boys & Girls Club - don't behave and you don't go.  But really the key is to be sneaky about teaching.  If he hates english, then make the reading part of the research into car parts or something else he loves.  If he hates math then figure out the groceries and make him fgure out how much the shopping list will cost - then give him the money to pay for it... you could say that any cost over-runs come out of his allowance.. If he hates organized sports the have him et involved with walking dogs for the Humane Society or training your dog for super dog races.

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