Austin just shared an observation with me. He pointed out that the good guy almost aways gets in a situation where it looks like he's totally lost. But then at the last moment something changes and he wins and the bad guy can't believe it. I shared with him that this was a classic aspect of most modern story telling. We then explored several other stories that he's familiar with that all shared that common pattern.
Now I want to go look up other story patterns and share with him :)
Monday, November 9, 2009
Lego Star Wars Trivia Lesson
Today, Austin invited me to play Lego Star Wars with him. He had a few ships set up on the living room floor. Initially, I resisted. I've been aware, lately, that I am uncomfortable having Austin guide the learning process and I've wanted to have some input of my own. I reminded him that I had planned to take him to the library today, but he really didn't want to go out in the rain. I worried that, by not going to the library during our two hours together, I would have to take extra time away from my work to do the library run. So, I reasoned, it would be best to do the trip to the library with Austin, during our time together.
Skye is home today, not feeling well. I shared my concerns with him, and came to my own conclusion that I could do the library trip at the end of my work day instead, so I could spend time with Austin, uninterrupted.
So, I went back to Austin and let him know that I could go to the library later, so let's have our time together. Skye had suggested that I ask Austin if he'd like to dictate a story to me, and I would type it for him. Austin said, "That's not really my thing. I don't want to do that. Let's just play Lego." I responded, "Well, I'm not going to play Lego, so we'll have to think of something else to do." And so the awkwardness began... Austin said he doesn't understand, if he is doing SelfDesign, why can't we just play Lego together? He pointed out, if he were with a SelfDesign LC, they'd just say, "Ok, let's play Lego." So, I had to leave the room again ;) I consulted Skye. I think part of my reason for resisting playing with Lego, was to satisfy Skye's suggestion to type up a story. When I shared with Skye, my conversation with Austin, Skye agreed ... just play Lego with him.
So, perhaps not entirely willingly, I returned to the living room, prepared to participate in Lego play. I asked Austin if it is possible for the Jedi to have peaceful relations with others in the Universe. Austin said, it is. We set out to locate General Grievous, whom we found, with light sabres blazing. Austin had Yoda on the Republic Gunship (Austin built this himself, from scratch, modeling after a kit he wants to buy someday). Yoda exited the passenger hold, and performed many fancy maneuvers to battle with Grievous. Grievous was on the run. Austin asked me to hold the Republic Attack Shuttle aimed toward Grievous, so he couldn't escape. Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka (Anakin's Padawan) were on board the Attack Shuttle. Austin built the Attack Shuttle from a kit, and made a few modifications. Four passengers can now fit on board, instead of only three when guns are loaded in the passenger hold. The cockpit is also an escape pod. Austin explained, if Anakin needed to escape, I could simply pretend that Anakin had walked into the cockpit, then I could pop off the escape pod and fly away.
Austin also built a Slave I (Jango Fett's ship), modeled after a kit he wants to buy (oh my goodness, I just looked this up - it's $310!!). I told Austin that I like his creations even better than the kits. He's actually done a really good job of creating vehicles that closely resemble the kits. On the weekend, Austin helped Aidan to convert his AT-TE into an AT-AT Walker. Aidan absolutely loves it!
After the battle with Grievous continued, and all I was doing was holding the Shuttle above him, I became bored, and asked Austin if we could do something else.
Austin suggested some Trivia. He said I could ask him a few questions and he would ask me, so we could make a game of it. I don't know my Star Wars characters and vehicles very well, so we didn't get very far. Austin took this as an opportunity to teach me about Star Wars, so he proceeded to teach a lesson for 45 minutes, on parts of the vehicles, and a battle scene. My head is spinning with missile launchers, laser cannons, Cyborgs, Droidecas, Speeders, Walkers, Battle Armour, etc. Austin plans to quiz me tomorrow, to see how much I've remembered.
Skye is home today, not feeling well. I shared my concerns with him, and came to my own conclusion that I could do the library trip at the end of my work day instead, so I could spend time with Austin, uninterrupted.
So, I went back to Austin and let him know that I could go to the library later, so let's have our time together. Skye had suggested that I ask Austin if he'd like to dictate a story to me, and I would type it for him. Austin said, "That's not really my thing. I don't want to do that. Let's just play Lego." I responded, "Well, I'm not going to play Lego, so we'll have to think of something else to do." And so the awkwardness began... Austin said he doesn't understand, if he is doing SelfDesign, why can't we just play Lego together? He pointed out, if he were with a SelfDesign LC, they'd just say, "Ok, let's play Lego." So, I had to leave the room again ;) I consulted Skye. I think part of my reason for resisting playing with Lego, was to satisfy Skye's suggestion to type up a story. When I shared with Skye, my conversation with Austin, Skye agreed ... just play Lego with him.
So, perhaps not entirely willingly, I returned to the living room, prepared to participate in Lego play. I asked Austin if it is possible for the Jedi to have peaceful relations with others in the Universe. Austin said, it is. We set out to locate General Grievous, whom we found, with light sabres blazing. Austin had Yoda on the Republic Gunship (Austin built this himself, from scratch, modeling after a kit he wants to buy someday). Yoda exited the passenger hold, and performed many fancy maneuvers to battle with Grievous. Grievous was on the run. Austin asked me to hold the Republic Attack Shuttle aimed toward Grievous, so he couldn't escape. Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka (Anakin's Padawan) were on board the Attack Shuttle. Austin built the Attack Shuttle from a kit, and made a few modifications. Four passengers can now fit on board, instead of only three when guns are loaded in the passenger hold. The cockpit is also an escape pod. Austin explained, if Anakin needed to escape, I could simply pretend that Anakin had walked into the cockpit, then I could pop off the escape pod and fly away.
Austin also built a Slave I (Jango Fett's ship), modeled after a kit he wants to buy (oh my goodness, I just looked this up - it's $310!!). I told Austin that I like his creations even better than the kits. He's actually done a really good job of creating vehicles that closely resemble the kits. On the weekend, Austin helped Aidan to convert his AT-TE into an AT-AT Walker. Aidan absolutely loves it!
After the battle with Grievous continued, and all I was doing was holding the Shuttle above him, I became bored, and asked Austin if we could do something else.
Austin suggested some Trivia. He said I could ask him a few questions and he would ask me, so we could make a game of it. I don't know my Star Wars characters and vehicles very well, so we didn't get very far. Austin took this as an opportunity to teach me about Star Wars, so he proceeded to teach a lesson for 45 minutes, on parts of the vehicles, and a battle scene. My head is spinning with missile launchers, laser cannons, Cyborgs, Droidecas, Speeders, Walkers, Battle Armour, etc. Austin plans to quiz me tomorrow, to see how much I've remembered.
Testing, testing, 1,2,3 ...
This has been testing week for Austin. He is going through a comprehensive psycho-educational assessment with a registered child psychologist (Joan). This assessment involves three 2-hour sessions 1:1, Joan:Austin. November 3 was the first session, November 6 the second, and November 10 will be the final session.
On November 3, Austin brought a couple Lego creations to show Joan, and Joan was very obliging. She likes Lego and was curious about what they were and how they worked. Austin came out of the first session feeling really validated. It was cute, because Joan said, enthusiastically, "Neat kid! He has lots of smarts. He's so creative. We just have to find another way for him to express himself that doesn't involve writing." I agreed that Austin is very creative and has lots of imaginative ideas, and Austin looked accusingly at me, asking "Then why did you yell at me yesterday, saying I wasn't learning anything?" I didn't go into an explanation for Joan, I just said, "Yes, we had an altercation yesterday." Joan nodded and explained that she had heard all about it.
Truth is, I was busy working in my office, and Austin was playing Lego in his bedroom above me. I could hear "Pchew, pchew....." and had a pang of guilt that I wasn't properly educating my son, or adequately engaging him in "academic" pursuits. So, with this thought fueling my words, I suggested to Austin, that he consider doing a "learning" activity instead. Austin insisted that he *is* learning. And we got into an argument. It's particularly challenging when my head says one thing, and my heart reminds me that Austin is a 10-year-old boy and children learn through play.
On the second day of testing, Joan explained that Austin measured in the 99th percentile on the Patterns section of the test. So far, I don't know much about what this would indicate about Austin, but I gather these results are atypical. Skye and I will meet with Joan on the 12th, to discuss the results of the testing. Joan will write up an extensive and comprehensive report for us to use whenever we feel it would be appropriate and helpful. This is the nice part about seeking an assessment privately - we are in control of how/if the results are used in Austin's education.
Tomorrow, Austin will complete the testing. I'll pick him up early, from Academie Duello.
On November 3, Austin brought a couple Lego creations to show Joan, and Joan was very obliging. She likes Lego and was curious about what they were and how they worked. Austin came out of the first session feeling really validated. It was cute, because Joan said, enthusiastically, "Neat kid! He has lots of smarts. He's so creative. We just have to find another way for him to express himself that doesn't involve writing." I agreed that Austin is very creative and has lots of imaginative ideas, and Austin looked accusingly at me, asking "Then why did you yell at me yesterday, saying I wasn't learning anything?" I didn't go into an explanation for Joan, I just said, "Yes, we had an altercation yesterday." Joan nodded and explained that she had heard all about it.
Truth is, I was busy working in my office, and Austin was playing Lego in his bedroom above me. I could hear "Pchew, pchew....." and had a pang of guilt that I wasn't properly educating my son, or adequately engaging him in "academic" pursuits. So, with this thought fueling my words, I suggested to Austin, that he consider doing a "learning" activity instead. Austin insisted that he *is* learning. And we got into an argument. It's particularly challenging when my head says one thing, and my heart reminds me that Austin is a 10-year-old boy and children learn through play.
On the second day of testing, Joan explained that Austin measured in the 99th percentile on the Patterns section of the test. So far, I don't know much about what this would indicate about Austin, but I gather these results are atypical. Skye and I will meet with Joan on the 12th, to discuss the results of the testing. Joan will write up an extensive and comprehensive report for us to use whenever we feel it would be appropriate and helpful. This is the nice part about seeking an assessment privately - we are in control of how/if the results are used in Austin's education.
Tomorrow, Austin will complete the testing. I'll pick him up early, from Academie Duello.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Conversational Tidbits
Over the past few days, we have had several conversations with Austin, on different subjects.
Prehistoric ecosystems in modern-day Argentina: Today, I mentioned to Austin that my friend and her family will be travelling to Argentina. Austin said she was travelling to the home of some of the largest land creatures ever to live on the earth. I asked if he was referring to Argentinosaurus, and he clarified, also Giganotosaurus. He explained that it would be necessary to have a suitably large carnivore living amongst those large herbivores, or else life would not be sustainable. He really gets the concept of ecosystems.
How many minutes in a day?:
On the drive to Coquitlam yesterday, Austin and Aidan were discussing time, and wondering how many minutes there were in a day. Skye invited them to work out the answer. Since they know how many hours are in a day, and how many minutes in an hour, they can work out how many minutes are in a day. After about a minute of silence, Austin said, "1,440." Skye asked Austin how he had figured it out, and he explained that he worked out 60 times 20 = 1,200, then asked Aidan to remember the number 12. Then, Austin worked out 6 times 4 = 24 and multiplied that by 10 to equal 240, then he added the 240 to 1,200 to get 1,440. This is very close to the approach Carla used. Skye calculated 60 times 10 plus 60 times 2 to work out how many minutes are in half a day, then doubled it to get the same answer.
Many of the world's languages are disappearing:
This evening, on the drive to Austin's music lesson, we were listening to CBC radio, a discussion about the prediction that, over the next 100 years, 90% of the world's languages that exist today, will be extinct. We heard an introduction to the first of Wade Davis' Massey Lectures. Wade Davis has recently written the book, "The Wayfinders; Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World." I told Austin that, with his special skill with learning languages, he could help to preserve some of these threatened languages. I also told him that his Grandma teaches a language that is at risk of being lost - the Kaska language. I reminded Austin about his Kaska name, Quain (sp?), which means "Woodchuck." Austin suggested that he create a new language, rather than work to preserve a language that's going to die anyway. He explained that he creates faster than he destroys, so perhaps this would be a way to preserve the idea of multiple world languages - giving birth to new ones. The interviewee (Professor Arrister?) was explaining that it takes a linguist 4-5 years to collect and record everything he/she can from a dying language. It is Arrister's hope that, by preserving a language, they will succeed in preserving its culture, traditions and storytelling that have been passed down through the generations.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
An afternoon at Science World
We showed up for one of the Home Learner sessions put on by Science World. It was something about plants but the kids didn't get much out of it other than to build some paper air planes (which was *not* what the organizers were asking them to do). That's not quite true. Austin does like to grow plants so he was happy to come home with his packet of dirt and seeds. They are now "planted" in a couple of our nice tall drinking glasses ... I think that we need to find a better home for them.
While there we stopped to watch one of the science demonstrations. Austin was impressed by the exploding balloon of Hydrogen. I think he said something like, "Cool! The air actually burned!" He then got a chance to go on stage and add the oxygen to the fire that was cooking in some kind of pot (the presenter wasn't really clear what she was burning but it was a good demonstration of the need for the 3 ingredients of fire; fuel, heat and oxygen). The final demonstration was "shooting air" using air guns which were finally filled with smoke from a smoke machine. Austin really liked the slow motion rings that were shot over the crowd.
We hadn't eaten much lunch due to our hectic schedule so we caved in and ate at the White Spot (yuck). Austin had some interesting observations and questions. First he was frustrated with their fixed menu (you can't order it if it's not in their computer). Then he had some very out of the box ideas about how he'd run a restaurant if given the chance (something about letting anyone who knows how to cook to choose how they want their food which then led to a discussion about a reality TV show idea that would be called, "so you think you can cook"). He also didn't like the service and wanted to know if the owners of businesses always made more money than their employees. Then he observed that the purpose of businesses was to sell things to people at a price that is higher than what they paid for it (or paid for the parts & work to build something). He then asked how insurance companies made money (they don't resell anything and they don't build anything). Business was certainly the theme of those conversations.
Scuba Diving at Whytecliff Park - Day 2
Wet and cold. That's the main theme for today's diving.
Austin spent about 1.5 hours diving today and managed to complete all but one of the skills needed to get his open water certification. He was limited by the thick gloves, the wetsuit hood and the cold water. He should do OK closer to summer when the water is warmer.
There were 3 seals keeping an eye on them ... or hoping that they'd surface with one of the many large crabs they saw on the bottom! Oh, and Austin found a discarded snorkel on the bottom.
Austin was quite cold by the time he got out of his wetsuit but a few cups of hot chocolate and several layers of clothing took care of that.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Scuba Diving at Whytecliff Park
Today, Austin did his first two of four PADI Junior Openwater dives at Whytecliff Park with his amazing instructor, Chelsea Cameron, from The Diving Locker. Chelsea works so well with Austin and genuinely enjoys his nature and sense of humour.
It took over an hour to get suited up in the wetsuit, neoprene boots and gloves, attach his buoyancy compensation vest/device (BCD), regulator and gauge to the air tank, don his 20-pound weight belt, mask and snorkel, and waddle (Austin's description) over logs to the frigid water, fins in hand. Chelsea was so patient through the process, helping Austin with his weight belt where he collapsed in a heap of drama (wink, wink) with still a few metres remaining to the shore. Even the tank and gear themselves are quite heavy, particularly for a boy of 10 to carry. I called the weight belt Austin's "ticket to adventure," because without it, he'd just skim the water's surface.
In the days and weeks leading up to today's dives, Austin has been really enthusiastic and eager to go. He noticed a slight leak in the hose connector to his BCD and was fairly concerned that he may run out of air on his dive. Chelsea assured him that it was a very small leak, and he needn't worry about running out of air. Nonetheless, he felt compelled to repeatedly check his gauge (3000 psi), insisting the needle must have moved a millimetre while they were finishing suiting up.
Chelsea said Austin did really well. We're lucky it wasn't raining. It was quite cold, and Austin was certainly ready to dry off and warm up after spending about 75 minutes in the water (they didn't get out between dives - just floated at the surface). Austin enjoyed the underwater scene so much that Chelsea said he didn't want to end the second dive.
The skill Austin needs to master tomorrow, to qualify for his certificate, is mask removal and clearing while kneeling on the ocean floor. Today, he panicked during the mask-clearing exercise, when he accidentally breathed in some ocean water through his nose. He ripped his regulator out of his mouth, and surfaced in a hurry. This is quite a dangerous panic response, but very typical of new divers of all ages. Chelsea suggested filling up the bathroom sink with ice cold water, wearing the mask and snorkel, breathing through the snorkel while removing and replacing his mask. Austin practiced this several times, using his strategy of holding his nose once he removed the mask. Skye and I have tried to encourage Austin not to hold his nose, because it simply won't be practical when he's demonstrating the skill tomorrow, with 3mm-thick neoprene gloves on his hands!
In the first dive, they went as deep as 24 feet for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure how deep they went for the second dive, but Austin explained that a subsequent dive would generally be more shallow than the previous dive on the same day.
Austin marvelled at the huge crabs, lumpy seastars, jellyfish and anemones he saw during the dive. He said we don't need our crab trap anymore - he can catch them himself!! I think we can give him the job of cleaning the hull of our boat (wink, wink).
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