School's Out! Kindof...

Sam's last day of ninth grade, for all intents and purposes, was this Tuesday. His brother's last day of school is tomorrow. While Sam has had remarkable achievements this year, he still can stand to hone his skills with multiplication tables, reading and writing.

One thing that is so hard for him to understand is that, as his mom, it is totally within my right to assign him homework. He feels that because 1. a paid teacher doesn't assign homework, and 2. it's summer time, that learning stops. Oh, he's in for a rude awakening.

We're going tomorrow morning to pick up some workbooks at the teacher's store. He will have a hand in choosing them, but he has to pick workbooks for math, reading, and reading comprehension, and writing while we're at it. Due to my work situation, I'm now a working stay-at-home mom, and can monitor this, so Sam can earn the privilege to watch tv, or play a computer game, or something by getting his academic stuff done in the morning while he's fresh.

I have often thought about homeschooling him. I even explored the home school options on the NC Department of Public Instruction website, and what I found there, is that no paperwork or official documentation has to be done in order to have a summer homeschool program. Mmmmm....looks like all the kids will be homeschooled this summer.

I have found that due to Sam's autism, he thrives on schedules, routines, and knowing what is going to happen in a day. That really stands for all kids, actually. So this summer, you'll see us at the pool, the bowling alley (thanks to free summer passes for bowling!), multiple doctor visits, therapeutic horseback riding -- but not before homework is done.