This week has been really hard. We've been getting things done, but not as much as normal. There is something you don't know about me...something I suppose I should share.
For the past eight years, I have been suffering from a couple of pain disorders. I was initially diagnosed with fibromyalgia, nerve impingement, and slight scoliosis. After more testing it was discovered that I also have rheumatoid arthritis. More recently, MRIs have shown that I have disc degeneration, bulging disks and pinched nerves.
Some days are better than others, but these days I don't have any really good days. I'm not even sure I remember what I feels like to not be in pain. Some days are really horrible and it seems I've gotten stuck with a few of those horrible days in a row.
Because I've been so miserable, I've been sleeping most of the day. When I am awake, I'm propped up in my adjustable bed trying not to focus on pain. My bedroom has been our classroom this week!
Anyway, I will hopefully be back to my version of normal soon and start posting more often again!
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Last Week...Otherwise Known As The Week After Spring Break...OR...Improvements To The Folder System!
Last week did NOT go well. After being off for Spring Break, Hayden made every attempt to get out of his school work. In the end, he declared that he doesn't like the folder system as is and that he wanted to make some changes.
The original folder system was that I'd give him a folder full of his work for the week each Monday. Everything had to be finished by Friday but if he finished sooner, he would have days off. However, he could not save all of his work until the last minute. He had to be working on it each day until it was all complete.
The changes that he wanted are actually really great and really responsible changes. He still wants the weekly folder, but he wants to work on things together like we did before. He still looks over the entire folder and decides how much and what he wants to do each day, but we work on everything together. For example, this week, his civics lesson is about propaganda. We read the packet together, taking turns reading paragraphs, then watched the video clips and looked at the pictures together while he read the questions aloud and asked any questions before answering them.
It's wonderful that he wanted to do this. With executive function and ADHD, he tends to have trouble staying on task and is easily distracted when he works on his own. He also rushes through sometimes and makes careless mistakes. Then we end up spending a bunch of time going over things to make corrections. Now he is staying on task and getting more done in a shorter period of time!!
I'm really glad that he made the request for the change so that I didn't have to. This way he made the decision and he's not left feeling like he did something wrong and had to be reigned in. It also shows him that admitting to needing help to succeed with something DOES NOT mean that you have failed!!
The original folder system was that I'd give him a folder full of his work for the week each Monday. Everything had to be finished by Friday but if he finished sooner, he would have days off. However, he could not save all of his work until the last minute. He had to be working on it each day until it was all complete.
The changes that he wanted are actually really great and really responsible changes. He still wants the weekly folder, but he wants to work on things together like we did before. He still looks over the entire folder and decides how much and what he wants to do each day, but we work on everything together. For example, this week, his civics lesson is about propaganda. We read the packet together, taking turns reading paragraphs, then watched the video clips and looked at the pictures together while he read the questions aloud and asked any questions before answering them.
It's wonderful that he wanted to do this. With executive function and ADHD, he tends to have trouble staying on task and is easily distracted when he works on his own. He also rushes through sometimes and makes careless mistakes. Then we end up spending a bunch of time going over things to make corrections. Now he is staying on task and getting more done in a shorter period of time!!
I'm really glad that he made the request for the change so that I didn't have to. This way he made the decision and he's not left feeling like he did something wrong and had to be reigned in. It also shows him that admitting to needing help to succeed with something DOES NOT mean that you have failed!!
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