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:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61455221527

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homeschool_SpecialNeedsKidz/