Insects and cooking

Today we got lots done. I got some Star Wars the Clone Wars books for him in a comic strip style of writing so that he can develop a love of reading. Up til now he has been a very reluctant reader particularly of fiction so thought that this style may suit him and was right. He read 20 pages and enjoyed it so onwards and upwards we go!
After that we watched two powerpoints that i got from Tes Connect about insects which again he read and discussed enthusiastically.
After lunch he did a worksheet which involved labelling and missing blanks about insects again to check that he understood this morning work..he did great and even found some mistakes on the worksheets.
Fun afterwards though. He did a Pokemon wordsearch that i made for him and then we made pizza together which to be honest he didn't fully enjoy because it involved being messy but Im sure he'll enjoy eating it for tea later! (photo's to follow)

our interesting find...a little blue weevil!

One of our little grasshoppers!

Nature

Yesterday was a glorious day so we went out. We walked the Ightenhill countryside from here all the way to Padiham.
He ate wild raspberries which was a big deal for him. We saw lots of farm animals and insects with the biggest deal being a strange blue insect which we later researched to be a blue weevil type and some grasshoppers/crickets. He was very excited when he started to detect the noise of a cricket and then trace where it was lol!
I realised how little he knew when we started talking about farm animals and their young so was able to teach him on the move. He loved it when we saw chickens and cockerels especially when one started doing a "cock-a-doodle-doo!! Lots of photos of the day taken and he thoroughly loved it even though it was such a long walk. He wants to do it again soon...who am i to argue with that??
Even more encouraging was that one of my neighbours popped over to borrow something. She's an ex-headteacher, and commented that she'd read that I was home schooling now and that having observed him for many years, in the last two weeks she has noticed how much more sociable he's been with others in the neighbourhood. How he's calling for other kids and playing with them happily. She say's that its the best thing I could have done for him because its already making a world of a difference! Am I chuffed??? OH YES!!!

Good weeks work

This week as been great and has flown by!

We have done Maths work on Education city.Some literacy. Art and Science.
Did some work on insects which we will continue next week and learned about vertebrates and invertebrates. Read two books together on kindle and he also made buns which we  incorporated maths, reading and science! Not bad i don't think!

Just to add.. I've noticed that he is co-operating and compromising more when playing with other kids. He has not lost his temper once this week therefore alienating nobody. Such a relief. We are having discussions instigated by him about human thought patterns and behaviour so he's trying to understand the thought process of others. I personally think that's great progress considering where we were a few weeks back.

Relaxed learning = happy child

<p>Today I did mental maths with him without him realising it which was good. Later on he was reading whilst unpacking shopping..again without realising he was doing it as a lesson. His big project today involved the game "rollercoaster tycoon". Firstly he had to invent his own scenario of goals and objectives then he had to design a theme park according to the goals previously set. Basically he has to manage, budget, please the customers and make the park artistically pleasing. Also, I then taught him how to take a photo within the game (not screenshots) and then how and where to locate it on the computer afterwards. There he had to resize and print it. A good uncomplicated productive day . We also watched a science documentary about light sabres which he found very interesting and encouraged discussion about materials.
On a personal note I received the official deregistration receipt from school and also a letter and info leaflets from my local education authority so that's it. Its thoroughly official...I am my sons educator. We are happy :-)

Relaxed

Today was a relaxed sort of day. He did some Maths this morning and this afternoon we went to the park for a while again where there were 2 little girls also playing. He observed them rather than running away altogether. I think whilst Im going to let him continue to do bits n bobs of actual work that Im going to opt for a period of "unschooling" as he still seems very tense at various points of the day.

I can do this!

Well, what an excellent day to begin properly!
Woke to a beautiful sunny day so thought we'd make the most of it and went out after breakfast to the park.
P.E. was the aim and we had a lovely time. My goal was to get N using the climbing frame as he has always been too afraid of it before. So after some graceful (not) demonstrations from me he decided to trust me. I helped him at first on the various bits and then he went for it! Not managed the monkey bar bit yet but the rest he did it!!
I was so proud of him.
Afterwards we did some Maths work on Education City followed by a worksheet to do with money.
Finally we read the rest of "Blue Bottle Mystery" which had us both laughing (and me crying) because of the similarities between the main character Ben and my N. I think it was a revelation to N because he thinks he's the only boy in the world with Aspergers sometimes.
All in all an excellent day!
Printing various things out now for Geography from "Parents in Touch". Brilliant website for curriculum or otherwise worksheets and ideas.

Day 1 - Decision Made!

Well, there's no going back now.

Morning came and my boy was as distraught as ever so we had a good long chat about going down the home ed route once and for all then promptly printed the letter off and walked to school to de-register.

Spent the day since then just unwinding chatting and then did some reading together.

We read "Blue Bottle Mystery". My boy related to it straight away..it could almost be about him.

Real Life

Daily life is hard at the moment because N hates school. In September last year things came to a head after a night of tears and meltdowns that were the most distressing I'd ever witnessed from him. The following day I went to school armed with a letter to deregister him with the intention to home school but the headmistress persuaded me to reconsider. She employed an assistant that very day to work closely with N and put various other things in place to help with his confidence.  N had no friends, never spoke,was constantly picked on and was struggling in most lessons.
Things have improved, I can't deny that but just recently the tears and insecurities are creeping back...his various 'safety nets' in place are gradually being taken away again and I don't think I can go on with this farce anymore. Its not fair to N and its not fair to me.
So what now? Home Educate or wait? We are waiting to hear if he will be put forward for statementing. He currently has an IEP and gets funding through school action plus but the whole flaming set up takes way too long to be doing any good. Who decided that kids with problems and disabilities were so insignificant that they have to be pushed this way n that before getting a basic human right..an education? How many kids are sitting in a school classroom scared of every bump,bang,shout,smell,kick,punch,insult etc?

The Start

Our official journey started a year ago with official confirmation of diagnosis. It wasn't a shock, more a relief to be honest because I always knew the truth but I suppose needed confirmation that I wasn't completely delusional!