A Homeschooling Book Can Offer Many Resources

 

Homeschooling information is relied upon by many parents on a daily basis. Finding reliable information when it comes to putting together learning plans is essential, and can be found in a number of ways whether it’s by way of a homeschooling book or through a support group. The internet has also brought additional resources to parents who teach their children at home.

 

Why Homeschooling Books are Important

There are a couple of different aspects to a homeschooling books; one that teaches techniques and lesson plans to parents of homeschooled children, and one that is used as a text book for class. Both aspects are helpful and text books are essential, but although it isn’t required for parents to use a homeschooling book as an aid, it is a beneficial tool that can create a routine and positive learning experience for children being homeschooled.

 

Homeschooling books can be found in a couple of different ways. First, there’s a subscription type of book, which is either purchased or sent as a subscription on a weekly or monthly basis. These kinds of homeschooling books can be found as general education lesson plan books, and for each individual subject that make up an all around education (such as math, English and science among others).

Yearly or periodical homeschooling books that highlight resources, tips, ideas and instruction for parents to create their own lesson plans are also popular tools for parents. These can be found as manuals, as volume sets and for individual subject matters.

 

Without the use of homeschooling books, parents may find it hard to put together a year long schedule for school time. Being a parent as well as a teacher is not an easy task, so help is something that offers nothing but benefits. Homeschooling books provide calendars to keep track of lesson plans, whether ready made or parent made. They also offer structure that leaves parents free to focus on educating their children instead of having to waste time planning, creating and implementing.

 

In addition to homeschooling books, other resources available are in the way of neighborhood support groups, some who even put together play dates and group activities which helps with socialization. Internet groups are also proving to be useful, as long as the programs and websites are legitimate. Most homeschooling programs online will be certified to offer the programs and resources available to parents. Programs can even be attended by children from home over the internet, however parent supervision is strongly recommended.

 

The Basics of Home Schooling Your Children

 

Home schooling your children can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it. Depending on the time and effort you choose to put into home schooling, you and your children’s experience could be an excellent one.

 

A few steps can put you on the right path to a great home schooling experience, the first of these steps is to take into account all of the aspects that go along with home schooling and then to make sure they are all applied correctly.

 

A Real Learning Environment

Of all the aspects that go along with home schooling, providing your children with a relaxed but professional learning environment is crucial and most important. The learning environment you choose should be a room free of distractions such as televisions, phones, computers and food.

The room should offer a whiteboard attached to the wall that will outline what the day’s schedule is, and a wall shelf for children to keep school work and other school related materials is also necessary.

Finally, a sturdy study table and comfortable chair should be provided, making it enjoyable, relaxing but realistic for your children to learn!

 

School Materials and Lesson Plans

Home schooling requires someone to act as a teacher that can be relied upon to prepare lesson plans and make sure children are learning what they should for their age and grade group. This can be done a number of different ways:

 

1. Hire a tutor to bring learning materials and lesson plans with them, and to teach your children for a few hours per day. This is helpful to those who work or have active schedules, and want to provide a routine for their children.

 

2. Do it yourself with purchased learning material. Whether it be online or through a support group, there are resources available to provide learning material for home schooling. Whether it be a homeschooling book or workbook material among other things, this option works well for those that do have the time to teach their children but don’t have the expertise to create their own lesson plans.

 

3. Do it yourself, from scratch. You can type and print up your own lesson plans if you know what your children should be learning. In most cases, home schooling parents find that self discipline and good management skills is all it takes to take this route.

 

Finally, there are other home schooling options available such as Internet home school programs which are becoming quite popular and are continuing to become more and more available. Finding a local or internet home schooling support group can help to put you in touch with many resources that are valuable.

9th Grade Boy's Autism Curriculum

9th Grade Theme: Decisiveness  

True Story #1:

I came home from an hours shopping trip to find Jackson on the couch with a towel wrapped around his waist.  He had taken a shower while I was gone, and upon finding no clean shorts in his dresser, he just sat in his towel until I got back to find him clean clothes.  He promptly said, "Pants please" when I walked in, to which I responded, "this year, buddy, we are going to work on your problem solving skills!".  There were clean shorts in laundry basket NEXT TO the dresser! 

True Story #2:

Jackson's favorite drink at Starbucks is a Cool Lime Refresher, but occasionally they are out of the mix that is required to make the drink.  When this occurred last week, I turned to him and asked, "What would you like instead?"  He looked at me like there were worms crawling out of my head, even though I know he likes many other drinks there, like lemonade, iced tea and this yummy berry concoction.  So I said, "this year, buddy, we are going to work on your decision making skills!" and promptly ordered him an iced unsweetened green tea, which he sucked down before we left the parking lot.  

I have always assigned a general theme to each year of Jackson's homeschooling, and this year is no different:

6th:  Recovery Year - Trying to undo the 8 weeks of stress that middle school caused and get his academics back up to speed, so the vibe was peaceful and comforting.  

7th:  Push Forward Year - Challenging him in all areas of academics, behavior, and life skills, which lead to a more angst filled home as we challenged him to push himself. 

8th:  Free at Last Year - After a year of raising our expectations for Jackson, he beautifully embraced his independence and showed us just how much he could do on his own!  This did cause some friction with people and organizations that still treated him like a needy child and not the confident young man he was becoming.  

9th: Decisive Year - This year we are going to focus on helping Jackson learn to be decisive.  This is a character trait the my husband values above almost anything else (go figure as a former Army officer), and one that we have emphasized with out 12 yr old daughter so much that she knew the meaning of that word at 5!  We have never expected decisiveness from Jackson though, and we can see how this has been a detriment to his development.   Problem solving activities and decision making scenarios will be the two focus areas that will help foster this skill.  

Problem Solving

1. Critical Thinking Book Series:

• Following Directions by Teacher Created Resources
• Puzzles and Games that Make Kids Think by Teacher Created Resources
• Building Thinking Skills by The Critical Thinking Company 

Each of these books come in a series ranging from K-5th grade.  I have started at the 1st grade level for all 3.  This will help Jackson quickly gain confidence in his problem solving and critical thinking skills.  Each book addresses a different topic and helps build his non verbal, written, and audio problem solving abilities.  

2.  "What Should We Do?" Scenarios

Instead of trying to always make every experience with Jackson and smooth and trouble free as possible, I am going to create daily situations that require him to think through solutions, without me jumping in to fix everything.  For example, if his book on CD is skipping, instead of giving into the "Mom, fix the CD please",  I will ask him what to do...as he's seen me take it out and clean it with my shirt 50 times. These may seem like little things, but creating an environment of self-reliance is crucial to his future ability to function independently, and me jumping in at every wrinkle will not set him up for success.  At this very moment, the dog is barking at a crew of painters who are roaming around the outside of our house.  Usually,  I will just go quite the dog down as to not upset J, who hates the sound of him barking, but I need Jackson to figure out how to handle the dog on his own. If that means him deciding to ignore the barking and deal with the loud noise, then that is a problem solved as far as I'm concerned!   

Decision Making

1.  Schedule 

In the past I have always dictated his daily schedule...see them all here: 

• 6th Grade
• 7th Grade
• 8th Grade

But this year, he will be required to plan out his own day.  I will give him a packet of work for the week on Mondays, along with a calendar of the pre-determined activities, i.e. yoga class, Adapted PE, appointments, Caroline's classes, etc... But from there, he will need to make decisions about when he wants to work out, shower, eat, study, play, shop, and so on.  I imagine there will be a steep learning curve for both of us, but I am willing to stick it out if he is willing to engage in this process.  

2.  Life Skills Book Series:

•  Building Real Life Math Skills by Scholastic
•  Building Real Life Reading Skills by Scholastic 

Each of these books will present everyday choices for Jackson to learn how to work through.  I plan to use each of these scenarios as a jumping off point to recreate in his daily life.  For example, he will be required to read Caroline's basketball schedule and decide which games he's like to go to.  He will also be required to begin paying for all his items in cash so he has to make some hard choices about whether or not he is going to buy strawberries or grapes with the $10 he has, because he can't get both. This might take a loooong time to master, but we need to begin at some point, and now is as good a time as any!  

Academics:

This year, Jackson's school work will consist of a math and reading focus.  We will do some special social studies and science units, but both within the context of math and reading.  We will continue to push forward with more complex math that will help with his real life decisions.  Fractions, money management, measurement, geometry, and pre-algebra are all very important for daily life success.  Reading will focus on non fiction and technical materials to help him develop a familiarity with consumer related options and choices.  He loves spending long periods of time reading and listening to books on CD, so we will definitely continue that practice.  He is reading the Artemis Fowl series this summer totally by his won choosing.  We are excited to add a "NightTime" unit to his program, as he is obsessed with being outside at night.  We will be doing everything from constellations to moon phases to animal's nighttime habits to special lighting and photography.  

Life Skills:

Jackson's life skills have taken a giant leap forward in the past 12 months.  He is able to do things we never thought possible 10 yrs ago.  To us, that means he might not have to live with us for the rest of his life, but can possibly achieve semi-independent living.  If history serves us well, we can not even imagine what he will be like 10yrs from now, so we are choosing not to limit him anymore.   So check back with me in June of 2015 to see what amazing things he learned how to do that are not even on my radar right now:)

I hope this summary of J's 9th grade curriculum has provided you with both encouragement and motivation that you can also create something uniquely amazing for your special needs kiddos!  The sky's the limit when us parents are at the helm and throw wide open our doors of expectation and wonderment at our children.  

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10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Homeschool

Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart.  It is for the determined, the committed, and the passionate.  But before jumping in with two feet, it can be helpful to ask yourself a few honest questions.  Discussing and sharing ideas and expectations with your family is a critical part to the homeschooling journey, as this is not a solo mission!  I answered these 10 questions myself to give you a frame of reference.  And the beautiful part of being a homeschooler is that all of our answers will and should look totally different.  The goal isn't to fit into a "autism homeschooler mold", but to find your sweet spot in a wide open world of possibilities...because that is what homeschooling offers at it's core - possibilities.


1.  Why do I want/need to homeschool? 

Tremendous anxiety in public middle school caused behavioral problems, inability to learn, and stress at home.

2.  Strengths and weakness of your child

S: Disciplined with schedule, hardworking, charming, funny, creative, loving
W: Short tempered, easily frustrated, loud, inflexible, destructive, demanding

3.  Strengths and weakness of you

S: Resourceful, confident, flexible, intelligent, adventurous
W: Short tempered, easily frustrated, isolationist, sensory overloaded easily

4.  Child's Interests

Jackson loves music, TV & movies, iPad, photography, drawing, and shopping.

5.  Budget

I prefer to make a smaller investment up front so I can make adjustments during the year as he seems to constantly change. We allot $200 at beginning of school year and $50-$75/month during the year.

6.  Space

Our house is not huge and I do not like clutter, therefore I like to keep all his materials and work in the dining room area, but they seem to have taken over a corner in the living room as well.

7.  Time

I am not a morning person.  So my husband helps with the early morning activities. And I like to be done an hour before my daughter gets home, so I can decompress before all the afternoon activities.

6:30-2:00 Jackson

9:00-2:00 Me (6:30-7:30 with Dad and 7:30-9:00 Independent)

8.  Community

We live in suburban D.C. which has plenty of access to services, therapies, socialization and educational opportunities, but it's heavily populated, so all outings need to be in the morning to avoid overstimulating situations for both Jackson and I.

9.  Support Network

No family and limited friends, as I'm a bit of an introvert.  Most support comes from husband and a few close friends with special needs children.  This can cause loneliness and feeling overwhelmed easily, so I need to take periodic breaks during the school day and time away on the weekends.

10.  State Requirements

Virginia's requirements are minimal which makes my life a lot easier!  We do a letter from a certified teacher who has reviewed and approved my son's work from the school year.  Check for your state's requirements here as some are much, much more rigid: http://www.hslda.org/hs/default.asp


Notice that not one of these questions is about what curriculum to use - that is secondary, and the subject of my next blog.  A lot of people get hung up on WHAT they are going to teach, that they forget that HOW and WHY they are going to teach is more important.  It reminds me of the mistake a lot of couples make when they get married...they focus all their time, energy and money on the wedding, and not on the marriage that follows.  Curriculum choices come much more easily once you understand your child's emotional, social, physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs - all within the confines of your adult realities.

As an optimistic realist, I firmly believe in being brutally honest with myself, but I'm also hopeful that everything will work out in the end:) "What could possibly go wrong??" is the Trotter family motto!

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Broken Things, Not Broken People

I just wanted to post a quick blog about a big lesson I learned toady, one that I have struggled with for years with Jackson.  Earlier today he threw a remote control at our only TV and permanently damaged the screen.  He came up and asked me to "help fix the Tivo please" in a very pleasant tone.  I said, "Sure, buddy" and when I got downstairs, I saw the damage.  I knelt in front of the broken TV and bent my head forward...in tears.

As I cried over yet another costly repair resulting from his anger and/or lack of understanding of how to take care of things, he began to rub my back and kiss my head.  He simply said, "You made a mistake and are sorry for the fix it."

I felt like, for the first time, I could put his feelings of remorse in front of my own of frustration or self-pity.  I learned today that people are more important than things, and I'm ashamed to say that it has taken me a long time to get to this point.

Few people outside of autism parents, (notice I didn't say the "autism community" because you really have to be a parent to get this), understand that there is a real monetary cost to autism that blows apart any estimate on how our finances will be impacted by our special needs kids.  We literally spend thousands and thousands of dollars a year fixing, replacing and repairing things that we NEVER anticipated in any reasonable budgeting process.  It can be exhausting and disheartening as the years march on and on...

But today, I feel like I've come to see that Jackson feels a lot worse that I ever could about these situations.  And instead of trying to lie and manipulate his way out of it, like most teenagers would, his only concern was for my feelings.  He is a true servant and the best model of love that I have in my life, and I need to learn more from him and less from the world about the value of people over things.

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Rethinking Homeschooling as a Boy Becomes a Man

Eight grade is a transitional year for many students, Jackson included. So as I entered our 3rd year of homeschooling, I decided to shift my homeschooling focus from my lesson preparation to Jackson's new found wants and needs as a young man.  The majority of homeschooling lesson planning resources that I have encountered seek to ensure that I, as the teacher, am fully equipped with all the materials and tools that I need to present the best content, coupled with the most appropriate educational technique to meet the needs of my child.  And while this has worked wonderfully for Jackson's 6th and 7th grade years, I was feeling a longing for a simpler and more student focused approach.  I felt a lot of stress regarding my readiness and teaching aptitude - meaning that way too much of his success depended on my success as a teacher.  Not a good formula for an effective and peaceful school year!

So as the summer began to wind down, instead of ramping up as the teacher for the school year, I slipped on an attitude of a student and spent that time learning as much about Jackson as I could.  And what I discovered was that my little boy had turned into a man before my very eyes, and I needed to stop treating him like a child and respect the wants and needs of this young man. He needed more say in his daily educational experience.  He needed to feel more in charge of his body and mind.  In short, he needed more freedom, like all teenagers need as they begin the transition into adulthood.

We decided that his anxiety had become too overwhelming and was beginning to consume his daily life.  So we added a mild blood pressure medicine (Intuniv) that has helped tremendously with his angry outbursts and over reaction to stressful and confusing situations.  We also felt that as he stormed full steam into adolescents, he needed to spend more one-on-one time with his father.  So we added 30 minutes of weight lifting to his schedule - EVERY morning at 6:30, the 2 of them watch SportsCenter and lift free weights in our manly, but unfinished, gym space in the basement.  The combination of these 2 things alone, has been remarkable.  But his school-life had to also be adjusted to fall in line with his new wants and needs as a young, proud and confident man. 

So instead of a rigid daily schedule that stressed consistency and continuity of topics and activities, I decided to give him more autonomy over his courses.  We stuck with a loose outline of the day, but gave him a lot of options within that structure that looks something like this:

6:30-7:00  Weight Lifting with Dad

7:00          Make Coffee

7:30          Make Breakfast

8:00          Treadmill

8:20          Shower

9:00          Book on CD & Devotional

9:30          Starbucks & Shopping

10:30-12  Activities

12-1         Lunch

1-3           Activities

After we get back from our daily coffee run and shopping, which includes everything from the grocery store to the cleaners to Target, we begin going through the 5-7 activities that he chose that morning.  After following this schedule for a few months now, I have discovered that he has definite preferences. This has been very eye opening, and has helped me learn more about what he perceives his strength and weakness are. He loves:

1.  Cooking

2.  Baking

3.  Piano

4.  Science

5.  Puzzles

6.  Cards

7.  Social Studies

8.  Photography

9.  Chores

10. PE/Yoga

He is a cool mix of left and right brained strengths.  He is not "an autistic savant" in any one area (like every other TV special on autism likes to glamorize), but a nice, healthy mix of creativity and analytics. He grown in both physical and mental strength, as he can settle his body and mind much more effectively than ever before.  And while I would not go so far as to say he has mastered the art of self control (as I have not even achieved that feat yet), he has come a long way since the school year began.  I attribute his progress to our shift in perspective from how we want to parent/educate him, to how he needs to be parented/educated, as a new and growing young man, who one day might just surprise us all and be an independent and impactful man that this world could learn so much from.  

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My Most Honest Confession

Their faces say it all. What starts as judgemental stares quickly change to desperate concern as they watch Jackson go from angry and frustrated to full blown wild animal. The flash point is so intense that it scares people and while they move away, I have to charge in to try and rescue him from himself. It is heart breaking to see him suffer and in that moment onlookers can finally see his pain as I do.  I pull him close as he bites me, pulls my hair and scratches my face because he needs love to recover and heal and while it hurts me, it hurts him more to feel so out of control not knowing why his mind fails him when he needs it so desperately. My anger at autism quickly moves to anger at God as I struggle to understand why He doesn't charge in to help Jackson. 

Our One Year Homeschooling Experiment Take-Away

Now that our time as a true homeschool family is coming to a close, I have had more time to reflect on the ups and downs, victories and failures, and lessons learned.  With Caroline going back into public middle school this fall, our homeschool will once again, be just Jackson and me.  And while I love and miss our special one-on-one dynamic, there will be a huge hole in our hearts without her here, because the biggest take away I got from this year, regarding both my kids, is that quantity of time always trumps quality of time with children, especially adolescents.

A great analogy for this truth is the dreaded power outage.  I spent the past two days fretting over losing power during the latest derecho warnings in the D.C. area.  We lose power at the drop of a hat in our neighborhood, as it is filled with large, old trees and overhead power lines.  But as I reflect on the times we have lost power for extended periods (blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, Oh My!), there is always that sweet point where having no power frees everyone's mind and schedule to just sit and enjoy each other and slow down to reconnect.  That is what this year of homeschooling felt like to me...a prolonged sweet spot to reconnect with both Jackson and Caroline, and for them to reconnect with each other.

In this day and age, there is article after article about the need for quality time with your children.  Go on a "date" with your kids so they will feel special.  Carve out 20 minutes once a week to really discuss their feelings over an ice cream sundae.  Make their favorite meal to draw them out of their bedroom for some one-on-one time.  And while all of these are great ideas, that I have done in the past, and are sure to achieve some level of connection, what I discovered was that the most meaningful relational moments occur after spending 2 hours lounging on the couch reading or in the daily routine of running errands together.  These are the unsung moments where connection seems to organically sprout.  A comment about a sports star coming out as homosexual, naturally leads to a causal, but meaningful hour long dialog about gay marriage.  An eye roll over a friend's overly dramatic Instagram post while eating lunch together on the couch, spurs an afternoon spent discussing the parameters and pitfalls of social media in the 21st century, as well as how to manage our own emotions when we feel out of control.

For Jackson, these elongated moments of connection have occurred in a similarly authentic fashion. Before he was homeschooled, he could not bath or dress himself.  He relied on me for every daily need.  His development was hindered by his lack of independence and freedom.  His communication skills were limited to addressing his immediate needs only.  But after 2 years of quantity over quality of time together, our connection has transformed from caregiver/receiver to mother/son...which, to those of us in the autism community, we realize is a significant emotional milestone to be recognized and celebrated.

After spending a year getting to know Jackson and Caroline on a much deeper and more personal level,  I can honestly say that I really like them both.  Caroline is witty and charming, thoughtful and tender-hearted, fearless and ambitious, obedient and trustworthy.  Jackson is entertaining and endearing, hardworking and disciplined, strong and brave, affectionate and loving.  And while it was by no means all sunshine and roses, I hope and pray it was enough to lay a solid foundation for the inevitable rocky teenage years in our future. These special bonds were not created during the big splashy moments of childhood, but in the tedium and trenches of daily life that was spent together, arm in arm, during a year with "no power" other than each other, our books and our coffee shops!

Teenagers with Autism are Awesome!

So what have we been up to the past few months?  Not blogging apparently...  The addition of my 5th grade daughter to our homeschool day has made for very little writing time!  And thanks to my husband's Christmas gift of an Ikea chaise lounge for our bedroom, any down time I get, I find myself curled up on there with a cup of tea and a good book...this introverted mama needs some alone time after all:)

As spring desperatly tries to bloom here in Virginia, I find myself watching Jackson grow into a man before my very eyes.  He just turned 14 a few weeks ago and seems older and wiser with each passing day.  He is tall, strong, handsome and charming.  He is funny, gregarious, extroverted and friendly.  He is musical, athletic, comedic, and techy.  He is moody, loud, disruptive and angry.  He loves YouTube, Netflix, Sports Center and The Colbert Report.  He is 14 and acts more "neuro-typical" everyday...for better or worse.  

His academics are still a work in progress, with math success continuing to outpace language arts.  But he diligently does all the work asked of him and seeks my guidance and approval in all areas.  His mastery of geometry is fascinating to me as it was always such a weakness of mine growing up.  We will tackle fractions after spring break, grades 4-6 is our target level for this unit, and finding good materials is proving to be a challenge, too basic or too advanced seems to be the theme in my search so far.  

I have also really enjoyed our recent science & social studies units on the skeletal system and world geography.  As a professed map-geek myself, I've loved using an interactive globe to learn over 150 countries with him.  He is creating a World Fact Book as well, including a page per country with information such as capital, population, area, distance from United States, continent, flag, etc.  I also loved using the iPad games, Stack the Countries and Bone Scan Bob for these units.  We would love to travel with Jackson once Caroline goes off to college and use that time as a type of advanced degree for him.  

But the most essential and rewarding part of our winter homeschool season has been our community involvement.  Jackson is extremely social and outgoing.  He loves talking to people and trying to make them smile or laugh.  He can walk into a room full of strangers and have them all smiling by the time he leaves.  He has absolutely no inhibitions or awkwardness which makes he a natural charmer and motivational figure in our community.  He can work a room like a seasoned politician.  He randomly gets gifts from people who desperately want to give back to him, because he gives so much to them without even realizing it.  He is so generous with his joy and affections that people look to him for encouragement and rely on him for a "pick-me-up" on a regular basis.  "Where's my Jackson?" is a frequent question I get if I dare go somewhere without him these days.  I love the fact that so many people refer to him as "my Jackson".  There is a special ownership of him and pride in that relationship. 

So while he can drive me up the wall some days with his moodiness, I am thankful that I have a teenager who is making such a positive impact on his community that is not driven by forced volunteerism, adult manipulation for a reward, or college transcript bullet points.  I might not know where his place in the world is yet, but I feel more confident everyday that the world needs him a lot more than he needs the world! 

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Training Up Independent Learners: Autistic and Gifted Alike

I have two very different children that always seem to surprise me with how similar they are!

Today I gave my 11 yr old daughter only one assignment for the entire day...Make an iMovie about the North Korean rocket launch.  This event has meaning to her because she has shown an interest in this region and conflict since she was a little girl.  I remember checking out DVDs from the library when she was in 2nd grade about the Korean War and she has followed the Kim regime ever since.  She has similar fascinations with other countries like Peru, Saudi Arabia and Cuba.  I might have the future Secretary of State on my hands...she does love her some Condi Rice too:)

I sent her away at 9:30 with no instructions besides, "Make a 2-4 minute iMovie on the rocket launch." She sprawled out on my bed with the laptop, snacks and the dog, and at 2:30 she emerged with this:

She layed out her process for me afterwards which included:

1.  Internet research from:  Business Insider, Fox News, and CNN (all bookmarks on the laptop).
2.  Cornell note-taking
3.  Photo selection and editing
4.  Music selection and editing
5.  iMovie creation based on notes
6.  Final editing
7.  Laughing at mom because she had no idea how to do any of that herself!!

And while this project could have been a lot more intensive and in-depth from an informational stand-point,  I really wanted to see if she could independently move through this process without my constant direction and/or nagging.  I have been trying to transition her to a more independent learning environment that allows for her establish the time and tempo required to complete big projects.  I know this will be helpful once she hits middle school next year.

As for Jackson, I have tried creating a similar environment for him in regards to his life skills.  Less than 3 months ago, I was still micro-managing most of his daily activities to ensure he checked all the necessary boxes of personal hygiene, academic work, household chores, social activities and behavioral management.  But as he roars full steam into the teenage years, I have had to step back and give him a lot more independence than I am comfortable with, but know how critical it is that he take on these responsibilities himself.

I am completely out-of-the-loop on ALL personal care and hygiene issues and he has done a tremendous job!  He is the least smelly teenage boy I know, and very receptive to any changes or new introduction to his routine in this area.  So thankful for this!!  He also has no need for my assistance with any of his household chores.  He empties the dishwasher, carries in and puts away all the groceries, puts his dirty clothes in the laundry, takes out the trash, and starting this spring, will be mowing the lawn.  He will do any work you ask, as long as he knows what time you expect him to start work and for how long.  He is a human timer and has an expiration buzzer for sure - but will work hard when he understands the expectation and task.

Academically, since he has been watching Caroline, he has been asking me to leave him alone to do his work.  He occasionally asks for my help, especially in math, but does a great deal of work alone.  I usually supervise from afar or pretend to sweep near him so I can keep an eye on things, but he is wanting more freedom, which is terrific!  Socially and behaviorally, he has come so far, but still has a long journey ahead.  He recently tackled the good manners vs. bad manners issue with great success!  He is very proud of himself when he can be polite in public and have good manners when he is frustrated.  It is hard for me to do that, so I commend him for the effort!

Paul and I were joking that Jackson is the odd combination of autistic and extroverted, which makes for some pretty interesting social situations, but he is learning to shake hands, respond to questions and make better eye contact.  He wants to interact with a variety of people, and has varying levels of success, mainly based on how receptive the other person is to his unique communication skills.

In summary, I am being pushed WAY outside of my comfort zone with these 2 kids.  They are each growing and developing by leaps and bounds, and I feel left in the dust most days.  I am exhausted trying to stay ahead of them so I can prepare the way for the next milestone.  But at the end of the day, I just need to:

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