There are many reasons why parents choose to home school their children. Sometimes it is economics or family dynamics, and sometimes it is poor school systems. But the primary reason that we hear more often than any other is that the child has special needs like dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety or medical issues. These parents face additional obstacles that other home school families don’t stop to think about. Consider the following:
Testing – How does a parent obtain the right tests and other assessments to understand learning style, skill level and benchmarks?
Togetherness – Most parents of special needs children spend a lot of time together already. Home schooling these children would definitely require more time and consequently more “togetherness.” How much it too much?
Transition – How will your child know when you are the parent and when you are the teacher? These are two different roles.
Time – Would a parent of a special needs child be required to spend more hours in a day actually teaching instead of being able to let the student participate in self-directed work?
Online resources and software like Reading Horizons v5 answer many of these questions by providing assessments, independent work, and multi-sensory experiences that help special needs children learn to read.
Additional chat rooms and other groups that may be helpful to you include:
3 Comments
shannon
We homeschool because it allows us to be more involved with our children's character and acedemic development. Making sure they are growing to be responsible, considerate, and good workers for the Lord and our society.
Sharon
I have a special needs child. She is 9 years old and working on 1st grade math, K-level spelling, and still forgets how to form some of her letters when writing. It is exhausting and now that I'm also teaching my son (who doesn't have any special needs that I know of) I'm realizing just how exhausting it really is. With him, I don't have to repeat the same lesson 15 times before he begins to understand... it's understood the first time. I don't have to sit with him to constantly keep him on task... he'll finish what is expected of him and do it efficiently most of the time even though he's just almost 6. Teaching my daughter takes a minimum of 4 hours of my [i]undivided attention[/i] every day for just the basics. Being a single mom with many other responsibilities makes it just that much harder, but I am committed to doing what I believes is best for my children!
Christine B
Keep going Sharon,I know that your many, many hours will pay off. We need more parents like you who are engaged in the education of their children (homeschooled or not). Imagine what the landscape of our country would look like if all parents spent even a minimum of an hour a day giving their children their undivided attention. They are worth that and so much more!