Long Days, Lots of Work

I hope I don't sound negative or self-pitying in this post, I'm just sharing what life has been like the last few weeks.

It has been a big adjustment going from one student at home to three. I'm still doing my best to look over all their work every day and to lay out some kind of schedule each day. This then gives me something to look back at to track my progress and the kids' progress. I'm having a hard time keeping up with it, and all that needs to be taken care of around the house. I had hoped that while I was going through the process this fall of discovering what Samuel really knows, that I could also be looking into additional consultant help and checking out alternative teaching materials. I've been surprised at how much I have to alter the materials I use to teach Samuel. I had thought the layout of the first grade materials I am using would appeal to him. He likes the pictures in the workbooks I have, but he just cannot seem to work on the pages. I don't know if there's just too much on the page, or maybe he has a vision problem. He does much better when I type his lessons in a large font on Writing With Symbols. Anyways, I'm so busy during the day that I keep forgetting to try to call potential consultants. I also haven't put as much into planning a social skills curriculum.. though I'm sure we're doing just fine with what I've put together at the last minute so far.

So far the subjects that appeal to Samuel the most are Religion, spelling, and reading(he likes th reader we use). One of my in-home helpers has noticed that Samuel doesn't react well when we try to count money ( I usually make up worksheets, so he's counting pictures of coins on paper). Now that we're up to the 7th week of doing this I'm trying to notice patterns as well.

Samuel's attention span has been very short and it was particularly bad last week. My strategy is to wait him out when he is not paying attention. So far he has been a bit better this week. Yesterday, however, I had to wait him out for almost an hour before he cooperated with working. This was around the time a favorite TV show of his was on. I made him work in a different area away from the TV. He didn't give in until after the TV show was over. We started working a good half hour before it was due to start! I'm so thankful that our in-home helper was able to keep a good eye on him during this time so I could keep the day going for the other kids! Once Samuel decided he was going to do his work, he finished up in less than fifteen minutes!

I'm finding I have a new appreciation for Samuel's former teacher and his aids. Sometimes it is not easy to get Samuel to communicate what he knows. I understand a bit better now just how much effort can sometimes go into teaching him. Not only that, but so much of his performance depends on his willingness to cooperate.

There's lots more I could say, but I am tired and need to get to sleep. Even though I'm exhausted now, I know this transition phase won't last forever. I still think I have done the right thing by deciding to keep all my sons at home for their education. Now I can understand the advice I've heard from others who have started homeschooling a special needs child; to know that a good part of the first school year might just be getting used to working together and "deschooling."

My Mission

I have been slowly reading through From Emotions to Advocacy by Pam Wright and Peter Wright. This is a wonderful book, but I find trying to take all of this in very overwhelming so I am going through it and taking the steps to organize my thoughts, documents, and actions, like I said, slowly.

One of the first steps is to prepare a mission statement "that describes the reasons you are advocating for your child." Here is mine:

My mission is to raise Samuel in a way that will prepare him to lead a healthy productive life in which he uses his talents to the greatest extent possible and thereby glorifies the God who created him.

This is the same mission that I have for all of my children.

Next, I am supposed to come up with goals. I have to state my goals every time my son's in-home services are reviewed (every 6 months) by our county, so I have 6 mo., 2 yr., and 5 yr. goals. I'll share these with you later. Samuel just finished dressing himself and is awaiting his pop-tart. I have to go see if he put anything on backwards.