Changes ahead for Brevan (and me . . .)

I feel like it's been ages since I updated this blog, because life has been so busy lately! The biggest news is that we've decided to have Brevan do "part-time" homeschool starting next year. He will be in 6th grade, which is middle school, and I have felt uncomfortable this past year or so about sending him. I ignored the promptings to investigate other options until recently, when I found out about an online option that seems perfect for him. It will let him advance at his own rate, while letting me be involved in everything he is learning and doing. To be completely honest, I'm nervous and a bit overwhelmed. Rather than ramble on and on about my feelings, I thought I'd make a list of the "pros" and the "concerns" (since they aren't quite "cons").

Pros

Brevan can advance as quickly as he wants. Every day he will need to take a 7 questions quiz, and as soon as he passes it he can move on to the next lesson. If he thinks he already knows the information being taught, he can take the quiz at the beginning of the day and advance immediately. No more being bored while he is expected to sit through lessons he already knows.

Brevan will only spend 2 to 3 hours a day at the school. Enough to do some social interacting, but not so much that his anxiety gets high. He will go to school for the elective classes, such as P.E. (we are still debating this one), choir/band, and art/health. He will take all his core classes at home, such as Math, Science, History and Language.

After fighting a battle with the district's Special Ed Director, Brevan will still receive all the extra resources that he needs, including speech therapy (for social scripting).

Brevan can keep his 504 Plan, so when he is integrated back into school full-time (probably by high school), we will still be able to create an education plan that will work best for him.

I will (hopefully) be able to help Brevan learn organizational skills. His mind gets overwhelmed with too many directions, and his life gets overrun with clutter. We will have to come up with a system that helps him keep his thoughts and assignments in order.

Brevan will be able to avoid much of the "middle school drama." This past year has been a tough one, because other kids get less accepting as they get older. Hopefully I can get Brevan past the worst years, and have him re-enter school without too many damaging situations.

Brevan LOVES the idea of homeschooling, so he is excited and telling other kids about this wonderful opportunity.

Concerns:

I never saw myself as a homeschooler, and never thought it would be something I would even consider. In fact, I have a fairly negative view of "homeschooling moms" because I've known quite a few who, a) think public school is awful, the world is about to end, and need to keep their children far away from any negative influences in the world (thus, making them more socially awkward) or b) don't have their heart in the homeschooling, or use their older kids as "babysitters" to the little ones for much of the day, so their kids end up getting farther behind intellectually. I think the public school system is great if it is working for the child, and I plan on being very scheduled with our homeschool days.

I am already so busy and worry about how I will be able to give this the time and attention it deserves, without going insane.

Brevan and I have different personalities. Thus, a lot of butting heads goes on. I'm hoping we don't drive each other completely nuts.

To be completely honest, I was looking forward to Logan being in preschool next year, and having some time alone. It's been 11-and-a-half years since I had actual time to myself.

The program we have decided to use is called K12. The website he will use for his daily lessons is http://www.k12.com/. The program is completely free (being run through the public school system) in most states, including the east side of Missouri. But nothing will be covered here on the west side of Missouri, so we will have to pay huge chunks of money to have him enrolled, buy classes, buy textbooks, pay an online teacher to tutor him when he's struggling, and "extras" (such as the supplies for experiments in Science).

I worry that I will not know much of the information Brevan is learning. Let's be honest; that kid is much smarter than me in many areas. I guess I will just be learning along with him.
All in all, I'm starting to feel much more relaxed about the whole situation. After much prayer and pondering, I know this is the right decison for Brevan. It will all work out if I keep that in mind!