Show Holiday

We are show-offs! How bazaar that in this day and age of sky rocketing interest rates, petrol prices and immediate harm to the environment that local shows still occur and that we get a public holiday for them? I can understand the original reason for both the show and the holiday but I am thinking that in modern life, the tradition appears a bit extreme. We are not going to the show because we prefer to be show-offs.

I can only vent my thoughts though, because Boy is not here to hear them. He has gone off a day early to his Dad's place. Over the moon he is at getting a day off school (I could have lied about the holiday but kids just seem to know these things!!!). Show-off! He's gone to another town where it's not a public holiday because they had their show last week (and because he's home schooled he got to go to that show as it suited our flexible hours).

Accountant husband has gone to work (his work ethic is protestant and interest rate driven) and I intend to spend the day planning home school unschooled moments that will look natural, effortless and less educational that normal. Some time for personal reflection is also greatly needed, so I may take a coffee and sit by the pool, in the sun, to reflect upon why I get sucked into thinking that education has to look a certain way.

Oh it annoys me that I fight with Boy because I am so stringent about him reaching particular levels of assessable learning. For goodness sake - even with all the public holidays we get, Boy's learning and understanding is so much better that many kids who attend traditional school - and at times like this when he gets to be surrounded by other kids, he's a real show-off with the unusual and broad range of knowledge, skill and curiosity that home schooling has developed in him.

Imaginif...Child Protection Became Serious Business

Home school is out for the day because...we've gone live with our new website: Imaginif...Child Protection Became Serious Business.

My poor Boy. He has had to endure a very tired mother, change of home school routine to fit around mother's pressing web site copy madness and a telephone that has constantly interrupted our together time.

Routine is important to kids with Aspergers and routine we have not had. The upside for Boy though is that the constant experiments I have set up for him (to create some time for me to test the web site) have captured his interest, and led him to read instructions that once he would never have read and to search on the internet for topics that once he would have relied on me to do.

The biggest natural learning for Boy has been in interactive web site development. He now uses terms like blog platform through wordpress, forum platform, and html. Already familiar with terms like child protection, child safety, protective behaviours and social justice, Boy appears to have grasped that these terms mean nothing unless they are put into action. He told me he knows that interactive means that individuals have to interact in child protection ways or kids will keep getting hurt.

I near cried when the above gem came out of his mouth. He's got it. He has, in simplistic terms, summarised what I teach to university students. Boy's understanding and integration of complex social definitions blew me away. I am so proud of him. Although he has Aspergers, he has grasped the shades of grey around behaviour and community participation in keeping kids safe. I just so wish that this post had been written to add to the most recent Carnival Against Child Abuse because Boy's juvenile understanding is future child protection in the making.

I love you Boy: all the way up to the stars, the moon and back again.

Grab a cuppa and come and have a look at our new home on the web. There are blogs by many different child safety focused writers, forums in which to talk about any child protection issue (sun safety, road safety, safe parenting, etc) and a protective play shop. If you chose to join our forum you receive a free 10 page protective play tutorial, jam packed with play and activity ideas to keep your kids safe. Use the ideas as home school study around personal safety.

Imaginif...child protection became serious business.

www.imaginif.com.au

The Pain of Natural Learning.

All these natural learning experiences that we manipulate and facilitate for Boy are well and good. His home school rewards and excursions are something that he really looks forward to. However, he has now had yet another learning experience that we had not bargained for.

Boy has been limping since Monday. Yesterday his leg was swollen and painful so off we went to the Doctor.

Achilles tendonitis. Treatment is either steroids injected into the area (noooooo, Boy howled), physiotherapy or stay off your foot for 4 weeks – no laser tag, no jumping, no snorkeling, no bike riding, no cable skiing, NOTHING but a gentle daily swim and resting with his foot up.

We have opted for the latter option of being grounded. The Doctor suggested that the initial irritation might have occurred when Boy had a fall at Laser Tag and hurt his shoulder. It is probable that our huge day of snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef made it worse and that the cable skiing just finished it off.

Searching for teachable moments in this, I am planning to introduce reading and writing activities around the human body. Concentrating on the Achilles Tendonitis leads into some history and Greek mythology about the mighty Achilles. Without the lure of being able to go and play I hope Boy will write up some of his learning as blog entries. That is far more palatable to Boy that having to write and decorate a project book.

If anyone has some groovy and inventive ideas on how Boy can pass his learning onto others, I sure would be glad to hear them.

Mungalli Falls for a Home Schooled Marriage Proposal

Partner proposed to me! We’re getting married in March. I am so happy. For my birthday, the boys arranged a weekend of delightful surprises that culminated with a marriage proposal on the beach at Palm Cove.

(Pic is of a Cassawary: a rainforest bird that lives in the surrounds of Mungali Falls. the magical place we are getting married.)

What does a marriage proposal have to do with home school? Everything. The teachable moments connected to this event are huge. Although Boy was involved in his father's wedding many years ago, he was too young to draw lasting learning from the whole wedding and marriage experience.

This time Boy has already learnt about:

1) Surprises: Boy and partner had arranged the proposal between each other, weeks prior to my birthday. We don’t do secrets in our house and Boy had the ultimate learning in the importance between a secret and a surprise. I still cannot believe that he managed to keep his mouth shut!!!!

Apparently, Partner consulted Boy on everything (including asking permission of Boy). The degree of responsibility enhanced his self esteem and taught him the importance of family sharing, decision making and togetherness: a huge learning for a child with Aspergers.

2) Word of the day: Boy is going to be the best man and has responsibility for organising the bucks party. A term he has never heard before, Boy was most interested in what a Buck's Party and Hen's Party is. The history of the traditions associated with weddings have caused a great deal of learning for boy and he has some new words that he can now talk around.

Following many discussions with us about what works, what’s legal, what’s appropriate, etc, Boy has chosen to hold a Laser Tag Bucks Party. What a wonderful idea he came up with. Not wishing to be left out, the Hen’s Party will be the girls against the boys.

3) Decision making: Boy has been included in every decision to date. His and my first choice of place to get married was Paronella Park: a place steeped in history, conservation and teachable moments just waiting to be grabbed. Unfortunately, Paronella Park can only accommodate small weddings and will therefore not suit us.

Back to the drawing board, Boy and I decided upon another place that we love: Mungalli Falls Student Village and Wilderness Retreat. Boy has been longing to horse ride and do archery at Mungalli falls but we have never had sufficient time. So, the wedding will be a lunch time wedding, leaving sufficient afternoon time for Boy to capitalise upon the activities that he likes

We know the owners of Mungalli Falls Student Village and they are very decent and caring people. They offer a superb service in the most divine location, have home schooled one of their children, and are focused on the developmental needs of children. I love them and I love Mungalli Falls. Boy, partner and I are very proud to be able to celebrate our most precious family day with them and we thank the Trout family from the bottom of our hearts.

4) Preparations: We attempt to remain child focused. Boy and his needs remains our concern. Therefore, the wedding will become a child focused overnight camp. Boy is in favor of a picnic lunch, games and face painting for all the kids, platypus and glow worm viewing, a campfire and singing that evening, horse riding the following day and archery too please.

While we are on school holidays and before home school starts, Boy and I are in preparation mode.

Our wedding is a home school experience that cannot be paralleled by other teachable moments. This is an experience that Boy is immersed in, has some ownership over and will produce learning that he has never before experienced.

Now I just have to have faith that Boy will not have an Aspergers melt down on the day of the wedding. Any tips from other parents of children with Aspergers in risk managing and minimizing the likelihood of meltdown in an over stimulating environment?

2007 Year of the Home School Adventure

Our New Year, 2007, begins our serious adventure into Home School.

We have had a great holiday. While in Townsville, Boy’s highlights were visiting the Reef HQ Aquarium (first picture), going to an omnimax theatre (I got seriously motion sick!!) and a day trip to Charters Towers (last picture).

We stayed with friends (Boy camped in their back yard, his tent is pictured.) and playing with the family’s kids was such a bonus for Boy. Boy was well behaved, no aspergers melt downs and removed himself from situations when he was feeling overloaded.

While at the aquarium Boy requested that, we build excursions into home schooling. Although we had already intended to do this, Boy took some ownership of his educational needs and began a planning process of learning. He is keen to visit the Aquarium again and asked to visit the Great Barrier Reef to see the fish and sea creatures in their natural habitat fulfilling their environmental roles. Our first two excursions will be just that: we will visit Green Island in the next couple of weeks and will head back to Townsville before the end of January.

I sense a unit of marine study coming on. Boy’s interest will make my job as facilitating educator easy to capture his curiosity and fully capitalize upon it. I am grateful that we live in a part of the world where we can easily experience everything that the Great Barrier Reef has to offer. A unit of Marine learning will not be book based but practical, interactive and based in natural learning tenets within its own environment.

Boy’s learning happened vicariously at the Aquarium. We spent the entire day there and took every tour and lecture on offer. Boy asked the presenters many questions and was always first up with his hand to show off the knowledge he had. Other visitors commented on his knowledge and boosted Boy’s self-esteem like a shot of vitamins.

The next few home schooling aspergers blogs will be Boy based. I will ask him to word process some of his learning to help others learn. His blogs will become part of his home school diary, evaluation and will aid the English program I am designing.

Please, if you have time, would you ask boy a question about his trip to the Aquarium so that it assists in consolidating his comprehension and learning, aides his memory and recall and further builds his belief in himself and home schooling.

Happy New Year to you. I have an inkling that 2007 and our start of full time home schooling is going to make for a very good year for us.

Related article on Supporting 2007 Children to Have a Happy New Year.

Water and Fruit for a Natural Learning Educational Experience

We spent the day in Townsville. Boy has been there before but he is always up for second visits. His memories of Townsville are of the amazingly child focused water park on the Strand (first two pictures).

Wanting more, Boy decided we had to go to the Aquarium. A negative response from us created an Aspergers melt down and prevented natural learning about recycled water efficiency, town planning and the social wages we all pay to provide free access to council tended parks and gardens. Damn! I so wanted to share the knowledge I had. What I will do is store the information for another teachable moment somewhere down the track.

When he calmed down, we took him to the rock pool (third picture) where both boys swam for hours. I sat and people watched and madly took photographs for future scrapbook home schooling activities.

Best of all in terms of learning was a stop at Frosty Mango on our way back to Ingham. Frosty Mango produces ice cream made from their own orchard grown tropical fruits. Although the ice cream was divine a display of tropical fruits offered learning unsurpassed by text books, internet or back yard growing.

Wide varieties of fruits displayed their uniqueness. Boy touched them, compared them and hand weighed them in comparison to each other. Signs beside each fruit offered information and history. I was concerned that the fruit variety may produce over stimulus and send Boy into another meltdown but he coped well and enjoyed the experience and the natural learning.

When you visit Townsville, Far North Queensland, be sure to include a picnic at the water park on the strand and the Frosty Mango as an educational excursion of sheer gourmet fun.

Educational Philosophy: Help Needed From Other Home School Parents Please.

While on holidays, I have made it a task to complete our registration application for home education. The Educational philosophy may need some tweaking and I wonder if any other home school parents could comment on what I have so far prepared. Is the below Educational Philosophy acceptable and are there areas I have left out?

Educational Philosophy.

* Education is a life long process.

* Education is holistic with areas of environmental and self-care being as important as classical learning.

* Teachable moments present themselves throughout the day and when capitalized upon offer enjoyable and non focused educational learning.

* Home education is learning a variety of skills in many settings and in many ways.

* Education is multi faceted and accessible from a variety of support people with an array of different educational backgrounds, areas of expertise and different views on life.

* Natural learning occurs when a student is relaxed, happy and in an environment of safety.

* We are co-learners rather than teachers. We facilitate a learning process and encourage empowerment by enabling the student to accept that we do not know everything, that our way is not the only way and that there is learning available to all of us by accessing community, individuals and institutions.

* We recognize that by making the student the instructor at times, a wealth of knowledge transfers to the student and a measurable increase in the students self esteem will become visible.

* Any situation is a possible teachable moment. To seize the teachable moment and deliver it in a way that will capture the interest of the student is a role that we take on as co learners.

* Just as there are different types of intelligence, there are different types of education. Our goal as home educators is to use natural learning AND offer balance across areas of intelligence and educational frameworks.

* A progression from knowledge reception to higher learning evaluation occurs when:educational material is presented in a palatable way designed to a student’s specific learning needs; when the learning environment is charged with a air of enquiry across all learning partners; and when the traditional focus moves from fact retainment to fact appreciation and sharing.

Can anyone offer any helpful comments please? What else do I need to include?

Pinochet, Britney and Muhammad Ali: Pom Poms on Tender Hooks

Pom Poms are so therapeutic and educational. Boy wanted to make some little Pom Pom’s as Christmas decorations but he couldn’t remember how to make them. It ended up being a cool learning exercise in art and craft and general knowledge for the two of us to do.

Boy chose his size of circle to make the cardboard Pom Pom frame. Although we were not doing a home schooling exercise, watching him measure plates, cups and bottles (anything with a circle he could draw around) against each other as he found his perfect size was just amazing.

The second step was to find a somewhat smaller circle to make the inside circle for the cardboard frame. The circle hunt repeated itself and my kitchen benches again supported an assortment of anything with a circle base on it. This second circle-finding mission reinforced his first rules of highly scientific circle measurement of holding one kitchen piece up against another. Scientific or not, it worked well.

After carefully tracing his circles onto an empty cereal box, he then cut them out and sought out the wool. He knew exactly what colours he wanted (how Aspergers is that!) and he told me a long story about why a recent home school worksheet we did on the colour blue was dumb, stupid, and damaging to kids. There would be no blue in his Pom Pom, his Pom Poms would be like Muhammad Ali, a yellow and black bee (can you guess who the latest obsession is?). Oh dear: no yellow wool so he went for his favorite colour, green, and told me how to blend blue and yellow to get green.

So, we sat, threaded, talked, laughed and had a wonderful time exchanging tidbits of general information. Boy now knows a little of the history of Chile under the Pinochet regime, about Britney Spears break up and where the saying on "Tender Hooks" (tenter hooks) comes from.

I LOVE the ease of using Natural Learning elements for home schooling. Oh yes, the Pom Poms are pretty cool too.

Home School Decision Delivered.

Boy child gladly accepted full time home schooling. We were disappointed at his lack of animation (how Aspergers is that!) but he assured us he was excited. He asked the right questions: how many hours, what do I do, can I see my friends still, and can I do stuff that I like? He understood the rules (well, for today) and says that he understands that it is okay to tell people about home schooling. Until now, he has been paranoid about people not knowing that he home schools two days per week.

We are going to set up our detached Granny Flat as the home school. It is fully contained and is currently used as his break away spot. He plays his PS2 in there in the afternoons and apart from that, the Granny Flat hardly gets used. It will make a perfect learning space.

Excursions and natural learning were of great interest to him, as were making volcanoes on the beach and attending Art and Lapidary classes. And me….I have a great weight lifted off my shoulders. The decision made, discussed and delivered. Our Aspergers special son can only now thrive in an environment that caters to his needs.

My career, well, I do not have Aspergers and I can and will cope with change.

Home School Decision Delivered this Friday.

Friday morning is our agreed day to tell boy child that we have decided on full time home school him next year. Last night partner and I sat in candle light around the edge of our home school classroom and reached consensus that boy will hear our decision but also invited to have input. I know that he will jump at the chance to be full time home schooled.

Extra curricula activities will be built into the home schooling day. He currently goes to a marshal art class (Kendo), robotics and laser tag. He learns so much from his active participation that we plan to increase this preferred way of learning. His love of collecting stones will become home school focused by him joining the Lapidary club and learning from non-authoritarian adults who share the love of stones, gems and jewelry making. We are also considering an art class for him and possibly a speech and drama class.

Library skills are an area he requires much assistance with. Our local library is BIG, full and too much for him to handle. As an author, I have contact with the senior children’s librarian and I am going to ask her if it is possible to give boy a tour after the library is closed. Partner works with some environmental engineers and scientists who do groovy field trips to count bugs, wildlife, measure distances and natural structures, etc. They have invited partner and boy along to assist with the counting. We are going to accept their invitation.

Over our fears, we are looking forward to starting home schooling for our child with Aspergers. We both now have our heads around how to set lesson plans to capitalize on natural learning and teachable moments. We are excited, positive and relieved.