I have been a mom for almost 10 years, I have days i feel like super mom and other days i feel like the worst mom ever. I have 2 special needs children with Iep's. Desmend who is almost 10 and gabriel who is almost 6. I really want to home school my children, but I am not sure i can handle it and that they would retain the information i gave them. I try very hard to keep a routine and a schedule, but we do not always manage to keep to them. Someday i feel like the public school here ,which is an A plus school is doing great with my children other days not so much.
Desmend for example, thrives and keeping busy, has a hard time focusing but excels in reading. He is in third grade and reads on a 6th grade level. Math does not come easy for him and is easily frustrated with math and his teachers.He tries but always seems to get knocked down even with an accomplishment.
Ayden excels in math does wonderful and pulls home A and B'a every semester, but gets in trouble for being bored i9n math and then the teachers feel like he is not reaching is goals in reading. Ayden is a loving child who i feel like does his best even at home. He gets bored and needs to stay busy,
Gabriel, well he is a drummer that beats to his own tune. He is severely lacking in the speech department and articulation is a huge problem. He was born at 34 weeks and also got spinal meningitis when he was 7 days old and spent nearly a month in the picu. He is defiantly behind not just in school but also maturity wise. We don't have a specif cause or diagnosis for this yet.
So i am not sure what I am going to do but i could use some thoughts from those that home school and those that don't. I wonder sometimes if i give my children all the advantages that i want them to have in life. Just some thought on homeschooling and my boys.I am just not 100 percent sure i can give them everything they need to be ready for adulthood and college if i home-school. I am also not certain i can keep a great schedule to do there classwork and get them intrigued enough not to block me out.
I have one who beats to the tune of her own drummer, and also one who needs to be challenged as well, it's difficult when the teachers recognize it, yet do nothing to challenge them or when they aren't able to tailor what or how they teach to accommodate the different drummer!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what is available in your locale, but here in PA, there have been several cyber charter schools that have been growing like crazy! They're public schools, so they are free-the home school district forks over 75% of the tax revenue they would receive for every child in their district that is enrolled in a cyber school.
My Alex is enrolled in one, and , although he is in a classroom for most of the time for Kindergarten (which was an option that they have just added, and we can choose the days he goes to school, and what days we want to make sure he does the lessons at home), they have still sent us everything we need for the curriculum, all we have to do is make sure he does it. And by everything, I do mean everything--teacher manuals, all the workbooks that go along with them A LAPTOP, A PRINTER/SCANNER, hard cover and soft cover children's books, PE aids, a whole plastic tote filled with science aids and arts and craft aids, writing paper, math manipulatives, Melissa and Doug wooden calendar, etc...
Like I said, each state is different, but cyber charter schools have been opening all across the country, it might be worth googling and seeing if there are any options for you in your location :). Many times, though, you may have to travel a bit to go to a seminar to learn about them, and see if it is something you are willing and able to commit to,and/or enroll -- usually because they try to do some core locations throughout the states they are located in. We were lucky because we live in the capital, so we didn't have to go far to learn about the school and enroll him.
There is a time commitment, but the "scariness" is taken away because we aren't "teaching" him per se, but we are facilitating his learning of the curriculum. We have an instructional supervisor, and there are teachers for all subjects , and there is a choice between doing a self paced class where they learn with teacher podcasts, and then there are the synchronous classes where the child logs in and participates in the class via messaging and/or Skype along with all the other kids in the class.
Sorry for being so wordy, I have just become so excited about the Cyber Charter School option we have and wanted to put that out there for you in hopes that you are able to find something like that where you live, it seems like you would be a good fit for something like that. I hope you are able to find something that works :).
~Brenda