Watching the light bulb

When I first starting working with Maddy in August of 2008 we knew that her ability to learn was not capped out. We had no idea how much she would be able to do or learn, but we knew that I could do a better job than the public school system.

The hubby and I sat down and talked about what we felt were the important things that Maddy would need to know. We decided that reading, money and life skills were most important things I would need to teach her.

When I started working with Maddy she had just finished the 8th grade in public school. She thought Science was looking up and copying definitions from the back of the book, she could not tell me how many quarters in a dollar, she had to use her fingers to add and subtract sometimes even when it was by one or two. She was in an excellent reading program at school, but she did not know the difference between a noun and an adjective.

Between 2008 and now we have seen so many changes in Maddy and she still surprises me with things she has learned and she is not anywhere near her end game yet. She gets up every morning with her own alarm clock. She now has great pride in her appearance. She helps with laundry and other household chores.

She is fascinated by the human body and is now working in a great science book at a 4-6 grade level. We do a general science work book and a general geography book as well.

We do brainteasers and mad libs to help with some of the outside of the box thinking. She LOVES to do find a word puzzles.

She loves the Wii and does all sorts of motor skills games on it and does not just get mad and give up like she did a year ago.

She is now working in a 4th grade level English Grammar book and is killing it! She has taken to writing and will either type or write 4-5 page stories and she wants us to edit them and help her to add more detail to them. Once we finish this book I am seriously considering making the jump to a 6th grade book.

She is using her fingers for math less and less, she knows multiple ways to make change for a dollar. The other day she blew me away when we were working in math and I told her we needed to double .30 cents. Without hesitation she told me .60 cents and then explained to me how she got the answer. She is doing 3-digit math with carry over as well as making change using more than just dimes and pennies.

There is no greater joy for me than to watch her light bulb grow brighter and brighter!

What about a diploma?

I get asked by several people regarding Madeline not receiving a diploma from an accredited institution. There are several factors that make this a non issue for me. The first is that we do not expect Maddy to pursue any high learning and feel that her knowing how to live somewhat independently is of much more value.

The state of Texas now says that if any child is in a Co-teach situation they will not be granted admission into a University. Madeline would only be in resource and Co-teach classes. Maddy would be a tough kiddo to place in correct classes because she is too high level for Life Skills, though trust me the school would be happy to place here there, they attempted to do that to us when she moved to Jr. High. She also would have a very difficult time passing classes in a Co-teach environment. This all would lead to frustration by everyone involved and not much learning going on.

To receive a recommended or higher diploma would require Madeline passing TAKS. We know from the Jr. High experience that will not happen. If Madeline were to graduate from public High School she would most likely receive either a Minimum requirements diploma or a Certificate of Attendance depending on what the folks in Austin decide it should be called the year she was up for graduation.

We do not believe that Madeline will attend a Community College or a Trade School, but if she did, then we would do everything possible to make that happen. The reality of the situation is that Madeline will not do those things. The hubby and I have been working very hard to secure her future and her monetary well being with a Special Needs Trust, by planning ahead to retain guardianship, and get her on SSI and Medicare when she turns 21.

Instead of looking at colleges and universities our time is spend on wading through legal paperwork, long waiting lists for assistance and making sure that she will always have good care and health.

Special Education kiddos can attend public High School until they are 21 years of age. They can also receive their diploma via co-op by having a job. That gives the hubby and I 5 years to decide if we think she needs a piece of paper by a school system that would not give her the skills I can.

Typical Day

Maddy and I have a pretty good routine down now and as things are mastered new things move in to take the place. Below is a glimpse into how we spend most of our days. I feel that we should be busy for most if not all of the day. In this house, it is not sit at the table for an hour and BINGO done.

Maddy has to get up by herself with an alarm clock and must be properly dressed for the day. We think this is an important skill for her to have. She must be downstairs and ready for school by 9 in the morning.

We start off with breakfast and depending on her mood and her desire for a certain type of food what to have can be an interesting conversation.

Maddy: Sigh *eye roll* I suppose I have to help make breakfast again?

Me: Yep, what do you want?

Maddy: Hmm..I don't really want to help cook, I guess I will have cereal.

Me: We can make muffins.

Maddy: Yummy, well I suppose I can help make those.

Once the muffins are in the oven I have her get started on the laundry. She is currently learning how to sort between light and dark clothes. As I clean the kitchen I get to answer yes or no to the constant question of "Is this a dark?".

After we eat the muffins and pick up from that she has to wipe the kitchen counters. Now that breakfast is done we can move to the table for actual school work with breaks to move or fold laundry.

Table work will consist of things like making change, I will either give her money word problems to solve and make the change for or she has to make amounts for me. Recently to help with the desire of only using dimes and pennies I have started giving her change and she has to tell me the amount. We occasionally do a little addition, subtraction, and multiplication for good measure as well.

For English she has to read, we are working in 3/4 grade grammar workbook that is great and Maddy has writing prompts each week. Currently science is all about the human body since that is her main interest right now. (Post coming about that soon!). Social studies usually consists of reading maps and geography.

Table work for us depending on how well it is working will usually last about 2 hours give or take. After that we move on to life skills and housework. Maddy has to dry mop the floors twice a week and she also has to clean the blinds and do some other general dusting. We are working up to bigger things like the dishwasher.

Life skills is a fun one. We do things like her showing me how she washes her hair so I can give her tips on how to do it better. She cuts hot dogs to work on her cutting and handling forks and knives. We use the hot dogs to work with Bruiser so they are not wasted. She has to cut and tape things from books or magazine.

Maddy is required to write out the shopping list and helps decide what we will have for dinners during the week. When we go shopping she has to help find things and at times will have to go and find me in the store. We use the self check out and she scans everything while I bag. She is also in charge of paying for the groceries.

We love to have lunch out with friends and we try to do this once every two weeks or so. She gets to interact with people and try new foods and restaurants.

At any given time a "teachable moment" might come up and off on a tangent we go. Those are the really fun days.

On a great and perfect home school day we start 9 and finish about 2:30-3:00.

The problem with good students

Maddy is a good student. Maddy was an excellent student in public school. Maddy did not learn much in public school. Make sense? No? Let me explain.

I was a teacher of both regular education and special education. I did my best to not do what I will describe below. I am sure that once in a while I probably did. Even the best teachers I am sure have fallen into this pattern. A struggling teacher probably will use it to survive.

Maddy loves to do book work and teachers loved her for it. When you have a class full of students both regular and special education you try to find what will work for everyone. The problem is when you have a special needs kid that will sit quietly and do book work you forget to check for understanding and comprehension.

This week Maddy was doing some English worksheets I watched her work while I cleaned the kitchen. She was so quiet and looked so studious. It has taken me over a year but she will now ask me when she is not sure of how to do something or if she needs more instructions. She has learned that I will not pat her on the head and say good job without checking over all her work. She has learned that if I explain how to do something and she decides to do something else she will be required to re-do the work.

These habits were all formed in public school. She would be told to circle things and she would decided she wanted to underline the items. Instead of being told she had not completed the assignment correctly she was told good job, you tried!! In more classes than I care to admit her education consisted of copying key terms. She would be given a list of words and then sit in class and copy the definition from the glossary. Maddy no longer asks me if she can do key terms, she has learned (no pun intended here) that copying from a book is only good for improving handwriting.

Posts like these make be thankful and angry. I am so thankful that I have the ability to do what is right by my child. It makes me angry that the public school system is going in the wrong direction for special needs kiddos. It makes me angry that parents don't care enough to get involved and become a voice for their kids and demand that schools educate and that parents parent.