Talking

Bohdin's favorite game in soccer practice is Sharks and Minnows.  The coaches kick the ball and try to hit the kids.  If a child is hit they have to lay on the ground until somebody jumps over their legs.  They usually play before practice begins.  Bohdin complains that the kids don't jump over his legs.  It's actually a problem other kids have as well since Bohdin is the one most often saving the kids.  If he is down other kids lay for a long time as well.  I thought it might be beneficial if he was friendlier to some of the other kids and maybe they would look out for him.  I told him that when he walked into practice this week I wanted him to look one the kids in the eye and say hi.  I'm not sure if he did or not.  Everybody was already playing by the time we arrived. 

Bohdin is in a different class this session with some older kids this time.  The class is for 6 and up.  It's the same coaches though and they are used to dealing with his crying by now.  He still cries at least once every practice.  The thing that has changed is that he doesn't run out to me for a hug anymore.  He goes to his coaches.  They are really good with him.  They sort of cheat for him a little bit to help him out.  For instance they play a game where you have to dribble the ball from one end to the other.  In the middle the coaches are crabs that try to kick your ball away.  If your ball is kicked away you become a crab also.  Bohdin is so slow and meticulous that the coaches could easily get him out the first run through but they never do.  I'm not sure how much it helps because Bohdin is sad whenever he becomes a crab even though it happens to everyone each time.  He loves soccer and is excited to go every week.  He even wishes it was longer.

Another homeschooling mom put together a public speaking event for elementary kids.  We haven't done it but I decided it might be good for him.  We showed up on Friday for the monthly meeting.  I didn't expect Bohdin to participate.  We just went to observe in the hopes that he could someday be comfortable enough to do it.  He enjoyed it.  The kids were nice.  There were two older girls in particular that were great.  I loved how their comments to everyone at the end of a presentation was a compliment to the presenter.  Bohdin has talked about doing it next month and we may try.  My idea so far is to have Bohdin and Nyla do it together.  If I make Nyla memorize what they want to say it could work.  At some point she may fail and I think Bohdin would be most comfortable speaking in front of a crowd by helping Nyla. 

When we came home Bohdin was looking forward to playing with the neighbor girls.  One had asked him to play on Thursday but he told her he couldn't because of soccer practice.  Bohdin put his shoes on as soon as he heard the bus pull up at 5.  Both he and Nyla went over to play for a few minutes.  Watching him interact with the girls made me think how silly it is to force him to speak to random people.  Bohdin has always had his own time line in developing skills and nothing I do moves that time line up. 

While Bohdin was waiting for the school bus he was looking at his Playmobil magazine.  He asked me to help him read a certain portion.  I told him to read to me and I would help him when he came to a word he didn't know.  He only needed help with a few words.  I was amazed at how many big words he could read.  His reading has improved so much.  I haven't asked him to read a book in months.   His reading practice is reading board game rules.  He likes to get the board games out and play with them on his own.  Sometimes he'll set them up and read the rules.  Often he combines several games together and makes up rules.