Schedules, Schedules, Schedules

-
Many people have asked me how I plan to manage the needs of my two very differently-abled children this year.  Jackson needs a tremendous amount of structure and one-on-one teaching to maximize his learning potential, while Caroline needs more freedom and independence to spread her wings and push the boundaries of what she can accomplish.  That puts me in a tough spot...right in the middle!  My way to bridge the gap is to rely on a very unique scheduling system that allows for both the detail J needs, and the flexibility C craves.  Each form that I have shown has a link to a Goggle Document if you want to explore them in-depthly.

And it all starts with...

 Their very own clipboards, which Caroline so thoughtfully, and boldly, decorated for me yesterday:) 

Jackson's clipboard always has 2 pieces of paper on it: a Daily Schedule and a Daily Work sheet. The daily schedule is broken down in 15 min increments from 8am-8pm, with clear labels for each activity or subject.  The daily work sheet is a very detailed list of all the school activities for one day, down to the number of pages in each book. Since his audio-processing is so poor and he gets very anxious with the unknown, I have to make sure all my expectations are written down and that I give him adequate time to process the information.  The pictures below are the exact sheets I have on his board for the first day of school, Tuesday, Sept. 4th.



I plan on managing Caroline's work much differently.  One of the things I really want to teach her this year is how to organize her work and set timelines to complete assignments and projects on her own.  This will begin slowly and hopefully build to a very independent and self-guided approach to not only her school work, but her whole life.  I will sit down with her every Sunday evening to present her with her weekly work expectations. On her clipboard will be 3 pieces of paper: a Daily Schedule, a Weekly Work sheet, and a Weekly Progress Chart.  The daily schedule below is actually for Wednesday of this week, just to show you some variety from day to day.  Caroline's agenda is in the middle column.  You will notice her time is sectioned off much more vaguely with large chunks of time just labeled "work".  You can also look at the weekly work sheet, to see what things she needs to finish by the end of this 4 day week - with one of those days being a field trip to the Udvar-Hazy Museum.  We will have a meeting at 3pm every afternoon to review the work done that day and record it on her progress chart.  I am interested to see how she manages this new type of learning environment.  I have a feeling the first few weeks will be a bit rocky, but I am ready to guide her through the transition with patience and an understanding that this is a new approach for her as well and we both need time to adjust.  




For those of you who have either really good eyesight or clicked on the pdf version of the daily schedule, you'll notice that there is a 3rd column labeled "Mom".  I did this to ensure that both my children know that I also have a few precious minutes carved out for just me:  coffee and working out being the most important!!  This way, I know that no matter what is going on inside these 4 walls on any given day...I will have an hour in the morning to mentally prepare and 30 min to myself to run out all my stress in the afternoon until my amazing husband comes home from work to share a glass of wine with me on the front patio. 
Here's to an awesome 2012-2013 school year for everyone!!  


Follow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/hometeachautism

Like the Facebook Page: Homeschooling Autism



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Select an Autism Homeschool Curriculum

-
Image
This is the time of year that I get the most requests for advice on how to homeschool children on the autism spectrum.  Sometimes it is from parents who have decided to start this journey from day one of the new school year, and other times, it is from discouraged and disappointed parents who have encountered too many roadblocks in their child's traditional school situation to justify continuing to send them to their existing school.  Regardless of the exact situation, it is likely that any parent would feel quite a bit of anxiety at the prospect of bearing the responsibility of their child's special needs education. So for everyone... Step 1:  Relax! Most homeschool "experts" encourage new families to take at least a month off after leaving the traditional school setting.  This is time for both the student and parent to decompress and unlearn some of the bad educational habits picked up from an unhealthy learning environment.  For my son, he left sc...
Read more

9th Grade Boy's Autism Curriculum

-
Image
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. ...
Read more

Rethinking Homeschooling as a Boy Becomes a Man

-
Image
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 th...
Read more