So I’m homeschooling my kids and I’m continuing RDI, and my son is progressing in all the ways that are important to me, but I’m starting to feel like our picturesque quiet existence is a little too…. well quiet.  We do a lot of outdoor activities, and all kinds of rich learning.  However, I felt that my son needed some challenging chaos in his life.  Not a lot, just a little.  I was thinking that maybe it was time to kick things up a notch.  So off I went, searching for a “school” type fit where I could still homeschool, but he could also be a part of a class.  I found a charter school that had a program for homeschoolers.  It was the perfect hybrid.  The kids would go to “school” for two days a week, and I would have them for the rest.  But then I started to wonder…..?

Would they let me enroll him as a Kindergartner?  You see, my son was 8 1/2, that is, chronologically; developmentally… he was more of a 3-4 year old (just barely).  In fact, I knew he probably wasn’t totally ready (I would have to be his personal aide).   That his experience would be just on the edge of what he could handle.  But I decided to go for it.  I remember wondering if there was some grand policy in the system that prevented such a move.  I mean, who does this?  Who enrolls and 8 1/2 year old as a kindergartner?  But, then I thought, why not?

Lucky for me, the school mixed the ages.  So the class he would be in was K-2nd grade.  Well, in that case, what’s the big deal?  Turned out it wasn’t.  I just filled out the application and turned it in.  And without any fuss or fanfare my children were in.  It took a couple of years before I could say my son was totally independent and well integrated in the class.  But since you can’t rush art (or development for that matter), we were not in any hurry; and we do not define ourselves by comparing ourselves with others.

Later, I would be grateful for my decision.  My son continued through the years, in regular ed environments.  Yes, he was “older” than his classmates but these younger classmates were his true peers.  And his learning was more in alignment with his interests.  Now, he is 16.  He will be starting high school in the fall of 2019.  He will start his freshman year at close to 17.  Our homeschooling days will come to an end.  But what a foundation he has.  He is a self taught child; self driven.  And I have no doubt that he will continue his learning journey in the way he started it; learning about himself and his sense of purpose in the world.  Oh, the places you’ll go.