The beginning of every school year seems to bring different emotions. Today it’s excited nervousness or nervous excitement, take your pick. Gage went to the same school K-3 and 7. We homeschooled 4-6. Today he started 8th grade at a new school.

This school will challenge him in every possible way. I envision a rough few months, but like everything I’ve ever asked of Gage, I know he will rise to the task. I know that. What I don’t know, yet, is how much of his rising will depend on me.

Being on the autism spectrum and finding the right school can be tricky. We live in a district with very good schools, but not right for Gage. Some kids thrive, but Gage needs a smaller class with teachers who can see when he’s zoning out. He needs a school that teaches executive functioning skills to all students. He needs a school that knows all kids learn differently. I hope that we’ve found that school.

Over the summer Gage went back to FIT Learning (we used then when homeschooling) for tutoring in reading and writing, every day for 45 minutes. I also hired a math education major home for the summer to come twice a week for an hour to teach him math. I had a meeting this morning to go over his end of the summer assessment. He improved in the reading and writing (but it’s still a struggle), but in math he scored in the 97th percentile for his age!

When you have a kid who falls behind in some areas of learning it’s easy to get stuck focusing on that. Having a young woman come and teach him math, a subject he really likes, was a new approach for me and one that paid off. Celebrate all of the successes and let the kids truly excel at what they are gifted at. Here’s to a great school year for all the kids and teachers.

Here’s a link to his You Tube channel that he’s been working on this summer https://www.youtube.com/@lightning43