Term Four - Part Two

The last half of term four was not a particularly productive period of time. End of year fatigue set in shortly after our return from Broome. 

Unexpectedly though, Bee decided he was interested in undertaking some courses at TAFE in 2025. Together we researched what requirements he needed to proceed. He has shown an interest in becoming some type of therapist.

In 2025 he will undertake Cert II in Adult General Education in semester one, with a view to do some other courses in semester two (as yet to be decided).

Term 3 - Part Two

We were all knocked out with the flu (again) for the best part of the second half of the term. Bee has reached a point where anything that looks remotely like "school" is a no-go. 

Our focus has been on everyday life skills: cooking (planning a meal, shopping for it, preparation, and cooking), hygiene (personal, hygiene with food preparation, etc), discussing how taxes work in Australia (and how it differs from other places like the USA).

Thai yellow curry - Bee's favourite

Glimmer

 

A better start to the week. Bee has taken an interest in creating some videos and graphics. So we started the week with an introduction to Shotcut and Canva. He was pretty overwhelmed by some of the technical aspects of using these applications, so small steps. Bee has a tendency of becoming impatient and frustrated when he doesn't pick up new skills straight away. He wants to be an instant expert in any new interest, which can be tricky. 

Bee chose 1984 by George Orwell at the book shop the other day. So far he has only flicked through it, but it is the first time in years he has chosen a book for himself. 

Bee also enjoyed some games of pool with us this week, first time in a while he has wanted to. We also went to the library to find out what resources are available for us. We have been looking through the audiobooks available on some of the apps.

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. 

Maybe

 

Another strong PDA week. As Bee and I are both recovering from COVID energy levels were low. Bee's anxiety about being in public and getting sick has flared up since our trip to Perth. He is reluctant to do anything outside of his bedroom.

Week 4

 

The whole house had the flu this week. I managed to broach the subject of school work with Bee, who is finding it difficult to see the value in most things he deems to be "school" related. His logic is that if he wants to learn about something he simply will when he needs or wants to. I tried to explain that he needs a certain level of numeracy and literacy for work and that it isn't always the content of "school" but rather the processes that teach critical and creative thinking skills. On the topic of maths he said he hasn't enjoyed the maths we have been doing so far and I reminded him that we had been doing worksheets so I can ascertain where we need to focus. He seemed to take that on board and I have left him to consider what I have said. 

We did listen to a podcast about The Great Barrier Reef with Dr Helen Scales.

Thursday was Occupational Therapy day.

We also had a reproductive health discussion on Friday. 

Rethinking School & PDA

 

The start of the week Bee was still unwell. It gave me a chance to catch up on a heap of webinars from The PDA Space Summit. 

Although I did not feel I had learnt anything particularly new, I found it really helpful to hear the different perspectives from individuals who have a PDA profile, advocates, educators and professionals on the topic. I definitely came away more confident and reinvigorated.

For Bee something came up in therapy that he isn't ready to discuss with me yet, so I decided this is not the week to put forward my ideas for how to change up his learning. After everything from the webinar I felt it would be best to give him some time to recuperate from being ill and space to figure out what is going on in his mind. 

We listened to a podcast about evolution with Dr Richard Dawkins.  

A Non Week

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. 

Not Enough Spoons

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. 

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 Eight

 

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.

Thursday - Physiotherapy day. 

Week Seven

 

Now the weather is starting to cool Bee has been wanting to go for more walks and move his body about. He is still incredibly work resistant. The other day I gave him a choice between a maths worksheet and an English worksheet - he chose the math worksheet.

We had planned a trip to Augusta with some friends who also home-school, with primary focus to visit the Historical Museum. On the day our friends were unable to join us and when we arrived in Augusta the museum was closed (website said they would be open). We will try again next term. 

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. 

Gently, gently

 

Bee is still in a heightened state. At his psych appointment he agreed to beginning some more structured  "school work" at the end of the week. His PDA is aggravated by the high cortisol levels from stress and anxiety. 

Upon reflection I should not have started with Maths. I had some worksheets ready, they were to assess his number and place value knowledge as this was an area I identified last year that might need to be revised. As Bee encountered concepts he was not confident and/or familiar with he began to shut down. Then spiralled into a meltdown.