Will was discharged from Sandhill in July, and we wanted to make sure he had a nice, gentle landing when it came to school. Going from a classroom with four adults and 12 kids to the local public school with 800 kids and 30-student classrooms wasn’t going to be an easy transition, so we (Becky) scoured the surrounding area to find the right place for him.

This is part of our 100 Things in 2018 challenge. Make sure to click on the photos!

We finally found it: Family House Academy, a tiny little school in Kelso, Washington. There are a total of 27 students of all ages, the parent community is super nice and accepting of newcomers, and the staff are uniformly excellent and compassionate.

After checking the place out ourselves, we brought Will along for a tryout day. This was during the summer, but they arranged for a couple of his peer group to be there, so he could ask all of his questions and get a sense of how the place would be. He loved it, and started classes there in September.

The very next week, the entire school caravanned out to Sunriver for a week-long science field trip!

Here are Will’s class photos, done by Katalin Bridgewater. She did a fantastic job.

Some random miscellaneous shots from school. We need to give a special shout-out to Lisa Mustion, who started the school and runs it; she’s a fantastic teacher and human, and exactly what Will needs at this time in his life.

And here are the most recent holidays – halloween, a special movie/dinner outing with Mrs. Mustion, and the holiday musical performance.

Will is absolutely thriving at this place, and we have to thank everyone involved for making it possible. Lisa has created a truly unique place here, and Will is going to be a better person for it.