Hi All,

I've been lurking for months now, and have finally admitted to myself that we belong here, so I guess this will be a good place for us to begin. My DS6 did half a year of kindergarten last fall and was tested with the WISC-IV in October. Based on those results and his frustration with what we were trying to teach him, in January we bumped up to Year 1. We ended up tweaking as we went through the next few months because it was clear that this wasn't a good fit for him either. Though, we did continue to call it kindergarten since that's where he would be in public school based on his age.

We never schooled in any way before this, though books and natural learning were always a part of our lives. The growth that we've seen since January has been staggering. I'm a bit scared to see where he'll be this time next year, if this year's growth was a good indication.

Two months ago I spent several weeks pulling our curriculum together for the upcoming year. No sooner had I finished than he made one of those huge leaps that these children make; it made it clear that I would need to go back and change some things. So, I'm currently taking a school break and tweaking our curriculum for next year. We school year-round (or intend to), but take short breaks throughout the year.

We are currently doing an art class and swimming lessons, both of which will end on Friday. Our guitar teacher isn't going to be teaching this fall, so I'm not sure what we'll do about music. He will be taking art classes this fall, but that's all we're sure of at this point.

I think we'll be starting up with school again in a few weeks, once I'm able to finalize our schedule. To be honest, if I don't have him focused on school each day, he completely wears me out with all that his mind comes up with. My house is no longer my own. I have lost the battle it would seem. It is now a natural history museum, an engineering testing facility, and a library (to name a few). ;-)

DS6 has DYS qualifying scores, but I've yet to apply. Initially, I didn't really feel the need to do it, though that has certainly changed over the past few months. Social issues have always been our biggest 'problem' with him, so we're hoping that if we do join, we'll be able to wrangle up a few friends for him eventually, even if they aren't nearby. ;-) When having his vision checked a few months ago, and again yesterday at a physical, he engaged the doctors in a way that reminded me that it is important for him to connect with people on his level at some point, and since he's clearly much more intelligent than either of his parents, I think we're going to have to be very proactive in seeking out others.

Hope to get to know everyone throughout the year. :-)