ADVICE NEEDED! Homeschooling Curriculum For a Special Needs Child!

Real Moms Sharing Their Experiences and Advice

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Question: Who home schools their child with special needs? My son is 4 1/2 born at 24 weeks- globally delayed, SPD, g button, nonverbal and currently in a day has preschool where he receives PT, OT, and speech. I am an educator and trying to make decisions about kindergarten. If you homeschool, what curriculum do you use?

Answers:

Amy F. We homeschool but don’t use just one specific set of curriculum. We bought workbooks for each subject by different publishers based on her learning style. I found this route to be much cheaper than buying the curriculum sets as well.

Belynda K. I do! In the Sacramento California area We have Horizon Charter School and it’s wonderful. I am able to keep My Son home and well and it offers the Special Resources My Son needs such as speech, ot, etc. A Teacher comes once a month and We go for one on one speech and OT weekly. I applied online and it’s funded like school! Each Child has a certain amount of money each quarter for books, supplies, ect. I can go to Lakeshore Learning Center and a Brighter Child and purchase items for His classroom (3rd Bedroom ) on purchase order and once approved they ship to me. State guides the curriculum just like school so State pays.

Melissa C. who pays for your sons therapies? The Speech, OT, PT? You?

Belynda K. It’s through His school! I do not pay!

Beth-Ann B. In many states kids who are homeschooled can still have an IEP and receive related services from the district

Maggie N. That’s what we have- We are in CA, we are offered speech with IEP & CCS with qualifying

Vicky R. I am an educator, too. I homeschool my 2 special needs kids. While I believe my kids need certain types of experiences, I don’t believe that public or private schools are the only options or even ideal places for them to get those experiences.

Rachel G. I believe the SPED system won’t be effective for my little guy. It’s looking like he is going to need more life skill than curriculum that will be provided in school. Thanks for responding to the post.

Anna K. Also your child may pick up a lot of unwanted, learned behaviors from peers in the classroom..

Sara C. My son is ASD. He’s verbal but very delayed. We have used My Father’s World” for the last five years. It’s a Christian curriculum but I love how easy it is to adapt to my son’s needs. I’ve looked at others and year after year keep buying the next year for them.

Bill S. There is a Facebook group for home school with down syndrome. We were told to put our three year old on a special bus where he would be immobilized in a Velcro sleeve for his protection. Then he would go to public school for therapy. He will only eat for my wife so he would starve. At the time he could not walk. My wife and I are public school products, all the way through our four degrees. But we can do better than what our little guy can get in this situation. We found private therapy clinics covered by insurance. Our son is a kinetic learner for sure and locea to mimic. It does therefore help to have him around other kids. We accomplish this through church, play groups, and home school events. He is not yet four so we follow no exact curriculum yet. Home school laws vary a lot by state and even by county. Our son really likes educational tablet games so weight incorporate those into learning. We also do lots of sign language videos because he speech is very delayed. Please let us know what works for your little one. We will be there next year.

Sherese S. K12 awesome for special needs. My son has an IEP, and they adjust his curriculum when needed.

Anna K. This is just my opinion. your child may benefit from the stimulation he/she will receive in a classroom. They will have a lot of resources you may not have at home. I would NEVER discourage anyone from homeschooling at all!!!! I also don’t know your child’s abilities, like can he communicate via an. iPad, etc…

Anna K. Homeschooler here. We send our 7yr old to a designated class at the public school. He receives his therapies there. His has Mowat Wilson Syndrome and his issues and delays are significant enough that there really isn’t an academic goal for him. We home school 4 of our 8 children. We use the Complete Canadian Curriculum workbooks, and a mixed lot of Northwoods Press books and our own selection of supplements. I would recommend Check &Double Check from Scholar’sChoice.

My guys have always done well with workbooks instead of textbooks. I would suggest your first step be getting a HSLDA membership, (HomeSchool Legal Defense Assoc) and reviewing their website for the ministry guidelines in your area. (0:

Cassandra S. I will be. She is in preschool now but our kindergartens are going full day as of this year and next year and she (ODD, SPD, potential Asperger’s) can not handle worksheets and sitting at a desk all day. We will do other things for her social development but we will be homeschooling.

Tracie M. I Homeschool all three of my kiddos, two of them are autistic. My Son receives walk-in ot. and speech services once a week at a school nearby, and we take him for Hippotherapy 2 x a week year round, weather permitting. We tried walking into a classroom twice, it was not a good fit for my Son. He was so traumatized by the other special need’s kid’s behaviors and noises, that he refused to eat for three days. A great place for you to start would be to sign up for TPT (Teachers pay teachers) , and have a Pinterest board. I only pin FREE things we can run off. I change the games according to my kiddo’s abilities. There are also a ton of great therapy ideas that you can do at home…..the more therapy the better, as long as it feels like play/fun to the kids they learn. We’ve also bought and reworked the pull out pages from the Comprehensive Curriculum schooling books that are sold at Sam’s Club inexpensively. I love schooling my kiddos, and seeing them learn new things. Have fun with Homeschooling your little guy!

Ashton H. We homeschool! I just honestly looked over everything and bought pieces. I have a k and a 3rd grader with a learning disability and a 4yr old so when we started we bought a preschool program and worked up. Some have stopped at certain levels and some are still going.

Tiffany W. The first year I pieced everything together from online resources, catering to my daughters particular needs at the time. Now that she is improved I use alpha and omega publishers, the Horizon math line. Other subjects we do unit studies and online resources. I had Abeka language arts curriculum and it wasn’t a fit for her.

Jess K. kayla started kindergarten this year!! the program is tuition free and there are many activities , therapy , IEP , ILP and your student can work at their pace! kayla receives OT , PT and speech! They provide EVERYTHING u need! Check it out it is an amazing program!! www.k12.com

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Darlene K. We chose private Catholic school for our daughter (10, non verbal with Down syndrome) she is in an inclusive setting, has an aide and receives speech, OT and LD tutoring all through help of a state scholarship program. Our other three daughters attend there, and I work there. We love that she is able to have the same loving experience as her sisters! You have to do what works best for your family! I could never put my non verbal child on a bus, no way. There are so many more options for our kids now and we are so grateful!

Vicky T. Are you sure that the kids in his class at public school are who you want your child to model his behavior after?

Rita M. I home school my 10 year old daughter who got a brain injury 5 years ago. She’s about 2-3 years behind mentally. We use time 4 learning. It’s an online program. We also use all about spelling which I’m not sure if it is working for her or not.

Alana C. My 23 weeker will be 13 next month! Ld, dd, speech delayed, visually impaired, etc….have always had him in public school system with tons of support….it’s all about how best their individual needs can be best! Can your school system support your child? What does your communities home school programs look like? How will his social needs be met? So much to think about, but I truly think it’s a personal decision! Good luck!! Love our micro preemies!

Denise T. Your child should be with other children so he can see what other kids do so he can learn better. Keeping your child away from a school with learning would not be in his best interest I’m just saying.

Maggie N Chris. Based on personal experience I believe children with special needs can get social stimulation from other sources besides school just like any other kid. If a parent feels confident that they can meet their child’s needs outside of a classroom I support that regardless of their child’s ability.

Melissa C. If you home school they will not provide services unless it’s proven that the school environment isn’t for them.

Maggie N. Chris In CA you can have services thru CCS even if you homeschool and regional center services if you have qualifying diagnosis from birth to adulthood.

Melissa C. Yeah I know how California Works which is why I am asking my child is now 22 and if you homeschool or private school the services are not there, CCS only takes certain kids no all. If your child has Down syndrome you get nothing its only if your child …See More

Marsha A. I do. I use a variety of different curriculum because it’s important to find out what he excels in and where he needs more help. I we are members of a homeschool association and that really helps.

Faye L. I have always home taught alongside them attending school so I’ve no advice regarding your question, sorry. However if you can afford it, buy some ‘Numicon’. it’s not just for counting, It can be used in lots of ways and is found to be making headlines when used with children with SEN and even mainstream schools world wide are starting to purchase it. Good luck

Ellie S. Let me know what you find out. I’m still trying to make this decision. With my biggest concern being loss of services if I do.

Jessica B. I homeschool my special needs kid. He was in school a short time and even though he had an amazing teacher we quickly realized it was not the environment for him. He hardly qualified for an services but is non verbal and delayed by several years. He received more therapy outside of school than in school. He has learned more from his older siblings than he would of in a classroom. Plus he gets more one on one time at home. We also ask grandparents to purchase things for birthday our Christmas for him that he would have for sensory or learning needs in a classroom. Little Giant Steps has some great resources that I have used.

Karen G. Homeschool will NOT give your child the SOCIAL learning. My son was 33 weeks early, delayed, non verbal and learnt a lot

Ashley N. I do and I use the Carolina Curriculum.

http://www.therapro.com/The-Carolina-Curriculum-for….

They also have a preschool version.

The Carolina Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers with Special Needs (CCITSN),…

THERAPRO.COM

Denise P. I don’t home school BUT my friend does and she uses bekka books

Susan G. We just began with our 10 year old daughter. She has a cognitive impairment, vision and hearing trouble, and speech and language issues. We decided on using the public school forum through the K-12 on-line school. I love it. It sounds crazy, but OT and speech are done on line through a secure skype type site. The first days are a bit rough simply because there is a waiting period of 30 days that the school has to get the IEP done, but the teachers were all great in trying to include her in the fourth grade curriculum while not overwhelming her. We chose this route because she is at the age where bullying and teasing we’re becoming an issue and the school district ignored it. I can’t rave enough about the K-12 Online school program and its teachers. They send you everything including the computer and printer, all books, work books, science experiments, art supplies other than crayons and markers. It is all free, they have a parent connect link so you can connect with other parents facing the same challenges in your area, there are filed trips all around the state so there is always something to do to get connected. Hope this helps. God bless. If you do a search of K-12 online schools you should find them. I believe the website is www.k12.com. You can request info for you home state. Here in Michigan our daughter is in the Michigan virtual charter academy. You can begin the enrollment.

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Mac D. I started homeschooling my daughter last month…basically what I am doing is I have pulled the first grade TEKS out of TEA’s website and I’m using that as my guide with common core standard materials…

Dawn T. My son goes to a special needs school. He is brain injured global developmental delay and limited speech. He has seizures and is in remission from AML. I feel being out in the world is what’s best for these children. I have fears and concerns but that’s mine to deal with not his. To be out in the community getting used to others in my opinion is what’s best in the long run. As much as I would like to I won’t be around for him forever.

Debra G. I would recommend sending him to school maybe half a day or so I had to do that in first grade. I had the same thing. pt ot and speech. I also had it once or twice a month at school and I also had adaptive P.E.

ADVICE NEEDED for Special Mom shared from Facebook post #psnm00837

https://www.parentingspecialneeds.org/article/politics-special-education-information/

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