Week Seven

 

Another hard PDA week. Bee has really regressed with his social anxiety and is not even wanting to do things he would usually want to do (going for a drive, walk, etc) - not even tempted by fast food or treats. 

In the meantime I have loaded up some new podcasts and made a list of documentaries he may be willing to watch with me. I have rearranged our shelves to see if something interests Bee. I have some geometric nets printed out to be constructed along with some geometry illustrative books. I have also put some geography charts on display (rock cycle, seasons/solstices, land formations). I'm hoping a revamp might trigger some interest and engagement. 

Term One Reflections

 

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. 

Week Six

 

I've been sitting here reflecting on this week; it felt like a particularly difficult week. There were two BIG emotional days, a lot of resistance. Looking at my diary though there were some educational positives.

Bee wrote (!) down some the things that are bothering him at the moment. He made a pros/cons list for our upcoming trip as he is anxious about some aspects of it. 

Podcasts we listened to this week were about Constellations, Elephants and one about the attempt to begin a New Australia in South America. 

Bee confessed he felt unsure about punctuation, so we did some revision focusing on full stops, comma's and apostrophes. 

Bee wrote his own math equation which led to us discussing different strategies, why certain strategies are important and provide the basis for further learning. I asked if he remembered BIMDAS - he said he had heard of but doesn't recall it.

We ended the week with a podcast on genetics - a topic that is close to home at the moment.

Week Five

 

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.

Bee watched several Vsauce videos - "What is the World Worth?" "What Will We Miss?" and the nothing episode:

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.