And the plan is...

When John and I got married a little over ten years ago, we put one particular phrase in our wedding vows.  "I promise to keep life exciting and adventurous."  Just a little word to the wise:  If you don't mean this, don't say it because wishes do come true.  There are days that I now call successful just because they are boring and went just as they were planned.  But those days are few and far beyond. 

Yesterday I was speaking to someone who knows of our situation and how much we are struggling to figure out what the "right thing to do" is.  When I told him our plan forward he said, "I am so sorry, I know this is not how you envisioned things."  True, very true.  For years we have looked forward to kindergarten as a family.  We worked so hard with both boys and their pre-school teachers in the early intervention program so that they would be ready to be mainstreamed by 5.  We not only had a goal for our boys, but we could picture how we thought it would be attained. 

And, this is just a new topic for a frequent theme of how we learn in life, that not everything is supposed to go according to plan.  When I stoped to think about it, we are thrilled to take this next step.  We are running to something that we feel is right.  Notice I did not say "easy."  Somehow we seem to be allergic to such paths, although they look so pretty and clear.  I must say we feel a bit as though we did when we first chose to adopt.  We started of knowing we wanted a family.  Our imaginations were too limited and sheltered to know how that one simple wish would lead us to the most precious gifts the world has ever offered us.  Were they perfect, matching, easy to come by, with fair tale stories to go along with them?  No, but we did not specify that in our wish. 

Our wish for our boys is that they will learn about the world around them so that they become productive contributing members of society.  We thought this meant public school, down the street.  Little did we know how small a dream this was compared to how our boys need to learn and where they are emotionally.  We have known these last few weeks that our boys were not in a place that matched their needs.  We have known for one week that a change had to be made ASAP. 

Yesterday was their last day at their school, and it was sad for many reasons, even though it was the right choice.  I am mostly sad because being a parent sometimes just plain stinks.  The boys will morn this change and loss of another community.  Yet, they did the same thing for other places they needed to leave.  Still, it stinks to be the one who had to make that call.

Monday, though starts something new.  Here is our ideal plan for now: 
(We still have one more school to visit on Tuesday before we can fully move forward.)

1. Enroll the boys in the homeschooling academy
2. Join Red Mountain Community School's correspondence program
3. The boys all go to school on Thursday's at RMCS
4. John teaches them the bulk of their subjects through experiential learning in the mornings, naps in the afternoon while he builds, and I do the rest in the evenings/weekends while he delivers.
5. We have a field trip once a week.
6. Then we would like to officially apply for the Waldorf school with the hopes that they would start there in the fall for 1st grade. 

So this is the plan today.  If you are wondering how long it will be the plan please go back and read the first part of the blog:)