Homeschooling with 5, Day 1 report

Was having problems with my computer and especially uploading pictures (or why the goat farm trip entry which was started on Sunday didn't actually get up until this morning) so sorry I haven't been updating properly our newest adventure.Things went really, really well yesterday and it's just helping to reinforce the decision that this was a good move. Jason is fitting in so well, polite and helpful, and doing everything he can to make the best of the situation. We talked a lot on Sunday about how school works here and my basic philosophies about things (family and school mostly). I dropped Matthew off with Jonathan and Nico at therapy so I could take Jason out to Starbucks for some one-on-one time with no little kids present so we could continue to talk. He's been wanting to make sure that what we do here will transfer back to his old school. It will and I assured him of that but I wanted to also be honest that the odds were not good for him going back to the situation he just left. We talked a little about some of his reasons for why he was acting out and he's sounding like he'll go to counseling and give it a shot which I think would be good for him. Something I need to look into getting started soon.


Since it was Monday, that means KSW here, especially since the boys are testing for their Red Stripes on Friday night. I gave Jason the option of trying the class for a week and seeing if he liked it.
He got some private time with one of the instructors and when I stopped by a few minutes before class ended, I saw them sitting on the floor talking and he was smiling and laughing. After class I asked how he liked it and he said he wanted to keep doing it. It was nice to hear him affirm that he knows he's going to be here a while so wants to have some fun activities to do while he's here. As I said, he's been proving to be remarkable about adapting to the situation and trying to make the best of it. So we've got him set up on our account and his uniform is ordered. The nicest thing was I picked up a new schedule which I hadn't done in months to find out that they now have family classes M-Th at 5:30p. This means on Tuesdays when Christopher is at his acting class from 5:15-6:15p just a mile from KSW, the rest of the big boys can go there rather than get dragged along with me to do the grocery shopping. Much nicer for everyone that way.

Today we have bowling. Not sure I'll be able to sign him up for the league but if nothing else, I'll rent him a lane next to the league bowlers so he can play and get a chance to hang out. He's also expressed an interest in surf camp which of course led Christopher to thinking it was cool (cause everything is soooo much cooler when your friend's think of it rather than mom suggests it *eye roll*). I looked into it and it's going to be a stretch to do it for spring break but I told both boys that I would be happy to sign them both up for one in summer. I think it'll be great for them!