BEAUTIFUL! Wish we had those options here in New England more available. My 17 yr old daughter rides horses too. She is part of the big brother big sister program here. She goes to a place called Blue Rider Stables here in the Berkshires. Great stuff! Only reason I mentioned to "stop and think" is because our kids are going to have to "deal" with people socially as adults and we can't protect them forever. Best protection I know of is to be prepared. Sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck! Keep us posted!

Thanks! My daughter LOVES to ride. Every time she has to write an essay it is about her horse or her riding class. :) We have a great kids and youth program at our church, too, and she has a ton of socialization there in her small group and choir. Our life group has several kids around her age that are all neurotypical and she gets to interact with them all the time, as well. I am mainly concerned about her learning and getting ahead academically once she is done with elementary school because the middle schools and high schools around here are enormous, and I know a lot of parents who say their kids got lost in the system at those levels. The work never stops with our kiddos! :)

A warning about home schooling: ASD's are social brain function disorders. If you take a child out of the social setting in school, you are reenforcing the isolation of ASD's. Please think this through ALL THE WAY before you act on it. Keeping my son in public school was the best thing, over all, I could have done.

Socialization is not an issue for us. That's the point of using a co-op or a homeschool center, which provide plenty of socialization. I know some parents in a nearby town whose homeschool co-op has fine arts and even athletic opportunities and a prom. Homeschool is definitely not what it used to be. But it does provide the chance to tackle specific subject deficits directly, at the child's own pace instead of getting lost in general ed. Besides, my daughter is also involved in other social things like horse riding and church choir.

I used an online/ book homeschooling called Western Christian Academy, to me it was perfect because they do testing to keep the students appropriately challenged, yet advanced where they are. www.westernchristianacademy.com