I’m getting used to the appalled look I get from strangers when they ask why Edward isn’t at school but I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the unsolicited advice they then proceed to give me. I often get speechless when strangers, who think that because I’m standing next to them at the bus stop, or in the queue at the shop that I am in need of their advice and opinions.

Some of my favorites:
He’ll never make friends
So, we’ve been to the park twice this week already, each time he made a new friend. Admittedly, he may never see those friends again but he has no trouble making friends.
He needs time away from you and you need time away from him
Yes, me time is always nice and it’s good for him to spend time with other people. Surprisingly, he spends a lot of time with his Dad, who takes him off out doing all manner of things and introducing him to yet more new people and new experiences.
He won’t learn anything at home
Because he can only learn in school? Pah! What about kids that go to school? Do they finish a day at school then suddenly stop learning, stop experiencing and just switch off?
He needs structure.
This has to be the worst. because I really doesn’t need structure. Sometimes he likes having a plan, but it suits us to just make a loose plan day to day and let things happen. He enjoys the off the cuff approach with the occasional firm plan in place. He enjoys it when I give him the choice of things to do on an adhoc basis, today he had a choice of our local community cafe to see his friends, have a bacon sarnie and play or our local soft play to make new friends, have lunch and play. He chose the cafe, on the short walk there we discussed bones and how they enable us to move. On the way home, we discussed the function of the heart (this is an important one for Edward, he keeps coming back to it and we repeat the same conversation. He is fascinated by the pumping action)
It’s these times he tends to ask more questions, when we’re off walking. One of his preferred activeties. He would happily walk all day if he could!

Of course he ‘could’ get all these things in school and it would be perfectly adequate but I love being the one to help him become the person I know deep down he is. Why would I want to give such an amazing opportunity to a teacher who barely knows him?