Homeschooling with Autism is different sometimes.
Me: So is your writing assignment ready to turn in to Miss Liz?
D1: (Silence)
Me: Please bring me the laptop so I can see your writing.
D1 (10 minutes later, minus laptop): Hey Mom, did you know that if you put a Bh and an HH into a punnet square, you can predict the genetic characteristics of… (something mumbo-jumbo about genetics that is way over my head…)
Me: *Facepalm* (We have now entered The Twilight Zone.) Is that a who-which clause or and -ly dressup?
Lately he’s become very interested in genetics, since he is covering chapters on it in his Time4Learning Biology. Science has always been his natural passion. He breathes it. He excells in science so much that last year, we did Physical Science without a curriculum, and he did it on his own for the most part. He aced the science portion of the 9th grade standardized test we did. Tested a few years ahead, in fact.
Biology is a new line of science for him, but he is enjoying it. I have to keep telling myself that developing new interests is a GOOD thing. That doing his high school Biology online is a GOOD thing, because if we had to rely on a textbook he would never get anything done. I do mean never. It just wouldn’t happen.
Homeschooling on a Very Tight Budget
I can’t help but wonder about next year, since this is our last year homeschooling. He does great within the structure of a classroom, but what about read-and-answer-questions type homework assignments?
I know that his moving on is for the best. This kid has it in his head that he wants to go to college! He even knows which one. Of course, that is entirely based on the fact that he spent three weeks living on the campus last summer, for his stuttering management program. He is comfortable there, so naturally that’s where he wants to go.
I don’t even know if college is a real possibility yet, but I do have hope for his interests to become passions which will grow into a career for him. And hope that he WILL learn to get through an entire writing assignment without needing to have the next step prompted every time.
