Applying for a real job

Shane graduates high school this year, and now we are starting to look for a real job. His interest is in working in a day care centre, based on how good he was and how much fun he had last summer as a volunteer for 2 weeks at a kids' day camp.

The plan for today is to cold call some places in the area, meaning we don't have appointments but we will go to the places we like and just ask if they have any opportunities. Shane will need to be able to get to work either by walking or using public transit. That is the first consideration. I searched on Canada411.com for "Child Day Care" and put in our postal code. That gave me about 5 places he could walk to. I then googled the same thing, and that revealed another 2 potential places. I've made a list of addresses and wrote down the phone numbers.

The next step is making sure his resume is up to date, and I've printed off 5 clean copies. Resume writing is a real skill. I happen to have experience as a recruiter, so I am confident that Shane has a great resume. If you are not confident, and you can afford it, it would be worth-while to pay for a professional to write your resume, or at the least, get a trusted friend, who is good in English, or a teacher, to check your resume.

We also have an email from his supervisor of the day camp from last summer, giving feedback on Shane's performance. I have made copies of this and will attach it to the resume.

Today, we will go to the furthest places first. That way, we get some practice in with perhaps places we don't care as much about, and if we don't do well, it won't be as disappointing. We can also use these places as a test to see what their needs are, and maybe address some of these before we go to the better places. Shane does not have a current Police Record Check, for example, but that's an easy thing to get. We might also find out that our expectations about "helping out" in a day care centre is just not feasible, and we might have to re-adjust. Hopefully not, but we won't know until we try!

Wish us luck!
Lisa

Book report template: fiction - Harry Potter example

Dear Readers,

I have just re-posted the Book Report Template posting from January 2, 2012. It has a template plus an example using JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Check it out.

Happy reading,
Lisa

Dog Daycare Coop Program

Shane's work coop program has been getting a lot of press lately. In fact both of us were on CBC's The National last week. Here's the link to read the CBC article, and you can click on the video as well:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/01/18/toronto-mississauga-dog-daycare-school.html

We are all so proud of Shane. He expressed himself very well.

The program has done a lot to build his confidence. He really loves working with the dogs, he has had the chance to demonstrate his strong work ethic, and develop his organization skills, all in a safe environment since the program is run out of the school. Now the teachers have had a chance to see some of the skills and abilities that I see at home!

A big thank you to West Credit Secondary School, and the principal, Ms Sheahan, for building this program. It took courage and drive to make it happen. Shane's eyes have been opened to potential career paths working with animals, and he wants to apply for a summer job in a pet store.

Lisa

Book Report Template: Fiction - Free Worksheets

Book report templates seem to be the most popular on my blog, so I am re-publishing an old post. Simply right-click on an image, and either save to a file or print directly from this blog site. You do have to print each page separately.


I have previously posted a simple 1-page book report. It can be used by beginners or more advanced students to force brevity and work on summarizing skills. Here it is:

I have also developed a fuller book report for the more advanced reader. Remember when answering the questions to use proper sentences, and the good paragraph structure with opening sentence, supporting sentences, and closing statements. This structure can be used for book reports at any grade level. I have given an example using JK Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban".

Enjoy your reading!
Lisa

Wishing everyone a happy and successful 2012

Happy New Year!

I haven't posted in a long while, primarily because I have been too busy with my day job, and also because Shane is doing a coop program this semestre, working with dogs at a dog day care. He is having a wonderful time at this job, and it has really opened our eyes to some potential careers.

Pets are a very good way to engage your child/young adult with Autism or Asperger's. Dogs especially, give unconditional love, can be trained, and are good for developing responsibility. I've heard that horses and horse-back riding is also therapeutic.

Give something new a try in 2012! (But remember to plan it out and have a Plan B in case it doesn't work out.)

Lisa

Math - annual and hourly salaries calculations

Gearing up for final exams now. A bit of revision from the beginning of the semester will include BEDMAS, some basic adding and multiplication, then job pay types. Here are some new worksheets on "getting paid". They describe the various types of pay and the pros and cons of each, then how to calculate annual salaries and hourly pay rates.

Enjoy!

Math - recipe conversions and costs

Shane is currently doing an assignment in math that calls on the students to find recipes and convert them for a catering event, then research costs online, figure out the total cost, decide how much to charge per customer, and make a flyer to advertise for it. It's a huge assignment, and we've been practicing at home for a few weeks now, but the work has to be done in class.

Not a lot of structure was given, so, being the template queen that I am, I have developed a table to guide Shane through the conversion process and the costing of the ingredients. Here's a blank template, and an example for an egg salad sandwich. I thought it was pretty simple myself until I ran into a few details snags, then I realized how tricky this can be. For example, you only need 1/2 teaspoon of dill, but it is sold in bags by the gram! How many grams are in a teaspoon? Shane and I googled the question and volume to weight conversions depend entirely on what you are measuring. Shane's teacher said he could ask for help, and he would give him an estimate. Still - not so easy! I have a master's degree in statistics, and I was a little stumped for a while. My empathy is with these kids. I hope these templates that I post do provide some help.

Lisa