First of all :: Keep the Work DOable

// Filed in: Across the Learning Spectrum

As we talked with many moms of children on the spectrum or with learning challenges, they all said: This workbook isn’t overwhelming to their kids. At first this felt strange, because I find the curriculum quite rigorous - it takes quite awhile to work through, and it does require a lot of the student. This disconnect for me was really because I didn’t understand what being the parent of a child on the spectrum was like. To quote one parent, “our world is one PTSD episode after another, it’s very stressful all the time. Sometimes homeschooling a special needs child, even though it is the best thing for them, is very hard. It’s like being in a battle. And educating our child. And being a therapist. And being a mom. What’s helpful to us is simplicity. I also find it helpful when things are not timed, with no deadlines.”

What she was describing is that this workbook allows kids to take small bite size pieces. Even though the workbook has exercises, there are not real beginnings or endings. Your student can start an exercise and keep going through it, but when they are tired, or done, or have a meltdown, or someone interrupts, they can simply stop. The next time, they will just begin wherever they left off. It’s not like writing an essay, or a large task you need to do, where you just have to press through with it. One parent described how her son struggles with self-esteem and confidence, and being able to finish an exercise in his own time builds his confidence. Because this curriculum allows him to decide how much he can do, he gets to decide, and he can be successful. When her son can’t finish something, he feels defeated, and can act like he’s losing a limb; there can be a total meltdown over something as simple as not finishing a lesson. But with A Pirate’s Guide, these aren’t “lessons” - they are just exercises. It allows the student to decide to stop after two or three things, or push through and do more of them to get through to the story.

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First of all :: Keep the Work DOable

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