See How We Are

This is back to school week in my world. My son is going to be in 4th grade this year, which is a rather pivotal year in the grand scheme of things. He is going to have more homework, higher functioning with learning (hello long division!) and more responsibility. I don’t know who this excites more-me or him!
There is a reality flip side to all of this too. Underneath it all, at the end of the day, he still has high functioning autism. I can tick off all his accomplishments-no aide, toilet trained, functional language, makes eye contact, few obvious stim behaviors, no toe walking and more-which are all wonderful triumphs. Sometimes, we even forget about the autism for a few brief shining moments. The quirky behaviors can amuse us, and lull us into thinking that all is swell. However, there is still autism, no matter if you call it Aspergers, PDD, ODD, HFA or whatever alphabetical combination and permutation du jour exists. There is still awkwardness in social interactions. He doesn’t understand why people don’t want to hear every aspect of the 479 Hot Wheels cars he collects. He doesn’t do well on the phone with people since he can’t detect subtle things like sarcasm or voice intonations-he needs to see the body language and pick up his cues that way. Play dates are hard too, because he doesn’t understand why if they are at our house, the friend doesn’t want to play his way. It’s a sincere attempt to be “neurotypical”, but it doesn’t always succeed.
The beginning of the school year is always hard, with new sights and sounds and smells. Having to explain his situation, his likes and dislikes and all that works and doesn’t for him is exhausting. Getting used to how a new teacher does things is a challenge, and my kiddo likes to push the envelope as far as he can. With the increased level of learning and work required, I am already steeling myself for increased meltdowns. I am prepared for tears and screaming and door slamming over homework.
I prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. Reality settles somewhere in between.

Back to School Again

I need to keep my sanity in the mornings. One way to do that is to start the night before. I set up the coffee maker.
 I pack lunches. I make sure what needs to go with us the next day is by the door.

 We have a launch pad by the door to the garage, so we are able to have everything there, at the ready

.

All we have to do is add lunches and we are out the door.

I struggle with disorganization to begin with. Asperger’s is not exactly known as a disorder characterized by super organized people…so we are quite the pair!

By getting everything done the night before, it elminates that running around like a chicken trying to escape col. Sanders.

Me and Julio, Down by the School Yard

I am all about upcycling, and I found a great project for Crystal Lite containers.

We drink a lot of crystal lite instead of soda, and always have tons of containers.
One way to repurpose is to turn them into pen cups!

take a crystal lite container
remove the label

modge podge paper to it

let dry
enjoy!

Hot for Teacher

You’ve heard of an apple for the teacher?

 Instead of an apple, why not apple cinnamon power muffins?

Complete in an upcycled tee shirt bag

AKA Public School

To streamline things, especially now that the little man is getting older, and getting more homework, we have a command center for homework.
All assignment due dates go on the calendar in the kitchen so we know what’s going on and when things are due. We also have on the calendar things like library days, spelling tests and log sheets that are due so we can make sure all that is done and ready to go each week.


 There’s a decorated pencil cup made out of an upcycled crystal light canister, as well as paper and the laptop.







I am not a big fan of silence, so I don’t mind if the little man has background noise when he’s studying. It makes a less than pleasant task more pleasant.

Be True to Your School

Every year, for the official night of back to school we eat a special meal that the Little Man picks.


We eat on our fine china. My china is inherited from my grandmother, who in turn inherited from her mother in law.

We drink sparkling grape juice out of our wedding crystal.

This year, his favorite meal is pizza.

And for dessert, cupcakes

Its a great way to start the year

School Days

For every school year, we have a “theme” to kick it off.

 Last year’s theme was “Be Prepared”.

The theme for this year is “Be Smart”. 

I make a banner with the theme spelled out.

To make the banner you need:

paper

letter stickers

yarn or string

scissors

glue or tape

cut the paper into triangles

glue or tape to string/yarn

hang up

We also make a poster for it-cutting out pictures from magazines reflecting what the theme means to us. It’s a great way to energize the troops for the upcoming year.

We Rule the School

School starts in August in our part of the country. I am more of an after Labor Day kind of gal, but I am working on adjusting to it!

There is so much more to getting ready for school other than just buying new clothes and supplies.
 

Little Man goes to summer camp, so he gets up at the same time year round, luckily.
 

 

 For some kids, its hard to make that adjustment.
 

 Its always exciting to see who will be in our class, who our teacher is and what the new year brings.