Working on Being A Social Caterpillar

I'd say social butterfly, but we're not there yet. We've been joining more of the homeschool activities, including regular Wednesday soccer and playtime as well as any field trips anyone offers. We're starting to recognize and be recognized by others, which is a nice thing.

It has cut back significantly on some of our class hours for those days, which had me a little uptight, but I've gotten over that, mostly because, as Rocket Boy has been running around with all the other homeschool kids, I've been starting to chat with the other parents. It seems like most of the ones I manage to talk with (before I bury myself back in my book) are no so much homeschooling as unschooling. The fact that I use workbooks and aim for 4 solid hours of educational stuff every day makes me an overachiever in most of their eyes. I guess that means I can lighten up on myself a bit.

So even though I've supposedly lightened up, we spent yesterday and today doing lots of workbook stuff - yesterday was nearly all math, and today was all about writing. He rarely objects to writing when it comes to numbers, but he still struggles a bit. I was really surprised at today's writing exercises. This morning, Rocket Boy and his dad blessedly went to run some errands at our local office supply store so I could sleep. While there, they picked up yet another 1st grade writing skills book. I don't know what it is about this book rather than the others, but it had him more engaged. They also picked up a package of silicone grips. We placed them on his pencil (and I let him chew one to keep him from chewing on his shirt all day). Either the book with it's self-evaluation at the end of each activity, the grips, the chewing, or some magic combination of the three made it such that the writing got done with lots of the usual prodding but none of the angst. His writing was far cleaner and neater. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll take it.

I still need to do some research on therapies for him. The chewing has gotten more consistent and his trouble with the writing has led me to look into other therapies for his fine motor skills. I need to pay more attention to his sensory seeking more often and provide more stimulation throughout the day. I'm also going to look into rock climbing for him. There's a kid's gym nearby that has a wall. I'll find out tomorrow about the cost. I really hope it's not too expensive, I think it would be perfect for him.

As for myself, I need to get out there a little more with the other homeschool parents. My social skills are rough and it's far easier to read a book during soccer than to actually interact. I feel like I need to read a primer of how to talk to strangers. If I can have at least three conversations with other parents tomorrow, I'll feel like I accomplished something. Besides that, I need to look into organizing a few activities. I'd like to start a regular gardening club of some sort, or an outing group that has to do with the gardens. I'm certainly qualified to do those and it will help me meet more parents. I wouldn't want to do it as a one-shot, mostly because I want the kids to get some regularly repeated playtime with the same kids over a few weeks so they can actually form relationships. I've told myself that I'll wait until after the never ending taxes are done before I add something else to my plate. (Yes, we are last-minute filers. Every year we owe, so every year we wait to file till the very last minute. It takes forever to do them since we take so many deductions. It is a bit of a marathon. Sure we could have run this marathon in February, but we didn't. The marathon is all the same to us, no matter when it is. So there.)