Over where we are, pulling out of school to homeschool requires approval from the authorities. I am to make a formal application via the school, after discussion with the principal. Because approval is not guaranteed, I had decided to fall back on the fact that DS requires vision therapy, that it is a long drawn, intensive process that requires daily work at home and frequent out of country trips to his doctor. We would therefore need the flexibility of homeschooling to allow for this.
With all this mapped out and with supporting documents, I met with the Principal today. I was surprised by his support and generosity. Take 6 months off to deal with it, he said. We can review later if more time is needed. This school has a highly respected gifted program for grade 4-6; he will assign his Head of Department to provide a curriculum for DS7 upon his return. All this was with the support of his teacher who has been terrific this past year. He's brilliant, she said, but he has a social problem. He only talks to one friend and refuses to have anything to do with anyone else. She thinks they're friends because this boy hangs on every word my son says. He's interested in being the centre of attention, which is not healthy. He's also a master manipulator when he reports incidents to her. When caught massaging the truth, he does a very sorrowful, "I'm so sorry, I tend to exaggerate, but it's human nature" act. Unfortunately, I know she's right. She thinks homeschooling, because there is no daily enforced contact with other kids or authority figures, will only isolate him further and reinforce his attention seeking, since interaction will be 1-on-1. Further, she thinks he needs more discipline that I may not be providing, simply because he needs more than the average kid.
I trust her. I know she really means well for DS. The deal is sweet enough to be confusing and certainly good enough to at least try out, if not just for the interim 6mths. But I'm shaken by the prescription for his social persona. For sure homeschooling will provide him with the freedom he needs to pursue what he likes. We're already after-schooling, but he'll get the down time he wants to read or whatever. The teacher fears he will go deep rather than wide. I'm not against it.
But will he need daily social abrading (not sure how else to put it!) to "balance" him out? The homeschooling community here is really small but i will rely on enrichment classes (robotics etc) as a social avenue - no daily contact but weekly. What are the thoughts on this here? Hoping to seek the wisdom of others here who've btdt.
