Home school? For real?

This is Henry.  He is 4 1/2 years old, and starting kindergarten in the fall.  He loves music, and marches to the beat of his own drum.  I'm going to homeschool him.

  I never thought in a million years that I would home school. I had always been intrigued by it, how fun to spend all day with your kids watching them discover the world!  But then I would think about all the alone time I would lose.  I was looking forward to actually going to the gym and cleaning my house once the twins are in kindergarten.  (Oh yeah, side note, I also have 11 month old twins. Don't ask me how I'm going to do this.)

There were a couple of things that lead me down this road.

The first is that Henry has asynchronistic development, which means that he is on many different levels emotionally, physically and intellectually.  This is usually hard to accommodate to in the public school system. A boy who reads and speaks like a 9 year old, but writes like a 3 year old and acts like a 5 year old can be a challenge, to put it mildly.

He also has multiple food allergies, and is contact sensitive to a number of foods. Sitting next to someone eating dairy, wheat, eggs, or any of his other allergies is dangerous for him.  It's also dangerous for him to be in a classroom with students that have these allergens on their hands and can spread them around the classroom, on desks, pencil sharpeners, etc. 

After I talked to the school we had originally chosen for next year, and learned that my little boy would have to sit by himself at lunch, I realized that maybe no school is going to be a great fit for both his academic and health needs. The last resort of home schooling didn't seem like such a bad idea anymore.  I've already joined some local home schooling groups, and I'm looking for a home school convention to go to.  I've got a list of curricula to research and decide on.  It's actually kind of fun!  

I have this picture in my mind of how I would like it to go, Henry and I will do school work in the mornings while the twins nap.  (And they will always nap, right?) The afternoons will be free for pursuing his interests, like learning an instrument, swim lessons, karate. We will also getting together with other home schoolers, so the dreaded "socialization" problem is solved. I'm sure the actual act of homeschooling will look nothing like I imagine it, but I am going to hold onto the dream.

I've decided on loosely following the classical method for home schooling.  I read The Well Trained Mind on a road trip a few weeks ago, and was so inspired.  I still need to iron out some kinks, but seeing as how Henry will technically be an early kindergartener, I figure I can take a few months to experiment a little.  

There you have it, this modern mom is going to home school.  Hopefully his therapy bills won't be too high, and he will actually learn something.

I come up with crazy ideas all the time, just ask my husband.  This one may be the craziest.  It may also be the best.