As the title suggests, this week was a non-week. Monday and Tuesday were firm PDA days. After pushing too hard last week I decided to just let it go and focus on other things.
We had our intro meeting with our home school moderator - I'm relieved to say she was happy with everything.
Bee and I did listen to a very interesting podcast about Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles.
Thursday and Friday Bee was unwell.
Bee's capacity this week was very low. All his spoons were used up for basic tasks and allied health appointments. He mentioned during therapy he was feeling stressed and not ready for learning.
We did manage to listen to a podcast about Galaxies with astrophysicist Dr. Jacinta Delhaize (we may have found a new podcast - Cosmic Savannah).
We also had a very robust conversation about conveying stories and how different mediums (tv, movies, video games) use different ways and tempos to unfold a story, especially in terms of time limits/constraints. We talked about "filler" - Bee felt that a lot of story telling has unnecessary scenes or arcs. I explained that this can be a way to control the tempo of a story and provide deeper understanding of certain characters or ideas. This links back to our visit to ACMI.
Another robust discussion we had was about the social and economic impact of automated registers in retail and fast food chains. Bee doesn't really mind them because for him he'd rather not have to make small talk when making purchases. We talked about the need for low skill/entry level jobs for people and the economy.
The wheels fell off my plan fairly early. Bee changed his mind about the Work Ready course - he became quite anxious about doing it. So we have left that for another time when he is ready.
Starting home-school I knew that the more formal the learning feels to Bee, the more resistant he is to engaging. He likes to be on the floor and our style is conversational. The more relaxed Bee is the more he is likely to take initiative. For example when we started our study of nouns, he took the white board and started taking notes before I even had a chance to ask him.
On the days Bee is only mildly avoidant I find that we can sit somewhere and watch YouTube videos. We have subscribed to around 40 educational channels (some of which are listed on our Resource page). I have also started curating some playlists based on topics Bee has expressed interest in.
When Bee and I travel together we always listen to podcasts. We enjoy comedy podcasts with an educational element, such as The Dollop.
Bee has been enjoying playing pool, and spends a lot of time practicing his angles. He also enjoys playing and creating levels in Geometry Dash.
I'm finding it takes Bee longer than I realised to process some information, especially if it is related to choice. I am learning to give him the information and then to follow up a couple of days later. Pushing too hard just leads to shutdowns and/or meltdowns. Too much choice is overwhelming, so I am trying to balance these instances as best I can.
We are still experimenting with ADHD medication. Bee is overwhelmed by large amounts of text and/or data. He has communicated that he often forgets what he has just read and loses his place on a page. He has mentioned sometimes words get jumbled, speaking with his OT this could just be because he loses his place whilst trying to read.
Moving forward I will be looking at ways to provide smaller chunks of text. For example I have some sample comprehension activities from my teacher studies I created that we can use as a starting point. If having these smaller chunks of text help reduce Bee's demand load it will hopefully be a way to build on his reading skills.
Learning new concepts seems to draw the most demand avoidance with Bee. He is prepared to do a math worksheet or some spelling words, but its harder to engage him when teaching new concepts. Mostly this centres around maths, and it maybe that I need to experiment with various lesson videos and hopefully find the right fit. When he was do DE they used the mathspace program, Bee did not like the presenters voice and that would be all he could focus on.
It was a busy start to the week as we prepared for our first family holiday in a decade. Between allied health appointments and packing it was already Wednesday and time to fly.
Bee was highly anxious as there were so many unknown variables with this trip. He was worried about his sleep, the flight, having safe foods, being away from home and being in a big city.
Bee navigated all of the new experiences quite well. We attended some comedy shows, ate out at a variety of restaurants and admired the architecture whilst roaming the city.
One of our key destinations was ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image). The centre has an amazing display of historical and contemporary pieces celebrating moving imagery, showcasing several pieces from Australian cinema, television and gaming.
Bee was mostly interested in the optical illusions and displays for some Australian developed games which included sketches and outlines for story development. He also took an interest in some of the prosthetic pieces on display.
This trip gave Bee an opportunity to see a glimpse of the wider world and enjoy new experiences. There were definite times where he was overwhelmed and finding it difficult to communicate his needs in that moment, but there were also times he was able to overcome some of these difficulties without our intervention.