In my last post I alluded to some changes that would be coming this fall. Other than the obvious, a new addition to our family in the form of a sweet little baby due November 4, there are some other changes that will be coming. By the way, we find out if this sweet little baby is a boy or a girl one week from today, yeah, we are super excited! Anyway, that is not the point of my post. In the fall, we will be making some schooling changes.

Our daughter will be going to a local middle school that has three classes for kids just like her. She is currently at the school where my husband works and where my boys attend. She is in a small self-contained class with two other students who are much younger than her. While we are so grateful for this class and especially the teachers there, we feel like she would benefit from being in a class with more kids her age and her developmental level. Entering middle school is a huge step, and we want her to be set up to make as much progress as possible over the next few, short years we have until she graduates. She has much ground to make up. We have visited the school and met her teacher and Elizabeth seemed very comfortable there and with the teacher. We are thankful to God for opening the doors for her to go to this school.

Joshua will be changing schools as well. He has been at an exception children preschool class in our local school district. We are so happy to say he has graduated out of exceptional children and will be going to a regular preschool class next year at a school closer to our house. He will still be receiving speech therapy, but will be with regular kids in his classroom instead of a self-contained class. We had hoped he would be able to be with regular kids in Kindergarten, but he exceeded our expectations and is joining the class a year early. He is doing very well at school and will begin going 5 days a week next year. Both he and his sister will also be riding the bus to school, which is a first for our family. Both his school and her school run on the same bell schedule, so the bus is the most practical way to get them there on time.

Lastly, our two oldest boys will be homeschooling next year, as well as our preschooler, Elijah. They have been attending the school where my husband works for the past four years, so why are we changing that now? Well, there are many reasons but the main one is simplicity. If they went to school and Elijah attended preschool I would have five kids in four schools. That is way to much to keep up with. Too many carpools and chorus performances. So, in an effort to simplify things they will be homeschooled. We have homeschooled our oldest son, Sam before and are comfortable doing it again. We have already ordered their curriculum and I am getting busy planning for next school year. Another factor in our decision is that our oldest son Sam has one more year until he enters middle school. His dad is the principal of the middle school and it would be difficult for Sam for his dad to be his principal. I am sure some families make it work,but for ours we saw this coming a few years ago and knew it might be an issue. It will be simpler for Sam and for his dad to not have to deal with an awkward dynamic of work and school. We are excited about homeschooing. The boys are thrilled and excited to be able to spend more time with me during the day and also with Elijah and the new baby. With two kids with special needs in our house sometimes the regular kids don’t get the attention they need, homeschooling is a way to provide that.

Will I ever homeschool Joshua or Elizabeth? Joshua, maybe. Right now he is doing well at his preschool, but if that changes or he gets to a place where he is calmer at home then we will consider it. We will not homeschool Elizabeth. She needs more in schooling than I feel I can provide and I need the break school provides. I know some families homeschool their special needs kiddos, and I applaud them, but it’s not for me.

So, that’s the big changes. With our new baby coming we will also be purchasing a 15 passenger van sometime this winter. So, with the homeschooling all I need now is  a denim jumper and we will be all set. Just kidding.