This week was one with a few challenges. We needed a lot of time outdoors in nature - both E and myself - to find regulation. All great teachers sometimes need to just have a break, and I was feeling quite overwhelmed. Monday was filled with rain which meant E could not regulate as well with his start to the week outdoors. And, on top of that, we began the week with math. It was math that I knew he would enjoy but nonetheless, it was difficult to engage first thing on a Monday. We created art to learn about circles by drawing with a protractor to reveal inscribed shapes. He found the work interesting but was not truly inspired to do more than the lesson covered.

Even though I am completely convinced I am on the right path with CRA, it remains a struggle some weeks to embrace our different journey. So, this week, we fully embraced our freedom to school differently and went on a hike for school. E was so thrilled when we woke up on Tuesday and I said “Lets go to the Umstead today for a hike!” He jumped for joy and stated “I never knew CRA could have field trips!!” I can hardly wait for his vaccine series so that field trips can become a weekly thing rather than an annual one!

On Wednesday, it felt a bit like a Monday again because we needed to build engagement after our fun adventure the day prior. So, his first request was to take school outside. We did! We went on a walk over the dam, talked about the flow of water down to the creek, and the wildlife of the pond that has been drained for a year now… we then spent time collecting pieces of nature with which he created a mandala. Once the mandala was complete, I noticed the terminology we had learned on Monday presenting itself so we reviewed circumference, diameter, and radius. He then created the formula for finding a radius if given a diameter on his own.

After some time outside on Wednesday, he was able to engage with curriculum again. Each day this week, we have committed to writing on lined paper to overcome the past trauma of lined paper in PreK. In addition to the writing work, he completed a word study matching word pairs, showed his continued mastery of expanded form, and spend some quality time exercising Jojo to rebuild her trust since our vacation.

On Thursday, I attempted a creative writing assignment and it did not go well. E immediately was angry and avoidant at the idea of writing a story about something other than what he wanted. I created 5 character types and 5 plot climaxes for him to randomly select one of each. When he chose the “girl” as the character, he became very angry and completely avoided writing the story. After some time, I was able to walk around with him explaining how a girl could be any character he makes up. Ultimately he chose to make her a 20 year old inventor and the climax of climbing a mountain turned out to be her invention caused her house to fly to the top of a mountain! We did storyboarding with post it notes to capture the story ahead of time. Then, he was adamant that he was going to create the story using Pages. Sadly this did not go well because of struggles with finding a layout that was conducive to his story type. In the end, he dictated the story to me which I typed. Because the day was so difficult, we made a plan to have a “do-over” on Friday….

But, Thursday was not over yet… it was the Halloween party for his enrichment classes. He shared with his peers his costume and skit he had filmed and was excited to attend the party. Unfortunately the planned party did not offer any events conducive to him so we chose to go to the pumpkin patch instead. It was a bit of a letdown, but at least we got out of the house and he was able to pick out the year’s Stumpkin. Without further ado… may I present… Steve Jobs!

Finally, on Friday, E talked to dad in the morning about how he had to have a do-over day because he got so angry about the story writing the day before. Dad reminded him that he can talk to me about his struggles and that I can always help him find a way to do things that meets his needs. When E approached me before breakfast about the story writing, I of course accommodated. He stated he didn’t like sitting next to me to write because it makes him nervous. So, I left him with the task to write a story today while I went to the doctor… and to pick one of the Halloween activities that looked interesting to do on his own. He did not write his own story, but he did seem to enjoy doing ALL of the Halloween activities. A tradeoff… and a mental note for me to approach creative writing differently next time.

Whew! I’m just happy this week is in the books. We will file it away as a week of learning what does and does not work again.