The week started positively as we went to Perth to see a live recording of one of our favourite podcasts. Bee was keen to walk around the city and look at shops. The show was great, Bee enjoyed being with his brother.
Unfortunately by the time we got home I was feeling terrible. The next day I tested positive for COVID and the day after we were all out of commission.
Podcast's we listened to on our journey were: A brief history of Austria with historian Stephen Beller (croissants aren't French!) and The Emu War (ep 111).
Bee has made a bit of a plan with his father about what he would like to learn to cook.
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.
This week we managed to get some work done on Bee's terms. I'm trying to keep demand low and bribes minimal.
Monday - Bee asked to do some punctuation revision. He said he wasn't very confident with comma's and apostrophes. He wrote some sentences and used his comma's appropriately. When working on apostrophe's he wasn't very keen to use some of my/text examples and spends quite a bit of time thinking of his own.
Tuesday - Maths: Fractions, decimals and percentages revision. I think Bee surprised himself with how much he really did remember on this topic.
After our work was done we went for a drive and listened to some podcasts, one on the Human Heart (only got half way through and Bee was overwhelmed thinking about it due to his recent testing) and the American Revolution.
Wednesday - Sleep issues have raised their ugly heads again (I don't think it truly goes away but rather gets to a point where Bee is unable to cope). We went for a scenic drive and finished our podcast on the American Revolution.
Over the weekend I formulated a bit of choice plan for term two. I want to give Bee some choice and control over his learning in order to get optimal engagement. He has previously expressed interest in a more project based approach.
I took some broad topics from the HASS and science curriculum that I know he either hasn't worked on before and I think will be of interest. If none of these grab his attention I have a more more broad approach in providing choice:
From here I can incorporate all learning area's and elements of the curriculum.
Workwise we revised nouns, Bee completed a maths worksheet. Bee also wrote a plan for balancing work, play and mental health priorities. He wrote over half an A4 page which is HUGE for Bee, he was quite pleased with himself. Being left-handed, having hypermobility and proprioception dysfunction makes writing difficult for Bee and he often avoids writing tasks.
Friday Bee baked some brownies. The only assistance he had from me was confirmation of turning on the oven and setting the temperature. Having dyspraxia means a lot of the movements required for cooking can be quite awkward for Bee.
Bee is contemplating the project approach for next term.
