The White family was sitting on their back porch, with Wilbur, this evening. The black-and-white tuxedo cat Bond lay next to Wilbur, both asleep, enjoying the warm evening air. 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 grown since they began homeschooling at the start of the previous school year. Rose was seated in an oversized rocking chair, a pencil and paper in hand. 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 planned to explore pottery, as she had with the introductory watercolor class she had taken.
Violet was in a world of her own as well. She had recently discovered the abridged versions of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, interspersed with those stories, and 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 less relatable than those 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 their school load for the summer and that Lily could cook dinner for the family periodically. It was not just Lily who would cook dinner for the family during the summer.
Oscar had said that once the schoolwork was lighter during the summer, everyone would take a turn making dinner once a week. This was a source of great distress for Rose, 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 share some simple recipes the two could make together. At the top of the list was homemade pizza night, with pre-made pizza crusts ready in 5 minutes, and 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 
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