Growing up and Autism-and the benefits of Home education

Google has just been with us on a family holiday.He went aged fourteen and came back fifteen.

As always, holidays give us  the time to reflect on how he has matured.Long gone are the physical outbursts of anger, the kicking of doors and throwing of chairs.What we have now is a very tall, handsome teenager whose voice has dropped to  deep base and who has a  sense of  identity and a conviction about  his own strong views and opinions.

He couldn't give a fig if  people think his views or actions are 'strange'.He is just who he is and he's happy with that.

School doesn't prepare you for life.I read this week about a study that confirmed it. Dr. Gerard Hoefling, of the autism support program, Drexel University, Philadelphia:has said,

"We make the erroneous assumption that high schools are getting students ready for college, and they're not really.

That's not their primary task. High schools do a wonderful job
of getting students ready to graduate from high school."

I firmly believe that. How many children know how bank rates work, how to use a credit card, about the electoral system and democracy and communism and dictatorships for example?

As I watched my son I realised that he wasn't wearing his ear defenders, he checked out a menu on-line before going to a restaurant so he could choose his meal in advance without being overwhelmed by the choice. He paid for a DVD over the counter without support. Suggested to his sister that they go to the local park on holiday,then went out the door and set off to the park with her struggling to get her shoes on and follow him.Despite having no wifi on holiday he happily joined in family discussions and played board games ( with only the slightest mutter about the benefits of digital technology) He went to bed at a fairly reasonable time for him (and slept!) and he even managed a trip to the Metro centre in Newcastle where we had a Chinese buffet and then a short shop for his sister to buy a birthday present.Whilst he indicated that he did find that uncomfortable, he patiently sat it out without a meltdown and I realised that he had grown up substantially.

He is able to communicate his needs far better now.When he had blisters from walking, he told me that so I could offer thicker socks to cushion them.He told me he gets a bad back from sitting at the computer so long (something which I suspected but he has never told me) so we have discussed the benefits of more fresh air and exercise and a better computer desk and chair.

Now that he is 15 I have suggested that our aim for the year is to enable him to support himself more by making meals ( and ensuring he doesn't forget to eat) and also we need to start looking at ways he can start to learn to bring in an income (possibly a computer based income which would make complete sense for someone with autism)

Who knows where we will be this time next year? We will just have to see!

Making the grade (or not!)

"Parenthood is a perpetual compromise between neglect and pushing.The last thing you want to do with anything that matters to you-art, books, wildlife-is to ram it down their throats."

My Natural History by Simon Barnes


I'm forever coming across parents (and teachers for that matter) who are convinced that without good GCSE's their children are doomed to a life of drudgery and low pay.The government perpetuates the myth and I cringe when time and time again I come across children who are re doing  their A levels because they failed them first time round and couldn't get a place at university.

I remember my son asking me if he would have to go back to school to redo his GCSE's if he didn't do very well.The answer was no.It turned out that was the right decision.Without parental pressure to suceed, he set himself his own goals and achieved the grades he needed to climb the next step on the ladder towards his goal.That's how we work in our house.You set yourself an immediate goal and then find out what you need to get there, we have found that intrinsic motivation is what matters, not extrinsic influences.

If you become bogged down with what you think your child should be doing, you set up problems for yourself later on.How many people have followed their father's footsteps into the family firm only to discover that they hate it.It was never their goal you see, but their parents.
In his book  "My Natural History " Simon Barnes describes his mother's expectations of him:

"Education and subsequent high achievement was never my goal.Rather it was my duty...So I  not only had to follow that tradition, I also had to make good the wrongs of the past."

It is interesting that, later on in the book he explains how he himself home educated his own son.Perhaps out of realisation that education isn't about grades or degrees, it's about wanting to learn about things as and when they are relevant to you.

Just as we have to grieve when we have a disabled child (and Simon describes this too in a chapter about his Downe syndrome son Eddie),, so too we need to give up our expectation for our children to let them live and grow as independent human beings . They are not 'mini mes", they are individual human beings with their own minds and interests.

We will only learn if our instincts are correct when we look back on our children and hopefully find well rounded and balanced individuals.For now, number one son, loves his job and is doing well, my daughter has her goal and is working step by step to becoming a dancer and Google has yet to identify what he will do to bring inan income but I am confident that that will come

So next time you worry about your child and their grades, stop and look at their life skills.Are they confident, happy and mature, if so they will be fine.If not, build on their life skills, it is those, not grades that will get them where they want to be.Grades are just a by product of that.

Dumbing down the Duke of Edinburgh?

My daughter is taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh award ,like her brother before her.The only difference- he did his through scouts, my daughter is doing hers through school.

Having been first a brownie, then a guide, then a scout and now an active member of Explorer scouts she has eight years of scouting under her belt.During that time she has undertaken various camps and expeditions, qualified in first aid, learned to cook on a camp fire, survive in the wild and kayak to Piel island, home of Swallows and Amazons.

Piel Island (Wildcat Island in Swallows and Amazons)

Her experience of doing D of E through school has been frustrating to say the least. There have been a series of tick boxes and hurdles to jump over so that the teacher running the course can satisfy the powers that be that everything necessary has been done to ensure they are safe .

Obviously there is nothing wrong with that, but when teachers insist that all participants attend  after school meetings to:

a) Practice putting up at tent
b)Light a Trangia
c)Do basic first aid
when you have been doing it for years, and a simple request to see the appropriate first aid certificate and a letter of competency from a scout leader, would presumably have done the job.You have to ask yourself whether this is really no more than a glorified lesson?

It seems  as though the more experienced participants  are not being given credit for their ability to use their initiative and think for themselves.

It's a bit like school itself really,those that are academic and bright are often held back by the least able pupils in the class which is why I'm such an advocate of home education where everyone is an individual.

Anyway to get to the point.In scouts, my son's group had to devise their own route, plot the ordnance survey points,decide on a place to camp and, subject to appropriate risk assessments by the leaders and being provided with the obvious emergency numbers off they went.

Having a laugh on one of their scout expeditions!

In contrast ,whist my daughter was eager to wild camp, her teacher insisted on a campsite with showers (in case they wanted to wash) and, whilst my daughter sensibly decided to take money to buy milk for her cereal rather than carry it in hot sunshine,the camp shop was out of bounds because it was a 'survival weekend'.It's a lucky man that survives on a desert island with hot showers methinks!

My main concern about all this is that my son and most of his scouting friends have all got apprenticeships and I'm convinced it was down to their diversity of outside interests (particularly D of E) rather than their academic achievements.

 Employers recognise that often students who have done D of E have more life skills, are confident and sociable and adapt better to the workplace.

Teachers recognise this too, but by introducing it into the school day they are inadvertently drawing it into the 'national curriculum' and if we are not careful it will be no more than a piece of paper that most school pupils have to add an extra dimension to their C.V. ,which after all is what it is all about (it even says that on my daughter's school letter!)

Making memories

I hope that won't happen, Duke of Edinburgh awards are a wonderful experience and a great opportunity for any young person seeking to continually improve themselves throughout life.Through them you make new friends,visit new places and gain new experiences.

With any luck there will be a drop as the challenges get harder with each new award and the participants find they  "have to get on with it." It will leave behind only those who really do have a passion for life and a keenness to try new things. (If the glut of Trangia's for sale on Ebay ,which have only been used once, is anything to go by,it would certainly seem so!)

Then employers will be able to judge for themselves the candidates who are up to the job!

Learn what you want to learn, when you want to learn it.

Today I recommended this book to a couple of parents after I read this article. It is one of the books which has most influenced the way I educate my children.Having home educated Google since he was eight I felt guilty at failing to home educate the other two ( there was a spell when I home educated my eldest with Google for a year) but Google's needs were too great at that time and that year gave my eldest the space and time he needed to  grow and make his own choices about his education.

What this book taught me was that by sending my children to school I wasn't handing over their education to the government with it's narrow curriculum and  inflexibility towards the individual needs of each and every pupil but I  was choosing to primarily offer them the education opportunities they wanted to do such as dance,play the drums,sing,go camping and kayaking and walking, at home. Similarly life skills, morals and responsability and  consideration for others were the domain of our family  whilst school was a place where my social children could choose to socialise and spend time with their friends. 

There have been occasions when teachers have questioned my daughter's choice not to participate in after school activities- they seem to think that if you don't take part at school you're not doing anything at all.

I've had to explain she's  far too busy choosing what she wants to do outside of school with different teachers, teachers who want to share their passions with no other motive than to see others share their enjoyment where their enthusiasm shines through.Where   there are no tests  to pass unless you choose to take them.

It's a concept that some of them find hard to understand.Apparently most kids don't want to 'learn' when they're not at school.I wonder why? Perhaps they're being put off by what they are being taught at school? 

If you don't go, you'll never know!

Well how things have moved on since last week's auditions .Cumbria Youth Dance sent an email with details of other pending dance auditions and my daughter immediately filled in and sent off her  application.

Meanwhile she received notification that she had been selected to audition for a choreography grant in Lancaster.Quite a tall order considering she has never done choreography before! Thank goodness for the internet!

We googled, and googled again, hoping for a clue about where to start. It appeared that the choice of music was key.The theme was bullying so we googled  "bullying music" and this Coilbie Caillat song was recommended.My daughter loved it!

Her dance teacher offered to spend Sunday morning with her and a fellow student and it was lovely to see her enthusiasm as she practised her moves over and over again in  the room above our garage.A recreational space away from the house where my son can drum to his heart's content without disturbing the neighbours and my daughter can dance freely away from the prying  eyes of Google.

My daughter learned so much on that Sunday morning.Her dance teacher had arranged for some fellow students to dance the prepared dances.They were older than my daughter but offered plenty of help and advice based on their experience.She came home with pages of ideas which she scribbled down as fast as she could in a little notebook about timelines and rythmns and learning styles.

 Her enthusiasm was contagious! Once again I was witnessing an example how self motivation is the best key to learning.The competition is for fourteen to nineteen year olds.My daughter is just fourteen.Whatever happens, by surrounding herself with older and more experienced dancers and choreographers she will be challenged and stretched.I firmly believe that if you surround yourself with successful people (whatever your definition of success) then you will be confident and successful yourself!

It's not every week you meet your MP!

I'm never happier than when I'm free from the constraints of 'school'. This week has been one of those weeks. My daughter has been doing work experience and my eldest son is in Milton Keynes on a training course. Google meanwhile is happy in his normal routine,away from the unexpected!

Work experience has taken the form of volunteering in one of our very important community hubs Ford Park. My daughter has worked in the cafe,planted in the walled garden with the volunteers (some of whom are unable to work due to mental health problems or learning disabilities) and learned about the benefits of companion planting , sat in on a level 1 Horticultural course, picked fresh vegetables for the kitchen,spruced up the nature walk, met our local labour MP John Woodcock who popped in for a coffee, experienced the anxiety of a staff member who's family live in Katmadu where there was an earth quake on 23rd April.Thankfully news came through that they were OK.

What a vast array of learning and the week isn't even over yet! When I dropped her off this morning,the local yoga class was about to begin and a group of walkers were gathering for the Ulverston Walkfest.It's obvious walking around town that it has been the Flag festival this week too!I managed to take some photos of the Gill on one of the practice walks I've been doing in preparation for the C2B next week.

I finally managed for the first time yesterday to walk up Hoad without stopping! I have been walking in  Newlands Bottom a hidden away spot just outside of town .The bluebells are finally out, and although unfurled this morning, so are the wood anemones! I even spotted two Jays, the first time I've ever seen them in the wild.

What a lovely week! Now that's my sort of Education!

Singing Softly,Wonderfully well

Last night The Ghyll singers were invited to sing at a concert in St Martins church in Bowness on Windermere.

Living in such a beautiful area of the world we get to sing in some lovely spots. As we drove along the shores of Windermere the trees were just coming into bud and the blossom trees and rhododendrons were in flower,not forgetting of course the many thousands of daffodils made so famous by Wordsworth.

As guest singers to a wind band from Kendal we were able to sit back and enjoy most of the concert .We sang the pieces which had won us the South Lakes music competition and were congratulated in particular on our ability to sing quietly.

 I realised that slowly over the four years we had had our current conductor we had learned how to control our singing by pulling in our tummies,could sing the higher notes by  using our faces and smiling and had generally become more disciplined as a choir by listening to the other parts as we sang our own.That's the wonderful thing about learning, you just never stop.

Google for example has been reading up about politics.For the first time this year his older brother is eligible to vote and there have been discussions in our family about whether we actually agree with the current system. The conservatives and liberal democrats are currently joined by a coalition but never have I known the general public to be so disillusioned and mistrustful of MP's. A friend introduced me to an app designed to help new voters decide who to vote for. Bite the Ballot posed a series of questions and then suggested the parties as close as possible to the views of the voter.Vote for Policies was another site.It just shows how technology is changing the way we do things!

And as for progress with the C2B, only twenty days to go now and we went up Beacon Fell the other day. A super clear day and hardly a soul in sight, a fantastic place to live.

Feeling Sheepish in the Lake District!

There is the sound of a whirring sewing machine in the kitchen as my daughter starts her first attempt at dressmaking. We discovered a newly opened scrap store yesterday and came home armed with material, stamps, paint, magazines, wool and ribbons- heaven! Half term has been a haze of sewing, crocheting, planting and creativity. In fact my daughter has said she would like to have a go at making her own clothes, so having managed a cowl with material from the scrap store and mastered how to thread the machine she is ready for trying something simple.I will post the results when we've made something!

It's half term but ,as with any home educating family , the learning always continues. We received a text from my daughter's ELBS (enviromental and landbased science) teacher this week to say her lambs had been born and did she want to see them? We didn't need to be asked again.They were born right on cue on Pancake day.Two tup lambs.

Weighing the lambs

At Boon Cragg national trust farm in Coniston lambing normally takes place in April where there are two lots of around 400 lambs born every year. The students' sheep, of which there are eleven , were sponged to time the birth for February so they could get individual attention as the students have to weigh them and monitor their health. First the lambs were weighed, then their sex was checked to see whether they were gimmers or tups.

Practising with the spray paint







Then after a practice with the spray canister, they were each numbered.The sheep in the barn were Charollais and there were several Tup lambs.The farmer normally prefers the gimmers (female sheep) but this time he was pleased as he wanted to sell them for breeding as the Charolais will be shown at Westmorland show.They weren't particularly attractive sheep like the Herdwicks, having rather square faces and being all white (at least these were) but they make a good price. One of the ewes had given birth to three lambs but had sufficient milk to feed all three.Another sheep lambed after her with a singleton lamb. If she had lambed first then one of the three would have been passed to her to feed to make it easier.

Numbering the lambs

My daughter's lambs on the other hand are Texels . There were outside when we saw them but would be brought in at night.It took us a while to get them to pose for their pictures!

My daughter's lambs with their mum!




And all the time we were up the farm we were surrounded by the sights and sounds of spring. The snowdrops are out and the primroses and crocuses and the daffodils are just about to open ready for a new half term of planting and growing in the new school greenhouse!

Spring is here again!

Texels

Changing the world of School!

Yesterday I watched a documentary called Schooling the World  It hit me like a lightening bolt that the current education system in the western world is way past it's sell by date. Desperate to give their children the chance to be educated and have opportunities they hadn't had ,parents in India were sending their children to school in towns and cities with the result that the children no longer had any idea of how to live independently outside of an economic society. One villager explained that as children it had been drilled into them the need to keep the rivers clean as people living beneath them on the mountain had a need for drinking water, now the rivers in the valley were full of litter and polluted leaving the water unfit to drink. This,she explained, was because the children no longer had an attachment to the land and didn't understand the consequences of their actions.

The point of the programme was not to say that we shouldn't be educated but that a western form of education was irrelevant and indeed was often harmful to community and society where the culture and traditions were different.

The message of Westernised education was that education brought with it better jobs, money and success. In fact it was the villagers working high up in the mountains who seemed the happiest, despite their way of life. Children played contentedly in the fields whilst their parents worked and villagers sang and laughed as they worked together.

In contrast,children in the classrooms, both in America and India looked disengaged and bored. Obviously the director chose his shots well but the message was clear that if we lump everyone together and teach them all the same thing then we lose our individuality and our creativity and at its worst it effects our ability to live sustainably and community disintegrates

The system we have now is three hundred years old. A short period of history in the scheme of things. Schooling became a compulsory when people flocked to the cities for work as a result of the industrial revolution and parents needed child care and a way to help their children read and write so that they could get employment.

The intention was well meaning - to pull people out of poverty and mould them to suit the workforce. We are however in the middle of a new revolution. One where technology enables you to learn remotely and when you need to. We live in a society when people are beginning to realise that money doesn't bring happiness and that many of the things we are doing to our planet in the name of the economy are destroying our planet , our health.and our sense of community.

Our children , need life skills. They can't all be farmers but they do need to know where their food comes from, the impact of additives in our foods and chemicals on our crops.They need to understand the  influence of large corporations over Government and the economy .School isn't teaching them these things neither is it teaching them  the ability to think for themselves and make decisions following their own research rather than merely accepting what is 'spoon fed' to them through the media and the education system.

It's time for change, not the sort introduced by government every two or three years but a radical shake up or how and what our children learn . I wonder when it will come?

Thinking for ourselves- when Education takes over!

In the light of The Corporation and Bowling for Columbine, Google and I have been looking at the economy and how it works. What the subject would be called at school is debatable. Certainly economics, possibly psychology. What I do know is that he wouldn't be studying it at school as part of the current National curriculum in the United Kingdom

 We have considered the power of large companies over the public and politicians, seen "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" (both American imports)  come and go, and the efforts of small business ' in Britain to fight back with "small business Saturday."

In "Bowling for Columbine" we saw that despite easy access to guns in the USA and Canada,gun crime in the USA is much higher. In the Canadian large cities gun crime was virtually non existent. The conclusion of the documentary was that the news media in America fed fear into  people, promoting negative and tragic stories because that's what brought in the money.
Whether the conclusion was right or wrong it made us think about society and the world we want to live in.


Google commented that he would like to live in Canada and we were certainly left with the impression that it was a country where community has not been lost, where people trust one another, where health care is free and wealth is distributed more fairly.

We also spoke to someone in the village who regularly watches News from France or Russia and Japan to get a more open view of what is happening in the world. Someone called her 'sad'. I call that open minded.

With petitions in circulation daily against injustices highlighted by members of the British public Google and I  have explored the working conditions of several large and 'successful' companies and are having to rethink  how and where we shop.

We've also looked at how food is marketed, what goes into processed food,how the obesity is rising and it is causing us to challenge what we do as a  family. In fact home education is changing our lives.

I've mentioned before that home education has made us more politically aware. Certainly Google follows current affairs with interest and has an opinion on most matters. He certainly doesn't sit back and accept the status quo!

I think that's what's wrong with our current education system.It doesn't challenge teenagers to think for themselves it's simply an exam processing machine!

 This morning I read a free E book about helping our children to develop into well rounded thinking individuals .It's called Re framing Success and it challenges the notion that those with high grades are 'successful"

I'm glad we took Google out of school.It's challenged us to look at what we do and change things when they don't sit comfortably with our beliefs.

So this year most of our Christmas presents are home made of from local businesses.We are trying to buy more fruit and less processed food,I've unsubscribed to some of the companies who send me daily promotional emails and trying to reuse and recycle where we can.

We have a long way to go but no matter how long it takes,each step is a step forward. Education is becoming part of our lives!

The Story of Alan Turing

This morning I found myself in the Doctors surgery explaining what a Bonobo was to the nurse Not that it's likely to be something she comes across often in the Lake District, but you never know. It was something ,I told her, that my Autistic had explained to me a couple of weeks ago. "He sounds just like 'Google',she said and lo and behold I had my new blog name for him! So from now on "Google" it is! Google and I went to the cinema to watch The Imitation Game It's the story of mathematician Alan Turing and his successful attempt to decode The Enigma machine during the second World War.  The Imitation Game  has been criticised for being historically inaccurate in many ways , but having read about him after seeing the film,I have come away with a much better perception of how his invention played a huge part in bringing the war to an end, the punishment for homosexuality in the 1950's , the difficulty for women to be accepted as the academic equals of men and an overwhelming desire to visit Bletchley Park and expand my knowledge . The sad thing is that Alan Turing wasn't recognised for his genius during his lifetime and died at the age of 41, having committed suicide. He was only pardoned in December 2013  for his criminal record for being homosexual. Benedict Cumberbatch portrays him as a man with Asperger syndrome, and although the film never says that and there was no diagnosis in Turing's day there has been speculation that he was in fact Autistic. As Google's mother I found his portrayal both heart warming and extremely sad that most people didn't 'get' him. Google however just sighed and said "You think everyone has Aspergers!".I'll leave you to make your own mind up about it ! I gather that there has been much discussion in the scientific world as to whether he was on the spectrum. I don't think it much matters except that we do need to try and understand people better and if a label means that the normal man in the street understands the difficulties and challenges they face and makes compensations for that then it can only be a good thing. I discovered this blog post and found it fascinating If you get the change to see the film I'd recommend it!

Lest we Forget

This week my daughter asked to go to the village remembrance service. It felt particularly important to go this year as we have been learning so much about the First world war and how it effected the lives of ordinary families in this the Centenary year.

I knew nothing about the First world war until a few years ago. The national curriculum didn't cover it! Even when I went on an exchange visit to Albert at the age of sixteen  a visit to Compiegne was wasted on me. What relevance was it to a sixteen year old girl who had no interest in wars?
Perhaps it's because I'm older now, although I don't think that's it. My interest began shortly after I began to home educate my son. Trips to the imperial war museums in Manchester and London,(which I imagined would be boring) fascinated me. They showed me that there was another side to war of killing and hate. There was the human side,the bit you got to see when you pulled away the veneer of 'glory and patriotism' and realised that ordinary people were the victim of political decisions which tore families  apart, and that in spite of the  fear and shortages  there were those beacons of light who shone with compassion and bravery,not because they did anything 'momentous' like cross the enemy lines ,but because they served in the voluntary services,offered shelter, visited wounded soldiers and wrote letters home for them and carried out random acts of kindness.We can all do that.

Of the books I've read recently  about the First world war there are some that stand out Teenage Tommy is the auto biography of a soldier who enlisted at fourteen, prior to the War . and spent the entire duration of the war caring for the horses.It's a lesson in history.I didn't know for example that villagers in Suffolk used to catch the sparrows nesting in hay stacks by banging pots and pans. The sparrows would rise from the haystack and be trapped in  nets and were then eaten on toast. Another thing I learned was that whilst the Cavalry spent their time in peacetime shining their metal buckles and buttons they were ordered to let them rust as soon as the war started so they wouldn't sparkle in the sun!




The Care and Management of Lies is a very different book. It's a fictional story about how letters filled with love and compassion lifted the spirits of the troops in the trenches. It also offered a warm hearted look at how rural life was affected when all the young and able men went off to war but there was a sad side to it too.

Private Peaceful is another book that made it's mark. I read it to my son a few years ago . I wasn't sure if it would be too much for him to handle. He understood the atrocity of war but his autism enabled him to deal with it factually rather than emotionally.  War Horse was another influence, as was the poetry of Wilfred Owen and the other war poets.It was only recently that I learned that Rudyard Kipling wrote some anti war poetry,his own son Jack was killed in the First World war and his story is told in My Boy Jack

I also went to a presentation of literature and poetry of  The First World War written by women and hosted by  our local library . I loved the story of the lady who travelled from Britain to the trenches just to check that her son was 'OK'. It just shows what ordinary human beings can do when they set their minds to it!

We've been watching The Passing Bells this week, a fictional story of two young men,one English,the other German who went to war. I think it was that which prompted my daughter to go to church today. I'm glad we did .Today I heard a new song " The keeper," the folk song about a young Game keeper who went to war and never returned.

We need to keep remembering that fighting and war are never a solution. We are stronger working together than apart.

Work to Learn,NOT to Earn

My son is reading Rich Dad ,Poor Dad for Teens.I found it on Readitswapit and remembered how the adult version had so much impact on myself and my husband years ago. I read it in the days before home education,in fact before children. but it starts off by reminding us that school doesn't prepare you for the real world of work and that good grades are not the only way to become 'successful'

Too many of my son's friends don't want to do voluntary work because they don't get paid.They have yet to gain the maturity to understand the experience they would be acquiring. I even spoke to a mum whose daughter had completed her A levels and found a very good apprenticeship telling me that her daughter was only being paid the 'minimum wage' as though somehow her employer was being fraudulent.

My son has always had a different outlook.Perhaps we inadvertently fed him our ideas although I think much is down to his personality. He grabs opportunities with confidence and creates his own 'luck'.

At the age of fifteen he was asked if he could help at our local kennels for a week whilst one of the walkers was on holiday.Every day he was up at 7.30am and back again at 4.00pm without a moan or a groan and came back with stories of all the dogs he'd met and what he'd learned.As far as he was concerned he was doing it for free to help out the owner.At the end of the week he came out smiling from ear to ear  and a wad of five pound notes in his hand.He'd earned his first wages and he hadn't expected a penny! In 'Rich Dad Poor dad' it says you work to learn,not to earn and it resulted in my son's first job and later a great reference when he started to work full time.

From a weekend job he was then offered an apprenticeship after he left school with our local council.He had intended to go to college full time but he applied for this apprenticeship 'for practice' and was offered the job! This job paid for driving lessons and car insurance and gave my son the independence he needed. It was also a valuable lesson in how ineffective management and lack of knowledge in current health and safety legislation can have a negative impact on the morale of the work force. As a first experience of an Apprenticeship the whole experience had the potential to have a very negative impact on a conscientious and hard-working sixteen year old whose endeavours to use initiative and creativity were thwarted at every corner because  of  a deep rooted fear of change.It in fact gave him a huge insight into the lack of accountability, complacency and money wasting going on within local government. His first introduction to Politics!

And so it was necessary to cut away dead wood and negativity, brush himself down and move on. He began completing application forms and received a phone call from the recruitment company asking him if he would consider another,higher profile apprenticeship which hadn't been advertised? Of course he would!

He was interviewed,asked to see the workshops ( a lesson learned from his last job and health and safety experiences) and to speak to someone who had already done the apprenticeship. It seems his prospective employer were impressed.He had never been asked that before and so my son ended up one morning with two offers of employment on the door mat and having a choice to make!

He chose Lake District Audi and has experienced first hand what a difference effective management and private enterprise can make. He has a full time mentor, proper protective equipment without having to wrangle because of cost, and he is just about to embark on his next adventure - an Audi Induction course at Milton Keynes.

And for anyone interested he is still on an Apprenticeship wage (but no longer the minimum) but he has learned so much about working as a team,motivating your work force and looking after employees (he has a Christmas dinner coming up)

No work experience is ever a waste.Paid or unpaid, look for learning opportunities and new opportunities will come along too! And for the little ones who aren't quite there yet, why not try the games on Rich Kid ,Smart Kid which are aimed at introducing children to managing finances. The sooner they start the better!

The one that got away!

I watched as my seventeen year old son and his fourteen year old sister piled their rucksacks into the car and drove off to Explorer camp for the weekend and realized just how grown up they are now. Both have been camping for several years and now have packing down to a fine art- the only difference this year was they were going together and my son was driving.That meant a few tweaks buying extra equipment but we know from experience it will get used.Next on the list will be a good quality two man tent for wild camping- we are savhing up for that!
So that leaves three of us, my husband,myself and my fourteen year old son with Aspergers.We have a very quiet house!
This week has been interesting.It is the week in which one of my children has started her GCSE options and her twin brother has chosen none.They're both academically able but very different children.
We are going against the flow.We have encouraged our daughter to choose subjects she enjoys rather than those recommended as 'going together'. One of the subject she chose is Land based sciece,a largely practical exam,designed to interest the farm lads who don't want to be in school.There is a risk they might disrupt the class (so far they haven't) but my daughter's attitude is that she'll get on despite that if necessary.In fact most of them have a lot to offer,already one has shown her how to turn a sheep over onto it's back! This week my daughter was allocated a Tup and was asked to check it's health.She learned to age it by it's teeth,checked its ears and feet but before she got to weigh it it took an almighty leap and jumped a two metre high fence - it was the sheep that got away. My daughter has a nick name Bo Peep!
Then there was a trip to the Westmorland show - the high light?Well it seems to have been the Sheep show! A sheep with a Bob Marley  hair style was the star.It did some " Jammin'" (sounds like my idea of education)
As for my son, he continues to monitor current affairs, the scottish referendum,the Invicta games and to make his views very vocal in our discussions.Whatever he decides to do - he's unlikely to become a sheep farmer!

Following interests makes for motivated children

It's been  six years  since I first started home educating my autistic son . It's been an interesting journey and has not always gone according to plan but I'm so glad I did it , both for him and for our family. As I read the comments of many parents on facebook who are glad the summer holidays are over I feel sad that they are unable to enjoy quality time with their children because of the pressures of work, trying to juggle child care and jobs and the difficulties that arise through having intense periods of family time when you have to cram so much into six short weeks.

Being at home with my son has allowed us to really get to know one another, to realize that we often need our own space, that we are different people and I have had to accept that for this child , at this moment,outside activities and crafts are not for him.

We have however discovered a common interest in history, me in the people, him in the events and the inventions and that's how we came to be at the Bovington Tank museum on Monday.

It all started a few months ago when he announced he would like to visit the biggest tank museum in the world- Bovington Tank museum. I'd never heard of it  so I did some research and discovered it was seven hours away in Dorset.

My son has just turned fourteen and getting him to set foot outside the house is a major operation so for him to ask to go anywhere is unusual. We took the bull by the horns and my husband booked a Premier inn in Dorchester,half an hour away from the museum and the visit was planned.

 I've noticed on several occasions now that when my son wants to do something
 1. He isn't stressed going out
2. He often doesn't wear his ear defenders
3.He eats just about any food given to him and
 4. He sleeps at night.

 For anyone who doesn't live with an autistic person they could argue that we just give in to him normally and that he's perfectly capable of going to bed at a sensible time and eating the same food as the rest of us,but as a friend put it yesterday "they don't know the wall that is autism"

My theory is that motivation overcomes all fear and anxiety enabling my son to do things he would normally find really hard.

What a success! We sat in a chieften tank and learned how they worked,

travelled in an APC,

watched a display of tanks and personnel carriers and learned the science behind tracks as opposed to wheels

 visited a reproduction world war 1 trench , a mock up of an army base in Afghanistan and walked through a hall showing the history of tanks starting with Little Willie and Mother to the present day! My son even completed a quiz sheet as he wanted a goody bag - for a boy who hates writing that's no mean feat. Six hours of pure unadulterated learning, no cohercian or pressure,just a desire to learn more! It has worked for my autistic son and convinced me that whilst school would not have worked for him, home education most certainly has! Interest led learning is the key!

The power of Flowers!

One of my favourite trips is to visit our local community garden at Ford Park for inspiration and imaginative ideas. The garden is situated at the foot of Hoad Hill is Ulverston and is open every day .Volunteers work on the garden and excess vegetable and plants are sold to the public,

As we strolled round the garden a few days ago there were laminated poems about plants by Maggie Norton and as well as a pink lady scarecrow there was a floral bicycle propped up against the wall!

We walked through a willow arch,having studied the structure for a future project.

But the highlight was the butterfly garden- a swathe of wild flowers and bushes grown randomly to attract the butterflies!

A small girl was sitting with her daddy whilst he identified a moth too her and showed her some caterpillars underneath a ragwort plant

She took a few home in a jar in the hopes that she could watch them turn into Chrysalis and butterflies. Meanwhile I caught this moth on camera! I have a friend called Poppy who I'm sure will identify it for me!

Pre history in Anglesey

Time and time again it's forced home to me just how much we learn when we are out and about with the children.Holidays are a prime example as we all have time to stop and ponder, even those in the family who go to work or mainstream school. If only the politicians could see what we've been learning perhaps they would change their minds about taking holidays during term time. It's what you do with your time that matters.Perhaps if they changed their requirements and  requested a blog or scrap book of what each child learned during their holidays they might see things differently!

We have just spent a few days in Anglesey with my sister and her husband. It's our fourth visit now but each stay adds a layer to our knowledge about the Island and it's history.

I'm beginning to observe that my son with Aspergers, who is almost fourteen, reverts to 'normal' routine when he is surrounded by the family. He sleeps at night, joins in family meals and eats everything put before him and, once settled in,  he will happily participate in family discussions.

 His ear defenders have been off the whole time,despite fighter jets setting off from RAF Valley every morning and thundering over the house then back for tea.In fact he is fascinated by them and was delighted with a MASSIVE enclyclopedia about fighter planes which he bought for a pound at the weekly car boot sale at Valley.

We haven't yet visited The Electric Mountain so we set off up the welsh valleys to the visitor's centre. It was a drizzly day and the tours were booked up so we browsed the exhibits instead and learned about the huge power station deep inside the mountain.

The mountain was also home to the Welsh slate industry and there was a picture of the miners removing slate from the quarry face

The children also had a go at the science experiments in the Visitor's centre and discussed how they worked.

We discovered that just along the coast from where we were staying ,at Cable Bay there was a prehistoric burial mound which was built around the time of the Egyptian pyramids .

We all walked over to see it on a lovely summer evening and learned that Anglesey is home to many prehistoric remains.

At South Stacks at the west of the island beyond Holy head were the remains of hut circles and an iron age fort. The heather and gorse was in full bloom and the ground along the coast was a carpet of colour!

We visited the RSPB centre and studied a guillemot on its nest. Birds were scarce on the cliffs as most had hatched their chicks but we were able to see guillemots and herring gulls .In fact only a couple of weeks ago my sister had been lucky enough to see some porpoises!

It was lovely to see my Autistic son enjoying himself and using the binoculars,although he won't let me take his picture so I had to be somewhat sneaky to get this!

We didn't see any puffins unfortunately but I did manage to snap this one!

We walked up the hill towards Holy head mountain. Out to see we could see the ferries sailing from Holy head to Ireland!

We learned too that the rock is made up of sandstone and mud which was lifted from the sea bed!

And we saw an idea for an insect hotel which we will have to try in the future.