No, this is not going to be a big rant against the federal education department and the changes I would like to see in it, though I do have lots of those.  This post is about the big changes this year for our family in our own education department. 

Reagan was diagnosed with mild Asperger’s syndrome and ADHD last year and his doctors and I agreed it was time to send him to school full time where he could get the most practice in social situations as possible.  So, he is now going to a local charter school that is a much better fit for his needs than homeschooling or even the regular middle school.  He has been to school for a week now and loves it.  His first day at the school he bonded with another kid over, not sports teams, not music, but the dosage of ADHD medication they are both on.  Weird but true and believe it or not, we are thrilled.

We decided Cade needed some extra practice in the social department as well and needed a good challenge so he is now in the gifted program at the local middle school.  He also had a great first week and can’t wait to go back each day.  His favorite teacher so far is the one that had them throw spit balls at a map and then map the coordinates of their spit ball.  Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

I will admit that I was very nervous the first day of school.  More nervous than they were, though I didn’t let on.  I wanted to be able to homeschool all my kids, but have always been open to doing whatever is best for each kid.  Right now I think this is what these boys need and I was so relieved to know they made it through their first day in new schools with smiles on their faces. 

Levi and Liberty will be homeschooling with me this year.  I am excited to spend so much time focusing on just these two little ones who get the least of my attention most of the time.  They are such good buddies and excited to learn so I think we’ll have a fantastic year.  This week I started Harry Potter with Levi.  He has been dying to read it but I wouldn’t let him because I wanted to read it to him and with him.  He was really mad at me for a while, but when I explained that this was something special that mom wanted to do with just him he accepted it.  And it was so worth the wait.  His eyes lit up at the idea of chocolate frogs and magic wands and his giggles over the crazy wizard world have been priceless.  I would not give this opportunity away for all the free time in the world.  To me there is nothing more magical than snuggling together in my bed reading Harry Potter.

Liberty can’t wait to continue learning to read and write some more.  She has been begging me all summer and I’ve put her off long enough.  It’s time to start!

The two littles and I went on a picnic on Friday to the river.  In the past this activity would have ended in fighting between the kids and eventually yelling from me.  One time I marched them all back to the car  before they could even GET to the river because they were fighting.  But Friday was perfect.  We watched a hawk swoop down and catch a fish with it’s talons, Levi found a crayfish and they had a blast climbing all over the rocks. 

Here’s to a new adventure in education this year!  Wish us luck!