(A THSC Member Story)

Homeschooling can really help a child with special needs to excel.

Public school may make a variety of services available hoping to keep a child from falling behind, but for many families public school is not always the best option.

If you’re a parent, you are 100% invested in your child’s educational success.  You’re willing to be creative and think outside the box when your kids need you!

One THSC member tells the story of transitioning from public school to homeschool for her son who struggles with dyslexia.

Is Homeschooling the Answer to Educating a Child With Special Needs?

My youngest son was a blessing from the beginning. I wish I could have predicted how much he would change me. He is light and love in our home.

From early on, I could see the ways that God had created him to be a bit different. His speech was delayed until age two, but despite that, he learned by nine months that his job was to make his siblings laugh.

His eyes were curious and bright but he could not properly name his colors, numbers and letters until elementary school. He could add and subtract numbers in his head but could not print his name.

His teachers would send notes home about how kind and thoughtful he was to have in class. But during conferences with me, they would express their concern for his lack of retention and inability to complete learning tasks.

When it was time to enroll him in kindergarten, my son was not progressing through development tasks.

He had completed three years of preschool and one year in private kindergarten, along with supplemental homeschooling.

I caved to the pressure I felt and enrolled him in a local public school.

My son spent three years in public school with teachers who loved his personality and his smile.

During meetings, they highlighted how sweet he was, and then the conversation would shift to his delays and suggestions of a new service or intervention he would require.

Despite dyslexia remediation, speech therapy, and special education services, my son would fail to progress in reading.

By third grade, he could only read at an early kindergarten level.

During his years in public school, he showed very little growth in reading and writing and began to show a slowing in his math skills throughout the second and third grades.

He was like many dyslexic kids—consistently inconsistent.

This prompted my family to turn to homeschooling. We focused on building his strengths and finding ways to gain confidence in his struggles.

My lessons and goals always met him where he was and prepared him to learn and build from there.

We worked with a private tutor for reading and my son jumped one grade level of growth in six months!

We started chess, piano lessons and an art class and offered lots of hands-on lessons as opposed to worksheets.

The classes he excelled in provided room for gains in his confidence and gave additional ground to improve his reading.

At home, my son is still consistently inconsistent. His brain is simply wired differently.

Homeschooling allowed him to take as much time as needed to master his foundational subjects and allowed me to facilitate his interests in the areas he was curious about.

I chose not to be overly concerned with grades and testing but began to measure success by seeking mastery in his subjects.

His ability to listen to and comprehend lessons has grown rapidly, and we continue to build skills in areas where he still struggles.

He is reading well at a fourth grade level and listening to books above his grade level.

Now a 12-year-old middle schooler, he is gaining confidence in reading and writing longer paragraphs.

We often use a blend of curriculums that help with these concepts and add games and puzzles into our day to encourage him to focus.

Homeschooling has allowed us to progress in a short period of time due to the opportunity to offer one-on-one instruction.

My son, like all children, has been made exactly the way God intended . Homeschooling allows him to meet and exceed all the plans God has for him!

THSC wants to help you feel equipped to homeschool your child. Need more information about homeschooling a child with special needs? Visit our website to learn more.

THSC member benefits include a valuable IEP generator tool to help you track goals and progress for your child, plus access to expert homeschool coaches.

Join THSC today and prepare your child to soar!