TestifyToLove
New member
We homeschool all of our children and have since they started schooling. We currently have 5 officially homeschooled. M is on homebound until we get his adoption finalized and then he will be officially homeschooled as well.
CF was not the deciding factor in homeschooling for us, so perhaps I come at this from a different angle. We actually started homeschooling because we had a child with unique educational needs (highly Gifted but ADHD) and lived in a state with a TERRIBLE school system. We knew she would wither and die in that system, and we couldn't afford private school. The more we considered homeschooling, the more private didn't make sense for us.
Then, our second to join the homeschooling had only known English for 2 years at homecoming. He had also been taught under a Colonial English system, lots of ote memorization but little real learning. We had to take him back to pre-K academically. We had the option of either putting him in 2nd grade, where he was by age and making him feel stupid because he couldn't possible keep up. Or, put him in Kindergarten where he would be able to catch up academically but tower above the other children, again feeling stupid. OR...keep him home, let him start where he was academically and work at his pace to catch up but able to interact socially with his age peers. Guess which one we went with.
Anyway, M has several issues. He has mild to moderate MR. In fact, he was placed in a self contained special ed classroom by his last school system and most definitely was NOT learning how to socialize and interact with normal people. Additionally, I have since learned that the worthless schoolwork he was doing, whereby he was being presented with grade appropriate academics ad naseum despite his inablity to learn them yet was because its required under No Child Left Behind.
The local school system, M's IEP cordinator and his Homebound teacher have been 1000% supportive of the fact that we will be homeschooling him. I've had a wonderful opportunity this fall to use a 30 year special ed teacher as a resource and sounding board as I have developed a program and thought process on how to educate a child who is MR versus Developmentally Delayed (did that one with ds#3 and he's caught up at this point). I'm grateful for the experience and the support they have given me. But, I know I can provide M with a better education than what any school environment can provide him with.
While I haven't tackled *this* unique educational challenge before, I've tackled every others. And, I've learned that the one thing homeschooling gives me is absolutely flexibility to address the specific needs of the child in question and not require they confirm to a box academically. Socialization is SOO easy to provide a child. It just takes stepping outside your home (or having a family so large you get socialized at home). But, meeting my kids where they are and working with them there is invaluable to me.
I don't homeschool my Hemophiliac becuase of his hemophilia. But, it has meant that when he has a signficant bleed, he doesn't miss school in the same manner that his peers would. It just means he does his academics from the couch, possibly with an elevated limb and an ice pack. I didn't choose to homeschool our CFer because of his CF. But, it does mean his exposure to outside illness is reduced. It also means that if he is able to function behavioral, then he's able to do school. Although right now he's in preschool academics, mostly in a Waldorf style unschooling program, in the future it will mean school won't stop for sickness for him, except when he needs to sleep but will also mean we can accomodate his need for more sleep while still maintaining school.
Adjusting for the medical needs of medical needs children is a nice side benefit of homeschooling children who happen to have medical needs. I don't think I would consider it a good primary reason to homeschool them though, unless I found with time that they were unable medically to tolerate a school environment first.
CF was not the deciding factor in homeschooling for us, so perhaps I come at this from a different angle. We actually started homeschooling because we had a child with unique educational needs (highly Gifted but ADHD) and lived in a state with a TERRIBLE school system. We knew she would wither and die in that system, and we couldn't afford private school. The more we considered homeschooling, the more private didn't make sense for us.
Then, our second to join the homeschooling had only known English for 2 years at homecoming. He had also been taught under a Colonial English system, lots of ote memorization but little real learning. We had to take him back to pre-K academically. We had the option of either putting him in 2nd grade, where he was by age and making him feel stupid because he couldn't possible keep up. Or, put him in Kindergarten where he would be able to catch up academically but tower above the other children, again feeling stupid. OR...keep him home, let him start where he was academically and work at his pace to catch up but able to interact socially with his age peers. Guess which one we went with.
Anyway, M has several issues. He has mild to moderate MR. In fact, he was placed in a self contained special ed classroom by his last school system and most definitely was NOT learning how to socialize and interact with normal people. Additionally, I have since learned that the worthless schoolwork he was doing, whereby he was being presented with grade appropriate academics ad naseum despite his inablity to learn them yet was because its required under No Child Left Behind.
The local school system, M's IEP cordinator and his Homebound teacher have been 1000% supportive of the fact that we will be homeschooling him. I've had a wonderful opportunity this fall to use a 30 year special ed teacher as a resource and sounding board as I have developed a program and thought process on how to educate a child who is MR versus Developmentally Delayed (did that one with ds#3 and he's caught up at this point). I'm grateful for the experience and the support they have given me. But, I know I can provide M with a better education than what any school environment can provide him with.
While I haven't tackled *this* unique educational challenge before, I've tackled every others. And, I've learned that the one thing homeschooling gives me is absolutely flexibility to address the specific needs of the child in question and not require they confirm to a box academically. Socialization is SOO easy to provide a child. It just takes stepping outside your home (or having a family so large you get socialized at home). But, meeting my kids where they are and working with them there is invaluable to me.
I don't homeschool my Hemophiliac becuase of his hemophilia. But, it has meant that when he has a signficant bleed, he doesn't miss school in the same manner that his peers would. It just means he does his academics from the couch, possibly with an elevated limb and an ice pack. I didn't choose to homeschool our CFer because of his CF. But, it does mean his exposure to outside illness is reduced. It also means that if he is able to function behavioral, then he's able to do school. Although right now he's in preschool academics, mostly in a Waldorf style unschooling program, in the future it will mean school won't stop for sickness for him, except when he needs to sleep but will also mean we can accomodate his need for more sleep while still maintaining school.
Adjusting for the medical needs of medical needs children is a nice side benefit of homeschooling children who happen to have medical needs. I don't think I would consider it a good primary reason to homeschool them though, unless I found with time that they were unable medically to tolerate a school environment first.