Children are not a burden to escape or endure; they are a blessing that drives us to Christ because we are incapable of parenting well without Him. - Kim Brenneman

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

But i thought your kids where going to school...

So I'm sure you may be a little confused at my recent posts on homeschooling, because in fact my two older boys are attending "school" outside of the home. Well let me explain for you. We are still homeschooling, but our boys educations are being supplemented elsewhere. Joshua is currently attending a christian preschool a couple hours a week, and Daniel works with speech therapist and special needs teachers a couple hours a week. The reason being for Joshua to be in the preschool is that he hasn't had the opportunity to spend time with "typical" peers very much. Though Joshua is not severe by any means in the autism community, he still is behind socially and is learning how to interact with his peers. We have seen nothing but good come from his having play time at the preschool and it has helped him open up and be more social towards people he does not know. In no way do i expect him to gain any sort of education other than that of making friends, because most of what they are teaching in the preschool he already knows. It's been great to see him make friends and form relationships with children that i feel comfortable with and know their parents. It has also been a great joy and help to me to meet other moms with children similar to my children's age and i have been greatly encouraged by them. After the term of preschool is over i am going to try and find activities for Joshua to do with other children so that he can stay connected with friends... maybe swimming lessons since he loves the water so much, at this point I'm not sure, but i really like being able to choose positive interactions for him.
For Daniel the speech therapy is actually offered through the local public school here. As much as i am not a big fan of the public school system, i really like Daniel's special needs teachers. I've known them and worked with them now for about 3 years. They know my standards and what i expect and how very much i love my children and want the best for them and they have been very good at working with me and making Daniel's education the very best that we can. They know that i home school my children and they have seen the fruits of my labor and they respect me for the work that i do, so it's a good relationship. Daniel spends 2 hours a week with them getting intense speech therapy (which sounds really boring, but it's actually quite fun and involves a lot of playing and noise making). He always comes away from his time with them happy, more "talkative" and ready to play more with me and his brothers. I've prayed and prayed over these "school" situations and i feel the Lord's peace and leading in the boys having the extra supplement of this kind of schooling right now. It's neat to see also that through them I am able to witness to others. Just by loving them, caring for them and being who Christ calls me to be, others have seen Jesus through my actions and that really is my ultimate goal.
I'm sure as each year comes and brings it's own unique challenges we will fine tune the boys schooling, but first and foremost my boys education will always be structured around God and who they are in Christ.

1 comment:

Megan said...

I love you Kristen. This is AWESOME.