Dear Noah..........your annual pumpkin patch photo.........where has my little man gone?

Dear Noah........

Wow I can tell since I have started homeschooling you and now you are a senior and actually doing college courses this year.....that the stress and problems you used to face have definitely improved or totally resolved. Homeschooling was one of the very BEST decisions I have ever made for you and would do it all over again in a heartbeat! I can tell things are much better just from the drop in postings I have made here on Blogger. However, I should also report in I guess on all the progress and GOOD things over the years. Your life is so much better and your world is so much easier to cope and live in. I am so thankful for all.

As you are also older I do choose to keep a lot of things more private now.......for obvious reasons.

You are doing very well so far with the college courses...making the transition slowly but surely. I cannot believe October is already half over.

We have adjusted to living in an apartment instead of a house...and continue to slowly get more settled now that we have decided for sure we will be staying put. We are excited about the upcoming holidays in our new place and decorating and enjoying it this year. We moved in last year the week of Christmas which I would never advise anyone to ever do if you can possibly avoid it!

Otherwise, all is well with you and us and home. Love you so much Noah and I am very proud of all you have accomplished so far in your life. I only wish the best for you always.

Love you!

(Memories from your past)

Mom XOXOXOX

Dear Noah........you begin college courses on Monday, August 29......

and I find myself sitting here wondering where soon to be 18 years have gone. Has it really been almost 18 YEARS? Does not seem possible. I look back at photos of you when you were very young.....and then a little older....and see you every day as you are now. Hard to believe that little boy is still in there and part of you now.

I love you and hope and pray you do very well and succeed at all you dream of!

Mom
XOXOXOX

Dear Noah.....you have taken over the wheel.........

and for the life of me I cannot remember the last time I drove my own car! You are doing really well though and I love you and am proud of you....but I will have to drive occasionally so I can make sure I do not forget any of my skills! haha

Now I can certainly see more and look around more with you driving and of course even take photos....like this one of the clouds that were ahead of us with an approaching storm! We ended up driving right through it all....and you had said you wanted practice driving in the rain...well you certainly got to experience that now a few times.

College courses start soon...and I am still wondering where all these years went??

I love you!

Mom
XOXOXO

Dear Noah........you will be starting college courses soon........

 

And I still cannot believe it.

I love you my little man.

Mom XOXOX

Dear Noah.........your college courses are scheduled.......

Still hard to believe you are ready to begin college.........you could have graduated this year from high school but we decided to do another year and have you do mostly college courses during your senior year...along with some other courses to help you get ready to be independent and a math review so you can be more college ready for math. You qualify now......but I want you to be even better prepared.

Nothing much else new...you are driving very well.....we are slowly settling into the apartment....we wanted to wait till summer at least to make sure we were staying.....I believe we will so now we get to start deciding what else we want to bring over from the locker to here and put things away.

Otherwise....summer is arriving. Humidity is almost 100% today and it is to be in the 80s I believe.

I love you and am proud of the young man you are becoming!

Mom
XOXOXOX

King Noah and King Opie

Dear Noah...you still sleep in strange positions sometimes

I have gone in a few times to check on you and still find you in strange sleeping positions...like on your back with your legs crossed and up over your chest....or like this....sitting and leaning over ....you also still usually completely cover up including your head with your afghan.

You must be comfortable as you were sleeping really well...I would think it would cut your circulation off.

You still rarely sleep under the covers on a bed. I am the same way. We sleep on top and cover up with an afghan.

Love you Noah ...to the moon and back again...and again and again and again and again...forever and ever and ever.......

Mom
XOXOXOX

Dear Noah.........

As I sit here today on a misty Monday morning I am thinking back on your life and our time so far together and how incredible it has been. How challenging it all started out and while there are still some challenges, it is nothing like it all began. You have made huge progress in your personal life and also with school and I am grateful for that and so happy for you. I feel more assured you will be "just fine" as you get ready to be out on your own one day. This does ease my mind to a great degree.

I also have noticed such a huge difference when we started to home school you compared to when you were still attending public school. So much LESS stress all the way around and you have actually thrived. I would highly recommend homeschooling to anyone to consider.

I am proud of you Noah and know you will accomplish whatever you set your mind to.

I love you!

Mom
XOXOXOX

Dear Noah........ACT scores are in...........

Got Noah's ACT test scores and he scored VERY well and is ready for college according to those scores as well - In fact, I always worried a bit about reading, even though he does well (due to his comprehension needing a lot of work over the years) and English (because he had a huge speech language delay starting out) but he always loved books and reading and was very good with grammar and context and vocabulary. I have to say he scored in the top 10% in the NATION on that. We were both a little stunned but also happy and thankful to know he is indeed learning a lot being homeschooled and has retained it! Anyway...he had been afraid to look at his scores so I looked first...and then called him in later to look and he left with a big smile on his face.

Towards the end of each school year, about now, I always start to as myself, "Have we done enough?" or I wonder if he has learned anything ...etc. Then I get his portfolio together of his assignments and work he completed throughout the year, his test scores, etc. and I am always so surprised to see how MUCH he completed in each year. That affirmation is HUGE and keeps us going. I am NOT a big supporter of test taking and placing kids with certain numbers here or there on some graph or scale or chart...as there are so many more important things in the mix to vary those results.......but I do admit that Noah's test scores have built up his confidence level and make him feel good about himself and makes me realize I am teaching him apparently well enough that he is where he needs to be in life at this moment at least. He has come a LONG way for sure! With each step he takes we are getting him closer to his goals. That is a good thing!

Dear Noah........driving.......and college admission testing......

I cannot believe how well you are doing and how fast you are becoming a young adult man. Does not seem possible to me. Since you decided you wanted to go to college we began that process. Next year for your senior year you will actually be doing college courses for college credit that you can one day transfer towards a degree you have tentatively picked out. Since a photo ID is required...and  you decided to start driving now after all instead of waiting till later...we decided you may as well go take your written test and get your temps so you can have a photo ID and start driving.

You did very well on the test...and now have your temps.

Next up was the Compass test for our local/state community college admissions requirement. You took that on Thursday afternoon and finished in like half the time it normally takes and you passed it very well.

Even though you would not have to take the ACT test..or at least not now...we had scheduled you for it anyway so you took that today. You feel you did very well on it...but we don't have those scores yet. Time will tell.

However, with each success your confidence is building. You become more comfortable with yourself and growing up...with driving...with realizing you are learning and retaining things here with homeschool......and it is wonderful to see all this come to pass right before my eyes.

Looking back I often wondered what things might be like when you got older. I am becoming much more confident too that you will accomplish anything you set your mind to.....and you will be just fine.

You certainly have lots of plans.....and while our lives are changing and maybe even our roles to some degree....I am so thankful I have you in my life and have been able to share it with you and be able to teach you here at home. I really have loved that. We don't spend nearly the time together now as we did in the past...and I do miss that...and yet I know it is inevitable and something I need to just accept and go with that flow...as it prepares to take you down the waters of your life one day.

SO my little man........I wish you only the very best life has to offer.

I love you more than ever.

Mom
XOXOXO

Dear Noah..........you got your temps today!

and I cannot believe you will be 18 by the end of the year and will get your license shortly after that. Where has the time gone? Whether I or you are ready for this or not........you are almost grown and ready to be on your own!

I love you Noah and only wish the very best life has to offer you....I hope all your dreams come to pass as you have them planned and you will be happy and be loved always.

Mom
(I will love  you to the moon and back, again and again, forever and ever and ever ........)
XOXOXO

Dear Noah...........college prep? oh my

Not even finished with your junior year and we are already talking about college prep classes next year at our local college starting in the fall.

I cannot even begin to process all the upcoming events and changes. Life is a bit of a whirlwind right now.

Hanging on tight for this ride!

love you my little man....yes...you will always be my little man to me

Mom
XOXOX

Dear Noah.....high school and getting ready for college

I still cannot believe you are a junior in high school and now you have changed your mind and DO want to go to college...and not just like a local community college, but you would like to go "away" to college, like Ohio State University's MEGA bucks college. "Away from home." Key words for me...AWAY from home.

My job as your MOM has been to continue to homeschool you but also teach you life skills to get you ready to be on your own one day, which would probably be difficult enough with your high-functioning autism, but now we add into the mix getting you ready to attend college, and possibly "away" from home one day. We have a lot to do and we are busy preparing you now to begin college next year locally as part of the College Credit Plus program. We are hoping you can complete 2 years of local college here and then you can transfer if you still want to and have financing arranged, to OSU one day. This will allow you to bypass some of the more traditional university requirements, and hopefully be a slightly easier transition. I still have a lot of anxiety not only about the living away from home, as there are many things you still flat our refuse to do for yourself, but also some of the more stringent requirements any college will place in your lap.

So, we are moving ahead, getting a little more anxious sometimes as time passes but trying to hang in there. This year you will also probably begin to learn to drive, trying to time that just right for many reasons, including insurance, financial, etc.

Taking a big, deep breath here.........and let's just try to do this!

I love you!!  Always will.

Mom
XOXOXO

Dear Noah.........getting settled in after the move.......

So we finally got moved into our new apartment. You are slowly getting your room put together the way you want it. I gave you  my bed and mattress and you even wanted my satin bedding.......next will be the satin sheets lol.......the top pic is before you put some of your plushies back in your room. I asked if you still wanted to put them in your room and you said yes......so the 2nd pic is after some of their arrival! Your shelves are going into your closet. Once we bring over the things from our storage locker your home design books and some other things will go inside the closet on those shelves. We got a hanging cubby for your socks and some items of clothing...you want to hang most of your T-shirts you said...so it is all working out little by litte.

I still feel like we are living in a hotel of sorts. It has taken me the last few weeks to recover from the move....so I have not yet gone to our locker to bring over more items to put away and I have not really hung anything yet on our walls. All that will come in time.

Looking forward to this next chapter of our lives....and getting you ready to graduate and go to college...which I still partly refuse to accept or process haha.

Love you my little (young) man!

Mom
XOXOX