Having joined a couple of Cape Cod and Massachusetts homeschool lists, I became aware that there is an ENORMOUS homeschool community out there - with an INCREDIBLE wealth of possible activities. In fact, WAY more than I knew what to do with.
In addition, Massachusetts has two full-scale homeschool support organizations, and a unique institution called the Family Resource Center. The Family Resource Center creates and signs up homeschoolers for programs of all sorts, run by and at local museums, aquariums, nature centers...
Then there's the local rec department - with inexpensive programs like soccer, sailing, basketball... and the local candlepin bowling league (Tom loves bowling)... and the local nature centers and beaches and harbors... and the environmental groups... conservatory and art classes... 4-H...
In short, we were not going to have to search far to find possibilities. The questions that remained, though, were - which were the "good" programs, and which could possibly be appropriate for a child with autism.
One thing I was clear on: neither Tommy nor I were ready to take on any multi-session, group-oriented programs just yet (outside of music). We needed to take it one step at a time, try out different types of activities without committing to any just yet... and besides, there were all these wonderful ideas we'd developed over time that we were just dying to try out...
But maybe it would be a good idea to just put something down on paper and get started?
1 comment:
When we first started homeschooling, we had limited formal activities with other homeschoolers. Pamela was just not ready! After two years, she built up to handling an all-day co-op group one day a week with me functioning as her aide. She did beautifully in time, but she did not a great deal of support at first!
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