My daughter started high school last week.

I don’t know who was more terrified about that—her or me.

She had been attending a special character school in which she had a great deal of freedom about where she did her work, she could climb trees at lunchtime, and which didn’t assign any homework.

She still attends a special character school, but one with a different philosophy.

Her classes are almost entirely indoors, tree climbing on campus is forbidden, and she has homework.

For a girl who NEEDS to be outdoors and moving, I’m sure the transition is going to be rocky.

But she recognises her needs, and she’s getting better at asking for what she needs.

So when she came home with her first homework yesterday, instead of bemoaning the fact she couldn’t go run around outdoors after school, she came to me with a suggestion.

“Mum. We need a table outdoors in the shade somewhere so I can do my homework outside.”

As it turned out, we had a table that fit the bill perfectly—an old picnic table that I’d recently banished from the shed because it was in the way. She scrubbed it up, dubbed it the homework table, and brought her desk chair outside to complete her homework.

No grumping, no tears, no stress.

If the whole school year goes like that (yeah, right), it’ll be a fantastic year!