I am a mom of a 10yr old boy who is LD/ADHD/Bipolar/Dyslexic and they are starting to see signs of Schizophrenia. I fought the public school for 5 years. First just to get him into special education, then fighting them because they kept passing him on up in grades when he wasn't able to do the work. I had to quit my job about 1 year into this battle with the public schools so we took a huge income loss which put even more stress on the situation. Long story short...I couldn't take it anymore and pulled him out of public school after the holidays and began our first day of homeschooling on Jan 15. I have since discovered that my son was about to be passed to 5th grade and I'm finding that he is far more behind than I realized. We are currently working on 1st grade level work and he is struggling with alot of it. I found out that no matter how involved you stay in your childs public schooling....you don't always know exactly what is going on until you sit down one on one with your child and have the do the work with you so you can see with your own eyes. My son is an awesome kid, but his medical needs/problems make for a very hard road ahead of us. I just wanted to post this to let anyone else who has a child with special needs that reads this know...your not alone, and yes its very hard. I have found that making it all a giant learning game helps greatly. Rather than sitting down and doing a lesson on paper or book about monkeys...go to the zoo, bring your paper and pen with you and study the monkeys with your child jot down some facts you all learned then over a soda and hot dog at the food area talk about what you learned. This concept is working wonders with my son. Since we are on a tiny budget now I either go on free days or have bought yearly passes so it is something you can do as much as you like and all it costs is a lil gas. Also for those who are looking to get their kids out to interact with other kids whether you have a large budget or a tiny one the YMCA offers a homeschool P.E. class with their membership and if you can't afford their regular membership they offer lower pricing for income challenged folk like myself
....at any rate I noticed these boards seemed kind of dead so I thought I would put my two cents in and see if my words of newly homeschooling mom wisdom might help at least one person out there! Virtual Hugs To All And Good Luck In Your Home School Adventures!
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