First Field Trip, Challenging Behaviors, and Uncle Dan

It has been a bit of a difficult week. There is still a bit of an adjustment period for both Ryan and me.  I am trying to find a balance of preparing for and the actual homeschool day (and it possibly not going exactly like I had hoped or planned).  Ryan is adjusting to being home all day and controlling his impulsive behaviors.

We went on our first field trip this week.  I planned for us to go to the C.R. Smith Museum, Aviation Through American History, which is the American Airlines museum located in Fort Worth.  Ryan was excited to go.

Well that excitement quickly gave way to body control issues, not feeling well, and disinterest.  We stayed for a while but most of the time was spent sitting here due to not feeling well.

It was a rough day.  This was the second difficult day this week as Monday was tough too.  I tried to have Ryan write about the experience.

MY FIRST FIELD TRIP WAS CAPABLE.  I DID NOT SUPER LIKE THE MUSEUM VERY MUCH.  PLEASE CAN WE GO ON MORE FIELD TRIPS?

“Ryan, I would like to take you on more, but today was difficult.  Would you even call anything about it educational?”

YES TO NOT SUPER CALLING IT EDUCATIONAL.

“Do you think that maybe we should try to do field trips where you have some sort of guide besides myself?”

HAVING A GUIDE IS A GOOD IDEA.

So we will try again next week.  We are going to have a behind the scenes tour of a known restaurant, so we will report back on it soon!

We started back up our regular school today and even before the day began (which was at 3 am for Ryan), Ryan managed to empty half a box of Cheerios on to the kitchen floor and some into the family room.

We sat down and began the school day with our Daily Devotion (thanks for the book Aunt Sarah!) and it was about forgiveness and being able to forgive ourselves.  It was very, very timely.  I then talked to Ryan about how I needed to work on this with forgiving Ryan for his behaviors, with my patience, with forgiving myself for the guilt that I have after getting angry with Ryan, and the guilt that I have for thinking that we have not gotten enough done in the homeschooling day,

I asked him what he thought after the devotion.

ALWAYS CAUSING TROUBLE.  GOING TO TRY.  I AM BEING SO CAGED.

“What do you mean?  I try and give you frequent breaks and allow you to move around.”

AUTISM KNOWS NO FEELINGS FOR CREATING HARDSHIPS.  TOO MANY SENSORY ISSUES TO DEAL WITH.

“I want to help you with this.  How can I help you?”

BEING PATIENT WITH ME.

“I think that I am failing you in that area.”

CAN I FEEL SORRY FOR HAVING SO MANY CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS?

“I am not sure what you mean.  Do you mean feeling sorry for yourself or apologizing for the behaviors?”

FEELING SORRY FOR MYSELF.  YES TO NOT SUPER HAPPY ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING TODAY BECAUSE MY BEHAVIOR IS GETTING IN THE WAY OF MY LEARNING.

CAN I HAVE AN ART HISTORY LESSON TODAY?

So here is where I am trying to be flexible.  I know that Ryan wants to learn despite the behaviors.  Even though it wasn’t on the schedule, I gave Ryan a break and quickly prepared a lesson on Caravaggio.

Caravaggio was controversial.  He was known for his hot temper and for his ability to create extremely realistic, yet violent, religious paintings which people at that time did not appreciate.

We had a great lesson where we branched off in talking about what controversy means (CREATES HEADLINES) and could he think of someone controversial (DONALD TRUMP).

We then spoke about how Caravaggio’s work was not well regarded until 250 years later when it was noted how influential he was to so many painters.

I asked Ryan to define influential.

EACH DAY MAKING AN IMPACT.

Can you think of someone who is influential to you?

CAN (Uncle) DAN DEAL WITH ME IN ONE OF HIS ADVENTURES?

“So are you saying that your answer is Uncle Dan?”

IN TOO MANY WAYS.  YES TO PROUD OF HIM FOR MAKING IT TO THE TOP.

Rewind about 4 weeks when Uncle Dan and Ryan were FACETIMING together.

Uncle Dan tells Ryan that he is going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the highest mountain in Africa.

I AM NOT SURE YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT.

Uncle Dan then explains to Ryan that he is confident that he is and that he has prepared for it.

I AM STILL NOT SURE YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT.

Uncle Dan then tells Ryan that he knows that he can do it and that he survived running with the bulls.

IT IS NOT THE SAME THING.

Uncle Dan is not able to convince Ryan that he can do this.  They continued the call and Uncle Dan told Ryan all about his account of running with the bulls.

I AM INTERESTED CAUSE I WANT TO RUN WITH THE BULLS.

Dan then tells Ryan all of the details including how terrifying the experience was and includes how the bulls get slaughtered after the event.

DONT KNOW NOW IF I WANT TO RUN WITH THE BULLS.  EACH ANIMAL THAT LOSES A LIFE EVERY DAY IS SAD TO ME.

They chatted more and then Ryan spelled:  I AM BEING DEARLY INTERESTED EACH DAY IN YOUR STORIES OF EACH TRIP THAT YOU GO ON.

So the first person that Uncle Dan reached out to tell about how he made it to the top of the mountain was Ryan.  He Facetimed us from Tanzania once he was back at the bottom. Ryan spelled:  I AM PROUD OF YOU UNCLE DAN.

Okay back to today…

“So Ryan, today turned out to be a pretty good day, don’t you think?”

FACING A BAD START I ROSE TO THE OCASSION.

SO MOM I SOMETIMES CANT BELIEVE THAT I AM LEARNING SUCH INTERESTING THINGS.

“I agree Ryan.  Two years ago, if someone had told me that I would be teaching you about art history and lessons on how the brain works, I don’t think that I would have believed them.”

CAN UNDERSTAND THAT.

“Would it be okay with you if I blogged about all of this?”

EACH DAY I THINK DETERMINES THE BLOG TOPIC.

And there you have it.  Until next week!