I am seriously contemplating hoomeschooling my 15 year old, LD daughter next year. I must admit the thought is overwhelming. Since I suffer with some LD’s myself, organization being one of them, I was hoping to get information from all of you on where to start and what steps to take to accomplish this. Also, does anyone know if I allow her to take an elective a quarter at the highschool does this open her up to having to take the highstakes testing they are now torturing her with?
Thanks!
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I am currently home schooling my 16 yr old nephew who has learning disabilities. I think it is the best thing to do. When I started with him, it was amazing what the public schools has not picked up on. He is so far behind, but is so smart he covers it up well.
I don’t know about the legal issues but it would be easy to find answers on the home school legal defense web site.
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Figure out your main goal or goals — not too many — that you are going to spend time *every day* working toward. So if it’s bringing up reading and math skills, put your energy into that. If it’s learning life skills — like, how to organize yourself so bills get paid adn things get done — make a plan for that.
I would absolutely try to find a buddy to meet with regularly for support along the way so you can keep track of how you’re meeting your goals. While you don’t have to do things just like school, it sounds like you need to find a way to put structure in what you’re doing so you don’t end up in March wondering what your curriculum was going to be. ON the other hand — if that is what happens, it *still* is probably better than what happens in school (based on my teaching experience). If what she mostly learns is being a productive participant in maintaining the household that would be more valuable than putting in time in a desk.
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Sue that was a bitter and uncalled for remark about education in the classroom. There are many fine teachers who work hard to help our kids. Tink’s question is a good one let’s not lose track as we try to help him. Tink, call or write to your state’s Dept. of Education and request all information on homeschooling. They should be able to tell you if your child can take courses both at home and in school. Also they will provide you upon request with a list of course standards required to be taught by the schools. This may give you a way to set up your lessons. We can help you with lesson plans and other help as you find you need it, just ask and give us a general idea of what you need and let us help. Also some websites for you to look at are HomeschoolTeacher’slounge.com, Findinghomeschoolsupportontheinternet.com, Askeric.com
Jerry
Homeschooling regulations vary from state to state. A first good step is to join one of your state’s homeschooling organizations, as this is the best source of information about what you need to do in order to legally homeschool in your state. To find organizations in your state, try doing a search at http://www.metacrawler.com using the string “homeschooling Florida” or whatever your state name is. Usually you can also find a website that tells newcomers exactly what to do, step by step, to homeschool in the state. This is often very helpful to a newbie!
In our state, high school students are allowed “dual enrollment”. They can attend high school classes part of the day (for example, the elective course you mention, and perhaps extra-curricular athletics) and homeschool the rest of the day. Whether or not that opens you up to testing requirements depends on your state.
Mary