A Learning Experience to Remember: August 2021-August 2022

The groundwork for the following topics has been laid over the past couple of years. Last year the girls learnt the definition and distinguish between carnivore, herbivore and omnivore, and could place animals into groups, who lived in different environments. However they were not massively interested in the topic and as I could see they were not retaining knowledge beyond the basic facts I shelved the topic. It is so important that children stay interested in a topic, especially if they are autistic. I have observed that forcing a subject will only cause them to completely switch off. So we stepped back and moved on to another topic at the time. Consequently habitats, living things and food chains were on the goal list for this academic year. The girls seem to be full of surprises this year and after unexpectedly having a win with the topic of magnets I let them scroll through their science educational playlist to choose their next topic. They chose habitats! They were really engaged ...

Sophia’s pet project of her herb garden is proving to be a success. She has managed to keep them alive for a couple of weeks now, and takes her responsibility seriously. She spends time with her little charges daily and worries about them when they’re left out in the rain. A parsley plant joined the ranks this last week, donated by Grannie, and it has happily settled in amongst the rosemary, chives, oregano and thyme. It got the tour of the garden by Xander who carried it round proudly, before Sophia gave it some tender loving care, removing its dead heads, giving it a trim and a water. She was clucking over it like a right little mother hen. We had a chat the other morning while she was tending her charges over which herbs compliments which meats and dishes which she found very interesting. She has been providing herbs for varying bbq meals which we have been enjoying during the past fortnight, and takes a taste test daily to see the quality of her stock. Sophia has shown a great inte...

No two days are alike when you home school three children at this amazing age where everything is an adventure and they find joy in any new exploration, whether it is found academically or outside in nature. The subjects may stay the same but the key is to keep the approach spontaneous and in the hands of the children if possible. Over the course of two days, surprising and magical events took place.   In regards to the academic side of things the girls were practicing their mental maths, multiplying by two, five and ten, and adding in tens and ones at breakfast time, and providing alternative additions and subtraction variants to reach the number seven and nine, and then they spent some time on their current maths workbooks. Xander proudly showed his mental maths skills off answering 1+1, 1+2 and 2+2. Multiplying by three has a hit a mental block past the stage of twelve, despite verbal repetition and YouTube songs, so I think I need to get creative and make the three times tabl...

Sophia was keen to practice her handwriting and her chosen content today was a mix of spellings and copying out animals from a book. She was absolutely fascinated to learn that I had a few secrets up my sleeve. She spelt out the word ‘was’, I whispered to her to add the secret letter ‘h’ and her face lit up in wonder as she read the word ‘wash’. She started squealing with joy when I told her to add ‘ing’. She now knows how to spell washing! She is really blossoming with her writing and spelling and is so connected and tuned in. Long may it remain! Xander was sat on the floor reading through Kiras current set of sight words pack of flashcards, words like ‘remember’ and ‘children’ did not faze him at all. Today marked one hundred days since Xander had his Bonemarrow transplant which is a massive milestone. He has survived the most critical part of the transplant and any complications past this stage should be far less dangerous and the risk should now continue to diminish as time passes ...

The girls have had a confusing and scary year, with their little world being turned upside down with the deterioration of their little brother's health. Xander deteriorated rapidly in the last few months leading up to Transplant in June, and was in hospital at least once a week, with a few over night stays. Mummy was all of a sudden very busy and absent and Xander was getting less mobile and needed more care. He would come home having had sometimes eight cannulas in a twelve hour trip away at the hospital. He came home one day with several strange tubes coming out of his chest, and just slept all day after that for a week. Mummy and Xander then disappeared one night and didn’t return for seven weeks. Daddy wasn’t working and was busy looking after them along with Nana and Grannie's help. Xander returned home with no hair, he had changed a great deal, and was still needing regular hospital visits. I noticed one day that Joyful Miss Jo, the Children’s Coach, had posted a lovely...

This has been a great weekend: with lots of family time, hours of garden time, and two nature walks. They loved showing off their woodland spoils to their friend next door. There's been an extraordinary number of bubble baths due to them coming in from the garden absolutely filthy from top to toe, and they filled a washing basket just between them! As our learning journey moves forward constantly and weekends are not traditionally recognised, there was plenty of home educating to counterbalance the outdoor adventures.  We woke up our sleepy brains with a good Spanish session which all three children are loving and picking up fast. This morning we had several renditions of Jack Hartmann musical educational videos on colours and alphabet. We sang 1-100, and looked at days of the week for the first time. I also sang a Spanish song about colours to them which I am sure they will learn quickly, if only to stop mum singing it to them. Breakfast time approached and as they sit round the f...

The baffling disappearance of the Internet is annoying to most of us, but to young autistic children it can lead to a meltdown or act as a trigger to them heading towards a bad headspace. It is incomprehensible to them how their shows can be there one minute and gone the next, replaced with the never ending circle of doom, which instills a brief moment of panic in me as I tentatively await the fallout. This morning however I had a welcome reprieve from the above, as I was the first one up and I had busily prepared a morning of online learning for them. I then attempted to connect with YouTube....to be met with a black screen and my lesson plan in tatters. No problem, I threw the remote in the drawer and made a dash to the school room.  The children emerged from their rooms and tumbled down the stairs in quick succession and greeted me with 'What we doing today mum?', 'Can I have free tv mum?', 'A for Adley Mammy!!!'. Once the cacophony had died down I put my cun...

Greetings dear readers, I cannot recommend learning spelling via the word family method enough, it is really working well with Sophia who struggles with retaining spellings more than a few moments after she's told you. I dictated a couple of sentences to her using a mix of common words and words from the 'At', 'Ow' and 'It' families, as well as basic punctuation. She could use the tools she's learnt so far with a mix of phonics and word families to write it out for me, just needing the odd reminder on spacing. She was so excited when she saw the finished article and proudly read it back to me.  They wanted educational play lists on then, and Spanish was the consensus. Jack Hartmann has a really good, fun, catchy video on Spanish Colours which is a family favourite. Xander recognised the language and started telling us 1-7 in Spanish unexpectedly, toddlers are such sponges, they really do take in far more from their surroundings then we realise. He also r...

Hello and welcome! We are Sophia (aged five), Kira (aged four), Xander (aged three), Mum (it’s rude to ask) and Dad (never knows his age). Yes the Morris family is here for another fun filled year of learning commencing August 2021.  We have been teaching our little brood for five magical years now and it remains as exciting and challenging as always.  The majority of the family are neuro divergent, and as a neuro typical, I trail in their wake of brilliance whilst leading the pack in their learning experience at the same time, which is always an unique experience.  Sophia, Xander and I also have a bonemarrow failure condition which keeps life super interesting and busy. The hospital is our second home, and I’m sure we’re not on our own here.  Xander is home currently having just survived a life saving Bonemarrow Transplant, but we still have frequent hospital stays.  One final obstacle Dad and I face together is the complicated dietary requirements of our ...