The White family was sitting on their back porch and screen with Wilbur this evening. The black and white tuxedo cat Bond was lying next to Wilbur, and both were asleep, enjoying the warm air of the evening. Mildred Oscar was sitting on a porch swing, slowly going to and fro, with his arm around Mildred. James was seated in a rocking chair, reading today’s children’s version of physics. It was a birthday present as his interest in science had only expanded since they had begun homeschooling at the beginning of the previous school year. Rose was seated in an oversized rocking chair with a pencil and paper. She had joined the intergenerational art class at their church and enjoyed it so much that Mildred had then enrolled her in art classes at the local arts center at the teacher’s suggestion. Over the summer, she was planning to explore pottery as the introductory class on watercolors that she had taken was.
Violet was in a world of her own as well. She had recently discovered the abridged versions of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and interspersed with those stories, sometimes she would try a Boxcar Children mystery or a Nancy Drew mystery. Nancy Drew was more to her liking, but along with the Boxcar Children, she found the characters to be put together and not as relatable as those she saw in other authors’ stories. Lily had one of the three laptops that Mildred used for homeschooling. Lily took up writing and took a virtual writing course this summer. Not returning to school was her most excellent relief among all the children. The number of questions she asked, the kinds of books you wanted to read, and the experiences she enjoyed are not conducive to traditional schooling. As she had expressed an interest in cooking and baking, Mildred had found classes taught at a local upscale grocery store where she could get a feel for what it was like to cook and bake different dishes. When the time spent in the cooking class was not enough, then the experiments would extend to the family kitchen. Mildred was more than happy to have her cook family meals. She was especially looking forward to the fact that they would lighten up their schooling load for the summer, and Lily could periodically cook dinner for the family. It was not just Lily who would cook dinner for the family during the summer.
Oscar had pronounced that once the school work was lighter during the summer, everyone would take a turn at making dinner once a week. This was much to Rose’s distress, as she did not share her twin’s love of cooking. James quickly piped up I’m not going to cook either, Rose, but I’ll help you. We can figure it out. This had also prompted Mildred to provide some simple recipes that the two could easily make together. At the top of the list was homemade pizza night with pre-made and ready pizza crusts in 5 minutes, with everyone else adding their toppings. Oscar looked down at his watch and tapped Mildred. “All right, time to go, everyone. We’re going to have a special end-of-school-year treat for everyone. Get in the car. Within 30 minutes, everyone was in the car and they had arrived at their destination.” The local dairy had recently started making and selling its ice cream. Everyone was pleased to be enjoying the end of the school year with such a treat. They smiled as Mildred and Oscar looked at each other and their children. It had been a scary decision to homeschool everyone at the beginning of the school year, and there have been some bumps along the way, but it has allowed each of their children to develop and explore their interests and passions. They weren’t sure that they would homeschool forever, but they knew that this was the right choice for their family for now, and they looked forward to the adventures that would come with the next school year—the end.
Living on the Spectrum 
Leave a comment