When we realized that traditional public school wasn't going to work for Monkey, I became very nervous. How was I going to homeschool him successfully, how would I ensure that he was getting all he needed. Thankfully I discovered k-12 and specifically Mosaic Digital Academy. Through them Aidric attends classes online, I receive all of the traditional text and workbooks for him and teachers editions for myself. This is his second year at Mosaic and he is excelling in ways I NEVER thought possible!
I have the ability to calculate exactly what he needs to accomplish each week to either be right on task or to be slightly ahead of the rest of the school. In most subjects he is able to work ahead, and his intelligence astounds me on a regular basis. In other subjects he gets frustrated easily and we are on task. The biggest rewards in virtual school for us are, Monkey's anxiety level dropping, the ability to set what days if any we have off, and the ability for him to complete the year early.
Monkey's biggest goal since starting at Mosaic has been to finish the year early, for him this accomplishment is huge because when he was attending public school for both Kindergarten and 1st grade I ended up homeschooling him for 4 months in Kindergarten and 1 month in 1st grade. Mosaic has allowed him to work at his own pace with very little distractions and to exceed all expectations that even he had for himself. Monkey sees completing work early as a sign that he is smart, and that is important to him.
Mosaic has meet ups once a month, where all the kids get together for some fun social activity. These make Monkey VERY anxious and unless it is an organized event, such as going to the aquarium or the zoo, or a museum we end up leaving with him in tears because some kid, not understanding Monkey will make a comment like "You're weird, I don't want to play with you." or, he will be called a name like "dork", all of these things really hurt him to his core, he knows he is different and he isn't happy about it. We try very hard to instill in him the FACT that his being unique is a GREAT thing, and that someday he will come into his own. Of course, no matter how smart he is, he's still an 8 year old boy who just wants to be accepted, who just wants friends.
The biggest obstacle we are facing are needing a definitive diagnosis to get him the social help he needs. Sometimes it feels like a catch 22, especially when people continuously tell you that they firmly believe your child is on the spectrum but they need more information before they can diagnose. We just keep plugging away, and just keep loving him through the meltdowns, and the rough patches, just keep telling him how much we love him, how amazing he is, and how our lives were incomplete before we were lucky enough to have him for a son.
No matter what happens from here on out, I am grateful that Monkey is OUR son, he is truly amazing and I enjoy every single day that I get to spend with him. Even the hard stuff is truly amazing and he wouldn't be Monkey without every aspect of his personality.
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