Transitions

Thanks so much to all of you, for your encouragement regarding our educational plan for Wyatt.  We have so much to be thankful for - starting with the fact that it is indeed a choice.  We have the freedom to keep him home full-time, to send him to school full-time, or to do what we're doing - cherry-pick what we want from the school.  I wish you all had that option!

Interestingly, (at least to me), Washington state is a great place for homeschoolers with respect to the laws we have governing and protecting our right to teach our own children.  We pay the same taxes as everyone else, so why shouldn't we use the schools as we wish as long as it's not disruptive to others?  Tate received services from a TOD (teacher of the deaf) for two or three years after we pulled the boys.  Gunnar had a year of speech therapy.  And now Wyatt is taking a few classes.  We'll keep a close eye on things, but I think he's ready for it.

When Wyatt was little... well... if you could have harnessed him you could have lit Seattle.  His brain, mouth, and body were going a million miles an hour.  All.  The.  Time.    Focus?  Oh look, a squirrel!  There were moments I wondered if we would all survive it.  (And we're not finished, yet, you know.)  But things are better.

In the last year I've seen him gaining a lot of maturity.  More self-control.  More cooperation.  Less provoking his brothers as a sport.  (Can I get an amen?!)  He still can have difficulty staying focused and on-task with things he doesn't love, like school work, but it's not a behavioral issue (in the sense of not trying or deliberately distracting himself or others.)  I see the young man coming out of the boy.  I hear him saying things like, I was sleepy in class today.  I need to get to bed earlier tonight.  Be still my beating heart.

And it's showing across the board.  Have I mentioned how much we're loving how well the boys are doing in Civil Air Patrol?  I don't just mean the fact that they're earning promotions, though that is rewarding, but how they're thriving in the program.  Both Wyatt and Tate are focused on goals they have at CAP.  Getting through Basic Encampment was huge for both of them. Not that I doubted they could do it, but it really boosted their confidence in a good way.

And speaking of CAP... Tate has been pushing himself to stay ahead of Wyatt, often earning promotions just a week or so before his older brother.  But Wyatt finally got the jump on him.  Meet

Sergeant G******

holding his Wright Brothers Award

and snapping me a salute :D

Getting to be quite the young man these days.