A Return Home

I thought this was a great little reminder that parents are just people. And that we were once little kids ourselves. Do you remember what it was like to be a little kid? When was the last time you thought about it?

Perhaps we should do ourselves and our families a little favor and try to remember what it was like to be a child. Maybe we will be able to better relate to our kids and that can only bring a closeness that needs to be there. Put ourselves in the shoes of our kids and maybe we will be a little less quick to judge and perhaps judge less harshly.

Then again, it may just help us to stay one or two steps ahead of those kids too! Remember what you were thinking at that age and I’ll bet your kids will be surprised. Just a little thought…

Do we ever really quit learning? I think that for most of us, the answer would be a resounding NO! Even when we are in environments that we wouldn’t think to be conducive to learning, it is still possible to find something to learn about. Take our first week of April for example…

We were officially on our Spring Break for our school. This was to be a time of fun and excitement. Organized learning would be put off for an entire week. I’m not sure who was more excited, me or the boy. Taking a break is good for the soul and we all need it from time to time. We chose to go with my hubby and the boy’s dad on a business trip. He would work and we would play. It would be fun.

We boarded the dog, caught a plane and flew to the Oregon coast for the week. While dad made business calls, we played and lounged around the pool. It was nice. We didn’t miss school those first couple of days.

However, by the end of the week, I was finding learning opportunities all around us and we investigated. We talked about the Lewis and Clark Trail and reviewed what we had learned in History this year. We took in some science when we visited an Aquarium. We also talked about the ocean and what we had learned this past fall about them. We reviewed health each time we discussed making good and healthy food choices from the menus when we ate.

We discovered that even when learning isn’t organized, we can still have engaging conversations that have to do with education. So, although we were on a break, we still learned quite a bit.

How do you incorporate learning in those informal moments? Or do you feel learning only belongs in a formal classroom? I would love to hear your ideas and comments!

Photo by Brenda Emmett

Today is Mother’s Day and like many other mothers across the country, I am receiving a bouquet of flowers. This is an expression of the devotion and love that the children and husbands across the country have for the mothers in their lives. Now, while my bouquet is not from a florist or the store, I do love it just as much. It isn’t a bouquet of fancy flowers such as roses, tulips and daisies. Mine is a mere bouquet of dandelions picked fresh from our backyard.

Many mothers receive such bouquets from their young children and we gush over them. Not because we actually like or love dandelions, but because our children thought of us. They made an effort to pick something for us that through their eyes is beautiful. Eventually our children quit picking the dandelion bouquets for us and those days are over. I thought that mine were over.

But when you have a child with Asperger’s, sometimes you get to enjoy things like dandelion bouquets just a little longer. The boy heard someone telling a group of 3 and 4 year olds that moms just love to receive dandelions from their children. So he fixated on this and I am now the proud owner of a dandelion bouquet once more. I love it because it came from his heart and even though he is growing up, I get to keep my boy little just one more Mother’s Day. What more could a mother ask for?

Photo by Anita Patterson Peppers

So tonight we went to an old fashioned sock-hop at our church. It was a great family event and lots of fun. Kids were playing and dancing. Parents were dancing with each other and with their kids. There were lots of laughs all around…except from my corner. In that corner there was a sulky, almost teenage boy, who refused to dance and have fun. He enjoyed the hamburgers and rootbeer floats, but there was no way he was gonna dance…not even with mom on Mother’s Day Eve.

It seems that kids enter that phase when they decide that if they are going to do something, it must be their idea and on their terms. It frustrates me as a parent, as I’m sure it does every other parent in the world. You just want to shake some sense into them and make them behave civilly.

At the end of the party, he slinked over to me and said he was sorry he didn’t dance. I told him he would be paying for it. But I really can’t be too mad about it now, because his mood changed and he cleaned all of the bathrooms without being asked and he did a great job. Personally, I would have rather danced one dance if I were him.

So the sock-hop is over and although I didn’t get a single dance with my son, I did get some sparkling clean bathrooms. I suppose I should just be happy with the clean bathrooms, because it won’t be too much longer and he’ll be asking for the keys to go out dancing with the cute girls. What’s a mother to do?

Photo by Kevin Rosseel

Despite the fact that I woke up to 2 inches of snow yesterday morning, I have a serious case of spring fever. The snow all melted and the sun is back out and shining today and warmer weather is sure to be here soon. The crazy part about there being snow yesterday, is that it was 70˚F the day before. Crazy weather to be sure!

The problem with sunny weather and spring fever is that when you work and school at home, you just want to take the day off and play. It is perhaps just a little more difficult to go to work or school when the backyard is calling your name. When you are the boss, or teacher, you also feel guilty when you call in sick.

I think it may have been just a little easier to deal with spring fever when I worked outside of the home and the boy went to the brick and mortar school. In fact, I am sure of it. We didn’t have to deal with the beagle who wants us to go outside and play with him all day long.

I think I am going to have to find some school lessons to do outside so we are still making progress in school. I’m not sure how to deal with it when it comes to my work, however. I guess I am just going to have to be the mean boss and make myself work. Perhaps I can schedule short breaks as a reward for my hard work.

What do you think? How have you overcome the effects of spring fever while working and schooling at home?

Photo by: Brenda Emmett