Special education homeschooling?

Question

I am looking for other parents that homeschool special education children. My son is physically disabled, but his intelligence is normal....just gets easily distracted. Anyway.....he is in 9th grade and reading at a 2nd grade level because the school neglects to do anything but put in a room with other children that are wonderful, but clearly not as mainstream as he could be. They have made promises, neglected IEP request and never return phone calls. I am just tired and figure I could do a better job myself. He comes home every either angry or sad because he is not getting what he needs. Anyway......point is....I need some advice on homeschooling.....any suggestions? Material advice? Lesson Plans? ect....thanks in advance

Answer 1

Hi! I homeschool my two autistic spectrum children, age 7 and 13. My son is also dyslexic and gifted, so school didn't work out for him either. We also had problems with them following his IEP, I was having to tutor him, and he was having stomach aches & crying every day at school (never at home). So we started homeschooling in 2nd grade.

I really enjoyed a book "Homeschooling Children With Special Needs" by Sharon Hensley which you can see sample pages at:
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=70104&event=1016SBFCT%7C286401%7C1016#curr
You can actually buy that book anywhere, I usually buy my books at the local bookstore or online at Amazon or wherever I find it the cheapest!

Hensley is a homeschooler of an autistic spectrum child, but writes so that most, if not all, homeschoolers with special needs children will be helped. One of the most useful parts of the book for a beginning homeschooler like I was is at the end of the book. She gives recommended curriculum that you can use in your homeschooling that are appropriate or suggested for special needs children. I have tried most of the curriculum she recommends and found all of it to be excellent, and to work well with my son. My son is also a distracted learner as you mention, with the added complication of dyslexia and short-term memory problems.

Another link if you want to join some egroups which I also found to be very useful the first year or two of homeschooling is at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8259/special.html

Also the best catalog I found was at: http://www.epsbooks.com/ A lot of their curriculum is recommended in the Hensley book, which is probably how I found out about it. All of their curriculum is very good. I like ordering their print catalog to look at, but they also have a good online catalog where you can look at many sample pages which is nice.

Good luck with your decision! I've been there and know it's difficult!

Answer 2

I completely understand what your going through, I've been there. My son came home from school crying everyday, he suffered from migrains and deep depression. I'm sorry you and your son are going through this.

I started homeschooling my son 5 years ago. He was in the 5th grade at the time with a 2nd grade reading level. He is in the 9th now and has a 8th grade reading and comprehension level. So homeschooling worked for us.

The very first thing I did was deschool him which meant he didn't have any schooling for 6 months. He did what he wanted but, I did make sure we went to the library every week and he checked out books on tape and anything else he wanted to. He played video games but I also included educational games like Jumpstart. He and I went to art museums, history museums, science museums. We took pottery classes. Went for long walks and I got to know my son in a way I never thought I would.
It is the greatest thing I've ever experienced. It took a lot of patience and time but it was well worth it for the lifetime of memories he and I share.

When you do start schooling back you can make a choice to unschool which is what I did for the first few years and then slowly start with a regular schooling schedule. One subject a day, five different subjects a week. Only have him work 15 minutes at a time, he can stay on task that long. Maybe you can try cutting it up 15 minutes 4 times a day.
You may try something different because you know your schedule and your son better.

When we unschooled I made sure that we still went to the library weekly, that he watched educational videos, and watched shows from the learning channels, discovery channel, science channel..etc. I found out what he was interested in and left reading material around the house which he did eventually pick up and read. He now goes to a cyber school which is considered public school in Ohio. He does well with his IEP.
And I was actually suprized on how high his reading level and comprehension level was when he was tested. He was only one grade behind!!! I did nothing but provide him with the material to read and taught him a love of learning..he already knew the basics he just had to find something he wanted to read.

I will leave you with some web page addresses. I had to learn everything on my own and had no help learning how to teach my son. But, I did it because it was important to me. You do not have to do it alone, if you would like feel free to contact me via my personal email and I will try to help you as much as I can even if you want to just vent. I understand how frustrating and worried you must be. I also understand the need to talk to someone who understands what your going through.
Good Luck!!!!!

http://www.educationreformbooks.net/deschooling.htm

http://sandradodd.com/deschooling

http://www.homeschoolingonashoestring.com/deschooling.html

http://www.home-school.com/

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/directory/Beginning.htm

Answer 3

I homeschool my two autistic kids for just the same reasons you've listed. After five years of fighting, I gave up. THere are a ton of great online groups, but the best help you could get would be a developmental psychologist who will support you in homeschooling. Ours is wonderful, not only in providing the best ideas for teaching, but also in breaking steps down to help our kids.

Watch out for depression, my son was nine and ready to kill himself because of the stress and anger from school. The best thing we have so far is that they are waaaay less stressed.

We started with their IEP's. I figured if I expected the school to teach it, I should do it as well. It lined things out very well for me, and I got most of my resources from the public library. They have a ton of curriculum books there, my son got his prealgebra book checked out from there, we just renewed it for the entire semester ;-)

Contact your local homeschool group. They will likely have a regular get together, many have books that are loaned out, so you can compare curriculum, and also curriculum fairs, where people either sell or trade supplies. I'd tell him "we're taking a break from school", and just get to know where his strengths and weaknesses are. You know he's reading at a 2nd grade level, talk to your public kids librarian, and ask for suggestions. He isn't going to want to read a book at that emotional level, but you dont' want something too hard. They'll know exactly what books will appeal to a 14 year old but be rewarding. Start with comic books or gamers manuals. Game Informer is a big motivator for lots of kids, and at $12 a year for monthly mags it's a lot cheaper than any reading curriculum you could buy. Give him a year and see where he goes with it.

I could go on and on. Fact is, there is a ton of free stuff. Go to google.com and key in 'free lesson plans'. You'll find so much your brain will explode. Take a week or so to skim through it, see what works for YOUR SON, and book mark it. Then match it up to your IEP. Take your time. he probably has a lot of latent anger and you don't want that transfered to you!

Answer 4

I am quite certain that there are not only websites out there for parents who homeschool special needs kids (including physical disabilities) but there are also likely some Yahoo Groups dedicated to that. I'd highly recommend seeing what you can find in terms of a support group that way. Getting answers from here, from people who may never answer another one of your questions again, is not the same as really being part of a support group of people who not only understand what you've gone through, but are also going through the same stuff you do on a daily basis.

Public schools, while mandated to provide for all public, still are really only focused on those who fall in the middle part of the bell curve.

Answer 5

You can homeschool. We do, but because of no child left behind you are also eligible to receive money to put him in private school or move him to a better school either in or out of your school district if his needs are not being met where he is. You may want to consider really pushing the issue by going to your schools administration or to your state board of education.


If you choose to homeschool here are all the websites I have to help with lessons and worksheets.

http://abcteach.com/
http://www.edhelper.com/
http://www.tut-world.com/
http://familygames.com/freelane.html
http://www.time4learning.com/homeschool-curriculum.htm
http://www.tlsbooks.com/kidspagearchive.htm
http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/home.html
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html
http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/lang/elem.html
http://www.readinga-z.com/index.php
That one is not free, but if he is having trouble with reading there are all the leveled books they use in school and may be worth the $80 per year.
http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/seqlps/
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/
http://themathworksheetsite.com/
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm


Hope some of these help.

Answer 6

in Ohio go to ecot.com
or call your state board of ed and ask about home school programs

Answer 7

maybe you should try a tutor before trying homeschooling