CHOOSING HOME SCHOOL

So many of you are probably thinking why did we choose a state funded homeschooling program rather than a traditional homeschooling program?  Others are probably answering this question by saying that cost was surely the deciding point. COST had nothing to do with it.  Let me teach you something that many home schoolers probably are not aware of and likely do not need to worry about.


When you home school your children, YOU are responsible for their educational growth. At no point will the public system ever be required to be responsible for their educational growth.  Not even when the day comes that you are no longer able to home school your child because of work or other demands.  So what happens when that day comes?  You take your child to your district office and they administer a test for the child to enter their school.  If at that time the child is 12 years old and testing at the 2nd grade level instead of the 6th grade level, they will enter school as a 12 year old in 2nd grade.  (So if you have been in our shoes at any point, you probably already know where I am going with this.) For most families this is no problem, because if there is nothing wrong with the child, they will soak in what ever you are teaching them better than they would in a public system.  However, for a child with disabilities, it takes lots of effort and/or different teaching styles to learn.  If they are not taught for their needs then very likely they are going to test below level for their age.  So despite the fact that you may have started to home school them when they were already behind, they will still enter school at what ever grade they test in at.  Do you see the danger of traditional homeschooling for children with learning disabilities?  


In the state system the parent is the primary teacher for the child, though they are to assigned a teacher.  The teachers are only as involved as the parent would like them to be.  The state is still responsible for the child's growth and it is just as if the child were attending a public school. Children are not required to test into their grade if they ever return to their traditional District.  


The thought of homeschooling without the state program was scary for us.  We wanted to make sure that we were prepared for any event.  If  I ever had to go back to work or if our family experienced a difficulty of any kind, then our kids would take the loss.  We did not want to risk our children ever having to test into school and land in a grade not appropriate for their age. It was not worth it to us to take the gamble.

WHERE WE STAND

It has now been nearly 6 months since my last post and there has been some dramatic changes in our family life.  I have been feeling for a long time that I need to stop my posts which review the Book 'Teaching Mathematics to Deaf Children' and resume at a later time.  I feel that my energy will be best spent, on your behalf, if I focus my energy for a while on my experiences in dealing with the school system for my children.  These posts are going to be beneficial and quite helpful for any parent of a child with disabilities of any kind; Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Hearing impairment, Developmental Apraxia of Speech or Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Cerebral Palsy, etc, etc, etc. . .


So, as I said, and as many of you have probably noticed, it has been nearly 6 months since my last post.  WHY? Well quite simply I had the opportunity to put my children in a state funded homeschooling program and we took the plunge with both of my school aged children.  It takes quite the energy, organization, and time.  Though, I will tell you, it was the best decision we have ever made for our children.