We can't go to the community pool today. I launched into a discussion with Samuel about how a tropical weather system will bring rain and he concluded, "When the sun goes up we'll watch at home."
I digress; I was going to talk about schedules.
From our previous almost 10 years of homeschooling, I know schedules usually end up as an amusing memento by October. That doesn't mean schedules are useless; they can help you figure out how much time is needed for the subjects and for the household routine. But what we have found, is that it works better to stagger the start of the school year with a subject or two in the beginning until we're up to speed -- and when we're up to speed a kind of natural schedule falls into place.
So what does all this have to do with teaching a Spectrum Kid in particular? My dilemma with Samuel is that he loves to understand how things "work." Once that's in place, he can be golden. Take our much-missed trip to the pool today. It's taken most of the summer, but we've finally worked out a routine that enables him to leave the pool without a spectacular, hissy-fit meltdown. Putting certain transitions into place (in a few minutes when the lifeguard blows his whistle for adult swim, we'll go home) he now goes home cheerfully.
I think one of the keys for this school year will be to develop those transitions so he finds his school day "workable" and predictable. Right now, I can't even imagine what they will be.
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