No back to school here

Transitioning back to school this year is a little different for us. Both girls have gone back to school full time with no issues. Just straight back to their everyday routine. Up until two years ago this was the same for my son Ethan too.

Two years ago he had an operation that has truly been life altering. Along with major changes to his health and personality, his ability to be able to attend school full time has been hugely affected.

Ethan hasn't been to school full time since he finished year 8 (age 13). This year he heads into year 11 (age 15), the last year of high school. He's not started back yet and when he does it will be on a reduced timetable. We built up over the last two years to almost 2 full days of school but after another 6 months of bad health this year we are going to be starting back with only two afternoons a week.

I’m not sure if he will even cope with this yet!

Being home from school to allow him to recover and rest doesn’t mean he can just be left to his own devices all day! He still needs to have all his basic needs met, his medical needs met and all his therapy needs met. He also needs to be occupied on those awake periods. He still needs to be moved to keep him well and have all his medical Interventions. He also still has all his normal appointments and has to come with me to do all the school runs.

Having Ethan home full time is hard work. There isn't any extra care hours or extra respite hours because he’s supposed to be at school. So it’s all on me. I am expected to fulfil all his schooling needs on top of managing his health needs and ensuring that he can have the rest he needs in between.

I hope he starts to be able to manage school on top of all of this again because he loves being around others and he gets so much out of school. Only time will tell and we will take it at his pace as always. Someday I may get that child free time people asked me about when my youngest started school 3 years ago! For now though that's not the case!