Day 2 of Distance Learning Has Been A Nightmare

We just finished up the 2nd day of distance learning and it's been a disaster. The school appears to be over capacity and struggling to meet the demand. Yesterday was full of connectivity issues and today has been the same. We are getting messages that too many kids are trying to log in to the same live lesson and therefore Emmett was unable to gain access. Elliott tried to do his live session but the audio went out and the video kept freezing. I totally get that things happen and that they may be able to get these issues fixed. I get that. My concern is that autistic kids tend to generalize and their very first experiences with distance learning have been negative and frustrating. I'll be honest and say…

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This school year has me nervous

The new school year starts tomorrow morning and we're as ready as we're going to be. We spent the day working around the house. I sat down with each of the boys an went through school stuff. I tried my best to mentally prepare everyone for what feels like a monumental undertaking. Elliott and Emmett's schedules are going to be a little different because Elliott is taking more classes. I don't foresee that being a huge problem though. I understand distance learning will be challenging. The first couple of days will be spent going through the motions and getting accustomed to their new schedule. For the most part, the boys can create their own schedules. There are some live classes that are required but the rest of the time is…

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I Need to Find an Attorney ASAP

It's been a really long night. I want to explain and at the same time, make an important announcement as well. I began my blogging journey over ten years ago with Lost and Tired. Eventually rebranded to The Autism Dad during my first separation in 2014 because I was starting a new journey. Eventually, I merged the two sites together and aside from a small gap of roughly six months, everything I've ever written is here. The missing six months happened during the merger and had to do with data corruption, if I recall correctly. During that period of time I wasn't really writing much anyway and while I wish I had everything intact, I've accepted this loss of data. When the sites were merged, I shutdown Lost and Tired.…

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Balancing work and kids and school and COVID19

I'm spending way too much time on the phone today trying to manage several problems at the same time and it's just a lot bit overwhelming. While I'm on what feels like a perpetual hold, waiting for a representative to answer, I'm working on tomorrow's podcast release. The kids are really demanding my attention today and there's simply not enough of me to go around. I feel incredibly flustered right now because I can't seem to accomplish anything today. Trying to find a balance between work and kids is so difficult right now. I imagine it's only going to get more difficult as school re-enters our life. I can't record anything until my replacement Rodecaster Pro arrives today. It's being replaced under warranty and I'm sorta dead in the water…

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Look what we found

So the boys and I were able to get out for a little bit last night. We went for a walk at a remote location about 20 minutes from home. We did see other people but were able to avoid them. The boys needed the time and while we were out, we found a few painted rocks along the way. Everyone found one except Gavin because he wasn't looking for any. Instead, he just listened to music and enjoyed the short walk. I'm not sure we'll be able to get out again this week but I'm glad we were able to last night.

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What do I mean when I say we’re on lockdown?

I wanted to clarify something. When I say that we're on lockdown, I'm referring to the fact that 99.95% of the time we're at home. We have zero contact with other people. The boys have seen their mom twice because everyone needs to quarantine for 14 days prior to the kids going over. It's not as easy for them to do that. We connect with my parents through Facebook portal and the kids love it. They've stopped by and we've visited from good distance away but that's pretty rare because my neighborhood is pretty active and no one is following the mask mandate. I don't want my parents taking any chances either. That said, I do try to get the kids out into the woods a few times a week…

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I’ve been a single parent for exactly 1 year today and I have some thoughts

It's been one year since I became a single parent again. I've said before that I'm really weird with milestones and anniversaries because they mark moments in my life that were impactful for whatever reason. Maybe I'm too sentimental but it's just sorta the way I am. Everything in my life changed on August 10, 2019. I've been quite busy these last 365 days because the kids require the vast majority of my time and energy. Who am I kidding, they require more time and energy than I have on a good day. While none of this has been or likely will ever be easy, I've experienced a great deal of personal growth along the way. I'm learning a great deal about myself. What I deserve, what I don't deserve,…

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