decisions, decisions.

I hate making decisions. I try my darnedest to do my research (if it research-able that is,) I think about it, pray about it, stew about it and then ultimately stress about it. I then come to the conclusion that whatever I decide on is going to be wrong. I know that is very pessimistic, but it tends to be how things work.

I have been stressing for months and months about Jared and school. I had really hoped that his anxiety and worries would have gotten better. That school for him would become something he looked forward too, something that excited him, but it never has. Don't get me wrong, he has a good time once there and has made some good friends, but the morning routine of stress work-up has never left.

I've done my research on the schools.  As I mentioned in the Previous Post, Kittitas and Thorp were now out of the question.  So now it was to choose between the schools in Ellensburg area or home school. Lincoln was #1 in scores, then Mt. Stuart and finally Valley View.  Really though they were all so close, and where one was lower in something they were higher elsewhere. The problem though is even being Kindergarten the class size is going to be around 25. 

So, drum roll please!

We decided with help from Pam Haberman (Jared's excellent teacher, who has been nothing but great with him and someone who I feel so comfortable talking too, and who has HIS best interests at heart) and also Robin LaDue PHD, (who also has his best interests at heart and wants the very best for him with his anxiety) that we are going to try to get him into Damman. If that doesn't work I will home school him and get him into more out of home activities to get more social.  Yesterday I got letters from both of these wonderful ladies.  The letters are wonderful, and I'm hoping they will help get Jared where he needs to be. I love hearing from other people that my little man is a great guy.  I know it, but being his Mom I have a different angle on things.

According to the Washington Law Children actually don't need to be registered into school, being public, private or home school until they are 8 years old!  That seems crazy to me.  Obviously we are not going to wait by any means, but this does give us a little more time to think.  I was looking at kindergarten readiness and what they will learn during that year, and academically there is nothing he doesn't already know.  I'm not saying he won't/wouldn't learn ANYTHING at all, just the normal numbers, alphabet, that kind of stuff he has known for 3 years already.

So, if he doesn't get into Damman I am going to set up school here and teach him here.  We will then re-evaluate the situation for the next year and see what is best for him there.

Moving onto other things that aren't school oriented or stressing me out.

JARED STARTED T-BALL!

Here are some shots that I took yesterday afternoon.  It was really windy and cold, so I froze my hiney off, but he had a good time.  He is on Team Lugnuts (they are sponsored by LesSchwab.) I chuckle when I think of the name, but it is so fitting, it is great.  Jared is a Lugnut.

Here he is!  He has the gray sweatshirt jacket on with the blue hat.  He takes the hat off after a while cuz the wind kept blowing it off.  He is one of the smallest on his team, but that didn't slow him down at all.

Goofing off before starting.  He has 2 friends on his team from school.  Twins Luke and Lindsey.

Here they are having their first Pow Wow

Testing them to see if they knew where certain areas of the field were.

Found where the 3rd baseman stands!

They then separated into 3 groups of 4 and practiced different drills.

First was catching grounders

Then throw it back.

Jared has a good arm.  The Ball is above the purple cone to the left a bit.

Next they tried hitting the ball off the T.

He kept switching sides and the way he held the bat. 

He writes right handed but does other things like a lefty, so we are going to try him both ways and see what works best for him.

Finally they worked on just throwing and aiming.

He had a great time.  I hope he continues to enjoy it, if not, we will try something else next.