"Field Trips"

One joke that many homeschool parents make among themselves is that anything can be a field trip. When you have young kids at home with you all day, you have to take them with you on the most mundane errands. So a trip to the bank becomes "finance education" and the grocery store "home economics". For kids with special needs, these types of lessons becomes a truly important component of homeschooling.
As my daughter has Asperger's syndrome, there are many parts of social interaction that she does not understand. Things that most people pick up by observation, without thinking about it, she has to be specifically taught how to do. Purchasing something at the store is fraught with multiple, subtle, non-verbal interactions as well as the added difficulty of money.
As we move through our day to day lives, I try to be aware of opportunities to teach Melissa about the types of interactions she will be expected to engage in all her life. Any time I ask Melissa to go anywhere or do anything out of the routine, her reaction is to say "no thank you" (at least I've managed to teach her the correct, polite response). Given the choice, she would never go anywhere or do anything out of the ordinary so I often just have to tell her that we are doing something, rather than giving her the option to decline. If I have errands to run, I think about the value that can be added if I take her with me, or if she should continue working on what she is already working on at home, alone (Melissa is at an age where she can be home alone for a few hours. Obviously, you wouldn't have this option with younger children or those that can not be unsupervised).
While we are out and about, I judge her level of comfort before I try and teach her anything. For example, if she is already stressed by the noise and confusion of being at a baseball game, having her purchase a hot dog herself could be too much for her to handle. But, if we are at the Costco, a trip we take every few weeks and that she is relatively comfortable with, purchasing a hot dog on her own isn't as daunting an experience, and she still learns the steps involved in that interaction. Then, next time we are at a baseball game, we can try to transfer that successful experience at the Costco into buying a hot dog at a baseball game.
This is just a basic example but an important one. Being aware of opportunities to teach your child as well as being attuned to your child's needs at the moment should always be together in your mind. But, as you become more experienced at homeschooling your special needs child, these opportunities and needs will become more apparent to you, and easier to reconcile.

New Year - success!

One of the things that has always been so difficult for my sweet girl is writing. Not only does she have difficulty with the physical act of making marks on paper, but with deciding what to write. Like most people with Asperger's, she can recite known information endlessly but original thought - that's another story. Still, I give her writing assignments that challenge her so that she can work on this important skill. I find that a "story starters" or writing prompts book to be very helpful in this. The book I am currently using is at a 7th grade level which seems to stretch her limits without being too difficult (Melissa is at multiple levels of learning in many different subjects, but this is a topic for another post). There are also many ideas online, or you can come up with your own, but having a grade-leveled book gives you a place to start. When topics are broad, I try to narrow things a bit by connecting the prompt to other lessons or subjects we are working on. For example, since we are studying ancient Greece and Rome in social studies this year, I had her write her own version of a Greek myth. Connecting lessons across subjects is one of the great advantages of having one teacher for all subjects!

The following is a recent essay that she completed. The assignment was to compare and contrast two TV shows, and I think she did a wonderful job. What do you think?


My Two Favorite TV Shows and How They are Alike and Different, by Melissa Rentfrow

My two favorite TV show are Naruto and John and Kate plus Eight. One is about the life of a young ninja named Naruto and his friends and the missions they go on. The other is about a family with twins and sextuplets. That's 8 kids! Wow! It's about their day-to-day life. Some similarities are there's always something going on in the two shows. They never calm down for very long. Also, in both shows friendship is very important. In John and Kate plus eight, the twins, Cara and Mady, have special friends that they play with while taking a break from the sextuplets. In Naruto, Naruto doesn't have a real family, but has lots of friends, who are like a family. Some differences are, as I've said, Naruto doesn't have a family and John and Kate plus eight is all about a family. Also, Naruto is a cartoon while John and Kate plus eight is real. Naruto is also a bit more adventurous that John and Kate plus eight. The plots are very different also, Naruto is a ninja in training with his friends, while John and Kate plus eight is about a family of 10 and their daily life. The settings are very different also. Naruto is usually on a mission while John and Kate plus eight is shot at home. All in all, my two favorite TV shows are mostly different, but have a few similarities.

It's important to note that when she is doing this kind of writing, I try to have her NOT focus on spelling, punctuation, etc. Writing a rough draft is so hard for someone with perfectionist tendencies but it helps her learn to focus on the ideas first, and the mechanics second.
I also let her write wherever she feels the most comfortable; at her desk, on the floor, in bed - wherever! Most of use have been trained to think that we can only do good, careful work sitting upright at a desk. For someone with sensory issues, this is often not the case. By letting her choose where she is most comfortable, she is able to focus on the assignment, rather than how her body feels sitting in a chair. This is one of that many advantages of homeshooling! You can create an environment that is most conducive to learning for your special child, allowing him or her to produce the best results that they can. And isn't that the point.