Acer and School

We now have a whopping four weeks of school under our belt and despite the early wake up, Acer seems to be loving it.  We still have to get up at 6 AM to catch the bus at 7:30, but we're getting into more of a routine.  Sometimes Bill will do the whole routine by himself, sometimes I will, but usually both of us get up to do different portions.  I usually feed Acer and the dogs and then pick out Acer's clothes. Bill wakes Acer up and carries him to the bathroom for a first thing visit, and then carries him down the stairs for breakfast.  After breakfast, Bill's in charge of showering and drying and the dressing part could fall to either or both depending on how and when Acer makes his usual break for it into the hallway and down the stairs.  Nothing boring about our routine, Acer adds excitement and challenge all the time.

Acer has a long bus ride to the only classroom for VI (visually impaired) children in the county.  We could have kept him closer, but that would have simply put him in a classroom with learning disabled kids and wouldn't have given him the best schooling available.  

The HUGE plus is that Acer is one of only three kids in the classroom most of the time.  Acer is the youngest, the other two boys are about 8 and 10.  There is a first grade girl who comes in occasionally for some extra help, but she is usually mainstreamed in her own classroom.  Three Boys, and One Teacher and One Para-Pro, I can't think of anything better.  He gets the individualized attention he needs and he can learn at his own pace, which seems to be pretty rapid.  

Twice weekly the O & M (Orientation and Mobility) teacher comes in and helps Acer with his Cane work.  When Acer hears her he asks if they're going to go for a walk.  She writes notes about every two weeks and tells us things he says like 'Does the Xylophone want to climb the tree?' in response to her question 'Do you want to climb the tree?'

Daily, Acer brings me something home; some picture he's colored in, generally circles made with puff paint, but now he even asks for crayons.  He's made so many things I think I'm going to use them as Christmas Cards if I can keep track of them all.

Weekly his teacher sends home a list of what happened each day, it sounds like so much fun.  Of course when you're this little, play is learning.

So, even though I have a VERY grumpy and tired Acer to take off the bus each day at noon, I know we made a good choice and am so glad he has good caring teachers.