momma mommy bwuh

Boy1 and I have officially reached the halfway point of the school year—90 days in. Bravo to us. 🎉 Granted, the first 43 days were “imported” from public school, but we’ve already learned so much together and made meaningful progress since then.

As we head into the second half of the year, I sat down to set some goals. At the beginning, our main objective was survival—ha—and figuring out what actually worked for us. There was plenty of trial and error, a few tears, and lots of small victories on both sides.

When we first started this journey, our motivation was clear: independence. We wanted Boy1 to learn things public school simply didn’t have the space or structure to teach—how to take care of himself, how to complete a job application, how to navigate real life (see When the School You Love Isn’t the Right Fit and Teaching the Way He Learns). At the time, I was growing increasingly worried that there weren’t many meaningful academic opportunities left for him. I began homeschooling with those fears in mind, but along the way, I learned far more about Boy1—and myself—than I expected (see Learning What Works: Homeschool Adjustments with Boy1).

One of the biggest lessons was realizing how much Boy1 struggles to attend to lessons presented on a computer. Unfortunately, that was the primary method used in public school, and it explained so much. On the flip side, I learned that he thrives with one-on-one instruction across all subjects—especially phonics and math. We spent a few weeks working through simple math concepts together, and now he’s able to complete much of his work independently, while still confidently asking for help when he needs it.

Now that we’ve moved past those initial discovery humps, it feels like time to get down to business. Life skills remain a top priority. Independence will always be the goal—that hasn’t changed and never will. What has changed is my understanding of Boy1. I’m beginning to see that he may be more “typical” than anyone originally thought; he just hasn’t always been taught in the way he learns best. Because of that, I’m intentionally adding academic goals alongside our life-skills work.

Goal #1: Develop a system for deeper progress monitoring.
The various curricula we’re using include their own assessments and grades, which is helpful for tracking academic progress. But I want to measure certain things more intentionally—like words acquired. Since Boy1 is mostly nonverbal, this is huge. We recently began using the UFLI phonics program for reading, and while reading was the goal, the expressive-language gains have been incredible. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that level of progress, and I wasn’t even measuring it at first. I was just hoping he’d learn to read a little. Intended outcome or happy accident? I don’t know—I’m just a mom trying to keep up.

Goal #2: Develop realistic, specific, and measurable goals in life skills, phonics, and math.
For Boy1, progress can’t be measured by grade level. While his public-school placement was third grade, his current curriculum is closer to kindergarten level—and that’s okay. I also need to be mindful of the time it takes him to acquire new skills, because some concepts simply require more repetition and patience than others.

I’m genuinely excited to watch and document his growth over the next 90 days.

If you homeschool your child, how do you measure progress and celebrate success?